Scream Me a Dream

Friday, July 16, 2010
Helsinki, Finland
8:30 am

Linde dropped his bag by the door and gave a yawn, he was definitely ready to sleep, and he hadn’t even changed time zones this time around. They’d decided that since the ferry ride back to Helsinki was only four hours and they were all ready to go home, they would catch the first one out at four in the morning. None of them had slept.

Shaking his head, he read the note Toni had left him, telling him that she had gone out to run errands and would be back later that afternoon. He looked at the clock and did the quick math, and thought about calling Soya.

He hadn’t had a free moment since they’d hit the stage, but had sent Soya a quick text, telling her he would call her as soon as he was alone. She’d assured him that it was fine and she was planning on staying up late anyway, so whenever was fine. He wondered if two thirty am was a little too late to be calling.

“Linde?”

Linde looked over at the door, and saw Mige walking into the house. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I thought since Ville’s back home, we’d call Soya.”

Linde shrugged. “It’s nearly three in the morning over there, I wasn’t sure if she would still be waiting for the call.”

Mige pulled out his phone and started clicking on buttons.

“What are you doing?”

“Sending her a text, if she answers, she’s up, if she doesn’t, we’ll wait.” Mige shrugged. “And I’m curious to see what she wanted to talk to you about.”

Linde nodded in agreement, he was curious as well.

XxxxxxX

Soya groaned when she heard a soft chirping, only to open her eyes to see her phone glowing and vibrating on the nightstand. Reaching over the three bodies that lay next to her, she squinted at the light of her cell phone and opened the text.

You awake?

Soya snorted, she was now, she thought as she pressed send, calling whoever had texted her.

“Soya?”

“Mige?” Soya groaned.

“Did I wake you?”Mige asked.

“It’s…” She looked at the time on the nightstand. “It’s three am.”

“Almost nine here.”

“Shut up!” Someone groaned from the floor.

Soya sighed and looked around her room. There were three girls on either side of her, on the King sized bed, strewn every way, more of her students were laying in various places on the floor, all of which were sleeping, while the TV was on its blue screen.

“Do you have Skype Mige?” Soya asked quietly as she started climbing off the bed, wincing when one of the girls groaned.

“Linde does, why?”

“I’d like to see you both.” She admitted. “But everyone’s sleeping in my room, so I have to go down to the lobby. Can you guys connect while I head down there?”

“Yeah, Linde’s setting up now.”

“Great, I’ll be on in about ten minutes.” Soya said before hanging up the phone. She put on the robe from the back of the door in the bathroom, tying it tightly at her waist before grabbing her laptop and card key, only to turn around and find Emmy. She couldn’t just leave the room without letting someone knowing where she was, especially when Georgia, one of the younger girls, hadn’t been feeling well earlier.

“Emmy?” Soya said, nudging Emmy’s shoulder where she was laying on top of Regan. She looked around and found that she had three other boys in the room as well.

“Mmm?”

“Emmy, sweetheart. Wake up real quick.”

“Soya?”

“Hey, I’m going to head downstairs to the lobby, I’ll have my cell phone if you need me.”

“Why are you going down to the lobby?” Emmy asked, squinting up at her.

“It’s nine am in Finland apparently.” Soya laughed.

“Ville?”

“No, Mige and Linde.” Soya smiled. “Go back to sleep, I just wanted to let you know in case you needed me.”

“All right.” Emmy nodded, before laying her head back on Regan’s chest and going back to sleep. Soya stood back up, grabbed her cell phone and made her way out of the room downstairs to the lobby.

She smiled lightly at the receptionist that was sitting at the front desk, obviously bored and playing solitaire on the computer. She settled down on one of the fluffy chairs in the lobby, making sure there was a plug nearby as she plugged into her computer before booting it up.

Two minutes later, she was logging onto her Skype account and connecting with Linde, smiling when both he and Mige came up on her screen.

“Hey!” She smiled.

“Hey!” they both laughed.

“How are you guys?”

“Tired.” Linde laughed.

“And curious!” Mige added.

“Curious?” Soya asked with a frown.

“About what you wanted to talk to me about.” Linde chuckled. “I hope you don’t mind that I asked Mige to sit in on the call.”

“No. Of course not, as long as Ville’s not there.” Soya laughed.

“Would you like me to show you the room so you’re assured he’s not?” Linde asked.

“I trust you Linde.” Soya said biting her lip. “So, I did want to talk to you about something, both of you actually. I was actually going to call you separately Mige, but this works.”

“Well don’t leave us on the edge of our seats!” Mige said.

Soya bit her lip before smiling. “I set a date.” She watched in amusement as they both stared at her in confusion and disbelief, before understanding shone thorough.

