"I've got the power, and I've got the will, I'm not a charity case"

Blue Collar Man

The boys finished their set after a few more songs, waving goodbye to the cheering crowd as they cleared the stage for the next band to take their place. Byeol watched them curiously, taking long sips from her cup as the girls talked amongst themselves beside her.

"Dammit, they're really good..." Kaen muttered, holding the stem of her cocktail glass in a vice grip. "How are we supposed to compete with that?"

Lisa gave her a look out of the side of her eye. "No one said we had to compete with them, Kaen," she said dismissively.

"Whatever! You don't even know what you're talking about. Anyway, we've at least got them beat in one thing; our frontman's a lot cuter than theirs!" she said, her voice quickly changing from moody to cheerful.

"You're our frontman, Kaen," Kaguya said with a frown.

"I know!"

"... Okay."

The older girls continued to talk as Lily leaned over Byeol's shoulder, smiling as the boys ducked off stage. Her eyes seemed to focus on the band's guitarist.

"He's cute, isn't he?" she asked bashfully.

"Yeah... er, I mean- wait, who are you talking about?" Byeol shook her head, looking back over her shoulder at her short friend.

"Elijah! He plays guitar? Red hair?" Lily said, frowning as Byeol drew a blank.

Byeol blinked as she remembered, nodding quickly. "Ohh, him. Yeah, he's pretty cute!"

"Wait, who were you talking about-?"

Lily was interrupted by Xander winding his way through the crowd, coming up beside the two girls and taking a seat at the bar beside Byeol. He smiled at her. "Hey! It's Byeol, right?"

Lily gave her friend a sly smile as she scooched her seat away from the pair, leaving them alone. Byeol smiled back at Xander, tapping her fingers against her empty glass. "Um, yeah, that's me! I, uh, saw you performing up on stage. I thought you guys sounded great."

Xander laughed brightly, his eyes shut as he smiled. "Really? You think so? That's really cool of you to say!"

Byeol smiled at his infectious laughter, her nails making soft clinks against her cup. Xander noticed her movements and lifted his hips up off his chair, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket.

"Can I buy you a drink, Miss Byeol?" he asked with another smile.

She glanced up at him in surprise, feeling her ears get warm. Was he coming on to her...? He wasn't, right? ...Was he?

"Um... actually, yeah, you can; thank you," Byeol felt uncharacteristically shy as she nodded, watching as Xander called the bartender over and ordered drinks for both of them.

"So, are you girls playing here now?" Xander asked, propping his chin up on his hand as he gazed at her with big green eyes.

"We're planning on it, yeah! Lisa's been trying to get us in for a few days now, but it looks like we'll be playing sometime this week," Byeol took her drink from the bartender, sipping the sugary booze slowly.

"Are you in university or anything? Or just your band?"

"I've got a pretty good day job," Byeol said, glancing down at her lap. She frowned as she thought about her work and her home; or rather, her mom's home. "But no, I'm not in uni..."

Xander seemed to notice that she was upset, so he laid off for a moment, taking long drinks of his beer. Suddenly he sat up a little straighter in his chair, waving at someone through the crowds and smiling. A second later, Haittou appeared at his side. He gave Xander a dirty look as he leaned on the bar.

"Do you really think you should be drinking?" He asked, running a hand through his dark hair.

"I'm fine, dude!" Xander assured, waving his friend off. "You know me; I'm the picture of self control!"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

On the other side of the bar, Lily was leaning heavily on the door of her bathroom stall and trying to calm her racing heart. She didn't deal well with crowds; nor with flashing lights or loud music. Pretty convenient for a popstar, huh...

She sniffled as she felt herself calm down, the dizzy, lightheaded feelings fading. She sighed and unlocked the door, stepping into the cold, echoing bathroom. Kaen stood at one of the sinks, her purse in hand as the faucet in her sink ran. Lily heard a small rattling sound as Kaen shoved something into her purse, quickly flicking off the sink. She wiped her mouth, flashing Lily a weird smile.

"Oh, hey!"

"Hey... are you okay?" Lily asked, frowning. "You look startled-"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me!" she assured, pulling her purse over her shoulder as Lily rinsed off her sweaty palms. "You ready to go?"

Lily frowned and nodded, giving her friend a suspicious look as they stepped out of the bathrooms into the crowded bar. Lily hooked two of her fingers through the belt loop of Kaen's vinyl skirt, never straying more than a foot or so from her in the crowd.

Kaen, for all her faults, wasn't shy about crowds. She easily pushed and shoved her way back to the bar, grinning and bopping her auburn head to the music, occasionally glancing behind her to make sure Lily had gotten swept away in the crowd. Once they got back to the bar, however, their friends were nowhere to be seen.

Kaen leaned over the bar, whistling to get the bartender's attention. The older lady took a break from mixing drinks, leaning on the counter to speak with Kaen as Lily huddled close to the singer.

"Yeah? Need something?" the bartender asked, popping her gum bubble. A small nametag pinned to the breast of her tight black t-shirt read 'Apphia'.

"Yeah, we're looking for someone actually! Our friends?" Kaen started, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Three of them? You served them drinks earlier?"

Apphia mused thoughtfully. "Who was paying? I only remember paying customers."

"Her name was Lisa? Pissy attitude, dark hair, super heavy Bronx accent she hides really badly?"

"Ooh, her. Yeah, they're in the booth over by the stage." Apphia turned away, taking another order as Kaen yanked Lily through the crowds yet again.

When the pair rejoined their bandmates, Lily eagerly flopped down beside Byeol, sighing deeply. "I hate crowds so.much..." she mumbled, to which Byeol patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Hey... where'd Xander go? I thought you two were having a good time..."

