Luna’s POV
My head was magnetized to my pillow, that’s how heavy it felt. Not only did it feel heavy, it was also throbbing like crazy and I was afraid to move it because I just knew it would make the pain worse. I recognized the pain, but I was surprised it was there.
The pain I was feeling was from a hangover. I recognized it by the shakeish feeling and slight nausea that came along to it. Fuck, that meant I had a shitload to drink. I hadn’t had a hangover in years because alcohol didn’t have as much influence on me as before.
I buried my head in the pillow and tried to remember everything that happened yesterday evening. It was all one big black hole in my memory. Instead I tried to think of the things I did remember of yesterday. Breakfast, a big argument about those bills with my bank, asking my dad for money to pay the bills for the second time, feeling incredibly guilty about that… And I guess that was the last thing I remembered.
With great effort I got up and threw the sheets of my body. I groaned as I felt the throbbing in my head getting worse.
After a few minutes of trying to find the courage to stand up and face the rest of my day, I actually managed to and dragged myself to the bathroom.
Okay Luna, you can do this. Just remember that time in your life when you woke up with a hangover every week. You functioned then and you can do that now too.
Step one. Splash water in your face.
I looked at myself in the mirror before bending down to open the tap and splash the water that came out in my face. I hissed at the cold droplets rolling over my face. They only made my headache worse, but at least I was awake now.
Step two. Aspirin.
I groaned as I opened the cabinet and grabbed a rectangular box. I took out one of the little white pills and gulped it down with a little water. Too bad these things didn't work right away.
Step three. Water.
I dragged myself from the bathroom to the kitchen to get a glass and filled it with water. I looked at my coffee machine with desire, hating myself for drinking so much last night. From experience I knew that coffee just made my headache worse.
Step four. Breakfast.
I took out a bowl and some cereal, adding a shitload of sugar. From the same experience, I knew that did kind of help. I guess my body just needed a lot of energy to start up again. I sat down at one of the kitchen chairs, attempting various times to eat my cereal. But my hands were still a bit shakeish and I kept missing my mouth or the cereal.
After I had eventually succeeded, I got back to my bedroom and took out my phone. It was time for step five. Finding out what happened last night.
I looked at the date on my phone. Okay, so it definitely was college night yesterday. So I guess Casey and Danny came over.
I checked my camera roll and it proved my theory. It was filled with weird pictures on which we all were very drunk. I looked through all of them to check if I did something crazy, like stealing one of the neighbour’s cats.
Luckily nothing weird happened according to the evidence I had gathered. It still felt a bit weird that I had no clue what happened yesterday between my talk with the bank and Casey and Danny coming over.
I closed my camera roll and went through my notifications. Something weird got my attention right away. Two missed calls and one voicemail from Vic. All around the time of half past eight. Why did he call me?
I decided to call voicemail and listen to what he had to say. Somehow I was nervous. Even though Vic had seen me at my worst, I was afraid I had called him and said stupid things. Maybe I had even mentioned my feelings for him…
