Shit Happens (A Day to Remember)

10: Paranoia

McKenna

"Hey," Neil whispered. I felt him put his hand on top of mine. I stopped looking nervously at the people around me and met his eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah." I lied. I nodded my head and I smiled, but I guess it wasn't enough convincing.

"Its okay to say no." Neil chuckled. "Its a 13 hour flight to a country you've never been too. No one is going to judge you."

"Fair enough. Yeah, I'm freaking the fuck out." I admitted.

"Here," he handed me the ear bud that wasn't stuck in his ear. I put it in my ear and leaned closer to him so it would be less likely for one of us to pull one or both out. Sharing headphones was hard.

"What are we listening to?" I asked him when I realized music still wasn't playing. He tapped his phone screen a couple times and gave it to me.

"You choose."

I took it and put it on a random Green Day song.

"You choose a Green Day song and you're wearing a Green Day sweater," Neil pointed out.

"I like Green Day." I shrugged.

The flight was long and boring, as expected. I fell asleep on Neil's shoulder twice, probably for 20 minutes each time, and that was the only sleep I got. Neil fell asleep on my shoulder for about an hour, and that was all the sleep he got.

We talked and joked and listened to music and played games. Josh, who was sitting on my other side talked and joked and played games with us for half the flight, the other half he was asleep with his head smushed against my arm. I didn't mind though. It was just kind of annoying when Josh and Neil were asleep on me at the same time.

It was beginning to feel like I couldn't stand being on the plane any longer when the pilot announced that we would be landing soon.

We got off the plane, got our luggage, piled into several cabs and headed on our way to the hotel. Neil, Josh, and I were sharing a room this time around.

"Hey mom-" I answered my phone.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY."

"Thanks, mom." I chuckled.

"What are you, 32 now?" She joked.

"Close enough." I laughed. I was actually 23.

"Are you doing anything special?" She asked.

"No," I bit my lip. No one knew it was my birthday.

"They don't know its your birthday do they?"

"Nope."

"Mikey! Hand the phone to someone." I was taken aback by her demand. I looked at the beds to my left. Neil's was next to mine and Josh's was next to his. They both laid on their beds, probably going through their social medias on their phones.

"No."

"Mikey, I want to talk to them." She said mischeviously.

"Mom, I'm not going to give anyone my phone." This caught both Josh and Neil's attention.

"Then put me on speaker."

"I'm not putting you on speaker!" Neil and Josh shared a look.

"Put her on speaker," Neil said.

"I'm not putting her on speaker."

"Why won't you put her on speaker?" Josh asked, sitting up on his bed and giving me a questioning look.

"Because she's going to-" I stopped myself. Before I knew it, Neil had snatched my phone from me and put my mom on speaker.

"Hello, Mikey's mom." He said.

"Hi! So, I guess my daughter has failed to mention that it is her-"

"That's enough, mom." I muttered.

"Failed to mention that it's her what?" Josh asked.

"Its her birthday!" My mom chirped.

"What? Mikey, why didn't you tell us?" Neil asked me. I just shrugged.

"How old are you?" Josh asked.

"You don't just ask a lady how old she is," I said sarcastically.

"She's twenty three!"

"Mom!"

"Who am I talking to by the way?" Mom asked, trying to change the subject.

"Neil and Josh. Not that you'd have any idea who they are-"

"No, I looked up the band. Hi Neil and Josh!"

"Alright mom, its probably what, 2 am over there? Why don't you go to bed and I'll call you later- when I'm alone?" I grabbed my phone back from Neil.

"Actually its-"

"Night mom."

"Night honey. I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

"I love you too, Mikey's mom." Josh commented.

"Yeah, me too."

"I love you too!"

"Bye mom."

"Bye."

I laughed and hung up the phone.

"Why didn't you tell us you were turning twenty three today?" Neil asked, jumping onto my bed, entirely invading my personal space.

"Yeah, why?" Josh asked, laying at the end of the bed with his legs on top of mine.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I didn't see the point."

"Bullshit! C'mon, lets go meet up with the other guys and go do something." Neil grabbed my arm and tried to pull me off the bed.

"Orrrr, we could pretend its not my birthday and go to bed early." I resisted his attempts to move me.

"Nope." Josh grabbed my other arm.

"You guys suck." I caved and let them drag me out of the hotel room and to the hotel lobby. They called and told everyone to meet us down there and sure enough, everyone was there. And everyone was just as appalled that I hadn't told them it was my birthday.

And so the shenanigans began.