Fuzzy Blue Lights

"You do realize that Jamie would just about kill you if he learned that you went to England and didn't at least call him."

Maja giggled on her end of the line as I just fumed. Yeah, she did have a point, but I didn't really want to go talk to Jamie. That, and I had no idea if Bill would need me or not. From what I knew, all he had scheduled for today were a few of interviews, but he probably would want me to be there for his various touch-ups between interviews, or something.

"Jamie wouldn't kill me. I'm pretty sure that he would understand if I wasn't able to visit him." Maja giggled a bit more at me, and I heard an angry masculine German shout on her end of the line. Yeah, I knew that she was talking to me while at work, but the main reason why she was talking to me was because she was at work. She had started to realize that it was rather odd to go about the work day without me around to work with.

"You're just saying that because you're afraid that Avery would be there," she cooed and I scoffed into my phone.

"Yeah, you so got me. Like I would really care if Avery was visiting his cousin. You know that's not the reason that I can't go see Jamie."

She found the false note in my voice. She always did. We'd lived together for the past three years, after all.

"You really shouldn't let the past get in the way with now, you know. I'm sure Avery has gotten over you leaving by now," she assured.

"Yeah, and what if he hasn't? What if he's raised some sort of hatred for me or something? You never know." I was getting all finicky with this subject. I never really liked talking about my past, but since Maja knew all about it she was the only one that talked to me of my old friends- after all, they were her "American Buddies", as she had so dubbed them that year she had spent as a foreign exchange student.

Yeah. We actually had known each other for that long.

"You shouldn't let Avery stop you from seeing Jamie. What are the odds that he's going to be there, anyway?"

"Pretty high, actually. Avery always visits his Grandparents some time in August. You know what month it is now? AUGUST!" I knew I probably shouldn't be shouting that, considering that Bill was on one side of me, in a different hotel room, and Tom was on the other. One of them was bound to get curious and come check it out if I got too loud.

Though, when Maja's end of the line got suddenly quiet, I knew there was something somewhere in what I had said that got Maja all thoughtful.

"Candy, what day is it?"

"August twenty-seventh, why?"

The silence ensued again. Then, like listening to a slowly approaching train, Maja began to squeal happily.

"How could you forget, Candy? You turn Twenty in three days! Three!"

Oh. That. I should be happy about that, shouldn't I? I only smiled sheepishly as she began to make all sorts of excited noises. She was hyperventilating and talking in that weird mixture of half-way translated words she usually spoke in when really worked up in some way.

"You're happy because I'm getting older? And why did it take you the entirety of this month to finally realize this?"

"How long are you going to be in England?"

Of course. Leave it to Maja to ignore the questions entirely. I sighed and thought about it for a few moments.

"Two weeks, then we head on to the next country."

"How long will you be in London?"

I had to stop to think about that for a few moments. From what I had learned, we always spent an an extra day or two in the larger cities, in which case we actually got a hotel rather than live on the bus the entire time. That gave tome for showers, mild rest, and a few interviews for the guys.

"Three days. Four at most. I'd need to take a gander at the schedule to tell you for sure," I informed, standing up and preparing to do as such.

"You will go see Jamie today and celebrate your birthday now while you can. I don't care if Bill has work for you or not. You will do this, and you will have fun," Maja demanded, her voice in a low sort of threatening way that told me that, should I decide to not go to Jamie's home, she would likely hunt me down. It sent chills down my spine, considering that she probably would.

"I'm not going to just drop in unexpected and demand he celebrate my birthday, Maja," I chastised with a grimace. What sort of person would that make me be if I did that?

"Fine. I'll call him. You know he'd have a nice little get-together set up for you before you even got there." My, was she confident. I sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to go anywhere.

"There's still no guarantee that I'll even be able to go," I reminded in an attempt that was slowly becoming rather futile. I heard a knock on my hotel room door and went to go see who it was.

"Oh, I'm sure Bill would understand," Maja said rather loudly as I opened the door to see, you would have guessed it, Bill standing on the other side. Considering that I preferred to talk with my phone on speaker, Bill heard.

"Bill would understand what?" Bill questioned curiously as he tilted his head to the side.

"I'm just going to go now, Candy. People to call, that whole deal. I'll have Jamie call you once I'm done with him," Maja said quickly as she hung up. I glared at my cellphone and hung up myself before looking up at Bill.

"Maja is trying to get me to go see one of our friends that lives here in London while we're in the area. I don't think she understands the fact that even the crew has a tight schedule," I grumbled and stuffed my phone into my pocket. Bill nodded in understanding and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. I moved aside to let him in, and he did just that. He sat in one of the chairs in the living room-type area as I flung myself onto the couch.

"Which friend is this?" he asked as he began fiddling with some of his various accessories. I knew that he was contemplating on letting me go- I may not have known him for long, but I had already grown accustom to most of his expressions and what they mean.

"His name is Jamie. He works for a different branch of the Agency I used to work for located here in England, though he's been one of my friends since grade school," I explained. I watched as Bill turned the idea over in his head for a bit more. "So, what's going on?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, with the random visit. I would have thought that you would be busy with preparing for your interviews later, or something along those lines," I elaborated as I picked at my nails a bit. Nervous habit of mine that had slowly began to resurface. I don't know why, I just didn't feel comfortable alone in the room with Bill anymore.

