At Dare's House

[Dare Madison]

Dare was even more confused after talking to Brittany and was glad that Tony could take him home via Whole foods where they got the catering trays he had ordered the day before, There was build your own Tacos, Wild vegetable lasagne, Italian Sausage Pasta which was Vegan, Vegetable Fried Rice, and lots of Spring Rolls. When he got the stuff home, he had tony help set everything up on the bar, including dinnerware and silverware and made sure the bar fridge was filled with soda and juices. He put out bowls of candy to satisfy Evan's sweet tooth and turned on the stereo to play classic rock. He sat down with his acoustic and played along with the radio as he waited for his friends and their friends to arrive.He called down to the doorman to tell him to send everyone directly up as it would be easier than checking everyone in before letting them in.

[fryn]

It took Takumi a while to lcoate Dare's home but he finally made it. He'd sent Lia a text to let her know where and when they were to meet. Hopefully she'd still be able to make it... Lace, too. It would have been even better had Izzy been free but he knew she had other plans with her friend who was to wed. He'd see her on Sunday at the bowling and that was something he was very much looking forward to.

Across his back he carried a guitar case. A bass guitar, of course. His pride and joy. A red Zon bass. It had taken him 2 long years of working and saving to be able to buy the instrument and so he was duly proud of it. His bass had 5 strings rather than the more normal 4 but Zon made ones with even more strings than that. Five was his limit, though, as Takumi found that challenging enough.

He pulled his Vespa up to the front of the apartment building and he headed for the main door. Luckily Dare had left his name as one of his expected visitors and so Takumi faced no problems at the main desk.

"Penthouse. Apartment 1001," the security guy informed him and with a nod of thanks the Japanese teen set off in the elevator.

He tapped politely on the door and waited...

[Evan Hughes]

It kind of gave Evan the jeebies to come back to Dare’s place, given what had occurred when he was last there. Hopefully everything went better this time. And he still hadn’t heard from Brittany, he figured she would have called him to rant about cheerleaders and annoying rich people for sure by now. Maybe she was going to the jam though, so he held off on giving in and sending his own message for now. But something felt off, even if he had no idea why it felt off in the first place. He was probably just imagining things, he was good at that. Or maybe he’d just seen too many movies featuring paranoid characters.

But today was going to be good, it had to be. Friends, music, and as Dare promised, more food than even Evan could get through. It was gonna be sweet. He just hoped Patch would be able to come along to, he wanted to share the awesomeness with his best friend.

Parking his car behind a Vespa, he made his way enthusiastically up to Dare’s apartment, to see someone had beaten him there. “Taki!” he cheered, playfully patting the guy’s shoulder. “Got my own equip too.” He showed off the two drumsticks he held, twirling them around in his fingers. “Dare said I can play his dad’s kit. Speaking off...” He banged not so politely on the door. “Dare! It’s us! Come on, let us in!”

[Dare Madison]

Dare yelled for them to come in and quickly ran to turn the music down somewhat and grabbed the remote to open the blinds so the sun shown in. Everything was light colored woods and glass with oatmeal colored fabric. There were occasional bright colors thrown in with paintings and wall hangings. The loft was very modern and almost stark, but there were musical references as well There was a large portrait of Dare's mother on one wall. She looked much like him. Light in coloring, slim and willowy with long blonde hair pulled back into a braid down her back. She was a hippy, with low riding bell bottom jeans and a crop top exposing a long thin torso and a belly ring. It looked like she might have been at the beginning stages of pregnancy, but still very hot. A lot of scarves adorned her like a rainbow. It was clear by the placement of the portrait so the sun shown on it that she had been very important to Maddog.

When the other boys came in, Dare smiled brightly. "Hey guys! I'm so glad you're here. I have been so antsy all morning waiting. I am not very patient. Help yourselves to drinks in the fridges. There is one behind the bar and one in the kitchen."

[fryn]

Takumi peered inside the apartment when he heard Dare call for them to enter. Evan strode in but the Japanese teen was a little less sure of himself. He paused just inside the door and quickly removed his boots, as was traditional amongst his race. He set them to one side and placed his guitar case carefully down, leaning it back against the wall. His crash helmet and jacket were left on a nearby chair and only then did he trail after Evan, following the sounds of their voices.

"Hai," he greeted with a smile, not unduly surprised when Dare darted over to hug him. Takumi was used to that happening and didn't mind in the slightest.

He wandered over to the fridge and peered inside, selecting a bottle of fruit-flavoured water. He really hated all kinds of soda with a passion and so was more than happy to leave those for the others.

Takumi headed back to rejoin Evan and Dare and had been unscrewing the bottle's cap when his phone chirped. A text. Izzy? He dug it out and read the message. Lia... "Lia can't come," he informed the other. "She is meeting someone. A date," he added. "I haven't heard from lace so am not sure if she will be here. Hopefully so."

He sprawled onto a couch and took a long sip of his water. "Who else might come?" he asked. Not Izzy - unfortunately - and even if it proved to be just the three of them there were sure to have a great time!

