Status: Finished

Mixed Feelings of Elation

Chapter 33

Neon walked up the cobblestone pathway to Lestat's house the next morning. Her footsteps were slow, painful. The nausea in her stomach from the day before was still prominent. During the night, she woke up to throw up again and ended up falling asleep on the tiled floor of her bathroom. She didn't mind her place of rest much since she woke up to more vomiting this morning. Sleeping next to the toilet had been convenient.

However, she was still hurting. She wasn't quite sure if she was up to the band practice. Her stomach was likely to flare up again, forcing her into Lestat's bathroom. Then everyone would know she wasn't okay and they would ask questions until she told them. They would try to force her to go to the hospital to get a doctor's opinion. Practice would get cancelled.

This practice could not be cancelled though. They needed this to work on their album. Today was the day they would put all their parts together. It would take hours of hard work and dedication. The duration of the practice would probably last the whole day with breaks for lunch and dinner. It didn't sound bad but she would have to listen to Lestat and Dorian arguing all practice.

She definitely couldn't make it through that.

Neon walked up the steps to Lestat's door. She twisted the knob and pushed it open, not bothering to knock. He didn't keep his door locked for band practices. Most of the band was already there by now. Neon was running late due to her vomiting episode earlier that morning.

A wave of noise rushed Neon's ears when the door opened. It wasn't surprising. Each band member was warming up; the clashing noises were typical before practice started.

Neon closed the front door behind her and walked to the living room. As she suspected, everyone was there. Dante and Lestat were on the couch, running guitar exercises together. Arpeggio was working on tempo exercises with Dorian behind the couch. Jazz was seated on one of the recliners, pressing the keys of her keyboard absentmindedly.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," Neon mumbled, walking fully into the room and setting her microphone casing on the ground.

"Where have you been?" Lestat asked.

"Just dealing with some things."

Dante gave a knowing look, silently urging her to tell them.

"Speaking of dealing with things, how was talking to Alex?" Lestat asked.

"It was good. We got things cleared up," Neon replied, unpacking her microphone and stand.

"Are you guys dating?"

"Not yet. We agreed that I'm not ready for a relationship right now," she plugged the microphone into the mass outlet situated on the floor.

"Because of your eating problem?"

Neon nodded, pulling her stand to the height she desired and pushing microphone into its holder.

"Why won't you two get together despite that?" Lestat asked.

"I don't want Alex to have to deal with me like this," Neon replied.

"So what happens if you start dating him and you relapse while with him?"

Neon shrugged, "We'll work through it. I understand why you're asking. I don't think we should start dating while I'm like this. It’s a hurdle I would prefer to jump later in the relationship."

"That's probably driving Alex crazy," Dante said, "He's waited so long for you to realize you like him and now he has to wait for you to try to get over anorexia again."

"He agreed with me on this."

"Aw, you have him whipped. Let me guess, in the bedroom, you were the one in charge," Jazz joked.

"Not quite," Neon mumbled.

"So Alex actually has a backbone when it comes to you?" Lestat asked.

"I guess so."

"That's different."

"Didn't you have some news that you wanted to wait to share till everyone got here?" Dorian asked.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me," Lestat said.

"Did you just thank me?"

That never happened. Lestat and Dorian fought most of the time, with the occasional civil conversation. Verbal portrayals of appreciation were about as existent as Big Foot.

Lestat paused, "I think I did."

"Oh shit, the world is going to explode," Jazz said.

"Save the drum set," Arpeggio yelped.

"Fuck the drum set, save the bass," Dorian returned.

"Why would we save the bass? No one cares about it," Lestat said.

"No one cares about your face."

"Natural order has been restored," Jazz exclaimed, "Thank the heavens."

Neon had been watching the entire interaction between her friends. Dear lord, why did she hang out with them?

"Back to the news," Dante said, bringing the conversation back on track.

"Right," Lestat said, "As you all know, Annabelle and I have been dating for about two years. Because of our schedules we haven't been able to sit down and talk about furthering our relationship."

"I don't need to know that you guys had sex for the first time," Dorian cut in.

"Would you shut up and let him finish?" Dante asked.

Dorian huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Dante motioned for Lestat to continue.

"It has nothing to do with us having sex for the first time. That happened a long time ago. Annabelle and I are engaged," Lestat said.

"Seriously?" Jazz asked.

Lestat nodded.

"Congratulations. It's about time you decided to settle down with her," Neon said.

"Well, it'll be a long engagement. With her modeling becoming more demanding, it'll be harder for her to plan the wedding. We don't have a date yet. Within the next two years, it'll be planned. I really want you all to be involved," Lestat replied.

"You know we will," Dante said.

"Annabelle wants the girls to be her bridesmaids," Lestat said.

"Aw, I wanted to be a bridesmaid," Dorian whined.

"You didn’t hear? You're the Maid of Honor."

Dorian pumped his fist in the air, letting out a yell of excitement.

"I demand a pink dress," Dorian declared.

"I'll look like bubblegum in a pink dress," Neon commented.

"And I would look like cotton candy," Arpeggio added.

"Correction, you would be sugar-free cotton candy," Lestat stated.

Arpeggio glared at him, "You know, I'm happy for you. I really am. And I'll let you have your moment. But fuck you."

"Ouch, kitty has bite," Dorian teased.

Arpeggio sneered at him.

"Can we get on with practice?" Dante asked.

"I suppose," Lestat sighed.

"What should we start weeding through?" Neon asked.

"Lyrics, as per always. I assume you've written more than the number of songs necessary," Dante said.

"Of course I did."

They only needed fifteen good songs to present to the record label. Neon brought her twenty best lyric sheets to choose from. If she needed to, she could go home and get the rest of her lyrics.

"Well, then, get to your mic and start spitting," Jazz instructed.

Neon rolled her eyes, grabbed her sheets of lyrics from her bag, and stood in front of her microphone. It was still off but it gave the band a feel of how the lyrics would come off in front of fans, which would help them figure out how effective the lyrics were.

"You guys ready?" Neon asked.

They nodded. She shuffled through the papers, pulling out one that she felt would be good as a first song on the album. She opened her mouth to speak the words on the page, pausing when she felt nausea run through her stomach.

"Are you okay? You look kind of pale" Lestat asked.

"Yeah, I'm," Neon stopped, bile rising through her system, "I'm going to be sick."

Neon dropped her papers and ran from the room to one of Lestat's bathrooms, hunching over the porcelain toilet and retching. The concerned calls of her band mates met her ears.

Looks like she had to tell them what was wrong.
♠ ♠ ♠
Why is there a second post today?
Because I may not post tomorrow.
And because I want to get to the Jazz story as soon as possible.
Thank you to tq6776, picklesmcgee, and rivals are insane.
And to any new subscribers.
I hope you enjoyed.
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xoxo
Lyric-Celeste