LA Dreams

It was like a dream. Tielar never expected her YouTube channel to get more than 30 followers, let alone take off in a way that made it possible for her to move to LA and live a luxurious life she always dreamed of. But it did. The past few months have been a whirlwind of meet and greets, sponsorships and boxes. Tons of moving boxes. The morning of the big move, Tielar and her mom, Eliana, were packing the last few boxes while her step-father loaded them onto the truck. They stayed silent as they packed. Neither wanting to face the impending moment of departure. Instead they listened to music, casually dancing along to the beat as they always have when neither knew what to say and the air filled with slight tension. Tielar knew this was going to be difficult for her mom. She has never moved away from her mother, not even for college when she opted to drive to class despite the hour commute. She felt her presence needed to be there for her mom and sister.  When Tielar was five her father left her and her mom, Tielar watched her mother hide out in a dark bedroom for weeks on end, always puffy faced and unable to drag herself out of bed. Tielar had to grow up a lot quicker than most five year olds. She learned to prepare her own food and do the chores she was able to do. It wasn’t until she was entering kindergarten did she need help. Bright eyed and tired, Tielar had stormed into her mothers room, ushered her out of bed and ordered her to take her to school. “I’ll never know what I would do without you, Mick. You’re my rock” she said this with such desperation that Tielar felt guilted into being by her side. It wasn’t until Joe came along, her step father, that Tielar felt her mother was getting better. Joe was the father of another girl in class, Camilla. Tielar and Camilla were best friends from day one of kindergarten. When Tielars birthday came around, she requested Camilla sleepover. Which led to Joe, a newly single father bringing his daughter over and meeting Eliana.  A few years later, when the girls were ten, Eliana gave birth to another little girl, Lilly.  Tielar is from a small town in Connecticut. So small that everyone knew each other. Tielar was a quiet person. Always caring for others but pretty much kept to herself except when it came to her mom, her sister Lilly and her best friend, Camilla. They were complete opposites of her. All three being outgoing and extroverts, not afraid to speak their mind no matter who could hear. Tielar spoke her mind to only them, and recently, her camera. That gave her the confidence to truly follow her dreams. So when YouTube asked her to move out to the West Coast, she jumped into an extremely different environment than she has known for her entire life.   {Tielars POV} “Okay so all of my stuff except for a weeks worth of clothes are packed away in the truck right mom?” I glance over at my mom, who is trying to hide her tears from me. “Yes sweetie..” she says choking up. I put down my notebook and walk over to her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “Mom, I know this is hard, trust me, I’m a mess inside. But you get to come out to California now to see me! And we can binge eat Del Taco and binge watch Criminal Minds while looking at the ocean. Think about THAT. Maybe if we are lucky, we will MEET Shemar Moore.” I say in a teasing voice to her. This makes her laugh and blush. “Well if Shemar is going to be there, than I’m just going with you, forget Joe!” we both burst into laughter. We were both silent for a moment before she asked me, “are you sure you’re going to be okay? This is a big move for you to conquer basically alone.” I smiled at her. “Mom you did this when you were younger than I am now, I am going to be fine.” She gives me a tight hug and lets go.  I am always taken aback by my moms unfiltered beauty. Standing at my height of 5’2, she was so short and tiny. She had short blonde hair with blue/green eyes and very soft features. She seemed to grow younger as the years went by. “What time will Camilla be by?” she asks raising a brow. I look at my watch, 3:30pm. “She should be here any minute, probably still packing. You know how she is.” When we turned 18, Camilla decided to move into her own apartment, a studio that she packed FULL of stuff. She begged me to move with her but understood when I said I couldn’t, I didn’t want my mom to feel abandoned.  If it’s one thing I’m grateful for about my move, it’s that Camilla, my best friend since kindergarten and step-sister, will be coming with me. Camilla was opposite of me when it came to our personalities. While I was more laid back and kept to myself, Camilla was very outspoken and high strung no matter the situation. I have gained a lot more confidence with the whole YouTube career taking off, I really had no choice, but it takes time to adjust. Camilla and I were typically, besides the personalities, the same person. We had the same structure in the physical sense; short & very curvy. Freckles on our faces with green gray eyes. I used to have red hair and her brown but we have since dyed our hair Lavender and pink. We were into the same music, entertainment, and books but thankfully not the same type of love interests. She was my rock in this whole move and made it so much more exciting. The day I was offered the position and I told her, her immediate response was “WE ARE MOVING TO LA??? Tielar THIS IS AMAZING WHEN DO WE LEAVE!? I’M COMING WITH YOU RIGHT?! WELL OF COURSE I AM YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. I HAVE TO START PACKING. COME ON WHEN DO WE LEAVE?!” which left me in a fit of laughter watching her pull out bags and throw her clothes in them. I didn’t even have to ask. She just made it happen. So it made it much easier. She called the landlord that very day and gave them notice.   