A/N: This fic contains potentially triggering subject matter including but not limited to: suicidal references, gun violence, sexual trauma, homelessness, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, and cancer. It may contain inaccuracies. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for reading!
BOOK TWO - PART ONE - CHAPTER FIFTY
Sam started off a little shaky. It was clear she was nervous to be singing in front of so many people. But the melody was slow and easy to follow, and the music sounded pre-written rather than improvised. It all came together almost perfectly on the first try. As soon as the sound faded out, Cat once again flung off her guitar and rushed over to embrace Sam. She knocked her off the stool but caught her before she could fall to the floor.
"Ah—!" Sam hissed through her teeth, "Easy, Cat! Jeez."
Cat ignored her complaints and kissed her. "I love you." She kissed her again. "Your song is beautiful. It's seriously the sweetest thing anyone's ever written me."
"Oh, come on—You're Swell was a hit," Robbie jokingly complained from the other side of the glass.
Cat giggled. "Sorry, Robbie—she's got you beat." She took Sam's hand and led her out of the recording room. "What'd you guys think?" she asked Jade and Tori, who were seated on the couch with Robbie.
"It was actually pretty good. I didn't know you could sing like that. Have you done any other songwriting before?" Jade asked.
"Nah, music's never really been my thing," Sam shrugged. She was weak and had no energy left. She staggered over to an open spot on the couch and sat down. "Fuck," she grunted between clenched teeth.
"Are you hurting?" Cat quietly asked her.
"Yeah." Sam was clearly trying to hide how much pain she was in. "I'm gonna need a minute. Do you think you could get me something to drink?"
"Here." Robbie grabbed a water bottle out of the mini fridge and passed it to her.
"Thanks." Sam uncapped the bottle and chugged its entire contents without taking a breath. Then she chucked it at the trash can, where it bounced off the rim and landed on the floor.
"Do you need some more of your medicine?" Cat asked, reaching for her purse.
"No." Sam was feeling extremely self-conscious—everyone was giving her pity stares. "Can all you guys please just mind your own business?"
Cat leaned down and kissed her. "No one's looking at you, Sam." She turned around. "Hey, guys, are we gonna have time to record the last track?"
"It's seven-thirty," Robbie spoke up. "I say we power through and get the first recordings done today. Tomorrow's our last day to get everything wrapped up."
"Did you get the backing track from Dice?" Cat asked.
Bryson held up a flash drive. "All good to go. Are you guys done with those lyric revisions?"
"Yeah, I think we've got it," Cat replied. The song was originally meant to be a JTC single called Save Me Romeo. Since being dropped from the label, the group had given the lyrics a major overhaul—it was now called Save Me Juliet, and served as a sort of lesbian pride anthem. They were looking forward to the people at their old studio hearing it—along with the rest of the world. They had never taken such an outspoken stand like this and were all eager to make their voices heard.
"Great. I say we get right into it; what do you guys think?" Bryson asked, passing out papers to Cat, Tori and Jade with their new lyrics on them.
"I'm ready if you guys are," Cat shrugged. "C'mon, let's get this done." She started to lead Jade and Tori into the recording room but stopped short when she saw Sam's face. "Hey," she whispered, leaning down closer to her. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Sam swallowed wetly and shook her head. "I drank that water too fast."
"Are you gonna get sick?" Cat asked in concern. Sam didn't answer, so she said, "Sam?"
Sam shot to her feet, pushed past Cat, and ran to the corner of the room where she fell to her knees in front of the trash can. Then there were some stomach-churning splattering sounds, and exclamations of disgust all around.
Cat hurried to Sam's side. "It's okay. You're okay. Just breathe," she murmured, pulling her hair back. Sam's entire body was shaking, and her shoulders were lurching as she retched. Cat gently assured her, "I've got you. Get it all out, Sam."
Sam threw up again. It was only water. Her eyes were tearing up and she was coughing as she choked out, "I'm sorry."
"Shhhh, it's okay. Don't worry about that. Just keep going 'til you feel better," Cat quietly encouraged her. She spit up more water while Cat rubbed her back.
It continued for a couple more minutes until finally Sam sat back. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and turned to the others. "I'm so sorry, you guys."
"They don't mind," Cat told her. She could tell she was extremely embarrassed. "Are you done? Do you want to go sit down?"
Sam just nodded, so Cat took her arm and led her back to the couch. She helped her sit down, then retrieved another bottle of water from the mini fridge and handed it to her. "Little sips this time."
Sam shakily uncapped the bottle and took a small sip.
"You guys?" Cat spoke up. "I think we should call it a day. Sam needs to go home."
"No." Sam took her hand. "Go finish your song. I'm okay."
Cat gave her hand a squeeze. "We'll finish it tomorrow."
"If we need to wait, we can," Bryson told them, though it was clear by his tone that it wasn't his preferred course of action.
"No, really. I feel better now. Go on," Sam urged Cat. Then she forced a smile and said, "Give me a private JTC concert. Impress me."
"Are you sure?" Cat asked.
"Just go," Sam replied, leaning back on the couch and making herself comfortable. "Seriously, Cat."
Cat sighed. "Okay. But if you start feeling bad again, we're stopping," she stated. Then she turned to Jade and Tori. "You guys ready?"
"Let's go," Jade answered, leading them into the recording room.