Video Star

When I woke up the next morning it was Christmas so I smiled and turned my head a bit to see that Brian was still passed out so I got out of bed slowly and went to shower. I dressed in the sleep clothes I was supposed to wear last night then I went downstairs and rummaged around in his kitchen and finally found the coffee, made it, smoked then made us pancakes. As I was flipping one of them I felt arms slip around my waist ‘Merry Christmas’ ‘Merry Christmas’ I smiled and turned my head to look at him, he kissed me then rested his head on my shoulder and watched as I made breakfast ‘the coffee should be ready soon’ I said and he nodded a little and kissed my neck a few times. I smiled and continued cooking while he made us both some coffee and got out the butter, syrup and some forks ‘here you go baby’ I smiled as I stacked four pancakes on his plate, he smiled and kissed me, I kissed back then put four on my plate and we walked over to the table and ate in a comfortable silence then he helped me do the dishes and we went out for a smoke.

‘What do you want for your birthday?’ Brian asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders while we sat on the porch ‘I don’t know really, maybe a smaller tripod so I don’t have to take the big one on tour and a new notebook to take so I can use it as a journal of what I'm doing or something’ I said and I felt him nod ‘anything else?’ ‘Time with you before I leave’ I said softly as I turned my head to look at him, he smiled then leaned down to kiss me, I kissed back and rested against him some more after we pulled away. ‘I won’t be here for your birthday’ I pouted and he chuckled a little ‘that’s ok, I’ll be old’ ‘oh hush you’ll only be 33’ ‘it doesn’t bother you that were over 10 years apart?’ he asked and I moved to look at him

‘Brian, if it bothered me I wouldn’t be doing anything with you. I like to keep to myself and be alone but since I've met you, I don’t want to have to be alone anymore. If it bothered me then I wouldn’t have let you kiss me, I wouldn’t have asked you to stay the night and I defiantly wouldn’t have let you do what you did last night. I like you for you Bri, nothing else’ I said softly, he smiled and nodded then leaned over and kissed me, I kissed back and nipped on his lip a little making him laugh softly and pull away ‘don’t every think I'm bothered by you ok?’ I said again and he nodded then stood up, grabbed my hand and we walked inside and up to his room to cuddle under the blankets for a nice quiet Christmas.

So I don’t really have anything to report from the next two weeks but todays my 22nd birthday and I was just kinda eh I guess, I don’t really celebrate my birthday, I haven't for the past four years because of Jeff so now I don’t know what to do or how to feel about it because I'm not used to it. Brian was taking me out for lunch though so I was getting dressed right now, I was wearing a plain black long sleeve dress that went a little past my knees, no jewelry, my hair was down and straightened, and my makeup was a black and gray smoky eye with black liner on my water line and black mascara. I had just pulled on some black and purple peep toe pumps and a black blazer thing that I haven't worn a lot so what the hell, anyway, I just finished getting ready when my doorbell rang so I grabbed my clutch and phone then walked out and over to the front door and opened it to see Brian ‘hey’ I smiled, he smiled back then looked me over and kissed me ‘you look beautiful’ ‘thank you’ ‘happy birthday’ ‘thank you again’ I laughed, he laughed also and we headed out in his car.

We went into Friday’s and apparently there was already a table ready for us so we were taken around the corner ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!’ everyone yelled, which startled me ‘you guys!’ I whined and stomped my foot a little, they laughed and Brian and I sat down after Zack and Gina got up to let us in ‘you weren’t gonna say anything?!’ ‘No, that’s why they call it a surprise’ ‘yeah a surprise heart attack’ I said with a little laugh, Brian just kissed me a few times they we all ordered our drinks and an appetizer. ‘How long have you guys been planning this?’ ‘Probably since Christmas’ Zack said and I nodded a little as I unhooked the front of my jacket and Brian helped me take it off since the booth was squished with all of our bodies in it

‘Where are the babies?’ ‘With his parents’ ‘awww’ I pouted and they laughed a little and proceeded to tell a story about River ‘we were just at the mall in the lego store a few days ago to use the cards you gave us but we didn’t tell him that he had money to so when he finally picked out the dinosaur set he wanted he came running over to me with his little arms around the box’ Matt explained then stopped when the food and drinks arrived so we could all order our actual food. The waiter went away and we all looked back at Matt

‘Anyway, he runs over to me, almost tripping by the way, and holds up the box and says “daddy this one! I wanna pay for it!” and I was just like ok then went in my wallet and pulled out the gift card and give it to him then we went over to the counter, I set it on the belt for him then picked him up “$25 please” the girl behind the counter said, River nodded and gave her the card and she just smiled and swiped it then handed it back to him with the receipt then bagged the box, I handed him the bag after I set him down “have good day!” he told the lady and she said the same thing back and then we left, it was so cute’ ‘awwww I wish I could’ve been there’ I pouted and he laughed a little ‘yeah, he loves that lego thing, he wouldn’t leave the house this morning without it’ he said and we all laughed a little then just started talking about random things while I zoned out.

