It's Our Time to Shine
The Arrival.
“There’s a taxi – right over there”, Jepha suddenly said, pointing at a cab across the street.
“Yeah, hold on. I’m just gonna have a smoke first”, Bert added, getting his carton of Marlboro 20’s from his pocket.
“Dude, you could’ve done that while Dan and I were smoking just a sec ago”, Quinn complained.
“Sorry, I forgot. Gotta have one right now. It’s been hours since last time.”
“Yeah, okay. Me, Jeph n’ Dan’ll start fillin´ the trunk meanwhile”, he said before they all started pushing the trolleys towards an available cab.
It was late now, already past midnight, and without noticing – I yawned.
“Are you tired?”, Bert asked, having a cigarette at the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, a little.”
“You’re still up for tonight, right?”
“You mean going out?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not sure. I guess so…”, I answered him, choking yet another yawn.
“You gotta! I mean, we’re hittin´ that bar Jeph told us about – you know, Rock Rock, and I’m not goin´ without you.”
“I don’t know.”
I was hesitating. After the 15-hour long flight with that one stop in Tokyo while experiencing the anxiety of my life and the fear of nose-diving straight into the ocean, and in addition to that, going to a bar now to get wasted, just didn’t seem to be as tempting as I wanted it to be.
“Please – for me? I really want you to come along”, Bert begged me, just about to finish his smoke.
“Okay, fine. I’ll go.”
“Awesome!”
“But if I pass out from exhaustion, you’re gonna carry me back to the hotel – just so you know it”, I joked.
“It’ll be my pleasure”, he smiled.
“Are you guys ready to go now?”, Jepha asked, looking at us from the taxi.
“Yeah, comin´”, Bert replied, dropping his cigarette on the dirty asphalt before stepping on it as the both of us joined the others.
We both entered the cab and fastened our seat belts as the taxi driver now drove out of the crowded airport area.
“Whe-eh u go?”, the driver asked with a terrible English accent, but smiling like the sun while looking at all of us.
“The Four Season Hotel”, Jepha replied from the seat next to him, greeting his smile.
“Deh Fow Sison Otell, yes!”
During the approximately 30-minute long drive from the airport, I was totally evolved by the scenery around me.
There were skyscrapers wherever I turned my head, the traffic was all over the place, people were mingling everywhere and the several lights I’d seen from the sky while we still were in the air were even more fascinating on the ground.
The sights were almost hypnotizing, making me feel dozy as I now let myself fall asleep in the taxi.
”Hey…”, a voice said, whispering in my ear while gently shaking my shoulder.
“Lina – sweetie, are you awake?”
I opened my eyes slowly, seeing Bert bent over me while having his hand on my arm.
“Are you awake?”, he repeated with a cute smile.
“Yeah…”, I responded, constantly blinking my eyes, trying to wake up as the hotel lights were blinding me at the same time.
“You poor thing”, Quinn said, peeking inside the cab.
“Yeah, uhm… Could you, like, start gettin´ our luggage out of the trunk while I try n’ wake her up?”, Bert asked him.
“Sure, dude”, he replied, starting to empty the trunk with help from Jepha and Dan.
I could hardly keep my eyes open as I once again felt my eyelids closing.
“Lina… Wake up, sleepyhead. We’ve arrived to the hotel now.”
I looked at the side with a dozy look, seeing Bert sitting close to me at the back of the cab.
“Yeah, I’m awake. I’m up”, I mumbled, rubbing my face with clumsy moves, still half asleep as I took off my seatbelt and stubled out of the taxi.
“She sick?”, the cab driver asked, pointing at me with a curious look.
“Nah, just tired”, Bert smiled, having his arm around me as I was resting my head on his chest.
“Hey, I’ve got another trolley, or, the piccolo does, so our luggage is being carried to the lobby right now if you’re ready to go”, Quinn said.
“Yeah, sure. Where’s Jeph n’ Dan?”, Bert then asked, seeing that they weren’t there.
“Jeph just paid for the cab before he headed inside with Dan to check in.”
“Oh, okay. We better get inside too. Lina’s about to crash on the fuckin´ pavement now.”
“No, I’m not”, I said in a raspy, tired voice, looking up at Bert before sniffling my nose.
“Aww. Come on – let’s get you inside”, he replied, letting me lean on him as we entered The Four Season Hotel.
We were met by the other guys in the lobby, hearing that we’d gotten a room up in the 6th floor with the room number 627.
