"Close your eyes," he said as he climbed the stairs up to the loft, where I sat surrounded by pillows and blankets.
"What are you going to do?" I asked with a nervous laugh, covering my eyes.
"You'll see." I heard his feet shuffle on the carpet. "Keep 'em closed, I'll be back," he mumbled. A few moments later, he returned, bringing a sweet sweet smell in the air, and the couch beside me dipped as he sat. "Okay, open them."
I opened my eyes to see two plates of pancakes and a bottle of champagne on the table, which made me laugh to myself, but that basically summarized our relationship; we were like kids, but we were old enough to drink the big kid "juice" and get wild.
"Sorry it's a little weird, but I could only find pancake mix. I need to go to the store," he said, a light blush on his cheeks. "Been in Los Angeles for a while now."
"It's perfectly fine; I love you, we're in Finland, and I am as happy as can be just to be with you. Pancakes are perfectly fine with me, and the champagne? Well, you're a smart man," I purred, picking up the bottle.
"It's the same stuff you like in America, just with a Finnish label. I'm glad you like it, though," he said, leaning over and kissing my cheek. "Do you want to open the champagne while I look for movie?"
"Sure."
"Alright. Horror or comedy?"
"Mmm... comedy. Let's change it up."
"Okay." He began to read the list to me, not seeing that I was struggling with opening the bottle of champagne. After a few minutes, he randomly picked one and turned back to me, trying to contain his laughter when he realized that I still hadn't gotten the bottle open. "Want help?"
"Nope," I said, holding up a hand.
"Are you sure?"
"Y-yes," I said, feeling the cork move slightly. "I got it!" I shouted, pulling out the cork, followed by the bottle overflowing with fizz and running all over Archie. "Shit! I'm so sorry, Archie! Fuck," I said, panicking as I looked around for something to help my situation- with no idea of what that would be, as Archie laughed beside me.
"It's okay, don't worry about it," he wheezed. "I got it," he said, running downstairs for a towel. I honestly felt like crying, but I tried to keep it together as he came back and threw the towel over the mess.
"Well, this was going to be very sweet and borderline romantic until I spilled the champagne on you," I said with a nervous laugh, crimson blush spreading across my face as I held the foam covered bottle in my hand. "I'm so sorry."
"Nah, don't sweat it," he said with a smile. "I guess it gives me an excuse to take off my clothes sooner rather than later," he said with a wink, laughing as I blushed even more. "Hey, I get it; if you wanted me to take my shirt off, you could have just asked," he teased as he started to take off said shirt. "Anyway, welcome to Finland, baby," he purred as he kissed me, slowly trailing down to my neck.
Fuck.
"Okay," I mumbled as I put the bottle of champagne down. "The movie's gonna have to wait," I said with a giggle, climbing into his lap. Judging by the smile on his face, he knew what he was in for.
°°°°°°
"Hey, relax, babe," he said, taking my hand as we headed up to the rehearsal space. "You're going to love them, and they'll love you, too."
I nodded, focusing on my breathing as I stared at the electric green walls, following the single yellow stripe that marked them with my eyes.
"What if they don't?"
"They will. Don't worry, okay? It's going to be fine. Look at it this way, even if you don't get along, it's also band rehearsals, so you don't have to talk as much. Smooth sailing."
"Got those stairs were killer," I mumbled, taking a deep breath.
Once we reached the right door, Archie unlocked it, we walked into a cramped little room that was full of equipment and instruments. The walls had different posters, banners, stickers and the occasional spray painted graffiti, and it was safe to say that it looked a lot different than where my dad rehearsed with Faster Pussycat, but it looked more rock and roll because of it being so cramped. It was tightly packed, but Archie's smile made it seem like it was their second home.
Three men already sat in the room, two blonds and a brunette; one of the two blond men was sitting at a drum set, smiling and laughing at something the others had said, the other blond was holding a bass as he sat on a rickety looking stool. The one with brown hair was perched on an amp, playing guitar with a cigarette between his lips.
"Boys!" Archie called, causing the three to look over and smile, mumbling in Finnish and laughing once again. "Shut up, Tazzy," he said with a laugh. "Guys, this is my girlfriend Lucy; Lucy this Middy," he gestured to the bass player, "Taz," the drummer, "and Johnny," the guitar player.
