Not Afraid to Die

"Lolita?" the pink-haired lead singer balancing a baby on her lap asked.

"Hi, Neon," Lolita responded.

"Oh my God, you look so," Neon paused, taking in the young girl's appearance, "different."

Dante, standing next to his younger sibling, cleared his throat, "As I was saying before I was interrupted, Lolita just got out of the hospital. I figured I could bring her here to see you all. It’s been a long while."

"Not to sound rude, but who is she?" Zack asked.

"Right, introductions are necessary," Dante said, "Alex, Jack, Zack, Rian, and Matt, this is my little sister Lolita. Lolita, I'm sure you know the boys of All Time Low and their manager."

Rian eyed the girl standing in the doorway. This was Dante's little sister? The one who suffered from HIV? She didn't look like she was sick. Clutching a fast food cup in her hand, dressed in low-rise jeans and a tight purple hoodie, pink and black hair teased to perfection, moss green eyes sparkling, she looked nothing but healthy. Maybe Dante had more than one sister. This girl couldn't have HIV.

"It's nice to meet you all," Lolita said, "Dante never told me he knew you."

"I didn't?" Dante asked.

"No."

"I swear I mentioned the cross-band breeding going on."

"I think I would have remembered."

A short humming sound released from Dante's throat, a sound Lolita knew well. He was thinking. Probably trying to delve into his memory and find the moment he thought he had told her. Lolita shrugged her shoulders and abandoned her brother's side to find an empty spot amongst the mass amount of people.

She had never seen the living room so packed. There wasn't an empty spot to be found on the furniture.

Lestat, noticing the dilemma, stood from his seat next to Alex on the couch, "You can sit here."

She probably needed the seat more than he did.

"Thanks," Lolita smiled, walking to the couch and sitting.

Lestat perched on the arm of the couch, next to the young girl, "How are you feeling, cupcake?"

The nickname struck a chord in Lolita's heart. Armand used to call her "cupcake." When he died, Lestat had taken up the responsibility of using the nickname. Like her father, Lestat didn't want his deceased family member to ever be forgotten. Each member of RxN had a tattoo or piercing as tribute to the deceased drummer. The continual use of the nickname was her tribute.

"I am fantastic," Lolita replied.

"How was the doctor visit?" Lestat asked.

Lolita sighed, tossing her upper half into his lap in a dramatic fashion, "Doctors are so depressing."

"Doctor Fredrick retired," Dante stated, out of his memory trip, "She has Doctor Cart now."

"Really?" Neon asked, "She's not depressing."

"She cracks sexual innuendos like it's her job," Arpeggio stated.

Lolita snapped her head to face the drummer. Her voice was much louder than she remembered. Rarely had she heard the girl speak. They shared understanding smiles from time to time, both living with medical problems they couldn't rid of. But Arpeggio was always so quiet, almost the polar opposite of Lolita.

"Dante, I think I took too much of that new pain reliever. I swear I just heard your drummer talk," Lolita stated.

"I can talk," Arpeggio responded.

She wasn't offended by the comment, not in the least. The pair hadn't seen each other in a long time. Arpeggio changed a great deal in a two year period. Apparently, Lolita had too. The younger female looked healthy, and it warmed Arpeggio's heart to see her taking steps to increase her life expectancy.

Lolita deserved to live.

"You're on a new pain reliever?" Lestat asked.

Her attention returned to Lestat, "I'm on a whole new drug treatment."

"Why?"

"I'm this close," she held up two fingers, a hair's space in-between them, "to reaching the last phase."

Rian, who had been listening to the conversation, drew his eyebrows together. Last phase. There was only one thing he could think of off hand that would include a last phase that required increased medications. Perhaps she was the sister who suffered from HIV. But she was kind of cute.

Really cute.

A fair deal cuter than he imagined.

"You don't sound worried about that."

"I'm not."

"Dad is," Dante commented.

"He's worried but he let her get whatever is in that cup? I know damn well that's not water or juice," Lestat said.

"She pouted."

Lolita giggled, taking another sip of her soda. Her father always caved under the pout. Always. Sometimes it required a bit of whiney talk but, for the most part, all she had to do was stare at him with her bottom lip sticking out, eyes filled with mock tears. He didn't like denying her wishes, especially considering her limited life expectancy.

But he never caved on math. No matter how much she pouted and whined, he made her do her math problems. She tried plenty of times but he spouted the same reasoning for her needing math. Something about it helping her later in life.

She was about to drop into full-blown AIDS. Nothing would help her besides living life the way she wanted to.

"Of course," Lestat smiled, knowing her tactics well. He had been on the receiving side of a few of those pouts in the past. "What are you drinking, cupcake?"

"Root beer," Lolita responded.

Lestat's eyes lit up, "I want some."

Lolita held the cup up towards Lestat's mouth. He leaned down, capturing the plastic straw between his lips. Almost immediately, eyes burned into Lolita. She pulled her gaze away from Lestat, who was drinking all of her root beer, to glance around the room. Confused expressions graced the faces of the members of All Time Low. Realization dawned on her rather quickly, a possible side effect of her hyped up state.

They knew. How would they not know? Dante had announced it through an interview months prior. And they seemed close enough to RxN to know. But they didn't know anything about it. The lack of knowledge was obvious by the questioning stares. Those stares were the same ones she got from her father's friends when Dante would eat food off her fork.

People just weren't informed.

"You can't contract it that way," Dante's voice cut through the air, drawing attention to him.

"What?" Alex asked.

"HIV," Dante clarified, "It's not spread through spit. It's spread through sexual fluids and blood. You guys looked off when Lestat drank from Lolita's cup. So I thought I would explain."

Lolita mentally thanked the angel that was her brother. Not that she felt completely uncomfortable under the stares. She was used to it by now. But if she was going see the members of All Time Low ever again, she didn't want them to think she had some plot to give people HIV. That surely wasn't the case.

"So this is the sister with HIV?" Zack asked.

"We have another sister?" Lolita asked, "I want to meet her."

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"I don't have any other siblings," Dante said.

"So we don't have another sister?" Lolita asked.

"Love."

"Yes?"

"Stop talking."

Lolita's bottom lip protruded, pitiful expression taking over her face. "But, Dante—" A slurping noise stopped Lolita's whiny declaration. She jolted her head to face Lestat, who was still connected to her drink. He took his mouth away from the straw, smiling sheepishly. Lolita opened the top of her drink and peered inside. Nothing but ice filled the cup. Her mouth dropped. "He drank all my root beer."

"I couldn't stop myself," Lestat defended.

"We have a few cans in the fridge," Neon pointed out.

"Dante, I demand another root beer," Lolita declared.

"Um, no," Dante said.

"But, Dante, I didn't get to drink this one."

"Will you settle for a glass of milk?"

That wasn't a very good compromise.

A sigh escaped from the pink threshold of her lips, "I guess."

"Okay. Come on, Lestat, before she murders you for drinking her soda."

"Good idea," Lestat stood from his chair, quickly following Dante into the kitchen. Over his shoulder, he yelled, "Sorry, cupcake."

Imaginary daggers shot from Lolita's glaring eyes. He wasn't sorry.