Chapter 9: Don't Wake Me From This Dream
"Good morning, ladies," said Vanessa, placing plates of pancakes, bacon, and eggs in front of her roommates. Secre, Mariella, Charmy, and Grey all stared at Vanessa suspiciously. It was nine in the morning and Vanessa was awake. Vanessa winked at her bandmates and went back to the stove to pour cups of coffee (for Mariella and Secre), and tea (for Charmy and Grey).
"She's awake before noon and not hungover for once," said Mariella, deadpan.
"She cleaned the apartment," said Secre, also deadpan.
"She made breakfast," Charmy said, pleased, already digging into the food at an alarming rate.
"S-she's j-just hap-happily in l-love," Grey stuttered.
Vanessa brought the mugs to the table. She pouted at her friends. "You know I can hear you. Aren't you gonna thank me?"
"Thank you, 'Nessa," chorused everyone, as if they were schoolchildren and not grown women in a punk-rock band.
In the last few weeks, Vanessa had a lot more energy than usual. And while she still drank on nights out, she eased up slightly because Nozel had the opposite schedule to her and unless she was up in the morning, she couldn't talk to him until much later in the day. Vanessa wanted to make sure that Nozel wasn't stressing himself out and had to wish him a good day every morning. So, she was up in the morning, and she needed to fill her time.
"We have a gig tonight," said Vanessa. In addition to being a good roommate, she attended to emails for gig offers, which Vanessa often missed the deadlines to agree. She had been surprised at the email in her inbox that morning.
"It's Tuesday," said Secre. "It's my book club tonight."
"Don't worry, Secre," said Vanessa. "It's after your book club. And it's at Three Lights!"
"Isn't that the Dark Triad's club," Charmy asked, warily. The Dark Triad was a very popular dark heavy metal band, featuring three siblings. Their fans were called the Dark Disciples and the band leaned into the "evil wizard" vibe they had going on. Normally, Vanessa and her extended friend group stayed far away from them, because two of the three siblings were creepy, psychopathic perverts, and the third was a violent psychopath.
"Yeah, but Vanica and Dante are away, so we won't get skeeved on. Zenon promised that they weren't there," said Vanessa. Zenon was the most rational and polite of the siblings, but he was known to fight people for no other reason than he was bored.
Secre said, "Zenon is still creepy."
"True. But he won't grope any of our asses," said Vanessa. "And it's a nice payday that we can take the next two weeks off!"
"A break would be nice," said Mariella. "I did want to visit Fanzell and Dominante…"
"Fine," said Secre, annoyed.
"As long it'll cover our bills and our food," said Charmy, "I'm in."
"Gauche will want to come with us," said Grey.
"You should probably tell Nozel," said Mariella.
"I already did! He said to call him if we have any trouble," said Vanessa. She told Nozel all about it during their morning talk. Nozel knew of the reputation of the Zogartis siblings as well, everyone in the musical community did.
"So, what's the song line-up," said Charmy. "Anything new?"
"Yes, speaking of new," said Vanessa. "I wrote a new song!"
"That was sickeningly beautiful," said Zenon, stoically, as he handed Vanessa the yul for the performance that night.
Vanessa laughed. She dressed her in pink fake-leather clothes and she had way too much glitter on her (Charmy went a bit nuts). "From you, that's a compliment." She took the money. "Thanks for the gig. Email us anytime your siblings are out of town."
"Noted," said Zenon. "Good evening, Enoteca."
Vanessa quickly went back to her bandmates, who refused to speak to Zenon. She handed them each their cut of the money. "Tomorrow we pay bills, ladies!"
"Nozel showed up. He's with Gauche and Henry," said Secre. "Lumiere sent me a car, so I'm heading out now." Secre disappeared into the crowd of people.
"Have fun," said Vanessa. The rest of the band went to find their supporters, near the entrance of the club.
To Vanessa, Nozel stood out with a calm demeanor and fancy clothes, but Gauche and Henry also stood out. Three handsome men in a club attracted attention, but Gauche's glares kept everyone interested away. Charmy immediately latched herself onto Henry, while Gauche quickly put his arm around Grey.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. She grinned at Nozel. "Hey, handsome. Didn't think you'd make it."
Nozel raised an eyebrow and said, "Noelle heard from Secre that you had a new song. I wanted to hear it."
Vanessa put her hand over her heart and said, "Oh, honey, I'll sing for you whenever."
Nozel turned red, which looked redder under the bar lights. He coughed awkwardly into his hand. "Yes, well, thank you?"
Vanessa let out a laugh. Nozel was adorable.
"Ugh, it's so weird seeing Vanessa in love," said Mariella, shaking her head. "But it suits her."
"Rude," said Vanessa, sticking her tongue out at Mariella. She grabbed Nozel's hand and said, "Alright, ladies, I'm heading out with my man. See you later."
"You wrote that song about me." Nozel said as he squeezed her hand gently, while they walked down the streets, heading to a 24/7 diner.
Vanessa hummed happily, "Hmmhmm, I did. What did you think?" She had written it on a whim after their second date, but it had been a while since then.
"It's wonderful. You're truly a talented musician," said Nozel.
"So sweet," said Vanessa, kissing him quickly on the cheek.
They reached the diner, when Nozel asked, "My mother would like to ask if you wanted to come on our annual vacation with us."
Vanessa startled. "What? Really? When?" She heard about the family vacation since Zora had been invited to it multiple times since he started dating Kirsch and from Noelle herself. The Silva family of six (Acier, Argent, Nozel, Nebra, Solid, and Noelle) and the Vermillion family of four (Nickole, Sazerac, Mimosa, and Kirsch) always went on a two-week vacation together at the beginning of summertime. Significant others also went on this trip once approved by the Moms.
"Next month," said Nozel.
Vanessa grinned. "I'm in."
~to be continued