November 1979:
"Mike stop moving" I hold his shaky hand in mine, applying black nail polish to his nails.
"Sorry I can't" he laughs to himself and purposely moves his hand so it smears on his finger. "Oops."
"MIKE" I snort but hold a firm glare on him. I had a connection to Mike that was so quick, it's crazy to think we were just a bunch of strangers a few weeks ago. He held a spirit that was just trustworthy, I liked that. "Don't. Move." I look up at his goofy expression.
"Okay bossy boots" he smirks. I could feel him watching me intently and it threw me off.
"Stop watching too" I stick out my tongue to focus on the task of perfect nails. "Okay finished, let em dry before you go mess around" I set the polish on my nightstand. Jaime was out with Sami shopping, or so she says. "I'm bored" I fall back on the bed and look out the window to catch a beam of sunlight in my eyes.
"What do you wanna do?" Matti lays back down next to me.
"If I knew I would already be doing it" I roll my eyes.
"Hmm" he hums. We both sit and think of something to spend a day on. "There's an art museum in Helsinki i-"
"Let's go" I fly off the bed and slip my boots on.
"Dude my nails" he holds his fingers up. I hold up my index finger and run to get Jaimes blow dryer in hopes of drying them quickly.
"Ready to roll cool cat" I watch him fix his leopard printed scarf in the mirror.
"Now I am Sherbear" he sticks his tongue out.
"Haha never call me that again '' I punched his arm. I grab Sami's camera off the counter and stuff it in my coat pocket before we head out the door. It was a beautiful day in Finland, which was nice considering the consistent rainy days so far. "Tonight Jaime wants to hang the Christmas decorations up."
"Should be fun" he nods "what are you gonna get for Christmas?"
"Probably nothing cause my money situation. But I actually might '' I wink.
"Me too" he laughs "we should steal some stuff together, a master plan for a totally wicked gift.
"Good idea genius" I roll my eyes "I need to get a job soon, can't stay at Jaime's forever."
"Me too, can't live with you forever" he stuffs his hands in his pockets and chatters his teeth.
"Sure ya could, stay as long as you need babe" I pull out a cigarette and share it with Matti. We get to the subway train and hop on, ready for the ride to Helsinki. "Look at this" I point to a guitar in the magazine.
"Hey that's sweet" he looks over from his magazine, showing me a saxophone. It wasn't supposed to be a long ride, but we had many stops before we got there. We ended up falling asleep on eachothers shoulders, snoring quietly. "Wake up Sherry" Matti taps my shoulder.
"Whoa dude" I squint at the sunlight blasting my eyes. "Let's go" I stand up and grab his hand to pull him up. The station was bustling with families, business travelers and homeless people playing guitars for a few coins. I felt them deeply, so I threw a few coins to every street performer I saw.
"You're really an angel aren't you?" Matti smiles.
"I may be, or a devil" I tease with my tongue sticking out. "Call me devil-sher?"
"Devil-sher doesn't ring" he shakes his head. "What about Mevil? Like Mike and devil."
"Bro that sounds like something you'd name a rat" I chuckled.
"No it sounds cool, should be a stage name."
"No" I shake my head "that's just weird, you gotta use something cool."
"Oh so what is yours miss Sherry" he crosses his arms.
"Sherry Cherry" I spin around "matches the band's name too, so I'm the coolest out there."
"Fair enough" Matti smirks. We walk down the streets of the capital and race down the concrete and up the steps to get to the museum first. "Ha I won" he catches his breath, he looked like he was about to pass out.
"You may have won but it looks like you are gonna die."
"I might" he falls into my arm and almost brings me down with him. We laughed our guts out till I thought I was gonna throw up, it wasn't even that funny. The museum was absolutely beautiful, one of many words to describe it. It was crisp and elegant. "C'mon" he grabs my hand and I follow behind him, our arms stretched out all the way.
"Whoa" I stand in front of the large painting with my hand on my chin. Matti stood not too far, doing the same stance as me. The painting was A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, one of my mother's favourites. Matti follows behind me, almost as if he's copying me. Game on Mikey. I stood next to his figure with my hands on my hips and my head tilted, copying Matti's moves. These paintings we looked at were some by Picasso, self portraits I believe.
"Damn" we both mutter at the two large paintings staring back at us. "Ha! You blinked" Matti nearly shouts as he points at the painting, getting a few looks.
