FicWad

28. Lounge Act


Defne woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She cursed herself for forgetting to turn it off and then answered it with a cranky “Hello?”

“Hey there, hot-shots!” a cheerful voice buzzed on the other end.

“Hey, Abster, what’s up?”

“Ah, nothing, really. Just wanted to see how you guys are doing,” responded her manager.

Defne rolled her eyes. She was beginning to guess the reason of this wake-up call.

“Uh-huh. Sure. We’re fine. The tour’s going great, but I’m sure you already know that. Being our manager and all…”

“Yeah, of course I know, sugar. So…. anything you wanna tell me that I don’t already know about?” he asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

Defne chuckled. Abigail was really good at her job. Good at booking gigs, talking to the press or talking to the label guys. But she wasn’t the world’s best liar. She wasn’t good at making people share information, either.

“Aby, you’re a terrible liar. And apparently, I don’t have to tell you anything because you seem to already know.”

“Gahh! I don’t know a thing. Only rumors I’ve read about my favorite singer… I mean you, of course…” she chuckled.

“Yeah, right. Then you must have seen the photos, too, huh?” sighed Defne, running a hand through her disheveled sleep-hair and sitting up straight in her bunk bed.

No answer came from the other end of the phone and the lead singer immediately understood the meaning of that silence. Abigail was a good girl. Honest. Defne liked her very much. But she could turn into a high school girl in an instant. And right now, she was giving her the whole waiting-patiently-for-rumors silence. She was probably even biting her nails at the other end of the line. Nah. They were probably perfectly manicured and she was trying to hold herself from biting down on them.

“Look, Aby, there’s nothing to tell really –”

But her manager cut her off.

“Come on!” she exclaimed.

“Aby, really –”

But Defne was cut off once again. That wasn’t the most common occurrence. No one really managed to match her talking speed, but Abigail had managed to interrupt her twice. She must have been really excited or something.

“Hey, Deff, I’m totally professional here. If something’s going on between you and Gerard and now the rumors are out there, they’re gonna ask you about it whenever it’s possible. Until they get tired of you guys. And that takes a lot of time… If it had been a band matter, I could say something, take matters into my skillful hands, but this is personal so you’re gonna have to deal with this yourselves, okay?” she asked, her tone still light but with an underlying seriousness.

“Yeah, I know. We already talked about that. We’re gonna say it’s true when someone asks and that’s it,” she said wearily.

“That’s good. But the thing is… you know when these kinds of things happen,” started Abigail, slipping into business mode slowly, “they make the person involved stand out. I mean, they’re gonna talk about you and you and then some more about you… And of course there’s the fact that you’re the lead singer and that’s even more reason for you to stand out so… I know you guys especially don’t want that. Kids are only getting to know Soul Purpose but now they’re gonna know you first. That’s not very good…” she trailed off. Defne could easily imagine the frown forming on her pretty face.

The lead singer sighed and stared at the bottom of the top bunk.

“Aby, I… I don’t want any unnecessary attention. I don’t want people to think that Soul Purpose is my band or something… I mean, Soul Purpose is not mine, I’m just a part of it. One fifth of it. I don’t wanna seem more important than the band.” She sounded a bit whiny.

“Yeah, I know, sugar. But there’s really nothing we can do about that. You’re just gonna have to learn ignoring these things…”

Defne straightened her back where she sat and took a deep breath. She would learn. She had to.

“Okay. I’ll try to get used to it,” she stated solely.

“Good.” She could hear the smile in Abigail’s voice. “Tell the guys hi for me!”

“I will.”

“And don’t forget the interview tod –”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” interrupted Defne. She was seeking revenge for Abigail’s earlier interferences to her speech.

“Brace yourself for the i –"

“I’m hanging up now,” Defne cut her off once again and chuckled into the receiver before ending the call.

Just as she was tucking her phone under her pillow and contemplating if she should go back to sleep or not, the curtains to her bunk slid away slightly and Gerard’s head popped in, sporting a big happy smile.

“Hey, you’re awake!” he exclaimed.

She gave him a big smile of her own.