I can't believe I'm actually celebrating my birthday; I haven't since I turned 16. I just hope nothing bad happens today, I’d like to have a good birthday for once. I thought to myself as I had a few cheese sticks but zoned out everyone talking ‘babe?’ I heard and I looked over at Brian a little wide eyed ‘what’ ‘were you listening to our conversation’ ‘no, I'm sorry, I zoned out a little’ ‘its ok, we said that were going to have some drinks at my place after were finished here’ ‘oh, ok’ I nodded with a little smile, he smiled back and I leaned my head on his shoulder. Once our food finally came we all dug in and just talked really, told jokes, they told me some tour stories and said that it wouldn’t be that bad after the first few weeks because you get used to it. ‘So, no showering then?’ I asked and the girls shook their heads ‘sometimes after a show you can but mostly not’ they explained and I pouted as I looked over at Brian, he laughed and kissed my head ‘you’ll be fine baby’ he said and I just sighed and nodded as we all finished up eating and expertly stacked all our dishes so the waiter didn’t have to and we all ordered coffee when he came to collect the dishes.

‘Ok, who’s birthday’ I heard and I looked up to see the staff and our waiter with all our coffee and the manager with a platter of hot fudge sundaes ‘hers!’ they all said and pointed at me so the manager set the one with the fake sward in the cherry in front of me and they all started singing happy birthday making me blush and hide my face in Brian’s shoulder which made him laugh. Once they finished I looked up and thanked them and they all left after the manager handed out everyone else ice cream and our waiter handed out the coffee ‘I’ll kill you guys next time you do that’ I said seriously and they all stopped laughing and looked over at me ‘just kidding!’ I said smiling big as I picked my spoon up and dug into my desert ‘I hope you're kidding’ ‘I am, you're the only friends I've got why would I kill you? I’d have no one to secretly make fun of’ I said with a laugh, they laughed also and we finished up within the next 15 minutes and split the bill into 4 so it was between couples then we all left and went back to Brian’s

‘Are you taking the back way?’ I asked once we turned on a road I didn’t know ‘mhm’ ‘um, w-why?’ ‘Does it matter?’ ‘No, sorry I just….sorry’ I stuttered then looked out the window ‘baby, what's wrong?’ ‘Nothing, its fine’ ‘it’s not fine, I know when you get scared you stutter’ he said a little hard then he sighed ‘I'm sorry, please tell me what's wrong’ ‘I just, don’t like going down roads I'm not familiar with because of Jeff’ I said softly as I picked at a string on my bag. I saw Brian’s hand move out of the corner of my eye and he laid it on my knee ‘I'm sorry, but try not to think about him today ok?’ he asked and I nodded as I laced my fingers with his. He smiled and looked over at me when we got to a stop sign, I looked back and leaned over to kiss his cheek which made him smile bigger, I laughed as we finally pulled up to his house and noticed everyone else was already there so we hurried out of the car, up the drive way and went inside

‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN!’ they yelled and I almost had another heart attack as we walked into the kitchen ‘guys! Come on, I don’t want to go to the hospital on my birthday’ I said but smiled anyway and took the drink I was handed and I looked around the room to see the black and purple streamers, balloons, and some wrapped gifts. Even the tissue paper I saw was black and purple ‘alright, now, we all helped put this together for you for when you go on tour so we really hope you like it’ Val sat as we walked over to the kitchen table and sat around it, I was sat in front of my presents and I smiled at them ‘guys you really didn’t have to’ ‘we wanted to, now open your presents!’ Val said happily, I laughed and nodded then took a few pictures of the set up on my phone before I tore into everything.

