4. The return
Freya
I stared at my phone impatiently when we were standing at the airport, outside. It was sunny day, and people looked very Finnish around us. Judgmental stares, everyone walking in a hurry and most of their eyes were glued to ground. It kinda amused me, everything felt comforting familiar.. but at the same time it felt strange. Like I've been gone for years, or like I haven't even been here. I don't know how to describe it, but I'm glad to be here. I can't wait to meet Eevi, that's the reason why I was constantly checking my phone. She and Olli should be here in a minute.
Suddenly I got an message, and fastly I opened it, not even looking that who it was.
Unknown: You think you can block me?
I frowned hardly. Is this the same one who texted me two days ago? What the fuck. I blocked the number, and I decided to keep my mouth shut about it.
Gilbert was restless next to me, it's not normal for him. He's always so calm and open for every kind of meeting. I know this is making him nervous.
I turned my head to my left, to look at him. His brown eyes were wandering around as he was biting his lower lip.
"Hey..." I smiled to him as I placed my hand on his arm. Immediately he locked his eyes with mine. I stroked him as long as suddenly I heard steps coming towards us.
"Oh my dear!" Eevi's friendly voice echoed near us. I turned my head, and she was walking towards us happily, partly hiding her face as she chuckled. I let out a breath and let go of Gilbert, I took two steps closer to her and suddenly we were hugging tightly.
I closed my eyes as our hands were wrapped around each other, the feeling was so unreal, hugging your best friend after being six months away.
I heard her faintly sobbing, I don't mind, I did the same.
When we finally pulled apart, we both just studied each others faces, and Eevi placed her hands on my cheeks. She smiled and laughed.
"I can't believe you're really here." She quietly told me. I just nodded as I let my eyes wander to Olli, who was standing near his wife. He smiled to me, and Eevi let go of me. I hugged him too.
"Glad to have you here. Did the flight go well?" Olli asked politely. Gilbert stood near me, not really knowing what to do.
"It went fine. Gilbert..." I showed him to say hi to my friends. He was shy, and it was suprising. Maybe he's so anxious about his all, and about his father's death.. this is hard for him. Eevi and Olli knows about his father's cancer and all of it, I had to talk to someone about it, and Gilbert was okay with it. He didn't mind. He knows it's important to talk about these things to someone, especially to your best friend.
Immediately Gilbert reached out his hand for Eevi, and smiling she shook hands with him.
"Glad to see you two, it's been a while since the last time." Gilbert said. Then he shook hands with Olli, the bassist gave him a nod while smiling.
"Oscar is with my mother, she came here to visit us. But first.. we'd like to take you two somewhere..." Eevi smiled to us as she placed her hands together excited. We changed looks with Gilbert, and he raised his other eyebrow up slightly.
"Where? Are others there?" I questioned as we started walking towards their car.
"They are. And no more questions!" Eevi pointed her finger up amused.
The whole car ride took a while, and we talked about everything what has been going. Even though we talk about every little thing in the phone, it's not the same as we do it face to face. We laughed also a lot, and Gilbert was calm and relaxed with Olli and Eevi. I was very happy to see him like that. And Olli was so nice to him, and they came along very well. We were sitting in the backseats with Gilbert, and when we were arriving to a parking lot, he took my hand to his. I turned my head to look at him, and he was nervously biting his lower lip as he looked outside of the window. I squeezed his hand.
We stood out from the car, and when I closed the door and looked in front of us, I saw a building.
"Bowling? Really?" I asked uncertain. Gilbert walked from the other side of the car to me, he stood behind me as he put his hands on his trousers pockets. Eevi smiled to me widely as she covered her eyes from the sun with her hand.
"Yeah! Guys are already there, and you know what?" Eevi's tone was happy and full of mystery. Olli smiled too. I raised my eyebrows as a sign for her to continue.
"Tommi brought his girlfriend!" She said excited.
"They're not excatly dating. More like.. hanging out." Olli fixed his wife's words. Eevi's face dropped and I knew what was coming for Olli. I started smirking as I took Gilbert's hand to mine, we slowly started walking towards the building.
"Tommi said that they really like each other. It's only a matter of time when they're dating officially." Eevi poked Olli's chest. He showed his tongue to her.
We arrived there and changed our shoes. I was sweating from the nervousness, only in a minute I would meet Joel again. If he even is here. Gilbert was quite relaxed by now, and he talked with Olli all the time. I stood up from the chair, and I stared at the shoes. Gilbert was next to me, about to go in. But I wasn't moving.
"Let's go dear." He showed his hand to me.
I just bit my teeth together as I frustrated took one step forward.
"These stupid shoes are killing my feet." I mumbled. But it wasn't only the shoes, Gilbert knew it immediately. He sees through me, and his gaze was now worried. He took my hand and we started following Eevi and Olli.
"It's going to be alright. I'm there for the whole time, and nothing bad happens. I'm scared too, but I don't give it a chance to take control." He comforted me with his calming voice. I buried my face against his arm just before we were approaching the guys.
