It's Our Time to Shine
I've Been Given Such A Gift.
“Hey, guys… Do any of you have Yens? I only have Dollars on me”, Jepha asked from the door, about to pay the piccolo who had brought us our pizzas.
“Uhm, check the shelf over there. I think it’s enough to pay for the food”, Dan said from the recliner.
“Well, could you get ‘em for me? I’m not an octopus with eight arms, ya know”, he laughed, making the piccolo smile.
Dan got up from the recliner and as he passed by the sofa, Bert stretched his foot out, making him almost fall flat on the floor.
“Dude, what the fuck?”, Dan burst out, not able to hold back his laughter.
“Oh, sorry. Cramps…”
“Guys, come on! The pizzas are gettin´ cold and I’m hungry”, Jepha said, rolling his eyes with a smile.
“Comin´, comin´.”
“There you go, and keep the change.”
“Thank you very much, Sir!”, the piccolo said with his best smile as he received the money and left.
“Okay, let’s eat”, Quinn sighed, looking at the pizzas that were placed on the table, filling the hotel suite with the sweet scent of melted cheese.
“Wanna do it now, or…?”, I could hear Dan whisper to Jepha, looking over at me as if he was holding something from me.
“Yeah.”
“Awesome!”
“Okay, guys”, Jepha began, getting up from the recliner. “As we all know, it’s Lina’s birthday today.”
“Kinda. It’s my half birthday”, I corrected, laughing slightly as I still didn’t know what was really going on right now.
“Whatever, dude. It’s still your birthday”, he laughed, before continuing. “The guys and I haven’t had much time to plan that much since you didn’t tell us about this earlier, but after the interview with MTV Japan earlier today, we sneaked out and got you something.”
“Ahh, so that’s why you guys ‘left me’ with Bert so you could run out and pretend that you were waiting for us?”
“Yeah”, Jepha laughed, having a guilty look upon his face as he smiled. So we went shopping in this nearby store that was right next to the building where we had the interview.”
“Hey, we agreed on calling it ‘out to do some business’. Sounds more masculine”, Quinn added, making me laugh.
“Okay, either way, we got somethin´ for ya. It’s okay if you don’t like it, ‘cause honestly, neither one of us have any experience in buying girls’ stuff.”
“What – you bought me a present?”, I asked, still confused.
“Yeah!”, Bert smiled.
“Guys… You didn’t have to do that. I mean, I’m okay with just spending time with you. That’s almost a gift in itself.”
“Oh, come on. Cut the crap. Everyone loves presents. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it”, Dan said laughing.
“Fine, fine. Hand it over”, I giggled, blushing while looking at the guys with a smile upon my face.
“Dam, dam, dam!”, Jepha sang, pulling out a bag with an unknown object.
“Jesus… As long as it’s not a dildo, I’m happy”, I added jokingly, receiving the bag as I took the present out it and began tearing off the wrapping paper.
The guys had all moved closer now, anxiously waiting for me to open the gift and see how I would react to it.
I gasped as I saw what was hiding under the wrapping paper; two books, each assumingly having to do something with journalism as their titles were ‘How to Become a Journalist: A Practical Guide to Newspaper Work’ and ‘How to Become a Good Journalist’.
“Oh, my God! Thank you so much, guys! You didn’t have to get me these books, but, oh, my God, thank you so much!”, I burst out, jumping up from the cough and giving all of them a crushing hug.
“Ahaha, it’s okay. Glad we could make you happy and that you liked the gift”, Jepha smiled.
“Like it? I love it! Wow, this is too much.”
“We know how much you want to become a journalist, and since we couldn’t find any books that specifically had to do anything with music and writing, we bought you a guide book in journalism”, Quinn explained.
“Yeah, and since some of us couldn’t decide whether to buy that book or the other one, we bought ‘em both.”
“Hey… Indian people kick ass at making food, but who trusts an Indian in writing a guide book in journalism? Not me…”, Bert added, fumbling with his fingers before he lit himself a cigarette.
“But you weren’t there?”, I said.
“No, but Quinn called me when I was with you after the interview, remember?”
“Oh, yeah…! Wait, didn’t he just nag on you to get us to come down?”
“That’s what I wanted you to believe. I couldn’t exactly start saying, ‘no, don’t take that book for Lina’s birthday. She’s gonna hate it’, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess”, I giggled, feeling pretty stupid about that one.
“And he sent me a picture of the books too, and I told the guys to buy ‘em both”, he added.
