There is Something...

“NO!” Alice was staring at Mary with bulging eyes. They were sitting in Mary’s room on the couch in a total darkness the other day, the only light in the room was the one from the moon. And that made Alice’s surprised face even creepier. She nudged Mary, “Shut up!”

Mary-Ann covered the hit spot on her chest, “What do you want from me? Please, don’t beat me. I’ll give you my wallet… We just had an innocent chat. I was standing near the door all the time.”

“I just can’t believe he asked you out and started to use cologne. Such an old fox..” Alice went to turn on the lights. “And he told me absolutely nothing. What a brother he is?”

Mary covered her eyes with her hands when a bright light hit her, “And that was what you were talking about that day with him, but then I came. And you were so “I was telling a random bullshit to my brother.”

Alice jumped on the bed and dug her hands under the pillow, “So, a date, eh?” Mary just nodded in response and made with the shoulders. But then Alice made a curious look on her face and took out some note from under the pillow.

“To Ann.” Alice read aloud and when she was about to open it Mary snatched it from her hands. “Hey!”

“That’s clearly not for you,” Mary put out her tongue and begun reading. And the further she read the narrower her eyes became.

Alice has begun bouncing with anticipation, “What does it say? Rory couldn’t leave you without a poem? So romantic.”

“Nope. The Blanket dinosaur or Rob the Almighty wants to have a dinner with Fair Ann in a few days. And it’s also says here that we agreed earlier and it is just a reminder. That is messed up..”

“SHUT UP!” Alice threw the pillow in Mary’s face which made her to drop the love-letter. Alice used it to her advantage and examined the note herself. “Formal dress required. Look at that, he can actually be a man.” After that Alice’s face received the poor pillow and she fell back on the bed.

“And that means I have 2 dates? With 2 friends? Who knew I’ll live that long.” Mary-Ann dropped down beside Alice and put the blanket over her. She breathed out very slowly and loudly, “You and Chris?”

“What about me and Chris?” Alice blinked several times.

“Oh, please. Everybody knows, except him.” Mary said a little bit annoyed.

Alice tried to sound confident, “Nothing, just friends. He’s just so funny. And smart. And handsome..”

“And I love him.” Mary finished trying to mock Alice’s voice and batted her eyelashes.

Alice stood up again and turned off the lights in the room, “Shut up.”

“That’s A very mature.” Mary said in a father-like-tone. And they began laughing.

Girls continued talking until their dialogue started to resemble the talking of a very drunk people and they eventually dozed off.

The next morning Mary-Ann was woken up by the beeping of her phone signaling that she received a message. She propped herself on one elbow and looked around. Alice already was up and somewhere in the house. She remembered the last night talking and that she had 2 dates to attend one of which sounded very formal and the other one friendly-casual. She didn’t know what to think about the two boys. She obviously liked them, but not in a romantic way. Nevertheless she decided to go and see what happens. She wasn’t asked to go out on a specific date so she decided to keep her mind free and let the boys think of the details. The only thing she was concerned about was the hope that they won’t choose the same day and hour. She didn’t want to break any hearts that’s why she hasn’t given hints to the boys that she was romantically interested in them.

She took her phone from the night stand. There were 3 unread messages.

Message 1: Alice: Doing groceries. Date with my brother. Foxy. XO

Message 2: Johnny: I can’t believe you left without me! Wortlos! What’s the band your mom was talking about? I thought Eng. would be appropriate;)

Message 3: Rou: Rise and shine! If you are up I’ll B in 20 m. to grab some tea. CU!

If Mary-Ann was drinking something when she read the messages she would have spilt the contents miles away. “You’ve got to be kidding me!! For the whole collection I need only Chris…”

Mary looked at the time she received the last message and at the clock. She had 18 minutes. But it was more than enough for her to look fresh in the morning. “Again, thank you for the dreads, Johnny. I’ll buy you another cake when I get home.”

15 minutes later Mary-Ann was sitting alone in the kitchen waiting for Rou. She had a few minutes before his arrival so she decided to spend them answering some messages.

