For Bob's birthday story, my friends and I at the Audio Adrenaline Discussion Zone wrote a "community story" that we all participated in. We'd each write some then leave off at a suspenseful place for someone else to pick up. The participators in this story, besides me (planetgirl) are:
Angellybean mooga switchchick Tiff
Toby Mac!.....
"Yo Bob! Whats up" Toby said as he sat down next to Bob.
"Hey Toby!" Bob said excited to see an old friend, but confused. "Why are you here?"
"Well, I have some business to bring up with you." Toby got all serious. "Gotee wants Armstrong, and we'll get him no matter what you say!" Toby said with an evil look on his face. "Muahahaha!"
What?" Bob asked. Toby had been helping Bob out with the new label, and they had become really good friends, or so he thought.
"Look, Bob. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but Gotee Records has been around a lot longer than Flicker Records, and Riley will get a lot more publicity and attention with us."
"Toby, come on. You don't want to take Riley away from us. What's going on? I thought that...," Bob stammered.
"Well, I'd love to stay and listen to this, but I've got better things to do. Riley and I are going to a party tonight" Toby said as he rushed to the parking lot.
Bob was upset. Today was his 34th birthday, and no one seemed to remember, and now Toby wanted to take FlickerRecord's only artist. Jeanette and Waylen left the house that morning without saying anything to him, and Toby and the other guys forgot too.
"Can this day get any worse?" Bob thought to himself.
(Meanwhile, Ben, Jeanette, Ali, and Tyler are at the park)
"yeah, he thinks we all forgot. I asked Toby to go see him, and pretend that he was going to steal Riley. so, now Bob thinks that Riley's gone,and he thinks that we all forgot about his birthday. He said that he had never seen Bob soo upset and confused. My poor husband is soo gullible" Jeanette chuckled.
" We thought we blew it when we went to get the you know what. We saw Bob, but luckily he didn't see us." Ali smirked.
Tyler smiled and hugged Ali. Bob was going to love the..........
"Wow, this is going to be great. Are you sure Bob doesn't suspect anything?" Ben asked.
...surprise party that Audio A was going to throw him. They knew he felt kinda left out because they had been on the Underdog tour, but he had to stay behind. They had invited EVERYONE to this party. Even old frinds that he hadn't seen in YEARS! But they also got him another present. Something they would give him at the party. It was actually Ben's idea to get him....
....one of the mosquito mobiles that the other guys have on tour with them... ever since bob saw the first underdog show, he wished he could have one of the electric scooters too... so, ben decided he'd find one and have it customized for bob with his name on it, and the band's name on it. and they all agreed that it was a very good idea.... now, they just had to keep it all a secret until the party.....
Mark hid the scooter in his garage when Ben brought it over. He didn't know Bob was going to visit him though!
But Mark was sneaky. He led Bob away from the garage and made sure that the surprise wouldn't be ruined. Bob vented to Mark for a while, telling him about his aweful day. "I'm sorry Toby's being a jerk, Bob. I don't know what could have gotten into him. But...maybe it's just best to let Riley go. I mean, after the release of his CD on FlickerRecords.com maybe Ghotee should just have him. If Toby wants him that bad... There's other new artists out there waiting to be discovered." Mark hated saying those words. He loved Bob and hated to see him bummed out like this! But if it was all just a set up for the party and the scooter tonight, it was worth it. The look on Bob's face was going to be CLASSIC!
Since Mark, his best bud, was making him even more bummed, Bob left and slowly walked around. He ended back at the Flicker Records office and heard that Riley was waiting for him in his office. Bob was glad to see his friend, but at the rate his day was going, he knew it would be bad.
"Bob! I'm so glad to see you!" Riley was sitting in Bob's chair wearing a Gotee hat and coat. "Look at my new coat! Toby just gave it to me! Its leather! see?" Riley got up and shoved his coat in Bob's face. "Isn't this great? Flicker records never did this for me! Toby even offered me to tour with dc talk! Now we're talkin' big time!"
Bob was hurt. "Riley! Flicker gave you a keychain! And one of those cool little pens! We have you on tour with Audio Adrenaline! Isn't that good?"
"Ehh. Its ok. I guess you'll just have to try harder with your next client! See ya!" Riley left laughing. Bob sank into his chair and was ready to weep.
Once Riley left the office he pulled out his phone. "... Yeah Will! It worked great! Tell Toby he's a genius for the coat and all! I'll be at the park at 4, just in time for the party ... Yeah! He's totally bummed! This is going to be great!"
Bob woke up at 3:30. He had fallen asleep agonizing over the day's events. Jeanette called him at the office and asked him to meet her and Waylen at 4:00 on the park's playground.
" I don't know. I'm not feeling to good. I think I'm just going to go home and go to sleep.", Bob said.
"Darling, come on. Waylen wants you to see him go down the big curvy slide by himself."
"OK, I'll be there in a few minutes."
Bob arrives at the park with a few minutes to spare. However, His wife and son were nowhere to be seen. He decides to sit on the swings while he waits. In the distance, he hears the faint sounds of roaring motors.
"Man, I wonder what that is." Bob says to him self.
Suddenly, he sees six scooters riding towards him. Mark was in the front, followed by Ben,Will, Tyler, Mike, and Jeanette and Waylen in the back. They were singing "Happy Birthday" as they came.
"Happy Birthday Bob!!!!", Mark said.
"Thanks Mark. I thought everyone had forgotten about my birthday."
"We didn't forget, we just wanted you to THINK we forgot." Ben chuckled....
In a few minutes it seemed like everyone in Tenissee was at the park! Even a few old friends from college! Not to mention Riley, sporting his new FlickerRecords.com leather jacket! Toby had one made for him, and one for Bob too! Everyone apologized for being so mean to him.
"We just knew that the more down you were, the more 'picked-up' you would be by the surprise party!" said Will, smiling.
Then Bob saw the scooter with his name and the Audio Adrenaline symbol etched in gold on the front...
Bob got a huge smile on his face, and (dare I say it) almost cried! The huge birthday bash lasted into the evening and it was a GREAT ending to an AWFUL day. And our story ends with Audio Adrenaline in a big group hug...of course, silouetted in the sunset.