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Searching for Estelle.

Butterflies

I refused to read the texts until we were in the hotel room because, as I pointed out to Dani, chances are they'd make me cry and I didn't want to do that in the middle of a cafe.

When we got back to the room, Dani pushed me on to my bed and looked at me expectantly. I glared at her and got up, walked in to the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind me.

“Stella!” she whined at me through the door. I blocked her out completely, still not sure how I felt about her part in the boys' plot.

I ignored her and sat on the counter, turning my phone on as I did so. I tapped my hand on the counter impatiently, sighing loudly. In reality it probably took about a minute for my phone to switch on but it felt like a decade.

When the screen finally lit up and began to function I took a deep breath and opened my inbox.

The first message I saw was from Jussi and I opened that to read:

Pikkuinen, call us back!!! We miss u & Novak is an idiot. Jyrki tried 2 kill him, but we stopped him. If u don't come back we might let him. Love Jus xxx

I smiled and bit my lip nervously before going to the next message which was from Ville. My heart skipped a beat as I began to read:

We came to Sweden to look for you. Surely that says something? Please call or text back... if you don't want to talk to me, call Jyrki. He's slowly going insane. Everything Novak said was bull and the crazy Finns would like you back immediately. Sweden doesn't deserve your beautiful face- they're idiots. I already miss you and it's only been a day. VV.

I felt tears sting at my eyes and I took a shaky breath to compose myself before I continued. The next was from Jyrki:

Stell, you need to come back. The only bet was between Jussi & I that you and Ville would get together. I won. (But you're still moving in with me. Not him.) I miss you, princess, and I swear to God if Novak ever speaks to you again I'll kill him. You need to believe that we love you dearly and would never compromise that by messing around with you. I don't care that we've only known you a fortnight. Please, please, please come home. I'm begging you, darling. J69.

After reading Jyrki's text I completely lost my shit and let the tears fall freely.

There were only a couple of other texts on there and I scanned through them quickly; they were more of the same, really.

I jumped down from the counter and wiped my face quickly, splashing some cold water over it.

I opened the bathroom door to exit and Dani fell backwards into the bathroom.

“You were trying to listen!” I accused “What were you expecting to hear? I was only reading texts!”

She grinned sheepishly. “So? What did they say.”

I sighed and held the phone out to her. She eagerly grabbed it and began reading. I watched her facial expressions carefully and saw her eyes go wide at points and heard a few “Awwww”s escape her lips.

When she looked back up at me she had a slight gleam to her eyes and I noticed that rather than her usual cheekiness it was a touch of teariness.

“Stell!” she exclaimed, standing up and giving me an incredulous look “You broke their hearts!”

I gaped at her. “What?! I thought they had a bet on sleeping with me!”

She shook her head. “You'd better be meeting them tonight.”

I bit my lip and shrugged.

“What?!” she basically yelled at me.

I fought back a giggle and turned away from her.

“I dunno, Dan... I don't think it's a very good idea...”

“But.. how... there's... you can't... Estelle Vera Jacobs, I will fuck your shit up if you do not meet these wonderful Finnish men and Bam Margera tonight!”

I let a giggle escape and she let out a frustrated sigh. I turned around and grinned at her.

“Of course I'm going to.”

She squealed and spear tackled me onto the nearest bed which, thankfully, happened to be mine because Dani's was cluttered with stuff. I had the wind knocked out of me and spent a few minutes gasping and spluttering before I regained my senses.

“Do you have any idea where we're meant to be meeting them?” I asked her, frowning.

She nodded eagerly and grabbed her phone, reading off the name of a bar to me. “At 6, I think” she said before adding thoughtfully “You can wear your new dress!”

I smiled before realising something.

“Hey! You knew about all of this all along. That was why you insisted on the new dress!” I said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

She grinned cheekily and nodded. “I spoke to Jyrki this morning, as you know. And then texted him pretty much all day. I had no idea he'd send Bam though. I had no idea Bam was even involved...”

I giggled. “Someone's a bit starstruck...”

She shook her head. “Uh-uh, I am so sworn off Americans. I'm keen to meet the man with the sexy voice though.”

I frowned. “Jyrki?”

She nodded enthusiastically.

I laughed and shook my head. “He's more in to multiple women, Dan... So unless you want to broaden your horizons...”

She screwed her nose up in distaste and then pouted. “Well, that's boring. How will I keep myself entertained this evening while you and lover-boy kiss and make up?”

I blushed. “Don't call him that.”

She grinned and nudged me gently. “Is he hot?”

I blushed again and buried my head in my pillows, feeling every bit like a teenage girl.

“Yeah,” I mumbled into my pillow, making Dani giggle.

I sat up and frowned. “I left all my photos at the hotel.”

Dani gave me a questioning look.

“Photos from a night out with the guys... I hope one of them picked them up,” I explained before glancing at my phone “Shit, Dan. We better get dressed.”

She leapt up off the bed and nearly faceplanted on the carpet. “I'm on it,” she said with a sheepish grin.

I consented to Dani doing my hair and make-up which made her face light up like a kid on Christmas. She styled my hair in loose curls and went to town on my eyes with a darker shade of green eyeshadow and generous amounts of black eyeliner and mascara.

When I began to get dressed I felt the butterflies in my stomach kick in to overdrive and I realised how nervous I was. I slipped my feet into my plain black pumps and put a coat on over my brand new dress.

Dani appeared in front of me, also completely ready and with a massive grin on her face.