“WHEN!?” They both asked in unison.

“The seventh of August, I’ll land at the Pori Airport that morning.”

“You’ll be at Sonisphere?” Linde blinked.

Soya nodded. “I will, I ordered my tickets last month.”

“You should have told us earlier and we would have gotten you the tickets Soya!” Mige groaned.

Soya laughed. “I was counting on you to get me the backstage pass so I could see you guys.”

“We’ll talk to Seppo later and get you that pass. Soya, this is great!” Linde grinned.

Soya couldn’t help but share his excitement as she grinned back at him. “Now do you understand why I didn’t want to tell Ville?”

Linde and Mige couldn’t help but laugh, while Linde answered. “He’d probably be vibrating the rest of the month, just thinking about you coming home.”

“Giving him the date just makes him that much worse.” Soya said with a roll of her eyes. “I love the man, but giving him this piece of information is just asking for trouble.”

“Is that the news you wanted to tell us?” Mige asked.

“No.” Soya laughed. “There’s more, the company met a few weeks ago and we set a definite date for our next recital and Rebecca announced the date for the start of rehearsals.”

“Don’t leave us hanging Soya!” Mige laughed.

“I don’t have to be back in New York until the second week of January.”

“That’s five months.” Linde stated in shock.

Soya bit her lip and gave a short nod. “Give or take.”

“What about the boy you just took in? Regan?” Mige asked.

“Ah,” She thought about Regan and couldn’t help but smile, that boy was amazing. “Originally, Josef and I were going to leave after his birthday mid-august. That way he could stay here in New York by himself, if he wanted, or come with us. He heard us talking and told us that he was moving to Texas with Emmy.”

“Emmy being…” Mige trailed off.

“His girlfriend.” Soya sighed. “She leaves at the end of this month to settle in down there. She’s going to a performing arts school over there. We talked to her parents about our options and they graciously agreed to have Regan stay with her in her apartment. He’ll turn eighteen in Texas.” Soya couldn’t help but laugh. “He actually gave me his blessing to go to Finland.”

“Really?” Mige asked

Soya nodded. “He said that we’d done so much for him in the month he’s stayed with us, that it was his turn to do something for us. We tried to talk him out of it, but he’d made his decision. He assured me I shouldn’t feel guilty about leaving him.”

“I want to meet him.” Linde grinned. “So you’ll be here for five months?”

“Right.” Soya nodded. “Hannu was originally going to look for somewhere for me to live, but he had his ACL surgery last month and is doing his physical therapy and I don’t want to disrupt that. So…Linde I’m putting you in charge of finding me a flat.”

Linde frowned at her. “Seriously?”

“Of course! I trust you!” Soya exclaimed.

“No, no, you misunderstood.” Linde said shaking his head. “Why are you getting a flat?”

Soya blinked, “I’m not living with my parents for five months Linde, and I’m not getting a house. A flat would be perfect for my stay.”

Mige rolled his eyes. “I don’t understand, why get a flat when we all know you’ll spend most of your time at Ville’s tower? It’s pretty pointless to spend money on living arrangements that you won’t even stay in.”

Soya sent them both a playful glare. “I won’t move in with Ville for five months, we haven’t even talked about the kiss let alone what the hell our relationship is now.”

They both stared at her, before Linde regained function of his mouth. “I’m sorry? Kiss?”

Soya blinked, before covering her mouth, she had assumed Ville had told them.

“Oh, no you don’t, little Soya” Mige said. “What kiss?!”

“There was no kiss.” Soya said quickly shaking her head.

“You just said there was a kiss!” Linde told her. “And obviously if you’re questioning your relationship with Ville, it must have been one hell of a kiss!”

“No kiss; no idea where you got that idea. Linde find me a flat.”

“Look at her, all authoritative.” Mige said grinning at Linde. “We’ll find you a flat Soya, though we still don’t think you need one.”

“Linde is going to find me a flat; I have another job for you Mige.”

Mige laughed. “All right, let’s hear what my job is.”

“I made an offer on my old dance studio, you remember the one?”

“Of course we do.” Mige nodded.

“I need information on the studio.”

“Like…insider information?” Mige teased.

“Like measurements of the studios inside, the building size…construction fees. Can you find me someone who can get all of that? I’ve talked to Mr. Jolien, and he’s admitted that since his mother first opened the studio there hasn’t been much change to it.”

“Are you buying it?”

“I’ve been assured the building, but he wants to meet with me face to face before he actually accepts the offer. He wants to know what I would change, so I need that type of information. Oh! And blueprints I need the blueprints of the building as well.”

Mige nodded. “Yeah, I can do that for you.”