“Let me show you the way to your hotel suite, gentlemen. And miss, of course”, the piccolo said elegantly, smiling at me before pushing the elevator button.
As we reached the 6th floor, we were guided by the piccolo down a long hallway before we entered room 627.
“If there is no more need me for, I will be leaving you now. But if there is anything needed, do not hesitate to use the hotel telephone at the small table next to the door there. The number you dial is 012”, the piccolo said as he was done carrying our luggage off of the trolley.
“Thank you so much”, Quinn responded, handing him an unknown amount of tips before he left us.
“So, what do we do now?”, Dan asked, crashing down in the camel brown leather sofa.
“What about hittin´ town?”, Jepha suggested with a smirk on his face.
“Sure, I’m down for that.”
“Me too”, Quinn added. “What about you, guys?”
“Uhm… I’m not sure actually. Lina’s pretty tired”, Bert answered.
“I can answer for myself, you know”, I said, giving him a tired smile that didn’t show anything more than total exhaustion.
“I know”, he grinned, bumping gently into my shoulder.
“But are you up for it?”, Jepha asked, looking at me.
“Uhm, yeah. Can I just change first?”
“Yeah, sure. And good idea – I think I’m gonna go do the same”, he responded.
“Where is the bathroom? Or for that matter – everything? This place is huge! Can it even be called a hotel room?”
“Actually, it’s a hotel suite”, Quinn teased before he continued. “Normally we just have hotel rooms when we’re on tour, but when we travel abroad like this and we don’t have our tour bus, it’s nice to have some extra space.”
“Yeah, I can understand that”, I smiled.
“But you asked where the bathroom is?”
“Yeah…”
“It’s… Uhm, I’m not sure actually. I guess you just have to go and look”, Quinn laughed, picking up his backpack from the floor.
I got my own red backpack and started looking around.
The suite was big – in fact huge, and the so-called main room was gigantic.
There were several doors there, each and every one of them leading to another room, making me utterly confused as I was constantly ending up in any other room except the bathroom.
At that point, I was starting to give up on trying to find the bathroom, but at the same time, I couldn’t believe that I was in a hotel room in Japan…
“Yeah, hold on. I’m just gonna have a smoke first”, Bert added, getting his carton of Marlboro 20’s from his pocket.
“Dude, you could’ve done that while Dan and I were smoking just a sec ago”, Quinn complained.
“Sorry, I forgot. Gotta have one right now. It’s been hours since last time.”
“Yeah, okay. Me, Jeph n’ Dan’ll start fillin´ the trunk meanwhile”, he said before they all started pushing the trolleys towards an available cab.
It was late now, already past midnight, and without noticing – I yawned.
“Are you tired?”, Bert asked, having a cigarette at the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, a little.”
“You’re still up for tonight, right?”
“You mean going out?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not sure. I guess so…”, I answered him, choking yet another yawn.
“You gotta! I mean, we’re hittin´ that bar Jeph told us about – you know, Rock Rock, and I’m not goin´ without you.”
“I don’t know.”
I was hesitating. After the 15-hour long flight with that one stop in Tokyo while experiencing the anxiety of my life and the fear of nose-diving straight into the ocean, and in addition to that, going to a bar now to get wasted, just didn’t seem to be as tempting as I wanted it to be.
“Please – for me? I really want you to come along”, Bert begged me, just about to finish his smoke.
“Okay, fine. I’ll go.”
“Awesome!”
“But if I pass out from exhaustion, you’re gonna carry me back to the hotel – just so you know it”, I joked.
“It’ll be my pleasure”, he smiled.
“Are you guys ready to go now?”, Jepha asked, looking at us from the taxi.
“Yeah, comin´”, Bert replied, dropping his cigarette on the dirty asphalt before stepping on it as the both of us joined the others.
We both entered the cab and fastened our seat belts as the taxi driver now drove out of the crowded airport area.
“Whe-eh u go?”, the driver asked with a terrible English accent, but smiling like the sun while looking at all of us.
“The Four Season Hotel”, Jepha replied from the seat next to him, greeting his smile.
“Deh Fow Sison Otell, yes!”
During the approximately 30-minute long drive from the airport, I was totally evolved by the scenery around me.
There were skyscrapers wherever I turned my head, the traffic was all over the place, people were mingling everywhere and the several lights I’d seen from the sky while we still were in the air were even more fascinating on the ground.
