Chapter 7- Crumble
#7 of Just Like You Imagined
A/N: The lyrics used are from ModWheelMoods song Madrid - Changes and I did not write them! They belong to MWM!
Acara was lying on her bed in the tour bus. She had the top bunk on one of the roadie buses. She didn't mind, they all left her alone and she liked it that way. She had a notebook on her chest with some words scribbled in it. The feline had tried writing a song to get her emotions out, but she was always really bad at that. Another failed experiment. The cat looked at her watch; it was 5 in the morning. They would get to Stockholm at 9. They were coming from Berlin, a show that didn't go to well. A bunch of the lights stopped working which caused Trent to make an extremely immature hissy fit. Luckily Rob dealt with that, not her.
The feline hated waking up this early; it gave her too much thinking time. Now that she was dating Alessandro she kept thinking that saying yes was a big mistake. It had only been four days, but he was smothering her in unwanted attention. "I really fucked up," she sighed to herself. She tapped her pencil on her notebook. She did like the panda, she loved being around him and spending time with him. In moderation. Acara thought that the relationship would be a whole lot better if they didn't spend every day with each other. Normally, the cat would say something to him, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew he had only good intentions, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. The intern rolled over and did her best to go back to sleep, she didn't want to think about this anymore.
Stockholm was beautiful, as always. When the bus finally arrived at the arena, Acara took a minute to breathe in the clean air and look around. The first time she was here she loved it, and she loved it just as much right now. The feline didn't have time to take in the sights though; she had to help the roadies move the equipment onto the stage. It was demanding work, and it took all of her concentration. Moving the large boxes was hard, even if there were four furs working on it. It took about two hours to bring everything in, and then it was break time. This of course meant Ally would be attacking the cat with hugs and kisses.
"Ally, come on, I'm tired," the calico growled. She managed to wiggle out of the pandas grip and sat down on the edge of the stage.
"You're cranky today. Are you feeling ok?" The musician cocked his head to the side as he sat next to her, wrapping his arm and his tail around her.
The feline sighed, "Eh, I have a headache again. And my back really hurts, probably from moving shit." The panda responded to that by rubbing his paw up and down her back. She had to admit, it felt good and she instinctively began purring. Ally was about to lean in to kiss her when he heard the stage door get swung open.
"Jeordie! Let me on the tour bus! You never let me see it!" A tan and white guinea pig in tight jeans and a blue shirt came running after the fox. "Please! You guys never come to Stockholm! Just let me see it! Two seconds!" The fur spoke with a slight Swedish accent.
Jeordie just laughed at the squealing rodent, "I told you, no groupies on the bus!" He wagged his bushy tail from side to side, grinning stupidly.
The guinea pig's face turned red from anger. "You whore! You wish I was your groupie!" She clenched her paws tightly as she picked up a wire to fling at the bass player.
"Dude!" Alessandro stood up to stop her, "I need that, don't mess with it Viveka."
She turned to look at the panda, "Oh, hey Ally. Tell Jeordie to let me see the bus, he promised me."
Alessandro went to say something when Josh appeared. "He doesn't want you to see it because it's still a damn mess from the barely legal girls he fucked last night." The monkey laughed. "I'll show you my bus; you can be in a new video I'm making."
The rodent's eyes lit up, "I can be in you're video? Really?"
The drummer grinned, "Yeah. Hey Acara, want to come too?" The feline hissed and shook her head. "Jeeze, ok. Never mind." He walked off and both Jeordie and Viveka followed him.
"What the hell was that?" The intern asked when everyone was gone.
The red panda just laughed, "That was Viveka, and she's a friend of Jeordies. They met a few years ago at some show and they just kept in touch." He shrugged. "Hey!" he suddenly had an idea. "Why don't you two go hang out for a bit? Girls night out or something, you've been hanging out with this sausage fest for a wile now."
"Nah, I want to get some rest tonight. We get to sleep late the next few days." The cat poked at her leg and sighed. "I'm hungry..."
The musician sighed and stood up, patting her on the head. She was always down; she never really wanted to hang out with anyone. It always worried him. "I'll get you something, what do you want?"
Acara thought for a moment. The panda was amazed at how she suddenly got so serious as her brain processed what kind of food it wanted. "Tuna!" She finally said with a stupid grin. Ally almost fell off the stage. "And a brownie. Oh!" It was beyond him how the cat got so excited over food, but nothing else. "I want tuna ON a brownie." And that... that was completely disgusting.
"Acara, that's gross!" They keyboardist smacked his paw against his head. This was the 3rd time in the past five days where she asked for something odd. First she wanted Tuna in soup, ok that wasn't that bad. Then it was a tuna taco. But this was repugnant. "Are you sure?"
The cat nodded and stuck her tongue out, then grabbed her small notebook and began writing in it. Alessandro sighed and walked away, he really didn't understand felines.
