Rudy Can't Fail
Happy Birthday!
It's my birthday.
Another year older; another 365 days to add to the 9125 I have already been in existence- without the leap year calculations.
Great.
I roll onto my side and turn the alarm off. Picking up my cell to check my messages. People had a tendency to text me at midnight on this fateful day. I had taken some pills and fell asleep early last night, being as the strobe lighting from the hospital had grated on my headache.
4 messages
I go to my inbox seeing the names of the senders and smile: Tre, Max, Adie and Yoshie.
Reading through them quickly, I haul my arse out of bed and into the shower. I had time to kill before Max arrived and I was gonna go into the shop and get some stuff done.
After dressing in some sweats and my ratty old skull Uggs, I trot downstairs and let myself into the store. To my surprise the house lights were on and Yoshie was stood there in a paper hat, with streamers and a 'Happy Birthday' banner roughly tacked on the walls.
"Happy Birthday, English!!" He shouted, blowing into a Kazoo. The paper hat bounced on his 'fro when he spoke, making me giggle as I walked into his open arms.
"Yoshie…you fuck-face! You shouldn't have done this!" I say, giving him a kiss on his stubbled cheek.
"Well, I did…look! I got you cake!" He points to a badly decorated cake on the counter that read
'Happy Birthday Nat' in red icing.
"You made this yourself?" I ask smiling at just how sweet this big oaf actually was.
"Yes ma'am" He's all smug and has a shit-eating grin etched on his round face. "It's Betty Crocker White cake. I know it's your favourite."
"Awe Sweetie! I love it!" I kiss him again and this time he blushes. Walking away from me, he goes around the other side of the counter and pulls out a flat square package.
"I got you this too…" He slides the brightly wrapped parcel over the glass surface and I pick it up, examining it carefully.
"Jesus! Would you just open it!" Yoshie sighs. As he rolls his eyes, I stick my tongue out and peel away the paper.
"Oh my fucking God! Yosh…how did you get this?" I look down at the latest Limited Edition My Chemical Romance Album. "It's not even out yet!" I squeal, running to the stereo to put it on.
"eBay." Yoshie laughs at my excitement.
"Your lying…this shit is not from eBay!" I glance at him while opening the inlay card inside the cover.
"Well your, not the only one with contacts, you know!" He leans over, using his finger to take a bit of icing off the cake and into his mouth. "I called in on a few favours"
"If that means you scared the bejesus out of Tre, I swear I'll…" I trail off, noticing the page that has a photo of all the band. Over the pic is some writing in black sharpie, which flows messily across the top of the guy's heads;
Happy Birthday Natalie! Hope you get everything you want and more! Love Gerard, Mikey, Frank, Ray and Bob. xoxo
"Yoshie…" I say quietly, thumbing over the chicken scratch hand-writing,
"Yes?" I hear the smiling in his voice.
"I think I like birthday's afterall"
***
Nat was spending most of the day with Max. But in the evening, I would pick her up, take her to dinner, then to Black Jack’s, for the party.
I would be dropping Frankie back to Claudia's, while Adrienne; with Mike and Britt's help would be setting up the Black Jack Bar for tonight's festivities. I just had to all Billie to make sure the My Chem boys were good to go.
Walking upstairs to my bedroom, I picked up the small velvet box on my dresser and opened it. Inside was a solitaire diamond ring; in the shape of star, with smaller ruby and onyx stars around it. She had a thing for stars…and stripes…and polka dots… and skulls, but with a little of Adie and Max's help, I picked this out. After carefully putting it back, I picked up the longer, more slender case that was next to it. Inside was the gift from Ramona and Frankie; a long silver chain with the same star detail to match the ring. Afterall, Nat was fast becoming our Lucky Star.
My cell vibrating brings me back to what I had to do today. Taking it out of my jean pocket, I answer; "Wassup?"
"Tre? My Chem are set for tonight, dude. You invited everyone?" Billie says.
