Hey guys! Guess what time it is! That's right, it's....
THE DOUBLE-SONG MCCLUB EXTRAVAGANZA!
Are you ready for it? This song holds TWO, yes, count 'em, TWO, songs! So it's longer then most! Yay for long chapters! ^^ I wrote this chapter without my copy of "HUNGER", which was slightly tough (for me), because I lent it to my friend so she could read it and love it just as I have! And a note to all of the readers of FAYZbook (my humor GONE story), it's going to be on a short hiatus until I get my copy of "GONE" back. It has a waiting list now. Ha ha, I'm just spreading the GONE love!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE" or "HUNGER" (which this has spoilers for), they're both owned by Michael Grant! And I don't own "If I Had You" which is by Adam Lambert, or "Who Needs Air" by the Classic Crime (an amazing band. Check them out!!).
DEDICATION: I haven't dedicated one to my buddy in a while... Hey, Ed Westwicker, this one's fo' you, my irsuave buddy! (And we finally used the same song... ^^)
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Double-Song McClub Extravaganza (Or, If I Had You & Who Needs Air)
Alex practically dragged a certain whip-handed boy down the street, her face set determinedly, his face the picture of fury.
"I told you, I changed my mind!"
She laughed, and somehow, that sound scared him more then anything had in a while. "Drake Merwin, you said you were going to come to this club with me. I searched throughout that house for these batteries for you. You are not allowed to back out now."
"I could leave by force, you know." Alex let go of his good hand and faced him, eyebrows raised expectantly.
"Okay then. Leave."
His gray eyes widened in surprise, but then grew dark and stormy with anger as he stalked past her in the direction of the McDonald's.
"Let's get this over with." Alex grinned wildly as she ran to catch up with him. Drake glanced at her, as if giving her a once-over. "Why're you wearing that?" he asked, gesturing to the nearly floor-length trenchcoat that covered her body. Spots of red bloomed on her cheeks.
"It's my, um, club outfit," she stuttered. "I'm kind of embarrassed by it." Earlier that day, she had ransacked a couple of empty houses in search of something to wear. The one thing that was of abundance in the FAYZ was clothes.
"Why?" Drake asked, looking as concerned as he could get. "You wore that purple dress to dance in that one time, what's different about this outfit?" Alex's blush seemed to intensify.
"I don't usually wear, um... Clothes like this."
"Like what?"
"You'll see," she said, wincing a bit. Drake glanced down at what he was wearing; jeans, sneakers, T-shirt, jacket, and back up at Alex, who's hair was hiding her face.
XxXxX
"And what do you have for him?" Albert said, a slight sneer playing around his lips as he looked at Drake but spoke to Alex. In response, she showed Albert a bag of batteries. Albert, still glaring daggers at Drake, dug out four D-cells and waved them on their way.
Alex grabbed Drake's arm and pulled him into the McDonald's. Pink tissue paper covered the menu boards and cast a soft glow over the milling bodies dancing in the near-dark. Drake wrapped his whip-arm defensively around his waist, eyes jumping in their sockets as he scanned the crowd. Alex patted his arm in an attempt to be comforting, but really, her attention was captivated by a makeshift stage set up in the back of the McClub.
"Hey," she said distractedly, tugging on his shirtsleeve. "Hey. Look at that."
"Wha--" Drake began to say, but was cut off by a kid jumping onto the stage, microphone in hand.
"Yo!" he yelled, and the general population of the club cheered. "I'm your disc jockey, Hunter Lefkowitz, here to bring you an important message!" The crowd was quiet, so Hunter continued. "I'm bored of disc jockeying for you people, okay? So how about we mix it up a little with some open mic! So who's first?"
The club was silent. Alex was itching to get onto that stage, but she felt extremely insecure in the outfit she had put together. So she simply kept her mouth shut, until...
