Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Moody

Albert walked into the room with disapproving look on his face. He strode over to the bed and yanked the covers off of me.

"Quit it!" I snarled, tugging them back.

"You can't stay in here and avoid him all day! It's almost noon!"

"I can and I will." I huffed as I stuffed my head under a pillow.

Albert groaned. "He was wasted, remember? He probably doesn't even remember last night!"

"Why take the risk?" I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"That's it," I heard him say, before I felt his hands grip my ankles. Before I had the chance to kick him off, I was dragged out of bed and onto the floor.

"What the fuck, Albert?!" I shrieked, sitting myself up against the foot of the bed.

"I'll see you in the kitchen." he said with a smirk as he left the room.

"I'll see you in the kitchen." I mimicked him in a mocking, childlike tone as I scrambled to my feet.

After brushing my teeth and hair, I gingerly stepped into the living area and looked around. Julian was on the couch watching TV. I stared at the back of his head for a second and internally groaned, deciding I'd maybe deal with him later. But as I turned to walk away, Albert cleared his throat as he stirred his tea, gathering my attention. He gave me a stern look, as if to tell me to get the fuck in there now, but I shook my head at him.

"Jade! Good afternoon!" he bellowed from the kitchen, making sure Julian could hear him loud and clear.

Julian snapped his head around to look at me. I flicked my middle finger at Albert with a sour expression and avoided eye contact with Julian as I walked, pretty fast, into the kitchen.

"You dumbshit motherfucker." I whispered at him as I jokingly elbowed his ribs.

"You know," Albert said, raising a brow with a smirk, like he always did when he was about to make a smartass comment. "...excessive swearing never looked good on you."

"Who are you to tell people what looks good on them?" I snapped. "You're in your early twenties and you dress like an old man!"

"Moody today, aren't we?" he chuckled, choosing to ignore my comment.

"You know exactly why I'm suddenly in a mood, so can it, buddy."

"Why are you in a mood, Jade?" I heard Julian ask. I instantly slapped my hand to my face. How could I forget he was sitting just a few feet away?!

"Hey, Jules..." I forced my best smile. "I was just kiddin' around with Albie here. Everything's good."

Albert lightly kicked my shin, shaking his head.

I was glad the phone rang at this point, because I know Julian knew I was lying to him and I wasn't ready for that bout of awkward conversation.

"I'll get it!" I screeched, leaping over Albert and grabbing the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Ryan."

"Hey, what's up man?"

"I've got some good news for everyone! Do you think we could meet at either one of your apartments whenever?"

"Absolutely!" I exclaimed. "Now is perfect. Get everyone over here." This would be a perfect distraction from Julian for a while, I thought to myself.

"Okay, sweet! See 'ya soon."

"Bye!" I hung up the phone and turned around to see Albert frowning at me.

"What did you just do?" he asked, folding his arms like a disappointed parent. "Who's coming over? It's too early!"

"The guys'll be over soon, so get dressed. Ryan has some news for us." I said.

"Is it good news?" asked Julian.

I nodded. "Apparently so."

"So," Ryan said, his hands clasped together excitedly as he looked down at us all piled onto the couch. "...with the money we made from selling shirts, we had enough to rent out a studio slash rehearsal place for a little while and I found the perfect one!" he exclaimed. Everyone gasped, huge grins spreading across our faces. "...and that producer dude and some other people I've spoken to are more than willing to work with us! They were seriously blown away by your demos. We can start recording once you guys settle in and are ready."

After 10 minutes or so of excited conversation and dogpiling Ryan in hugs, Fab asked, "So when can we  check it out?"

"I was hoping someone would ask that." Ryan replied as he pulled some keys out of his pocket. "We can go scope it out now if you like..?" he finished, dangling the keys in the air.

"Fuck yeah!" Julian yelped, aggressively pointing a finger at Ryan. "You're the fucking man!"

I leaned into Albert and whispered, "That's the most excited I've seen him in weeks!"

"What are we whispering about?" Fab butt in in a hushed tone, startling us.

"Uhh, n-nothing." I gently shoved him away.

Fab frowned at me. He looked a little offended...and so he should. I instantly felt bad.

"Fine," I groaned. "...I'll tell you later."

He shrugged it off and we followed everyone out the door. The studio was a couple blocks away from our apartment apparently, so it made sense to walk...even though we had gear to lug along. Julian and Albert insisted on bringing every piece of potentially useful musical equipment we had in the apartment. We did receive quite a few stares. I mean, who wouldn't stare at a group of people carrying amps, guitars and a bunch of leads hurriedly down the street. We probably looked like we'd stolen it all, and it didn't help that Nick had wrapped some leads all over his body and was walking like an overanimated mummy, and Fab had some tightly tied around his throat, laughing hysterically at Nick. I quickly came to the conclusion that they must've had some sort of huge smokeup before they came over...especially because Nikolai hadn't said one word, and he usually got even more quiet when he was stoned.

"Could you guys tone it down a little? I don't need a bad rep in the music industry already!" Ryan joked, snatching a guitar pedal off Nick, who looked like he was about to throw it at Fab. "You're a bunch of fuckin' children!"

"Take this for a minute." I said to Albert, handing him the amp I was carrying. I then jogged over to Nick and Fab, quickly unravelled the lead that was around Fab's neck, and then I manoeuvred it around the two so that it was almost like a leash of some sort.

Ryan slapped a hand to his face and sighed. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" I giggled. "I've got them under control now! Isn't that right, boys?" I stood on my tiptoes to pat them both on the head. "Heel!"