Nanase Oten was seated on her usual stool in the corner of Murphs’ basement, Murphs to her left behind his drums and Amber across from Murphs in her corner with her sketch pad. They were all staring at Tom who was standing in the center of the room, one leg propped up on his amp while he pumped out the last few licks of “Carol of the Bells” by August Burns Red. He finished with flourish, pulling his hand back from the final slide to thrust his fist into the air with the beat he was keeping in his head. He went back to the fret board for the last notes, his head in violent motion. The last note he let linger while he straightened and stretched. He flipped his sweaty hair out of his eyes and looked around. “What do you guys think?”
“It’s great. I’ve never heard Christmas carols played like that, where did you hear it?” Amber was the first to respond.
“Youtube, I was looking for Metal Christmas songs and found August Burns Red’s Christmas Album and some another band called Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I didn’t like ‘em much though, too orchestral. I spent a few weeks learning it in secret, which Alex made very hard!” He sent a look over at Murphs who blushed and waved innocently. “I thought that we could all learn it and a few others, because my mom is having a Christmas party for a few of her old band mates, they’re coming up from Spain and it’s a big deal. I wanted to show them what I’ve learned, and Nay and Alex I want them to meet you and I can’t impress them alone.” He was twiddling with his fingers nervously. “So what do you say?”
Murphs agreed almost instantly while Nay thought for a moment. “Is Amber invited?” She asked, receiving a nod from Tom.
“Yeah, you can invite other people too, I’ve already invited Charlie. Mark and Steve are invited too.”
“How many songs?”
“Three, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red nosed Raindeer, and that one.”
“Those are all kiddie songs, there’s no way!”
“We can listen to the album and pick a few, I’ll let you and Murphs chose.”
“Okay, you have your laptop now?” Nay consented, putting her guitar into the stand next to her stool. “We can listen to the album and then pick songs. I’ll learn some of the tabs tonight. How long until the party?”
“Three weeks to the day, I was going to tell you guys earlier, in like November, but it took a while to learn this song, because I was trying to surprise you guys so I’d dazzle you into agreeing. Alex kept showing up unannounced, convinced that I was hiding something from him.”
“You were hiding something! I thought you were writing me a song. I wasn’t that wrong.”
“Point is that we can learn the songs in a few days and spend some time practicing together before the party.” Nay interrupted. “Go get the laptop.” Tom rushed upstairs to his bag, and apparently ran into Kelly in the living room. She heard Kelly’s voice drift down through the floor boards, and smirked as Tom stammered responses. Amber caught her gaze with apparent amusement.
Murphs looked peeved and stood. “Kelly, leave Tom alone! He doesn’t know about your perverted life style and doesn’t want to.” He shouted as he walked up the stairs.
“I’m more interested in yours!” Kelly shot back. Amber let out a small giggle before returning to her sketch book. An argument was beginning in the living room, so Nay crossed the room and sat down next to Amber.
“What’cha drawing? Is it more pictures of me?” She asked jokingly.
“No, my narcissistic one. I was drawing Tom, because I’m challenging myself to draw tattoos and he’s the best candidate. I taught myself to draw piercings by using him as a model.” Amber answered.
“Really does he know?”
“I imagine because I spend my weekends staring at him and he’s seen the book.” Nay snuggled closer and gave her a kiss, which Amber returned. Nay brushed the book to the side and sat on Amber’s lap. Amber embraced her and kissed her again, this time with tongue.
“I was getting jealous. You used to stare at me like that.”
“That’s beginning to lose its humor Nay, I was terrified that’d you’d look in my sketch book or notice those stares.”
“Well I noticed those stares, but I thought it was something else. I only looked in the sketch book once. There was no reason to be terrified because here we are.” Nay nuzzled her. “Now I’m thinking that you should draw me with piercings, snake bites, a labret, and that weird neck thing Tom has. A whole bunch of them.”
Amber looked up at her incredulously. “You mean that? Why?”
“I want to know what they’d look like on me, because I think that they’d be hot, but I can’t see it without them being there but you can draw me very well and you can do piercings now. So if they look hot in the drawing, then they’ll be hot on me.” Nay answered.
“I think you’d look great with snake bites.” Amber said simply. Nay dropped her forehead onto Amber’s and kissed her gently.
“I love you.”
“Me too.” Tom and Murphs came tramping back down the stairs. Murphs look angry and he was aggressively leading Tom by the hand. Tom had his bag clutched to his chest and was looking flustered and sheepish.
“How did she figure it out? I mean it’s not obvious at all! No one told her!” Murphs was muttering to himself.
“It’s not a big deal, she didn’t freak. She was just curious.” Tom said. “She’s not gunna blab. It doesn’t really matter, Alex drop it.”
“I’m not gunna drop, it’s none of her business. How I do what I do is my business, it’s not like I ever asked her how she and her girlfriends did it. She’s just so infurating!” Murph steamed. Tom opened the laptop and turned it on, set it on his amp and walked over to Murphs. He hugged him.
“It’s flattering how upset you are, really. She’s your sister; she was going to find out.”
“She shouldn’t have asked you like that. Not when anyone could hear.” Murphs muttered as Tom kissed his neck.
Nay stood up. “Alright, August Burns Red.” She announced heading toward the laptop.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Murphs broke away from Tom, who followed.