Edited 4/10/2021

I don't own Digimon or Closer by the Chainsmokers

"You look as good as the day I met you

I forget just why I left you,

I was insane"

Matt had been sick of being at the nightclub for about a half-hour, and we only got there twenty minutes ago. It was more like being at a concert than being at a bar. The DJ was some sort of minor celebrity so the place was packed that night. There was a light show and apparently, there were a few reality TV stars in the place, at least that's what I gathered from the chatter around the bar.

Colin was trying to get our group to the front, closest to the DJ, but Matt wasn't having it and most of us were on his side. It was too crazy and no one felt like being shoved all night. Colin was a little down about it but eventually, he just told us to keep our eyes on the DJ and with that, he was off.

John and Sora came over with drinks for everyone and we happily accepted them. It seemed like everyone needed to be slightly inebriated to handle the current situation. The guys went out, sure, but they didn't go clubbing.

Suddenly, we heard the music quiet down a bit and a voice came over the speakers.

"Hey everyone, I hope you're having a good time!" The sound of cheers reverberated through the building, "We have a special treat for you tonight. My buddy from NYC is here and he's going to take over for a bit, so everyone get ready for Colin MackMaster."

"Oh, mother of God," Matt rolled his eyes further into his head than normal and groaned as he spoke.

"What?!" Sora and I both shouted in unison.

"So, Colin," He screamed over the music, "Is also kind of a DJ. I mean, that's why he's so good at mixing all our tracks. We actually first met at one of his shows, he's surprisingly good, but he was bored with it at the time. He always wanted to do a club in LA though, so that explains his desperation to get us here tonight." He visibly relaxed now that there was a valid reason for us being here, and seemed to be less irritated at the whole situation.

"Wait … MackMaster?" I questioned.

"Mack is his last name, like MixMaster but Mack- oh hell I can't even say it out loud it hurts," Matt was laughing at this point.

"Why didn't he just tell us in the first place," John asked.

"He likes a good surprise," Matt said with a shrug.

"Well since we are here and your face has moved from a scowl, to smirk, I say we dance," Sora said, as she pulled Matt a little further into the crowd.

"Now that is something I want to be witness to, what do you say Kari?" John held out his hand, signaling to the direction they just went.

"Oh for sure!" She took his hand and followed him into the crowd. She turned back to Trevor and me, "You guys coming?"

He looked horrified at the prospect and was sweating more than usual, so I thought it would be better to hang back with him.

"No, I think we are ok for now. Later though?" She gave me a little salute and disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh, thank God. Can we find a wall or something?" Trevor grabbed my arm without waiting for my reply and started pulling me towards an open spot. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

"Are you actually okay being here," I asked him, trying to sound both concerned and nonchalant at the same time. I still had very little clue about how to properly communicate with him.

"Not really," He replied honestly, "I don't want everyone to feel like they need to babysit me or walk on eggshells, but I'm not going to lie being here is fucking hard right now."

"Do you want to head back? I mean, while I've never been to one of these things before, it's also not going to break my heart if I skip it."

"So, you're gonna leave Kari here to get picked up by some other guy?" He gestured out into the crowd.

"She has everyone else here. I'm sure she can manage." I was trying to be easygoing, but he looked at me like he knew better, and he probably did.

"Man, I hope you aren't actually that clueless. I'll be fine, I might head back in a bit but I won't pull you away."

"Since when are you worried about the state of our relationship?" I was actually curious since I originally thought he was more annoyed by me than anything else.

"Listen, she's more relaxed since you've been here than the entire time I've known her. She actually smiles instead of faking her way through the day."

What he said, did make me feel good. It was nice to hear I could make her a little lighter, but I still wasn't so sure.

"I mean, it's probably just the further away she gets from her relationship the happier she gets. It probably doesn't have anything to do with me."

He gave me this stop bullshitting me look, "Listen, I'm not telling you to go after her this second, but I am telling you that she's happier and I can tell it's you. Just take the damn advice, and don't be so blind that you end up losing your chance… again, or whatever," he articulated his point, by throwing his arms up in frustration.

