I ducked through the dimly lit glass front doors of the lounge, Blue's slim fingers still tightly intertwined with my own, rapidly growing sweatier, digits. I could hear the thud of my pulse increasing steadily as the once rhythmic beats began to sound a dull, roaring background to my own frenzied thoughts. I swallowed painfully with a dry mouth, and prepared to face my (ex?) girlfriend, my best friend since I was three.
How could this have happened? I thought I was worth something, for once. At least worth common courtesy. Guess not. I suppose I’ll let Vinyl explain what happened. She deserves at least a chance to explain… whatever I walked in on. I felt sick as I replayed that memory in my head, everything still as vivid as if I were watching it all over again. I sighed, and ran my free hand over my face, pulling on the tense skin and muscles. I had thought today was going to be a happy day. Guess not. I feel my feet walking automatically toward that door not thirty feet away.
I heard the sound of a police siren chirping somewhere nearby, whisper-yells that I can’t quite decipher. Some sort of commotion? The damn concert hasn’t even begun, and somebody’s already causing disturbances. Blue squeezed my hand a little tighter, and I reached out to turn the doorknob. I was beaten to the punch by someone opening the door from the other side. Knocked aside by the door as it was thrown open, I caught a glimpse of Night as he struggled out with something heavy. No, someone. it was a person. Unconscious. Night was half-carrying, half-dragging the man I saw earlier. Why?
“Night, the hell? What happened,” I asked, as I struggled back to my feet, still a little disoriented from being hit with a door. Blue looked concerned as I ruffled my hair and shook out my newly-sore arm. I stared pointedly at the knocked out man on the floor.
“Well, you see… None of that was what you thought it was. Don’t worry, I took care of it. Of him.” Night glared at the man heaped on the ground. I still wasn’t connecting the dots. And then, of course, a police officer had to show up at the front door. What the hell was going on?
The officer walked briskly over to our small group, followed by a few other policemen and women. He doffed his cap to me with a “ma’am”, and then proceeded to ask Night if this was “the one.” Night nodded, and the officer handcuffed the unconscious man. I just watched, increasingly bewildered. One of the officers, a twenty-something slender woman, turned to Night with a mildly disapproving look that seemed almost to border on a sort of begrudging awe. Why?
“Sir, ordinarily, we’d press charges against whoever assaulted this man.” She paused, and gave a knowing look to Night. “But, in this particular instance, I don’t believe there was any harm done, and I don’t believe he’ll be able to press charges against anyone, anyway. Just don’t make a habit of this kind of thing, okay? Have a good evening.” With this, the woman turned around and followed her fellow officers out the front door. A few minutes later, I heard the police cars drive off. I just stared at the boys.
“Okay. So. Will someone please explain to me why Night knocked some guy out, and why the police were just here?” Night looked at me uneasily, and Blue copied this motion. Blue opened his mouth to answer, but Night cut him off with a sharp shake of his head.
“Blue, I think it would be best if Rainbow just went to go see her girlfriend. Alright?” Blue hesitated, but then nodded firmly and grasped my hand tightly again. These two were acting so weird. What the hell actually went on?
I suppose I’ll just have to find out. I took a deep breath, and walked into the back room that I had found Vinyl in earlier. What I saw this time was drastically different than what I saw earlier, and most certainly not what I expected to see at all.
Vinyl was curled up on a chair, visibly shaken and wiping away the remnants of tears from her face. Aurora and Lyra were sitting close to her, and at first, a pang of mild jealousy shot right through me at the sight of their cuddling. I shook my head slightly and shoved it down. Something was clearly not alright. I took a few soft steps into the room, and Lyra must have whispered something about my presence, because Vinyl suddenly lifted her head to look for me. Our eyes lock, and in that instant, I know something is wrong. Vinyl dropped her head again, and rests her face in her hands for a few seconds before scrubbing at her face and sighing. I take a few unsure steps toward her, and sit down in front of her on the ground. Why is she acting so weird?
I heard an intake of breath, shaky and slow. Then, Vinyl moved her head to look directly at me, sniffing back the last of her tears. I furrowed my brow and look back at her; was her shirt torn like that earlier? Suddenly, Vinyl leaned forward out of the chair and lands on me, curling into my body. I sat, unmoving, but not unmoved, as I fought the urge to wrap myself around her and comfort her. No one had yet told me what had gone on. She buried her head into my chest, and wrapped her arms around me. I waited for someone to speak. When none were forthcoming after a few minutes of awkward silence, I broke the tension myself.