To Johnny: Uwer so wortlos about your boyfriend..EnterShikari.

When Mary hit the “Send” button she heard a soft knocking on the door. “It’s Rou!” He called from the outside. Just after that Mary heard “Go home!” from the upstairs which proved that Rory was still sleeping. At least trying to.

She rushed to open the door. When Rou saw Mary he immediately embraced her, “Hello, ready to get a cup of tea?”

Mary-Ann took a moment to catch her breath, “I thought you wanted to come in..” She started a little when she heard another beeping of her phone and took it out from the pocket to read a new message.

“Oh..No, I’d like to go…somewhere else,” Rou replied and stuck his hands into pockets of his jeans resembling a shy freshman.

“Ok. No worries. I’ll just get my cardigan,” she agreed while reading and replying to the meassage.

Moment later Mary returned smiling brightly, she placed a little note for Alice on the coffee table. “So, where are we going?” she asked Rou on the way out of the house into sunlit streets.

“You’ll see,” he grinned slightly. “Tell me about your life in Germany.”

“Um..there is not much to tell actually. Ordinary life in an ordinary family. I went to local ordinary school and I made there some ordinary “friends,”” Mary made air quotations with her fingers. “I think the most interesting person here is YOU.” She poked his cheek and smiled.

“Me? But, yeah, I’m a decent bloke.” He jumped over a garbage can on the way and laughed. “See?”

“Yeah,” Mary was about to say something when she was cut off by some fans, apparently, shouting in the distance and running towards Rou.

“Hey, Rou, right?” one of the three boys with freckles asked. They were in their late teens judging by their looks. And all three of them wore colourful random bands T-shirts.

“Yep.” Rou nodded and shook each boy’s hand. He immediately became slightly reserved and was standing smiling shyly.

“Would you mind signing my…uh..just a sec.” another guy with blond hair asked and started rummaging through his backpack searching for something to get an autograph on. The freckled guy slapped the blond one on the head and tried to make a conversation with Rou stealing glances from Mary-Ann.

“So..um. When are you playing around here?” he scratched the back of his head.

“Well. We are on sort of vacation right now. And..” Rou trailed of thinking something through, “You can follow us on Twitter. The freshest information is there at first.”

“Told you!” the third one became talkative all of a sudden.

The blond one finally put out a notebook and handed it to Rou with a pen. “What are your names mates?” Rou inquired starting scribbling something on a clean paper.

“I’m Jim, this is Frank and the mute one is Richard.” The freckled boy introduced everyone pointing at himself, then at the blond and the third guy. He was looking at Mary whilst he did that and winked at her at the end. She blushed a little and looked at Rou for some support but he was lost on the paper. “You are living around here?” Jim asked Mary.

Rou finished signing and flipped through the notebook which was covered with pen-drawings. “Oh, this one is nice,” he showed the drawing of the night sky with a moon. “And that is classified,” he gazed at Jim and handed the notebook back to Frank.

“Allright then, thanks mate! See you around,” the last sentence Jim shot at Mary and the boys walked away.

“Sorry about that. Now we can have some tea!” Rou beamed and took Mary-Ann by the hand. “We are almost there.” With that said he led her to the small café which looked French with lots of red roses and a tiny Eiffel Tower outside. The time they spent in the café was uneventful except for some giggles and finger-pointings from some girls.

The way back home was silent. Mary-Ann was admiring the summer view and Rou was going right beside her with his hands behind his back. When they were about enter the house Mary’s phone signaled that another message arrived and almost dropped the carton cup from her hands.

“Alice needs to know your every move?” Rou peered over Mary’s shoulder to see what was on the screen of her phone.

“Oh, no it’s just Johnny. Would you like to come in? I think I had pancakes long time ago.” She winked at Rou.

“Oh,” Rou repeated after Mary but with a sad tone. “Thanks. I’ll just wait for Rory. We’re playing at Chris’s today. I’ll pass.” He plopped himself on the couch.

“Pity. Ok. I’ll see you later.” And Mary went to the kitchen.