Queen For A Day

CALI’S POV
Letting go of both of them was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Especially Vic, which made me realise who I loved more. There was a real temptation to be with him, especially after he kissed me. But it was better for me to be single, at least for this tour. I had spent the rest of the day in my room, just on the internet. Jaime and Tony had both visit me, obviously finding out what had happened, and they even brought lunch for me which I was grateful for. I didn’t really want to leave this room. Mike didn’t visit me until it was dark. He knocked on the door then entered, carrying a plate of Chinese Takeaway.
“Have I ever told you how much you mean to me?” I winked and laughed as he handed me the plate.
He gave me a forced smile then sat beside me, watching me carefully.
“Everything ok?” I asked after a minute or two of silence.
“Why did you do it?” I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“What do you mean?”
“You broke up with Cooper and ended everything with Vic as well. I thought you were just going to choose one?” I had a feeling there was something he wasn’t telling me. He seemed to be holding back.
“It’s my decision.” I retorted with a frown.
“I know. But you and Vic both want to be together, what the fuck is stopping it from happening?”
“I just can’t ok! I don’t want to put Cooper through that! I don’t even want to put myself through that right now, I just want to be single and have no one to get in the way of my life.”
“Cali I know exactly what’s wrong here.” Mike bit his lip ring and looked at the floor, “You’re just scared. You’re scared it’s going to fuck up again aren’t you? You know that if things go wrong between you and Vic again that’ll be the end of everything.”
I closed my eyes, stopping the tears from falling. He was right. I was terrified of losing Vic again. ”I don’t want to put myself through that.” I whispered, dropping my fork into my plate. I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just-“ Mike stopped and sighed. “I’ll let you eat.” His weight shifted off the bed and he squeezed my shoulder before leaving the room.
I took a few deep breaths and stopped the tears from forming before going back to my unwanted food. Mine and Vic’s relationship was so complicated, something always went wrong, and neither of us were strong enough to try and fix things. Well I knew I wasn’t. If he was he wasn’t doing a good job of it. I finished my food then took my plate out to the kitchen. Everyone was in the front lounge and they all went silent as soon as I entered. I slowly threw away the cardboard plate and placed my fork in the sink before turning to them.
“I’m going to sleep. Goodnight Guys.” I gave a fake smile then went to the bathroom, quickly using it and brushing my teeth. There was only a dull conversation going when I left the bathroom to go to my room. I changed back into my sleep clothes then flicked off the lights and got into bed. Then I started to cry. I don’t know why it started, but I couldn’t help it. It started off with a few tears but in no time it was full on sobs wracking my body. I cried harder when I thought about Vic and Cooper, the emotions of the day suddenly catching up on me. After a while I got tired and the sobs turned into silent weeping. Eventually I heard movement and people yelling goodnights to each other. Everyone must be going to sleep. I wanted to reach over and check my phone but I just couldn’t move. The movements outside the door soon stopped and there was a complete silence around the bus. It was too quiet for me to sleep, my thoughts were screaming at me, causing my head to hurt.
“Cali.” I froze when I heard a voice outside the door. It creaked open but I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. “Are you asleep?” Vic.
I was silent.
I heard feet padding across the floor and felt someone pull my blankets up over my body, nice and tight. He kissed the side of my head gently and walked back to the door. “I love you.”
I was so tempted to say it back, but he left before I could even move. The three words still ringing in my ears. He was so amazing. And I’d let him go, just when figured out we loved each other.
I fell asleep still replaying his last sentence in my head.

