TA TALKS BACK: THE LAST TIME I SAW TWILIGHT
TA fan May talks about the last time she saw Twilight:
The lights fade in a movie theatre and my friend Ally and I exchange anxious glances. This will be the 14th time we’ve seen Twilight in as many weeks. We groan through the previews we have now seen 14 times and we pray there aren’t any unfortunate outbursts from crying babies or rabid fans, both of which have dampened the film before.As the opening scene of Bella in Arizona plays and the audience seems to be composed, I settle in for one more viewing. Ally nervously checks her cell phone for a call from her boyfriend, which should have come an hour before, but as the movie continues to Forks, she too begins to settle. I hear us sigh as Edward enters the cafeteria and I wonder how we’ve both become so completely consumed.
I remember seeing the preview for Twilight once, back in October. I also remember hearing of chaos breaking out in Midwestern malls because Robert Pattinson was signing autographs there. And other than a college friend of mine recommending the series, I had never heard anything else of the movie or books before. I guessed it was a bunch of tweens and their lonely moms going crazy, but as media attention began to mount I gave into curiosity.
I bought Twilight in mid–November and was instantly hooked. Like countless others, I could not put it down.
I called Ally the next day, bleary eyed and exhausted.
“You’ve got to get the book today,†I told her. “I was up until 3 this morning reading.â€
She wasn’t convinced. “I just bought two books, I’ll get it when I finish those – or I’ll just borrow your copy.â€
“By then it will be too late. We have to see the movie when it comes out on Friday,†I said. “Get it today. Just read a couple pages, you’ll see what I mean.â€
“Fine,†She said, “I’ll get it today.â€
Ally called me a few hours later, book in hand. She too had been bitten.
For the next few days we devoured Twilight. It consumed our conversations and every bit of free time we had. We hunted the internet for pictures, interviews, and commentaries. We saw the movie at midnight on November 21st. We bought New Moon, then Eclipse and were just as captivated by each.
Ally and I would call each other from time to time during our strange recess from the outside world. We both so deeply participated in the stories that it was hard to untangle ourselves from them. Somehow we began to work Twilight quotes into our daily lives, sometimes modifying them to fit the current situation.
“How you likin’ the rain girl?†Ally asked one drizzly evening. She had called while I was reading Eclipse next to an open window. The sound of rain and a heady breeze mixed with lingering thoughts of the book – it took me a minute to snap back to the real world. I knew she was really calling just to chat about the books, so I dismissed her question with a phony laugh. “Well, I haven’t showered in 36 hours and I think that’s also about the last time I ate, but I think I’ll be ready to buy the fourth book tomorrow,†I told her.
Her house is a 20-minute drive from mine and twice a week we would meet for dinner, somewhere in between, to catch up and discuss the series. The night before we began Breaking Dawn we met like this one last time. Both of us wore wrinkled clothes and had our hair in ratty ponytails as we rubbed our weary eyes. The countless pages and late nights were catching up with us.
“So, you’re ready to find out how it all ends?†I asked.
Ally sighed and added, “I guess so.â€
I knew how she felt. As excited as we were to finish the series, we were close to parting with characters and stories in which we had become increasingly involved. We would miss them when they were gone.
“Did you tell Jaime you’re reading the series?†Ally asked.
Jaime is a friend of ours. I had told her. I was usually protective of my devotion to the books, but I thought Jaime might be game. She had rolled her eyes and laughed it off. She had called me “one of those Twihards.†I remembered when I also felt that way about Twilight fans, but here I was – a Twihard, sleep deprived and starving because I couldn’t escape the story’s exotic charm.
“Yeah.†I said. “She doesn’t get it.â€
“Her loss.†Ally shrugs.
At this point my thoughts return back to the movie theatre and I watch again as Edward strikes up his first conversation with Bella for the 14th time.
This is when it finally dawns on me – how glad I am to experience this obsession with someone else, especially with a friend whom I’ve known nearly all my life. Ally and I have shared everything from hairbrushes to heartache. We’ve seen each other through tragedy, laughed at each others’ stupid mistakes, but this Twilight thing is different. It has allowed us to escape from the stresses of the real world, to fall for the same guy, to argue about vampires and werewolves, and to explore a whole new gray world while we rediscover our own, long passed, obsessive teen loves. It’s strange how a book about curbing addiction to reap greater rewards has created such an addictive quality itself, but had I not been able to share this addiction it wouldn’t have nearly been as much fun.
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