The tour

Chapter 12

'So what now?'

Amy looked at Kristina, who was sitting on her bed fiddling little chords on her guitar, making a point at not looking into her roommates eyes. It had been nearly two days since the incident in the limo before Kristina had succumbed to her roommates wishes and told them about her evening with Michael. Surprisingly, Joey had been very quiet about the whole ordeal. Normally he would be comforting Kristina, playing 'I can survive without you-songs' and take her out, but he hadn't really done anything. Almost as if he didn't think anything was wrong. It weirded Kristina out, but she knew better than to try and understand the wondrous mind of Joey Fontelle.

Amy, on the other hand, had been very understanding and had asked the question Kristina still didn't know the answer to: What about the tour?

Honestly, Kristina felt so ashamed of what had happened that she thought about quitting. Besides, there was still the whole guitar-thing, even with two days of practice she still didn't feel good enough. And finally, Kristina had actually opened up a bit to Michael, which had scared her. She hardly ever did that, and certainly not after such a short amount of time. It was like she wasn't really in control of her emotions or actions around him and, being a controlfreak, that made her uncomfortable around him. And, last but not least, Michael had really confused her with that note he left in the limo for her the other day.

All of that had been swimming around in her head for the past two days, and the thought alone made Kristina sigh.

'I don't know. I guess I'm going to go and humiliate myself at rehearsal today one more time, and maybe it will be so bad that someone actually fires me and I won't have to make the decision myself,' she said, shrugging her shoulders.

Amy looked at her with a sad look in her face, but she was interrupted by the doorbell. Both of the girls had been chatting in Kristinas room for way too long, now realizing they would be late for classes. Amy got up to open the door and take her backpack while Kristina put down her guitar and gathered her school items.

'Oh my God!' she then heard Amy exclaim, and she ran to the living room.

'What? What the hell is that?'

Amy was dragging a huge package across the floor. It was quite tall, but thin.

'I don't know! A guy just delivered it,' she said, clearly surprised herself.

'There's another one outside the door!'

With a suspicious look Kristina went outside and got the other package. It was smaller, wider but much heavier. She gasped when she saw the logo on the cardboard box: Marshall.

'Ames, who is the package for?' she yelled while carrying it inside.

'It doesn't say!' she yelled back.

Kristina carried the heavy box inside the apartment next to the big one, not quite able to conceal her excitement, and with Amy they looked at it.

'Do you think Joey had another late night shopping spree?' Amy said, tilting her head to the side looking at the packages.

Kristina shook her head.

'Joey doesn't play music.'

'It's an instrument?' Amy asked with excitement in her voice.

Kristina just nodded and pointed to the Marshall-logo.

'Well it must be for you then! Unwrap it!' Amy exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement.

Kristina looked at the boxes and then noticed a small note attached to the big one. She opened it and immediately felt the butterflies in her stomach. She recognized Michaels handwriting.

I haven't heard anyone do what you can do. You are unique. Unique guitarists need unique guitars. I believe you will look even more beautiful while playing this.

It wasn't signed, but Kristina knew it was from him.

'I haven't heard anyone do what you can do. You are unique,' was the exact same thing he had said to her at the beach when he had tried to convince her to do the tour. She just stared at it, dumbfounded.

'It's from Michael,' she said, really wondering whether or not that was true herself.

'Well what are you waiting for? Open it!' Amy demanded.

Kristina opened the cardboard box and removed the bubble wrap before she gasped loudly, clasped her hands over her mouth and felt tears prickling in her eyes. Inside the box was the most beautiful guitar she had ever seen. It was a blue and black Gibson Les Paul with metal strings. The other box contained a Marshall-amplifier. The guitar was possibly the most beautiful thing Kristina had ever seen, it was practically beaming, and she stood looking at it, paralyzed, in awe.

Amy was also staring at the incredible instrument with eyes wide open.

'Isn't that the guitar you've always wanted? The one you have tattooed on you?' she asked quietly.

Kristina was still clasping her mouth, and all she could do was nod.

'That is amazing. I don't know anything about guitars, but that is really beautiful. But why did Michael send it to you? Are you sure it's from him?'

Kristina still couldn't take her eyes away from it and just handed her roommate the note, which ensured Amy that the gift was in fact from Michael.

'Wow,' she said, looking at the guitar, mesmerized.

'He must really like you.'

That snapped Kristin out of her gaze.

'But he doesn't! You heard what he did after we woke up at his apartment. He thought it was all a mistake! You read the note he wrote me then. What the hell is that about?' she asked, once more gazing at the guitar. She couldn't wait to play it, although she didn't even really feel worthy of it.

'I mean, this must have cost him thousands and thousands of dollars. I know he probably has a lot of money, but this is still not an ordinary present to give to someone.'

'Maybe it's just a loan. But then wouldn't he have written that?' Amy asked.

Kristina dusted off her hands and reached out and grabbed the guitar. A shiver went through her body as she did. She sat down with it carefully, and with loving touches started playing a few chords. Although the guitar was still amazing and way better than any guitar Kristina had ever had, something was off.

'There something wrong with it. This is a classic Gibson Les Paul,' she said, continuing playing with the strings. Amy smiled a huge smile and shook her head.

'No, it's not. And it's also not a loan. It's way better,' she said.

Kristina looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a questioning look. Amy just pointed to the lower part of the guitar. Kristina looked down, and she almost dropped the guitar when she noticed it. This certainly was not an ordinary or classic Gibson Les Paul. Sometimes, and it really had only happened a few times, when a big artist ordered the famous, legendary guitar, Gibson would put a special, personal touch on it, like a special set of strings, a special color or something like that. At the bottom of the guitar in Kristinas hand was a little inscription in silver glitter that didn't usually appear on the guitar.

'Kristina Jensen' it said. Kristina was one of the few people in the world who actually had a genuine Gibson Les Paul. And she was also now one of the even fewer people who had a specialized Gibson Les Paul made just for her.  

'Pretty big present from someone who apparently isn't interested in you,' Amy said and smiled.