You stood outside the back entrance to your work as you fumbled with your keys to unlock it. You were running late, but it wasn’t your fault entirely. Jeph had decided that after the romp around the living room that another was a good idea as you were trying to put your clothes back on after the first one. So it was entirely his fault you were as late as you were. As you started to turn the keys in the door knob you felt it turn and push open from the inside. You met face to face with a not so happy looking Zarin as he was stepping out of the shop.

“Oh so you actually decided to COME. Thought you were a no show and was heading out,” Zarin said in a huffy voice.

Maybe he hadn’t been planning anything after all. You all of a sudden felt really bad for running late and made a mental note to kick Jeph in the balls for doing this to you. Zarin looked and sounded pissed, you had never seen him like this before. Well except for on very rare occasions.

“I’m sorry, Jeph ah. Yeah, I’m sorry,” you apologized pathetically, trying to think of some way to make it up to him.

Zarin simply huffed angrily in response as you followed him into the back room. Everything was dark and shut down as he flicked on one tiny little light in the back room so as not to run into anything, though after this many years you were pretty sure all of you could navigate it blind. He must have really been on his way out to have everything this shut down, and not just stepping out for a cigarette break. You hung your head a bit as you followed behind him into the very dark parlor, walking passed him to go sit in your station chair as he stopped by the wall to flick the lights. Or so you guessed.

“Look, Zarin, I’m,” you started to say but were cut off by Zarin sighing heavily.

You knew he was about to reprimand you. He always sighed like that before he did, to anyone. But to you especially.

“Kales Mae, you never learn,” Zarin sighed and you could just barely make out his head shaking side to side in the dark as he had still yet to flip on the light.

“Learn what?” you asked, not sure as to what type of emotional state he was in and not in the mood to get your head bitten off right before tour started.

“Just how gullible you are,” he said and you thought you heard a smile in his voice.

“Wha?” you started to question but once again were cut off.

“SURPRISE!!!” loud voices shouted as Zarin flipped on all the lights.

You spun back around to where the stations were at the outburst. There were Greg, Ryan, Cares and Lexi all standing with their arms in the air and sporting bad party hats and noise makers as they tossed confetti and streamers into the air as they had shouted. It was a hysterical sight. Above their heads was a giant banner that said “We’re going to miss you” in that stereotypical tattoo lettering, a nice touch you thought. There were also streamers and balloons all over the places and confetti littering the floor. There was a giant table set up with a large cake and bottles of liquor and little kid party favor bags full of treats. It brought tears to your eyes, you really did have the greatest coworkers and the greatest friends to boot.

“Awww guys,” you said, trying not to cry.

“We thought this would be nice,” Zarin said as he came up to you, his own party hat now on his head and he placed one on yours.

As soon as he had the hat on your head you whacked him with your Bert purse. Hard.

“Ow. Hey. What was that for?” Zarin asked shocked as he held his side where you had hit him.

The rest of the guys were trying not to laugh, knowing full well why you had hit him.

“That’s for making me believe I was in big shit for being so late. You fucker. I thought I had done some serious wrong. How did you? Oh. You and Jeph planned this out so I would be late. And here I thought I was just going to kick him where it counts for making me late and making you angry at me, now I’m going to do it twice as hard just for planning behind my back,” you said as you took another swing at Zarin.

Connecting with his middle and causing a loud oomph to come out of him.

“Well would you have believed it any other way?” Zarin asked as the rest of the guys were still snickering.

“Nope. Point taken,” you said as you tossed your purse over into one of the waiting chairs and straightened your party hat out so it wasn’t choking you with it’s rubber band.

“I really do appreciate this though guys,” you said as you looked over the overly decorated tattoo parlor.

It looked as if it had taken them all day, which it probably had. Must of been some odd with clients coming in all day long, tough one to explain when you’ve got a gay man up on a ladder, the owner no less, with streamers tucked under his under his arm and nails in his mouth with a hammer in the other hand.

“And you haven’t seen the rest of it!” Lexi said excitedly as she came out from behind her station chair.
Her hat was tall and cylinder like and reminder you of a marching band hat, and was a bad yellow with red polka dots and giant red polka pom pom on the top. It even had an ugly red brim. They definitely went all out.

“What do you mean the rest of it?” you asked cautiously.

“Look at the cake first,” she said as she dragged you over, you being followed by the rest of your coworkers.

As Lexi took the plastic cover off the cake you burst out laughing. The cake was shaped like a tour bus and there was a bunch of cartoon charactatures of the guys done in icing on it, all of them leaning against the side of the tour bus. Matt looked like you always called, an oversized gorilla body and he was on the phone. You had to laugh at how they had picked up on that from what you had told them about his long phone conversations with Katie. Johnny was picking his nose and had rainbow colored hair, and was also made out to be much shorter than he really was. Syn was made to look over the top dark and broody, more sinister than regular, his arms were also exaggerated and now the size of small canons. And Jimmy was beside him with his arms crossed in front of his chest with his infamous “The Rev” glare going on, though his neck was triple it’s regular size. They had even managed to stick a little charactature of Bert in one of the bus windows, and he looked overly grubby and unwashed.

At the top of the tour bus cake was an exaggerated large icing picture of Zacky’s face. The best part was that it was bruised and bleeding and currently being punched by a fist that could have only been yours. And in great lettering it read “Hit him where it hurts and don’t stop till he cries mercy”. It made you crack up. It really was the prefect cake. And they really were the greatest friends on the planet.

“That is the best cake I’ve ever seen and advice I’ll make sure to live by this tour,” you said as you smiled at your friends.

“It took a lot of bickering and squabbling but we finally came around to this design, each of us wanting a different depiction of the guys. Zarin wanting a naked Zacky on it, but we told him that would scar you for life, not make you laugh and feel better,” Ryan explained.

You simply tilted your head a bit and shot your boss a quizzical look out of the corner of your face.

“Exactly,” you drew out skeptically, really wondering if there was any brains in your boss’s head.

“What?” Zarin asked innocently as he raised his hands in the air.

“We also have fun games, like pin the 2x4 to the annoying guitarists head,” Greg said as he went over to one of the large walls and pulled down a long cloth that had been hiding something.

And just like it sounded it was a giant photo of Zacky and then Greg lifted up cut outs of 2x4’s that you were to pin to close to his head.

“Or anywhere else you feel like pinning him with a 2x4, but the goal is his head,” Greg said as he placed the cut outs down onto a chair again.

“And tons more games and more booze that most college Fraternities see in their entire college careers,” Cares said as she Vanna White’d the liquor supply.

“This is going to be on interesting night,” you chuckled as you picked up a sharp knife and made to place the first cut into the cake.

Right through Zacky’s face.

Notes

Overly short chapter I know.
And I'm incredibly sorry.