Rose's Journal

June 10th

I woke up today to a text from Adrian. "Last concert tonight. Hang out?" I had completely forgotten that they'd only be on support for the western leg of the tour, but Adrian was feeling more and more like an afterthought every day. I'd say that I don't know why, but I have a feeling. It's not fair to keep Adrian on the back burner, no matter how much he might love me.

We'll be arriving in Phoenix soon. Lissa got back to the hotel well enough, but the guy she was hanging with was nowhere in sight. Dimitri looked unkept for the first time this morning. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking up slightly in the back like he hadn't brushed it or maybe he slept in. He's been silent.

What an asshole.

"Stop it."

Lissa swatted at Rose as she attempted to take a picture with her phone. The seamstress flitted around Lissa like a fairy.

"Sorry, it's just a very entertaining scene," Rose laughed behind her hand. She put her phone away. "I love when you get fittings."

"Yeah, because you get to sit on the couch." Lissa rolled her eyes. The glittering green dress was held up with pins at every seam. "I'm just sad this one never got finished before we left. I would have loved it for the encore last week."

Rose nodded. She spread out on the couch even further. "It's pretty. I hope you get to keep it and they don't ship it off to the Hard Rock Cafe like they did with your costumes a few tours back."

Lissa sighed in anguish. "That yellow skirt. I lost the yellow skirt."

"When will my costumes return from the war?" Rose said with a wild gesture. They both collapsed into giggles. The seamstress gave Lissa the stink eye.

"No laughing," she said. "It disturbs the pins."

Lissa sobered, but shot Rose a wink.

"So who was that guy you were talking to in Vegas?" Rose said. "I forgot to ask you before I left for the night."

"Oh no one," Lissa said. "He's nice. Pretty to look at, I suppose."

"Are you going to see him again?" Rose waggled her eyebrows.

"Stop it!" Lissa said. "It was just some guy. I don't even know if he was interested in my music."

"Everyone is, Liss," Rose said. "You're famous."

Lissa shrugged. The seamstress swatted at her shoulders.

Mia entered through the main door to the dressing room, her comms unit dangling off of her ear. She nodded at Lissa and Rose in turn. "Hey Rose, Tasha needs you on the main stage to go over security for tonight."

Rose got up off of the couch with much effort. "I'll be seeing you, then. Have fun with the fitting, Liss!"

Lissa waved as Rose exited the room. The seamstress swatted her hand.

The venue in Phoenix was a nice open-air amphitheatre with more seats than Rose could count in her entire life. Places like this were intimidating- even more so when it was full of screaming fans all clamouring for a piece of a pop star. She walked out from the side stage down to the general admission floor where Tasha and the other security guards were gathered.

"Okay, so Team C will take sector four," Tasha said, pointing to a map she'd laid out on a folding card table. "Hey Rose, glad you finally joined us. You'll be with Team A on the side stage."

"Thanks," Rose said quickly. "Where's Dimitri? He usually does the briefing."

"It's his day off," Tasha said.

He never takes days off, Rose thought. The robot must finally have malfunctioned. I wonder if I played any part in that. Maybe. Probably.

"Well, I've got to-" Rose stopped mid-thought, distracted for a moment by Adrian who was waving to her from the stage. She patted Tasha on the shoulder. "I'll see you later."

"Rose!" Tasha shouted after her. "Godammit, you can't skip out on every meeting!"

But Rose had already made her decision and was climbing the stairs up to the main stage where Adrian and his band were setting up for sound check. He was in rare form today, with a button-down devoid of wrinkles and his hair at least shampooed if not just combed back. He smelled nice. It made Rose feel horrible.

"Little dancer!" Adrian embraced her. "How's it going?"

"Good," Rose said. Her voice felt far away. "Can- can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, wait a second." He turned back to his band mates. "I'll be right back."

"Remember to actually do sound check this time," said the drummer as he placed the cymbal on stage.

"Whatever." Adrian waved them off. He slung an arm around Rose and they walked to a more private corner of the stage. "What's up?"

"This might sound a little weird..." Rose began. She felt a tug in her stomach that nearly made her throw up. She was afraid of what his reaction might be. "How would you feel if we were to, say... break up?"

Adrian's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

Rose gulped. "I want to break up. This isn't working out anymore. We're always on separate tours and you're leaving tonight for New York again, so I thought this would be best."

He dropped his hands from her shoulder and took a step back, like he'd been shot. "You can't be serious."

"I am." Rose couldn't look him in the eye. "I want to end it."

"This is ridiculous!" Adrian's voice grew louder and louder.

"Keep your voice down," Rose said. She placed her hand lightly on his chest.

