References: Neon Trees and 3OH!3 are definitely not mine.
Okay, so being adopted is not such a big deal, but everyone (excluding me, that is...) looked so...
I don't know, shocked, maybe?
Oh, and tight-lipped. We mustn't forget that.
The interview was cut short, and almost immediately I was practically picked up by Jay and Leo and the next thing I knew, I sat in the room, pouting and sulking with all my might. I peeked a glance over to Lance, who was seated on the floor, brooding (with all of his might too, I might add). See, I'm not the only one who's upset with this whole thing of keeping things a secret from me. I think.
"Tell me."
Leo looked up from the schedule tacked on the wall. "Tell you what, love?"
I narrowed my eyes into a glare. "Don't 'tell you what, love?' me! Something is up, and why won't you tell me??" I hissed in a harsh whisper.
I heard a chair being dragged right to my side and a heavy weight fell upon it. "We won't tell you, 'cos it's not our place to," Jay whispered into my ear.
I gave a little shudder and inched my chair away from Jay's chair. "Don't come near me. Freak,"
A hurt, puppy-like look appeared instantly on Jay's face. "Aw... you called me a freak,"
I rolled my eyes. "Need I remind you? You're not supposed to be womanizing girls whom you have a professional relationship with, 'specially when this particular girl happens to be me,"
"I wasn't womanizing you," Jay retorted, eyebrow arched. Then, he narrowed his eyes somewhat se- no! I'm not supposed to describe this jerk using the word 'sexy'! That's going against my rules! "But if you insist... I probably will..."
I shrieked and jumped off my chair as Jay chuckled behind his hands in a somewhat evil manner and Leo simply muffled his laughter. "Leo!!" I cried hysterically, "Why the hell're you laughing!?"
"I can't help it!" Leo was still laughing, "You can't seriously be afraid of him, can you?"
"Yeah," With a wonderful (Note the sarcasm here) sense of timing, Jordan came inside, back from rounding up all the instruments, "Jay's a chick magnet, all right, but if you've been immune to all our charms, you're pretty much invincible already. You can't get seduced easily, I'll give you that."
Wow. And here I was thinking Jordan had a sense of pride that matched Jay's. He's pretty quick to give up, I can see. I should get him a sticker that says 'PRIDELESS' for his bass guitar.
"And that doesn't mean I'm giving up," Jordan continued with raised eyebrows, as if he had read my mind. Damn him! "I'm merely bowing away, since Jay's got dibs on your first. After all, as the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea,"
"That is pretty much saying you gave up," I deadpanned, giving him one of my pointed looks.
Jordan gave me an inquiring look. "Ah? You want me to engage you in a game of cat and mouse with me?"
"Or me?" Jay added, smiling that dangerous smile of his.
My God, I am once again being hit with torrents of flirtatious remarks! This is so infuriating!!
"Neither," I replied with a disinterested tone. I stood up and remembered why we were in the waiting room in the first place. "Lance!"
I walked over to where the bookworm was brooding. As I looked at the keyboardist, I noticed how he looked so defenseless, sitting on the ground, back hunched over and hugging his knees. I really wonder why aren't the guys worried about him. Well, I haven't seen Gabriel since he mysteriously disappeared from bringing us back into the waiting room. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Chace, too. And I was gonna ask Chace the reason for why he looks so not 'fabulous' today as well.
Heh. Take that, Mr. OMG-YOU-SUCK-AT-DRESSING-YOURSELF!!
I gave myself a mental kick for being childish. Chace's not even here. I knelt down to check Lance's facial expression. "Lance??"
Lance, previously deep in thought, looked up and met my eyes with his. I instantly remembered the strange display of tenderness last night and my face felt prickly; a sure sign of blushing. Lance merely blinked and asked, "May I help you?"
I faked a laugh. "Oh, nothing really!" Then I stopped the fake laughter. Honestly, I really should be more open. I mean, if I keep up the fake laughs, it's really gonna kill me and make me into Barbie Kaitlyn. "Would you... like to talk about anything?"
