When the Day Met the Night

Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary. ~Mark Twain

-Elizabeth’s POV-

I knocked on the door and instantly heard Lucy bark. “Lucy!”

Spencer opened the door, and instantly I was hugged by Lucy. Dogs always give the best hugs.

“Hey baby.” I scratched her head and she went to sit down at my feet contently. “So, what’s an unprofessional interview like?”

There was a knock at the door and Spencer opened the door to reveal Brendon. “You’re late.”

“I know, I know, I couldn’t find my camera.” Brendon didn’t acknowledge my presence until he set up the camera. “Oh, hey Elizabeth, guess I really am late.” He said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry; I got here 5 seconds before you. By the way, what exactly is an ‘unprofessional’ interview like?”

“Well, we do it at home for one, and two, we don’t edit parts out.”

“This can’t end well.” I joked.

“Okay, so E, sit down in the middle please, Bren and I will sit on your sides.” Spencer said, I nodded and took my place. “So, people have been posting on Facebook and Twitter. They have a bunch of questions for you! Now Bren, turn the camera on.”

I could already feel myself getting nervous, meaning I would have an accent. I internally groaned. Behold the new freak of Panic! At The Disco!

Brendon sat down next to me now that the camera was on. Lucy decided to jump on both of us. I heard Brendon grunt at the new weight, I chuckled without thinking. “You think it’s funny huh?” I shook my head while trying not to laugh. Brendon tickled my rib cage and I couldn’t hold my laughter.

“No! Bren, stop it!” I said breathlessly until he eventually stopped. I glared at them both and poked them in the temple.

“Hey why’d you poke me?!” Spencer said as he rubbed his temple.

“You didn’t stop him.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Okay, so as you guys know on panicatthedisco.com, we have a new member. Elizabeth Starr!” Brendon interrupted with.

I awkwardly smiled and waved at the camera, it was a strange feeling to know that hundreds of people would watch me answer questions about myself.

“So Elizabeth, our fans want to get to know you! Ever since we announced your admittance into the band, they have been sending a bunch of questions. So now, you have to take an oath to answer every question, no matter how much you don’t want to. And do not fret, we’ll only choose one’s that are appropriate enough, but there definitely will be some embarrassing questions. Mostly because you fell asleep before we could talk.”

I covered my face; I didn’t trust Brendon to pick easy questions. Even though I knew I would have an accent I decided to take the leap and spoke anyways. “OK, I promise to answer every question.” I blushed at my British accent. Brendon ruffled my hair and proceeded to look through his phone for questions.

“Luke on Facebook wants to know whether or not you are a virgin.” My face immediately turned red and I hid in Lucy’s fur. Brendon of course was his Brendon self and just started laughing uncontrollably. “Come on E, you have to answer.”

“You don’t know how much I abhor you right now!” I started laughing too as soon as I brought my face up to face the camera. I tried to keep a straight face as I talked to the camera. “I am most definitely a virgin.” Now my accent changed to a Russian one.

At that, both Spencer and Brendon were laughing so hard their faces turned red. We looked like a trio of tomatoes.

“Remember, today is a much of a learning session for us as it is for you guys.” Spencer said while he looked for the next question. Once he calmed down he chose a question. “Okay, so what is your favorite color? Something nice and easy.”

“You would think this would be an easy question, but I can’t decide between green and purple. I love them both equally.” Brendon smirked at my French accent.

“Well I guess I have a good next question. What are your nervous habits?”

“I tend to do random accents, I can’t stop it, and it tends to change at random. I’m not trying to make fun of the way anyone speaks, I swear.”

I remembered when we had a new student who had just moved from Ireland, in 4th grade, and when I introduced myself I accidentally spoke with an Irish accent. The teacher actually called my mom because I was being ‘disrespectful’ and my mom had to explain that it was just my nervous habit. I remember running to the bathroom and crying, it was hard to deal with things you can’t control, especially as a kid. The same thing happened in 5th grade when I was having speech therapy for my lisp, but for some reason we were having the session in the classroom in front of the other children instead of in the speech therapy room. Every time I think about 5th grade, all I can think about is awful books, and all the laughter aimed at me, and not in the good way. After that incident I refused to go back to therapy, instead I told myself that I just had to deal with it. Honestly the only reason it even exists is because Spanish is my first language. When you hear people from Spain speak, the lisp is exceedingly present. Not in every one of course, but a good portion.

