#phantompalooza2k16

The afternoon after we returned from Chicago, I knocked on Alan's door, but as I expected, he didn't answer. I took out my key and opened the door, but I still didn't see him anywhere, even as I entered the house. I looked around for a while, but I couldn't find him. I did hear music coming from upstairs, so I climbed the stairs and looked in each of Alan's six bedrooms.

All of a sudden, I realized what I was listening to. It was House of Cards, the first track of Phantom Cat's debut album and their most popular song. A younger Miles' voice filled the mansion, accompanied by Alan, Byron, and whomever their drummer was at the time.

I found Alan in his sixth bedroom, listening to California Sun blare through his speakers. He was turned away from me when I entered the room, but he clearly heard me come in, even if he couldn't see me. "Yes, Bianca and I are still together, yes, the new Phantom Cat album is coming out soon, yes, I will absolutely do a shirtless photo shoot for your magazine, and no, I'M NOT AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT!" Alan said. "So what do you want?"

"I'm not a reporter," I said. "It's just me, Bianca."

"Sorry about that then," Alan said.

He turned around, and he wasn't wearing much other than a pair of rather tight shorts. My eyes were immediately drawn to his sculpted abs, but I tried to look away. It was as if I was nineteen again and meeting Alan for the first time for just a moment. However, I couldn't dwell on that feeling, especially considering what he had done to his bandmates during the Lollapalooza show. "Why are you listening to California Sun?" I finally asked him as the song switched to Glowing Lights.

"It reminds me of when Byron and Miles didn't hate me," Alan said. "2000 was a good year for me. I had my first hit album, and I dated two supermodels and an actress. Those were good times, and California Sun reminds me of that."

My fears had been confirmed. Alan truly did judge his girlfriends based on their fame, and I wasn't exactly famous compared to Skylar Vance or Kaylee Kartrashian. I tried not to think of that as I continued chatting with Alan. "That's nice," I said. "How are you doing?"

"Miles' boyfriend left me three very angry voicemails, but who cares?" Alan said. "#phantompalooza2k16 is trending on Twitter!"

"Wonderful," I said. "I'm very happy for you, but AJ has a name. Why do you hate him so much anyways?"

"I don't hate him. I just strongly dislike him," Alan said. "He used to be the bartender at all of my parties. Then, Miles went and flirted with him at one of them, and before I knew it, they were dating and I couldn't hire him anymore. Miles' boyfriend doesn't like me either for some reason, so it's mutual."

"AJ has a good reason to dislike you," I said.

"No he doesn't," Alan argued.

"Yes he does," I said. "How would you feel if someone randomly started kissing me at one of my concerts?"

"This is different," Alan said. "Both Miles and his boyfriend know it's just for publicity."

"It's not different," I said. "Alan, you screwed up a lot of things during that show, but kissing Miles was the worst. You can't just go around making out with Miles without asking him first. I don't care how much you need the publicity for your little hashtag. It's wrong, and that's the end of it."

"Listen, I'm sorry," Alan said.

"I'm not sure that you are," I said. "I talked to Miles after the concert, and he said that he wanted to go on a hiatus after the album was done. You're going to lose your bandmates if you keep doing this. You already lost Karim."

"He's a drummer," Alan said. "We lose drummers all the time."

"What about Miles?" I asked. "You can't lose your lead singer."

"He's not going to leave," Alan said. "He says he's going to leave after every album, but he never actually does. I'm sure he's not going to leave this time."

"You still shouldn't have kissed Miles, and you shouldn't have blown up Karim's drum set," I said. "Honestly, I wasn't too happy about you bringing me up onstage either. We haven't played The Sound in years, so we should have rehearsed together if we were going to do that."

"I guess so, but I liked the spontaneity of it," Alan said.

"I didn't," I said. "You should have told me first, along with your bandmates." I didn't want to lecture Alan, but it felt necessary in this case.

"That would have ruined the surprise," Alan said.

"All of us are sick of your surprises," I said.

"The fans aren't," Alan said. "#phantompalooza2k16 is trending right now, and it's all thanks to my surprises. That picture of Miles and I kissing is really making its way around the Internet."

"I don't care, Alan," I said. "You need to stop this, or you're going to lose the people you love most."

"I won't lose you, right?" Alan said.

"I don't know," I said. "I love you, but if you keep treating your bandmates like this, then I'm going to have to seriously reconsider our relationship."

"Bianca, I'm truly sorry about everything that happened at Lollapalooza," Alan said. "Isn't there some way I can make it up to you?"

"I don't think so," I said. "It's not me that you should worry about anyways. It's Miles, Byron, and Karim."

"I do need to worry about you," Alan said. "You're my girlfriend. How about we take a trip to Hawaii? I'll pay for it."

I couldn't forgive Alan just because he was willing to throw money at me, but how could I refuse a free trip to Hawaii? Besides, if we had a good time in Hawaii, maybe Alan would fix his issues with his bandmates as well. "I'll go to Hawaii with you," I told Alan, hoping that I wouldn't regret my decision later.

"Great! Let's go next week," Alan said.

"Don't you have a recording session next week?" I asked.

"We can move that," Alan said.

"This is just going to make your album take longer," I said.

"So? It will come out eventually, probably before the end of the year," Alan said. "That's still impressive for us."

Considering Phantom Cat's track record, I strongly doubted that they would finish their latest album, which still did not have a name, before the end of the year, but I didn't tell Alan that. "What are you going to do without a drummer?" I asked him.

"I already have someone lined up," Alan said. "I texted him on the plane back from Chicago, and I think he's going to join Phantom Cat. He's in another band right now, and he has to finish recording with them before he joins us, but I think he'll be able to play on our album."

"What are you going to do before he joins?" I asked.

Alan shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I'll figure it out." There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Alan asked, "Does next week work for our trip to Hawaii?"

"I'll have to reschedule an interview, but otherwise, yes," I said.

"Hawaii's going to be so much fun," Alan said, smiling. "I'll get to spend a whole week with you, and if we're lucky, maybe some paparazzi will see us."

"I hope not," I said. "I am looking forward to spending time with you though."

"Me too," Alan said.

I looked at the clock, and then said, "I should get going. See you soon, Alan."

"See you later, Bianca," Alan said. "I'll call you tomorrow to discuss our plans for the vacation."

I left the bedroom, climbed down the stairs, and got into my car. As I drove home, I considered my choice to go to Hawaii with Alan. Maybe agreeing to take a vacation with Alan wasn't the best decision, but it wasn't like I was really going to leave him. Alan was the richest, sexiest, and most successful boyfriend I had ever had. I couldn't get any better than him, or at least that was what I kept telling myself. I was beginning to accept that Alan wasn't perfect (nobody was), and maybe he had some serious character flaws, but I still couldn't bring myself to break up with him.

I still had a little bit of lingering hope that Alan would change how he was treating his bandmates. All he needed was a little bit of time off in Hawaii, and then he would realize just how wrong it was to kiss Miles or destroy Karim's drum set without their permission. If I was lucky, our vacation in Hawaii would mend the growing gap in my relationship with Alan too. After all, what couldn't a little bit of time in the Pacific islands do?