The Art of Longing

[57] Big in Japan

When it was time for us to leave the hotel with the rest of the band, Brian and I begrudgingly left our hotel room. It wasn't because we didn't want to attend the tea ceremony, but because it had been so nice to relax for a few hours, not in a plane or on a train, but in a bed. A hotel bed, but a bed nonetheless. And the tea ceremony was something that required our full attention, which would be tiring. Fun, but tiring.

"Hey there," Roger greeted us, and smiled at us. "How are you two? Get some sleep?"

"Not really," Brian said.

"Sleeping is dangerous if you're jetlagged," I mumbled. "At least for me."

"That's a fair point," Roger agreed. "Have you ever been to a tea ceremony before, Ellie? If not, there's probably a few things you should know, I don't know if Brian told you about that yet."

"I've been to a few before, yes, so I'm hoping I'll be fine, but if you think there's something I should know, please tell me," I replied.

And apparently he was in the mood for talking to me, because I ended up talking to him on the ride to the ceremony more than I spoke to Brian.

The welcome at the tea ceremony was very extravagant, they really were considered highly honoured guests. Had I not been familiar with the custom, I probably would have been overwhelmed by it all, but luckily I managed, and the band did their best to make sure I didn't feel left out.

The rather lengthy ceremony was followed by a press event that lasted until the evening. It was fun, but both Brian and I were absolutely exhausted by the time we were allowed to return to the hotel. For me, it was mostly the jetlag that I hadn't managed to tackle preemptively as well as I had thought. For Brian, it was the jetlag on top of the general exhaustion that he was feeling. He tried to hide it, but it was quite obvious from his mannerisms.

In our room, Brian sunk down on the bed almost immediately. "That was quite a day, huh?," he asked.

"It was," I agreed. "And it will only keep going like this, won't it?" I sat down on the bed beside him.

"Mhm," he mumbled. "Yes, Japan tends to be tiring. Very rewarding, but very tiring. It's only for a few weeks. Do you want to get changed and lie down? We don't have to sleep - we also don't have to do other things - but I would like to just... be with you, in a calm environment."

I smiled at him. "Of course, give me a minute to get changed and I'll be with you. But, don't you want to get changed too?"

"I do," he confirmed and sat up. "I do, yeah." He took a deep breath before he got off the bed and walked to his suitcase. "Tomorrow, before the concert, we have the shrine visit. Are you coming along?"

"If I may," I replied. "Sure. I enjoy visiting shrines, it's a very calming experience."

Brian smiled at me. "I think you'd be welcome to join. You're making a very good impression on our team, El."

"That's good, I'm glad."

We both changed into comfortable clothes, before we got comfortable on the bed. Brian invited me to  snuggle up next to him, which I did promptly.

"I was wondering if we could talk about our plans for after this tour again," he said. "I would like to know what I can look forward to."

I smiled. "Sure, we can do that. I think we both wanted to spend some time with our families, and we wanted to move into your house..."

"That's right, that's a lot to do...," he mumbled. "Did I suggest flying to California or was I merely thinking about that?"

"You did suggest that," I confirmed with a smile. "We can do that, I still like the idea. What's your preferred order to do everything in?" I looked at him and placed my hand on his chest. "I don't really mind, I think you're more tired than me."