10 minutes later, Camilla pulls up followed by her fathers’ car. Camilla springs out of the car almost knocking me down with her hug. “Tielar ITS HERE! WE LEAVE TODAY! ARE YOU DONE PACKING?” she is practically yelling. I laugh “Calm down Cami. We still have time. Is this all of your stuff?” She nods, “Yup! I went through everything and packed what I thought was necessary at first but then decided it was all necessary.” I shake my head at her as she starts unloading boxes from the cars. I walk over to our parents who are chatting away about the route. 30 minutes later, we load the last box and send the movers on their way. We both sold our cars and all of the things we weren’t keeping and saved every penny from our jobs to have a hefty savings. YouTube was putting us up in a hotel until we find a place. Our flight was in 5 hours so we had just enough time to get dinner and check in. We head to our favorite diner with both our families, Shady Glenn and take advantage of this meal. Lilly has barely spoken to me all morning, so I give Camilla a look and we both sit on either side of her. Successfully trapping her in conversation. Camilla nudges her, “So Lill, are you going to come stay with us this summer?” Lilly shrugs her shoulder and looks down at her phone. I reach down and grab it from her. “Listen here, kid. we’re moving 2,900 miles away. You can at least take this time to enjoy our company and tell me why you haven’t spoken to me all morning.” Lilly glares at me under her bangs. Her eyes are piercing blue. “You’re going to leave and forget all about me.” She states flatly. I put my arms around her shoulders. “listen baby,” I said softly but sternly “I couldn’t forget about you even IF I tried. You’re our sister. Nothing is going to change that. And any time you want to come stay with us, you can. I will GLADLY pay for you to come out there. I promise. You can’t shake us even if you tried. Who else is going to annoy me to no end?” I wink at her. She smiles slightly. “I just don’t want to lose you. Either of you” She rest her head against my shoulder. I smooth her hair and kiss her head. “never gonna happen.” Lilly is 14, ten years younger than Cami and I. She is tall and very thin with thick red hair and a feisty personality. She was always so sweet but had a slight wild side that she kept hidden very easily, which I always thank the heavens, I don’t think our parents could handle her wild side being the forefront after Camilla’s teenage years. An hour later, our family dropped us off at the airport. After hugs all around and lots of crying from mom. I go over to Joe and give him a hug. “Take care of mom.” I whispered in his ear. I can feel him smile from his beard moving “always. Love you kid” he says and gives me a kiss on my cheek. “Love you dad.” I respond fondly. Joe may be my step dad, but he was more of a father to me then the one that helped make me. Camilla is always a pro in diffusing sad situations and making everything seem okay. I let her take the lead. After saying our goodbyes and promising to call every day we finally were alone. Waving as they pulled away. Camilla turns to me. “Tielar.” She says in quick serious tone. I look at her. Excitement is beaming out of her eyes. “I know…” I say with a light igniting in my voice, “ WE ARE GOING TO LA!” we let out small cheers and grab our suitcases making our way to check in. We don’t have to wait long. It’s about 830am so most flights are empty. We make our way to the counter and give our IDs over with confirmation numbers. The lady was very nice and smiled politely. She looks down at her computer and I see her eyebrows raise. “Is something wrong?” I ask, holding back the concern. She looks up, “Not at all Ms. De Eliana! In fact, your company called in and changed your tickets. You are on the same flight but have been upgraded to first class.” I put my hand behind me to Camilla, knowing she was at the point of excitement, “both tickets?” “yes ma’am, if you follow these gentlemen, they will take your bags and guide you to the gate.” Gesturing behind us. “Have a great flight!” We turn around to see two men already picking up our bags and guiding us away. Camilla looks at me and withholds squealing from excitement. I laugh at her and follow them. Neither of us have ever flown first class. But this could beat any expectation we could have dreamed up. We were ushered on board earlier than anyone else and guided to a private area. The first class on this airline basically means you get your own room, they booked us into a double. Two seats side by side that fully recline with a personal tv and a door to close us off from everyone else and our own mini bathroom. Fully stocked with snacks and drinks. And a menu for our on-flight meal. We are both so excited. I had some video to shoot so I am very excited for this particular arrangement. I continue to set up my camera on a shelf perfectly positioned to capture the room and us, and begin to shoot.