"Alex wants to do it," Drake said loudly, in the fashion of an annoying kid who always sits in the back of the class and calls on everyone but himself. Alex shot a glare at him.
"What the heck, Merwin?" she hissed through clenched teeth. He smirked.
"Ah, revenge is sweet."
Alex was then pushed from the crowd, and she hopped onto the stage beside Hunter. "So, you want to sing?" he leered. "I heard about you and your singing from Zil." The last part was whispered, meant for her ears and her ears alone.
"Yes, I want to sing," Alex hissed back, all doubts about her outfit gone at the prospect of one-upping the little punk. "And Zil can go rot in a sack for all I care." Hunter's face twisted into a glare as Alex threw her iPod to him after selecting a song.
"Good luck," Hunter said sarcastically from behind his DJ booth. "Hope the crowd doesn't rip you apart, and I mean that honestly." Alex viciously grabbed a microphone just as the music began.
She shrugged her trenchcoat off of her shoulders to reveal black stiletto boots, fishnet tights under a black leather miniskirt, and a black vest over a turquoise tanktop. She winced as noise erupted from the crowd and the protection of her coat fell to the floor.
"So I got my boots on, got the right 'mount of leather, and I'm doin' me up with a black color liner," she sang, grateful for the dim lighting of the club. "And I'm workin' my strut, but I know it don't matter, all we need in this world is some love..." Somebody started a clap to the beat and Alex slowly relaxed onstage, feeling more at home then ever in Perdido Beach.
"There' a thin line between the dark side and the light side, baby, tonight..." Alex stomped her foot to the rhythmic beat. "It's a struggle, gotta rumble, tryin' to find it..."
And then, the music really took over, and she was simply a girl singing into a hairbrush, glancing in the mirror ever so often, not singing for the pleasure of starving kids in a McDonald's.
"But if I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had you..."
A few kids cheered, a lot more clapped. Alex's face broke into a grin as she looked over her shoulder at a fuming Hunter.
Ha, she thought triumphantly as she turned her head back to the crowd and broke into the second verse. Tell that to Zil.
"From New York to L.A., gettin' high, rock 'n' rollin', get a room, trash it up 'till it's ten in the morning... Girls in stripper heels, boys rollin' in Maseratis, what they need in this world is some love... There's a thin line between a wild time and a flat line, baby, tonight... It's a struggle, gotta rumble, tryin' to find it..."
Alex pointed out into the crowd, trying her best to point to the spot where Drake had been standing.
"But if I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had..."
The rhythmic clapping started up again as the lights dimmed even further and the covered menu boards glowed brightly. Alex took a deep breath.
"The flashing of the lights, it might feel so good, but I've got you stuck on my mind, yeah! The fashion and the stage, it might get me high, but it don't mean a thing tonight..."
All of the lights in the club went off, except for one directly under Alex. With that light softly illuminating her, she sang--
"That would be the only thing I'd ever need... Yeah, if I had you... The money, fame and fortune never could compete... If I had you!" The lights flashed back on once, and then dimmed again. "Life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you... If I had you, that would be the only thing I'd ever need! Yeah, if I had you, then money, fame and fortune never could compete, never could compete with you! If I had you, life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy, it'd be ecstasy with you! Yeah, if I had you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you, y-y-y-you! If I had you!"
The music ended, and Alex bowed to the applause. She handed the microphone to Hunter, who tried to start a glaring contest or something, but Alex simply smiled brightly at him and jumped off of the stage.
"That's enough open mic for now," Hunter said, trying to regain his jovial manner, but failing. "All you couples, now, it's your turn to hit the dance floor!" Drake was waiting for Alex by the door as the center of the club emptied, save for a few couples rotating slowly.
"Let's go," he mumbled, wrapping his whip around her wrist. "Nice singing, by the way, although you already have me." She rolled her eyes and grinned, but when he pulled gently on her wrist, she didn't budge an inch.
