Summary: The calendar scares the crap out of Danny when he realizes he forgot Tom's birthday.
I'll upload the next chapter(s) asap.
Read, enjoy, review please!
Please don't mind if there's any bad English in there, translated the whole story out of Dutch, you see. I kinda feel like the 'magic' of the story has disappeared by translating, but wel... Enjoy! :)
1 - The Birthday present
With a sigh I push the snooze-button on my alarm. "Stupid alarm." I turn back and pull the sheets over my head.
With a lot of noise Dougie comes rushing into my room. "Where's my present? I know I had a present! I can't remember what it was, but I definitely had a present!" He notices I don't respond and pulls the sheets off me. "Dude, what the hell?" "Help me! I've lost Tom's present!" He pulls a drawer out of my closet and throws my boxers and socks over the floor.
"What present?" I ask vaguely and I run a hand through my hair. Dougie sighs like I've just asked for my own name and replies: "Tom's present! I'm pretty sure I bought something, but I can't remember where I hid it!" The next drawer has to suffer and this time my T-shirts fly through the air to land on the floor. Laboriously I push myself up. "I don't know, Doug, didn't you hide it in your own room?" Dougie stands still for a few seconds. Apparently he hasn't heard me. "Wait… Maybe I hid it in the kitchen!" and as fast as he ran inside, he runs outside again.
I get out of bed and try to pull my sheets in a proper way. Although 'proper' for me means 'crooked' to the others. Why did he buy a present for Tom anyway? I walk up to my mirror and look at myself. My hair is a mess. I twist a few curls around my fingers when I notice the calendar next to the mirror. With big, red characters it says: TOM'S BIRTHDAY.
"Shit!" I stare at the calendar. Completely forgotten! As fast as I can I put on my jeans, grab a shirt and some socks out of the mess on the floor and while I'm trying to get my shirt over my head I run downstairs. "Morning, Dan. What should I make: waffles or toast?" Harry asks. "And why is your shirt inside out?" "No time!" I pant and get my coat off the coat rack. "Gotta go!"
After I went back to put on some shoes, I'm finally in the nearest shopping area. Okay, Danny, think… What would Tom want for his birthday? I walk around and look at windows. Then I notice there's a group of whispering girls chasing me. Damn, not prepared for this…
"Hi! Can I ask you something?" A girl from around 16 years old is in front of me with behind her a few giggling friends. "Uh… Sure." "Are you Danny from McFly?" Here we go again. "Not today." I leave the girl and her friends astonished behind and rush into a store. Once inside I realize it's a café. The girls don't follow me. Phew. I order a beer and after a few minutes a guy settles down next to me.
"Ai, mate." He looks at me. "Hi." I mumble vaporously and take a sip of my beer. "Ai, ya got trouble, mate?" His eyes stare at mine. How does he know? "It's my friend's birthday and I didn't buy him a present. Yet." I add. "Ah, I see." We remain silent. "So you didn't buy him a present? Well, what's he like?" It's my turn to look at him. What he's like? Uh… He's… He is… He's a singer." Now, that's the best answer to give. The guy nods understandingly.
"Right. I'd say you buy him some calm-down-pills." Pills? What does Tom have to do with pills? "Calm-down-pills?" I ask. The man nods again. "Yeah, calm-down-pills. Ya know, it really helps to calm down before a show." I think about it. Calm-down-pills. Might come in handy, maybe. At least it's something. And if he doesn't like it, he could always give them to his cats at New Year's Eve.
"Alright, do you know where they sell it?" The man stares attentive to something at the other side of the bar. "I got some for ya." he replies. "You?" "Yeah. You can have 'em for 30 pounds." He gets a tiny jar out of his pocket. "I don't need 'em anymore, I eh… my doctor gave me other pills." He hands them over to me. It's white, filled up to half and there's a small label on it with 'calm-down-pills' on it. At that moment my phone rings. I put the jar on the bar and get up to answer it.
"Danny," I say. At the other side I hear the voice of Harry. "Dude, where are you? We're about to wake him up for breakfast!" At the house it's 'tradition' we give the birthday-boy a nice breakfast in bed. I look at my watch. 10:45. "I'm sorry, I'll be right there!" I almost drop the phone by hanging up and I walk back to the bar.
I look at the jar and get some money out of my wallet. "There." It's at least something, I keep repeating to myself. And it was pretty expensive as well, he should be happy with it. The man nods and takes the money. I drop the jar in my pocket and hurry out of the café.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Toohooom, happy birthday to youuuu!" With a grin and a sleepy head Tom sits up in his bed. "Morning." He says and looks at the toast with cheese on the plate. I watch Dougie, who apparently found his present, handing it over to Tom.
"Happy birthday!" He shakes his hand and Tom starts unwrapping the with bows and strings covered paper. "Thanks, Doug." He laughs as he gets a book out of the package: 'Gaming for Dummies.' "Is this some kind of hint?" Dougie pulls a face. "Let's just hope you won't learn too much from that book."
It's Harry's turn."Happy birthday, dude." And he gives him a small box. There's a plectrum in it with 'Star Wars' on it. "Haha, awesome!" I'm starting to get nervous. How could I forget his birthday?
Then it's my turn. "Happy b'day!" we shake hands and I hand him the jar. He looks stunned for a second. "Calm-down-pills." He reads out loud. "What's that for?" "Maybe you're being too hyper sometimes." Harry tries, but I shake my head. "No, it's just… I thought, maybe you'd like some calming down before the show." I scratch my ear. "And otherwise, maybe you can use it to calm your cats down at New Years Eve." All right, it's official: this is the worst gift ever. "Why, thanks Dan! I can always use some calming down." With a smile he puts the jar next to the plectrum and the book.