Lance seemed to consider this option, as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "I'm not sure. Would you believe me if I said it was complicated?"
I was taken aback with what he had said. I slowly nodded, my curiousity winning over my reluctance to be near him. After all, this is the guy who, um... gave me a blanket and a pat on the head.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it sounds kind of stupid when you put it that way.
I looked over at the others, who were not-so-discreetly staring and trying to hear our conversation. "Somewhere quieter?" I suggested, shooting dirty looks at the others.
"You should go change first, though," Lance replied, nodding and standing up. He held out his hand, and I accepted it and he helped me onto my feet.
"I'll be along in a few. Go wait outside," I said, getting into the makeshift changing booth and grabbing a random pair of jeans and the airbrushed t-shirt from before as I went along.
I decided to not lose the pretty flats, though, because they were absolutely gorgeous, despite the fact that Chace had verbally abused me then practically forced me into them.
What? I've been deprived of girly privileges all my life, but that doesn't mean I grew up like a boy. I actually, if this surprises you, I happen to like girly stuff. So there.
I walked out of the booth, and the guys were still staring at me. "What?" I asked, defensively raising my metaphorical hackles.
"Where are you going with Lance?" Leo asked, seemingly mildly interested.
"You didn't want to explain. So he's going to do it. See ya," I replied, getting out before any of the others got a chance to ask. Hah! Take that! That's for keeping things a secret from me!
-
Lance regarded me with a small smile and led me to a lounge area where prospective parents usually sat while they waited for prospective children. Since there was a big buffet (graciously hosted by the company that conducted the fundraiser) outside, the lounge was pretty much empty. We sat at a small corner, and an air of seriousness descended upon Lance's aura.
I felt rather awkward, because Lance looked dead serious, as if he were about to tell me that there was some kind of national crisis going on.
"So..." he stared at me. Hard.
"So..." I stared back. Harder.
"What's so bad about being an orphan? Why'd you look so upset back there?" I asked in a hurry, afraid that Lance would withdraw back into his sulk-shell.
Lance paused and sighed. "Actually, I don't mind being an ex-orphan, really,"
Wait. What?
"Actually, it's something to do with what happened when I was an orphan,"
Wait. Come again?
"Have you ever considered, or even wondered why the band has such a strange name?"
Wait. WHAT!?
I frowned with annoyance. "Can you stop confusing me with those cryptic sentences and talk normally?" I complained, "And stop asking so many questions - I obviously have no clue of what you're talking about. And no, I've never stopped to consider the name of the band,"
Lance gave a chuckle and leaned back into the sofa easily. "All right. I'm sorry. I'll talk normally, as you wish." he said, "The Lightning Devils... it's a weird name, isn't it?"
I shrugged in my usual non-commital fashion. "I guess so. But there are weirder band names than that, though. Take Neon Trees or 3OH!3 for example,"
Lance laced his fingers together, putting on a pose of contemplation. "Well, that's true. Since Jay's the leader of this band, it's weird he chose a name like The Lightning Devils, is it not?"
Wait. He's right. For someone who takes pride in being 'awesome', 'hot' and whatnot, the name the Lightning Devils is kinda corny. "I guess so," my eyes narrowed in a reflex reaction to the picture of Jay that inevitably popped up into my mind's eye.
Lance had a weird, albeit not creepy, faraway look in his eyes. "'Lightning' because it was a flash of inspiration to form a band and to get attention people around us and 'Devils' because we're seeking attention by enticing people with our music,"
Who knew Jay was that kiddy and idealistic?
"We - Jay, Leo, Jordan, Tyson and I - met each other in the seventh grade. We were arguing and fighting that time, and got sent for detention. The teacher left us to sort out our problems, and then Jay was the one who started talking first.
"He said, 'You guys are a sad bunch, you know that? Why're you so dull?' Then all of us started talking, and suddenly Jay decided, 'I know! Let's form a band!'" Lance continued, "'All of us have something we want, right? Why not form a band to obtain what we each want?' Then we decided that from then, we would be the Lightning Devils."
Well... that's... interesting...