“Yep!”

He leaned closer and captured her lips with his in a sweet chaste kiss.

“G’morning…” he muttered against her lips.

“Morning” she sighed into the kiss, not caring about morning breath or anything.

Then the front-man leaned back, grabbing her hand.

“Come on, get up, lazy!” he said “I don’t know how but the guys’re all up and eating everything in sight. You’re gonna starve to death if you don’t hurry,” he finished with a wink.

Defne let him drag her towards the little kitchenette. Her stomach was growling after all.

-------------

“Right…” she panted into the microphone as Devon played a few random notes to fill the break between songs with the growl of his bass. “We have a surprise for you guys, tonight,” she continued, smiling all the way. “We don’t do covers much anymore but we really wanted to play this song so…” she trailed off and the bassist entered the song with the bass intro.

At first the crowd was silent, trying to recognize the song. Though when the guitars broke in some people screamed. The song was actually simple; there was even no need for two guitars. But Zack had put his genius into good use and added bits and pieces of melody here and there.

“Truth - covered in security” began Defne, beating her head to the beat energetically, holding onto the microphone on its stand with both hands.

“I can't let you smother me
I'd like to, but it couldn't work
Trading off, taking turns
Don't regret a thing” she sang, her voice giving a lilt at the end of every line.

She threw her head back as the chorus hit.

“And I've got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield
I'll go outta my way to prove I still…”

She let the sound resonate through the venue and then moved onto the next line after Zack and Chris slammed on their guitars at the same time with Matt’s beats.

”Smell her on you…” she drew out.

Then she grabbed the microphone and ran to the edge of the stage before the next verse, singing to the screaming bunch of fans there, her body moving on its own accord to the music.

“Don't - tell me what I wanna hear
Afraid of never knowing fear
Experience anything you need
I'll keep fighting jealousy
'til it's fucking gone”

“And I've got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield
I'll go outta my way to prove I still…”

“Smell her on you…” This time Zack and Devon went along and drawled out the last line with her.

She banged her head in time with the guitar-slams and drum-beats. She violently threw her body from one place to another and jumped as high as she could just before Zack screamed “Truth” and then she landed hard on her feet screaming “covered in security”.

Then she started tearing her throat out for dear life like a possessed person. She could sing from her throat for a short time, scream out a sentence or two. But to be able to sing a whole verse from the throat, she had had to work really hard the past weeks. She had tried different alternatives in order to be able to return to her normal singing after tearing her throat. That had been really hard. But apparently she had achieved her goal because the crowd was going crazy.

“I can't let you smother me
Like to but it couldn't work
Trading off, taking turns
Don't regret a thing”

And she dropped on her knees in a sharp movement, not even feeling the throbbing pain on her knee caps as they landed on the hard stage floor. She wasn’t even having trouble singing from her throat, anymore. Her larynx had seemingly closed up on itself, determined to perfect the tearing sounds. She was probably going to have a sore throat after the show, not having had any real professional training to learn how to use her voice to keep it healthy all the time. But she didn’t mind. She crawled on the ground on her knees as she screamed and growled and felt the impact of the drum beat on her chest. She could see Matt giving everything he had to the song. He was practically boiling with wild energy, nearly jumping on his seat. His inner Dave Grohl-obsessed school-boy had kicked in, apparently.

”And I've got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield
I'll go outta my way to make you a deal
We've made a pact to learn from who
And ever we want without new rules
We'll share what's lost and what we grew
They'll go out of their way
To prove they still…”

”Smell her on you
They still…
Smell her on you
Smell her on you…”

She let her head fall back and opened her arms wide, having placed the microphone back on its stand after standing up off the floor. The last note growled from her throat and the crowd exploded. People were screaming so loud… She had trouble controlling her breathing but she managed, in the end.

“Thank you!” she screamed back at the crowd.

Her eyes were shining brightly. She was wet to her bones with sweat but she had never felt such a rush before. The sheer energy of the song had captured her in its grip, the guitar riff still echoing in her ears.

“Sorry for adding to the already too many Nirvana covers out there but hell, yeah! This felt good!”