I opened the wrapped presents first and they had gotten me two notebooks, one was a spiral one with different color bats on the front and the other was a black one with a big skull on the front with that usual glue or string binding at the spine ‘oh guys, I love these their awesome!’ I said excitedly as I opened them and fanned through some of the pages so they didn’t stick together. Then Val pushed a blue leopard print pencil case in front of me and there was a black ribbon in a bow around it so I undid it and opened the bag ‘guys really?’ I asked and they nodded as I pulled out a pack of black sharpies, a pack of pencils and a pack of black, blue and red pens ‘the sharpies are for autographs, you’ll go through that pack in like six or so months’ Matt said and I laughed a little and nodded ‘you guys just need a pack of these for all of you’ I said and they laughed but nodded as I put the packs back in the bag as another little present was put in front of me but it was shaped kinda funny

‘This better not be a bomb’ ‘well, you could make a bomb with one of the things’ Zack said and we all looked over at him ‘what, I read it somewhere’ he said with a shrug, I smiled and ripped open the paper to see that they had gotten me a zippo, lighter fluid and a plastic lighter. The zippo had a 40’s or 50’s pinup model on a bear rug ‘you people I swear’ I laughed as I looked it over, they laughed and I looked over the plastic lighter that had Alice from Alice in Wonderland on it ‘I've never seen a lighter like this before’ ‘we actually found all that at spencer’s in the glass case that’s under the register’ Val said and I nodded a little ‘sweet, I don’t know how to fill a zippo’ I laughed then smiled as Brian took the fluid and lighter from me and showed me what to do ‘awesome, I'm gonna have to use it when were done here’ ‘well, it’ll be a little bit’ Lacey said and I just rose an eyebrow ‘really guys, you didn’t have to get me all this’ I said softly as Val set a new purse in front of me and I could tell it was packed.

I looked over at her and she smiled and rubbed my arm a little ‘you deserve all this, we love you, you're part of our little fucked up family now’ she said and I laughed as tears filled my eyes then I leaned over and hugged her tightly, she hugged back and shushed me just like a mother would ‘come on, take a drink and open your presents’ she said softly, I nodded and pulled away from her and she fixed my makeup a little. I turned back to the table and chugged half my cup then handed it over to Brian to indicate that I wanted more so he got up and got me another half cup since I only drank half and when he came back I started opening my presents. The first thing I saw in the beautiful leopard print bag was in the front zipper pocket and it was a new wallet, it matched the bag and was a little zip around one. I opened it up and saw four gift cards in there; I just shook my head and smiled as I pulled them out to see what they were.

There was target, bath and body works, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart ‘there’s $25 on each’ Gina said and I nodded and smiled over at her, she smiled back and I put the cards back and put the wallet where the other opened presents were, I looked back in the front pocket and pulled out a travel tide to go pen, a pack of bobby pins and ouchless black hair ties ‘praise the lord ouchless hair ties!’ I said happily and everyone laughed, I laughed also then put them down and took a little drink as I moved a little closer to the table and pulled out the first set of tissue paper which had a matching shampoo and conditioner which was herbal essences hello hydration ‘sweet I've been wanting to try these actually’ I said happily as I read the backs of both bottles and giggled at the little sayings they had then set them with everything else also. I reached in again and did the same pulling motion as I kept the tissue paper around whatever was in there. When I opened it, it was a travel size big sexy hairspray

‘Are you spying on me?’ I asked and Val laughed then pointed to Brian so I looked at him ‘what? She asked what kinda hairspray you used’ he said cutely as he shrugged, I laughed and kissed his cheek and put the hairspray down then reached in again and pulled out something heavy ‘geeze’ I chuckled, they laughed and I set it on the table and opened the paper so see a shower gel and matching lotion ‘I've never heard of this brand’ ‘it’s supposed to be super skin softening and so is the lotion’ Lacey said as I listened and read over the bottle ‘oh my god is it supposed to smell like what it’s called?’ ‘Mhm’ she nodded happily so I hurried up and opened it and smelled exactly like vanilla cupcakes ‘oh my god! Smell this!’ I said and shoved it in Brian’s face, he laughed and smelled it then made a yummy sound and it got passed around as I smelled the lotion, it smelled the same so I put it down and pulled out another heavy thing as Val put the shower gel with everything else,