***
This was the forth day in a row where Acara felt sick. The night before was the Stockholm show, which went well, and now she had two days until the next performance. That meant the feline had free time, something she needed. No setting up and breaking down stages, no dealing with Trent, just her time. Or so she thought.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Ally's voice filled her room as he opened up the door to her hotel room. "Its beautiful out, lets go walk around the city!" He jumped on top of the cat and pulled the covers away from her face, wagging his tail happily. "Acara?" He cocked his head to the side, she didn't look to good.
"Please get off me," she hissed. The panda promptly did so. "Fuck!" She pushed passed him and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Ally jumped up and ran to the door with a concerned look on his face. He had to cover his ears when he heard the calico cat start to gag, it made him feel like he was about to join her in phrasing the porcelain god. After a few minutes she emerged from the bathroom with her ears back and whiskers drooping. "I'm going to the doctor," she said in a horse voice.
Alessandro nodded, "Ok let me get brush my teeth and I'll..."
Acara was way too quick to cut him off. "No, I'll go by myself. Go explore or something."
"But Acara!" She ignored him. The feline quickly got changed in the bathroom and left the room in a hurry, leaving the poor panda by himself looking rejected. He was worried about her, but he felt like sometimes she just didn't care. He knew how though things were for the intern. And he was trying, really trying to make her feel better. The musician felt like a failure. Ally sat down in the desk chair and sighed. That's when he noticed a small book open with what looked like some lyrics scribbled down on it. He knew he should avert his eyes but he just couldn't.
'Look at me and turn it into tragedy.
Can't believe its happening.
Not alive but I'm breathing.
Everyday I'm in a cage.
Everything is going though the changes.'
The musician studied the words; he could hear a song forming in his mind. He found a blank sheet of paper and wrote them down. "She'll be mad, but I'll finish this song as a present for her." He left the room with a small smile on his face.
***
"So what seems to be the problem?" Acara sat nervously on the uncomfortable doctors table in one of those ugly pink gowns. The doctor was a red Swedish horse that spoke perfect English, with a British accent, which made the feline relax a bit.
"I've been having bad headaches and back problems," she answered softly. "Haven't been feeling well the past few days, and I threw up this morning." The doctor nodded and then did the whole checkup routine. He checked her breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, ears, and then asked for a urine sample.
"Everything appears to be fine." He smiled. "We'll call you in a few hours with the results of the urine test. I don't think there is anything seriously wrong though." Acara thought there was something strange with the tone of his voice. "But tell me, have you been having any... strange cravings recently?"
"Um..." Her voice trailed off. "I did ask for Tuna on a Brownie yesterday."
The Doctor laughed, "Ok, now go home and get some sleep." The cat couldn't protest to that.
***
"Is that why you've been so off lately?" Jeordie leaned against the wall as he spoke to Alessandro. "Because you're worried about Acara?" The entire band of Nine Inch Claws were all hanging out in the Red Panda's room, even Trent. He wasn't too happy about that, but he tried to ignore it.
"Yeah," he sighed. "She's been kind of depressed lately. She's sick now too. Actually to be honest," the musician felt good letting his emotions out, "She's been weirding me out with her eating habits recently."
"Like what?" Robin asked with a flick of his tail. He was actually semi interested in what was wrong. He liked the cat even though she kept to herself when not on the job.
"She asked me for a Tuna Brownie yesterday," Ally answered in a disgusted tone. "And she asked for tuna ice cream last night after the show." He shook his head.
"Dude, she IS a cat!" Josh tapped on his leg as he spoke.
Jeordie shook his head, "That's still pretty gross though."
Josh laughed, "I didn't say it wasn't gross. I'm just saying she's a cat."
Robin sighed, "That's like saying you put bananas in everything." This earned the raptor a glare from the drummer.
As the rest of the band tried to cheer the poor panda up, Trent sat silently thinking about what his keyboardist had said. His ears were up and alert and the canine actually looked slightly alarmed. He stayed absorbed in his own thoughts, mostly thinking about the feline. The dog actually did feel bad, really bad, about what he did to her. It was his fault, taking advantage of the situation when she was inebriated. But why did she react that badly?
Trent knew he had problems, his drinking and drug abuse were only getting worse. Maybe that was why the only way he could think of to tell Acara he liked her was by getting her drunk and fucking her. It made perfect sense when it was happening, but now... 'I tried to apologize to her!' He thought. 'She won't let me get near her!' He sighed and looked down at the floor. The Weimaraner really did try, but after a wile he just gave up. And when he found out her and Ally had something going on well, he just tried to forget about the whole situation.
Something was fishy about this though. It renewed the canine's curiosity. He thought he knew what was wrong, he hoped it wasn't, but he had to find out. He had to find out and apologize to her. Even if it meant him getting a few more scars.
***
It was four in the afternoon when Acara's hotel phone rang. She was curled up, nice and warm in her bed when the loud, obnoxious sound reached her ears. The feline pulled her self out of bed and over to the telephone. "Hello?" She sounded half asleep.
"Hello is this Acara?" It was the doctor.
"Yes." Suddenly she sounded more awake.
"The results for your test are in. It's just what I expected. I'd like to congratulate you! You're pregnant."
Acara's eyes opened wide in horror. Emotions took over as she ripped the phone from the wall and threw it against the mirror.