SPOTLESS ™
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 15:58:23 GMT -5
Karina Hay scrutinized the somewhat kiddie birthday party her parents had planned. A walk down memory lane, they called it, and although some may have labeled her immature, her entire family plus Jake was coming to her 21st birthday party, and it had to be just that. Family friendly. Happy birthday table clothes were splayed out across three picnic tables, with a fire pit nearby, its contents smoldering slightly. Around the minisculey pathetic 'fire', folding chairs were placed this way in that, in no particular order. Nearby several of Karina's cousins played tag, looking intensely pleased with the set up. Of course, those coming from out of town had arrived a couple days before and now set out place settings which consisted of plastic utensils and paper plates. Hey, who said a good party has to be pricey.
Karina stared around. Several of her aunts sat chatting with eachother, the occasional shout of laughter rising up from one. Karina's family was probably a bit rowdier than the normal one. In fact, it was more than likely, that by nightfall, Karina and Galen would be the only sober ones. Oh yes, did we mention? Galen was there as well, though he had dissapeared off to the car for a moment or two. Perhaps with that girl Maddie, Karina thought with a satisfied nod. Somehow she felt that it was her fault that Galen had always shrunk from girls. But now, finally one tolerated him.
Other family members coming from closer by were now appearing one by one. A minivan with a huge package secured atop it pulled in to the little parking lot by the birthday site. Karina smiled. Knowing her family, it couldn't be something decent...
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 16:28:58 GMT -5
He couldn't believe that he was actually making his way toward the scene of a birthday party. Apparently his younger brother really hadn't believed him either when he had said where he was going. Since Brenden had asked if he was going to get drunk and pass out. That wasn't the case at all and he wasn't about to consume tons of alcohol and get drunk either. Since he had to drive home and there was no way he was going to hit something and wreck his truck. After he had told Brenden where he was going he'd laid off his teasing though, not to mention he'd probably been afraid of getting tackled by him. He actually had bought Karina a present too, and he hadn't consulted anybody about what to buy her. Girls liked jewelry right? Well, he hoped so since that was what he'd settled on getting her. After all, they were really close and it was hard to believe that they'd just met each other a short time ago.
Of course, the thin box was hidden inside of the pocket of his sweatshirt. He just hoped that nobody would think that it was too much since he'd spent about three hours looking for something that really stood out and wasn't too pricey. He was on a budget and gas wasn't the cheapest thing in the world. He'd even gotten her a card too and that had taken about ten minutes to find. It was then that he spotted the lawn chairs and that mass of people. In a way it reminded of him of the family reunions that he had to go to every year. But, there were presents involved in this and all of it was centered around one person. He then stopped just outside of the farthest lawn chair and looked around for the one person he was here to see. Yet he could feel the stares from people and he felt rather uncomfortable. At the moment, he felt like a complete outsider since there was only one person here that he really knew.
It was then that he spotted Karina and then made his way over to her. "So, do I have to sing happy birthday?" He asked and hoped that he hadn't startled her. He played with the ribbon on the package inside of his pocket as he waited for an answer. He hoped that he wouldn't give away the surprise. Since he didn't know if she even expected him to get her anything. But he had and there was no way he could turn back now.
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SPOTLESS ™
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 16:39:33 GMT -5
Karina spun around but when she saw who it was, she grinned. "Yes," she said, the smile dropping from her face. "It is mandatory to sing Happy Birthday, when it is in fact my birthday." She said this all completely solemnly, struggling slightly to keep a straight face. "I suppose, if you don't want to, you don't have to, but it'd be nice." Karina launched an attempt at puppy eyes, but failed disastrously and gave up trying. "Now, come here, you have four hundred thousand people to meet." Karina leaned closer, so that only he could hear her. "And four hundred thousand people to dodge once they're all drunk."
She grasped his arm, and led him over to the first cluster of people, that were chatting loudly and drinking beer. At her arrival, a rather large man with white hair and suspenders grinned, his bristley beard twitching. "And there she is! The birthday girl!" Karina grinned, swatting at him playfully. "This is Uncle Henry, Aunt Becky, my mom, dad and grandmother," Karina said, still smiling slightly. Karina left this section of her family, and over the next 15 minutes introduced everyone to Jake, which showed the pure enormity of the Hay family, PLUS close friends.