-------------

After the set, Soul Purpose sat in the lounge area backstage while My Chemical Romance performed. The sounds coming from the stage were amazing and the crowd had apparently gone nuts.

They sat and patiently answered the questions the interviewer sent their way. They were sweaty and tired and still a bit high from the stage, but they did it anyway. They had good manners, after all.

“The Nirvana cover, Lounge Act, now that was unexpected. How did you decide to play it?” the interviewer guy asked pleasantly.

“Ummm… Actually, it all started a few weeks ago,” Defne started. “I was humming it to myself and fucking up the lyrics and all… I knew it was Nirvana but I just couldn’t remember which song it was. And then I asked the guys and –”

“I told her it was Lounge Act and she suddenly cried out ‘yes!’. Then she looked up the lyrics and started singing the song all the while,” Matt chimed in. “And you know, we understood her, the song has a really catchy melody and it doesn’t really swerve from that certain melody so it’s actually easy to remember…”

“Yeah, and it has this weird kinda energy to it,” said Zack.

“And it’s really fun to play. Small and simple.” This came from the rhythm guitarist.

“Yeah. But that usually is the thing most people criticize about Nirvana. That the songs are way too simple and shit. But the complexity of a song isn’t the right criteria to judge its quality. I mean, there is something in all of their songs, in this one too, that just captures you. Makes you wanna sing along. Bang your head. I dunno, you always feel something listening to Nirvana,” Defne commented thoughtfully.

“And besides, it has a bass intro so… all the more reason for me to like playing it,” added Devon, smiling brightly.

The interviewer nodded thoughtfully.

“So, can we maybe deem this as a tribute to Nirvana and Kurt Cobain?” he asked.

“Definitely,” Defne responded, excited. “I mean, Nirvana is a big part of me. And a big part of Matt, too. So –”

“Hey!” interrupted the bassist, frowning. “It’s a part of me, too!”

“Yeah, me too,” admitted Chris rather shyly, contrasting with Devon’s loud outburst.

Suddenly all eyes were on Zack, who was staring off into the distance, one hair tangled in his messy long blonde hair.

“What?” he asked, dumbfounded after a moment. Then blinked and understood. “Oh, yeah. It’s a part of me, too.”

They all burst out laughing after that. Even Zack. Despite being the one laughed out at, he joined in on the fun, too.

“Dude, where were you just then? You were totally zoned out!” stated Devon.

Zack scoffed, shaking his head.

“I was here. I was just not paying much attention. I guess I’m just tired,” he muttered silently.

“Or maybe you’re in love…” Matt wondered out loud, shooting the blonde guitarist a grin and grabbing him by the shoulder.

The interviewer’s head literally snapped up at that piece of information.

“Oh...” he began, “You got a girlfriend? Fans are gonna be disappointed.”

Zack chuckled and raised his hand for the interviewer to see his ring.

“Well, actually I’m engaged,” he said, his voice immediately slipping into dreamland slightly.

“Oh, well, tough luck, girls...” muttered the interviewer, “But still we’ve got three other good-looking guys here so...” The said three blushed modestly. “And of course we’ve got a beautiful lead singer, too,” he added.

Defne ducked her head, smiling coyly. “Thank you.”

“Though, word’s out there that you’re taken, too.” stated the interviewer.

The singer lifted her head up and stared at him, her ears full of the sound coming from the stage. She could hear Gerard’s voice distantly, the clear melodic quality of it stroking her insides warmly. She didn’t say a thing, still.

“Now, I’m gonna ask the question everyone’s been dying to ask,” began the man “Are the rumors true? About you and Gerard Way?”

Defne blinked and tucked a few rebellious strands of her hair behind her ear. Then smiled a bit reluctantly.

“Ummm… I-I dunno about the rumors, really. I don’t care about that sorta thing much so I don’t actually pay attention to them. But… uhhh, about me and Gerard. Yeah. We’re together,” she blurted out finally, averting her gaze sheepishly. She couldn’t help it. It felt like the first time she told her parents she had a boyfriend. It was silly.

