Watching MTV

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This was just a regular day in my life, I arrived at my house after school and changed out of my school uniform into regular clothes. It was always the same routine, I would change, then help my mom to set the table, and we would eat together with my father. Then as I finished eating with my parents the doorbell rang, I went to answer the door.

It was Laura and Stephanie, my two best friends (probably my only friends), we all lived on the same street, but attended different schools, so we always hung out afterwards.
“Hey Alex, we’re going to Steph’s house to watch TV, can you come?”.

I turned to see what my parents said. “Go I’ll do the dishes today” said my mother while rolling her eyes jokingly.

I guess she liked me hanging out with Laura and Steph after school, since I didn’t have any other friends; I was a shy, skinny 16 years old, didn’t like sports, and didn’t speak much, so there wasn’t much in my favor to making friends; Laura had been my friend since she came to live next door 3 years ago, she was very outgoing, loved sports and was always trying to make new friends, so when she came to live here she immediately found the other 2 kids around her age and forced them (or at least forced me) to be friends, I didn’t complain much, It was nice hanging out with them. We mostly watched movies and music videos while they would talk for hours as I listened and from time made fun at them for their silliness.

We arrived at Steph’s house and went upstairs to her bedroom, we all took places in bed, Steph turned the TV to MTV, and they started chatting as I mostly focused on the video that was playing on tv it was “The All American-Rejects - Swing, Swing”. I didn’t know what was it with that video but I loved it.

“I haven’t showed you Laura!” suddenly screeched Steph “Mom got me a makeup kit and nail polishes today because of my good grades” .

She then ran to her closet, where next to her clothes was a shelf in which she stored her accessories, there she took a makeup case and brought it to the bed.

Laura had been obsessed with makeup for the last couple of months, so she was losing it with everything that she found in the case. “Oh my god Steph! I’m so jealous, my sister is now not letting me use any of hers and mom says she’s not buying more for me”.

“Well while you’re here we can both use it, we can now practice more looks” said Steph as she began to apply pink lip gloss in front of the mirror on her closet door.

I was holding my laugh about their excitement about it, it seemed kinda dumb to me to be to be so invested with makeup.

“I see your smile Alex! Stop making fun of us!” snapped Laura at me, while throwing a pillow to my face, she was now starting to paint her nails with a glitter polish.

“We can also make fun of you weirdo! I see how obsessed you are with Tyson Ritter, you make a silly face whenever that video starts playing” said Steph while laughing

I blushed immediately, feeling something weird on my stomach.

“Hey don’t be like that” said Laura “He’s not being mean to us, don’t be mean to him”.

She was my hero, she always defended me when someone made a comment about me, as if she was big sister protecting her younger.

Steph rolled her eyes at her “I’m kidding, you know it” and continued doing her makeup in front of her mirror

“And you” said Laura pointing at me “I know it’s not the case, but we don’t mind if you like boys or whatever, we love you anyways silly, so take off that scared face” and continued with her nails as if anything had happened

“I don’t like boys” I muttered at them

Laura bursted a laugh “I know silly, really don’t make a big deal of it, just stop thinking about it”

Both of them laughed and continued doing their stuff, comparing looks and pointing at looks on magazines, while I just laid watching videos and for moments staring at them, they did look pretty in some of the looks they tried.

It was weird a weird feeling I was left with, I hadn’t really thought about me possibly being gay, I liked girls, I was more obsessed with Avril Lavigne than any other performer, but that comment just got me thinking what if that was the reason I never really fit in any place, maybe I was different.

When we left Steph’s house, Laura and I were walking to our house together, it was starting to get dark.

“Do think I could be gay” I asked Laura in an almost silent sound

She stopped walking and holded my arm for me to stop to “First of all, as I said early If you were, you’re my best friend and that wouldn’t matter silly, and second, I don’t think you are gay, I think you’re a weirdo with too much feelings and doesn’t know what to do with them because you’re always so shy, but in the end is up to you, do you think you are? Or then why would you ask?”

“I don’t know”

With this she pulled me closer and gave me a kiss, first it was a simple touch of our lips, then after a second of silence we kissed again this time she was really into it, she stopped, stared at me and smiled

“Now you can have a better idea” she said smiling and then ran to her house.

I was just left there, more confused than ever, in the middle of the street and it was now completely dark

Next day was as every other day, and when the time came the doorbell rang and I was again on my way to Steph’s house with her and Laura. Laura was acting all normal, that made me doubt if I had imagined what happened last night.

There I was again watching TV and now it was “No Doubt - Hey Baby” playing, Laura was at that moment looking at a magazine, and Steph was painting her nails on the floor while also watching TV, then she just stand up in a jump super excited.