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 17:11:24 GMT -5
If it really was mandatory he'd sing it but if everybody else was singing quietly then he would too. He didn't like to sing, especially when it was in front of people. "Fine, I'll sing but don't hurt me if it's really bad alright." He said and then heard what she said next, he knew that there would be a ton of people to meet judging by how many lawn chairs there were. He just hoped that once these people were drunk that they wouldn't start moving around bumping into people. Not to mention, he didn't want them to get any bright ideas about the nature the relationship between Karina and him. "I guess that it's a good thing that I was playing football with my brother then so that I'm more prepared for dodging people again then." He said and then followed her around as he was introduced to tons of people. He knew that by the end of the day he'd forget about half of the names of these people. There was just too many to memorize.
"So, would you like your present now or later?" He quietly asked as he watched all of the people around them. He still felt very out of place and wondered just how much she even knew about him. He wasn't sure if he had even told her his last name yet. Of course, he knew that he'd signed her card with that on it so if she didn't know she'd find out soon. He glanced down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at her. "I haven't been to a place where there are a ton of people from the same family in awhile not since the last family reunion I went to and that was last year. I really hope that people don't think I'm a bad person if I forget their name. Since I've already forgotten about half of the names." He said and knew that he probably was blushing, and that hardly ever happened.
((short but I had a short muse lapse there.))
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SPOTLESS ™
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 17:40:45 GMT -5
"Come on, relax it'll be fine," said a voice nearby, which turned out to be Karina's grandmother. She gave him a hard pat on the back, and dragged the kindling to the fire. Karina nodded, a slight look of 'I told you so' on her face. "My family is pretty layed back. Like, if you knew my family well enough, you'd never suspect Galen was out of it." She had barely finished her sentence when an indignant, "No shit, Karina, I'm not from this family. You all are a bunch of lunies. I'm normal." Karina made a sound deep in her throat, almost like a cough.
"Yea right..." She smiled back at Jake and picked her way through the crowd, occasionally commenting on the large intake of beer her family seemed to need.
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 18:09:39 GMT -5
Relaxing, that was one thing that he was good at most of the time. But right now he was having a very hard time doing that. He wasn't afraid of people or anything it just was that he still felt weird being here. "Alright, I'll try and relax." He said and then wondered what Brenden would say once he described the whole atmosphere of this place. Since he knew that he'd have to explain everything that happened to him otherwise he'd be pressed into doing so and they'd probably end up getting into a wresting match or something. He could tell why she said that her family was laid back though since it wasn't like everybody was rushing around trying to do things. He actually liked the atmosphere since he knew that once he finally was completely relaxed it would be easy to blend in with all of the other people. Of course, he wouldn't be one of the drunken road blocks.
He began to follow her and then thought back to the comment that had been made earlier. It was rather odd but he simply brushed it off and then continued to follow her. "Where exactly are we going? Or is it top secret or something?" He asked and then dodged a small child who ran out in front of him.
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 18:22:17 GMT -5
"It's secret. Well actually it's not anymore," Karina said, pointing at the massive birthday cake before them. It was at least 2 feet long and and more than a foot wide. Across it in purple cursive cursive writing was HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARINA! "It's pretty massive eh?" Karina said, smiling.
She took a seat near the cake and motioned for Jake to take a seat next to her. Curses echoed from the nearby volleyball court, and Karina stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and waited. "Shit, its time already?" Karina's grandmother hollered, and everyone gathered around the cake, as if that was the battle cry and they would all plunge into some sort of bloody cake eating fest. All 22 candles were lit, and Karina, with the help of her family and friends blew out the candles. There was some whooping in yelling now, as happy birthday was sung with particular gusto. Karina was grinning ear to ear. "Present time!" Aunt Becky exclaimed. "Who's first?"
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 18:53:48 GMT -5
He stared at the huge birthday cake that was in front of him and watched as all of the people suddenly gathered around it . It was almost like watching a bunch of ants get attracted to something that was dropped on the ground. He then sat down next to her before It was then that happy birthday started and he did sing along but he half hoped that Karina wasn't about to hear his voice since he didn't think that it was that good. Of course, he was sitting next to her so he knew that the chances of her hearing him were very good. "See, I sang it and I hope you're happy I never sing." He quietly said and then heard what was said about presents and asking who was first, well he might as well go first to get it over with so he wasn't exploding with excitement anymore. "Well, I might as well go first." He said and then looked at Karina as he pulled the package out from the pocket of his sweatshirt and then handed it to her before finding the card and then handing that over to her.