“Come on, Stell,” she said, grabbing my hand “Let's go.”

As we made our way out of the hotel and to the bar I realised that none of the guys had any idea we would be showing.

I stopped in my tracks. “Dani, did you text them or anything to say we'd be coming?”

She shook her head. “Nope, I'm sure they'll welcome the surprise though.” She sensed how nervous I was and wrapped her arm around my waist and began to coax me forward.

I took a deep breath and allowed her to lead me. By the time we got to the bar, which by pure chance was only a couple of blocks from our hotel, I felt as though I might throw up.

“Are you sure they said 6?” I asked, a worried tone showing through my voice “That seems early to be in a bar.”

Dani smiled at me comfortingly and nodded. “Jyrki said they'd wait here all night just to see if you showed up.”

I closed my eyes and took a shaky breath. With a nod, I stepped through the door and Dani gave an excited squeal behind me which made me giggle.

I spotted some familiar leather and black clothed figures across them room and gripped Dani's hand tightly.

“Christ, Stell. You're meeting your friends not giving birth,” she muttered.

I chose to ignore her and she began to drag me towards them, the volume of butterflies in my tummy increasing tenfold with each foot we gained.

Bam was the first to notice us- Jyrki and Ville had their backs to us and Jussi (as usual) was focusing on something shiny. Novak was sulking at the end of the table and was too absorbed in himself to notice anything.

A smirk graced Bam's features and before he could hide it, Jyrki had turned around just as we got to the table.

A mixture of shock, happiness and relief crossed his face and he stood up gracefully before grabbing me in a tight hug.

“I'm so glad you came, princess,” he said softly, in Finnish which had Dani confused to no end.

I smiled meekly at him. “I'm sorry,” I said, blushing slightly.

He frowned. “You have nothing to be sorry for. That's all Novak.”

Ville cleared his throat next to us and Jyrki reluctantly let me go before turning to introduce himself to Dani.

I looked up into Ville's green eyes and found that I couldn't read his expression. I was beginning to feel a little nervous before he smiled widely and- before I could speak- kissed me.

I heard an immature chorus of comments from Dani and Jyrki next to us, but I ignored them easily.

“Hi,” Ville murmured when we separated “You look beautiful.”

I blushed and hugged him tightly. “I'm so-” I began before Jyrki cut me off.

“Don't you dare apologise again!” he scolded.

I giggled and bit my lip, feeling Ville link his fingers through mine.

Jussi bounded over to me and enveloped me in an enthusiastic hug, which forced Ville and I to separate.

“Pikkuinen! You're coming back with us, right?” he asked, still holding me tightly.

All eyes were on me at that question and I nodded shyly which was met with a chorus of relieved sighs and a “Thank fuck,” from Bam.

We all sat- me between Jyrki and Ville and Dani between Jussi and Bam- and I was met with a million apologies and explanations at once.

I held my hands up, which made everyone stop and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I don't want anyone to apologise except him,” I said pointing to Novak who gave me a sly smirk.

“Sorry,” he said lazily.

“Oh, that sounded genuine,” Dani said, rolling her eyes.

“Sarcasm's ugly, sweetheart,” Novak said giving her a sleazy once-over.

“Not as ugly as your face,” Dani shot back without skipping a beat, which made everyone laugh, especially Bam.

Dani blushed, for what I swear was the first in her life, when she realised she'd gained Bam's attention and I gave her a knowing smile. She shook her head quickly at me, before looking away, but smiling a little.

“Do you want me to kick him in the balls?” Bam asked me, a sincere expression on his face.

“No!” I exclaimed, horrified.

He frowned. “Well, that's boring.” He turned to Dani. “Do you want me to kick him in the balls?”

Dani grinned before nodding, which made Novak turn pale.

Without hesitation, Bam leaned across and punched Novak squarely in the groin.

“Bam!” I said, gasping.

Bam looked at me innocently. “What? I didn't kick him.”

I giggled before turning my attention back to Jyrki and Ville. I had one hand linked with Ville's and my other was being held lightly by Jyrki.

I raised an eyebrow at them. “You do know I'm not going to leave again.”

“You can never be too sure,” Ville said, tightening his grip.

“For once, I agree with him,” Jyrki said with a smirk.

I blushed and rolled my eyes at them before leaning up to kiss Ville again. He sighed happily and returned the kiss eagerly.

Jyrki made an offended noise and dropped my hand, making me giggle. Ville wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to him and smiled at me.

“I thought you were gone for good,” he said with a slight pout.

I looked down at my feet and shook my head. “I'm sure you would've gotten over it.”

He frowned. “I don't know about that. I was devastated when I found out you'd left.”

I looked up and gave him a cheeky grin. “Why don't you write a song about it then?”

He gasped before laughing. “When did you get so cheeky?”

Dani chimed in at that point. “She's always been like that. The real Estelle's coming out now. Do you want me to take her back again?”

“Don't you dare!” Jyrki, Jussi and Ville all said in unison, matching frowns on their handsome faces.

She put her hands up defensively and laughed. “Never mind, then.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Well, I think I've pleased everyone! Novak got hit in the nuts, Dani has a go, Ville gets his girl, you didn't have to wait too long and it's a really long chapter. Is that it? =P

Hope you enjoyed this one, I really enjoyed writing it! Thanks for the comments last chapter, the feedback was amazing. I would sincerely love more of the same! I don't have class or work tomorrow, so if I get enough feedback/inspiration you might just get another update! No promises though =)

Thanks for reading! & don't forget... We're nearing the end!!