EFFA
Luke’s sitting opposite me in the car, giving Raoul an earful about not keeping him in the loop. Poor Raoul, he was only doing what I told him to do, and now he’s in trouble. I sink into the lined leather seat further, it squeaks with the friction of my skin moving against it, and I wince at Raoul as he glances at me. But he’s taking the telling off like a champ.
Luke is so damn tense, he needs to chill the fuck out. I don’t know what his problem is. I know I should have probably told someone where I was going. But fuck! I’m twenty-two, not sixteen. I don’t need to tell my dad where I’m going. Plus, Luke’s more like a protective older brother. But right now he’s annoying the shit out of me, and poor Raoul is copping the full force of his ferocity.
“Okay, Luke, seriously… like, chill the fuck out. It’s not Raoul’s fault. I asked him to bring me here, and he stayed all night on guard to protect me. He did a good job. Nothing bad happened. You should be thanking him, not blasting the crap out of him.”
Luke turns to me and gnaws on his bottom lip. “Effa…” Luke sighs, “… I know you think this is all a big joke, but seriously, you’re a big-time rock star, and you’re sitting in a car, out the back of a stadium, in your damn underwear… in broad daylight. You don’t see a problem with this?”
I look down at my matching purple underwear set and shrug. “No. I think I look quite nice in this actually.”
He groans and throws himself back into his seat, bringing his cell up to his face and punching something into it, seemingly having enough of this conversation. I smirk at Raoul, who grins at me, and then proceeds to look out the window saying nothing more as the car door next to me pulls open, and Alana slides in with my dress and boots.
She closes the door behind us and takes a long breath before looking around and noticing the tension in the car. “Well, I can see it’s a little frosty in here.”
I nod and glance at Luke then roll my eyes.
Alana purses her lips. “Okay, well… Mercs told me to tell you he’s sorry for what he said.”
My stomach sinks and I hate that he wanted to forget our night together. I know it was only a kiss, and we basically fell asleep in each other’s arms, but it was the best sleep I’ve had in years. Even on a small, lumpy sofa. I have trouble sleeping at the best of times, and being in Mercs’ arms, I went out like a light. Something about him calms all my energy. Something about him settles me. I liked it. I want more of it. But if he wants to forget it ever happened then I guess our friendship is over before it even had a chance to begin.
Alana reaches out placing my dress over my lap and grabs my hand giving it a squeeze. “Hey, stop overthinking. Don’t go there. Don’t go to that place, Effa,” she mumbles.
I look up at her and raise my brow. “What place?”
“Your unhappy place. The place where you lose your amazing confidence. Don’t go there. You’ve worked so hard to become Effervescent. Don’t let one guy rain on your parade and ruin everything you’ve worked on becoming…” Alana trails off.
I notice Luke casually glance up from his cell to peer at me.
“No. I’m okay, I promise. I just… I don’t know. He’s different to the rest of the crew, you know? They throw themselves at us. He’s… Mercs is different.”
Alana nods. “Well, even so, I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“And how are you going to do that?” I chuckle as the car pulls out from the curb on its way back to the hotel, I’m assuming.
She clears her throat and sits a little taller. “Have you ever heard of the star Effervescent? She really is quite fluorescent. A hippy by day, a rebel you’d say. She’s such an antidepressant,” Alana recites off the top of her head, making me smile. I grin wide, loving her spur of the moment limerick. It would have been perfect if she had on her llama outfit, but I don’t even mind that she doesn’t. Right now, the fact that she’s trying to make me happy, by pulling out her limerick game, only fills me with warmth and love, and all thoughts of sadness and despair fade away. I don’t know what I’d do without my step-sister. She really is the light in my life—her and Kristy. I love these girls.
Luke lets out a stifled chuckle as he continues to tap away on his cell, but sends Alana a sideways glance, like he’s proud of her. I lean over and embrace her tightly, wrapping her up in my affection and love. She hugs me back, and I breathe her in as I embrace her tightly.
“Thank you, sis. You always know how to cheer me up. I love your limericks, they never grow old.”
She sighs and I pull back. “That’s what I’m here for, Effa. Always. You know I love you. But seriously, next time you take off please tell someone, or at least get Raoul to text me.”