Byeol waved her off, crossing her legs under the table. "Oh, the boys had to go. They said they all had work in the morning. Oh! Elijah left this for you. It's a magazine. Kinda weird, but whatever..."

Byeol reached for her black leather jacket that sat in the booth beside her, digging through the pockets before pulling out a rather small, rolled up magazine. She handed it to Lily, who took it with a confused expression on her face. Lily unrolled it, noticing two things on the cover; one, was that one of the articles was an interview with Elijah; and the other, was that there was a series of numbers scrawled on the front with a small heart.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

The girls had a long night after that. They danced and drank and laughed, drawing quite a bit of attention as they got progressively louder as the night wore on. In fact, it was nearly 1 in the morning when a tipsy Lisa managed to round up all the girls and hustle them out of the club.

It was chilly and breezy as Byeol stood on the sidewalk next to Lily. The wind cut through her gauzy black dress, making her shiver as she tried to pick a bothersome flake of loose glitter out of her eyelash.

Kaguya was digging through her purse, sighing. She glanced at Lily. "You have anything to drink tonight?" Lily shook her head. Kaguya chucked her car keys her. "Good. You're on driving duty, anklebiter. Try not to crash and kill us all."

Lily scowled. "I'm not an anklebiter..."

Byeol giggled loudly, her head feeling fuzzy and light. Lisa and Kaen, who had drank the most that night, started for the car, leaning heavily on eachother as the other three trailed behind them. Suddenly, Byeol heard a sharp, familiar voice calling her name in her native language. She turned, her smile fading.

"Eomma...? I-"

Byeol didn't have much time to take in the sight of her mother marching towards her before she felt a sharp pain blooming in her face. She flinched, laying a hand on her soft cheek as she turned her eyes back to her mom. Lily gasped and hid behind Kaguya's back.

"Where the hell have you been, Byeol-Ha Seong? I've been looking for you for forever!" her mother demanded in English, setting both her hands on her hips.

Oh shit, when was the last time her mom full-named her...?

Byeol's eyes fluttered in confusion, trying to process her words. It was difficult; Byeol's thoughts were muddled with booze and sleepiness. She barely noticed when her mom took firm hold of her chin, forcing Byeol's eyes to meet her own.

"Are you drunk? Answer me, Byeol! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! Do you?!"

Byeol blinked, setting a hand on her mother's wrist weakly. "No..."

"No? No what?" Ji-yeon huffed. "Would you answer me, God dammit-"

Byeol's vision was suddenly obscured by Lily and Kaguya stepping in front of her. Kaguya folded her arms.

"Listen, lady, you seriously need to back off a little. Byeol's-"

"Who are you?" Ji-yeon huffed, folding her arms as she looked Kaguya up and down in disgust and judgement.

Kaguya narrowed her eyes defiantly. "Who are you?"

"I am her mother-"

"Yeah, well, I'm her bassist. And I can tell that Byeol clearly doesn't want to talk to right now. So, why don't you just go back home, calm down a little, and come talk to Byeol when we're all a little more sober and chill, okay?" Kaguya's voice was firm, leaving no room for debate or argument.

Lily peeked over Kaguya's shoulder once, giving Ji-yeon her most threatening look. Sadly she was about as threatening as a fussy kitten.

Ji-yeon narrowed her eyes, her lips pressed in a thin line. She gave her daughter a sour look.

"Really, Byeol? You gave up your own mother for this...? After everything? I gave you life, Byeol, and this is how you repay me? I'm so embarrassed of you..."

Ji-yeon's words cut Byeol's tender heart like a razorblade. She sighed deeply and turned her eyes to her feet, her fingers fidgeting anxiously.

"I'm sorry, Mom; I just wanted to-"

"Byeol, you don't need to apologize," Lily said quickly, cutting her off as she set her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You haven't done anything-"

"Be quiet!" Ji-yeon snapped, her eyes full of angry tears.

Lily flinched and went back to hiding behind Kaguya. Ji-yeon turned her gaze back to Byeol.

"Byeol... my baby... come home. You could do so much better than all of this. Don't you want me to be proud of you...?" Ji-yeon's eyes were vulnerable as she stared at Byeol. At her soft figure; at her bowed head, which was no doubt hiding big tears that threatened to spill.

Slowly, Byeol shook her head. "...I'm staying, Mom..."

Ji-yeon's eyes narrowed and she gripped the strap of her purse in a vice grip. "Of course. I should've known; after all, I'm so terrible, aren't I?"

She turned on her heel and marched off, down the street. Her heels clicked as she went, the sound cutting through the quiet night.

Byeol made a pitiful, choked sound, falling down to sit on the pavement. Her shoulders shook in silent sobs as she lowered her head and hugged her knees to her chest. Kaguya frowned, watching as Lily stooped to rub her back.

"You okay, Byeol...?"

She only cried harder in response.

About this time, Lisa and Kaen had finally stumbled over from the car. Kaguya quietly explained what happened as Lily joined them, seeing that Byeol was in no position to talk things out. After a few moments, Byeol raised her head, her eye makeup running down her apple cheeks as she sniffled and stood up. She was still a bit wobbly as she started towards the car, not paying much attention to the others. She just wanted to go home right now.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

The streets were mostly empty as Lily drove back to the apartment. The car was filled with silence, broken occasionally by Byeol's sniffles and hiccups. Lily glanced at her in the rearview mirror as she shifted gears, her heart squeezing.

Once or twice on the ride home, Kaguya would set a hand on Byeol's shoulder silently. She said no words of pity or comfort, only offering her friend silent support through whatever she was feeling.

Byeol didn't bother taking off her jacket or her heels when she get home, falling into her bed fully dressed and in her makeup. Her eyeliner smeared over her pillowcase as she buried her face in it, eventually falling into a fitful sleep.