I never knew that the formation of the band had such a heartwarming story, to be honest. I thought Jay would've been like, "Hey! We're all handsome! We're popular! And talented to boot! Why not form the world's most hottest band? So hot that we could surpass supernova standards!"
I volunteered this idea and Lance gave me a guilty look. "I... sort of edited everything Jay said, actually."
I. Knew. It. Everything I thought Jay would say was obviously dead on.
"But what I told you is what he said, too!" Lance hurriedly pressed on to say. Then, he had a sad, sad look on his face. "My reason for being in this band..."
The mood was definitely mournful right now. My happy-go-luckiness is practically suffocating from Lance's radiating emotions. But looking at the usually stoic, calm and emotionless keyboardist being so... upset? It made me feel sympathetic and sorry for him.
"Your reason?" I echoed. Gosh, the Lightning Devils is like some sort of epic cult or something.
"I did say that I was an orphan from here, right?" Lance asked, looking at me, "I had a friend here. We were close, maybe even like blood brothers. We agreed to be adopted as brothers. But then he disappeared one day, without telling me, and because adoption files are strictly confidential, I didn't know where he was taken. I was angry. Livid. Enraged. No one bothered to tell me, not even he himself..."
Lance paused with the tiniest of sighs, and ran a hand through his dark hair, gleaming a subtle navy from the rays pouring in through the windows. "As ridiculous and ludicrous as it is, I want to find him,"
Stunned was probably the right word to use to describe the way I felt. Really, I had no idea Lance was carrying that sort of emotional baggage around with him. He always looks so calm and collected; like nothing was able to faze him from his slow pace of life.
Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.
Well, at least now I know why Lance didn't want to say anything when those journalists asked the question about him being an ex-orphan here. It probably was hard to be reminded that his friend just disappeared without an explanation. If it weren't for my extremely ridiculously strong sense of justice, I'd have forgotten about the blanket thing at once without asking Lance why he did it.
Well, I'll just leave that incident for now. After all...
I know how that feels... the pain of someone disappearing suddenly.
-----------------------------------------------
Okay, so being adopted is not such a big deal, but everyone (excluding me, that is...) looked so...
I don't know, shocked, maybe?
Oh, and tight-lipped. We mustn't forget that.
The interview was cut short, and almost immediately I was practically picked up by Jay and Leo and the next thing I knew, I sat in the room, pouting and sulking with all my might. I peeked a glance over to Lance, who was seated on the floor, brooding (with all of his might too, I might add). See, I'm not the only one who's upset with this whole thing of keeping things a secret from me. I think.
"Tell me."
Leo looked up from the schedule tacked on the wall. "Tell you what, love?"
I narrowed my eyes into a glare. "Don't 'tell you what, love?' me! Something is up, and why won't you tell me??" I hissed in a harsh whisper.
I heard a chair being dragged right to my side and a heavy weight fell upon it. "We won't tell you, 'cos it's not our place to," Jay whispered into my ear.
I gave a little shudder and inched my chair away from Jay's chair. "Don't come near me. Freak,"
A hurt, puppy-like look appeared instantly on Jay's face. "Aw... you called me a freak,"
I rolled my eyes. "Need I remind you? You're not supposed to be womanizing girls whom you have a professional relationship with, 'specially when this particular girl happens to be me,"
"I wasn't womanizing you," Jay retorted, eyebrow arched. Then, he narrowed his eyes somewhat se- no! I'm not supposed to describe this jerk using the word 'sexy'! That's going against my rules! "But if you insist... I probably will..."
I shrieked and jumped off my chair as Jay chuckled behind his hands in a somewhat evil manner and Leo simply muffled his laughter. "Leo!!" I cried hysterically, "Why the hell're you laughing!?"
"I can't help it!" Leo was still laughing, "You can't seriously be afraid of him, can you?"
"Yeah," With a wonderful (Note the sarcasm here) sense of timing, Jordan came inside, back from rounding up all the instruments, "Jay's a chick magnet, all right, but if you've been immune to all our charms, you're pretty much invincible already. You can't get seduced easily, I'll give you that."