Nodding, I sigh. I know I made a mistake last night. I didn’t mean to scare them. Honestly, I didn’t, and if my cell didn’t die, I wouldn’t have lost contact. But I understand, I know how important I am to the band—to the sound of Luminous. I have to be better than this. And with Mercs shutting me out, I can be focused on the band and not on making new friends.
My stomach sinks a little at the thought of not hanging out with Mercs again, but I guess if that’s what he wants then there’s not much I can do about it. I know his job is important to him, and I don’t need to threaten that. And I’m not going to.
I need to keep my distance from him.
I need to go back to the hotel, have a shower, and forget all about Kaden Mercury.
I can’t seem to get Mercs out of my fucking mind. It’s doing my head in, as I scrub the smudged glittery pink lightning bolt off my face. The pink swirls down the drain in a myriad of glitter and paint.
I wonder what he’s doing right now.
Groaning out loud, I place my face under the hot water, closing my eyes as the steady stream of liquid pummels against my skin. I hold my breath letting the last of the pink paint and makeup wash off from last night’s show.
Pulling back, I take a deep breath as I swipe my hands over my face to remove the water from my eyes.
I’m excited about our next show tonight, but not that excited about running into Mercs.
I feel like our friendship might be awkward now. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into his comment about forgetting it ever happened. Maybe it was a throwaway comment, but either way words like that tend to get to me. I want to remember every moment of my life with passion, so purposely trying to forget a night that turned out really sweet for me seems like a harsh blow.
I’m overreacting, I know it, but it seems it’s something that’s hitting me a little harder than usual. Mercs is the first outside person in a long time to like me for me, not for my rock star persona. That means a lot to me.
Washing with my loofah, I try and relax my tense body, relishing in the warmth of the shower for another few minutes before getting out and drying off. There’s still a number of hours before we have to go back to the stadium for pre-warmups for tonight’s show. I’ll just bum around the hotel, maybe go get some lunch in the restaurant.
Luke prefers us to get room service, but fuck staying in my room cooped up like a sardine. I like to get out and see the world.
Fuck it!
I’ll call Raoul or Cooper to go with me if I need to.
I know Luke worries. Our safety is of paramount concern to him. Especially, with all the stalkers and crazy psychotic fans rockers seem to attract these days, it’s no wonder he’s worried. I understand. I just think sometimes he takes it too far. He’s so overprotective of us. He tries to show it as being a boss, but I know it’s out of love. He loves us all, as much as he absolutely hates to admit it.
Throwing my wet hair back into a loose plait, so it gets extra wavy for tonight, I don’t bother putting on any makeup as I walk into my bedroom and get dressed into a pair of loose tie-dyed harem pants and pairing it with a backless halter that’s made out of gold dots. It does up with a single strand around my mid back leaving the rest bare, so I have to go braless with this one, but that’s okay because my breasts aren’t massive being just over a handful, and they’re perky enough to stand on their own.
Looking into the floor to ceiling mirror, I smile. I look cute. Definitely, like me. Vespa Carrington—the girl from Nimbin, New South Wales, Australia, not Effervescent the A-list rocker taking America by storm. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the two identities apart, but when I’m dressed like this, no makeup and not all glammed up, this is me, the real me. And even though I love being Effa, sometimes it’s good to get back to your grassroots.
Going barefoot, I pick up my cell and walk out of my room. We’re on the top floor of the hotel, just below the penthouse suite. We could have the penthouse, but it only has four bedrooms, and we need at least six. So instead, we decided to take the next level down and rent out the entire floor. Our opening band, Swift Division and us, are taking up the space. I’m pretty sure most, if not all the rooms on the floor are being used.
Heading to the elevator, I look over the artwork on the wall, it’s modern and sleek, much like this upmarket hotel, and I grin knowing that this is a long way from home. The elevator opens, and I step in, the coldness of the marble tiles hits my feet as I look at the design on the elevator floor. A gold diamond placed in the center is surrounded by pristine white marble and a gold border around the edge. The walls are lined halfway up with white marble to the handrail, which again is gold, then it turns into a dark mahogany timber finish. The elevator looks super expensive, and I’m almost scared to hold onto the handrail in case I break it. Not that I can’t afford to fix it. I mean with how the tour and record sales are going I’m pretty fucking rich, but still, I feel small and insignificant in here as some sort of elevator music plays gently over the speakers.
