Wanna Live It Up Just Because

Arpeggio diverted her eyes to her lap, closing the laptop she had been working on and pulling her hood over her head.

"Well, hello to you too, Neon," one said, flicking his light brown hair out of his face.

"Go to hell, Alex," she returned.

"That wasn't very nice. I thought we were over hating each other," Alex taunted.

"We established I still hate you last month when I poured milk on your head at the grocery store."

Jazz let out a laugh. Lestat choked back his own laughter, while Dorian and Dante covered their smiles with their hands. Could they help it? They knew about Neon's utter distaste for the men standing at the head of the table.

Arpeggio, on the other hand, remained staring at her lap. She never did understand why her sister didn't like them; she was never actually given a reason.

"Enough you two. Lets do some introductions and then we can get this meeting started," Grim instructed.

Neon glared at Alex, who in turn smirked. He enjoyed getting under her skin.

There was a moment of silence. No one offered to start the introductions. Grim sighed in frustration.

"Okay, I'll start," he said, turning to the group of males whose attention was still on Neon, "Hello, my name is Alexander. Please, call me Grim. I'm RxN's manager."

Matt smiled and faced the band sitting at the table, "Hi, I'm Matthew. I manage All Time Low."

The two bands stared at each other, save for Arpeggio; her attention remained on her lap.

"I'm Alex," he was the first to break the silence that had overcome the bands, "I sing and play guitar."

"We know what each of you does, Alex," Neon stated.

Arpeggio didn't. She almost voiced the fact that she knew next to nothing about the band they would be performing with. But she decided against it. Neon angry was not a pretty sight.

"What the fuck ever," Alex responded.

Neon opened her mouth the retort only to be cutoff.

"My name is Dante. I play guitar," Dante smiled.

Neon sighed. Dante wouldn't let her fight Alex. She slumped in her seat and crossed her arms.

"Oh, I know who you guys are," Alex stated.

"You do?" asked Dorian, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. You're Dorian, you play bass. Dante plays rhythm guitar. Lestat plays lead guitar. Jazz is the keyboardist. Neon is the singer," he pointed to each member as he listed them.

He pointed at Arpeggio and paused.

"I don't who that is."

Arpeggio didn't look up. She knew he was talking about her. No one ever knew who the hell she was. Not until introduced at Meet and Greets. Even then people only remembered her as Neon's little sister.

"This is our drummer—" Neon started.

Alex cut her off, "You guys have a drummer?"

The group nodded.

"Really? We just assumed you guys filled in the drum parts with the keyboard," another voice stated.

If only Arpeggio knew their names but, no, Neon just assumed everyone in the band knew them. She doubted Neon even wanted her to know who they were.

"Nope. We have a drummer. She never does any of the interviews with us."

"Well what's her name?" Alex asked.

"If you hadn't cut me off, I could have told you already," Neon snapped.

"Go get laid," Alex retaliated.

Arpeggio's head shot up, eyes wide, jaw slacked. Neon clenched her jaw, her hands forming fists. The man with the blonde chunks in his hair immediately looked toward the young girl. He had seen her somewhere before but he couldn't place where. His mind reeled for an answer to his unasked question.

"Don't say shit like that around my little sister," Neon growled.

Alex looked at his band, questions running through his eyes. They shrugged in response. He turned back to Neon.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked.

"Arpeggio."

"Who the hell is Arpeggio?"

"Our drummer, you stupid fuck."

Arpeggio whipped her head to face Neon, eyes even wider than before.

"Your little sister is your drummer?" Alex clarified.

Neon snorted, "Was that too much for your tiny brain to handle?"

"Look, you bitch—"

The man with blonde chunks in his hair exclaimed, "Cutie!"

Everyone stared at him; Arpeggio knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Jack, what the hell?" asked Alex.

"It's cutie. Don't you remember?" Jack asked.

Neon looked to her little sister for an explanation, as did the rest of the band; however, Arpeggio kept her eyes on the man with the blonde chunks, or Jack as she had recently learned his name was. He remembered who she was. She was shocked to say the least.

"Oh," Alex breathed, "I remember. The group project."

"What are you two talking about?" Neon asked.

"None of your damn business," Alex answered.

"If it has to do with my sister, it is my business."

Arpeggio returned her gaze to her lap. She didn't feel like listening to the conversation, nor did she care if Neon ripped Alex's head off. It seemed like it was going to happen. She pulled on a loose string attached to her Hello Kitty jacket, blocking out all of the noise around her.

She still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Jack recognized her. She had changed considerably since the last time he saw her: she dyed her hair, lost her baby fat, pierced her lip and gained tattoos, grew taller, and now had curves appropriate for her age and height. To her, she was almost unrecognizable.

But somehow Jack knew who she was.

A paper bag was placed in her lap.

"It's for you, cutie," a voice whispered in her ear.

Arpeggio looked up, finding Jack's face mere centimeters from hers. A blush crept onto her cheeks; her heart fluttered. Jack smiled down at her.

"You always had the prettiest eyes," he stated.

She felt her heart leap into her throat and her stomach clench. She had no idea what was happening to her but immediately assumed she was having a hypoglycemic attack. If it was in fact her insulin conflicting with her blood sugar, she had never felt it happen like this before.

And she didn't want it to stop.