"Weirdo" I whispered and laughed in his ear as I walked by. We now stood in front of the morphing mirrors, looking at my morphed body. Matti danced around in the mirrors wildly, still getting looks from older folks. We were almost like statues as we walked around the gallery, it was strange but fun. We finally actually got to the statues and Matti posed as one. I took out my camera, ignoring the order for 'no photography' and snapped the photo. The next one I tried to take a picture of, Matti jumped in front of the camera while making a funny face:
"How do I look" Matti ran into the gift shop to grab an enormous cowboy hat with the museum's logo.
"Jeez Matti, I think that's a little big" I laughed and rolled my eyes. I had some money from the gig we played the other night, so might as well get something. "Matti what are you doing?" I catch sight of him with millions of things in his arms. He was like a kid in a candy shop.
"Look at these'' he slips the glasses on, that were leopard print "matches my scarf." We walk a little more through the gift shop and I find a replica of my mothers favorite painting, a good Christmas gift I'd say. "Ya ready Sherry?"
"Yeah I'm coming" I followed Matti to the cashier. Matti ended up getting just the glasses and a cute little snow globe with a little statue of Venus de Milo in it. We rush out of the museum laughing our asses off about something and having an overall good time. "Where to next Mike?"
"How about that nice cafe for lunch? I've been there before and the food is real nice" he nods. Then we were on our way for lunch at the Ritz, well not really. Although I do wish to visit the Ritz someday.
"How old are you Sherry" Matti suddenly looks up from his plate at me.
"Seventeen" I sigh "I know you probably don't wanna be seen hanging out with kids now."
"No dude I'm seventeen too" he rolls his eyes. Damn I should've known, he did look really young but I didn't want to assume.
"It's quite obvious isn't it" I sip my mug that held the finest tea I've ever had. "Okay to settle your whole name situation cause I'm confused, I'm just gonna call you Mike."
"Michael" he nods, being in thought.
"Monroe" I add onto the thought. "Michael Monroe, since Marilyn Monroe died the year we were born and she's a complete icon."
"That's perfect, MICHAEL MONROE" he shouts and pumps his fist.
"Everything alright sir?" the waiter walks up to the table.
"Please, call me Michael Monroe" he smiles with pride. The newly named Michael strolled out the diner with a huge grin, he was happy if you couldn't tell. Not because of the name anymore, a girl gave him her number. "See the girls love Michael!"
"Better tell them the credits go to Sharise" I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
"Course angel" he throws his arm around my neck. "Look at that" he stops at the antique store window to look at the vintage dinosaur figure.
"You're still two aren't you" I look over to him "c'mon big boy and let's get you your toy." We walk side by side into the small shop, Michael instantly picking up the dinosaur. "I should call you Mikelodon shouldn't I?"
"This is a velociraptor dude, what are you so uncultured for?" he shakes his head and snorts.
"Oh I'm so hurt, I'm sorry I'm not a nerd and don't know every dinosaur's name" I rolled my eyes and walked down the aisle to find some presents at a reasonable price. I found a tea cup with a matching teapot, covered in hand painted flowers that I knew Jaime would just love. Thin Lizzy, Blue Öyster Cult, Rolling Stones and Humble Pie all filled bins on the dusty floor. All of them being Mack's favorite, how perfect. I stuff a few items in my jacket while I watch as Michael talks continuously to the cashier. "It's getting late and we should head home" I walk down the street with my coat pulled tightly and a brown paper bag dangling in my hands.
"Yeah, Jaime's probably wondering where we are" Michael breathes a shaky breath from the cold. I could tell he was tired because his high energy went away. The sky darkened after the hours we explored the capital and messed around in a park, it was an amazing day.
"There you guys are!!" Jaime swings the door open bearing a santa hat on her curly mop of hair.
"Hey Jam, we were out in Helsinki all day" I walked into the house and took my jacket off.
"Oh I hope it was fun" she sipped her mug. Sami stood near the new guest, the Christmas tree. It was beautiful with gold, vanilla like lights that hugged the tree so tight. I drop the gifts off into the closet and slip on a sweater and pajama pants with little reindeers splashed around.
"Could I put up the star please, its tradition that the youngest does!" I grab the white sparkly star out of the bin.
"Sure luv, Sami and I already have done almost the whole thing" she laughs.
"Michael come here" I wave him over and jump on his back. As I situate myself on his shoulders I place the star in its rightful place. Just beautiful. "Perfect" I beam and jump down to get a good look. Nothing could be more perfect than spending the holidays with your best friends.