I just smiled at him, holding tightly on to my new birthday present as I felt myself wanting to start reading them right away.
“It’s like I should begin reading the books right now.”
“Hell, no. You’re watching the movie with us. The movies, actually. You can read in bed. Right now, it’s movie fright night, and you’re our guest of honor”, Dan said, receiving agreeable ‘yeah’s’ from the guys before we all dug in on the pizzas.
“Hey, Lina… Could you give me a slice of the spicy pepperoni?”, Bert asked, looking at me as I was about to grab one of my own.
“Yeah, sure. Here.”
“Thanks, babe. Ohh, a corner! My favorite”, he grinned, putting out his cigarette before taking a bite of it as he once again leaned back in the sofa.
“Do you want some soda?”, Quinn asked from my left, about to pour into my glass.
“Yes, please”, I smiled.
“Want me to give you a slice too?”, he then asked, seeing that the pizzas had been moved closer to Jepha and Dan, not making me able to reach them – something Quinn obviously had noticed.
“What the hell, dude? Tryin´ to get her to bed, or what?”, Bert asked, having a laughing fit as he nearly choked on his pizza.
“Uhm, no. I’m just trying to be nice to the birthday girl”, he grinned.
“Don’t get too friendly now, ya hear?”
The pathetic attempt of Bert trying to have a Texas accent made me giggle, and his weird face expression while hearing him say it didn’t make it less funny.
“So, Lina…”, Quinn said, shaking his head at Bert’s joking. “Want me to give you a slice?”
“If you could.”
“Sure! Which pizza do you want from?”
“The spicy pepperoni”, Bert answered.
“I wasn’t askin´ you”, Quinn responded.
“I think I’m actually gonna try that one. Who knows – it might turn out to be good”, I smiled.
“Okay, here”, he said, handing me a slice before the both of us leaned back in the sofa again.
“That’s my girl”, Bert grinned. “Pepperoni’s the way to go.”
“Wanna start the movie again?”, Jepha then asked, having his mouth full of veggie pizza.
“Hit it!”
As soon as he pushed the ‘play’ button and the killing continued on the TV screen, I could see Quinn from the corner of my eye tucking himself in with the blanket he so faithfully had become attached to ever since we first started watching the movie.
He kept choking on his pizza slice and soda, and it seemed like he stuffed his face full of pizza whenever someone got brutally slaughtered in order to prevent himself from screaming.
To be honest, I couldn’t help myself from giggling slightly as I saw him sitting completely petrified beside me in the sofa.
“Exciting movie, right?”, I smiled softly before gently brushed my hand along Quinn’s arm.
He had pulled his knees up to his chin and was looking paralyzed into the TV screen.
“Yeah. Entertaining…”, he said, forcing himself to smile as he took a sip of his soda with appalling eyes.
I smiled at him once more, giving him an understanding look as I continued watching the movie.
“I want snacks, does anyone else want snacks?”
We all looked at Quinn, seeing him to everything else except actually paying attention to the movie.
“Yeah, sure”, Bert responded in a raspy voice.
“Call room service, then”, Jepha suggested.
“I’ll do it!”
I looked at Quinn, seeing him jump up from the couch and rushing towards the telephone to make an order.
If I weren’t mistaking, I bet he was overjoyed now for having an excuse for not continuing to watch the movie.
“Want me to pause it?”, Jepha asked, ready to pus the ‘pause button’ on the remote control.
“No! I mean, uhm, no thanks. No reason for that”, Quinn replied in a voice you could’ve taken for cracking any second.
“… Okay. So what do we want?”
“I want chips. Lots of it! That spicy shit”, Bert said, putting his arm around my shoulder while patting his lips.
“I’m down for some fruit. Nothing special, just regular fruits. And while you’re at it, order some tea too. Green”, Jepha added.
“Yeah, okay. I’m on it.”
“Wait! We need cake. A birthday cake”, Dan said.
“Fuck, yeah! With icing”, Bert agreed with an excited voice.
“Nooo. We don’t need that”, I smiled.
“Bet your ass we do.”
“You’ve already done enough for me, guys.”
“Not yet. A birthday girl needs her birthday cake. Besides, we’ve got Quinn – he’ll finish the cake if there’s anything left.”
“Hey… I love cake, don’t judge me”, he pouted, before blowing it off with a grin.
“But what do you want, Lina? I mean, besides a cake?”
“I’m not sure…”, I hesitated. “What are the options?”
“Come over here. I’ll show you the menu”, Quinn smiled, waving the menu in the air from where he was standing next to the telephone, making me walk over to him.