He really hoped that she liked necklaces otherwise he was done for. He now wished that he could close his eyes and disappear off to some far away planet and not come back until she opened the gift. Since now the tension had really increased, or at least for him. Yet he knew that if that happened then he wouldn't get to see the look on her face when she read the name of the jeweler that was on the box where he had bought the necklace.
((And I shall let you describe it since it is for you..technically.))
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 19:01:34 GMT -5
Karina smiled at him, simply happy he had actually thought to give her a gift. She opened the small cardboard box. The necklace itself had one gem on it, a sapphire blue that glinted in the half-light of dusk. The look on Karina's face was enough to describe her reaction. A grin almost split her face in half, and her mouth was slightly open, and the look in her eye was of pure surprise. "Holy fuck," was all she uttered, and her family behind her laughed.
Without thinking, she threw her arms around Jake's neck, whispering thank you's into his shoulder. "I love it," she said, letting go of him, and holding him at an arms length. "Thank you." Karina was at a loss for words. She secured it around her neck, unable to keep a smile off her face. "I don't think anyone could possibly buy me a nicer present," she said, realizing perhaps she was making a huge deal out of it, but she didn't care. She stopped saying thank for a few seconds to ask someone to help her get the clasp, as she had been trying unsuccessfully to get it in place. When it finally was secured, she gazed down at it, and it sat on her pale neck, reflected in eyes as blue as the stone.
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 19:33:40 GMT -5
He watched as she opened it and was rather surprised by her reaction but he was glad that she liked it. It meant that all of his hard working had paid off. He was more surprised when she suddenly threw his arms around her neck. "It's no problem sweetheart really." He said quietly and was shocked that he'd said that. He was very glad that he'd said that soft enough that nobody else had been able to hear him. Since the last thing he wanted was a ton of people pushing him toward going out with somebody since it usually ruined the relationship. He then watched as she pulled away he was glad that she thought that nobody else could buy her a nicer present. Since this probably was one of the first times he was really serious about what he was going to buy somebody and he'd wanted to be special. But yet once again he felt himself start to blush slightly, before he stared down at the ground for a moment.
That was simply strange, he never blushed, but yet he'd blushed twice within the last half hour or so. He knew that he liked Karina as a friend but could it possibly be more than that? Yes, it could be but he was just confused at the moment how could this be happening? He hadn't been looking for another girlfriend but it seemed as if one had just walked into the hardware store and stole his heart right then.
((see, I said that he'd tell her that he liked her very soon and it's going to happen...sometime.))
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 20:22:43 GMT -5
[[okie dokie, karina shall play along]]
Karina was slightly astounded at what he said, and she felt hot red creep up the back of her neck. Though she wasn't unhappy at his statement. Actually, quite the contrary. She was really pleased. She gazed at him with blazing eyes, grinning. These feelings of warmth and embarrassment, all at the same time. It was so confusing, yet for some reason she didn't shrink back from it. She beamed at him for a moment longer, than turned back to the rest of her presents, opening them up one by one. Every so often she glanced back at Jake, wondering whether he could see her blush in the darkness of coming night.
Dusk had begun to darken steadily into night, and a number of citronella candles, combined with the blazing fire, lit up the site. Tents had been erected, but only the party poopers, if you will sat inside, swatting at the mosquitoes. Of course, these were no measly tents. They were enormous, with several rooms and built in mattresses on the floor. Karina was enjoying her birthday party immensely. There was quite a lot of whooping and yelling, and occasionally loud swears rang out over the entire camp site. It was true, the Hay extended family was quite laid back in the sense that not alot was unacceptable. Karina sat playing Texas Hold 'Em with a few of her family members, and had a tendency of swearing loudly when she lost too many chips. She looked perfectly content with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, the flames dancing, reflected in her blue eyes.
Karina was repeatedly offered beer, and she refused, saying, although she was 21 now, there was no reason for her to get flat out drunk, like it seemed a few of her family members were. It was only when Henry almost lit Karina's mother's pants on fire that Karina's parents put an end to the drunken rampaging. They sent those who, in their words were, "too wasted to see straight," into there tents, and gathered everybody around the fire. Karina motioned for Jake to come near, and whispered, "this is the part where my mom tells a story, usually having something to do with birth." Everyone fell quiet, and soon the only sound was the crackling of the fire, and the melodic hum of Karina's mother's voice.