My heart skipped a beat when I heard his voice through the speaker of my phone. “Hey Luna, it’s Vic. I’m going to be late. You know my mom, always trying to make me stay longer and I actually kind of forgot about time. I hope you get this message, so you won’t be waiting for me. I will be there as fast as I can. As long as traffic won’t be a bitch, I’ll be there around half past nine.” There was a small silence and a soft sigh. “Nevermind, it will probably later. It’s all stuck here.” He groaned. “Well, I see you in a bit. Bye”
It took a while before my hungover brain had processed what he said. We were supposed to meet up, but I got drunk...what the fuck happened?!
Was I already drunk when he arrived? Did he get drunk with us? Was he mad because I obviously forgot our appointment? Of course he was! I would be!
Shit, shit, shit! Why was I so stupid?! I needed to apologize. I was always forgetful and stupid, but this was one of the awkwardest things I had ever done.
I took a deep breath and hit the green button next to Vic’s name. It didn’t take long before he answered. He probably was already on his phone when I called. “Hey Luna.” He said. “What’s up?”
Why didn’t he sound mad at all? “Uhm hey, Vic...I just wanted to call to say sorry for last night. It was really stupid and childish of me.” I said, not really knowing how to voice my thoughts.
I heard Vic softly chuckle. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at all. It was actually kind of funny.” He said.
I didn’t really know what he was referring to, so I decided to just ask. I probably couldn’t make more of a fool of myself anyway. “Uhm, can you like...tell me what happened last night?” I said and I felt myself turning red. This was so embarrassing.
“You don’t remember anything from last night?” Vic asked, but he didn't really sounded surprised.
“Well, I remember everything that happened before noon. I know I must've messaged you shortly after and I know that Casey and Danny must've been here for college night, but I remember nothing of it.” I explained. The aspirin was slowly starting to kick in and I started to feel less like a zombie every second. That did mean that the consequences of yesterday hit me harder now.
“Oh wow, that's a lot of memory loss. Well, I don't know everything because I only arrived late in the evening. All I know is that you messaged me to work on that last song and I came here right after my visit to my mom. There was a traffic jam, though and because of that I came way too late. When I arrived, Danny opened the door for me and everyone was very drunk. You were all out of alcohol, so you played never have I ever with orange juice and I joined in.” He said and I looked at the living room through the door opening in my bedroom. On the salon table was indeed an empty bottle of orange juice.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Vic. This is not only very embarrassing for me but also very annoying for you.” I said. I brought my left hand to my forehead and rubbed over the sensitive skin.
“Don’t apologize, Luna. Yes, I was a bit annoyed yesterday, but that was mostly because of the traffic jam.” He said and I was glad he wasn’t mad at me.
“Did something else happen after that?” I asked, really hoping nothing did.
“Uh, not really. You got really tired, so I brought you to bed. After that everyone went home.” He said. His voice sounded different from before and I had the feeling he was keeping something from me, but it could’ve been because I could hardly believe I didn’t do anything stupid while I was intoxicated.
“Oh okay. Thanks for helping me, Vic. Yesterday and today. And thanks for being so understanding. It won't happen anymore...oh god this is so not professional.” I said, shaking my head at the thought of yesterday.
Vic softly chuckled again. “It's really no problem, Luna. Do I see you this friday in the studio?” He asked.
“Yeah, I see you friday. Bye.” I said and I hung up. I looked at my phone and I couldn’t believe how much of an asshole I was. It was a wonder people still hung out with me.