“We should do the makeup looks of the next videos that come up Laura!” She said as she looked her way “Like whichever it comes up, we have to try and do the look, we can take turns, like the next video is me, and the one after that is you”

“Oh my! That’s a great idea” Laura said laughing “What if something we don’t like comes out?”

“We’ll do it, that’s the fun part” Steph answered while laughing

As always I just layed there on my spot, holding the laughter at their silly excitement.

“I’m looking at you Alex! Don’t push me!” said Laura, hearing this made it impossible to hold the laugh this time, so I just started to laugh real hard

“Shh you two!” said Steph, the video was ending “Ok so whatever comes, we’ll do it, who goes first”

“I want to go first” said Laura

And as she said this, “Blink 182 - I’m feeling this” started playing. I knew this video from memory, I kinda loved the part when everyone was in underwear and and going crazy through this school/jail, so I started laughing again

“So you’re doing the look of any of the guys in the band?” I said laughing at Laura

“I can do the schoolgirl look dumdum” said Laura “Steph lend me your school uniform and I’ll go change”

Steph was also laughing at the idea, but agreed to the schoolgirl look, she gave Laura her uniform and Laura disappeared to the Bathroom.

“You’re next Steph!” screamed Laura from the bathroom

“This is silly, what if a video comes out with no girls?” I asked Steph “I mean technically Laura should have dressed as any band member from Blink 182”

“Now you’re the expert on the game we just invented?” said Steph while laughing “Well you can do it if is only boys, is there where you’re going to?”

“No, it’s your turn anyways, Laura said it, I was just trying to put some sense to the game” I muttered kinda regretting opening my mouth

And then “Eminem - Sing for the moment” came on TV, I laughed so hard as it started playing

As laughed, Laura came running to the room “What? What was the video for Steph”, as she came in and saw the video started laughing too “Seem’s you’re Mr. Marshall Matters now”

Steph rolled her eyes at her while laughing“Ugh, whatever, you look more funny than I will”

I hadn’t payed attention to Laura, who had made her hair look very similar to the girl in the video, with very little makeup on her face and her uniform she looked pretty.

“Now take of your clothes” said Steph jokingly, and we all started laughing

It was kinda fun now, everyone took it as a joke, the game didn’t seemed as silly to me anymore. Steph went to her closet took a bunch of stuff and began to leave stopping at the door

“Alex, if I’m doing this, then you’re next!” and then she disappeared to the bathroom

“So will you do it?” asked Laura

“I don’t know” I said trying to look away from her, she looked too pretty

“You never know anything, or what” Laura said as she pushed me to make her space in the bed. “Just do it, it will probably be a boy look as that’s all that has come up”

“Ok, I will”

And as soon as I said it “Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles” started playing

“You gotta be kidding me” I muttered “Really MTV? This goes after Eminem?”

Laura laughed “You can do the next one, haha, what are the odds”

“Thanks” I said in relief “I just hope Steph doesn’t come out while it is playing”

The next 3 minutes I was in panic watching the video, thinking that if Steph came out she would make me wear her clothes and try to make me look like a girl, it wasn’t that she was mean to me, she was like that to everyone and she always liked to try weird things so she thought everyone should be like her in that way.

And as the video was coming to the last minute Steph bursted through the door wearing an oversized green sweater and a blouse wrapped over her head pretending as Eminem’s bandana.

“My god! You look so bad ass!!” said Laura while clapping at her “You really did great haha”

“So should I take out the red nail polish” said Steph since what was on screen when she looked was Vanessa Carlton’s hands

“He has agreed to do the next look that comes up” said Laura before Steph started pushing me to do it “Is that right, Alex?”

“Yes, whatever” I said getting a little nervous

“Whatever you said?” said Laura

Steph laughed “Yes he did, whatever comes up he’ll do it!”

“Well I meant as whatever in that I don’t care about this” I was getting more panicked, the video was about to end

“If you don’t care then do whatever comes up, I’m dressed as a boy” said Steph “And I don’t see you judging me, so it will go both ways”

“Let’s hope it’s another boy video” Laura said putting her arm around me, like trying to give me support in my predicament

And as we all watched the last piano notes play from the video, the next one came up “Kylie Minogue - Can’t get you out of my head” I wanted to run away as fast as I could

“So it wasn’t a boy” said Steph as we all saw Kylie in her yellow car at the video’s start

“But there must be boys in the video” I said “As when it was Laura’s turn”

“They’re just backup dancers, that doesn’t count” said Steph

“Let’s just see and decide” said Laura trying to be impartial, or so I thought
Then the first boys came out, indeed backup dancers way in the back