"No!" He shouted. He stepped away from Rose's touch. "There's someone else, isn't there? It's that fucking Russian or Zeklos or something! Tell me the truth, Rose."

The rest of Lost Spirits turned to watch them argue. Rose grabbed Adrian's arms in an attempt to calm him down.

"No, no, there's no one else," she said in a low tone. "I just feel like this isn't working out."

Rose glanced at the side stage where she saw Dimitri dressed in civilian clothes picking up a piece of fruit from the catering table. Adrian followed her gaze.

"Oh my God." Adrian pulled Rose's hands off of him. He backed away from her. "Screw you, Rose Hathaway!"

Adrian left the stage and Rose attempted to follow, but the damage was done. Everyone was looking at her or pretending not to be listening for her reaction.

"Shit." She put her head in her hands.

Dimitri walked up next to her, watching Adrian storm off. He offered her a piece of cantaloupe. "Fruit?"

Rose looked at the cantaloupe with surprise and took it, biting into it angrily. She was fuming. "Thanks."

"He doesn't deserve you, you know," Dimitri said.

Rose looked up at him, not even trying to argue this time. "Then who does?"

Dimitri was thrown for a loop. He hesitated just long enough that Rose walked away, disappearing into the dressing room.

Rose's Journal

June 11th

The concert last night was the worst one I'd ever worked. Adrian was all over the place in his set; they had to carry him off at the end. I think he was crying, but I couldn't tell. He was obviously drunk, possibly high, I don't really know what he does in his time off these days. He hates me now, I'm sure of it.

I feel bad breathing a sigh of relief now that he isn't on tour with us anymore. Someone new is joining us, an up-and-coming girl performer that Lissa hung out with at the IMAs last year. She writes her own songs and other than being a little too into wearing black, she's alright. Let's hope this part of the tour goes better than the last.

The backstage area was smoky when Lissa exited her dressing room, Rose by her side. They were at a festival that had made Lissa one of the headliners, so the various stages around the grounds were little more than glorified tents, but it was June and the weather was nice, so no one was complaining. It did make having tight security difficult, though.

"Sage!" Lissa waved across the backstage area to a girl sitting on one of the couches in the green room. The girl stood and made her way over to them. "Rose, you've met Sage before, right?"

Sage was shorter than you'd expect, but she managed to gain it back with chunky platforms and a piercing presence. She had impossibly dark eyes, her hair twisted up into an elaborate bun that no doubt had all the hairspray in the universe on it, and lipstick so dark it looked black. Her navy blue dress swung side-to-side as she walked, dusting the floor with a light spray of glitter.

"Of course!" Sage broke into a smile. She grabbed Rose for a hug. "How are you?"

"Good," Rose managed to say. "Ready for your concert tonight?"

"Yeah! I'm so excited to be on tour!" Sage's cheerful demeanor contrasted with the severe style she was wearing. "It's going to be super fun!"

Someone caught Lissa's eye out of Rose's sight and she waved. Rose turned and saw a flash of brown hair, but wasn't sure who it was.

"I'll see you two later, okay?" Lissa said. She touched Sage's arm lightly. "Have fun tonight!"

"Bye!" Sage and Rose waved at Lissa as she disappeared into the crowd.

Rose tried to catch a glimpse of they guy she was walking off with, but he didn't show his face. She knew Lissa wouldn't leave the backstage area since she needed to be on in half an hour, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was up.

A security guard came up to Sage and spoke something in her ear.

"Well, that's my cue!" she said, pulling Rose in for another hug. "If I don't see you, have a great time at the festival!"

Sage started her gig. Lissa returned ten minutes later with a smile on her face, but no indication as to where she'd been. Rose finally relaxed.

"Want some?"

Mason and Eddie leaned over Rose as she lounged in the grass by the main stage, cotton candy in hand. Lissa's gig was over and she was taking some time to chill. If you couldn't do that at a festival, what could you do?

"Gimme." She reached up and pulled a chunk of the blue, fluffy candy off of the stick in Mason's hand. "Delicious. Are you two off for the night?"

They both sat down on the grass next to her.

"Nope," Eddie said. "I'm just on a break before I have to pack everything back into the bus."

"And i've earned the night off after being hit in the head with a bottle by a fan." Mason leaned forward to show Rose a growing bruise by his hairline.

"Ouch." Rose grimaced. "Have fun otherwise?"

"Yeah," Mason said. "Lissa was on fire. The best gig yet. It's probably why a ton of people decided to go ballistic."

"Rose."

The voice came through her comm and she fumbled for it, pressing the button on the side.

"Go for Rose," she said.

