I Went to Claire's Today

I was driving along Route 202 today, trying to breathe in just how beautiful the mountains are in the end of October when my cell rang. It was my friend Miryam. "Hey Dina," she said, "I need to go to the mall to get a tiara today, wanna come?" I agreed to go and we set a time.

The two of us walked into Claire's for the first time since, oh...maybe 8th grade. I was on one side of the store looking through plastic headbands and sparkly earrings when the music changed to the next song.
Baby set me free...From this misery...
I stopped what I was doing.
I can't take this no more...Since you went away...Nothing's been the same...

I put the earrings I was holding back and walked up to Miryam.
"Mir--they're playing BBMak!"
"I know," She said.
"And we're in Claire's!"
"I know!"
I started laughing. She was already laughing. And when I walked away, she was singing along.

Until you're back here baby
Miss you, want you , need you so
Until you're back here, baby
There's a feeling inside I want you to know
You are the one and I can't let you go

BBMak. Their song made it to the Top 40s in 2000, but my friends and I were already their fans. When we were in 8th grade, my friends and I walked into the record store at the mall and found ourselves staring at three beautiful men on the cover of a cd. It was a single, really inexpensive, and we were 14 year-old girls with no or little concept of money. So we bought it.

As it turned out, the single was a pretty good pop song. And when BBMak became big (they were during their one-hit period), my friends and I already knew them. We were just that cool.

I wasn't in Claire's because my mother had only given me $50 when she dropped me off at the mall and hairclips was the easiest way to burn it. I wasn't 13. I was there with a friend who was looking for a tiara for her wedding. And there, in the middle of Claire's, with BBMak playing in the background, I felt all grown-up.