Everyone's attention were on the drinks they had, and Joonas was playing with his bowling ball.
"Greetings from London." I smiled shyly, and they turned heads to us. Everyone smiled, it made me more comfortable. Niko and Joonas came to hug us, and so did Tommi and Aleksi. They were also nice to Gilbert. There were sitting one woman, she had blonde long hair with some red stripes. Her blue eyes were glued to us. She had white top, and brown jeans on. That one big tattoo on her hand caught my attention. I smiled to her, and Tommi gave her a sign to stand up. She seemed to be a bit shy.
"This is Lydia." Tommi's smile was adorable when he looked at her. She smiled to me and Gilbert, and she hasn't also seen Eevi or Olli, so she shook hands with them too.
"Hi. I was suprised when Tommi invited me here." She said, blushing when she looked at the tall one back.
"We're glad to meet you. And don't get scared if these guys are going.. wild." Eevi pointed the guys around her, but specificly Olli, Joonas and Niko. We chuckled then.
"Where's Joel?" I looked around, but didn't see him. Niko was about to say something, but it didn't even take a second when someone was standing behind me and Gilbert.
"Missed me?" Joel's voice sounded flat. We turned around, and his captious gaze met with Gilbert's. He squeezed my hand. Slowly Joel's eyes wandered to me, and he blinked couple of times. He quickly took a glance all over me, and then he walked past us, staring at the ground. I tried to find some words to say, I had millions of words in my mind. I could almost see the letters running in front of my eyes. We turned around again.
"I don't know what you want me to say, but I'm sorry of how things went." I swallowed almost five times. Like it would even help. Joel just sat down next to Aleksi, and he shrugged his shoulders. He was suprisingly calm. I thought that he would start shouting, or not even showing here at all.
Then it was silent.
"Okay! Tonight we're just going to enjoy of our drinks and balls." Eevi slapped her hands together, making us all smirk. Olli was holding his laugh next to her, and slowly Eevi's eyes turned on him. She raised her other eyebrow up.
"You heard her." Olli did his best poker face.
Now the fun would begin. If I'm honest, I hate bowling.
First round was on, and everyone did quite good job. We're playing in two different parts, so everyone gets to play. In this first round is Niko, Aleksi, Joel, Gilbert and me.
I also glanced to see Tommi and Lydia, and they both were whispering to each other and he made her giggle often. I just smiled as I watched them. Joel was sitting on the edge of the big couch, and it was his turn now. Aleksi was before him, and he gave Joel encouraging tap on the shoulder.
"Okay dark lord, show your skills." Olli grinned next to Eevi, keeping his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Joel took his bowling ball, and then took the right position. He threw it, and slowly it went further and further. Everyone's eyes were on it.
It nudged one down. He let out a frustrated sigh, but he has second try. I took long sip of my drink.
He threw the second one, and this time he got two down. So, three points for him. Niko and Aleksi cheered.
"That's good, we only have to win the other team." Niko smirked to his sister, Eevi slapped his chest.
Joel sat down, and now it was Gilbert's turn. I stroked his leg before he stood up, and he smiled down at me.
"Do they teach bowling in London?" Joel asked. But his tone was kinda.. suggestive and strange. Like he sounded extremely nice, but it sounded dismissive. He knew what he was doing. I just bit my lower lip, staring at Gilbert. He was calm. He turned his head a little bit to Joel, but not too much. He took the bowling ball, and went in front of the lane.
"Actually, they do. I haven't really done this before..." Gilbert casually said, and then he threw the ball. It went fastly, and our team sat up a bit from the couch, in huge hope. Except Joel.
He turned all the ten of them down. Gilbert slowly turned around.
"But I'm quite good at it." He smiled proudly, and I had to get up and rush to him as Aleksi and Niko were cheering. I hugged Gilbert tightly and chuckling he did the same to me.
Now I realized that it would be my turn.
"I really suck at this." I shook my head as I took the last sip of my drink. Gilbert knows that I hate this. Back then when we were studying photographing, our class used to go to bowling once a month. I appeared there twice and I never got any points, and I just hated being there. So Gilbert suggested that we should go to do something together when others go bowling next time.
So we went to some museum, and we had amazing time then.
When I took the bowling ball, Gilbert was near me for the whole time. I smiled to him as I turned my eyes on him.
"Let me show you." He took me by my shoulders and guided me to the right spot.
Then he placed his hand on my arm, and he instructed carefully about.. well, everything what I should do. I wasn't really paying attention, when my eyes were only on his hand that was holding my arm. I pressed my lips together, smiling as I tried to focus.
So, Freya and Gilbert are in Finland! And that unknown number continues disturbing...
I hope everything good to you all, remember to take care of yourselves, and do more things that you love.
Thank you for reading this story, every comment and vote means a lot to me <3
Stay safe and strong🖤