“Wow! So it’s official?”

She nodded hesitantly.

“Yeah.”

The interviewer shook his head slightly, grinning.

“Wow, you’ll make one hell of a couple,” he muttered.

“Yeah, they do,” mumbled Chris absently “They’re cute together.”

This time it was the rhythm guitarist everyone turned and laughed at.

-------------

Defne didn’t want to answer the phone. No, she didn’t. She was just about to fall asleep, why did it have to ring right now? She should have learned her lesson in the morning and turned off the phone the minute she walked onto the bus.

She didn’t even bother checking the caller ID and answered the phone immediately.

“Hello?”

“Defne, it’s me,” said her brother’s voice in her native language. So she quickly switched to Turkish.

“Hey! What’s up?”

“I’m in Chicago right now.”

“What? Really?” she asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah. I told you I would come to the States this month.”

Defne blinked and remembered the last phone conversation she had with her brother.

“Oh, yeah. Right. Wow, we’re riding over to Chicago right now! That’s incredible…” she muttered, to herself mostly.

She heard him chuckle at the other end.

“Yeah. Seems like something’s trying to force us to see each other.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed in exhaustion.

“C’mon. You know I’m not running away from you or anything. I want to see you!” she said with conviction.

She knew he must have been nodding when he said “Yeah, I know.”

She checked her mental schedule and came up with the time they’d probably arrive Chicago. “Ummm, we’ll probably be there by 9 or 10 am. Is it okay with you?”

“Uhhh, actually I have a meeting at 9 but we could meet up for lunch, I guess?”

She nodded frantically. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s okay. Then I’ll show you around a bit, I actually don’t know the city very well but at least I’ve been there before.”

“Aren’t you gonna show me your tour bus?” he asked, curious.

She thought about that for a moment before approving of the idea.

“Yeah, sure. We’ll come back to the bus and you can even meet the guys!”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Now go to sleep, it’s late and you owe me a city tour tomorrow. Get your energies up for the day!” he exclaimed.

She shook her head and chuckled. “Okay. Bye…”

“Bye. Good night,” her brother said and hung up.

She didn’t realize what she had agreed to do until her head hit the soft pillow. Her brother was going to come back to the bus. Gerard was probably going to be there. How the hell was she going to introduce them? Would it be okay for Gerard to meet her brother? Or would he shy away? Dreams of Gerard fleeing the scene upon spotting her brother filled her restless sleep all night.

-------------

Defne had never been one for showing too much affection but she hadn’t seen her brother for nearly two years and she thought she had a right to hug him real tight once she spotted him. So, they stayed glued to each other for some time after they met up.

She had the chance to look him over, once she let him go. He was in typical businessman attire. Suit, tie and briefcase all present. It seemed like he had only just got out of the meeting room. But other than that, he looked okay. Better than the last time she had seen him, at least. When he had first returned from military service, he had lost a lot of weight but now, he looked like he had gained a few pounds – maybe being a father did that to you. As she stood there and stared at him with a giant smile on her face, he loosened his tie and let out a sharp tired sigh audibly.

“Ahh! Let’s go eat something, I’m starving. Even I can’t stand that much economy talk for four hours straight…” her brother grumbled.

Defne laughed.

“Yeah, well, you should have thought of that before becoming an economist,” she said, grinning.

He shot her a dark look but let her lead him to a diner, still.

Once they ordered something tasty to fill up their stomachs, Defne asked impatiently:

“So, how’s everyone doing?”

Her brother swallowed down a mouthful of salad to be able to respond.

“They’re okay,” he said, “Mom and dad are having fun in their garden with their fruit trees and dogs. As usual. We go visit them at the weekends. I’m telling you, Deniz is gonna be one spoilt boy. He wants the attention to be fixed on himself at all times… I don’t know how he got like that. I think it’s all because of dad…”

The singer chuckled, shaking her head fondly.

“Wow… He’s just the age to be played with. I wish I could see him…”

Her brother only settled for giving her a pointed look. Then he decided to have mercy on her and smiled.