I thought about what he said, but I also hadn't been planning on going for anything with her. I mean we just reconnected about a week ago, and she just got out of something traumatic, I think the last thing she needed was me chasing after her.

We heard Colin's voice boom over the loudspeakers.

"Alright, alright, everyone! How about a little treat from me and my good friend, who I'll be on tour with over the next few months. Hey Kari, get up here!"

"Well, wonder what he's got planned now." Trevor pushed off the wall and motioned towards where the others had disappeared to. We pushed through the crowd until we saw John's head pop up above everyone's, at least one of them was tall, otherwise, we probably wouldn't have found them in the crowd.

"He's such a clown," Trevor called out to everyone.

"No man, I think this is strategic. It's like free marketing for the tour, " Matt shouted back, "You know I never defend him."

We heard Colin coming over the mic again and looked back towards the stage, where Kari was climbing up with the help of a few guys near the front. "Everyone welcome Kari Kaimya! She's gonna help me out with this next one."

You could have seen her expression from the back of the club, annoyed but amused, she grabbed the mic he handed her, "I am, am I?" She responded, and it gathered some laughs from the crowd.

He started playing a familiar song, mixing it a bit differently here and there, and then to my surprise he started to sing.

"He can sing?" I shouted over the sound of the music.

"NO!" Came the echo of Matt, John, and Trevor.

His voice was low, almost like he was talk-singing, but it wasn't terrible or anything.

"Come on guys, cut him a break, the guy on the track is low too. He picked it because he knows Kari loves this song. I heard him giving her a hard time about it a few days ago," Sora said.

"Oh man, he's been planning this for a while. Maybe he's smarter than we give him credit for," Matt responded.

"They look pretty good up there you should take some notes, Matt," Trevor elbowed Matt in the ribs.

I watched them on stage until it got awkward. Trevor was right, they had a spark that she and Matt didn't, probably due to their brother/sister bond over the years.

They danced closely on stage together, the way people in the crowd were dancing to the song. It was, utterly, uncomfortable.

I walked away wordlessly towards the bar. I wanted another drink. I hated that I let this stuff bother me so much. I was acting possessive, even if it was only in my own head, and I didn't like it. It felt disrespectful to her. She didn't owe me anything, and we weren't together, so I shouldn't be bothered by her performing with someone who I was starting to consider a friend.

The song started to fade out and I felt someone bump up against me. I looked over and saw Trevor giving me a knowing glance.

"Leave it," I sounded like a jerk when I said it, but he just laughed it off.

At least he found humor in my misery.

Kari headed back over to the rest of the group, which led her back towards Trevor and I, but she got stopped by a large guy with a security shirt on. He leaned down to whisper something to her, and she nodded but looked a bit uneasy. She pointed in our direction and started saying something back to him. He held up three fingers back to her, and she nodded, putting up her hand signaling she needed a minute.

She headed over, "Hey guys, can I get three of you for a few minutes?" She asked, still looking a tad weary.

"No problem, I think Trev and I are about done for the night," John clasped Trevor by the shoulders, and Trevor responded with a thankful look. it was obvious he was tapped out from all of this.

We said our goodbyes and then Sora, Matt, and I followed Kari back towards the security guard. He waved to follow him and walked us towards one of the VIP sections. He undid the rope to a small area with a large couch in the shape of a semi-circle.

"KARRRIIII"! A very skinny girl with dark brown hair jumped over the table, and probably with all the strength she had, hugged Kari as tight as she could.

"Hey Kaci," Kari said less enthusiastically, while still seeming genuinely happy to see the other girl.

She looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Kac, these are a few of my friends, Matt, Sora, and TK."

"Hey! It's nice to meet you all," she said, but quickly turned back to Kari, "Kari, how on earth did I not know you had such a killer voice, and what's this about some tour?"

She prodded for details, as she did a waitress came and handed us drinks, on the house. I guess it was nice to be a VIP. It was something clear. Matt actually smelled it before shrugging and taking a sip, it must have been strong by the look on his face. Sora and I shared a glance before discreetly sliding ours onto a high table behind us.

"Oh, yea, I mean I went to school for theater, but I wasn't really finding work in the city. I guess it never came up," I could tell she was feeling awkward about the conversation, as she shifted her weight back and forth, playing with the edge of her shorts between her fingers.

