Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Party Planning

As I sat in the studio, I saw Nikolai put his bass down and begin to walk over to the door, probably heading to the bathroom. I jumped up and jogged up behind him, following him out the door. No one seemed to hear the door open and close because Fab was drumming so loud.

"Niko, can I speak to you for a minute?!" I whisper-yelled.

He turned around and looked a little surprised to see me. "Jade! I didn't hear you following me, sorry. What's up?"

I closed the door and looked through the window to see that everyone was well occupied. "It's about Albert's birthday." I knew I could trust Nikolai not to say anything to anyone else, because he was naturally a quiet person. "Adam and I had some ideas and I'd like to know what you think of them."

"I'm listening..."

"Of course we'll be having some giant, gross-but-extravagant party, but I also thought we should do something a little more special, like with our tight knit group of friends only, and that's when Adam suggested camping," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose and sighing before I said the next part. "...with drugs, booze and fireworks."

"That sounds great!" he said, almost applauding.

"You think so?"

He nodded. "Definitely."

"Okay, good. Your job will be to make sure the others don't find out while I sort a couple things out. I'm gonna have to go buy camping supplies and somehow get stupid drugs and ugh! Okay, I might have to get the others onboard afterall."

"Don't stress yourself out too much!" Nikolai chuckled, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'll take care of the booze and finding a camping spot. I'm sure Adam and Nick could get the drugs and just go with Jules and Fab for the supplies."

"Thank you for existing, Niko." I kissed him on the cheek.

"No problem." he said with a soft smile. "Well I really have to pee and I was heading to the ba-"

I gasped. "Oh, yeah! Sorry! Talk later!" I whizzed off in the direction I came and I slipped back into the studio unnoticed.

Julian was singing something in the recording booth as I walked in and it sounded amazing. After swooning over him for a few seconds, I grinned as I walked over to sit beside Nick on a sofa.

"Sounds good, huh?" Nick asked.

"Extremely!" I nodded enthusiastically. "How many songs have you recorded so far?"

"Four!" he answered, looking quite proud.

"At the rate you're going, I bet you'll have done the whole album by next week!"

"Recording, yeah, I hope," he chuckled. "...but then theres mixing to do, and all that other technical shit. Order of the tracklist, album cover..."

As I listened to Nick tell me all about the recording process, I accidentally zoned out and began thinking of more party ideas. I had to suppress a childish squeal when I came up with a brilliant idea. I wanted to tell Julian first, but he was busy recording vocals, so I grabbed Nick by his wrist and pulled him outside at light speed.

"What the fuck?!" He steadied himself once I'd closed the door behind us.

"I was gonna keep all this party planning shit a secret, but I just had the best idea for Albert's birthday and you all need to know...except Albert, of course!"

Nick took in a deep breath as he registered what I'd said and he nodded. "Let's hear it, then."

"So we're obviously having a huge party for him," I began, a huge grin spread across my face. "...to make it different than most parties we go to, why don't we hold it at a venue you guys would play at, and disguise it as a gig!"

Nick knitted his eyebrows together as he thought. He then began to nod, catching onto the idea. "So most of our friends will be in the crowd, and when we finish playing, everyone should scream 'Happy birthday, Albert!', right? And then we just fuckin' party all night."

"Yes!" I clapped my hands giddily. "This is gonna be so good!" I then briefly explained my camping idea, which Nick seemed to like, and then I thought back to the party idea. "Can you tell the others about it for me while I go call Ryan?"

He gave me a thumbs up. "Sure thing!"

"And don't let Albert catch on!" I threateningly pointed a finger at him. "I swear to God, if you ruin this for us, Valensi-"

"I won't!" he cut me off, raising his arms in defence while I stared him down.

"Good. Now get back inside!" I pushed him in the direction of the door and he ran inside with a smirk. Then, I quickly hid in a hallway, dialled up Ryan's number and had a quick conversation with him, filling him in on the plans. He agreed with them and said he'd book a venue as soon as he could.

"Jade?" Albert's voice echoed.

"Gotta go!" I hung up the phone and tried my best to act casual as I walked over to the voice. "Albert?"

"Why do you keep leaving the room?" he asked once I approached him. "Don't think I haven't noticed."

"I, uhh..." My eyes darted around the room as I thought up an excuse he couldn't question. When I had one, I leaned into him and whispered, "...if you must know...it's that time of the month. I've been going to the bathroom."

"Oh...sorry..." he looked like he didn't believe me, but he knew he shouldn't question things like that, so he nodded, pursing his lips. "Are you...are you okay? Like, do you need anything?"

"You're so sweet, but no thanks, I'm all good!" I patted his back. "Get back in there!"

"We're leaving in a couple minutes, anyways." he informed me, looking at his watch. "It's ten o'clock already!"

"Thank God!" I exclaimed. "I was not looking forward to another three AM finish."

"Me neither." he chuckled. "Let's go." We linked arms and walked back into the studio to see the guys already packing up. Usually, I had to usher them out to get them to leave, so I was glad I wouldn't have to this time.

After I let go of Albert so he could get his guitar, Julian walked over to me with a soft smile. "Ready to go?" he asked me. He looked quite tired, but I could tell he was really happy, probably with the bands ever-growning progress once again.

"Yeah." I nodded. "You look beat."

He yawned. "I am."

I laughed, resting my head on his shoulder. "Now it's my turn to piggyback you home."