“We show him your pictures all the time,” he said, “He can even bring ‘aunt’ and ‘Defne’ together when he sees one of your photos!”

Defne’s eyes got huge with joy, her pupils dancing. She giggled and then blushed.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah, really. You know what? Let me call home and let you two talk.”

Defne dropped her eyes on the table, playing with the fork in her hand absently. “Oh…” she muttered. “Would he… umm, wouldn’t he shy away? Would he talk to me?”

“Of course he’d talk to you, are you kidding me? He’s the most social kid you can ever meet. He talks to everyone, smiles at everything. He jumps from one person’s lap to another’s willingly. You should see him…” he trailed of, smiling at the images appearing before his eyes.

Then he flipped open his phone and dialed the international number. He waited some time for the person on the other end to open up, talked to his wife then told her to put his son on the phone.

Defne leaned in to be able to hear the little one’s voice.

“Daddy?” a tiny voice asked curiously.

“Yeah, it’s me. How’s my boy today?”

“Good.”

“What did you do today, huh? Tell me.”

“I. Hmmm…” he trailed off and then his mother’s voice could be heard, prompting him.

“Come on Deniz, tell him. We went to grandma and grandpa’s.”

“Uhhh…” the little boy began again, “We went ta gramma and grampas.”

Defne giggled. He sounded so cute.

“And?” asked her brother, signaling the little boy to go on.

“I ate cher-ries!” he exclaimed, as if he had suddenly remembered that important detail. He drew out the last part of “cherries” in a unique, childish way.

“Hey, good for you!” her brother chuckled. “Deniz, do you remember Aunt Defne?” he asked cautiously.

“Uh-huh.”

“Good. You know what? She’s here with me, right now. You wanna talk to her?”

“Hmmm…” the boy hummed again, then made his decision. “Okay.”

Her brother handed the phone to Defne without a second thought and she stayed silent, dumbfounded for a moment. Then she started to talk, hesitantly.

“Deniz? Hey, you know me?”

“Aunt Defne…Your… Yes. Your… hmmmm… hair’s long.” The boy stayed silent after saying that, not completely sure if it was right.

Defne laughed.

“Yeah. Yeah, my hair is long,” she said, “What about your hair?”

“ ‘s short.”

“So, do you like cartoons, Deniz?” she asked, an idea popping in her head.

“Yes!” her nephew cried with the whole enthusiasm of a two and a half year old boy. She could imagine him nodding his little pretty head up and down.

She chuckled again.

“Which one’s your favorite?”

There was a long silence before the little boy came up with an answer. He was probably really thinking hard to choose the one liked the best.

“Pooh,” he mumbled, “Winnie… the Pooh.”

“Yay! That’s one of my favorites, too. Which animal do you like best, huh, Tigger?” she assumed, since the jumpy tiger was the most talkative and hyper one.

“Hmmm… Tigger’s funny. I like Eeyore.”

She was dumbfounded. There was no other way to put it more clearly. She had always loved Eeyore, felt for him when he got soaked wet under the rain because his shack type of thing didn’t keep the water out or kept collapsing. Apparently, her nephew thought like her, too.

“Let me give you a secret,” she whispered.

“Ooohh… What?” He was curious.

“I’ve always liked Eeyore best, too,” she admitted, smiling all the way.

“Heee!” was the little boy’s response.

She talked to him for some more and then said her goodbyes. His bedtime had arrived. Time difference sucked.

Then they finished their meals, talking about everything in general. Her brother suggested going back to his hotel room before the city/bus tour because he wanted to change into comfy clothes. Once he changed into jeans and a clean t-shirt, they stepped onto the streets of Chicago, intent to begin the city tour. Though, with Defne’s sense of direction, or lack of sense of direction for that matter, it was more a desperate struggle to not get lost. But it was fun, still.

-------------

“And, yes. Here’s the grand tour-bus!” Defne announced, climbing up the steps and entering the front lounge. Her brother followed her, looking around.

“It’s big. You really can live in here.”

She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

“Well, we do live in here. And besides, this is just the front lounge, you haven’t even seen the bunks or the back lounge or the studio, yet!”