Don't ask, I don't really know the answer, either.

"I came to tell you that a few of our interviews were canceled. We'll be free for the rest of the day past three." My eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Really? What for?"

"My guess is as good as yours," he said casually. I raised my eyebrow, but didn't get the chance to respond to him. Handlebars by Flowbots began playing from my cellphone, and I sighed as I pulled it out and looked at it for a second. For a moment I thought about just not answering- I could always just say I was too busy later- but decided against is, seeing as Bill would be curious why I didn't answer. Probably. I wasn't going to take a chance with that.

"Care to explain why Maja just informed me that you are currently in London, yet you had no intention of telling me?"

"It's great to hear from you too, Jamie," I stated rather sarcastically with a roll of my eyes. I could almost see Jamie glaring at his phone, arm raised in preparation to throw it at a wall.

"Oh, cut the crap. I haven't seen or really heard from you in nearly two and a half years. Avery has also been so kind in telling me that you haven't been in contact with any of your friends for three years now. Candy, what the hell is going on with you?" Jamie seethed. Yeah, he was mad at me. I took a glance at Bill through the corner of my eye, glad that my phone currently wasn't on speaker and that Jamie had a naturally soft voice that only got softer when he was angry, rather than louder. I stood up from the couch and walked into the bedroom of my hotel room. I held up a hand to Bill to tell him that I would be a few minutes and he nodded. I closed the door behind me and sat down on the bed and sucked in a deep breath.

"Nothing is going on, Jamie. I promise. I just honestly hadn't realized that it had been that long since I had talked to anybody. You know how bad I am with things like these," I offered in response. Jamie didn't buy it.

"Don't try me, Candice. It's one thing to avoid contact for a month or two, but three fucking years? What, did you think that you could just leave and never look back?"

Yes, actually. I did. Or, at least, that's what I had planned.

"That's not true and you know it!" I hissed a bit louder than I had intended. With a mental reminder to keep my voice down lest I alarm Bill, I waited a few moments before I spoke again. "I just... Lost track. Honest."

I heard Jamie take in a very deep sigh. I knew he still didn't believe me, but he would just go along with that. After all, that was my story and I was going to stick to it. No point in letting everyone know that I had been dead set on disconnecting myself from them now that I actually wanted to see them all again.

"Well, on a happier note, Maja told me about your new work situation," he chipped in with a a much more excited voice. "What's it like, working for Tokio Hotel?"

"The traveling is fun, and so long as you try not to get on anyone's nerves, the tour bus isn't all that bad. It can get kind of weird every now and then, though. I don't think Georg likes me much," I explained and scrunched my nose up a bit. Jamie laughed.

"Well, you know what this means, right?"

"Oh? What would that be?"

"You over here at my place, and me throwing a congratulations and birthday party all in one."

I laughed and stood up. The conversation wasn't so serious anymore, so I figured that it would be safe to go walk out into the living room again. And I did just that.

"Sounds like a plan. Would it just be me and you hanging out, or would you invite everyone and their mothers?"

"Oh, you know I hate crowds. I avoid them whenever possible. I would probably just be the two of us, unless you feel like bringing the band," I smothered laughter when he said this- like I would ever bring the guys to his house, "and possibly Avery, if he wants to stop by."

My breath caught in my throat and I I felt myself incapable of breathing for a few moments.

"Candy? Are you alright?" this question was voiced by both Jamie and Bill at the same time. I stared at Bill, pulled out a smile, and forced myself to take a breath again.

"Yeah, I am," I said, to the both of them, before I turned a bit so that it was apparent that I was only talking to Jamie now. I made sure that my voice was as quiet as I could manage "I think it would be best if it was just you and me."

"Candice..." Jamie threatened in a low voice. Yeah, he caught the distress hidden in my voice.

"What?"

"You can't hide forever."

Yeah, I knew that. Of course I did.

"Watch me," I teased in a lighter voice. He laughed. Wow, my friends really did know me a lot better than I had thought. "So, I'll be available some time after three. Is that okay with you?"

"You know it! And, try to bring at least one of the guys, please? You know I've always wanted to meet someone famous."

"Jamie, you work with super models."

"Well, they don't count!" I laughed at my friend and shook my head. Knowing the guys, they'd probably manage to go with me anyway. Anything to get a little bit of fun while off of the job and out of a hotel.

"Fine. I'll see you later, Jamie," I sighed out. He laughed, said goodbye, and hung up. I did so as well and turned to look at Bill. He looked bored, confused, and still slightly worried all in one. He'd had that worried look on his face ever since we had gotten off of the plane. I don't think he believed me when I had just told him it was over a bad dream.

I honestly don't blame him.

"We should probably be getting ready. It'll be a busy day... For you, at least." Bill chuckled rather sourly at my statement and stood to his feet. He knew that he would have to deal with a screaming mass of fan girls when we- we meaning the band and a few select crew members- went to go to the first of the interviews. Bill loves his fans, there's no doubt about that, but he didn't like it when they got all screechy, obsessive, and tried to do things like remove various articles from his person. Who honestly would?

"Hey, do you think that your friend would mind if we hid at his house for a while?"

What did I tell you? Anything to get away from the lime light for just a moment or two. I laughed nonetheless and stuffed my phone in my pocket.

"Believe me, he wouldn't mind one bit."