Open Your Arms

Chapter 29

November 22, 2003

"Okay," I whisper as I pull the tray off of the counter that's filled with a bagel, pancakes, and eggs for Ville. Anita assured me that he likes this food and he'll enjoy it, but I'm still nervous he won't. 

I peek my head through the crack of the door and see that Ville's writing something in his notebook. I turn to Anita and nod my head, letting her know that he's awake. She grabs Kari and Jesse from the bedroom and we all walk into my bedroom. 

We all sing happy birthday in Finnish and make our way over to Ville. He immediately sets down his notebook and smiles at us. I can tell by his expression that he wasn't expecting this. 

Anita taught me how to sing the song in Finnish this morning. She had to repeat it multiple times, but I got the hang of it after a little. She wanted things to be a little more familiar for her, considering that she's celebrating his birthday in America and not Finland like they normally do. 

I set the tray down onto his lap and he blows out the candle in the middle of the pancake. They all clap, but I take the candle out and kiss him. 

"Happy birthday," I say to him and then walk into the bathroom to rinse of the candle, then throw it away. As I come back out, I find them all giving him hugs. 

"I was not expecting this; thank you," He looks down at the tray, then back at me. "Did you make this?"

"With your mom's help," I reply, making sure that he knows that his mother helped too. I gasp and then grab my camera out of my drawer. "Guys, go stand next to him."

Anita, Kari, and Jesse all stand next to Ville and I back up, taking a picture of them together. I set the camera down and Anita says, "Alright, now your turn."

"Doesn't this feel a little familiar?" I ask Ville, handing the camera to Anita and laying down on the bed next to Ville. 

"What are you talking about?" He looks at me with a quizzical look. 

"People are always taking pictures of you. Paparazzi and stuff like that."

"Oh," He chuckles. He wraps an arm around me and we both look at his mom while smiling. 

"Okay, you're good," She hands me back the camera and I take it from her, setting it down on my dresser. 

"So what's the plan for today?" Ville asks, taking a bite of the eggs. 

"Okay, does that taste okay?" I ask him. "Because I suck at making food."

"It tastes splendid," He stabs the egg with his fork and shoves it into my mouth. I eat it and nod. "It's good, huh?"

"Those are the best damn eggs I have ever made."

                                    ---------------------------------------

As we wait for a tattoo artist, my leg is bouncing vigorously against the floor. I've never gotten a tattoo before and I've always told myself that I wouldn't get one. But here I am and I'm getting a matching tattoo with my boyfriend for his birthday. 

We've already talked about what it's going to be and what it's going to look like. We're going to get "Us. This. Forever." tattooed onto our arms. We wanted to have our own little phrase that would represent our relationship. 

I want it on the arm because it'll be noticeable, but not too noticeable. Ville also told me that it's not as painful compared to other places, too. I wanted to get in on our wrist, but Ville already has a heart tattoo there and his other wrist is occupied from his tattoo sleeve.