Everyone mumbled their hellos before Middy spoke up, surprising me with his deep voice.
"It's nice to finally meet you; Archie won't stop talking about you," he said, moving his long blond hair out of his face.
"Yeah, like a broken record," Johnny teased, pulling the hair tie out of his hair and shaking it down to his shoulders.
"Never ending," Tazzy added, spinning his sticks between his fingers.
"Hopefully just the good things," I said with a nervous laugh. "I've heard a lot about you guys, too."
"Well, like you said, hopefully only the good things," Middy replied with a smile, shooting a glance at Archie.
"As far as I know, just the good stuff."
"Oh, but I haven't told her about the cruise; Middy, would you like to tell it?" Archie asked.
"Shut up, dude," he mumbled as he turned back to his bass.
"That's what I thought. Anyway, make yourself comfortable, if you can," he said, kissing my cheek before shuffling to the back to grab a guitar. "You get to listen to us try to play music," he joked as he walked back over.
"Yeah, tell us what you think," Middy suggested as he plucked at a couple of the strings of his bass.
"Yeah, she can definitely do that. Helpful thinking," Taz cut in.
"Miss Downe, do you want somewhere to sit?" Archie asked. "I'll move some stuff-"
"No, it's fine. I can sit right there," I said, pointing to an empty spot on the floor that was a bit farther back from them. "I won't be right in your space," I explained as I walked over and sat in the space that I had pointed out.
"Okay, if you're sure. So, What's first?" he asked, adjusting his guitar strap and plugging in his guitar.
"I thought we'd run through Velvet Rope first," Johnny suggested.
"Cool. Do you want to run Bonafide Heroes after?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Taz, count us in."
°°°°°°
"See? That wasn't so bad."
"Not at all; you guys did great."
"I meant meeting them, silly."
"Oh... yeah, I guess not," I mumbled as we walked out of the building and toward his car.
"But you're stuck on something, aren't you?" he asked, looking at me.
"Well, sorta. They're all pretty great, but I don't think Johnny likes me," I admitted. "He was really quiet, but when he talked to me, something just seemed a bit off."
"He's like that sometimes. You're fine; he just has to warm up to you. Middy and Taz are always friendly, but sometimes it takes Johnny a couple of times of meeting someone to warm up to them." He opened the car door for me and I slid into the passenger seat, twisting my rings around on my fingers.
"Next is my parents," he mumbled as he got in the car. "I already know that will be fine; my mom is really awesome. My dad's pretty cool, too... Hey, you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on my thigh.
"Yeah, I'm just nervous still," I said with a chuckle. "It takes me a while to calm down. When I'm like this I either talk too much, or I'm really quiet."
"I understand. Just relax, baby. We'll get home and you can just sit back and chill, okay?"
"Okay... I think I'm overtired. Jet lag is being a bitch."
"Doesn't help that the time zone is completely different here."
"True."
As we drove home, mostly in silence, I stared out of the window, taking in the sight of the trees and the clear, starlit sky. Things weren't like this in L.A., in fact, the light pollution was so bad that the sky was always pink looking, but here, here you could see the stars without any problems. It was beautiful.
Even though Los Angeles had a lot of musical history, I didn't really understand why so many people went there; now it was too crowded, expensive, and depending on what neighborhood you were in, it was also dangerous. Finland was beautiful and calm, whereas L.A. was constantly fast paced. Smoggy air and traffic versus peace and clear skies? I'll take Finland any day.
It was crazy to think I was in such a different place now... with someone that I genuinely believed I was in love with, and that he felt the same about me. I would meet his family in the next few days, and then who knew what would happen? I obviously didn't know what our future held, but I had a good feeling and I was looking forward to finding out.
When we got home, we took a shower and climbed in bed. We just talked for a while and fell asleep. Nothing crazy. Both of us were stuck on Los Angeles time, so we weren't going to fight the lag. We would adjust better, although we weren't doing too bad so far.
Tomorrow was a new day, and it would probably be even better than today. Every day with Archie felt like a great day, and I was happier than I had ever thought possible. I felt alive.