Mixed Feelings of Elation

Neon parked her neon green convertible in front of Lestat's home. In his driveway, Dante's red sports car and Dorian's "stalker van" were parked, taking up most of the space. She stepped out of the car, sunglasses still blocking the light from hitting her eyes, and walked up the cobblestone walkway.

Her head was feeling better. Taking a set of pain relievers helped. She was just tired now, a queasy feeling in her stomach from not eating with the medication.

Neon reached a hand out to knock on the front door. Before she could touch the wooden surface, the door swung open and Neon's body was tackled to the ground.

"I missed you so much," Jazz wailed from her spot on top of Neon.

Dazed from the fall, Neon patted Jazz on the back. The fall brought back the headache she had just gotten rid of. She made a mental note, which she would surely forget, to ask Lestat for some medicine.

"Didn't I see you a few days ago?" Neon asked.

Jazz sat up, still pinning Neon's body to the ground, "Yes, you did."

"And you miss me already?"

Jazz nodded rapidly, brown hair flying around as she did so. Neon stared at her friend. Her makeup was smudged, her hair was wild, and her left hand twitched every so often. Jazz must have consumed a large amount of sugar or caffeine before Neon's arrival. The keyboardist would be up till the early hours of the next morning. It was likely she stayed up the night before on a caffeine kick and decided to drink more in order to stay up today. It would explain the messy appearance.

"I missed you too. Now get off me, dork," Neon commanded.

"Dork" was an old nickname for Jazz, one Neon called her from time to time. The brown-haired girl's obsession with anime was what gave her the nickname. Though the nickname didn't originate from Neon's tongue, the football players at their middle school had started it as an insult. It became an inside joke between the friends.

"Whatever, freak," Jazz pushed herself off of Neon and helped her stand up.

That was what the football players called Neon simply because she refused to speak to them. It never bothered her. She accepted the fact that some people just couldn't handle her lack of social skills at the time.

In her youth, Neon was the equivalent of Arpeggio before Jack. It was the reason she always pushed Arpeggio to talk to her. She didn't need to know all the young girls secrets, she just needed to know when she wasn't okay so she could help. At times, Neon felt like a hypocrite for trying to make Arpeggio open up when she couldn't even tell her younger sibling about her own problems. It was because she kept the parent-child barrier up between them. As a parent, she felt she had to keep things from Arpeggio to keep her from worrying. At the same time, she felt Arpeggio, being the child, needed to open up to her to an extent. Enough to ensure she was okay.

Because of their parent-child relationship, their relationship as siblings suffered greatly and kept them separated. It was Jack who helped save the dwindling relationship, whether he was aware of it or not.

Neon followed Jazz into the house. The pair stopped in the living room where Dorian sat upside down on the couch, focused on the blank screen of the television.

"Where is everyone?" Neon asked.

"Lestat is being a bitch about everything," Dorian grumbled.

Neon looked to Jazz for further explanation. The jumpy girl's eyes darted from side to side.

"Lestat is a little angry. Dante is trying to calm him down," Jazz said.

"Why is he angry?"

"You may want to go talk to him."

Neon shrugged, leaving the living room and walking to the dining room. Lestat spent most of his time in his dining room doing a number of things. He almost moved a television into the room so he could watch sports in there. Annabelle refused to let him, claiming it would an obstruction.

It was her house too.

Neon stepped into the living room, halting and debating on leaving. Lestat was pacing, looking positively furious. His lips moved at a rapid pace but Neon could not hear the words he was uttering. Dante was sitting in one of the chairs, arms crossed, shaking his head.

"You don't need to be so angry about this," Dante stated.

"Why not? It's all over the place. Do you know what this is going to do to us?" Lestat asked.

"It'll be handled. Don't worry. Grim is already doing damage control."

She knew it, Dorian and Lestat were having a secret gay relationship that somehow got leaked to the public. Dante, being the moderator in the group, was trying to keep Lestat from going postal and breaking pour Dorian's heart.

That was the only explanation, right?

"Hey, guys," Neon said, making her presence known to the two.

Both turned to face her. Lestat's expression grew darker.

"Have you seen the latest tabloids?" Lestat demanded.

"No," Neon answered, walking further into the room and sitting next to Dante.

Lestat pulled two tabloids from the self connected to the wall and threw them on the table. Neon glanced over the two; both contained a picture of her on the front cover with a comment about her weight.

So maybe Lestat and Dorian didn't have a secret relationship.

"What do you do all day?" Neon asked, "Horde tabloids?"

"Neon, this is not a joke," Lestat stated.

"I understand that. Last time I saw you, you were pissed about this. Can't you get over it? I'll fix it at the interview."

"Looking like that? No one is going to believe anything you say."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't make my weight problems go away."

Lestat sighed, rubbing his nose below his bridge piercing.

"That's not why I'm mad," Lestat stated, "I hate seeing people do this to you. You're a good kid and you always have been. They're slandering your name for no reason and now you have to do damage control because no one else can do it for you. You shouldn't have to do this alone but you have to."

"You don't need to worry. I can handle it. I'm not in high school anymore; I can take care of myself," Neon stated.

"I just don't want them to hound you to try to make you sound like a bad person. They don't know you like we do."

A wave of guilt ran through her. Her band mates knew her for the most part. They just didn't know the one secret she was keeping from them, the one that was tearing her apart.

She pushed her guilt aside. Keeping this a secret was too help them. She was trying to keep them from getting hurt.

"If the interviewer starts making me look bad, you can jump up and beat him," Neon joked.

"Yeah, that will look good. I can see the tabloids now 'Lestat lets inner vampire loose on defenseless interviewer.'"

"Is that what you think they'll say?" Dante asked, "I was thinking 'Lestat fights like nerdy, white kid.'"

"I second that motion," Dorian's voice added.

The trio looked to the doorway where Dorian was leaning.

"What do you want, Dorian?" Lestat growled.

"Oh, he's trying to be intimidating. How cute. I think Rainbow is scarier than you," Dorian teased, "Arpeggio just sent me a text. She won't be texting us while she's there because Jack's parents probably won't appreciate it."

Jazz popped up behind him, energy drink in hand, "So since Lestat's girlfriend is away we're having an anime marathon. I ordered the pizza."

The two bounced back into the living room. Lestat groaned.

"Prepare to go grocery shopping tomorrow," Dante stated.

"As long as that one eats," he pointed to Neon, "I'm fine with grocery shopping."