“Oh, strawberries! Jepha, can we have strawberries along with your fruit too?”, I asked with a sweet voice, now feeling a strong craving for the sweet taste of strawberries.
“Sure!”, he said. “Strawberries are delicious.”
“Add some whipped cream into that and I’m all with you tonight, babe”, Bert added from the sofa, having a smirk on his face while looking at me.
“No thanks. I think we had enough action last night”, I replied jokingly, but regretted it the second later.
I felt relieved when the other guys started laughing, Bert included – indicating that it was okay to joke about that now.
Thank God for the fact that we all trust each other and feel comfortable with each other.
Or else the awkward tension between all of us would’ve been unbearable.
At that point, I smiled at Bert, feeling my cheeks becoming warm as I started blushing.
“So whipped cream along with that, then?”, Quinn asked.
“Don’t look at me, ask Bert”, I laughed.
“Fuck, yeah! Whipped cream too”, he said.
“Okay, whipped cream it is. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m orderin´ some cookies!”
Before I knew it, Quinn picked up the phone and dialed the number to room service, and I once again sat down in the sofa next to Bert.
“Hey, are you okay?”, he asked. “I didn’t mean to offend you or anything with the whipped cream. I was just fuckin´ around.”
I smiled as wasn’t able to hold back a giggle.
“No, of course not. You are allowed to crack a few one-the-edge jokes without me ending up at the emergency ward, you know.”
He greeted my smile, removing his arm from my shoulder before he imprinted a soft kiss on my lips.
“… And bring up some whipped cream with those strawberries too”, Quinn said before ending the telephone conversation.
“But I wasn’t going to order that after all”, I said, looking at him with a surprised look upon my face.
“Looks like Bert’s getting his wish come true after all, then”, Jepha added with a grin.
“Haha, whatever. Right now, I just want to have a good time with you guys, right, babe?”
“Absolutely”, I smiled, looking at him as he shoved me closer to him with his arm resting gently around my shoulders…
“Uhm, check the shelf over there. I think it’s enough to pay for the food”, Dan said from the recliner.
“Well, could you get ‘em for me? I’m not an octopus with eight arms, ya know”, he laughed, making the piccolo smile.
Dan got up from the recliner and as he passed by the sofa, Bert stretched his foot out, making him almost fall flat on the floor.
“Dude, what the fuck?”, Dan burst out, not able to hold back his laughter.
“Oh, sorry. Cramps…”
“Guys, come on! The pizzas are gettin´ cold and I’m hungry”, Jepha said, rolling his eyes with a smile.
“Comin´, comin´.”
“There you go, and keep the change.”
“Thank you very much, Sir!”, the piccolo said with his best smile as he received the money and left.
“Okay, let’s eat”, Quinn sighed, looking at the pizzas that were placed on the table, filling the hotel suite with the sweet scent of melted cheese.
“Wanna do it now, or…?”, I could hear Dan whisper to Jepha, looking over at me as if he was holding something from me.
“Yeah.”
“Awesome!”
“Okay, guys”, Jepha began, getting up from the recliner. “As we all know, it’s Lina’s birthday today.”
“Kinda. It’s my half birthday”, I corrected, laughing slightly as I still didn’t know what was really going on right now.
“Whatever, dude. It’s still your birthday”, he laughed, before continuing. “The guys and I haven’t had much time to plan that much since you didn’t tell us about this earlier, but after the interview with MTV Japan earlier today, we sneaked out and got you something.”
“Ahh, so that’s why you guys ‘left me’ with Bert so you could run out and pretend that you were waiting for us?”
“Yeah”, Jepha laughed, having a guilty look upon his face as he smiled. So we went shopping in this nearby store that was right next to the building where we had the interview.”
“Hey, we agreed on calling it ‘out to do some business’. Sounds more masculine”, Quinn added, making me laugh.
“Okay, either way, we got somethin´ for ya. It’s okay if you don’t like it, ‘cause honestly, neither one of us have any experience in buying girls’ stuff.”
“What – you bought me a present?”, I asked, still confused.
“Yeah!”, Bert smiled.
“Guys… You didn’t have to do that. I mean, I’m okay with just spending time with you. That’s almost a gift in itself.”
“Oh, come on. Cut the crap. Everyone loves presents. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it”, Dan said laughing.
“Fine, fine. Hand it over”, I giggled, blushing while looking at the guys with a smile upon my face.
“Dam, dam, dam!”, Jepha sang, pulling out a bag with an unknown object.
