Your Cigarette Still Burns {Damon Albarn}

1

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ¹ ~ ᴬˡⁱˢᵒⁿ, ᴬˡⁱˢᵒⁿ..

30th October 1994.
Birmingham, England.
Madeline Summers Perspective-

"Madeline!" Buffy's voice echoed through the house, along with thundering steps.

I sighed and placed my book onto the wooden table, glancing in my mirror before turning to the door which was inevitably going to fall off its hinges one day due to Violet and her temper.

The door opened roughly, ricocheting off the baby pink wall.
"Buffy, one day you're going to make a hole in my wall I'm telling you." I huffed, standing up from the round fluffy ottoman.

She cringed dramatically, "No I won't! Anyway-"

Violet slipped through the doorway, almost falling flat onto Buffy before regaining her composure.
She looked like she had just ran a marathon, something not rare for her to do.
She looked between Buffy and I, "did you tell her yet?"

She sounded out of breath, pushing her sticky hair out of her eyes and behind her ears.
Buffy rolled her eyes, "I'm telling her now, so if you don't mind.." she put her finger to her lip.

Turning back to me, she beamed abruptly, "we are invited to perform in the O2 Academy to a bunch of really successful bands!"

Violet squealed and threw herself onto my bed, hugging my plushies to her chest.
Was I the only one who didn't know about this?

"What?" Were the only words that could form in my throat.
Buffy scoffed and rolled onto my bed too, laying on her chest next to Violet.
"We are invited to perform some of our unreleased songs to big bands in the media to gain popularity. Do you know what this means for us?"

"We could be f a m o u s." Violet spelled out, kicking her feet up and grinning.

I took in a breath, "and you didn't think to ask me if I wanted to?"

They knew I had anxiety, knew I had Social Anxiety and still sighed us up for this without asking me?
I mean, does Juno even know?
I'm literally the lead singer, doing the most.

"Well.." buffy looked at Violet for help.

Violet sat up, a pitiful look on her face: "We can't miss this opportunity.. we thought that you'd like it as a little surprise."

I closed my eyes and shook my head, "I get what you're saying- I do.. just- when is this performance?"

"Umm.." they hummed together, gritting their teeth, "tonight..."

I stared at them blankly, calculating what they just said.
We had no prep time, no clue what we were doing, and no rehearsing.

"To be specific," Violet butted in quickly, licking her dry lips, "it's at eight tonight.. and it's midday now.. so we need to catch the train in an hour."

Does she think that this is reassuring?

"What the fuck guys." I stormed into my bathroom and locked the door, washing my face thoroughly before a knock sounded at the bathroom door.