"We need you on the south end of the grounds, by the tents. There's a huge crowd of paparazzi forming."

"On it," she said. Rose jumped up from where she was sitting and held her hands out to Eddie and Mason. "There's a scuffle I need to get to. See you boys later."

"I miss out on all of the good stuff," Mason said with an exaggerated lower lip.

"Sorry, babe," Rose said. She began walking away. "They only called for me. Have fun out there!"

"Don't kill anyone!" Eddie waved after her.

"I can't make any promises!" Rose jogged towards where the tour coordinator told her the paparazzi were congregating and heard them exchanging a name with each other. She slowed down and sidled up next to one of the paps. "Hey, what's going on in there?"

The paparazzi popped his gum and looked at her. "Someone said Lissa Dragomir went in there with someone, but it's a private tent; we can't go in."

"Thanks," Rose said, processing the information. She walked up to the side of the tent and slipped in without being seen.

The two people inside split apart quickly with a gasp. It was Lissa and, judging by the back of his head, the boy from Vegas. Her lipstick was smeared over his mouth and neck. She self-consciously smoothed down her hair.

"Rose!" Lissa said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was told to break up a squad of paps who have this tent surrounded," Rose said, her confusion turning into anger. "You're never this careless; what's going on?"

Suddenly, Tasha and Dimitri both entered the tent, out of breath.

"We came as soon as we heard," Tasha said to Rose. "What's- Christian?"

The boy from Vegas and Tasha locked eyes. He was shocked into silence.

"What?" Rose looked between them. "You know him?"

Tasha walked towards him and pulled him by the collar of his shirt to his feet. "He's my nephew. And he shouldn't be in here."

"Oh my god, are all of your related?" Rose asked, exasperated. "Someone's going to need to draw me a flow chart for all of this shit."

"Miss Dragomir," Dimitri said. He returned to his stoicism, which seemed to be his answer in every stressful situation. "You must leave. Now. We cannot have the press finding out about this."

"What were you thinking?" Tasha scolded Christian. "Kissing Lissa Dragomir? If anyone found out-"

"No one is going to," Christian said. "Nice to see you too, by the way."

"Nothing was going on," Lissa said. "It really isn't that big of a deal!"

"Can someone please tell me what's happening?" Rose asked in the middle of the melee.

Everyone went silent. Tasha's hand was still close to wringing Christian's neck.

"Young Mr. Ozera is the son of Lucas and Moira Ozera," Dimitri said.

"Wait, the same Ozeras that own the label that turns its artists into pop sellouts?" Rose asked. The implications dawned on her.

"Strigoi Records," Dimitri confirmed.

Rose sunk down onto the couch Lissa was sitting on. "Oh Liss. Oh no."

"It's not like that," Lissa said to Rose.

"They've been trying to capture you for years," Rose said. "They sabotaged everything last tour."

"You have to believe me!" Lissa said. "He's different!"

"They won't see it that way," Rose pointed to the door of the tent, where outside the paparazzi lay in wait like hungry lions.

"You need to leave," Tasha said to Christian. "Before anyone catches wind of this. Go around the back."

Lissa grabbed Christian's hand. "No, I know a better way out. Let's go."

"Not together!" Rose said. "Are you guys both idiots?"

"He needs as much protection as I do, Rose." Lissa's words were sharp. "We're going together."

Rose looked to Dimitri for support, but he didn't provide any.

"Form a triangle around them in case of paparazzi," Dimitri said. "Rose and I in front, Tasha in the back. Heads down."

Rose bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood. This was ridiculous; Christian was only a boy, a fling. The press would have a field day if they knew that Lissa Dragomir was dating again, much less the son of the rival record company. Rose could see the headlines now.

Her father was going to kill her.

They all exited the tent out the opposite side and the coast was fairly clear. The paparazzi out front still believed that they were inside, but as they were rounding the corner by one of the smaller stages a few yards off, someone caught a glimpse of them.

"Look! It's Lissa Dragomir!"

A swarm of people descended on them. Lissa's eyes grew wide and Rose readied herself for Lissa to grab her hand, but it never came. Rose glanced behind her and saw that she was clutching Christian's instead. Something broke loose inside Rose.

"Lissa! Over here!" A pap shoved his camera over Rose's shoulder and in Lissa's face. A flash went off.

Her father was definitely going to kill her.

Sage is based on my beta, Sage Meryllis Banks, and not Sydney (who will be coming in towards the tail end of the story) so don't worry. I didn't Lorde-ify Sydney Sage just yet. Next chapter will include some press backlash and a bit of unexpected reconciliation because Dimitri can never really hold a grudge for long. Stay tuned!