For the next few days, it was pretty much a blur. The guys did the re-show in Chicago and then we rode to Phoenix. No problems, except the chaotic getting-yourself-together and out the door. This went like this for a while until we got to Cleveland, Ohio. The guys just did their show, and we were all heading back to the van. We had some well-deserved downtime before we had to go over to the Big Apple. I actually got to figure out what day it was, and realized that it's getting super ultra close to Christmas.
And I didn't have time to prepare, so I've been planning what we actually were going to do all day. So I decided to pose a question on Justin, on which I would revolve my plan around.
"Where would you like to have a Christmas miracle? Honestly." I asked Justin in the middle of Electric Boogalo. Christmas is my personal favorite holiday ever invented ever, so I want us to do something. I'm not exactly sure what just yet, but something. I'm setting things in motion.
"Waffle House, maybe?" he said, his eyes not moving from the screen.
"Alrighty then. We shall have a Christmas miracle at Waffle House!" I declared, and watched the rest of the movie. "I shall return, I promise. If I don't, then assume that I've been abducted."
For the rest of the day, I pretty much spent my time buying stuff for everybody. From all the time I've spent with the guys and all the time I've known Melanie, I have a vague outlook of what I should get them all. Even though nobody but me was probably planning to buy anything for anybody, I'm perfectly fine with that. Was there anything wrong with giving stuff to people on Christmas and getting nothing in return? Not in my opinion. Call me Kristi Kringle.
I've bought a new Kirara hat for Melanie, as the one I bought her oh so many years ago is now too small for either of us. I got Matt the The Beatles Forever book, because I didn't have enough time to buy an autographed bass guitar off eBay. For Josh, I bought a 1965 Gibson SG Junior. I remember him looking at it in a guitar catalog somewhere in between Chicago and Nashville. Jesse gets Surfa Rosa by the Pixies, and Tony gets Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds.
I got Justin Veronica Mars: Season One from Blockbuster. He'd been saying that he'd never had the time to watch it, but he was interested. Because I'm just that cool, I bought it for him. I was really pleased with myself. I'd bought everyone presents and I still have some money in my bank account.
But as I was thinking of all this, I ran into someone and nearly made me drop all of the nice things I bought everybody. "Jesus Christ, who the hell do you think you are? Running into me. Do you have any fucking manners?" I didn't mean to sound this pissed and rude, but if they ran into me just a little harder, all of my stuff would've been ruined. To relate to everyone besides me, like if someone almost runs into your car. You're immediately upset, because you could have DIED, and angry because they weren't careful, when it could've been your fault in the first place. So it felt like that.
But this is the answer I got back:
"At times, yes. And I'm pretty sure I'm Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack. I hail from Mahtomedi, Minnesota? You may have heard of me." A familiar voice said, and I suddenly felt the bottom of my stomach drop.
"Oh my God, I'm sorry, Justin. I didn't mean to say that. It's just that I've been scouring the universe trying to find things for everybody and-" I began.
"Hold on, you bought everybody something?" he asked quizzically.
"Yeah." I said defensively.
"Well, that's nice of you. Do you care that we aren't prepared at all and you'll most likely get nothing in return?"
"No. It's Christmas, or going to be Christmas. I'm pretty sure the whole plot revolves around the whole giving thing, not the getting presents part." I said. "Also, Melanie's given me more shit than I could remember. This is just getting even with her. And for the guys, it's just the generosity of Kristi Kringle."
"'Kristi Kringle'. It has a nice ring to it, I'll give you that. Well, I was going to get you a Christmas present here, but now that you're here, I have to think of what I could get for you elsewhere." Justin said, walking away from Blockbuster with a smug look on his face. But now that I know that he's actually getting me a Christmas present, I wonder what he'll get me.
"You're getting me something?" I said, my voice a little more high pitched than usual. Goddamnit.
"Yes. But you can't know what I'm getting you, because that would ruin the surprise." Justin said, smirking.
"Oh, but it'd surprise me now!" I whined. God, my adult persona can break down at any moment. Note to self: Work on maturity.
"I can't tell you, Lizzy, and that's that." Justin said, giving me a serious look.
I knew he was cracking on the inside, so I put on a puppy dog face just to mess with him. He starts laughing and quickly turns away.
"You suck." He says, and I catch up with him.
I follow him for a few blocks, whining and etcetera. But then I hear something. It sounds like Exploding Boy, but that can't be true. "Alkaline Trio?" I said disbelievingly, my thoughts now voiced aloud. Why would they be here? As I walk closer up the sidewalk, I can hear it more clearly. It was coming from someplace called "The High-Fi Concert Club". They were playing loud enough that Justin and I could hear from outside.
"Tell yourself we'll start again
Tell yourself it's not the end
Tell yourself it couldn't happen, not this way
You're too late
You're too late…"
"Holy shit. What a fucking coincidence." I said, thinking of how things have become increasingly and increasingly more coincidental.
"Alright, we're gonna play a song off our most recent record titled 'Every Thug Needs A Lady'." I heard Matt Skiba say. There was much rejoicing from the crowd on the inside of the building..
"I know it's dark here, you know that I'm scared too. For some reason right now of everything but you. Right now, you're all that I recognize." Justin sang, and I realized that he was standing beside me. "You know I came here when I needed your soft voice. I needed to here something that sounded like an answer. And I wait here and sometimes I get one."
"It's nothing I'll forget when the moon gets tired. You are stuck to me everyday." We sang.
"Believe in what I am, because it's all I have today
And tomorrow who knows where we'll be
From here, I can hardly see a thing
But I will follow anyone who brings me to you
For now, forever, for on and on and on."
"You know it starts here, outside waiting in the cold. Kiss me once in the snow, I swear it never gets old. And I will promise you that I can make it warmer next year…" I sang, now smiling for reasons yet to be specified. "You know I came here when I needed your soft voice. I needed to hear something that sounded like an answer. Now I stay here and every day, I get one..."
"It's nothing I'll forget when the moon gets tired
You are stuck to me every day
Believe in what I am, because it's all I have today
And tomorrow who knows where we'll be
From here, I can hardly see a thing
But I will follow anyone who brings me to you
For now, forever, for on and on and on…
So go plug in your electric blanket
We can stay here 'till our southern summer wedding day
Go go plug in your electric blanket
We can stay here…"
There was a short pause from the band, but the fans were screaming like crazy. They started the next song. but Justin and I were just staring at each other. We were only three or so feet from each other, or so it seemed.
"I didn't know you listened to Alkaline Trio." Justin said, breaking the silence.
"I didn't know you did either." I smiled. Suddenly, he pulled me close and we kissed. On a scale of one to ten, it was an easy twenty-nine million. After what seemed like hours, we finally pulled away.
"And this is only part one of what I'm giving you for Christmas."