Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Playdate

"Maybe we should call Nick over to teach you?" Julian let out a soft laugh as he watched me fumble around with the strings on my new guitar. "He's better than me at this shit."

I shook my head profusely at his request. "No, no! I can do it, wait!"

Albert sat with a smirk, looking up at us from his crosslegged position on the floor.

"What about you, Albert?" Julian looked down at him. "You're pretty good too."

"You wanted to do this, man." said Albert with an eye roll.

I sighed, carefully setting down my guitar. "Maybe we can try again later?"

"Good idea." agreed Julian with a smirk. "You were getting pretty frustrated."

"I was not." I shook my head.

Julian stared at me, still with a smirk. "You were too!"

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Can you two put a sock in it?" Albert interrupted, hiding a smile.

I huffed, standing up as I made my way over to the kitchen and pulled out a can of soda from the fridge.

"Throw me one of those?" Julian asked as he made himself comfortable on the sofa.

I death stared him with an obvious smirk as I grabbed another can and closed the fridge, popping my can open.

Albert raised an arm, knowing what I was going to do next. With an underarm grip, I tossed the can to Albert and looked back at Julian with a menacing grin. Albert and I both sipped on our drinks as we shared a laugh.

"Aww, c'mon!" Julian whined. "You guys suck!"

I trotted back into the living room and joined Albert on the floor in front of the TV. A muffled groan came from Julian, who had his head buried under a cushion.

"Lazy fuck." I laughed as I sipped from my can. "Mmm...refreshing!"

We ended up watching a few movies until it got quite late. Albert had fallen asleep and I was on the verge of passing out too. Julian, on the other hand, was wide awake and smiled down at me after putting on another movie.

"Not Robocop!" I groaned, barely being able to lift my head off the ground.

Julian chuckled lightly to himself as he fell back onto the sofa. "Want me to carry you to bed or something?"

"No...I'm," I yawned, closing my eyes and inching myself closer to Albert, where I lay my head on his stomach. "I'm good."

"You sure?" Julian raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"Mmm..." I barely understood what he was saying, because I'd already started to drift off.

It wasn't long before I felt a pair of arms attempt to scoop me up. I opened one eye and wriggled away, slowly lifting my head off of Albert.

"Fuck, sorry!" Julian whisper-yelled. "I was trying not to wake you!"

"Well it seems you didn't try hard enough." I said, repositioning myself beside Albert, who surprisingly hadn't woken up.

"You don't wanna go to bed?" asked Julian. He was still crouched down next to me which made him look rather awkward. I had to fight off a smile as I closed my eyes again.

"Sleepover!" I mumbled excitedly, grabbing his hand and yanking him down so that he fell onto the floor beside me.

"Really?" he laughed. "On the floor?"

I smiled and inched closer to him, pressing my forehead against his chest with my eyes still closed. "Go to sleep."

"Woah, okay." Julian nodded and closed his eyes.

I woke up hours later, just as the sunlight was seeping through the gaps in the curtains. Julian had his arm draped over my waist which made me bite down so hard on my bottom lip out of anxiousness that I could taste blood. Something about his touch always made me slightly uncomfortable at the fact that I might enjoy it. I pulled myself out from under him, gently enough not to wake him and Albert, who was fast asleep on his side with his back to me.

I contemplated popping open a beer as I stared at a row of them in the fridge, but I decided to be a normal person and have some coffee for breakfast instead. Beer won't solve all your problems, Jade!

Jade - 1; beer - 0.

The clock on the kitchen wall told me that it was almost 8 o'clock. Why was I awake so early? I shrugged my shoulders as I poured myself a cup of hot coffee and walked back over to the couch, carefully stepping over Julian and Albert.

The phone in the kitchen soon started to ring, waking up the two guys and making me sigh as I jumped up to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello, is Miss Jade-y there?" Nick had put on his best childlike voice, earning a laugh from me.

"She is. Why are you calling so early, Nicky? You're never up at this time!"

"Nor are you." he said. He had a point. "Can Jules and Albie come over to play?" He continued on with the voice.

"Well, they were supposed to help me with groceries today..." I replied, looking over at Albert and Julian, who had been listening in. They both looked at me with pleading eyes.

Nick pleaded. "Aw, c'mon Jade!"

"Fine." I rolled my eyes as I held back a laugh. It probably would be easier doing the shopping by myself.

"Mwah!" Nick pretended to kiss me through the phone. "Tell 'em they can come over right now. We're all up early because we're checking out one of my friends' friends studio today!"

"Sounds like fun. I'll tell them. See 'ya, Nick!"

"Bye!"

I turned to Albert and Julian. "You boys have a playdate over at the Valensi -Fraiture-Moretti residence."