I took off more paper and it was another one, same brand but this one was ‘pink frosted layer cake?! You're making me fat and I can't even eat it’ I said as I smelled it happily then passed it around again after making another yummy sound ‘I'm always gonna have desert!’ Brian said happily and we all started laughing hard and I leaned over and kissed him, he kissed back then smiled as I pulled away, I smiled back then took another drink. ‘Ok keep going’ Gina said happily, I giggled a little and nodded then pulled out another heavy set of tissue paper, I opened it to see a body lotion that I’d been wanting to try, it was the Aveeno for dry skin ‘I’ll definitely need this in Canada’ I said and they all nodded then I set it aside and pulled yet another kinda heavy thing out ‘you guys are killing trees you know’ ‘ah that’s ok’ Matt said an I just shook my head a little as I opened it up and saw two face washes, they were both clean and clear, one was morning burst and the other was relaxing night wash

‘I'm definitely going to need something to relax me’ ‘hopefully it works’ ‘I know right’ I chuckled a little then set them with the others. I saw three more tissues poking out of the bag so I just picked one and it was another heavy one so I set it on the table then opened it ‘Oh my god’ I whispered then looked at the girls ‘where did you find this?’ ‘Um, spencer’s I think’ Gina said as she looked over at Lacey and she nodded in agreement ‘I, I just need a minute’ I whispered then stood up and walked out to the back porch and lit up ‘baby?’ ‘Just give me a minute please’ ‘no I wanna know what's wrong’ ‘just leave me alone! Please!’ I yelled as my voice cracked, he didn’t listen and came over and wrapped his arms around me tightly ‘shhhh, tell me baby’ ‘that…was the last thing….my friend gave me….’ I choked out and I felt him nod a little and stroke my head slowly ‘I could never find it again after Jeff broke it’ I whispered after I calmed down some

‘Well, now you have it again, and you can remember’ he whispered back, I nodded and pulled away to look up at him, he smiled and kissed my forehead then wiped away some of my black tears ‘now you look like a panda bear’ he smiled and I laughed some and relit my smoke ‘How about once you're finished your presents we have a few drinks with everyone then I’ll kick them out’ he said and I nodded a little as I finished up and put my butt in the ashtray and we walked in and back into the kitchen ‘you ok now?’ Val asked and I nodded then sat back in my seat ‘sorry’ ‘don’t worry about it’ she said as I opened up the canister that my favorite perfume came in, it was Rag Doll and extremely hard to find. I took the cap off, smelled it and smiled then sprayed it on myself ‘wow that’s amazing’ Zack said and I blushed a little and put it back together then set it aside. I pulled out another one and it was Advil and I laughed ‘what?’

‘Oh nothing, every time I complain about something hurting my always says “take an Advil” it’s just a running joke’ I smiled, they smiled back and I pulled out the last thing of tissue paper and it was a new deodorant in cucumber and green tea ‘thank you guys so much’ ‘oh there’s more sweets’ Johnny said and I went wide eyed ‘Really? This is just too much’ ‘too bad, open’ Val laughed so I nodded then pulled the purse onto my lap to see a new makeup bag inside so I pulled it out and noticed it was full but I decided to inspect the bag some ‘I really love this bag’ ‘we were hoping you would and we thought it would be great for tour since it’s pretty big, you can take whatever you need everywhere’ ‘I really love it’ I smiled then set it over with the rest of the presents I’d already opened then I looked at the makeup bag and sighed happily ‘alright, one more round’ I said as I rubbed my hands together, they laughed and I unzipped it slowly and it was completely packed, I could barely unzip it.

‘Before I even start this, I ran out of all my makeup the other day, I just finished up the rest of it on my face today’ ‘now you have new goodies!’ Lacey said and I laughed and nodded ‘anndddd more tissue paper’ I laughed as I pulled out the first thing, it was six items but I picked up the two liquid eye liners first, one was Wet and Wild and the other was Urban Decay 24/7 water proof and they were both in black. Then I picked up the two super black pencil eyeliners, one was NYX and the other is a brand I haven't heard of before so I looked over at Val and she shrugged ‘I thought it looked cool so I got it’ she said and I nodded a little then put those down also and picked up the two black mascaras, NYX and Maybelline ‘sweet, this should definitely last me all year since I don’t wear makeup everyday’ I explained and everyone nodded and kept watching me. I took another sip of my drink then pulled out more paper with two little eye shadow pallets, one was Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics

