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It had taken them all a while to agree to Jere’s offer.
Sure, a one week holiday at a huge, private cabin at the Spanish riviera with your own pool, hot tub, nobody else around for miles, and not a single worry on your mind, paid for by your boss, sounded like a dream to most – but only if your boss wasn’t your best friend who you had seen struggling financially for the past few years, who now, after a very stressful few months where he had finally gotten the recognition and also the money he deserved, had offered to pay for his entire crew’s holiday.
As they were boarding the plane, Jesse still wasn’t fully convinced. To him it felt like he was using his friend, although he had reassured him several times that this was not the case at all.
“I just want a nice holiday with you and everyone else!” He had claimed several times when Jesse had told him about his concerns. “You’ve supported me for years without expecting anything back. If anyone deserves this holiday the most, it’s you.”
Jesse had just sighed and patted his friend’s back. Arguing with Jere always ended with his friend winning. He was very stubborn and would rarely take criticism. Jesse had known him long enough to usually not even try and start discussions; even back in school, they had never ended well for him. If Jere had set his mind onto something, you could be damn sure he wouldn’t stop until he had reached what he wanted. In a way, this characteristic of his friend was what had brought them here in the first place. Hadn’t he been so determined to make music, become successful and make the entirety of Finland know his name, all six of them would probably work a boring office job with their dreams locked away somewhere in the back of their minds.
And as much as he loved touring, he desperately needed a few days to relax, Jesse thought to himself while he turned on the noise-cancelling function of his headphones. All this travelling, scheduling, and organising had gotten a bit too much in the past few months, and he knew Jere felt the same. He was the one Jesse wanted to have a vacation the most.
All of them had worked hard, of course, but while the others didn’t mind admitting how exhausted they were, his friend barely ever did. Jesse had asked him about it once, drunk, after a long club night on their way home in the back of a taxi, and Jere had told him it was because he felt guilty. He had wanted this life for so long, so who was he to complain about the downsides that came with it? Jesse had tried reassuring him, but since he had been interrupted by Jere throwing up onto the backseat and having to tip a very angry taxi driver a very high amount, the talk hadn’t really gone anywhere.
He hadn’t asked again after that night.
Jesse must have dozed off during take-off, because the next thing he remembered was Häärijä poking his arm a little violently. “We’ve landed.” He said. The drive to the cabin was a blur; he had never noticed just how tired he actually was. While touring, he had slept about four hours a night, and it was starting to show. So after they arrived, and of course only with a few teasing comments from the others, he decided to lay down for a proper nap.
When he woke up again, he could see the sun setting outside his window, but before he could be shocked about how he had apparently slept for more than six hours, he noticed what, or rather who, had woken him up. A little Pomeranian had jumped up onto his bed and was very obviously demanding cuddles.
“Aww, Chelsea!” He pouted and began caressing the dog behind her ears. His gaze wandered around the room, where he spotted her basket. He assumed the others had put her to sleep here as well, but since she didn’t have months and months of touring behind her, her nap hadn’t needed to be quite as long as Jesse’s. She began barking excitedly, resting her tiny paws on Jesse’s chest so she could reach his face. He managed to pull his head away just before she could lick through his face.
“Come on, let’s go find the others, okay?” He smiled and scooped her up, keeping her pressed to his chest while still making sure she wouldn’t be able to lick through his face. Only when he passed a mirror and noticed just how messy his curls were, he let his guard down to fix them … an opportunity that Chelsea saw and used right away. Jesse sighed and put her down, wiping the dog saliva off his face while continuing to brush his fingers through his hair in an attempt to fix it at least a little.
The little dog was still running around his feet, jumping up his legs every now and then. If he was being honest, Jesse wasn’t quite sure why Chelsea loved him so much. He had known her since she was a puppy, but he hadn’t seen her regularly since then. And while she was a very happy and energetic little dog that played with most people she met, the only other person he had seen her this affectionate with was Häärijä.
She followed him into the living room area of the cabin, where Jere, Häärijä, Jukka, Jaakko, and Allu were playing cards, before she spotted her owner and, with lots of excited tail-wagging, jumped onto his lap.
Without even knowing what game his friends were playing, Jesse could see Jere was losing. His body language said it all; he was sprawled across the couch, looking into his deck with an annoyed expression on his face. He had never been good at card games, but he was even worse at disguising how he felt while playing them. That was why Jesse had never managed to teach him poker; he could just see right through him immediately.
