ezra could not believe the audacity of kai valentine.
actually, he could. he'd known kai since high school, back when he had been this nerdy band kid that everybody made fun of. maybe that was the root of his insane control issues, or maybe he had just never grown out of being a stuck up prick.
not that ezra had changed much after high school either, apart from the whole vampire thing. that had been a change he'd not anticipated, and one he'd struggled to adjust to.
the last thing he wanted to do tonight was go to a stupid party, /especially/ one with the other band they were filming the documentary with. nothing good ever seemed to come out of hanging with them; just drama and lots of arguments. he had plenty of that with kai valentine. but he couldn't ger out of it, max had already told annika that he'd be there, and ezra usually struggled to tell max 'no'. so he'd go, begrudgingly. but he wouldn't enjoy it.
he didn't have time to get himself a proper drink before making his way to annika's flat, so he could already feel himself becoming agitated. he pushed through the door quietly, having already been invited in, rolling his eyes when he saw that kai valentine was already there. great, now he couldn't even bitch to max about him.
not that that would stop him.
"i was beginning to think you wouldn't show, carver," annika had said as she poured herself out another class of wine - a deep red, the sight of it made ezra chuckle. he had to say it was an odd choice for pres, but annika had always been a little odd.
"wouldn't miss it for the world," he drawled back, never one to slack on the sarcasm. ezra walked over to join his bandmates in the kitchen, leaning past kai to pick up a beer and pop it open. he met the boy's gaze with a cold stare before quickly turning back to go stand with max, huffing under his breath. "so how long do we actually have to be there? is it just a pictures for promo kinda thing?" he arched a brow as he took a long sip from the beer, figuring he would have to settle the cravings with that for now. ezra saw the way that kai looked when he asked the disinterested question, although luckily for him, it was annika that spoke up first.
"don't be like that, ez. it might be good for you to let loose, have some fun." she apprehended him with a laugh, and ezra had to admit that she was right. perhaps a good party would help him loosen up. a good drink would, too.
"so what are we doing here then? going for the fashionably late aesthetic?" ezra smirked at his bandmates, meeting max's gaze with a laugh. they were rockstars, fashionably late was cool.
the four took a cab to the party around an hour later, already feeling the buzz from the drinks they'd shared in annika's kitchen. ezra slung an arm around max's shoulders as they followed kai and annika into the dark bar, leaning in to mumble about how kai had been on his ass earlier about being late to the rehearsal like the asshole he was, only to receive an eye roll from his best friend in response. ezra didn't understand how max and annika both liked kai; he barely tolerated him! sure, he wasa good frontman, he could fuckin hold a crowd, but that was all he could do. without the other three behind him, ezra was sure that kai valentine would still be that nerdy band kid from high school, and god how he wished he could remind him of that.
it wasn't a surprise when they walked in to see astrid sinclair on the stage. ezra couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face when he heard the song choice - heaven knows by the pretty reckless. it was sort of ironic, the whole rock 'n' roll scene they had going on. most of them didn't even know the half of it; it was all coke sex and setlists, which seemed pretty saintly compared to the shit ezra had done. he took a seat beside max when they reached the table that the rest of the rad wagon members were sat at, all hyping up their front woman on the stage. cute. ezra wondered to himself if she was anything like kai's arrogant ass. well, for starters, she was hot, so he'd give her that.
"banging party," he whispered to max as he glanced at him from the side, clearly not finding it to be the fun that his friend's had hyped it up to be. "karaoke machine and shots. this is really the best they could get?" ezra scoffed as he watched astrid finish her performance and return back to the group. he let his eyes trail down her, having to tear them away when he found himself staring a little to intensely at her neck, instead turning his attention to the row of shots on the table. ezra leaned forwards to pick one up and threw it down his neck, leaning back into his seat with another disinterested huff. he turned his gaze back to kai who had chosen a seat across the table, leaning in to talk to the members of the rival band. kiss up. "how long do you think it'll be before valentine takes the stage?" ezra scoffed again to max, rolling his eyes as he turned to his friend. "twenty bucks says it's in the next five minutes."
