Author's note: Two new characters are introduced~ (Both being pretty minor) I'm trying not to use too many OC characters so these two are not original characters. On another note, you guys reviewed so quickly! It made me wonder what was so special about chapter 5. Manami Nightray: Thanks so much for always reviewing. Guest: I may consider using one of those couples. You'll just need to wait to find out. ;) Sakural7865: Thank you for clarifying that for me. I guess I forgot. I changed the "or" to a slash. youngnozomi: Wow. Your review was pretty lengthy. I appreciate you commenting on various parts of the story. I love to hear what you guys think. Thank you. If you guys give me something to respond to, I'll do that here. Otherwise, thanks again for the lovely reviews!
As usual, I own nothing except Mirella. The song at the end is Find a Way by Safetysuit (still not mine) which I highly recommend listening to. Review please! At least two and I'll update.
And a quick key for the duet at the end:
Italics= Leo is singing
Normal= Elliot is singing
Underlined= Both of them are singing
Chapter 6: Into the Limelight
Oz's POV
It didn't take long for Vincent to finally appear at Gil's side meaning that I should probably mingle with the crowd for the time being. His brother complex always tends to be so strong that it makes the atmosphere suffocating. Gil has apologized on multiple occasions concerning this problem, but it wasn't as if it's his fault. I tend to get carried away with my protectiveness over Ada as well, even though I'm not as extreme, so I understand the need to be attached to a sibling to an extent.
Upon wandering over to the bar in the back of the room, a young girl sitting in the seat beside mine asked the bartender to get two glasses of lemonade for the both of us despite us being complete strangers. She grinned as she turned towards me and commented on the band's performance while I answered accordingly in my so-called "host mode". As I gave her my response, she quickly started to jot down notes based on my mannerisms. Honestly, it was pretty weird to watch.
"You can call me Helen. I'm a writer for a music magazine called Tarantelle. Well, I will be once I show my boss my good idea. But anyway, I would like to write an article on 'Edge of the Abyss'. You are the lead singer aren't you?"
"I am. My name is Oz. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions."
Even though I wasn't the leader of the band, I allowed to freely bombard me with questions. If we did get an article in Tarantelle, we should be able to get more gigs. Performing is pretty exhilarating for all of us since we spend so much time preparing for these moments, so I think answering things that aren't too personal should be fine.
Cheerfully, she asked about the relationship of the band as a whole, how long have we been a band, whether or not we had any connections to a company, and why I decided to audition to become part of this band. She also promised that she would be asking every member these questions for accuracy. Of course, since I knew that what I say can easily be used against me, I gave my answers as carefully and truthfully as possible.
"Alright. Thank you. And um... May I ask who that is?" Helen wondered shyly as she turned her head to admire Gil.
I don't understand my actions at this point. Unconsciously, I told her that I didn't know his name and that he's just a worker at my uncle company. Because of that, I decided to talk to him since we would be seeing each other often. Why did I lie? Understanding the occasional habit of not asking for a person's name, she sulked a bit, but became lively again after reading the information she got. Satisfied, she left her lemonade half-finished on the counter as she hurried in Leo's direction.
If I had known the truth about Tarantelle, the hurricane that figuratively crashed upon the band wouldn't have been as surprising.
Within a few weeks, we were able to schedule many gigs and gained quite a number of fans. Apparently, we already had fan clubs set up despite still being new to the music scene. Jack and Lacie were rather pleased while Reim was slightly more stressed with the increased work he had to do. Unfortunately, this stress spread out to the rest of the band due to Elliot's belief that we needed to add more to our song list so that we wouldn't have three minute concerts.
Not surprisingly, the bodyguards had it tough as well as they tried to keep the fans away from us. However, Gil was an exception since he was more focused on pushing away fangirls that were after him and Vincent who was helping his older brother do just that. To be honest, I had mixed feelings about all of this. Fortunately, we were all able to take a break when we had to find a new way to make our name known once the magazine hype died down. According to Mirella, who became the leader of Elliot's fan club despite his hostility towards her, we are still considered to be a group of amateurs until we manage to participate and do well in the Battle of the Bands that will occur in a couple of months. Although it isn't necessary to already have fans before the competition, the support does help boost morale.
"I think doing a charity concert or participating in a variety show or anything along those lines sounds like a good idea," Mirella suggested one day when I decided to visit the shop. "But it'd probably be best for you to rest first. You look like you're going to pass out any minute now."
Placing my head on my arms that were draped on a chair, I made a sound of agreement.
"That's the plan. Leo's our co-leader and he's pretty annoyed at how he's had no time to read."
"That's understandable. I recommend going to The Blue Angel café if you want to relax. Talking to me will get boring after a while since I'm still on the clock."
Aware of the inconvenience, I decided to go along with her idea and head over to the café. Now that I think about it, I've never been inside the building and I still needed to buy Break his macarons, so this would be like killing two birds with one stone. However, I was in for more than I expected when I witnessed Elliot and Leo singing a duet together in a way that seemed very personal. Unless I'm wrong, my guess is that they are singing a love song to each other. Normally, I'd think otherwise because Elliot doesn't seem like the type to be into guys, but the way they seemed to sing like they were in a world of their own made my thoughts ring true.
"Hold on, what's the rush, what's the rush we're not done are we
Cause I don't need to change this atmosphere we've made if
You can stay one more hour, can you stay one more hour?
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me
You know I'm gonna find a time to catch your hand and make you stay."
"Hold on, I'll be here when it's all done you know
Cause what's the point in chasing if I can't enjoy your face and
We can't be wrong tonight, can we be wrong tonight.
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me
You know I'm gonna find a time to catch your hand and make you stay
I don't care what clothes you wear, it's time to love and I don't care
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me."
"And if I was running, you'd be the one who I would be running to
And if I was crying, you would be lining the cloud that would pull me through
And if I was scared, then I would be glad to tell you and walk away
But I am not lying, I am just trying to find my way in to you."
"You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me
You know I'm gonna find a time to catch your hand and make you stay
I don't care what clothes you wear, it's time to love and I don't care
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me."
"You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me
You know I'm gonna find a time to catch your hand and make you stay
I don't care what clothes you wear, it's time to love and I don't care
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me."
"If I was running
If I was crying
If I was scared
You know I'm gonna find a way to let you have your way with me."
It would be hard to deny the fact that I was completely absorbed in the pair's singing that I didn't notice the cashier telling me to take the cake and macarons I ordered. Noticing me, Leo smiled as he approached me while Elliot simply appeared livid and slightly nervous. Sensing the negative atmosphere, an waitress by the name of Marie offered to let us use a large storage room to talk in private. Inevitably, the conversation we would have will end up changing something inside me and someone will start to move.
I just found out that I should typed macarons instead of macaroons because I was trying to go for the french version. I honestly had no idea so I fixed it in this chapter. If only I were better at baking... They look really good. I can't even make macaroons though. Concerning this chapter, I am winging everything since I've never been in this kind of situation before. The drama starts in the next chapter, so stay tuned~