“Jeez, Vinyl, if you’ll throw yourself at me every time like this, maybe I should stay away a lot more often…” I kicked myself mentally for that joke. I was supposed to figure out what had happened, not be joking around about silly things. I was still hurting. But I was also confused. Vinyl laughed, though, a short, miserable laugh. Funny, I thought I was supposed to be the sad one here.
“Okay, fun time is over. What the hell just happened?” Lyra frowned at my curse, but I couldn’t care less right now. I wanted answers. Vinyl tensed when I asked, but she slowly lifted her head to look at me, and then sat back on the ground in front of me. She let out a slow exhalation, and then held eye contact with me for several seconds. Finally, she spoke.
“Look, Rainbow. I know, the usual cliche about it not being what it looks like, but this time, it’s not just a cliche. I promise you, I would never do anything to hurt you. You mean the world to me, always.” Aurora smiled at this cute display, but I still felt as cold as stone, hard and unfeeling. I’m not sure where she was going with this, but I wasn’t happy about it so far.
“Rainbow, I… This is hard for me to say…” I felt the hesitation. No, not those words. Anything but those words. I wanted to plead with her, but I held my tongue. What she said next completely floored me.
“That guy you saw… with me. Frederic was one of my cousin Harpo’s friends… One that I shot down a few months before you and I started dating. He must have found out I was on tour, and when I’d be closest to him. Frederic… he just walked in. I never even knew. Lyra didn’t think that he was anything dangerous. She just thought that he was here with Harpo. But then he snuck in here… he…” Vinyl stared at me with pleading eyes, and I felt my heart melt a little. Just a touch. She launched herself forward again to bury her head in my chest. I could tell she was incredibly upset, and I was starting to piece things together. I wrapped one arm around her slender frame this time, and left the other to support myself. I still didn’t entirely understand what had happened, though.
“Hey, Vinyl. Vinny. Why… What happened? I feel like I missed something.” I felt Vinyl tense against me, and I knew I had touched a nerve. She drew in a shaky breath, and mumbled something into my chest. Even my hypersensitive ears couldn’t sort it out.
“What was that? Vi. Talk to me.” Vinyl looked up, and stared at me for a long moment, then closed her eyes and drew in a long breath. She leaned up to place her lips by my ear, and whispered to me.
“Rain, he wanted me. He came back here, and he was trying to rape me. And you came in and caught him in time.” I stared straight ahead, unseeing. I couldn’t process what Vinyl had just said to me. It was too unbelievable, like some cheap cliche thrown at me out of nowhere. This didn’t happen to people in real life. It was just a cliche television trope, right?
“Vi, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” She shook her head and tucked her face into my shoulder, just breathing in my scent. I rubbed her back comfortingly, still trying to come to terms with reality. All of my anger and hurt from earlier just disappeared. There was no cause for those emotions now, except to direct them at this Frederic guy, who I assume Night knocked out. I heard Lyra clear her throat.
“I’m glad you’re all okay now. But, we have to make a decision here in the next few minutes or so. I know, heartless manager and all.” Lyra laughed lightly at her own joke. “Anyway, I know this is a rather awkward time to pose the question, but we need to decide if Vinyl is going to perform tonight or not. I’d be all for cancelling the show, but this is still her show, and her choice.” I nodded at Lyra, and continued cradling Vinyl. I watched Vinyl turn her head to look at Lyra.
“Ly… I’m not sure. But I would hate to disappoint anyone. Some of these people have been waiting months for this. Some might never get another chance. I can’t let them down. I’ll be fine, nothing really happened, just a scare, is all.” Lyra opened her mouth to protest, but Vinyl shook her head firmly. I watched as different emotions crossed through Lyra’s eyes, but eventually, she seemed to accept this decision, and walked off to finish preparations in another part of the lounge. I snuggled Vinyl tight against me, and held her for a few minutes more, until I remembered Aurora, Night, and Blue were all still there. I cleared my throat awkwardly.
“Hey there, guys. Guess you got a little more than you bargained for, huh? Little more than asking the dj a few questions. Thank you guys, though. Thank you so much. I was too dumb and easily hurt to even think that something bad might be happening. Thank you all for helping Vinyl. Especially whomever took care of that Frederic guy.” They all smiled sheepishly, and Blue spoke.
“Thank Vinyl, then. She’s got a mean right hook. She knocked him off balance, and then Night just finished the job.” I stared down in amazement at my girlfriend. She’s just full of surprises, I guess. I smiled at Blue, and then slid Vinyl off my lap and stood up. I grabbed her hand and hoisted her to her feet. She didn’t let go of my hand. And I was fine with that.