The Sea Will Guide You Back To Me

“What is going on between you and this Bill?” she asked as soon as we were on the road, a safe distance from the rest of the family. I sighed. 

“Nothing, I swear mother. You’d be the first person I’d tell if there was something,” I said. So there was a little more than nothing between us, but really, I couldn’t tell her if there was, because I myself didn’t even know. She looked at me, her eyes hard to read. A mixture of anger, disappointment, and sadness. 

“This is what happened, ok? Emily and I stopped at a Whole Foods before the concert because neither of us had a camera. I was picking out a disposable when I saw Bill picking air fresheners. He was going for that nasty purple one, you remember what happened with that one,” I said, pausing to let that horrid memory kick in for her. Her face scrunched as if she could smell the liquid death all over again. 

“So I showed him a better choice, told him about it in German because he just gave me a weird look when I offered it to him in English. So Em and I get to the concert and Joe, his bodyguard, comes out and hands us two backstage passes and tells us to go back when they start playing 1,000 Oceans. So we hung out with them most of the night, stayed at our hotel, and came home in the morning. I figured that Em and I just got lucky one night. But Bee took me out to a club last night, and we ended up running into them again in the club and invited them to come along today. Bee was with Gustav the whole night and Bill and I were sitting up by the river just talking until the sun came up. We didn’t even realize what time it was,” I said, stretching a few facts to fill the gaps of the parts I left out for her own good. She never took her eyes off the road as I explained the situation, pulling onto the street for my Oma’s house and into her driveway before even looking at me. 

“I’m not sure if I completely believe your story just yet. It all sounds too incredible and surreal to be true,” she finally said, turning the engine off and laying the keys in her lap. I rifled through my bag, finding the envelope of pictures. I showed her the one of Em, the boys, and I together around a table. She looked at it, then to me. 

“Looks like I stand in the light of one hell of a coincidence,” she said, handing the picture back to me. 

“I’m sorry for not telling you that I’m friends with the most popular German band because of air freshener,” I said, seeing a smile twitch the corners of her mouth. We walked inside, feeling exhausted from our exchange, and sat on the couch to watch some wholesome German television. Instantly greeted by a picture of Bill and I on the German equivalent of MTV. She turned up the volume so we could hear the reporter. 

“Looks like Tokio Hotel frontman Bill Kaulitz and drummer Gustav Shäfer have been taken off market. This morning we received pictures from an anonymous source of the two at a Madgeburg cemetery with their new romances, now confirmed to be Brianne Ewick and American native Marina Fischer, both nineteen and apparently avid partiers. An American correspondent says Kaulitz met Fischer at a supermarket, then proceeded to invite her and her friend backstage where they subsequently left the venue to go clubbing. Our source lost them at the bar,” the anchorwoman kept rambling on, and thankfully no one knew where we lived yet. It was only a matter of time. My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket and answered before checking the number. 

“Hello?” I said dazed. 

“Marina? Are you ok? I just saw the news report go up. I’m so sorry you’ve been exposed now,” Bill’s voice rang over the line. I felt my heart skip at the sound, forcing a smile down. 

“I’m fine, my mother and I just saw the report. They move fast here, it would’ve taken at least another hour in the States,” I joked, and his musical laughter filled the phone. 

“Well, I wanted to make sure you knew about it, and now they will be hounding you about my personal life as well,” he said, a lull falling over the conversation. I could tell there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t. 

“Bill, spit it out. You’re holding something back from me,” I said after my mom left the room under the guise of getting a drink. 

“If you don’t want to be around me any more, you know, now that all of Germany knows who you are, then I understand,” he said quietly. I was shocked at the idea, but it made sense. Not many people like being followed, stalked, or threatened by the teenage female demographic. 

“I understand why you’d say that, but the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind Bill,” I said. I heard him release the breath he’d been holding, and a small giggle of relief that came with it. 

“Good, because I don’t think I’d be able to let you go,” he said. I smiled, glad that the subject had been dealt with. 

“So in light of this new development, would you like to accompany me to the MTV European Music Awards?” he asked. I was floored. Almost literally as I gripped the arm of the sofa. 

“What?” I breathed. 

“Well, now that we’ve been spotted, everyone’s going to say we’re dating anyways, no matter what we do or say, so why not come with us? We’re nominated from best new artist,” he said. I nodded my head, agreeing to go with him. 

“Hello? Marina?” He asked. Smooth Mina. Very smooth, I thought as I realized he was not in the room, therefore he could not see me nodding. 