‘I've been wanting to try this since it came out but I hate buying new things’ I said and the girls nodded ‘we know’ they all said together and their guys laughed at them. The other one was a TopShop one and it had a white, two grays and a black. They also both had mirrors so that was great, I put those with everything else ‘I need a little break’ I laughed, they did to and we all got up with our drinks and went outside to have a smoke, well, those of us who smoked. I finished my drink while we were out there because I took a sip after every hit so when we went back in I refilled my cup then walked back over to the table and sat down ‘ok, let’s do this!’ I said happily as Brian moved a little closer to me and set his hand on my lower back which made me smile and I could see he was smiling out of the corner of my eye. The next thing I pulled out was two NYX products, one was the same eye shadow base I had and the other was a concealer

‘I'm gonna go ahead and guess you guys watched my makeup video’ I laughed and they nodded happily as I set them aside. Lacey was folding all the paper back up as I finished with all of them so I just handed it over to her and the next four things I pulled out were face things. A NYX face primer in clear, the same foundation stick and powder that I had and they got me a BB Cream from The Body Shop and I didn’t even know they sold makeup ‘you know, I've never used a BB Cream before’ ‘there a lot lighter than foundations but I feel like this foundation it pretty light’ Gina said as she pointed to the stick ‘yeah its great actually, I really love it’ ‘hopefully you’ll like this to’ ‘I'm excited to try it’ I smiled as I set it by everything else. The next things I pulled out weren’t in paper but they did have a plastic around them so they didn’t get dirty, one was a really cool white and leopard powder brush thingy. I took it out of the plastic, it just slipped right out, and I rubbed it against my face some

‘Oohhh soft’ I said and they laughed, I did also then put it back in the plastic. I pulled out two brushes, they were both eye shadow brushes and I did the same thing with those then put them aside and then I pulled out some squishy looking egg thing ‘uhh?’ ‘It’s a beauty blender, you use it for foundation. So like, if you dot your foundation all over your face you take that and just tap it in so you're not using your hands or swiping it and leaving streaks’ Gina explained, I just took her word for it since she was the expert. Then I set it aside, drank and got back to it. I pulled out five chap sticks, original Nivea in the light blue tube, then original Baby Lips in another kinda light/sky blue tube, classic cherry chap stick, Body Shop Vitamin E with SPF 15 and that was pink, and a Body Shop Roll On chap stick in coconut and that had a brown tube and it smelled great. Then there was a Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer in Midnight Pomegranate, travel Q-Tips,

Peppermint and spearmint wisps and both packs had four so that’s eight all together. Spearmint Orbit gum, Trident strawberry gum and 5 gum in Cobalt and some Ice Breaks mints in Spearmint ‘ok, you guys trying to tell me something?’ I asked and they laughed and shook their heads ‘of course not but it’s nice to have’ Zack said as he wrapped his arm around Gina and she laid against him, aww cute, I thought to myself and smiled at them then went back to what I was doing. I got two lip scrubs in a jar, one was red and smelled like berries and the other was purple and the name was sparkling pink grapefruit so I opened it and smelled it also ‘you know what's odd, I hate the taste of grapefruit but I love the smell’ I said as I basically shoved my nose it ‘alright now don’t get high’ Brian laughed as he took the jar and screwed the lid back on, I laughed but kissed him anyway. He kissed back then set his hand on my lower back again as I felt around in the bag more,

I heard some kind of crinkling so I grabbed it all and pulled everything out. Olay Face Refreshing Wipes, Wet Ones, Simple Makeup Remover Wipes, and Burt’s Bees Makeup Remover Wipes in pink grapefruit again ‘yesss’ I whispered as I smelled them through the pack, Brian chuckled a little and I pulled out the last two things. Olay face lotion that I always use and a SimpleNourishing 24-hour face lotion for night time. ‘You guys are awesome, thank you so much’ I smiled happily as I stood up and went around to hug everyone, they all hugged back of course then I walked over to Brian after he locked up and shut the lights off and kissed him, he kissed back then kissed my forehead

‘Alright guys, get out’ he said and I laughed along with everyone else ‘you wore the poor girl out’ he said again, they nodded and we all hugged some more then they left and Brian and I were finally alone so I wrapped my arms around his neck as he set his hands on my waist ‘do I still have some clothes here? I don’t wanna go home’ I asked and he nodded as he focused on kissing my neck. ‘Mmm Bri?’ ‘Hmm?’ ‘Take me upstairs?’ I asked and he pulled away then looked at me as I bit my lip, he nodded then leaned down and picked me up bridal style and walked us upstairs to his room so we could have some fun, still no sex, but lots of fun.

Notes

Echo's Outfit - http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=135364337

Echo's Presents (1) - http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=135389228

Echo's Presents (2) - http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=135400414