A knocking on my door drew me out of my sleep the next morning.
“Cali, sorry to wake you but we need to talk.” Cooper came in quietly.
I hesitated before opening my eyes, “About what?”
“The band.” Ohh.
“Ok, I’ll be up in a second.” I quickly got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, given the chill of the morning but the warmth of the bus, and walked out to the front lounge. I was in a better mood than I was the night before, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of Vic’s late night visit. All of Pierce the Veil were lounging around and Cooper was cooking something in the kitchen. Spencer was at his usual spot on his laptop.
“Morning everyone.” I sung out, getting a greeting from everyone.
“Someone’s in a good mood.” Mike looked at me quizzically. I ignored him and sat on one of the seats at the small table.
“So we need a band name.” Cooper spoke up, glancing at me from where he was making what I think were waffles.
“Ugh, I still haven’t thought of anything.” I put my head in my hands. Our first live performance was that night and we still didn’t have a name. “Guys how did you get your name again?” I turned to the Pierce guys.
“It was a term I heard in College.” Vic shrugged, “Just think of something that is meaningful but also sounds good.”
“Easier said than done.” Cooper muttered. We stayed in silence.
“Cali you said something to me yesterday,” Vic spoke slowly. I shot him a warning glance, unsure of what he was going to say. “Something about being stuck in San Diego. I don’t remember what words you used though.. but at the time I thought it was a cool way of phrasing it.”
I thought hard about everything I’d said. I knew I did say something about being stuck there..
“Wait, you said something similar to me,” Cooper said tightly. “You were trapped or something like it was… a cage.”
“That’s it! You said the city was a cage.” Vic said enthusiastically, “that sentence just stuck with me.”
“But how can we turn that into a band name?” I couldn’t see what they were getting at.
“How about ‘This City, My Cage’?” Cooper stopped cooking and turned to me. The name had a bit of a ring to it. It was kinda cool. And I came up with it without even meaning to.
“I kinda like it.” I said slowly.
“This City My Cage.. TCMC.. It sounds really cool!” Jaime put in. I glanced at all the guys in the room who all nodded and smiled at me encouragingly.
“That’s it then. This City My Cage. We officially have a name.” I grinned at Cooper and he returned it.
“Great! I really like it too.” Spencer nodded approvingly, “I’ll email your manager and record label about it now.”
Well at least that was one less thing to worry about now.
“So what time is everything today?” I asked the guys, not wanting to bother Spencer about it.
“We have a sound check at 1:30, the shows at 4:00.” Mike answered. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 11:30.
“Um, Vic.” Spencer looked up all of a sudden. “You may want to come read this.”
Vic jumped up and read something on the laptop over Spencer’s shoulder. We all watched, unsure of what was happening. Vic’s face slowly drained of colour and I could see his eyes growing as he continued reading.
Oh shit… Rayne..
He straightened up and looked directly at his band members. “We’re done. It’s all over and it’s my fault.” He whispered.
“Vic no,” I stepped towards him but he stopped me.
“Don’t even try Cali.” He hissed at me before turning back to his band members. I was taken aback. What the hell?!
“Oi what the hell is going on?” Mike yelled defensively, coming to stand by my side.
“Fearless have cancelled our contract, we don’t have a record label anymore.” Vic answered tightly. His face was still pale and he suddenly looked incredibly tired. He shook his head suddenly and pushed past us, walking out of the bus muttering something about getting some air.
“What?” Mike asked weakly, looking at Spencer for answers.
“All I got was an email from someone at Fearless Records saying your contract had been cancelled due to ‘unprofessional circumstances’. Do any of you know why?” Spencer looked just as surprised as the rest of the band.
“I do.” They all turned to me. “It was Rayne. Her dad works at Fearless. She blackmailed Vic into their relationship, saying she’d lie to her dad and make them cancel you guys if she and Vic broke up. That’s the only reason they were together.” I explained.
“Fuck.” Tony muttered.
“And we were all mad at him for it…” Mike sat down and put his head in his hands. “What are we going to do now?”
“You can finish this tour and still do Warped, but you’re just not signed.” Spencer told them, fiddling with his hair nervously.
“I’m going to go find Vic.” I sighed, someone needed to. Before he did something stupid. I managed to climb out of the bus without help and looked around. It was the first time I’d been out of the bus since we’d left Vic’s house two nights before. We were in a simple parking lot with a big fence surrounding it separating the street from the venue. There was a grassy verge off to one side with a few trees on it. He must be there? Where else could he have possibly gone? I walked towards the grass, ignoring the dull pain in my feet. I hadn’t really walked much in the past two days.
“Vic?” I called softly, looking around the trees. I spotting him sitting with his back against a tree trunk. His snapback was sitting next to him on the grass and his hair was blowing lightly in the breeze.
“Vic, you don’t need to beat yourself up over this.”
He looked up at me with sad eyes. “But it’s my fault.”
“No it’s not. It’s Rayne’s fault. She’s just a bitch.” I looked around for somewhere to sit. If I tried to sit on the grass there was no way I’d be getting up again. “Can we go somewhere else? I need to sit down.”
Vic glanced up with a guilty face, “sure, c’mon.” He got up and picked up his hat, placing it on my head.
“Thanks,” I giggled. Then he picked me up bridal style. I have no idea how he could’ve done it, I weighed so much.
“Vic if you fucking drop me!” I yelled in surprise.
“”Jeeze calm down, I’m not going to.” He kissed me cheek, “I’m not going to let anything or anyone hurt you ever.” He walked us across the grass, the opposite direction of the bus until he found a little park bench. He sat down on it but kept holding onto me.
“I think you can let me go now.” I murmured, our faces really close.
“Nah I kind of like this.” He glanced at my lips.
“Just kiss me already.”
And he did. I did it in the hopes that it would stop his worrying about Rayne and the band. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it right now. I’m sure Mike or Spencer would be trying to email the record company to explain things, but they had no evidence. For now there was no certain future for Pierce the Veil.

Notes

uh oh.. drama for the band :O

thanks for reading!
Beth xx