[Evan Hughes]

As soon as Dare called out for them to enter, Evan had no qualms walking in as if he owned the place. He was obviously more familiar with the layout than Takumi, mainly due to the fact that he actually been at the apartment before. His exuberance in quickly making his way inside wasn’t without reason however, and he quickly glanced around, looking around for Syn while trying not to make it obvious he was looking around for Syn. He didn’t see her, so for now, he figured he could take it easy. He just wasn’t sure what Brittany would say if she found out he spend the afternoon with her. Or even worse, if she turned up and Syn was there.

Heading straight for the bar, he grabbed out a can of Red Bull, all but ensuring the usually hyper teen would soon be going into overdrive. It was going to be great fun! He watched as Takumi pulled out a water, playfully screwing up his face at the sight of the drink. Far too healthy and unsugary for him.

Following his friend’s lead, he flopped himself over another couch, on his back, leaning his head back as much as he could to look at Dare and Takumi. “Don’t wanna worry you guys or nothing, but you’re both upside down.” he laughed, before grabbing out his own phone to check it. “Well, told Patch, but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet. And I don’t know if Brit’s going to come. Don’t worry, I’ll be loud enough for five people. And eat enough food for six.”

[Kian O'Connor]

Dare was thrilled to see them and hugged Taki, but couldn't get Evan to slow down long enough to grab him. "I think Kian and Connor are coming, Dare said for Kian had said something to him the day before that had given him the impression they planned to. "Do they live together?" He had rarely seen them apart except the first time he had met Kian. They were always together even in the physical sense, holding hands or other more intimate contact. He didn't think he had ever seen even a straight couple that were so lovey. He envied them.

[fryn]

Takumi sipped some more water as Dare spoke and he shrugged as he swallowed. "I don't think I know Kian and Connor," he said. In fact, Takumi wasn't even sure if the names were male or female, neither being ones he'd encountered before. "Your home is very beautiful, Dare-kun," he went on. It had the same spacial awareness and uncluttered feel as was typical with Japanese tastes and he found it to be a welcome relief from some of the more suffocating places he'd seen since arriving in America. "You can see a long way from up here, hai?" He laughed and glanced over towards the vast windows.

The trio chatted togather amicably and in increasingly high spirits as the prospect of their afternoon grew ever closer. Takumi missed playing like this with his old friends back in Osaka and while he had a feeling the music today wouldn't be exactly what he would have chosen it would be very good indeed to use his bass once more. And maybe later he'd be able to talk Dare and Evan into trying out some Japanese songs? He'd brought a couple o CDs with him... Just in case they were up for Takumi's challenge.

"I have heard you have a sister," he said to Dare. "Will she be here with us, too? Does she play an instrument? Or perhaps even sing?" He could hope as a singer would be good! Takumi could sing but probably not in English.

[Evan Hughes]

“Ah, can’t believe I forgot Kian and Connor! Don’t tell Kian, he’ll give me a whack on the back of my head for forgetting him.” Evan grinned, getting all excited, knowing something the other two in the room with him didn’t know. “They’re bringing another friend of ours too, Mike. You’ll both like him, he’s really nice.” He tried not to sound overly excited when he said this, thinking it would be a dead giveaway something was up. He wasn’t normally good at keeping things to himself, he tended to blurt things out as soon as he could, very loudly.

“Nah, they don’t live together. But pretty close to it. Kian’s got a boat, and I know he and Connor spend a lot of nights together on it. Maybe not so much now, Mike’s moving onto the boat. Might be kinda awkward then, for booty calls.” Evan smirked. “They’re always together though, so it seems like it.”

“It is a really cool place.” Evan agreed, downing half of his Red Bull in one go. “I like...is that a fire pole? Dare! Is that a fire pole up there? Awesome! I’ve so gotta try that later. Please, pretty please, with a cherry and a Butterfinger and some Reese’s Pieces on top?” he asked, looking very animated.

The mention of Dare’s sister got him just a little nervous, though Evan did his best to hide this. And change the topic away from Syn. “Kian sings too. He’s really good. He usually does musicals and stuff, but don’t fault him for that.” he chuckled. “They should be here soon. Did you both wanna get started mucking around, or should we wait to see who turns up?”

[fryn]

Takumi opted not to ask what a 'whack' was and how much it would hurt. He already displayed his ignorance far too often and toay he was determined to keep that under control. He could look it up later on google.jp but he hoped Evan wouldn't be harmed if such a thing took place. "I look forward to meeting all three of them," he replied instead. "A boat? They live on a boat? Sugoi! That must be very exciting." Takumi wondered if it was one of the boats he'd spotted from the lamp room in the old lighthouse up the coast at Point Dume. Probably not as they would surely prefer to be closer to the main hub of activity closer to Venice Beach.

He struggled to keep up with Evan's next set of words, catching 'cherry' and 'finger' but little else. He laughed along with Evan, though, determined to at least act like he'd understood.

"Its good that Kian can sing," he said. "Maye he can be persuaded to take part in the jamming." Was that the right way to use the word? Hopefully the answer was a resounding yes.

"We could set up the instruments perhaps?" Takumi suggested. "Then when we have finished they may have arrived. If not it never hurts to warm up, hai?" Takumi was keen to get started - that much was blatently obvious!