“Jesus… As long as it’s not a dildo, I’m happy”, I added jokingly, receiving the bag as I took the present out it and began tearing off the wrapping paper.
The guys had all moved closer now, anxiously waiting for me to open the gift and see how I would react to it.
I gasped as I saw what was hiding under the wrapping paper; two books, each assumingly having to do something with journalism as their titles were ‘How to Become a Journalist: A Practical Guide to Newspaper Work’ and ‘How to Become a Good Journalist’.
“Oh, my God! Thank you so much, guys! You didn’t have to get me these books, but, oh, my God, thank you so much!”, I burst out, jumping up from the cough and giving all of them a crushing hug.
“Ahaha, it’s okay. Glad we could make you happy and that you liked the gift”, Jepha smiled.
“Like it? I love it! Wow, this is too much.”
“We know how much you want to become a journalist, and since we couldn’t find any books that specifically had to do anything with music and writing, we bought you a guide book in journalism”, Quinn explained.
“Yeah, and since some of us couldn’t decide whether to buy that book or the other one, we bought ‘em both.”
“Hey… Indian people kick ass at making food, but who trusts an Indian in writing a guide book in journalism? Not me…”, Bert added, fumbling with his fingers before he lit himself a cigarette.
“But you weren’t there?”, I said.
“No, but Quinn called me when I was with you after the interview, remember?”
“Oh, yeah…! Wait, didn’t he just nag on you to get us to come down?”
“That’s what I wanted you to believe. I couldn’t exactly start saying, ‘no, don’t take that book for Lina’s birthday. She’s gonna hate it’, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess”, I giggled, feeling pretty stupid about that one.
“And he sent me a picture of the books too, and I told the guys to buy ‘em both”, he added.
I just smiled at him, holding tightly on to my new birthday present as I felt myself wanting to start reading them right away.
“It’s like I should begin reading the books right now.”
“Hell, no. You’re watching the movie with us. The movies, actually. You can read in bed. Right now, it’s movie fright night, and you’re our guest of honor”, Dan said, receiving agreeable ‘yeah’s’ from the guys before we all dug in on the pizzas.
“Hey, Lina… Could you give me a slice of the spicy pepperoni?”, Bert asked, looking at me as I was about to grab one of my own.
“Yeah, sure. Here.”
“Thanks, babe. Ohh, a corner! My favorite”, he grinned, putting out his cigarette before taking a bite of it as he once again leaned back in the sofa.
“Do you want some soda?”, Quinn asked from my left, about to pour into my glass.
“Yes, please”, I smiled.
“Want me to give you a slice too?”, he then asked, seeing that the pizzas had been moved closer to Jepha and Dan, not making me able to reach them – something Quinn obviously had noticed.
“What the hell, dude? Tryin´ to get her to bed, or what?”, Bert asked, having a laughing fit as he nearly choked on his pizza.
“Uhm, no. I’m just trying to be nice to the birthday girl”, he grinned.
“Don’t get too friendly now, ya hear?”
The pathetic attempt of Bert trying to have a Texas accent made me giggle, and his weird face expression while hearing him say it didn’t make it less funny.
“So, Lina…”, Quinn said, shaking his head at Bert’s joking. “Want me to give you a slice?”
“If you could.”
“Sure! Which pizza do you want from?”
“The spicy pepperoni”, Bert answered.
“I wasn’t askin´ you”, Quinn responded.
“I think I’m actually gonna try that one. Who knows – it might turn out to be good”, I smiled.
“Okay, here”, he said, handing me a slice before the both of us leaned back in the sofa again.
“That’s my girl”, Bert grinned. “Pepperoni’s the way to go.”
“Wanna start the movie again?”, Jepha then asked, having his mouth full of veggie pizza.
“Hit it!”
As soon as he pushed the ‘play’ button and the killing continued on the TV screen, I could see Quinn from the corner of my eye tucking himself in with the blanket he so faithfully had become attached to ever since we first started watching the movie.
He kept choking on his pizza slice and soda, and it seemed like he stuffed his face full of pizza whenever someone got brutally slaughtered in order to prevent himself from screaming.
To be honest, I couldn’t help myself from giggling slightly as I saw him sitting completely petrified beside me in the sofa.
“Exciting movie, right?”, I smiled softly before gently brushed my hand along Quinn’s arm.
He had pulled his knees up to his chin and was looking paralyzed into the TV screen.
“Yeah. Entertaining…”, he said, forcing himself to smile as he took a sip of his soda with appalling eyes.