“Yes, I’ll go,” I said, just as my mom walked into the room. Her eyebrow raised, giving me a stern look. 

“Hey, I’ll see you around ok? I have to go,” I said. 

“Oh, ok. I’ll call you Friday and give you the rest of the details. Think you can last ‘til then?” He joked, but also post a challenge in his tone, I could hear it. 

“I think I can,” I smiled, and we hung up. 

My mom already had her hands crossed over her chest. 

“So what are you going to?” she asked. I felt like disappearing into my chair as quick as possible before I answered her. 

“MTV European Music Awards?” I said in a small voice. Her eyes widened and hands fell from her side. She stood for a moment before heaving a deep sigh. 

“If that’s what you want to do. You’re old enough to not need my permission to go. But just know to be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt by him or the media. Be prepared for some hard core judgement,” she said, turning and going upstairs to her room. I sighed, sinking into the crook of the sofa’s arm, pulling my legs up next to me and zoning out on the TV. 

“Rise and shine superstar!” Bee jumped on me, waking me up from my light sleep on the sofa. Someone, probably my mom, had put a blanket over me. I sat up, hair messed up from static and dreams of Bill. And this is only after a few hours. Friday is still three days away, I thought with a groan. 

“So anything fun happen with your mom?” she asked, sitting next to me as I attempted to wake up. 

“We were on the news. All of Germany knows who we are and my mom isn’t exactly happy for me,” I said, scrunching my legs up to my chest to give her more room to spread out. 

“So... What’s the bad news?” She said with a smile. 

“Bill asked me to go to the EMA’s with him,” I said, the news still bringing a smile to my lips. Bee gasped, a smile on her face and hugged me. 

“That is  so awesome! Oh my god, we have to get you clothes and make you look gorgeous!” She said, taking my hands. I was still smiling, not quite awake, so the fact that this was her cue to jerk me off the couch and up the stairs was lost on me until the plan happened. I groaned, barely working my legs fast enough to keep up with her. We got to our joint room and rifled through my clothes, throwing out silky tops and dark pants, tossing any of my normal clothes to the side that was apparently the ‘reject’ pile. I watched her with amazement at how fast she sorted out three outfits and rejected each of them. She stood back, sighing. 

“We need to go shopping tomorrow,” She said flatly. I shrugged, not feeling up to any conversation about Bill at the moment. She seemed to catch on, sitting next to me. 

“Are you this hung up on Bill already?” She asked, and I nodded my head. 

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I’ve only known him a few days, and I feel like he’s been with me my whole life,” I said, just staring down at my hands.  Buick rubbed my back, letting me lean against her. 

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow and try to cheer you up the best I can ok? For now, you want to go to Edda? I think she’d appreciate this tidbit of news you know,” she said, a faint smile on her lips. I smiled and nodded, thankful for her trying to take my mind off of Bill until friday. 

“So, Edda, it’s me, Brianne, and I brought Marina. We’ve got some news for you,” Bee said as we sat on the ground next to our great-grandmother’s grave. 

“Hey Edda, it’s Marina. So, I think I’ve got myself a boyfriend. His name is Bill Kaulitz. He’s German, and he’s the singer to a famous rock band. I really think you would have liked him, he’s got manners,” I began, picking at my fingers. 

“And I’m with Gustav Shäfer, the drummer for Bill’s band. He’s amazing to me, Edda. You’d love the both of them. Oh, and we’ve been discovered by the media, so now you’re two great-granddaughters are going to be famous!” Bee added, making me laugh. 

“What else has happened? Ah,” I stalled, trying to think. “I dyed my hair a redder red. I still can’t drive in Germany, but Bill can,” I said, thinking of things I didn’t report last time we were here. 

“I got my tongue pierced, and changed my university major to photography, I want to be a photojournalist,” Buick said, ticking off a list of things in her head. 

“No way, photography? How cool,” I said, smiling. 

“Yeah, what’s your major? Tell me you have one,” she said. I smiled. 

“Culinary arts. I want to open my own restaurant back in the states and cook,” I said with a smile. I felt very proud of my ambitions. Bee looked at me dumbfounded.

“That is so much cooler that photography! Oh my god, so like, an Italian restaurant? Or what? Tell me now!” She said, slapping my leg lightly. We spend the time talking about food, and pictures, and everything in between until we were interrupted by the grounds keeper, telling us it was time for them to close. We stood, brushing off our pants and smiled, continuing our conversation all the way back to the car. We drove home, still talking and once we pulled up to our house, finally ran our conversation into the ground, feeling tired and heading straight for the bedroom.