“Yeah, okay. I get it. You live here and you like it,” her brother chuckled.

“Yeah, I like it,” muttered someone from one of the couches.

They both turned to see who had talked. It was Frank. He was in fetal position on the comfy couch, his eyes closed. He was hugging the remote control to his chest tightly, his eyelids fluttering as if he was seeing a dream or starting to wake up. Apparently he had fallen asleep while watching TV. Or he had never really woken up, just gotten dragged out of his bunk and was currently completing his slumber on the couch. Defne had no idea if there was a limit for the hours Frank could sleep straight.

“That’s Frank,” she informed her brother, “He’s the rhythm guitarist of My Chemical Romance.” Then she walked over and picked up a blanket off of the other couch, casually draping it over the peacefully sleeping figure of the tiny guitarist.

Her brother merely chuckled at her motherly instincts and didn’t comment on them. He was sure she wouldn’t welcome such an observation.

They continued their journey to the depths of the gigantic bus as Frank snuggled deeper into the couch, obliviously happy with his new warm blanket.

Defne showed him their bunk-beds next. Then they entered the little studio and she let him play her guitar for some time. Her brother was actually into music a lot himself, but he had never had thought of going further. It had been different for Defne, though. She had known she had to do something when her band Permanent Damage had formed during her freshmen year at university. And now, she was happy with where she was. She had worked very hard for this.

“Okay, so… Is there anything left that you’re gonna show me, huh?” her brother asked, after a long time of fooling around with her guitar.

“Oh, yeah! The back-lounge! The ultimate place of fun!” she cried and motioned for him to follow her out of the little studio.

She entered the back-lounge with an almost skip in her step and then she stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted Gerard on his drawing table, working on some piece of drawing with pencils and sharpies.

He looked up when he heard her steps and smiled a beaming smile, tucking strands of rebellious hair behind his ears and sliding the drawing to the side of the table as if wanting to empty his hands for her.

“Hey, you’re back,” he muttered silently.

She struggled to return his warm smile and ended up with a lopsided grin on her face. Then her brother showed up next to her, catching up finally.

“So, this is the legendary back-lounge…” her brother started, then upon spotting Gerard, he looked sheepish for a moment and then looked expectantly at his sister, waiting for an introduction.

Gerard stared at the man beside Defne. He was average height, with dark hair and fair skin. He had a peaceful look to his face. He was sporting a circle beard, which made Gerard remember that he was supposed to be an instructor. The front-man also noticed the faint resemblance between him and Defne. He was suddenly nervous. He hadn’t thought of what to say or do when he’d meet his girlfriend’s older brother. So he stood up stupidly and walked over to where the two siblings were standing just inside the entrance to the room.

Finally, Defne slashed the silence with her loud voice.

“Oh, hey… Umm, let me introduce you guys,” she began, and then continued, gesturing towards her brother, “Gerard, this is my brother Mert.” She stopped and gestured towards Gerard, this time. “And this is Gerard, my boyfriend.”

Mert immediately extended his hand forward and Gerard took it and shook it, astonished.

“Nice to meet you,” said her brother, sincerely. He looked a bit surprised but he had managed to cover it up pretty good.

Gerard gave him the brightest smile. And then started to babble a bit.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, too. After all, Defne already knows my brother; it’s only fair I meet hers.”

Mert turned to give Defne a look as he shook Gerard’s hand.

“Oh, you know his brother?” he asked.

Defne rolled her eyes, shooting Gerard a dark look.

“It’s impossible for me to not know Mikey. He lives in this bus, too. He plays bass in My Chemical Romance. And I guess I forgot to tell you, Gerard’s the lead singer.”

They moved onto sit at the booth after Gerard packed away his drawing tools.

“So, for how long have you been together?” asked Mert curiosity evident in his voice. Maybe he was a bit taken aback by the fact that his sister had never mentioned about this boyfriend to him before.

“It’s fairly new…” responded Defne.

“Yeah,” supported Gerard, “Nearly a month.” Then he added after a moment’s thought. “Hey, actually it’s gonna be exactly one month the day after tomorrow.”

