Chapter 3

Vy

DUSK WAS VY'S FAVORITE CLUB. It had beautiful acoustics, excellent food and the nicest staff in all of Illyria. She had spent the six months since her first gig on the road, singing from Orsino to Larissa and she had a personal rating system that went from "happy to return" to "never set foot again".

She found a message from Marvin when she checked before she went on stage. His plane had landed and he was going to come straight to Dusk. Bryce's classes finished around nine in the evening, so he and Helen usually arrived around ten. Alice and Sebastian would probably arrive around the same time.

It was the first time in months when they all got together. She wished they kept in touch more, but with the exception of Helen, all the others had gravitated to King. "Andrew" as they were allowed to call him.

She went to the reception to double check her reservation.

"Hey, Lacey," she said. "I have a table reserved for tonight."

"Oooh, you finally have guests... Is it Carter?" the girl gushed while she looked at the screen.

"Like Carter would come here and not sing! But don't worry, you'll know who they are when they get here."

"Mysterious. I like that. Yes, you have table seventeen. Are you sure that's the one you want? It's not the best one. I can change it for you."

"No, it's fine. I wanted it to be more private. We haven't seen each other in a few months."

"Definitely not Carter then," Lacey said, and she smiled.

Nope. She hadn't had any Carter free days since she had moved out of her parents' house. If she didn't count the Celebrity Jungle month. And she didn't count it.

Her set had many Waves songs, and her favorite part of the show was when she took requests from the public. She liked to choose the songs she knew enough to sing, but which were as far from her comfort zone as possible. The only songs she loved but never sang were Wanderlust songs. Carter had helped her to break down all the walls of her personal hang-ups, but there was one secret she still kept from him.

"Ladies and gentleman, let's make this show more interactive," she said. "You all know the drill. Shout out the song you want me to sing, and I'll sing as many of them as I can."

She got off the stage and started to walk around the room. She enjoyed being among the people for whom she sang. She walked between the tables, and whenever someone signaled his or her intention to speak, Vy went next to them with the microphone.

She kept doing it until she had over twenty songs so she could choose three or four or five she could do well enough.

"Thank you very much. Now it's time to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, have a cigarette, whatever. It will take us about ten minutes to set up the negatives, and once I get going, you won't feel like getting up."

An hour later she was backstage, buzzing with energy but almost unable to articulate sounds. She dashed into the dressing room. Her heart ached when she didn't find any black roses waiting for her. She changed out of her glittery stage clothes, listening for a knock on the door and a delivery from Magnifique, but none came. Her secret admirer must have forgotten about her during her month in the jungle. She pulled a t-shirt over her head and grabbed her black leather jacket.

When she stormed out, Marvin was about to knock on her door. She jumped into his arms. His hair was no longer blue anymore and he was a little taller and a lot less skinny than last time she had seen him. As if to prove this, he lifted her in his arms and spun her around.

"You were freaking sensational," he said. "I caught the last part of the show."

"Look who's talking! I saw your concerts online. You are such a star!"

She got carried away and spoke too loudly. Her throat was still tender from the exertion, and she wanted to have a warm soothing drink.

"Let's go to the table," Marvin said. "I'm starving."

She followed him back in the club. They didn't have to go through the crowd because their table was strategically placed in a corner close to the backstage entrance. The others were already there.

"You grew up even more!" she said when Helen hugged her.

They were almost the same height now. Even so, Bryce still towered over all of them.

"Check this out," Sebastian said and handed her a gift package.

"This better not be a stupid joke gift," she said unwrapping it hurriedly.

Her eyes moistened when she saw the DVD cover. Vanilla Velvet, The Beginning. The picture on the cover showed her in front of the band. Alice, Sebastian and all her friends at their instruments. Vy remembered that gig. One of their best performances ever, at a high school band competition.

"The new one is going to look better with you on the cover," she said, squeezing Bryce's shoulder. "When is it coming out?"

"In a couple of months," Bryce said. "We've been working with Andrew before his tour in America. Hopefully he finds time for us before they start filming Sing again."

"Oh, the auditions," Helen chirped. "Would they let us in the audience?"

"I don't want to ever go back there," Vy said.

"But why? You were like the queen of that place," Marvin said.

Alice caught on to her anxiety and changed the subject. "How was America?" she asked Marvin.

"It was awesome. Except for the concerts, we sang in some of the weirdest places. Andrew is unbelievable on stage, guys. He does this rock star thing really well. We went to places where no one had a clue about Wanderlust and it took Andrew like ten minutes to have people on their feet."

"I'm glad he has all of you around," Helen said. "He can't be in a very good place."

Marvin furrowed his brow. "He wasn't in a good place last year. Diane had been in America since last summer. She came with us when we were touring. I guess that was the actual reason he wanted to tour America."

Vy shifted in her seat. She took a long sip of warm cocoa to soothe her throat. "Please stop talking about him."

"I told you he wasn't all right," Bryce said. "No one sings 'She's out of my life' like that if the love of his life waits for him at home."

Helen reached for his hand. Their linked hands rested on the table, the only display of their affection.