"We just got here," she said matter-of-factly. "Let's just dance once?" Contrasting her business-like tone, she made wide puppy dog eyes at him.
"No." Drake apparently wasn't fazed by her pleading eyes. "I told you. No dancing, whatsoever."
"Fine," Alex said, "then I'll just have to find my own dance partner." She made a big show of staring at the partnerless people who lined the walls. "Hmm... He seems lonely... Oh, there's Quinn... I wonder if he'd dance with me..." Drake growled and pulled her to the farthest corner of the dance floor- the darkest corner- as the song changed to a slower beat.
"I love this song," she whispered as Drake's arms encircled her. "Thanks for coming with me tonight." She smiled innocently as she heard him snort.
"Like I had any other choice," he grumbled, but held her close all the same.
"I long to taste adventure like the nature of the sea, always moving, always hiding all the creatures from beneath, singing silent songs of sadness, a heart waits for its chance, to dance upon the wishes of my burned up little plans, and I... Stand alone before the night, my nakedness is so clear, in the glow of the moonlight..."
Alex and Drake slowly rotated in their corner, neither of them quite sure how to slow dance. She laid her head on his chest, silently mouthing the lyrics and listening to his steady heartbeat.
"Life is old, but so short... We are young, we want more... I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? I don't need air..."
Alex only caught glimpses of other couples, usually people she didn't know, dancing silently. But then she saw Lana and Quinn pressed together, the Healer hiding her face in Quinn's shirt.
"My addiction to danger like the rush of the sea, like a wave on the rocks the lessons crash down on me, I don't need to prove the world to you, only to myself, so step back and look away as I dive into the swell..."
"Are we almost done?" Drake murmured into her ear. She glanced up and saw the humor in his eyes.
"Just shut up and dance with me," she shot back, returning her head to his chest.
"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? So take me down to the river like a little child, and take my hand and tell me it's okay to be wild... I never knew the world until I saw through your eyes, I never knew myself until I ripped off my disguise (I ripped off my disguise!)..."
Alex took Drake's hand and led him through the couples on the dance floor, past Lana and Quinn, past Hunter, glowering in his DJ booth, past some kid talking animatedly to whoever would listen, and past Albert at the club's door.
"Have a good night, Alex," he called begrudgingly. "Make sure to come again."
"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air?" she sang as they headed for home. "I have come to the realization that life is more then what I have accomplished, and life is more then the realization that we have accomplished nothing at all..."
Drake held open the door for her, and gave her a half-smile as they parted, Alex to the bedroom she had claimed upstairs and Drake to the sofa he insisted upon sleeping on in the living room. She slowly sang the rest of the song as she methodically prepared for bed, brushing her teeth and changing into the shorts and T-shirt that passed as her pajamas.
"I'm drowning, but I don't care... 'Cause when you got what I got what I got, who needs air? True success is so selfless, so drown in the lyrics of your life, and give up the air you breathe... You don't need anything, you don't need anything..."
Alex pulled the covers up to her chin, feeling the weariness she felt slowly ebb away as she fell into sleep. A soft voice, so quiet that she wouldn't remember it in the morning, laughed menacingly in her ear.
We meet again, Alex Lucine.
"I don't need air," she murmured.
But what about your friend, Drake Merwin? What does he need? Oh, believe me, I know. I know everything in that sick little mind of his. And I know your mind as well, Alex Lucine. You both are mine. You belong to the Gaiaphage.
Upstairs, Alex's eyes drifted shut.
Downstairs, Drake's eyes snapped open.
Yay, it's done! The next chapter is all about our favorite psycho, as he hasn't had much screentime lately. Later, I'm going to do one in Caine's POV, and later-later we'll get to know Astrid and L.P. a bit better! So stay tuned! ^^
I was thinking about doing a one- or two-shot about Alex's past, maybe about her parents and stuff, so if you're interested, just tell me!
Love, Peace, FAYZ,
:Hyperactive Lioness: