Ghost Bird

12: Fan Mail

North, Nathan, and I sit around the table in the break room, munching on sandwiches for lunch. Gabriel left suddenly a few minutes ago, and everyone else left after the meeting this morning.

I can't help but stare at North as he eats his monstrosity of a sandwich. There's so much meat on it that it's a miracle he can even fit it in his mouth. One lone piece of lettuce sits on top of the meat. When he catches me staring at him, North smirks. "I like meat," he deadpans, "and green stuff is good for you. That's why there's a lettuce."

"A lettuce?" Nathan asks, raising one eyebrow. I stifle a giggle.

North nods. "That's enough for me. I had a broccoli yesterday. Raw. So it was even healthier."

Nathan leans back in his chair, causing his shirt to ride up and exposing just a hint of his abs. I would say he doesn't notice, but he looks right at me as he does it. "It takes more than a broccoli to get this in shape. I did five hundred sit-ups yesterday. Then I ate a salad—without dressing. There's no fat in these muscles," he brags, rubbing his belly.

My eyes fixate on his abs. I don't notice that the two guys have stopped bantering until North clears his throat. I reluctantly turn away from Nathan to face him. "Where's Gabriel?" he mutters. Red tinges his cheeks.

Poor North. Nathan must have embarrassed him. Maybe he doesn't have as defined of ab muscles. Black is a slimming color after all.

"He left a few minutes ago," I say.

Nathan pulls out his phone, shooting off a quick text. He pauses for a moment, then motions me over to him. I squat down next to his chair. "Take a photo with me. There's a filter that'll give us both dog ears," he says.

Just as Nathan is about to take the photo, a box comes flying into the room, landing on the table with a loud plonk. I screech and jump backwards, ruining the photo. Gabriel marches into the room. His arms are full of boxes and envelopes.

"Nope, that filter is mine! It involves licking, and only I can lick Sang." As if to prove his point, he leans over and brushes his tongue against my cheek.

"Your breath stinks," I mumble, wiping at my cheek with my sleeve.

Gabriel grins, causing another wave of stink to waft in my direction. "It's my sandwich. Garlic bread, ham, tomato, and a healthy dollop of garlic paste."

North grimaces. "I can smell your shitty breath all the way from over here. Seriously, brush your teeth."

Gabriel yawns, exhaling his warm garlic breath. "Nah, I think I'm good. Besides, we have fan mail to open!" He places the rest of the mail onto the table. "I grabbed all of ours from the office."

My eyes widen as I take in all the boxes and envelopes. All of this is fan mail? Who even sends fan mail? Did I get any? Probably not, since none of my episodes have aired yet. As if sensing my thoughts, Gabriel shoves his phone into my hand.

"Can you film us opening these, Sang? I want to post it to my Facebook page so that people know we got their packages," he explains.

After fumbling with the phone for a moment, I get the video camera open and point it at the guys. While I've spent a lot of time on camera, I've never been the one filming before. I nod when I press the red record button.

Gabriel gestures to the mail. "Hello everyone! I'm here at WION Studios with Nathan, North, and Sang." Nathan and North both wave when their name is called. Figuring I should do something, too, I turn the camera around briefly and smile. "We have a lot of mail from all of our loyal fans, so why don't we go ahead and start opening it!"