“There are guys” I screamed pointing

“They are way too in the back Alex, it’s not the same, mine was a main part of the video” said Laura

I looked at her in shock, I was hoping for her to help me

“I have already given you a chance Alex, you said no to the previous video, so…”

“And there are different Kylie looks in the video, look” said Steph in excitement “I’m so jealous of you Alex, which look you want to try? You can pick that”

I felt as if I was going to faint, I didn’t knew what to do

“Just do it, we’ll do your makeup and it will be just something silly we did this one time” said Laura

They were both looking directly at me, I felt as they were lionesses and I was their prey

“I guess I’ll do it then” I said

“Oh my god thanks! I love you!” started screaming Steph as she jumped to hug me and give me a kiss on the cheek “ You will love the final result, I promise” she said as she ran for her makeup case

“But he hasn’t decided on a look” Laura said pointing at the TV where now Kylie was wearing bright red lips

“Not that one” I said immediately

They both started laughing because of my quick response

“I’ll do the previous one I guess” I said trying to make them stop laughing

“That’s awesome” said Steph and throwed at me her white tracking pants “Go put this on and then come back”

I tooked them, and looked at Laura hoping she would say it was just a joke and that I didn’t have to do it

“Go on, we’ll get everything ready to do your makeup”

As she said this all my hope faded and I stood up knowing there was no way out of it.

I changed my jeans for the pants very quickly they were a little bit more tight than my jeans, but not as much as I thought they would. I came out and they were super excited waiting for me.

“Perfect, now take off your shirt” Steph said

“What, why?!” I said

“You have to do the full look, silly, we all did” Laura said as she walked towards me, holding something in her hand.

“Do I really?” I still tried to get out of it

“You do” Laura said as she came and started to take of my shirt, I just left my arms loose as surrendering.

As she took it off she slid something else through my arms

“Wait what is it?”

“A bra, you need one below your jacket” Steph said

“What?!” I said while i looked down to my chest as Laura finished putting it in place

“It’s a sports bra, it isn’t as bad” she said.

I just took a deep breath and lowered my head, what had I got into.

“Put this on” said Steph

She handed me the matching jacket to the tracking pants, it wasn’t was short as the one in the video, I put it on and zipped it all the way up

“Not like that!” Steph said, your boobs have to show

“I have no boobs”

“Well we can fill your bra, but it has to show so we can have the look”

“Let him wear it like that while we do his makeup” said Laura, which gave somewhat of a relief

They sat me down on the bed, and began to apply everything to me, I had seen them do this things on themselves a lot of times so I kinda had an idea of what they were doing, they applied foundation first, then Steph applied pink blush to my cheeks, Laura came really close to my face to do my eyes
“Don’t blink” she said as she got the lip pencil closer to me

She lined my eyes, while Steph left the room to apparently get her moms breast pads for me to use. As she finished lining them, she said close your eyes so I can do the shadow, I closed them and could feel her breath as she was too close to me, then out of nowhere I felt her lips on mine, she gave me a gentle and quiet kiss not like the one last night, then she continued doing my eyes

“That was your reward for doing this” she said as she finished with my eyes.

I opened my eyes and stared at her face so close to me, maybe she was right, I wasn’t gay, it was just a silly thought.

Steph came to the room holding the pads and smiling

“Alex, you look so cute, you’re the prettiest of us” she said as she came to me and unzipped my jacket

“Thanks I guess” I said, my attitude towards this game had now changed completely thanks to my reward

“See I knew you will be grateful once you did it, you just have to give things a try, girl”

Laura laughed at her comment “Such a hot girl now”

I smiled at them while they admired their work.

“Ok so we’re only missing your lip gloss” said Steph, and in a moment she already had the tube in her hand, and was applying it

“Done!, now take a look”

And I stood up and turned towards the mirror, it was amazing, even with my short hair I looked as a girl, it was another person

“Wow” that was all that could come out of my mouth

“I know, what a babe” said Laura

We all laughed and continued joking around, Steph asked permission to change for the next artist that came up, and it was Avril Lavigne, still not as girly as she wanted but was better than Eminem, we continued watching videos in our costumes, when a video we hadn’t seen before came on. “t.A.T.u. - All the things she said

We felt silent as they kissed, we knew about gay people, but I don’t think we had ever seen such a direct video about a lesbian couple, we couldn’t utter a word, for the first time I think they were as quiet as I normally am. When the video ended there was a commercial break, we were still quiet when Steph began

“Well that was something, wasn’t it” she turned to look at us “It was a great video, do you think they are a real couple?”

We just stared back at her

“Maybe, I guess” said Laura “If they weren’t why would they do it?”

