red and black - aleksi kaunisvesti

2.

interview after interview. barely getting any sleep. it's been two weeks since the announcement and our performance is in two days. there's been nothing but interviews and practice for the last week. i'm quite literally surviving off of red bulls, vodka mules, and snickerdoodle cookies. thank god alexei likes to bake and uses it as a stress coping mechanism (to me he seemed like a baking kind of guy and i love it and him). some of the other countries released their euro picks. i only remembered a few apart from finland though. italy was sending a band called Måneskin. they seemed pretty cool. their song "ZITTI E BUONI" was in full italian so i understood some of it. when we saw them lacy had an immediate attraction to the drummer, ethan. malta's song was released too. destiny's "je me casse".

the day of the final i woke up in our little hotel in Minsk. i decided to actually have a real breakfast and woke up the other three.
"wake up lacy. i think all four of us need to have a real breakfast." i whispered to the sleeping girl. she stirred and grumbled a "good morning". she got up and i went to alexei's room.
"alexei wake up. we're all gonna have breakfast together so we're actually energised." i said drawing open his blinds. he woke up immediately and rubbed his eyes. then he went to the bathroom and i left once i heard the water running. next i made my way over the dmitri's room.
"hey dmitri. it's time to wake up. we're all gonna have breakfast so we're energised." i said to him.
"scarleigh." he responded
"what's up dmitri?" i asked pushing his hair back.
"lay with me please." he pleaded.
"dmitri cmon we have to get up." i told him. he grumbled and got up. when i thought he was going to get changed he turned around and tackled me to the bed. he started tickling me and kissing my face. i was able to speak between laughs, "dmitri. no. we. have. to. get. up."
"ugh fine." he said giving me a kiss and got changed. i felt awful. i didn't have any real feelings for him yet he was utterly obsessed with me.

we all met downstairs and got as healthy of a breakfast as we could from a cheap hotel buffet. it was so fun just being to hang out with all of them. we weren't thinking about tonight. we were just living in the moment. after breakfast we met up with ana and had a last minute costume fitting. everything checked out and we had an hour before the show started. we were going fourth out of seven acts. while the lacy, dmitri, and alexei all bothered to get to know the other acts and become close to them i didn't. i think i got closer with ana instead of my own band mates. i helped with everything from costume design and costume making to even volunteering with the setup for the stage. i couldn't be bothered to hang out with everyone and drink. i would do that when we made it to eurovision.

"scarleigh! we're on soon," shouted lacy. we were backstage in our dressing room. i had already warmed up and kept applying my lipstick over and over. i was so nervous. i felt so much stress because the others didn't have to play their instrument on the stage. it was all prerecorded. but i knew i could do this.
"let's win this bitch lacy." i stood up saying. i was so ready to win the contest and go to rotterdam. the only thing between me and rotterdam was my vocals. and i had to bring it.

"next up from the beautiful city of Navahrudak...moon anubis. this quartet contains, scarleigh with vocals, lacy on the guitar, dmitri on the bass, and lastly alexei with the drums." announced the host. i took a deep breath and...

"as the night falls opens closed doors and the wind sweeps up in and out of sleep" i sang. oh my god this was so exciting. my voice felt perfect and i loved every second of it. i kept singing and had so much fun.

"i lay the blame on you, you blame it on me too, we blame it on the fool moon. hide everything we do it's only me and you forget about the fool moon." i kept singing.

"drown out the voices in my head. take back the words we left unsaid. drown out the voices in my head. take back the second you regret." i take a deep breath. the end of the song was coming but i didn't want this moment to end.

"and i lay the blame on you. you blame it on me too. we blame it on the fool moon. hide everything we do it's only me and you forget about the fool moon. and blame it on the-" i smiled the biggest i think i've ever smiled. i was out of breath but for the best reason. both the stress and the lack of sleep were worth it. i got to perform in front of beautiful belarus doing the thing i loved; performing.

"THANK YOU BELARUS!" i shouted into the microphone. we ran off the stage and barely had time to comprehend we had just performed. the backstage crew ushered us all into the green room for the artists. the four of us sat down and i popped a bottle of champagne. we watched the last few contestants but i was confident we would win.
"guys. the other performances are really good. i'm confident we can win but what if-" lacy says while drinking out of her flute. i was quick to interrupt.
"don't worry lacy. we were amazing and have a huge shot at winning." i said pouring myself another glass of champagne. i took this time to go onto my instagram and post on my story to remind people to vote for us. the rest quickly followed suit.

as time went on the adrenaline rush from performing slowly started wearing off. the stress taking over. the cameras panning over the contestants only saw the outside, our smiling faces and laughs. they didn't catch the leg shaking, the nervous drinking, or the finger fidgeting. the voting lines went on for what seemed like hours. after what felt like 3 hours the host called out that the lines had closed. the countdown has begun. i wish i wasn't as worked up and anxious as i was. a few days back i had watched the UMK and noticed how seemingly calm blind channel was. their song was a little more hardcore but i felt watching the rerun that they didn't seem to care if they made it. they were very laid back and i wanted that energy for us.

"hello belarus. we have the long awaited results for our entry in the eurovision song contest 2021. we will give out points according to our set list so Maks Korzh will receive his points first and Xcho will receive his points last." the host explained. that means that we get our points fourth. this is so nerve wracking. (did i just look up random belarusian artists? yes, yes i did)

"alright so Maks Korzh you have received from both the public and the jury...182 points." everyone clapped. that was a lot of points. it'll be hard to beat that but i have faith in our band and our fans. the other two acts got their votes. Maks was still in first place. it was our turn to get our votes and we all huddled close together and grab each other's hands.

"our fourth group from Navahrudak, moon anubis, has received from both the public and the jury...592 points which puts them in first place". immediately i started crying. lacy and alexei quickly started too and we all huddled close together so proud of ourselves. the two other groups received their points but we were still in first place. it was finally time for Xcho to get his points.

"alright lastly we have Xcho. from both the public and the jury Xcho has received...327 points. which means our winner and national selection for the eurovision song contest 2021 is MOON ANUBIS." i stood up and screamed. the other contestants ran up and gave us hugs but i was a sobbing mess. ana quickly gave me a tissue and i started drying my eyes only for them to get wet again. lacy and dmitri both closed in on me and we all were crying. i look over and see alexei in shock with tears rolling down his face. i swore he saw a divine spirit (he's the ethan torchio of the group). after a minute we were taken upstage and i was handed a microphone.

"congratulations moon anubis on this tremendous win. how does it feel to officially be representing belarus at eurovision?"
"oh my. this is all extremely exciting. our win i'm afraid hasn't completely sunk in yet so i'm still in shock. i think we all are. it's so exciting to do what we love for our country and represent all of you in this years eurovision. we all would like to say thank you so so much and we love you!" i spoke into the microphone having calmed down a little.
"give it up for the belarusian representatives!" announced the host once again. the crowd of people went absolutely wild and for the first time in a while i felt as if i belonged. i turned over to dmitri and saw he was as pale as paper.
"dmitri what's wro-" i tried to whisper at him. but i was violently cut off by his lips suddenly on mine.

HI AHAHSJEJE. so if this is confusing uhh idk lmk ig but i also wanted to include some drama 🙄. also take a shot every time i said "we" OMFG SIDNDIEO. hope u enjoyed it LMFAO <3