When Jukka spotted him, he grinned.
“Slept well?” He asked and picked out a card to play.
Jesse sat down on next to Jere, shamelessly peeking into the cards he was holding.
“Hmm,” he mumbled as he picked an Eight of Spades and played it for Jere, “Chelsea woke me up. You should get your dog under control.” He chuckled and nodded towards Häärijä.
“Hey, wrong game, you idiot.” Jere pouted and grabbed the card back off the stack. Painfully slowly, he scanned the ones in his hand – he was holding significantly more than the rest – only to play an Eight of Hearts. Jukka threw his last card onto the pile and Jere jumped up from the couch, agitated.
“Oh come on, how have I not won a single game in the past hour! You guys must be cheating.”
Allu just laughed. “You’re just really bad, Jere. No need for us to cheat.”
Jere groaned and tried to keep a serious face as everyone started laughing, but Jesse saw his mouth twitching. His friend was rarely ever upset, and something trivial like losing a card game surely wasn’t anything that would mess with his mood.
“I need a drink to cope with your nonsense,” he said with a grin as he walked into the kitchen, “anyone else want one?”
And so, their first evening ended – with everyone sitting outside, watching the sunset, laughing, drinking, and chatting until it was so dark they couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces anymore. Once in their beds, none of them took longer than a few minutes to fall asleep.
Jesse was the first one to wake up the next day, probably given to his immensely long nap the day before. They would spend the entire day at the cabin, baking themselves in the Spanish sun, drinking the dozens of pre-made cocktails Jere had ordered to be in the cabin’s huge refrigerator. While he was looking forward to this plan a lot, Jesse still decided to go on a quick morning walk – Chelsea probably wouldn’t mind coming along with him either – at the beach.
Once the sun was fully up, he returned; only to find Jere in his swim shorts next to the pool already. He was surprised at first; if he was able to sleep in, his friend would not get up before noon voluntarily. But when he walked closer, he could hear that he was snoring.
He could also see how red Jere’s back was already.
Jesse told himself that waking his friend up was for a good cause, but secretly he was looking forward to seeing his confused, sleepy face a little. He was gentle in waking him up, pushing his shoulder carefully, and as it seemed, Jere had only dozed off a few minutes ago or else the soft gesture wouldn’t have woken him up. Jesse knew from several high school sleepovers that waking Jere up in the morning usually took some very loud music and some very big ice cubes.
But this time, neither was necessary.
“Hey, good morning. Why are you up already, it’s only 11.”
Jere let out a groan. “Prime tanning time,” he mumbled and looked up at his friend … oh, and there it was, that adorable sleepy face of confusion. Jesse only got to glance at it for a second before Jere turned around.
“More like prime sunburn time. Your back looks like a lobster already. Didn’t you use sunscreen?”
Jere covered his eyes with his hands and made a negating noise. “I don’t tan when I use sunscreen. Don’t want to fly back to Finland with pale skin.”
Jesse couldn’t help but sigh.
“We’ve been over this a hundred times already, sunburns are terrible for your skin and are not worth the tan you get afterwards.”
Jere just groaned again, fishing for his sunglasses beneath the sun lounger he was lying on.
“Plus, they hurt, I don’t know how that hasn’t put you off yet.”
“But it’s so annoying to apply. I didn’t even bring any, anyway.” He seemed to have found the sunglasses and slid them on.
“Then I’m going to be a good friend and share mine with you, alright? I’ll even put it on for you, if you’d like.”
Jesse got up, simply interpreting the noise Jere made as a yes, and went to fetch his own sunscreen from his suitcase. When he got back, Jere was asleep again. With a sigh and after taking off his shirt – it really was getting warm – he began applying the lotion onto his friend’s shoulders. When he looked at them more closely, he could see they weren’t quite as red as they had first appeared; maybe, if Jere was lucky, it wouldn’t develop into a sunburn. Although he probably wouldn’t have cared much either way.
Later, Jere insisted on having a barbecue, and nobody really minded. He always did a good job with it, and him doing the work meant the others could sit back and play a few rounds of cards again.
The remaining days passed similarly, and when they were boarding the plane back home – Jere without a sunburn, surprisingly enough, but Jesse with a slightly reddened neck after not having enough sunscreen for himself after sharing it all with his friend – all of them were glad they had accepted Jere’s offer in the end.