"Tim can," Vy said. "He's been in a relationship for months. They're all lovey-dovey, expecting their first child, and when he sings, he sounds like he has no love in his life. And eeeevery woman in the audience wants to be the one to save him from loneliness. Let's not get carried away, they're professional liars. "

"When did you get so cynical?" Marvin asked.

"Not cynical," Vy said. "I just peeked behind the curtain."

"Says the lady whose album is about to hit Platinum," Alice said.

Vy clinked her cocoa mug against Alice's wine glass. "Party at my place when that happens."

"Speaking of parties, when are you two going to throw the big party?" Marvin asked Helen and Bryce.

"In February."

"There was a kick ass engagement party," Vy said. "But some people were busy touring America."

"I'm sorry," Marvin said immediately.

"Don't be. We understood. Some people are just trying to be jerks," Helen said, throwing a dirty look at Vy who was smiling beatifically.

"Yes," Bryce added. "Some people are spending too much time with their dark master."

"This got very passive aggressive very fast," Sebastian said.

"You're right," Vy said. "Maybe mind games are contagious."

"We should do something to celebrate Sing though," Helen said. "Let's meet up and watch the first episode together."

"Sure, why not?" Vy drawled. "It's only June, why not plan an evening out three months from now."

"There's that TC sarcasm no one likes," Sebastian said, poking her in the ribs.

Everyone pretended not to watch the Cesaras as their interaction developed into a low key poking, pinching, tickling and hair pulling match.

"Works for me," Marvin said. "As long as we don't wait until September to see each other again."

"Not a chance, buddy," Bryce said. "Now that you brought our fearless leader back from the States, I bet we're going to see each other in the studio."

"We have girls' night out almost every Thursday," Helen said.

"I'm invited? Great!" Marvin said.

"How come I've never been invited?" Bryce asked.

"You're the reason we have girls' night," Vy said. "What do you think we talk about?"

"Music? Dresses?" Bryce said.

"The elections?" Sebastian piped in. "Who's winning the UEFA this year?"

"How did you know?" Vy said. "That's how all our pillow fights start."

"You girls and your football," Bryce said ruffling Helen's hair.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Her smile faded a little when she saw that it was Carter.

"Hi," she said

"Come to the studio," he said curtly.

"When?"

"Now," he said and turned off the phone.

"What was that?" Helen asked.

"Sorry, guys. I have to go to the studio."

"It's almost midnight," Sebastian said. "Was that TC?"

"Yes," she said. "It's nothing special. He does this all the time."

"We talked about this," Helen said looking concerned. "He's trying to control every second of your time."

"No, he's not. I have gigs without him all the time."

Helen just looked at her. Vy shook her head. She did have solo gigs, and Carter did always call her in the studio after that. She couldn't explain to Helen how amazing their late night sessions were. She would have rebelled against this mistreatment a long time ago if he wasn't so bloody brilliant.

Besides, now she was working with the Waves and she couldn't tell anyone about it. So what if she often ended up sleeping with her head on the mixing desk? Who cared if the cleaning staff woke her up at five in the morning and she barely made it home to change and shower before she was back in the studio.

She hummed her favorite song from her debut album all the way to the studio. She loved Light Dream, and she loved Carter for writing it for her. It was probably never going to become iconic, just like Dark Dream never made it as a massive hit, but it was her absolute favorite.

 

She dozed off in the taxi and she was rubbing her eyes, smudging her mascara all the way to the control room.

"Why do you take so many gigs?" Carter asked.

Vy stifled a yawn. She ignored the taste of bad coffee at the back of her throat and reached for the cold mug on the table. They were in the studio at 1 in the morning because he wanted to record. Was he going to blame it on her?

"I need the money."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You poor thing. Your debut album hasn't hit platinum in the first month," he said.

"And the challenge," she said.

"I didn't realize that working with the Waves isn't enough of a challenge for you."

She barely managed to stick her tongue out at him. Carter was almost endearing when he tried to play the underappreciated teacher. Sometimes, he needed his ego stroked. She wouldn't be lying if she showed him that she was grateful to him. Whatever other reasons he might have, he did take the time to be with her in the studio long past midnight after she sang in a night club.

"It's your fault anyway. You made me go through all those songs during Sing and now I'm hooked on variety."

"So that part of your shows when you ask the audience to request songs it's due to my training?"

"Completely," she said.

"Fine, it's my fault," he said. "Break over. Go back in the booth and let's try it again."

His voice sounded annoyed but the blue-green ice crystals that were his eyes sparkled a little less coldly. Something was eating him up, but she guessed it had to do with his girlfriend and she had no clue how to handle that. Carter was an annoying son of a bitch but she cared about him. His draconic training schedule had made her a better singer and entertainer than she had ever hoped to be. Too bad it left her too exhausted to feel much of anything.

No, she couldn't blame him for that. She had done it herself, deliberately.

She took one last gulp of the horrible coffee and downed the rest of her water before standing up. She walked unsteadily to the other side of the glass, put on the headphones and straightened up before the microphone. Sleep and exhaustion vanished and her voice was crisp and precise when she started singing Sixteen-Year-Old Heart.