The doors open, and I take a deep breath almost like I was holding it, scared to breathe the elevator air. That thing freaks me out. It’s too opulent and wealthy looking. That’s not me, not me at all. I step out quickly, in my bare feet, now caressing the plushness of the second-floor carpet. The deep velvety red pile caresses my toes leaving the harsh cold of the sterile elevator behind.
I turn, walking down toward the restaurant. It’s around ten fifty, so not quite breakfast, not quite lunch. This is regular waking hours for me, if you’re lucky. Depends on the day, really.
It’s reasonably sparse in here, not too many people for mid-July on a Thursday morning. The area’s nice and it looks like I won’t need security after all.
Walking into the restaurant, a waitress looks over at me, glances me up and down with a turned up nose, but continues on with her business. I chuckle to myself. I’m used to people judging me for the way I look. But I can get away with it a hell of a lot more now because of who I am. Sometimes being a kickass rocker comes in handy.
“Effa…” A booming deep, husky voice calls out loudly making the quiet, peaceful atmosphere vibrate. I jump slightly, as I hear someone drop a piece of cutlery and it slams into their plate. Turning, I let out a bemused laugh as I see Jett from Swift Division already sitting at a table with an empty plate in front of him and eating off another.
I bob my head in greeting and walk over to him, seeing as he’s the only person in here that I know. I may as well have brunch with him. His sapphire blue eyes light up as I approach. His aptly jet black hair is in disarray, like he hasn’t touched it since getting out of bed this morning. But he rocks the look, the shambled image suiting him. The extra day’s growth on his face makes him look more defined. His cheeks lift up making his whole face light up with the brightness of his smile. Jett’s ears even moving up with the intensity of his smile, which makes me notice the black earing dangling from his right ear. He’s really quite the looker, no wonder our crowds love him and his band.
He’s the lead singer of Swift Division.
Luke sent a request to our record label asking for a talented American group, and they gave us a few names. When we heard their demo, we knew they suited our sound, and they would be best to tour with us. When we invited them in for the meet and greet, we all got along fabulously.
“Hey Jett, mind if I join you?” I ask reaching out for the chair opposite him.
He grins again and gestures for me to sit down. “Please do… I wanna pick your brain anyway.”
I take a seat, as he picks up a piece of crispy bacon and places it into his mouth with a slight crunch.
“Sure, what’s on your mind?”
He looks me right in the eyes, his lips turning up again in that little smirk he’s crafted so well. It’s almost mischievous. “Okay… so, we’ve been doing a thirty-minute slot before you gals come on stage and rock it out. Right?”
“Yeah, and you’ve been doing amazing. The crowd loves you guys.”
He stifles a laugh and shrugs. “Thanks, but ahh… we’re not as good as you guys yet, but we’re working on it. However, this brings me to my point.” I raise my brow. “What would you think about increasing our time before the show… just to add in a couple more songs, to make our set say forty-five minutes? I mean… I know this is a big ask and will increase the overall time of the entire concert. But I think that with you guys on our side, and if we could showcase a few more songs, we could really improve our worth…” he pauses and his mouth curves into a smile, “… and it would all be with Luminous’ help. Think about it, you guys can be the band that helps break us into the big time like Recoil did for you. Won’t that make you feel amazing, Effa?” Jett asks, his voice etched in super sugary sweetness.
“Jett, you know I like you. You’re an awesome guy. Your band is amazing. But you don’t have to suck up to me to ask for more time. I’m not a pushover little princess that just falls at the feet of a hot guy with a buttery way of asking for shit.”
He swallows hard, and his smile falls from his face, as he stiffens his body like he’s almost embarrassed by his actions.
“And in any case, I can’t make that kind of call. All that stuff is up to Luke.”
He lets out a heavy breath and sinks into his chair looking deflated.
“But… I can put in a good word for you. However, next time just ask normally, okay? None of this pussyfooting about... just be straight with me.”
“Okay, sorry. I should have known you were stronger than you seem. I like your tenacity, Effa. I apologize I came at it that way.”
“Meh, you’re not the first man to try to get his way by attempting to outwit me. But I’m smarter than I look. Just because I look all airy-fairy doesn’t mean I’m not attuned to what’s going on around me.”
He chuckles, and lightness fills the air, taking away the dark mood that was surrounding us. “Well, Effa, let me get you some food to celebrate our new found friendship. One based on pure honesty and trust.”
I smile and nod. “Okay, I’ll get us some coffee.”
“Deal.”