Long, long ago, before there were people, there was hardly anything in the world but water. One day, Great Spirit looked down from heaven. He decided to make a beautiful land. But where could he begin? All he saw was water. Then he spotted a giant turtle. The turtle was as big as an island. Great Spirit decided to make the beautiful land on the turtle's back.
One turtle was not big enough. The land Great Spirit wanted to make was very large. So he called out, "Turtle, hurry and find your six brothers."Turtle swam to find them. It took him a whole day to find the first. It took another day to find the next. After six days, turtle had found his six brothers. "Come", he said. "Great Spirit wants us."
Great Spirit called down. "Turtles! Form a line, head to tail, north to south. Umm, you three to the south, please move a little to the east. Hmmm. There, that's just right. What a beautiful land you will make! Then Great Spirit reminded them, "It is a great honor to carry this land on your backs. So YOU MUST NOT MOVE!"
The turtles stayed very still. Great Spirit took some straw from his supply in the sky. He put it on the turtle's backs. Then he took some soil and patted it down on top of the straw.
Great Spirit cleaned his hands on a fluffy white cloud. "I'll use these clouds to make mountains", he said.
Then Great Spirit made trees and lakes and rivers. When he was finished, he looked at the beautiful land he had made. Great Spirit was very pleased. But soon trouble came. The giant turtles grew restless. They wanted to leave.
"I want to swim east," said one. "This beast goes EAST."
"West is best. I"ll swim toward the setting sun," said another.
The turtles began to argue. They could not agree. One day, four of the turtles began to swim east. Three turtles began to swim west. THE EARTH SHOOK! It CRACKED with a loud noise! But after a minute, the shaking stopped. The turtles had to stop because the land on their backs was so heavy. They had only been able to swim a little way from each other. When they saw that they could not swim away, they stopped arguing and made up.
But every once in a while the turtles that hold up California argue again. Each time they do, the earth shakes.
She ended, and complete silence hung. Then one by one, each and every person headed off to their tent. With a slight motion, Karina told Jake to follow her. "We get our own room in the main tent," she said, still whispering as not to break the silence that had taken over the campsite.
[[ooc: can we just pretend jake knew he was expected to stay over?]]
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 27, 2007 20:23:26 GMT -5
yup, 873 words
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 27, 2007 21:11:46 GMT -5
He was still thinking about what had happened as the sunlight began to fade. How could he let something like that simply slip out of his mouth? He'd never really done something like that before and when he had felt like saying something like that he'd planned it out beforehand. Of course, that was with girls that he really had been serious about and he had planned on asking those girls out. He hadn't planned on the asking Karina out until a few moments ago when everything had became oh so clear it could have jumped out and kicked him in the knee. Here was this girl, who was fun to be around, active, and rather bold and not shy. Not to mention she was rather good looking and intelligent too and she was new so she probably wouldn't know about some of the things he'd done in the past. This was basically the perfect girl for him, and even though she had confessed that she had ADHD it didn't bother him at all. It wasn't like she had multiple personality disorder or something and wouldn't have different characters or anything.
While he'd been sitting there watching her play cards he'd been thinking about the right time to tell her his feelings for her. He wasn't used to doing something like this and had really just let the girls come to him in the past. There were a lot of things that were going to be different if things worked out right. He wasn't going to just not be so serious about dating and he'd try a little harder to not work as much so that he didn't walk out of his work and find her kissing some other guy. (That had happened and he didn't want it to happen again.) Sure he knew that his sister would probably wonder how this whole thing came about since she knew that he tended to be a little self conscious when it came to dating. Of course, he'd always wanted to be a good example for her which meant that he could never have a different girl every other week. That wouldn't really happen anyway since he could never do something like that. It would all just be too confusing and how were you supposed to get to know someone if you left them right away anyway?