Wow. And here I was thinking Jordan had a sense of pride that matched Jay's. He's pretty quick to give up, I can see. I should get him a sticker that says 'PRIDELESS' for his bass guitar.
"And that doesn't mean I'm giving up," Jordan continued with raised eyebrows, as if he had read my mind. Damn him! "I'm merely bowing away, since Jay's got dibs on your first. After all, as the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea,"
"That is pretty much saying you gave up," I deadpanned, giving him one of my pointed looks.
Jordan gave me an inquiring look. "Ah? You want me to engage you in a game of cat and mouse with me?"
"Or me?" Jay added, smiling that dangerous smile of his.
My God, I am once again being hit with torrents of flirtatious remarks! This is so infuriating!!
"Neither," I replied with a disinterested tone. I stood up and remembered why we were in the waiting room in the first place. "Lance!"
I walked over to where the bookworm was brooding. As I looked at the keyboardist, I noticed how he looked so defenseless, sitting on the ground, back hunched over and hugging his knees. I really wonder why aren't the guys worried about him. Well, I haven't seen Gabriel since he mysteriously disappeared from bringing us back into the waiting room. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Chace, too. And I was gonna ask Chace the reason for why he looks so not 'fabulous' today as well.
Heh. Take that, Mr. OMG-YOU-SUCK-AT-DRESSING-YOURSELF!!
I gave myself a mental kick for being childish. Chace's not even here. I knelt down to check Lance's facial expression. "Lance??"
Lance, previously deep in thought, looked up and met my eyes with his. I instantly remembered the strange display of tenderness last night and my face felt prickly; a sure sign of blushing. Lance merely blinked and asked, "May I help you?"
I faked a laugh. "Oh, nothing really!" Then I stopped the fake laughter. Honestly, I really should be more open. I mean, if I keep up the fake laughs, it's really gonna kill me and make me into Barbie Kaitlyn. "Would you... like to talk about anything?"
Lance seemed to consider this option, as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "I'm not sure. Would you believe me if I said it was complicated?"
I was taken aback with what he had said. I slowly nodded, my curiousity winning over my reluctance to be near him. After all, this is the guy who, um... gave me a blanket and a pat on the head.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it sounds kind of stupid when you put it that way.
I looked over at the others, who were not-so-discreetly staring and trying to hear our conversation. "Somewhere quieter?" I suggested, shooting dirty looks at the others.
"You should go change first, though," Lance replied, nodding and standing up. He held out his hand, and I accepted it and he helped me onto my feet.
"I'll be along in a few. Go wait outside," I said, getting into the makeshift changing booth and grabbing a random pair of jeans and the airbrushed t-shirt from before as I went along.
I decided to not lose the pretty flats, though, because they were absolutely gorgeous, despite the fact that Chace had verbally abused me then practically forced me into them.
What? I've been deprived of girly privileges all my life, but that doesn't mean I grew up like a boy. I actually, if this surprises you, I happen to like girly stuff. So there.
I walked out of the booth, and the guys were still staring at me. "What?" I asked, defensively raising my metaphorical hackles.
"Where are you going with Lance?" Leo asked, seemingly mildly interested.
"You didn't want to explain. So he's going to do it. See ya," I replied, getting out before any of the others got a chance to ask. Hah! Take that! That's for keeping things a secret from me!
-
Lance regarded me with a small smile and led me to a lounge area where prospective parents usually sat while they waited for prospective children. Since there was a big buffet (graciously hosted by the company that conducted the fundraiser) outside, the lounge was pretty much empty. We sat at a small corner, and an air of seriousness descended upon Lance's aura.
I felt rather awkward, because Lance looked dead serious, as if he were about to tell me that there was some kind of national crisis going on.
"So..." he stared at me. Hard.
"So..." I stared back. Harder.
"What's so bad about being an orphan? Why'd you look so upset back there?" I asked in a hurry, afraid that Lance would withdraw back into his sulk-shell.
