A Little Surprise
"ACE's huh?", Noah raised his head. "This shit won't go easy then". He talked as everyone gathered around the table.
"Yeah. We gotta start working our asses off now", Nate nodded. "How do you know ACE's though?" You have a bitter encounter with them too?"
"No", Mika sighed. "More like we had moments with them"
"One of their members was from our school", Grace added. "Their motives and ways were clear from a very long time ago".
"Yeah. They got on my nerve. We had chances of hanging out together. I wanted to smash their head on those days", Mika clenched her fist as she got annoyed even talking about them.
"Damn so they were like that from before", Nate chuckled sarcastically.
"So what's the main point of this meeting?", Noah crossed his legs.
"Hmm", Nate sighed as he landed a sheet of a printed flyer on the table. "I was thinking about not hurrying into stuff but turns out we can't go there half-assed", he stated.
"Drum player audition?", Grace read it out.
"Yeah with you and Mika on the guitar, Noah on keyboard and me on the bass, all there's left is this", Nate spoke.
"Now that I think about it", Mika smashed her hands on the table, "Why didn't you get one in the first place!".
"Hey chill out", Nate pushed her away landing on the seat again. "I thought of this festival just being a little exposure event. We weren't rushing into anything".
"Yeah we did try though", Noah shrugged.
"Then?", Grace asked.
"No one really had THAT charm", he sighed. "We thought that alright what's the rush?"
"Now there is", she smashed her head on her hand.
"Okay, we all gotta be there, so everyone should open their schedule after these five days. Since we're having holidays till then", Nate started typing something on his laptop.
"Roger", Mika saluted in sarcasm.
Before they could end up in another fight, Grace put her tab in the middle of the table. "I hope these are okay".
Three of the started reading it like some five-year-old children in a group.
Grace looked at them eagerly. She was super nervous as to what would happen now. Would they like it? Is it too bad? Why aren't they saying anything? As I thought! it's super bad!
But as soon as they were done reading, none of them said even a single word. The room was filled with silence. Grace's intuition's kept getting more and more messed up.
Nate got up, still not speaking. His face was expressionless. His footsteps were getting louder and clearer.
As soon as he was in front of Grace she bowed. "I'm sorr-"
Nate picked her up and spun her around, "Oh my god it was awesome! I couldn't imagine anything better than this!"
"Really?", Grace asked as she landed on her feet.
"Babe it's amazing!", Mika exclaimed.
"Yeah. You did a great job!", Noah gave her a thumbs up.
Grace giggled up, "you guys scared me!".
After regular practice, this time with lyrics, things were starting to come out nicely. They got some preparations for tomorrow's audition and then headed home.
"Have you heard from Ryan yet?", Grace asked as she was lazying around the kotatsu.
"No. But it hasn't been that long so maybe I would", Mika said while getting the dishes out.
"How are you feeling about this?"
"You know", Mika sighed deeply, "I thought it would bother me. But turns out I couldn't care less"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I think I'm done with giving people the upper hand in every situation. It's about time I learn this"
"Hmm, that's true. But what if he does something stupid? We know that he is capable of that", Grace said as she started putting food in both of their plates.
"Yeah I know", Mika sighed. "But don't worry. This time, if he tries something he won't see anything pretty. That's for sure".
As they were in the middle of eating, Grace's phone buzzed.
"Oh!", she gasped.
"What is it?", Mika asked as she saw Grace's expressions changing.
"Nothin! I asked Tracy for some help".
"
"I know right!! And did you see his boyfriend?", Grace got fired up.
"OH- MY- GOD- They are so cute together!", Mika started jumping up and down.
Both of them, being a fan of yaoi manga for years, it's obvious to get fired up when they see something like this.
"What was his boyfriend's name again?"
"I think it was Aiden", Grace scrolled on her phone, "See this!"
On her screen, there was Tracy being hugged like a puppy by Aiden.
"AWWW!!! So cute!", Mika snatched the phone from her. "I wanna go on a date with them and observe them all day!"
"Good lord stop drooling over them", Grace chuckled.
"Anyway what was the favour you got from him?"
"I asked him to get me info about a girl", Grace snatched her phone back.
"That's stalking you know?", Mika squinted her eyes.
"Obviously not!! There was this girl I saw one day. She was beating her drumsticks on some books", she replied while stuffing her mouth.
"Hey eat slower. So you think this girl would be a good option for us?", Mika passed her some water.
Grace gulped down and sighed deeply. "Look- If you guys feel what I felt after seeing her, there won't be any questions about it", she smiled cheerfully.
"So how does Tracy come into all this?"
"Well, I didn't see that girl for a long time. Plus I got really busy so I never paid attention", she replied. "But while coming out of the club building I saw that girl talking to Tracy"
"Ah I see", Mika nodded.
"Yep. I texted him right then about it. He said he'll do it"
"Hmm... But we have to wait for five days. When is this festival anyway?"
"I think I knew the date", she scrolled through her phone again. "Oh, it's been postponed to November".
"November!? That's more than a month! What happened?", Mika leaned in to look.
"Apparently all the professional bands are performing there so they are going to take time for preparation and rescheduling", she read out. "Wait isn't that like a VERY BIG DEAL!!"
"How are WE there?", Mika was dumbfounded.
"I have no idea. Nate got us the confirmation letter the next day we decided about it", Grace was baffled too.
"I wonder how that dimwit does such stuff?", Mika rolled her eyes.
"Now now", Grace giggled. "Don't speak so rudely about him".
"HMPH! He deserves this", she rebelled. "Anyways it's your turn to do the dishes right?"
"Yeah", Grace sighed as she got up while carrying her and Mika's dishes. "Can you bring the other stuff inside? I'll start on the dishes"
"Sure!", Mika waved her happily. Doing dishes is the one thing she'll do anything to avoid.
Mika spent the rest of the time just rolling around the table. "It's getting cold every day", she cried.
"I know right? I didn't think fall would be like this", Grace replied. "UGH! Even the water is getting colder"
"That's why I don't do dishes", she smiled proudly.
"At least do something productive!", Grace scolded as she was almost getting done with work but Mika hadn't changed her position.
"Ugh fine", Mika pouted.
Their apartment was quiet lively with calming music playing on the side. Grace wiped her hands and came out to see something that made her mood go from 'very good' to 'I'll kill you'.
Mika was still sitting on the same table while on her laptop screen she was video chatting with Noah and Nate.
She came from behind and smacked her head. "I said do something productive not something stupid!!".
"But it's productive! We're discussing the club!", she said proudly.
"I can bet you are doing everything but that", Grace squinted her eyes on her.
"Good evening Grace", Nate spoke from the other side.
"Hello", she smiled cheerfully. Obviously forgetting what she was doing a second ago.
"Now who's productive", Mika quoted sarcastically.
"Shut up", Grace pouted. She didn't care about going against her own words when it's Nate. His one smile is enough to make her forget about every little thing she could worry about.
"By the way, your phone has been buzzing like crazy. You might wanna check it", Mika pointed out her phone blinking on the other side of the table.
"Ah thank you", she went to it.
"You had to do it?", Nate frowned.
"Yes!!! And what are you doing anyway? I was calling Noah!", Mika pointed out.
"Why? so you could do your perv stuff with him? How bad Miss Mika", he shook his head.
"I don't want to hear it from you!!!", she yelled.
And again just like that, another fight began. Noah opened up his book on the side like it was just another day for him.
But this time they had to stop.
Grace screamed loudly making everyone flinch.
"What? What happened?", Mika asked in worry.
"Is everything okay?", Nate asked through the screen.
She slowly turned back with a face of horror. She uttered four words, nothing more.
"We need to go".