Defne turned to him and smiled. It was sweet that he knew the exact date. She reached out and covered his hand with hers, squeezing slightly.

“Well, you sure look happy. I hope you stay that way,” said her brother from across the table. They both thanked him. Everything had happened so fast and sudden but his consent meant a lot to both of them. They were grateful.

Defne turned to address Gerard once more, after a while.

“So, where did everyone go, anyway?”

“Hmm, lemme see. I think Frank’s still here somewhere, sleeping his ass off –”

“Yeah, he is sleeping in front of the TV.”

Gerard chuckled and continued. “Okay. Bob went to pay his family a quick visit. And the others went to play pool… Or bowling… Mikey was whining about how bored he was of playing computer games all the time so… I don’t really know. I wasn’t paying much attention,” he added sheepishly.

“Were you drawing?” she asked affectionately.

He just nodded.

The rest of the evening was filled with Defne introducing her brother to everyone else and light conversation, adorned with occasional laughter here and there.

And then there was the show. Her brother was there, in the audience. It gave her a strange sort of extra nervousness to know that he was there, watching her. Maybe it was the desperate need to be admired by him. Or just the fact that he had never seen her perform in front of more than a hundred people before. Whatever it was, it didn’t keep her from doing her best, though. It made her do even better.

The crowd appreciated this.

And when she screamed “Thank you so very much!” in the end, her eyes met with Mert’s and her smile stretched her face so tight – to the point of hurting.

And when he came to see her in the dressing room, when he hugged her tightly, congratulated her heartily, she felt like there was nothing left for her to wish for.

But the highlight of her night was definitely the moment when he broke the hug and stood back, looking into her eyes, his own eyes shining with excitement and – pride?, and stated with all the sincerity he possessed:

“That was incredible. Incredible. I’m so proud of you.”

She ducked her head to conceal the sudden tears that has attacked her eyes.

And then he pulled her into a corner and handed her a Dead-Men’s-Chest-sized gift-wrapped box.

“It’s an early birthday present for you,” he said, “But I’d like you to not open it till your birthday. I think it would be better…”

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek, softly saying “Thank you…”

She left the venue holding her gift-wrapped package close to her chest.

They stopped at the bus to grab their things since they were going to stay at a hotel that night. But Defne searched through her things for more than clothes and toiletries. When she finally found the soft stuffed toy in the depths of one of her suitcases and took it out, she smiled fondly at its innocent face.

Since they would be leaving in the morning, she had to say goodbye to her brother before checking into the hotel. She hugged him tight yet again. She didn’t know when she had become such an emotionally-open person. Maybe the long distance was to blame.

“Tell everyone I said hi,” she told him over and over again.

He squeezed her cheeks and smiled in the end. “I will.”

Then she thrust the stuffed donkey in his hands and smiled up at him with watery eyes.

“It’s for Deniz,” she stated solely and petted Eeyore’s head for one last time before sending him away for her nephew.

Her brother smiled at the thoughtful gesture and then nodded.

Then she went to walk through the double doors, turned back once to wave at him and she was inside. Checking in. Grabbing her bag. Throwing herself onto the comfy bed.

And everything felt fine.

Right.




A/N: Phew, here's another chapter for you guys! First, I want to thank you all so very much for the reviews and ratings =) I know it has been awfully long since I last updated but I'm so sorry. 6 finals and mind-gripping Frerard story-lines did that to me. I hope the length of this ultra-mega chapter makes up a little for the wait. I guess a lot of seperate things happen in this chapter but I couldn't stop writing, so... And yeah, I wrote a Frerard. My first one, actually. And now I'm shamelessly advertising it, because I am told to do so xP It's called Kiss My Eyes And Lay Me To Sleep. I'd be really happy if you check it out =)

Anyway, hmmm, anyone who likes Lounge Act a lot? I do. It's an amazing song, if you ask me.

So, yeah. Since you've read the chapter, there's only the other to R's left for you to do. Rate/review? What'd ya say, huh?

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