“Well you two kissed and you’re not a couple” Steph said

We both blushed

“You told her about last night?” I asked Laura

“Last night too?!” Steph screamed “I saw her give you a kiss when she was doing your eyes”

I felt so dumb for not thinking about that

“Are you a couple?” Steph asked

Laura who had remained silent though all this stood up, I thought she was too ashamed and was going to leave

“No we’re not, a kiss doesn’t mean anything” she uttered

And then walked towards Steph and kissed her, I lost it, I was in complete shock, I was sure I had gone crazy, they continued kissing for what felt like an eternity, probably was less than 30 seconds, then they separated, Steph opened her eyes wide still with her mouth open, this is the girl that doesn’t get shocked and now was as lost as me

“See, and we’re also not a couple” Laura said

“But, I mean…” Steph was trying to find words “This was my first kiss”

“Really?” Me and Laura asked at the same point

“Of course, I don’t go kissing everyone on my way as it seems you do”

“Uhmm, sorry” Laura said, her eyes started to get watery

“Don’t be” Steph said, rushing to hug her trying to prevent the tears “I just, I didn’t expect it, I’m still confused at what is going on, to be honest”

I was confused too

Laura started crying “I’m confused too, I think I’m a lesbian, that’s why I kissed Alex, I wanted to see if I liked kissing a boy”

Now it kinda started to make sense

“Ok..” said Steph while hugging her “So… are you in love with me?”

“No!, this was just a test for me, to see if I liked kissing you more than I liked kissing Alex” she said while hiding her face from me

“Oh” escaped from my mouth

“Oh indeed” said Steph “And did you liked it? Because I surely did girl, where have you been practicing that you’re so good at it?”

Steph was coming back to her normal self

“I did, but it was different”

“But then, what is the conclusion?” Steph asked while gesturing with her face for me to stand up and join them

I did and hugged them

“I may be bisexual” she said as she turned to face us

“Well looking at our creation, I may be too for Alex” Steph said, we all laughed

The rest of the night we shared our thoughts about sexuality, Steph said that she was mostly sure she liked boys except now for me in girls clothes and probably Laura, I confessed that I also had the doubt until Laura kissed me and now was mostly sure that I liked girls, and Laura admitted she was convinced she was bi, she had liked kissing both, and had a crush with a girl at her school who she knew was a lesbian.

The 2000’s were beginning, and we were teenagers learning about life and ourselves, this definitely lead for some interesting moments between us during those years.


Any help with my grammar is accepted, english is my second language, and I don’t write that often in english, so I’m sure my grammar isn’t perfect, also let me know if you would like to read more stories involving these 3 weirdos.

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Comments

Very Nice Story!

I really enjoyed reading this, and wish I had a couple of friends like Laura and Stephanie when I was in high school.

English is your 2nd language?!?!? Wow. What's your native language? There are a few things that an English teacher would circle with a red pen, but they are minor errors. Your written English is very good. More importantly, the story line is excellent and I hope you will write more about these three weirdos. (NOTE - in your very last sentence - it should be THESE 3 weirdos, not THIS 3 weirdos. There were a few other things like that.)

I'm glad you enjoyed it

I'm glad you enjoyed it, my native language is spanish.

And I've already corrected the error you pointed out in the last sentence, thank you!! :)

Thanks!

Thanks!

You'll be reading soon about some of those other moments

Cute story!

Sara Selvig's picture

Cute story. :) A few verb tense issues, but none that destroyed the meaning of the story.

Sara


Between the wrinkles, the orthopedic shoes, and nine decades of gravity, it is really hard to be alluring. My icon, you ask? It is the last picture I allowed to escape the camera ... back before most BC authors were born.

Quite enjoyable

My5InchFMHeels's picture

This one just one of those enjoyable stories, no real conflict, other than conflicting emotions. But a memory of some good times with great friends. Would definitely love to read more tales of these 3 weirdos!

Sweet & Sentimental

Well developed and flowed. Would read more of what goes on with Alex (Alexandra??).

>>> Kay

Seemed like real life to me

I have two gay stepdaughters and watched them growing up and trying to find themselves. They both dated boys, but it was girls that really turned them on. Love the friendship in your story. Nice work.

Santacruzman

A nice coming of age story

Jamie Lee's picture

Seems all three are still trying to sort out their individual lives. They spend time watching MTV, but not much else. How can they sort themselves out by just watching MTV? They need other life experiences as well.

And Alex, shy and talked into dressing as the singer in one of the videos, makeup included. He does it and nothing is said about him being worried that Steph's mom might walk into the room and see him. Could this indicate he likes what the girls did for him?

Others have feelings too.