The sights were almost hypnotizing, making me feel dozy as I now let myself fall asleep in the taxi.
”Hey…”, a voice said, whispering in my ear while gently shaking my shoulder.
“Lina – sweetie, are you awake?”
I opened my eyes slowly, seeing Bert bent over me while having his hand on my arm.
“Are you awake?”, he repeated with a cute smile.
“Yeah…”, I responded, constantly blinking my eyes, trying to wake up as the hotel lights were blinding me at the same time.
“You poor thing”, Quinn said, peeking inside the cab.
“Yeah, uhm… Could you, like, start gettin´ our luggage out of the trunk while I try n’ wake her up?”, Bert asked him.
“Sure, dude”, he replied, starting to empty the trunk with help from Jepha and Dan.
I could hardly keep my eyes open as I once again felt my eyelids closing.
“Lina… Wake up, sleepyhead. We’ve arrived to the hotel now.”
I looked at the side with a dozy look, seeing Bert sitting close to me at the back of the cab.
“Yeah, I’m awake. I’m up”, I mumbled, rubbing my face with clumsy moves, still half asleep as I took off my seatbelt and stubled out of the taxi.
“She sick?”, the cab driver asked, pointing at me with a curious look.
“Nah, just tired”, Bert smiled, having his arm around me as I was resting my head on his chest.
“Hey, I’ve got another trolley, or, the piccolo does, so our luggage is being carried to the lobby right now if you’re ready to go”, Quinn said.
“Yeah, sure. Where’s Jeph n’ Dan?”, Bert then asked, seeing that they weren’t there.
“Jeph just paid for the cab before he headed inside with Dan to check in.”
“Oh, okay. We better get inside too. Lina’s about to crash on the fuckin´ pavement now.”
“No, I’m not”, I said in a raspy, tired voice, looking up at Bert before sniffling my nose.
“Aww. Come on – let’s get you inside”, he replied, letting me lean on him as we entered The Four Season Hotel.
We were met by the other guys in the lobby, hearing that we’d gotten a room up in the 6th floor with the room number 627.
“Let me show you the way to your hotel suite, gentlemen. And miss, of course”, the piccolo said elegantly, smiling at me before pushing the elevator button.
As we reached the 6th floor, we were guided by the piccolo down a long hallway before we entered room 627.
“If there is no more need me for, I will be leaving you now. But if there is anything needed, do not hesitate to use the hotel telephone at the small table next to the door there. The number you dial is 012”, the piccolo said as he was done carrying our luggage off of the trolley.
“Thank you so much”, Quinn responded, handing him an unknown amount of tips before he left us.
“So, what do we do now?”, Dan asked, crashing down in the camel brown leather sofa.
“What about hittin´ town?”, Jepha suggested with a smirk on his face.
“Sure, I’m down for that.”
“Me too”, Quinn added. “What about you, guys?”
“Uhm… I’m not sure actually. Lina’s pretty tired”, Bert answered.
“I can answer for myself, you know”, I said, giving him a tired smile that didn’t show anything more than total exhaustion.
“I know”, he grinned, bumping gently into my shoulder.
“But are you up for it?”, Jepha asked, looking at me.
“Uhm, yeah. Can I just change first?”
“Yeah, sure. And good idea – I think I’m gonna go do the same”, he responded.
“Where is the bathroom? Or for that matter – everything? This place is huge! Can it even be called a hotel room?”
“Actually, it’s a hotel suite”, Quinn teased before he continued. “Normally we just have hotel rooms when we’re on tour, but when we travel abroad like this and we don’t have our tour bus, it’s nice to have some extra space.”
“Yeah, I can understand that”, I smiled.
“But you asked where the bathroom is?”
“Yeah…”
“It’s… Uhm, I’m not sure actually. I guess you just have to go and look”, Quinn laughed, picking up his backpack from the floor.
I got my own red backpack and started looking around.
The suite was big – in fact huge, and the so-called main room was gigantic.
There were several doors there, each and every one of them leading to another room, making me utterly confused as I was constantly ending up in any other room except the bathroom.
At that point, I was starting to give up on trying to find the bathroom, but at the same time, I couldn’t believe that I was in a hotel room in Japan…
♠ ♠ ♠
i'm going to norway's biggest amusement park today with the entire country's graduation class. :'Domfg, i'm so stoked and i can't wait to ride those roller coasters. (((:
xo,
lina.