“And what, miss out on this nice little uneventful visit from you? Not in a million years,” I retorted as a small giggle escaped my throat. No matter how hard I tried to fight it she always had a way to make me laugh.
I was sitting at my desk with my headphones on, fiddling with my bracelet that I hadn’t dared to remove from my wrist, and stared off into space wondering what Monday morning would bring. Having spent the entire weekend washing, folding, and putting away every last piece of dirty laundry that had accumulated in my laundry basket and overflowed to the floor and cleaning my house from top to bottom I was still in need of recovery. So a nice relaxing day would certainly be appreciated.
So far it had been the exact opposite of a relaxing, easy going show; the phone lines were already ringing off the hook and it wasn’t even seven a.m. Apparently teeny boppers and fan girls alike got wind that we were going to be giving away a pair of tickets to see Two East, one of the biggest boy bands of the past couple years, and thought that they would just continuously redial the station’s number, thus clogging up our phone lines.
For every ten phone calls I answered, nine of them were teenagers begging and pleading for the tickets; why they weren’t getting ready for school I didn’t know. I was almost near the point of shouting out on air that Blaine would be in the parking lot personally giving them away just to give him a little taste of his own medicine. Let’s put him in the spotlight and see how he liked it. The show of course would have to be placed on hold because there was no absolute way that I would miss him being trampled down to the ground just for the possible chance at a ticket.
The remaining one phone call would be a random proposal to me. The stream of proposals had for the most part dwindled down since my return, but every now and again we would get the one inconsiderate fellow who thought he was the bee’s knees and had an ego to prove it, who would call in with his cocky attitude and demand my hand. I was over it, plain and simple.
Honestly, I was beyond ready to release a whole spiel about finally putting an end to the nonsense, but apparently I was the only one not amused. The producer himself said, and I quote, “This shit is quality entertainment.” So there you had it, my single life was useful for amusing radio, who would’ve thought.
I would bet if the numerous mundane proposals were spouted off to them they’d quickly be changing their tunes. So for the moment I had to bite my tongue and go with the flow, biding my time until men decided that they were done. I knew I was giving the entire male species a little too much credit by believing that they would just up and quit on their own accords.
“Eden, how about we take the next call on the air…” Blaine chuckled, his voice laced with amusement. I was nervous about taking a call live without the option to edit anything out; it wasn’t a wise decision but I guessed things could definitely get a little more interesting.
Rolling my eyes in his direction as my way of a reply, I muttered a few expletives under my breath for good measure. Pressing one of the numerous nonstop blinking phone lines, I connected it to my headphones. “Hey, you’ve got Blaine and Eden in the morning, who’s this?” I answered with my upbeat tone even though I was cringing inside and praying like crazy that the call wanted Two East tickets instead of the alternative, me.
“Oh my God!” A young girl screeched on the other end of the line. I was never so relieved to hear a teenage girl’s voice in all my life. I could have done without the screaming hysterics, but it came with the territory. “This is Meagan! Did I win? Oh my God, this is the best day of my entire life!”
Blaine chuckled upon hearing her reaction, “You did indeed win two tickets to see Two East next Saturday, Meagan! So what are you up to this morning?”
“AHHHHH!!!” she screamed again, this time a few decibels higher than before. “I was supposed to be getting ready for school, but I spent my time trying to get through, which was SO worth it! Even though now I’m going to school in my pajamas. Anything for Two East. AHHH!” I looked up to Blaine with extra wide eyes and made a cutting motion across my throat, trying to convey to him to get her the hell off the air while people still had their hearing.
“Ok, well, Meagan, hang on the line while I get your info and just try to have a good day at school, I know that’ll be hard for you.”
I quickly put the line on hold and began speaking in a normal tone to our audience, at least those still with us after all that excitement, and allowing Blaine to handle the rest of that phone call. Just as a little payback to him, I smiled brightly in his direction before I began speaking, “Wow, how about that? She was full of all kinds of excitement. Well, how about we go ahead and play a few songs, but don’t worry, if you didn’t get your chance to win a pair of tickets to Two East, we will have another chance tomorrow morning right here on 98.9 Nashville’s Powerhouse!” I turned off my microphone and quickly began playing the next song that was up in the queue which just so happened to be “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
How freaking ironic.
As I listened to the song, completely ignoring Blaine, I couldn’t help but compare it to my life, wondering if Baylor would’ve actually asked me to stay if I hadn’t gone on about my contract at the studio, and what my answer would’ve been. It all didn’t matter, but there was always that inkling of debate in the back of your mind after you made a major life decision. It would take root and continue to force you to dwell on it until it took over your life entirely.
He was supposed to be my Romeo and me his Juliet…Where the hell was my fairytale ending? Perhaps Julia was right; with her two failed marriages she did have a bit more insight into love than I did. Her motto was that fairytales were for losers and happy ever after’s didn’t belong outside of a story or Hallmark card. It still didn’t help with the way my heart was hurting.
Blaine was off of the phone with Meagan and pecking away on his cell phone as the Taylor Swift song ended and another song began. It wasn’t much better for my mood: “Let’s Get Married” by Jagged Edge. I slid off one side of my headphones and looked across the room to Blaine, “Seriously, did you queue up these songs just because you knew how much they went along with my pathetic life?”
He jerked both of his hands up in a mock surrender, “Hey, I just had a request for this song. Just looking out for our listeners, nothing pertaining to you and your life. Please stow away the dirty looks; I can only be killed so many times today by your stares. Definitely not a cat with nine lives, and besides,” he shot me a knowing glare of his own, “you know you love this song…”
Ugh, he was completely right. I remembered when I first heard it on the radio back in February of 2000. It wasn’t the slow-paced version that many radio stations played; no, this was the Remarqable Remix. I was still very much bitter towards the ordeal that transpired between Baylor and me, or rather the vicious lies that Kristina spewed. I wanted to hate the song about love and meeting at the altar on that one special day, but I couldn’t. They beckoned me with their lyrics and catchy beat that just made me want to bust out dancing. Even now I couldn’t resist getting a little groove going while seated in my chair, add a little lip sync to the mix and I was sure I was one hell of a sight.
Blaine replaced his headphones in their proper position so he could talk on-air; normally we had a specifically timed script that we abided by, but that morning had been so out of whack that we’d long since ditched it. “That was ‘Let’s Get Married’ by Jagged Edge which was requested by a recently newfound loyal listener. Now, why don’t we open the phone lines for another call this morning…Hello, good morning, you’ve got Blaine and Eden on 98.9 Nashville’s Powerhouse.”