A Little Excerpt

Spring or summer of 2017

​Brett Ingram (Rockybado), his girlfriend Olivia Cranston (The Magic Video Game), her friend Audrey Bersigno, and Brett’s friends, Byron Lewis, Tony Rossi, and Kevin Vast, were all planning a five-day vacation in Orlando, Florida over Memorial Day weekend. They all live in the New York City area, and they have all wanted to plan this vacation for a while.

Brett and Tony are from Crown Point, Indiana. Olivia and Audrey are from Valparaiso, Indiana. Byron is from St Louis. And Kevin is from the Los Angeles area. Brett knows Tony from high school, as do Olivia and Audrey. Brett knows Byron and Kevin from college, and Tony knows them through Brett.

Brett was lying on his stomach on the floor in his Brooklyn apartment, with his laptop in front of him. Everyone else gathered around him while he was trying to figure out the cheapest prices, the accountant that he is.

He is not just an accountant, he’s a CPA.

“Have you found anything relatively cheap?” Byron asked.
“It shouldn’t be too bad right now, since we are a couple months away from Memorial Day weekend,” Brett replied, then drawing in a deep breath.
“What is it, though?”
“Well, I found one-way tickets for $120.”
“That’s not too bad, given it’s Memorial Day weekend,” Byron remarked.
“I’m sure I might be able to find some cheaper,” Brett stated.
“Well, good luck!”
“I’m working on it. At least we got a place to stay for those five days.”
“Where is it?”
“Close to downtown Orlando.”

The Ingram’s have visited Orlando several times in their lives, and they have always looked for the best options while down there. With the knowledge and their parents’ have instilled in them when they were little, they have always been smart about how to navigate around their vacations.

Brett’s older brother, Dawson, is planning to take his wife and twin daughters to St Louis over Memorial Day weekend. And Brett’s younger siblings, David, Brody, and Toby are visiting Los Angeles over the weekend. Their parents are visiting Orlando as well, and Brett and his friends may run into them. Mr. and Mrs. Ingram still live in Crown Point, but they also maintain a condo in Orlando.

This city has always been their favorite. Like Brett’s favorite city is New York City. Dawson’s is Chicago. David’s and Brody’s is San Francisco. And Toby is undecided. He loves New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, but he is not sure where he wants to end up after graduation from college.

Toby goes to college in Chicago, but he had an internship in San Francisco last year. This year, he is pursuing an internship in New York City, so that he can compare the two. The first internship that he has ever had was in Chicago.

“Okay guys, I found some pretty damn good tickets,” Brett remarked after a few minutes of more intense searching for the best rates.
“Okay, how much is it?” Tony asked.
“$102 one way.”
“That’s not bad, especially for Memorial Day weekend.”
“We’re getting them. I’ll pay for them, but make sure you all pay me back for your share of the tickets,” Brett remarked.
“We won’t,” Byron replied with a smile.
“Byron….”
“Jay kay! Oh em gee!”
“Really?!”
“Oh em gee, you so goofy.”

Brett decided to buy the tickets, and Kevin ordered pizza. It was only 4:30 in the afternoon, but he was starting to get hungry. Everyone else would be getting hungry sooner than later as well. It was only the middle of March, so they had plenty of time to get everything squared away with their vacation to Orlando.

It was only Saturday afternoon, and everyone was free today. No one had to work today, so they decided to get pizza. They weren’t quite sure what they wanted to do tonight, but Byron had some thoughts. For that matter, so did Tony.

They just hadn’t said anything about their ideas yet.

“What are your plans tonight?” Tony asked.
“As far as I know, nothing,” Byron remarked.
“Isn’t there a band performing a few blocks away?”
“There is?”
“I’m not sure. I had thought about checking them out,” Tony said.
“I’m down. What about everyone else?” Byron questioned.
“I don’t think they’re hearing us, to be honest.”
“Well, shit. What else could they be doing?”
“I think they’re watching goofy videos.”
“Yeah. Brett, Kevin, Audrey, and Olivia are totally ignoring us.”

Brett, Tony, Kevin, and Byron created their own band once they moved to New York City. They are still called the Hawaiian Geeks. When Brett and Tony were still in the Chicago area, they played with the Hawaiian Geeks, but they moved half of their band to New York. The previous bandmates decided to stay with Mr. Morton, another band that Brett had played in while in the Chicago area.

