Smiling at Everything

"Exactly," Jazz stated before slipping into the restroom and shutting the door.

As quickly as she could, she pulled her Spiderman-themed clothing from her body and tossed the articles to the ground. From her bag, she pulled out a simple red top, pulling it over head and situating it on her body, followed by a pair of white slacks and matching white blazer. She pulled the rubber bands from her hair and raked her hands through her hair, destroying the pigtails that once existed. Careful not to cause more rips than necessary in her skin, she took out her septum and lip piercing, placing them on the edge of the sink. Her large amount of blue and red bracelets followed, clattering against the countertop. Jazz grabbed a new set of red high heels from her bag placing them near her feet.

She couldn't wear stilettos that were better suited for strippers in front of her parents.

Turning to the mirror, Jazz inspected her appearance. Everything was perfect aside from one major detail: her makeup. Jazz pouted. She worked hard that morning to make sure her makeup suited her Spiderman outfit. That work was going to go waste.

Jazz sighed, taking the makeup remover from her bag and using it to get rid of her makeup in a few short swipes. From inside the bathroom, Jazz could hear the door of the dressing room open and close.

"Hi, Mr. Presley and Mrs. Presley. Hi, Robert. Jazz will be out in a second," Neon's voice floated through the door.

Jazz never did understand why her mother didn't change her last name after the divorce. The woman obviously hated her ex-husband. There was no point in keeping his last name. Other than to annoy him.

Actually, that was probably her mother's sole reason for keeping her father's last name.

In a rush, Jazz applied a thin layer of eyeliner to her lids and light blush to her cheeks. Taking a breath, she slipped her red heels on. Her friends were about to see her dressed and acting in a way they never had before. She was not prepared for this.

Jazz pushed the bathroom door open and stepped out, perfect smile ingrained on her face. Sure enough, her parents were in the room, facing the band members lounging on the couches and chairs.

"Hi," Jazz said brightly, walking past her seated band mates to her parents.

"There you are, Jezebel," Robert said, "I was afraid you decided to abandon ship at the prospect of us being here."

"That would be rude of me."

"And you were raised not to be rude."

"You were also raised how to greet your parents," her mother commented.

"Oh, Clarice, give her a break."

"No, she's right," Jazz stated, "I'm sorry, mother."

One by one, Jazz kissed her parents on the cheek, mumbling their respective title. She faced the sets of band members, standing between her mother and her father, and smiled. Each member was eying her outfit, with the exception of Neon and Zack, faces full of confusion.

She was hoping no one would make a mentioning of her outfit change in front of her parents. She wasn't in the mood to get lectured in front of her band mates.

"These are my band mates in RxN and the members of All Time Low, the band we're co headlining with," Jazz stated, "You already know Neon. She's our singer. Arpeggio's her little sister and our drummer. Dorian in our bassist. Dante and Lestat are our guitarists. And I play keyboard, obviously. Alex is Neon's husband and the singer and one of the guitarists of All Time Low. Jack is their other guitarist and Arpeggio's fiancé. Zack is their bassist and Rian is their drummer. And the twins are Neon and Alex's children Armand and Novella."

Jazz motioned to each member as she introduced them. They gave their own form of greeting in the form of small waves, smiles, or nods.

"Guys," Jazz addressed the band members, "This is my father Richard Presley, my mother Clarice Presley, and my step-father Robert Gordon."

Zack examined each member of Jazz's family. Her mother and father were exactly what he expected after learning about her wealthy background. Both had perfect posture, were dressed in clothing he knew had to be on the higher end, and seemed relatively strict. Her father looked to be a stoic man; everything about her mother looked fake from her smile to her breast implants. Her step-father, on the other hand, seemed far more laid back than her biological parents despite his posture and dress clothing.

Well, she must have gotten her ability to fake every aspect of her life from her mother, as well as her hair color and smile. Her eyes were the same grey-blue color as her father's. Considering her mother had obvious plastic surgery on her assets, Jazz must have gotten her perfect curves from her father's side.

"It's nice to meet you," Lestat spoke up.

Though he was stuck on Jazz's sudden change in appearance, he knew he should greet her parents. Many of the other band members were likely too shocked to say anything. They couldn't help it. Jazz looked so different.

She was actually fully clothed.

"Likewise," Robert said, "We're finally getting to meet the members of our daughter's band."

Jazz's father turned his head sharply to face Robert, face holding shock; her mother smirked. Noticing the increased tension brought on without Robert's knowledge, Jazz squeezed her father's hand. He looked down at her and she smiled, hoping her dimples would make him relax. Then again, he was rather unemotional. Her smile wasn't likely to faze him.

Her father sighed, turning to her band mates with the same passive expression and letting the matter drop. Still smiling, though more forced than it had been all day, Jazz looked back at her band mates.

"You should come to the events we hold. I don't know if Jazz has offered or not but family members are always welcome and our families show up to ones that aren't too wild. I'm sure you'd get along fine with them," Dante said.

"Our work schedules tend not to allow time for those events. But Jazz has mentioned them," her father stated.

Jazz had tried to get her parents to come to the events. She didn't like coming off as not being close to her parents around her band mates. But that was when RxN first started. At some point, she gave up on trying to force her parents to come. It's not like she actually cared if they showed up.

"That's too bad. What do you all do?" Alex asked.

"Clarice and I are plastic surgeons," Jazz's father replied.

"And I'm a lawyer," Robert stated.

"It's very time consuming. But we do see Jazz once a week," her mother add.

"Wow," Arpeggio mumbled.

She couldn't imagine having parents that were too busy to spend time with her. When her parents were alive, they always had time to be around her or her older sibling. After they died and Neon became her legal guardian, Neon made sure to have time with Arpeggio. How could Jazz still smile with parents who just weren't there?

"So this must not be your normal music scene," Dorian commented.

"Its not," Robert replied, "But I'm up for rocking out."

Neon choked back a laugh. She couldn't help picturing Jazz's stepfather in the mosh pit, suit and all. Sure, he was the most laid back of Jazz's parents but he just could not give up his suits and perfect posture. No one in Jazz's family could.

"Best way to approach life. Up top, step-lawyer dude," Dorian raised his hand in the air.

Laughing, Robert clapped his hand against Dorian's. Zack raised an eyebrow. Robert was awkward. His carefree attitude did not match with his appearance at all. Out of the parents Jazz had, he seemed to be the only one who would have taken the time to get to know her. And he wasn't even her real parent.

"A lawyer just high-fived me," Dorian exclaimed.

"Shut up," Dante commanded.

"Do you have any other children?" Lestat asked, cutting of any following comment Dorian could have made.

"No, just Jazz. She's our little pride and joy," Jazz's mother responded.

Jazz was used to her mother's lies. If they were around her parents' friends, her mother would find a way to brag about Jazz. It was what her parents' circle of friends did: brag about work, brag about kids, complain about work, complain about politics.

And drink alcohol like they needed it to survive.

"You must be awfully proud of her then. She's accomplished a lot and she's doing what she loves," Lestat stated.

"She is an amazing keyboardist and pianist. I think we're lucky to have her around," Dante added.

"We couldn't be prouder of Jazz's accomplishments. She was a protégée from the beginning," her mother said.

"Like you would know," her father mumbled.

"Excuse me," Jazz's mother turned to him.

Jazz held in a grimace. Things had been going so well.