I smiled at him once more, giving him an understanding look as I continued watching the movie.
“I want snacks, does anyone else want snacks?”
We all looked at Quinn, seeing him to everything else except actually paying attention to the movie.
“Yeah, sure”, Bert responded in a raspy voice.
“Call room service, then”, Jepha suggested.
“I’ll do it!”
I looked at Quinn, seeing him jump up from the couch and rushing towards the telephone to make an order.
If I weren’t mistaking, I bet he was overjoyed now for having an excuse for not continuing to watch the movie.
“Want me to pause it?”, Jepha asked, ready to pus the ‘pause button’ on the remote control.
“No! I mean, uhm, no thanks. No reason for that”, Quinn replied in a voice you could’ve taken for cracking any second.
“… Okay. So what do we want?”
“I want chips. Lots of it! That spicy shit”, Bert said, putting his arm around my shoulder while patting his lips.
“I’m down for some fruit. Nothing special, just regular fruits. And while you’re at it, order some tea too. Green”, Jepha added.
“Yeah, okay. I’m on it.”
“Wait! We need cake. A birthday cake”, Dan said.
“Fuck, yeah! With icing”, Bert agreed with an excited voice.
“Nooo. We don’t need that”, I smiled.
“Bet your ass we do.”
“You’ve already done enough for me, guys.”
“Not yet. A birthday girl needs her birthday cake. Besides, we’ve got Quinn – he’ll finish the cake if there’s anything left.”
“Hey… I love cake, don’t judge me”, he pouted, before blowing it off with a grin.
“But what do you want, Lina? I mean, besides a cake?”
“I’m not sure…”, I hesitated. “What are the options?”
“Come over here. I’ll show you the menu”, Quinn smiled, waving the menu in the air from where he was standing next to the telephone, making me walk over to him.
“Oh, strawberries! Jepha, can we have strawberries along with your fruit too?”, I asked with a sweet voice, now feeling a strong craving for the sweet taste of strawberries.
“Sure!”, he said. “Strawberries are delicious.”
“Add some whipped cream into that and I’m all with you tonight, babe”, Bert added from the sofa, having a smirk on his face while looking at me.
“No thanks. I think we had enough action last night”, I replied jokingly, but regretted it the second later.
I felt relieved when the other guys started laughing, Bert included – indicating that it was okay to joke about that now.
Thank God for the fact that we all trust each other and feel comfortable with each other.
Or else the awkward tension between all of us would’ve been unbearable.
At that point, I smiled at Bert, feeling my cheeks becoming warm as I started blushing.
“So whipped cream along with that, then?”, Quinn asked.
“Don’t look at me, ask Bert”, I laughed.
“Fuck, yeah! Whipped cream too”, he said.
“Okay, whipped cream it is. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m orderin´ some cookies!”
Before I knew it, Quinn picked up the phone and dialed the number to room service, and I once again sat down in the sofa next to Bert.
“Hey, are you okay?”, he asked. “I didn’t mean to offend you or anything with the whipped cream. I was just fuckin´ around.”
I smiled as wasn’t able to hold back a giggle.
“No, of course not. You are allowed to crack a few one-the-edge jokes without me ending up at the emergency ward, you know.”
He greeted my smile, removing his arm from my shoulder before he imprinted a soft kiss on my lips.
“… And bring up some whipped cream with those strawberries too”, Quinn said before ending the telephone conversation.
“But I wasn’t going to order that after all”, I said, looking at him with a surprised look upon my face.
“Looks like Bert’s getting his wish come true after all, then”, Jepha added with a grin.
“Haha, whatever. Right now, I just want to have a good time with you guys, right, babe?”
“Absolutely”, I smiled, looking at him as he shoved me closer to him with his arm resting gently around my shoulders…
♠ ♠ ♠
i decided to write a long update tonight.reason?
im sick.
sickness?
traces of swine flu along with sinusitis and bronchitis.
medical treatment?
antibiotics.
because of?
my trip to london, probably when i saw the used exactly 4 weeks ago today.
worth it?
fuck, yeah. (: <3
so as for now, i need to take it easy.
haha.
but ill be back in shape next week, i guess.
so hopefully therell be another update then. ;D
also, have you guys checked out 'Artwork' yet?
its amazing, right?
YES. <3
oh, and btw; i have a new story up!
its called 'Maybe Memories' and its about the teenage life of bert.
check it out if you wanna. (:
and happy birthday, mom.
love you so much. <3
xo,
lina.