He then made his way closer as Karina had told him to through motions and then listened to the story. It was interesting and not to mention it seemed like something that could really happen in a way. He hadn't really heard a story like that in a long time, probably not since he'd been babysitting and he hadn't done that in a few months. Of course he knew that his younger cousins would be coming up soon and that he would probably have to watch them or have Brenden do that. There were pictures in his home of him laying on the couch with both of his cousins asleep on him and people just thought that it was the cutest picture ever. He didn't know why they thought that and knew it probably had something to do with the fact that they'd basically just curled up next to him and fallen asleep. In turn he'd fallen asleep and woken up to find his arm asleep but he couldn't move it since they had still been sleeping on him. It had been very hard sitting there feeling his arm tingle for about a half hour before they finally woke up.
He then stood up and heard her say that they got their own room. He hadn't been expecting that but didn't really mind. Perhaps he'd be able to tell her his feeling for her then since they would have a little more privacy. "Alright, well I'll follow you then lead the way birthday girl." He said and then smiled at her once again before waiting for her to lead the way. He couldn't believe that he'd called her "birthday girl" either, what was with him today? Of course he knew what was with him and it was the fact that he liked this girl, perhaps more than he should.
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Post by SPOTLESS ™ on May 28, 2007 8:05:55 GMT -5
Karina's thoughts were similar to Jake's. "Birthday girl? What's with you today?" she said, playfully, and lead the way to the biggest tent. She ducked through the entrance, and immediately smiled. The sheer size of the largest tent never ceased to take her breath away. It was enormous, so big that one Karina's height could walk comfortably, and somebody a little bit taller would only have to bow their head slightly. There seemed to be a sort of main room, then different rooms off the sides. Karina's mother and father [we'll call them Jan and Hank mmkay?] sat in the middle of the tent, dismissing different families off to each wing. With a grin, Hank Hay gave Karina and Jake their room assignment. "Now, don't go getting any ideas," Hank warned with a grin, and Karina batted her father playfully. But a little part of her was embarrassed. The same part of her that had caused her to through her arms around his neck when he had given her the necklace. "We'll be in the next room if you need anything," called Jan at their retreating backs.
Once they were at their room, which was a violent orange color, Karina sat down in the middle of the floor, with a lantern next to her. Suddenly she felt oddly awkward, and hastened to say something to break the still air. "Is your stuff in your truck or do you have it outside somewhere?" She waited for his answer, and in the mean time, placed her sleeping bag down on the floor and unrolled it. "I think we can make this place a little more homey eh?" she said, her playful grin returning.
First of all, she turned on the electric lantern, and hung it from the tent wall. Then she threw her pillow on to her sleeping bag and made the whole thing look a little bit less like a lump with odd fluff sticking out of it, and a little more like a bed. She hummed a little while she set up, and in no time, her area of the tent was slightly less orange. "Do you want help getting it?" she asked, as if no time had passed between the time when she had asked her last question and now.
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Post by Brenden Erickson on May 28, 2007 15:20:04 GMT -5
What was with him today, it seemed like he was saying a whole bunch of things that he normally wouldn't. Not to mention those things had just slipped out like the birthday girl thing just had. "Well, if you tell me then we'll both know what's up with me today." He said and then followed her into the tent and watched her father and her. What exactly did he mean by what he'd said? Then again he did have a slight idea and nothing like that was going to happen. He then followed her into their area of the tent and watched as she made up her area of it. Now that side didn't look so orange that it almost blinded him. His things were thrown in the backseat of his truck and he hoped that he hadn't forgotten anything. Since he'd been in a slight hurry this morning since he had to work for about two hours before he went home to change and then he came straight here.
"My stuff is in my truck and yes, it would be nice having help. Unless you want my back to start acting up. I know what you're thinking, how could it start to act up from just doing that. Well, it could but after this I've got a four day vacation where I can just lay around and not do any lifting at all." He said before he began to make his way out of the tent and into the cool night air. The temperature had dropped considerably since the sun had went down. But the cool air meant that there wasn't an mosquitoes around so that was a plus. The bad thing was that some of them seemed to have migrated into the tent but there really wasn't that many of them inside. Just as long as he didn't get eaten alive in his sleep. Then again, he could try and kill all of the mosquitoes in their area so that there wouldn't be any. But now that he thought about it he hadn't seen any of the annoying bugs in their part.
It was then that he left the tent and then dug his keys out of the pocket of his jeans. His truck wasn't that far from here but he couldn't remember if he had locked it or not. If he had then it would be fun trying to unlock it in the dark.
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