"Yeah, I spoke to Yoshie and he said that Kat and Oliver are coming as well as some other people they know. Chris Garver was gonna stop by too."
"Wow…you're pulling out all the big guns, bro; you're getting all her idols and shit"
"It's for Nat dude, this has to be done right."
"Your right. Baby's first birthday is gonna kick ass. But you know she'll kill you for all this, right? She didn’t want anything done."
"I'll deal with that when the time comes. Paramedics on staff?" I chuckle, pacing my bedroom and glancing at the clock every now and then.
"Sir, yes Sir!" Billie laughs "Later, dude."
"Later"
I decided to call Nat now, as I hadn’t heard back from my text and I wanted to put the wheels in motion.
"Hey babe!" She sounds happy…that’s good.
"Happy Birthday M'lady…everything good?"
"Thanks, and yes. Everything’s great!" She speaks really quickly "Yoshie made me a cake and got me the new My Chem CD and guess what?"
"That’s not even out yet!" I say, but Nat cuts me off.
"I know, but guess, Godammit!"
"Um…your naked and covered in whipped cream and I have to come lick it off?"
"No, maybe later, but the CD was signed! My Chem signed the CD, Tre! 'Happy Birthday Natalie!' Isn't that fucking amazing?!" It was nice to hear her so happy; she had been pretty off lately.
"Yah babe, that’s great!" I chuckle. Yoshie had stopped by last night and Bill and I had taken him to the guys for them to sign it. It was one of the first made, and now, Nat owned it. "So I guess birthdays are cool now, huh?"
"Yuppers! But if you do anything major like throw me a party or some shit, I'm still gonna throw you off the Bay Bridge."
"Ok! Ok! I got it! No party for Natalie. So what did you do yesterday?"
"Mind my own business. What did you do?" She replies sarcastically.
"Same"
"Asshole"
"I love you too, M'lady. Pick you up at 8?"
"Make it 7.30…for the whipped cream and all that!" she hung up and I went about fixing my costume for tonight.
Another year older; another 365 days to add to the 9125 I have already been in existence- without the leap year calculations.
Great.
I roll onto my side and turn the alarm off. Picking up my cell to check my messages. People had a tendency to text me at midnight on this fateful day. I had taken some pills and fell asleep early last night, being as the strobe lighting from the hospital had grated on my headache.
4 messages
I go to my inbox seeing the names of the senders and smile: Tre, Max, Adie and Yoshie.
Reading through them quickly, I haul my arse out of bed and into the shower. I had time to kill before Max arrived and I was gonna go into the shop and get some stuff done.
After dressing in some sweats and my ratty old skull Uggs, I trot downstairs and let myself into the store. To my surprise the house lights were on and Yoshie was stood there in a paper hat, with streamers and a 'Happy Birthday' banner roughly tacked on the walls.
"Happy Birthday, English!!" He shouted, blowing into a Kazoo. The paper hat bounced on his 'fro when he spoke, making me giggle as I walked into his open arms.
"Yoshie…you fuck-face! You shouldn't have done this!" I say, giving him a kiss on his stubbled cheek.
"Well, I did…look! I got you cake!" He points to a badly decorated cake on the counter that read
'Happy Birthday Nat' in red icing.
"You made this yourself?" I ask smiling at just how sweet this big oaf actually was.
"Yes ma'am" He's all smug and has a shit-eating grin etched on his round face. "It's Betty Crocker White cake. I know it's your favourite."
"Awe Sweetie! I love it!" I kiss him again and this time he blushes. Walking away from me, he goes around the other side of the counter and pulls out a flat square package.
"I got you this too…" He slides the brightly wrapped parcel over the glass surface and I pick it up, examining it carefully.
"Jesus! Would you just open it!" Yoshie sighs. As he rolls his eyes, I stick my tongue out and peel away the paper.
