It All Started With A Smile

Garrett and I headed straight to John's apartment which was just next door. I don't know why they wanted us to come over actually. We didn't have to knock since the door was open. John's apartment smelled of food. Good-tasting food. I bet Patricia is cooking some special dish again. I don't know, she gets worked up with food. I'm guessing she's cooking fish fillet with papaya sauce cause she cooked that before and it tastes so good!

Since it smelled like food, we had the idea of going straight to the kitchen and there they were! Kennedy was helping out John with something while Patricia was obviously cooking. I was kind of uncomfortable in the presence of John being topless alright. I don't get how Patricia can manage.

"Hey guys", Garrett said with a big grin on his face.

"Hey there, you two. Glad you're here in just 5 minutes", John said jokingly.

"We were just next door, John", I said and laughed.

"Yeah I know. I was just kidding", he replied.

I walked over to Patricia to see if my guess was right and I was.

"Hmm, fish fillet with papaya sauce, right?", I said.

"Yup. Well, you know it's my favorite dish. Haha I sound like a professional chef", Patricia replied and laughed.

"Well, you can pass as a professional chef. But you're still our drummer, alright?", I said.

"Of course! Why don't you go talk to the guys?", she asked.

"I was gonna ask you something too. Actually two questions", I said.

"Oh. Later then. After dinner", she said.

"Pleeeeease?", I said.

"No. Later okay?", she said.

"Oh fine. I'm just gonna talk to the guys," I said while walking over to the guys.

I actually didn't want to join their conversation. I felt quite uneasy. I don't know, this is the first time I felt uncomfortable around these guys. Well, to be specific, around a topless John O'Callaghan. Like, I shouldn't even care. I have seen him go topless on stage but not here. Oh well, I guess I'll get used to it soon enough. I just sat next to Garrett and Kennedy and joined their conversation. They were talking about getting new equipment and I just can't focus on the things they were saying.

"Like there wer--", John was saying.

"The food's ready! Kennedy, John, uhm a little help here please!", Patricia said.

"Oh sure wait", he said as he stood up.

I'm gonna have to thank Patricia for interrupting their conversation. I'll do that later. They went back to the table with nine plates and 2 plates of the dish Patricia made.

"Why are there nine plates? Oh yeah. But where are they?", I asked.

"They're on their way", Kennedy replied.

"Oh, okay", I said.

We waited for about 15 minutes and the other guys finally arrived. It was a huge surprise that Josh and Russell weren't sitting together. I guess they decided to break it off or something. Everyone was so hungry, alright. The fish was great! It tastes even better than the one Patricia made before. Even the guys said the same thing. But Kennedy said way more than that. He started saying things like, "Hey what if you open a restaurant" and whenever he'd say that he likes something, everyone would look at him like he just did something so wrong. Patricia didn't even notice it. She was just there sitting like some stupid weirdo who has no idea that Kennedy likes her. I don't know if she likes Kennedy too but I think she does. Pat went crazy! He was so high! I just kept on laughing. It was a very fun night.

John got a bottle of beer from his ref and was obviously gonna get drunk again.

"Hey! You're gonna get drunk again, John!", Jared said.

"I swear, I won't!", John said.

The night went on and it was filled with smiles and laughter. This is nice. I like it. I just wish it could be like this everyday. But that's impossible, I guess.

****************************************************************************
The next day was filled with lots of surprises. It was my birthday and I thought my very own best friend forgot about it. Turns out, she set up a surprise party for me with the help of the guys! I was so overwhelmed.

On that very same day, Garrett surprised me with flowers and the Rolling Stones Limited Edition guitar pick from the record store 2 blocks away.

"Oh my god! Garrett this is too much. Oh my god, thank you so much!", I said and gave him a very tight hug.

"You're welcome, Julia!", Garrett said hugging me back.

"How did you know that this is exactly what I wanted?", I asked with a big grin on my face.

"Well, I asked Patricia", he said while smiling.

Patricia was just standing there grinning like a fool next to Kennedy. I saw John with no expression on his face at all. Pat was there standing and jumping and Jared was there smiling and laughing at us.

We went to California Pizza Kitchen and I was surprised because the food we were gonna eat's already paid. Hmm, another surprise! Three surprises in one day, that's nice.

John was obviously not having a good day. I don't know why. Here I was getting so damn curious again. I just have to stop being so curious about things. I guess I'll just ask him later since he just lives next door.

We went to the arcade and yeah, we just had a lot of fun. I just don't want to get more surprises or anything. All those surprises are enough for one day already.

~

It has been hours since I last checked my phone. I got a 10 messages and 20 missed calls from my dad. All his messages contained the same content: "Julia answer the phone. This is important". Right at that moment my dad was calling again and so I picked it up.

"Hello?", I said.

"Julia! Finally! Haven't you heard yet?", Dad said sounding like he just cried.

"Not yet, I guess", I said getting a little confused.

"I don't want to ruin your birthday but you need to know this", he said.

"Okay then. What is it?", I said.

"Your mom," he said, "She's gone."

"Wait what do you mean gone?", I asked.

"Gone. He took her away," he said.

"What do you mean 'he'?", I replied.

"No one else but Him," he said.

I got what he meant. I hang up and just cried while we were at the arcade. Garrett noticed and asked me what was wrong.

I cried more and more before answering him.

"My mom is dead"