Lance paused and sighed. "Actually, I don't mind being an ex-orphan, really,"
Wait. What?
"Actually, it's something to do with what happened when I was an orphan,"
Wait. Come again?
"Have you ever considered, or even wondered why the band has such a strange name?"
Wait. WHAT!?
I frowned with annoyance. "Can you stop confusing me with those cryptic sentences and talk normally?" I complained, "And stop asking so many questions - I obviously have no clue of what you're talking about. And no, I've never stopped to consider the name of the band,"
Lance gave a chuckle and leaned back into the sofa easily. "All right. I'm sorry. I'll talk normally, as you wish." he said, "The Lightning Devils... it's a weird name, isn't it?"
I shrugged in my usual non-commital fashion. "I guess so. But there are weirder band names than that, though. Take Neon Trees or 3OH!3 for example,"
Lance laced his fingers together, putting on a pose of contemplation. "Well, that's true. Since Jay's the leader of this band, it's weird he chose a name like The Lightning Devils, is it not?"
Wait. He's right. For someone who takes pride in being 'awesome', 'hot' and whatnot, the name the Lightning Devils is kinda corny. "I guess so," my eyes narrowed in a reflex reaction to the picture of Jay that inevitably popped up into my mind's eye.
Lance had a weird, albeit not creepy, faraway look in his eyes. "'Lightning' because it was a flash of inspiration to form a band and to get attention people around us and 'Devils' because we're seeking attention by enticing people with our music,"
Who knew Jay was that kiddy and idealistic?
"We - Jay, Leo, Jordan, Tyson and I - met each other in the seventh grade. We were arguing and fighting that time, and got sent for detention. The teacher left us to sort out our problems, and then Jay was the one who started talking first.
"He said, 'You guys are a sad bunch, you know that? Why're you so dull?' Then all of us started talking, and suddenly Jay decided, 'I know! Let's form a band!'" Lance continued, "'All of us have something we want, right? Why not form a band to obtain what we each want?' Then we decided that from then, we would be the Lightning Devils."
Well... that's... interesting...
I never knew that the formation of the band had such a heartwarming story, to be honest. I thought Jay would've been like, "Hey! We're all handsome! We're popular! And talented to boot! Why not form the world's most hottest band? So hot that we could surpass supernova standards!"
I volunteered this idea and Lance gave me a guilty look. "I... sort of edited everything Jay said, actually."
I. Knew. It. Everything I thought Jay would say was obviously dead on.
"But what I told you is what he said, too!" Lance hurriedly pressed on to say. Then, he had a sad, sad look on his face. "My reason for being in this band..."
The mood was definitely mournful right now. My happy-go-luckiness is practically suffocating from Lance's radiating emotions. But looking at the usually stoic, calm and emotionless keyboardist being so... upset? It made me feel sympathetic and sorry for him.
"Your reason?" I echoed. Gosh, the Lightning Devils is like some sort of epic cult or something.
"I did say that I was an orphan from here, right?" Lance asked, looking at me, "I had a friend here. We were close, maybe even like blood brothers. We agreed to be adopted as brothers. But then he disappeared one day, without telling me, and because adoption files are strictly confidential, I didn't know where he was taken. I was angry. Livid. Enraged. No one bothered to tell me, not even he himself..."
Lance paused with the tiniest of sighs, and ran a hand through his dark hair, gleaming a subtle navy from the rays pouring in through the windows. "As ridiculous and ludicrous as it is, I want to find him,"
Stunned was probably the right word to use to describe the way I felt. Really, I had no idea Lance was carrying that sort of emotional baggage around with him. He always looks so calm and collected; like nothing was able to faze him from his slow pace of life.
Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.
Well, at least now I know why Lance didn't want to say anything when those journalists asked the question about him being an ex-orphan here. It probably was hard to be reminded that his friend just disappeared without an explanation. If it weren't for my extremely ridiculously strong sense of justice, I'd have forgotten about the blanket thing at once without asking Lance why he did it.
Well, I'll just leave that incident for now. After all...
I know how that feels... the pain of someone disappearing suddenly.
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