“Perfect! Oh, you have no idea how excited I am!”

“I think we know, though I’m sure you’re more excited to see Ville than any of us.” Linde teased causing Mige to chuckle.

“Not true!” Soya said offended. “I miss you all.”

“Ah, but not equally.” Mige pointed out.

“Of course equally!” Soya argued, before giving a sigh, she pulled her legs underneath her and looked at her friends. “I know we’ve always teased each other about Ville being my favorite, but you have to know that I love you both as well.”

Linde rolled his eyes. “We know that Soya, I’m actually more offended that you deny Ville as your favorite than admitting it.”

Soya bit her lip. “I don’t want you guys to feel like I’m going to Finland solely to see Ville. That’s not the reason at all.”

“It’s most of the reason.” Mige said.

“No,” Soya said. “Well partly. Yes, I miss Ville, but I miss you all just as equally.” She rolled her eyes at herself. “Ville just warrants his own category. I just don’t want you thinking that I love you any less or miss you any less.”

“Oh!” Linde looked at her wide-eyed. “Soya, we would never think that.”

“Yeah,” Mige added frowning at her. “We know you love us, just as we love you. We also know that you don’t love Ville more than us, that it’s just a very different type love.”

Soya blushed. “Oh my sweet Mikkos.”

Linde smirked. “It’s the type of love where you want to fuck him, but just hug us.”

“I retract the ‘sweet’ part.” Soya said dryly, causing Linde and Mige to laugh, only to be cut short, when Soya heard a door open. Linde turned towards the door, only to turn back to Soya.

“Hide.” He whispered.

“How in the world do you expect me to hide?” Soya muttered in disbelief, staring at the screen.

“Ville!” Mige said loudly, causing Soya to quickly put her thumb over her camera, so she would be able to still see them, but Ville wasn’t able to see her.

“Who are you talking to?” Ville asked amused, before he appeared on the screen.

“No one.” Linde said quickly. “What are you doing here?”

Ville frowned at him. “You promised me lunch. Hi Soya.” He smirked into the screen.

Soya winced before slowly uncovering her lens and waving. “Hi Ville, how’d you know it was me?”

“The bar at the top of the screen has your name.” Ville said. “Where are you?”

“Lobby of the hotel.” Soya admitted.

“Isn’t it four in the morning there?” Ville asked amused.

Soya looked at the bottom corner of her screen and winced. “Yes.”

“So, you’re up at four in the morning to talk to Linde and Mige, when you could have waited at a better time?”

“It was really important.” Soya said.

“Really?” Ville asked amused.

“Really.” She nodded.

“Would you like to share with the class?” Ville teased.

“Well since you’re prying it out of me.” She said rolling her eyes. “I wanted to see what awesome gift I could get you for your birthday, thanks for ruining the surprise.”

“My birthday’s not for another five months.” Ville teased.

“Well, good thing I’m starting now!” Soya said, thought she grinned at him. “How was the show?”

“You’ve been talking to Linde and Mige and didn’t ask them?”Ville asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Stop interrogating her Valo.” Mige said with a roll of his eyes.

“Yes, Ville, stop interrogating me.” Soya laughed, sticking out her tongue at the camera.

“Attractive, kulta.” Ville laughed. “By the way, Burton and Gas send their thank you’s for the gifts you sent, they wanted me to assure you that you didn’t have to do that.”

Soya waved the comment off in dismissal. “Please, we all know that had I stayed, I would have been spoiling those kids from the beginning.”

“So you want to make up for lost time?” Linde asked, “You don’t have to do that Soya.”

“Not at all,” Soya said, before sighing. “Fine, I do want to make up for lost times, but I also didn’t want to leave Burton and Gas out when I knew they had children. It would have been rude to just send something to Olivia.”

Mige shook his head amused. “You’re still so proper Soya.”

Soya rolled her eyes only to turn to the table where she had set her cell phone; she frowned when she saw it chirping. She leaned over to grab her phone, only to hear the catcalls and whistles coming from her speakers, grabbing the phone she looked at the men on her screen, Mige and Linde applauding while Ville was looking away, shaking his head.

“What?” Soya asked.

“You gave us a very nice view.” Linde grinned, causing Soya to look down, quickly pulling her robe back into place.

“Thank you for being a gentleman, Ville.” Soya grinned.

“Oh please, he looked!” Mige laughed.

Soya rolled her eyes, looking down at her ringing phone, and saw that it was Emmy. “I have to take this, just a second….Emmy?”

“Uh…Soya, I’m so sorry, I know you’re talking to your friends and I didn’t want to call you, I thought we could take care of it by ourselves but…”

“Sweetheart, calm down, you sound near tears, what’s wrong?”

