Chapter Five
Tristan
I woke up on Tuesday morning to Elly and Susie cleaning like crazy people. Susie was dusting and I could see Elly’s fine ass bent over the mop in the kitchen. She wondered why I woke up with wood in my pants.
I sat up, in my female apartment appropriate pajama pants that were approved by Susie herself and said, “Is there an inspection going on today?”
“Kind of,” Susie said, “It’s meet the parents day.” She looked pleased, probably because she knew I’d be annoyed. Fuck!
“Your parents?” I asked her, hopefully. At least Susie’s parents wouldn’t wonder why I was staying with their daughter she could blame that on Elly.
“No, mine.” Elly said. Double fuck!
I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and said, “Are they staying here?”
“No, they got a hotel room. But, they’ll be here soon; I’d appreciate it if you’re dressed and you go along with what I’m going to tell them about you.”
“Which is?”
“That you’re my friend and you needed a place to stay while you’re a contestant on the show. They don’t need to know you’re from L.A. As far as they know, you’re from out of town.”
“Cool, I can go along with that,” I said. I was glad she didn’t want me to pretend to be the boyfriend. I was nothing less than a parent’s nightmare in that department. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Thank you, Tristan,” Elly said.
“No problem,” I wasn’t worried about the parents. I wasn’t even worried about the show. It was round nine and I felt like I had it in the bag. Being sober was good. It was all an even keel, no up and down shit. I took my shower and got dressed and by the time her parents rang the bell, I was perfectly presentable, as long as the tats didn’t bother them. If they did, I really didn’t give a shit.
“Hi, Mom! Dad!” Elly said when she opened the door. They all hugged and kissed and then her parents hugged and kissed Susie too. I couldn’t help but wonder how different my life would have been if I’d had parents like that. They were like sit com parents. They even looked the part. When they all finished hugging and kissing Elly turned to me and said, “Tristan, this is my Mom and Dad. Mom, Dad, Tristan Rogers.”
I shook Dad’s hand and said hello to Mom who was giving me the once over. I could tell she thought I was the boyfriend and she was sizing me up. It might have been fun to know what she was thinking. On the other hand….
“Tristan’s borrowing our couch for a few weeks while he’s in town for the show.”
“Oh…that’s nice,” her mother said. “Where are you from, Tristan?”
“Uh…San Diego,” I lied. Shit, I could have said San Francisco. San Diego is like only a fucking hour away, why would I need to sleep on Elly’s couch?
“I’ve never been there. Is it as beautiful as they say?”
“More so,” I said. Elly gave me a ‘shut-up before you blow it’ look. I grinned at her and just to make her even more nervous I said, “So, are you folks coming to the show tonight?”
Elly looked like she would shit right there. It was hilarious.
“We’d love to!” her mother said. She looked at Elly and I watched Elly change her expression from the narrow-eyed evil she was shooting my way to a sweet smile. “Would that be okay?”
“Wow, Mom, I’m not sure if there are seats left. I wasn’t expecting you guys today or I would have gotten you tickets.”
I reached in my pocket and pulled out my wallet. They gave me four tickets for each show. I never used them; who the hell did I have to invite? I could just see my tweaker parents sitting in the front row.
“I just happen to have four of them,” I said, grinning broader. Her mother turned back towards me and Elly flipped me off over her mother’s head.
“Well, that’s awfully nice of you, Tristan. Are you sure your folks won’t need them?”
I laughed in my head, it was like she’d read my thoughts. “Yeah, they won’t be able to make it tonight. You can all four go.”
“I’m in!” Susie said.
“Won’t you be working?” Elly’s dad asked her. I realized that was why she was so pissed. She hadn’t told them she got let go. Fuck, I was in trouble.
“Elly took the night off when she heard you were coming,” I said, quickly. Her look was less hateful and more grateful that time.
“Yeah, I was going to take you out to dinner, but since Tristan is being so generous, I guess we’ll go to the show first.”
Her mother looked deliriously happy and although I’d started out just trying to aggravate Elly, it actually made me feel good to do something nice…for a change.
“Then we can all go out to dinner!” her mother said.
“I’m sure Tristan has other plans Mom,” Elly told her with another evil look in my direction. I was still smiling.