Cry for the Moon

“Screw you, I’m a ninja,”’ a Dutch accented voice yelled as its owner ran down the isle, his friend chasing after him.

“Boys, stop, you are going to get us in trouble,” Simone called, trying to hold back her laughter. I on the other hand was openly laughing as I watched Isaac chase Yves throughout the store. Isaac had gotten a text and was all smiley about it and unfortunately, he’d caught Yves’ attention. When Isaac wasn’t paying attention, Yves had snatched his phone and had run off with it. Now Isaac was just trying to catch him before he read the text messages.

Simone and I laughed and followed after the two. Yves reached the end of the isle and turned, running down the next. Isaac skidded to a stop, nearly running into the wall before he spun around and high tailed it back up the same isle. I watched as Yves ran out in front of him. The bass player’s eyes widened and he looked like a deer in headlights when he saw Isaac coming towards him.

Isaac’s body crashed into Yves before he could move and the two fell to the ground with a loud thud. Isaac yanked his phone from his friend and band mate’s hand. Now that his phone was securely in his possession again, Isaac got up and walked over to Simone and I.

“Ladies,” he spoke, straightening out his coat. Isaac’s voice was calm and his breathing was even as if he hadn’t just chased and tackled Yves in the middle of the store.

“So, who’s the girl, Isaac,” I asked with a smile. Isaac turned to me, his brown eyes locking with my own. He ran a hand through his long, straight, dark brown hair and leaned over to me.

“Can you keep a secret,” he asked, speaking quietly so Yves wouldn’t hear him. He didn’t have to worry about Simone; she’d gone off to get the rest of the groceries.

“Of course,” I replied. Isaac looked over his shoulder to see that Yves was still laid out flat on the floor. He pulled out his phone and unlocked the screen, revealing a picture of a pretty, dark haired girl with blue eyes and a bright smile. Sitting next to her was a Siberian husky.

“Her name is Koda,” Isaac said quietly, a smile on his face.

“She’s pretty,” I replied. A loud groan sounded behind us suddenly. Isaac and I turned back to Yves as he pushed himself off the ground. Isaac quickly locked his phone and put it in his pocket as Yves walked up to us.

“Dude that hurt like hell,” Yves said, glaring at Isaac.

“Don’t steal my phone,” Isaac replied promptly, a smile gracing his features.

“Alright you two, let’s go find Simone. If you keep bickering, I will tell her to leave you here.” Neither of them said anything after that and the three of us walked through the store in silence, keeping an eye out for Simone’s striking red hair.

.X.

The car pulled slowly into the gravel driveway before it came to a halt. It lurched forward somewhat as Simone, Isaac, Yves and I climbed out, but none of us paid it any mind. As we walked up to the front of the house, groceries in hand, the front door opened, revealing Oliver. Simone flashed a bright smile in her boyfriend’s direction as he opened the door for us. I sent him a small smile and said a quiet thank you as I followed Simone and the guys inside.

The heat of the house washed over us as we walked into the kitchen. We were greeted cheerfully by Mark, Coen and Thomas.

“Welcome back, guys,” Mark said, getting up from the couch.

“Find everything you need,” he continued, leaning up against the doorframe next to me.

“I’m guessing so. You’ll have to ask Simone, I was busy trying to keep Isaac and Yves at bay,” I replied, shrugging off my jacket and the winter’s cold along with it. Mark sent me a questioning look, probably wondering what his band mates had done at the store. Isaac must’ve noticed this because he quickly chimed in with the reason why.

“He stole my phone.” Mark smiled.

“That explains it.”

“You know,” I asked. Mark nodded, pulling his long brown hair back over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I was with him when they met. They’ve done a good job of keeping it secret.”

“Well, it’s not like we can go on dates or anything, she lives in Stockholm. I can’t wait until she moves here in the spring,” Isaac replied, a smile coming to his face. It was just liked the one he had when he’d gotten the text from her at the store. I couldn’t help but smile; Isaac was obviously falling hard for the girl.

“You may wanna keep that smile on the down low, buddy. Yves is crafty; he’ll wait until you’re asleep, handcuff you to your bed and then steal your phone,” I laughed.

“Is it sad that I believe he may actually have handcuffs stashed somewhere,” Isaac asked. Mark and I laughed.

“No, not at all,” Mark replied. I turned from the two seeing Thomas walking towards us.