“Georgia started throwing up.” Emmy said quickly.

“How long ago?” Soya asked straightening.

“’Bout half an hour.” Emmy said quietly.

“Oh, Emmy, why didn’t you call me sooner?”

“I thought we could handle it, and I know you haven’t talked to your friends in a while, so I didn’t want to burden you.”

“Sweetie, if someone under my care is throwing up, trust me when I say I want to be burdened!” Soya said shaking her head.

“I’m sorry.” Emmy said her voice abashed.

“No, sweetie, it’s fine, I’ll be up in a minute. Is everyone still in the room?”

“No, I sent everyone back to their rooms. Georgia didn’t want anyone to see her like that.”

“All right, I’m going to see if I can get some crackers and ginger ale from the front desk. Is she still at it?”

“Lot of dry heaves, I thought I should call you when she started crying.”

“Oh.” Soya shook her head. “Okay, give me five minutes, go sit with her in the bathroom, take a pillow and a blanket with you.”

“Should I call Josef?”

Soya thought about it, and knew that he would be mad at not receiving a call. “Yes, call Josef. Tell him I’m on my way, all right?”

“All right.”

“Thanks Emmy.”

“Thank you, I do not handle throw up well.” Emmy groaned.

Soya gave a small laugh. “I don’t think anyone does sweetie. I’ll be there in a few.” She assured before she hung up the phone and turned back to the three men on her computer screen. “I have to go.”

“Everything all right?” Linde asked.

“One of the girls wasn’t feeling well earlier, we thought maybe the food just didn’t sit well, and apparently we were right, she’s been throwing up for the past half hour.” She ran a hand through her hair, wincing when her fingers hit a knot.

“Well we hope she feels better.”Mige said.

“Thanks, I’ll let her know.” Soya laughed as she reached down to unplug her laptop, sending them a grin, only to see Ville frowning at her. “What’s wrong Valo? We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“No, no.” Ville said quickly, smoothing out his features. “Uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “I just realized you’re not wearing a t-shirt.”

Both Mige and Linde looked at him in shock, while Soya tilted her head at him. “No, I’m not.” She said with a quiet laugh. “I…uh…I saw this set at the shop Josef and I were at earlier today, or well yesterday.” She corrected when she remembered it was four in the morning. “I was putting it away when I got back to my room and I just decided it was too pretty not to wear.”

“Silk?” Ville asked.

Soya blinked. “Um…yes.”

“Oh.” Ville responded quietly, though his frown returned.

“All right then, now that this has gotten awkward.” Mige said clapping his hands together. “We’ll let you get back to your responsibilities.”

Soya nodded slowly, though she looked at Ville who seemed lost in thought. “Right, I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“You’ll be hearing from us Soya.” Linde told her. “Love you!”

“Love you all too.” Soya smiled, before giving a slight wave, and signing off. She closed the laptop, before heading to the front desk. She asked the receptionist if there was any way if she could get crackers and ginger ale sent up to her room, and after explaining the situation the receptionist assured it would be up in a few minutes.

She made it back to her room as fast as the elevator would allow only to smile when she saw the scene that awaited her in her bathroom. Georgia was lying on the bathroom floor, her head on the pillow that Emmy had put down for her, while Emmy sat behind her rubbing Georgia’s back. All the while Josef lay in the bath tub, his feet propped on the wall in front of him, while his head rested on the lip of the tub, his eyes closed and his earphones attached to his ears.

“Why is Josef listening to his iPod?” Soya asked amused.

“He said the sound of my retching was bothersome and it was not part of the conditions of him coming on this trip.” Georgia groaned.

Soya shook her head. “Of course he did. Emmy, you’re relieved.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” Soya nodded going over and sitting next to Emmy. “Get some sleep.”

Emmy nodded and kissed Georgia’s temple. “Feel better kid.”

Josef’s eyes opened once he felt Emmy moving away, taking out his ear buds he grabbed her ankle. “Don’t leave me here alone!” Josef said, only to focus on Soya and let go of Emmy’s ankle “Oh…never mind.”

Emmy shook her head, before she headed out of the room and back to hers down the hall.

“I’m so sorry guys.” Georgia groaned.

“For what?” Soya asked.

“I didn’t want to throw up,”

“Well who does?” Josef asked dryly.

Soya rolled her eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for, all right? If anything, Josef should apologize for what he said.”

“Why?” Josef asked. “It’s true, that sound of retching is bothersome, and my delicate ears don’t need that type of abuse.”

“Asshole.” Georgia muttered, causing Soya to snort and Josef to look down at the girl amused.

“What she said.” Soya grinned at him, as she rubbed the young girls back.