*

There was a reason why I hated PE class in high school. It was not because I hated sports, it was simply because everyone else was better than me. I hated all those very fanatic people who didn’t even let you play along and got mad at you if you did something wrong. I was a perfectionist and I hated it when people saw that I wasn’t good at something.
It was moments like this in which I wished I had participated more in PE class or maybe just went to the gym this week.
Because even though I started of running quite fast, I was slowing down now, my lungs burning and feet aching. And I had only run a few blocks.
I arrived at the recording studio half an hour too late, sweat running from my forehead down to my cheek and dropping down my neck. I leaned with my hand against the brick wall to regain my breath. I wiped the sweat off my head and tried to make myself look presentable again. Luckily I never turned red, that would’ve made this day even worse. Now I just had to hope that I didn’t smell.
I took a deep breath and walked through the glass door, trying to keep myself together even though this day had started out horrible. I turned left from the information desk and saw the wooden door with ‘studio 36’ on it. This was quite a big building, so there were more than forty studios in here.
I opened the door and the five heads in the room turned my way. Danny was already sitting on his chair behind the panel and the guys were sitting on the couch, Jaime already with his bass in his hands, since we had discussed that he would go first today.
“I’m so so so sorry.” I said desperately. I rushed to my chair and threw my purse on it. “My car suddenly had a flat tire and I couldn't fix that, so I had to take the train and to make matters worse, my train had to be late.”
Danny chuckled and threw me his bottle of water. I guess he saw that I was dehydrated from running. “It sounds a lot like you're making up excuses for sleeping in. This is not the first time you're late.” He said. He said it in a joking manner, but I knew he was a little disappointed. He had told me very often, back when I was his assistant-producer, that I really couldn't be late anymore when I was a producer myself.
I opened the bottle and took a gulp from the half warm liquid. “Normally I’m three minutes late, Danny.” I said. I had an amazing talent of either coming just on time or a few seconds too late. “I would never be half an hour too late if it weren't for everything that has happened this morning. I promise they are not excuses. I have honestly no idea how I ended it up with a flat tire and I can’t help that the train is late. It’s like life hates me right now.”
“Oh poor you.” Mike said sarcastically and I turned around to glare at him. He just grinned back.
“Well, now you’re here, the guys said they had an idea on where to record some of the songs on the album.” Danny said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Oh, tell me!” I said enthusiastically, but still a little out of breath from running. I was really looking forward to know what they had in mind. I was really eager to have such an unique recording experience.
Vic immediately leaned forward in the couch. “Well, we were thinking. There’s this really fancy hotel in San Diego. It’s a skyscraper, a very high one in the middle of the city. It would be perfect to record a few songs there.” he said, smiling. I saw a glow spread over his face as he talked about this. A glow I was sure to be on my face now too.
“That’s amazing! I think that would actually be a really good idea…” I said, not knowing how to follow up. I really did think it was a good idea, I just thought of something that could possibly ruin it.
“But?” Tony asked with one of his eyebrows raised. All of them were looking at me like I was about to step on a puppy.
I let out a breath. “I hate to be the one to ruin the mood, but there’s one thing. How the fuck are we going to get the money to rent out the roof of a fancy hotel for more than a week?” I said, already trying to think of solutions in my mind. I wanted this to work, but it was going to be hard.
Jaime let out a breath and shook his head with a smile on his face. “Oh, thank god. I thought you were going to point out a real problem! We’ve already figured that out long ago!” Jaime said, waving my comment away.
I raised an eyebrow. “You have?” I asked.
That’s when Mike stood up and petted my shoulder. “You don’t have to do everything. We’re a team. We once were and we still are. We have asked management. They’re okay with giving us money for it as long as we post lots of stuff about it on social media so the album will sell well.” he said, smiling down at me.
I couldn’t help but smile back. At least that was one burden falling off my shoulders.
Suddenly there was a knock coming from the door. Which was a bit weird. I couldn’t really think of someone who would knock before coming in. Most people just marched in around here. Which could be really annoying if you were in the middle of recording.
“Uhm, come in?” I said a bit hesitant.
In the doorway appeared a pale girl with shining red hair flowing over her shoulders. She had freckles all over her white skin and she wore shorts with a floral crop top. I recognized this girl immediately and felt all the color leave my face.
“I’m sorry I’m interrupting, I was just looking for-” She said and stopped when she saw me. A wide smile crept on her face. “Oh my god! I haven’t seen you in ages!” She said. It seemed like she had already totally forgotten where she initially came for when she walked over to me and dragged me into a hug.
It took me a while to react and awkwardly hugged her back. I could already feel the eyes of the guys burn into the sight of us. “Hey Danielle.” I said as she let go of me.
The first thing I saw when I let go was Vic’s face. He had stood up from the couch and was looking at the sight of us two with confusion, but I was sure there was a little bit of anger mixed into it as well. “You guys know each other?” he asked, being finally able to get something off his lips after a short moment of silence.
I swallowed away the lump in my throat. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining this at all.

Notes

Heeey guys,

So here is my explanation of why I was away for so long: I honestly can't explain how sorry I am that it took me so long to update is, mostly because I know there are a lot of people reading and following this story. Honestly there's a lot of changes going on in my life right now and I'm struggling really hard to keep in touch with both the new aspects of my life as the old ones. It's no excuse, but because of this I just couldn't find the motivation to write. That's honestly why this chapter is shit and really short. By ending this in a cliffhanger, I hope I can force myself to keep on writing for you. I think it will work, because I hate ending things like this. I already feel like writing the next chapter.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing, but it's just not working for me right now. I hope I can change that again.

I love you guys and thanks for standing by this story all this time. Let's blow some life into it again.

xxxxxxx

Nicky