"And Michael never got you set up with anyone? Unbelievable, he's such a narcissist, probably needed to make sure he stayed more famous or something," Kaci rolled her eyes while taking a long sip of her drink. It seemed like she wasn't really a fan of him, but that must have been how Kari knew her.

"Yea, I mean it's fine. It all worked out. I joined Matt's band," She gestured over to him. "So, we will be on tour for the next few months, we have our first show tomorrow."

"Well, that's awesome! I'll seriously try to make it and bring a few people. I feel like there is nothing important happening tomorrow." She said, scrolling through her phone. She suddenly looked back up at Kari with wide eyes. "Also, just to be clear, while I was a little sad to see you guys split, because you are probably the sweetest person he will, actually, ever know, I was really happy to see you two break up."

Kari's eyes widened. She tried to recompose herself, but Kaci saw her face and tried to backtrack.

"No girl, not because of you. Ugh, this is hard. You know, I've known him since we were kids, and while I wish he wasn't such a skeeze, he just is. I'm pretty sure he pushed Megan around a bit before they split, so I'm happy you got out before anything like that could happen to you."

Kari looked for a moment like she might cry, but she quickly softened her features, "I appreciate that, I really just wish him the best ya know?" She said, sweetly.

Anyone that had known her longer than a week could have seen through her, but this Kaci girl looked like she just helped Kari dodge a bullet, and you could tell she felt really good about it.

Suddenly, I felt someone put their hands on my hips from behind. I jumped a little before I heard a small high-pitched voice, "Hey sweetie, who let you in?" I turned around to find a small blonde girl, wearing possibly the tightest dress I had ever seen, slinking up against me.

"Um, ugh, I um with," I pointed and looked desperately over at Kari.

I know it probably came out wrong, but I was literally that awkward in the moment, stuttering and stumbling like I'd never seen a girl before.

She pouted and sashayed out of the section over to the next closest group of guys.

"Kari, I didn't know you had a new guy already! Tell me more?" Kaci looked excitedly towards me.

"We're actually just friends," we said in unison, just as we had in high school, and it was so cringeworthy I didn't even flinch when Matt and Sora covered their mouths to hide their laughter. Kaci simply raised a brow.

"We dated for a few months in high school, but that's it, we've been friends since we were little," Kari rubbed the back of her neck, giving far to much information to seem chill about it.

"Uh-huh," Kaci replied, unconvinced. "We'll see." She sent me a wink. "Alright girl, I'm gonna get out there but it was sogood to see you, I'll try to make it tomorrow."

With that, she gave Kari a kiss on the cheek and was off into the crowd.

"What did I miss?" Colin shouted around one of the security guards, who was not about to let him into the area. We headed back over to him and agreed to get out of there.

Once we were outside everyone gathered around Kari and started firing off questions, talking over each other.

"Was that really Kaci Jet?"

"You mean, one of those sisters on TV?"

"Did you get what she said about Michael?"

"Wait how did I miss so much in 20 minutes?!"

"Everyone, breathe." Kari put her hands up. "Yes, that was Kaci Jet. Yes, she is one of those sisters on TV. I was introduced to her at a party with Michael. She was always pretty nice, she wasn't as much of a mess as most of the other people there, and she's probably the more grounded one in that family."

We took it in as we walked. Sora piped in pretty quick though, "What she said about that other girl? Do you think it's true?"

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised," Kari said sadly.

"I mean, maybe you should think about pressing charges after all. What if he does it to someone else," Sora was trying to be kind, but it stopped Kari in her tracks, she looked offended and hurt.

"You think I don't think of that every day?" Her eyes were glossy, "In the end, the charges would never stick and I would just be splashed on the cover of tabloids as the girl who lied and tried to ruin his career. Can we just drop it? Completely! I'm trying to move on with my life here. I thought that was the whole point of me coming." Her voice had gotten a little erratic, but she was trying her best to stay composed.

We all were quiet, and Sora looked ashamed and on the verge of tears herself. I know she didn't mean to make her feel like that, but no one was willing to argue with Kari about it.

We finished our walk back to the hotel in silence.