"Oh my fucking God! Yosh…how did you get this?" I look down at the latest Limited Edition My Chemical Romance Album. "It's not even out yet!" I squeal, running to the stereo to put it on.
"eBay." Yoshie laughs at my excitement.
"Your lying…this shit is not from eBay!" I glance at him while opening the inlay card inside the cover.
"Well your, not the only one with contacts, you know!" He leans over, using his finger to take a bit of icing off the cake and into his mouth. "I called in on a few favours"
"If that means you scared the bejesus out of Tre, I swear I'll…" I trail off, noticing the page that has a photo of all the band. Over the pic is some writing in black sharpie, which flows messily across the top of the guy's heads;
Happy Birthday Natalie! Hope you get everything you want and more! Love Gerard, Mikey, Frank, Ray and Bob. xoxo
"Yoshie…" I say quietly, thumbing over the chicken scratch hand-writing,
"Yes?" I hear the smiling in his voice.
"I think I like birthday's afterall"
***
Nat was spending most of the day with Max. But in the evening, I would pick her up, take her to dinner, then to Black Jack’s, for the party.
I would be dropping Frankie back to Claudia's, while Adrienne; with Mike and Britt's help would be setting up the Black Jack Bar for tonight's festivities. I just had to all Billie to make sure the My Chem boys were good to go.
Walking upstairs to my bedroom, I picked up the small velvet box on my dresser and opened it. Inside was a solitaire diamond ring; in the shape of star, with smaller ruby and onyx stars around it. She had a thing for stars…and stripes…and polka dots… and skulls, but with a little of Adie and Max's help, I picked this out. After carefully putting it back, I picked up the longer, more slender case that was next to it. Inside was the gift from Ramona and Frankie; a long silver chain with the same star detail to match the ring. Afterall, Nat was fast becoming our Lucky Star.
My cell vibrating brings me back to what I had to do today. Taking it out of my jean pocket, I answer; "Wassup?"
"Tre? My Chem are set for tonight, dude. You invited everyone?" Billie says.
"Yeah, I spoke to Yoshie and he said that Kat and Oliver are coming as well as some other people they know. Chris Garver was gonna stop by too."
"Wow…you're pulling out all the big guns, bro; you're getting all her idols and shit"
"It's for Nat dude, this has to be done right."
"Your right. Baby's first birthday is gonna kick ass. But you know she'll kill you for all this, right? She didn’t want anything done."
"I'll deal with that when the time comes. Paramedics on staff?" I chuckle, pacing my bedroom and glancing at the clock every now and then.
"Sir, yes Sir!" Billie laughs "Later, dude."
"Later"
I decided to call Nat now, as I hadn’t heard back from my text and I wanted to put the wheels in motion.
"Hey babe!" She sounds happy…that’s good.
"Happy Birthday M'lady…everything good?"
"Thanks, and yes. Everything’s great!" She speaks really quickly "Yoshie made me a cake and got me the new My Chem CD and guess what?"
"That’s not even out yet!" I say, but Nat cuts me off.
"I know, but guess, Godammit!"
"Um…your naked and covered in whipped cream and I have to come lick it off?"
"No, maybe later, but the CD was signed! My Chem signed the CD, Tre! 'Happy Birthday Natalie!' Isn't that fucking amazing?!" It was nice to hear her so happy; she had been pretty off lately.
"Yah babe, that’s great!" I chuckle. Yoshie had stopped by last night and Bill and I had taken him to the guys for them to sign it. It was one of the first made, and now, Nat owned it. "So I guess birthdays are cool now, huh?"
"Yuppers! But if you do anything major like throw me a party or some shit, I'm still gonna throw you off the Bay Bridge."
"Ok! Ok! I got it! No party for Natalie. So what did you do yesterday?"
"Mind my own business. What did you do?" She replies sarcastically.
"Same"
"Asshole"
"I love you too, M'lady. Pick you up at 8?"
"Make it 7.30…for the whipped cream and all that!" she hung up and I went about fixing my costume for tonight.