“Hey, Analii,” Thomas greeted, sending me a smile. I sent him one right back, just like always. Anyone who didn’t know us any better would think we were brother and sister, but we weren’t. Well, we weren’t blood related anyway. Regardless of that, I still considered him my brother. I’d practically grown up around him.

My mom had died a few weeks after my twelfth birthday and not long after that my dad decided to move us to the U.S. Ultimately that was probably the best decision the man had made in his life. Moving to Florida was how I’d met Thomas and the guys of Kamelot. Due to certain… circumstances, I’d been with them ever since. It was because of the Kamelot members that I’d become friends with the members of Epica as well.

“Hey, Thomas,” I replied as he sat down next to me.

“I thought you were going to go with Roy and Elisabeth today for birthday shopping,” Thomas replied.

“Well, we stopped by the store and ran into Simone and the two stooges,” I started. I grinned hearing Simone and Oliver laugh from the kitchen. Isaac looked up from his phone, faking a glare.

“I take offense to that,” Isaac said, running his hand through his now tied back hair. Without missing a beat, Yves chimed in.

“You shouldn’t,” Yves replied with a grin. Isaac reached over, smacking he bass player. Yves just laughed. I shook my head slightly at their goofball antics, thought I was used to them.

“Hey Simone?” I looked over at Mark hearing him call for her. He’d been talking to Coen and Arien who were now standing next to him.

“Yeah,” Simone replied.

“Which one of us is the third,” Arien asked, referring to what I’d called Yves and Isaac.

“It’s a toss up between you and Mark,” she answered. Annoyed yet amused looks passed over Mark and Arien’s faces while Coen just fist pumped the air with a grin on his face.

“Anyways,” I said finally once the laughter had died down.

”I was going to go with them, but I figured I’d let them surprise me this year so I came here with Simone and the guys instead. I also figured they’d be recording vocals for ‘Cry for the Moon’ today,” I explained.

“Nah,” Mark grinned. “That’s our game-plane for tomorrow,” he continued, smiling at me as innocently as the man could manage. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“My patience wears thing, Mark Jansen,” I replied.

“Good,” he smirked.

“You’re going to keep this up until the last possible minute, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” he answered. I groaned and dropped my head to the bar top.

”Will you just show me the lyrics,” I pleaded.

“No,” he answered, a grin on his face.

“You’ve waited patiently for two weeks, once more day won’t hurt you,” he added.

“Maybe not, but it just might kill you,” I retorted. Mark smirked, looking please with himself. He was doing this to mess with me that much was obvious. I didn’t know what worried me more though; the fact that I was letting him get away with it or the fact that I thought him going out of his way to bug me was adorable.

.X.

“Analii,” Thomas called. I turned to him from my spot next to Arien on the couch.

“It’s getting late,” Thomas continued when I sent him a questioning look. I glanced over at the clock to see that it was midnight. In between now and when we’d gotten back from the store we’d ate dinner, talked, watched a movie and worked on the song. Even with all that, I almost couldn’t believe how late it was.

Letting out a sigh, I stretched my legs and reluctantly got up. Snapping my knuckles, I walked over to Mark who was working on the computer. I leaned over, wrapping my arms around his neck. He smiled at me and I smirked back at him. Now was my chance to get back at him.

“The song sounds great so far,” I said. Mark’s smile grew.

“You think,” he asked.

“Of course, the lyrics will make it even better,” I replied.

“Did I mention that Thomas has already seen them?”

“Hey, don’t bring me into this,” Thomas laughed.

”Don’t rub it in, you jerk,” I grumbled. Mark just laughed.

”Anyways,” I started. “You’d better let me see the lyrics tomorrow.”

“I might,” Mark replied.

“You will,” I retorted.

“I won’t,” he smirked.

“You will.”

“I will.”

“What,” I asked.

“Not show you the lyrics.” His reply came fast this time and I almost missed the ‘not’.

“Pain in the ass,” I mumbled.

”You know you love me,” he replied with a triumphant grin knowing that he’d been able to annoy me. I sighed.

”You’re an idiot,” I laughed.

”A lovable idiot,” he mused. I smiled.

“Of course. I will be back,” and at that, I kissed him quickly on the cheek before making a bee-line for the door, running past Simone, Thomas and Oliver, leaving a hopefully confused Mark in my wake.