“Ok, now were getting down to basics. When is your birthday?”

“October, 13, 1989. I am 21 and will be turning 22 this year.”

“Where are you from?”

“I was born in Washington D.C, but my family moved down to Florida when I was only a year old, we’ve lived in Wellington ever since; although I did go to a university in Tallahassee, Florida State. Now that I’ve gotten in the band though, I think I may have to move to L.A.”

“You are quite right, unless you want to keep flying back and forth from Florida.” Spencer said.

“Nope, I’m going back soon. I’m going to attempt survival through my graduation, and then I’m packing!”

“Oh yeah, your graduation is in like, two weeks right? What are you graduating in anyways?”

I nodded. “I am graduating with a bachelor in English education. Meaning I get to teach English.”

“Oh yea, you’ve published two books. NERD!” Brendon said as he hugged me.

“Hey, at least I don’t have the big nerdy glasses!”

“Yea well you probably have had braces or something else nerdy like that!”

“I did, but I’m sure you did too, so hah! You’re extra nerdy! Glasses, and braces!”

“This is amusing to watch.” Spencer said from the side of me. “How about we leave it at this; Elizabeth is the real nerd. Brendon is just someone who looks very much like a nerd. Also good job Elizabeth!”

“I guess it’s okay to be called a nerd; it does mean you’re smart. At least I don’t dress like one!” I stuck my tongue out at Brendon. “And wait what do you mean by good job?”

“You don’t use your accents when talking to us anymore.”

At that moment I became insta-aware of the camera. “Yeah.”

“So onwards with the questions; do you have any tattoos and do you want any?”

“I do not have any currently, but soon I would like to get on the side of my left thumb, ‘You may say that I’m a dreamer’ then on the side of my right thumb I want, ‘But I’m not the only one’.”

“I love that song!” Brendon said excitedly.

“Whoever doesn’t like the song is obviously not a dreamer. Oh no, I’m sounding like I’m a YouTube commenter or something. By the way, the accent thing hasn’t gone away. I’m just trying extremely hard to use an accent, which somewhat cancels out the involuntary one. It’s really strange, and harder than you’d think. But trust me, I’m still incredibly nervous. I really want you guys to like me.” Both Spencer and Brendon held my hands because I started to shake slightly with nerves.

Everything was catching up to me.

I’m in a famous band, and I have to move to L.A. I have to make an album and then after that I will most likely have to go on tour. Meaning I’ll have to perform in front of a bunch of people. I’ll also have to live on a bus with three guys. The band will have interviews, in which I’m going to have to talk, and I won’t really be able to be so random about it, I would actually need to be concise with my answers. I’m in some deep shit.

“So, since you left your guitar here yesterday, would you like to play the song you played during your audition?” Spencer asked.

“Um sure.” My voice was shaky, and unsure. Brendon handed me my guitar after he managed to get Lucy off our laps. I began to strum I’ll Make a Man Out of You , slowly getting my confidence back. Music was the one thing I always felt so sure of. The second I started singing, everything else faded. All the thoughts that had assaulted me earlier were gone. The only thing going through my mind at the moment was the chords and the lyrics. Music was so much better than a ‘happy place’.

“So that is our new band member, I hope you guys like her, because I know we both like her enough to allow her to become part of the elite Panic! members!” Brendon said and then got up to turn the camera off. “That was good for your first time in front of the camera like that.”

“Yea, I’m proud of you E!” Spencer hugged me. “You’ve already become my little sister!”

I chuckled and thanked them both. “Also thanks for the support when things got a bit too much for me.”

“Don’t worry about it. The pressure eventually gets to all of us, and we plan to become best friends with you, so we want to be there for you as much as we can.”

“Thank you.” I hugged Brendon tightly. Suddenly tears sprung from my eyes. “Oh god I’m sorry, I’m ruining your shirt!” I tried to get away from his chest.

“It’s okay.” Brendon said as he just held me tighter.

Eventually he did release his hold and I crumpled on to the couch. “Sorry about that. It’s just really crazy thinking about how everything’s going to change. I’m kind of scared.” I admitted. My chin rested on my knees and I stared off into space.

Spencer poked my side and I couldn’t help but giggle. “Come on sad girl, I’ll treat you to lunch.”

The three of us left and went out to eat at a nice little restaurant; a few people spotted us and asked for their autographs, it was all incredibly surreal. By the end of the day I laid down on my bed and crashed.