Whoever used to be a part of the Hawaiian Geeks and stayed in the Chicago area decided to play with Mr. Morton, while the Hawaiian Geeks moved to New York.

Sadly, the Hawaiian Geeks did not have a performance tonight. They had one last weekend, and the turnout was great. They all decided to take a weekend off to plan their vacation to Orlando.

Brett, Kevin, Olivia, and Audrey had gathered around Brett’s computer and decided to watch some ridiculously funny videos online. They were obviously caught up in the moment and did not pay attention to Byron and Tony.

“WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!!!” Tony screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Wha…” Brett responded.
“You guys were watching funny videos on the onlines.”
“What the hell? Where did you come from?”
“Planet Mars,” Tony responded with a goofy smile.
“No,” Brett said, laughing to himself.
“We should be getting pizza soon.”
“That’s great, since we’re all hungry.”
“Well, at least I was.”
“Yeah, true.”
“Wanna see that one band tonight?” Tony asked.
“Yeah, we could,” Brett replied.

Brett still lay on his stomach on the floor, with his laptop in front of him. Audrey and Olivia were still with Brett and Kevin. Brett decided that now was the time to get his mind off goofy videos from the Internet and focus more on getting ready for tonight.

Where Tony had thought about taking everyone tonight is a game room with pool tables. He has been interested in seeing the place for a couple weeks now. And he thought everyone else might like it as well, since they all consider themselves masters at pool.

Maybe not that, but they do enjoy the game at least.

“Kevin, what kind of pizza did you order?” Byron asked.
“Anchovies, garlic, pineapple, and tomatoes, your favorite,” Kevin replied with a goofy smile.
“Oh shit. No, you didn’t.”
“Just for you, Byron. Since I know you love anchovies, garlic, pineapple, and tomatoes.”
“Yeah, no. I don’t,” Byron stated.
“Thought you did like them,” Kevin said.
“No!”
“Just kidding. I got pineapple and ham, and then just cheese. Because I know you love pineapple on pizza.”
“Uh uh. You know pretty damn well that pineapple does not go on pizza.”
“Yeah, it does.”

Kevin got two large pizzas, since there are four guys and two girls in the apartment at the moment. For some, pineapple goes on pizza. For others, pineapple does not go on pizza.

With that being said, for Tony, Kevin, Brett, and Audrey, pineapple goes on pizza. For Olivia and apparently Byron, pineapple does not go on pizza.

Brett, Olivia, Audrey, and Tony were still watching videos on Brett’s computer. Goofy ones, of course. They were completely unaware of the fact that Kevin had already ordered pizza. But they were aware of the fact that they wanted to check out a local band.

After all, it’s New York City. The city is always bopping on a Saturday night.

“What’s with Byron?” Brett asked Tony as they overheard some conversation between Kevin and Byron.
“Who knows? I think he’s being a bit of a butt today,” Tony remarked.
“Byron is always a butt.”
“Is he now?”
“I think so,” Brett replied, laughing to himself.
“He does not like pineapple on pizza,” Tony stated.
“Does he like pineapple at all?”
“I don’t know, but he likes grapefruit.”
“I like grapefruit, especially with sugar on top of a half.”
“Does it ever squirt in your eye?”
“Sometimes.”

About thirty minutes later, they all heard the doorbell ring, so they all knew what that meant. The pizza god was here to give them pizza. After Kevin got the money from everyone and gave it to the delivery person, they got their pizza fix. It was early afternoon, so no one felt like drinking yet.

That would be later when they’d go out and hit up Brooklyn.

Tony decided to put on some goofy TV while they would all eat pizza. Within thirty minutes, both pizzas were gone. But they all still wanted to watch some TV before leaving the apartment. All six kids were pretty hooked on this show, and they wanted to watch as much as they possibly could before the weather would warm up.

An hour later….

​“Let’s hit up Brooklyn,” Byron said, semi-announcing everything.
“Where are we going first?” Brett asked.
“Oh, you know.”
“Oh, where the band is performing?”
“How did you know?” Byron asked, semi-goofy.
“We talked about it!” Brett exclaimed.
“Oh, yeah. That’s right.”
“I want to see them about as badly as you do. I guess we’re all ready to go then.”