Under the Starlight

One Night Only

Trigger warning! First section in italics is a flashback that may be triggering, feel free to skip past if it is.

"Where are you going dressed like that?" My step father asked, his eyes filling with rage. I noticed the empty bottles scattered across the floor. Oh boy, another night where he's wasted. It was May of senior year, one more month and I was done school and out of this place. I tried my best to remain calm and answer in short sentences. Maybe I could get out faster then usual and hang out at a friends place over night. "I said answer me." His voice rising as he yet again spoke. My friends knew a guy who was of age and offered to buy us booze. Although I'd never want to end up like my step dad getting drunk was a nice escape from the hell of my living situation. "Just going out with friends. I'll be home later." I replied calmly, slowly getting up. I could see my mother approaching the archway. He inched closer to me, "Why are you always going out so late, acting like a slut. This is my house and my rules, you can't go out tonight." I knew I didn't always dress modestly, but getting attention from guys was the one thing I felt I had control of. Any attention that wasn't from my parents was good attention. And besides, he'd be passed out in an hour anyways. "I'm just going out for a bit, I'll be home soon." I stated, standing my ground. Tonight was not the night to wait for him to pass out, I was gonna leave as soon as possible. "You heard him, you're not leaving. Stop being so disrespectful." My mother scoffed, leaning against the wall. Her words were slurred also. The stench of alcohol coming off the both of them was strong. Nauseating, almost. But not enough to deter me from drinking tonight. I needed to get drunk and forget everything. Plus my best friend Sarah's brother John was coming, too. He was cute and older than us. Mature guys were way better than the guys in my high school. "I'm not being disrespectful, and I'm not staying. Why don't you get more drunk, I'm sure the world would love that." I muttered the last sentence sarcastically under my breath. My parents accounted for 50% of Zuzu city's alcohol sales. Big mistake, turns out I didn't mutter it as quiet as I thought. My step dad started yelling at me, throwing insults and curse words, telling me how horrible of a kid I was. And of course, my mother had to join in too. She could never stick up for me, it was always my fault. I stayed silent as I tried to plan my escape, tuning out his harsh words. My eyes narrowing my gaze downward as he picked up a bottle from the ground. I nearly missed a bottle being thrown at the wall, this was the Monday night usual. He paced around the room, throwing most items in his line of sight. You could see the veins popping out as he got closer to me. "Look at me!" My step father yelled as he took a swing at me. I shot up in a cold sweat, hyperventilating. I tried to calm my breathing but it wasn't working. Not this shit again. I thought to myself. And of course, as it always is when this happens, the tears started to flow. I covered my eyes with my hands and tried to calm myself. Sebastian heard me and shot up instantaneously, pulling me into a hug. "Shh, it's okay. You're safe." He softly says as he rubs my back, my head buried against his chest. I took deep breaths and slowly but surely started to slow my breathing. I couldn't help but admit to myself how nice it was to have someone help calm me down. Sebastian noticed that I had started to feel a little better. "Bad dream?" He asked. I just nodded my head. He pulled me away from his chest and wiped my tears with his thumbs. "I can guess they're about your parents. Do they happen often?" Sebastian asked as he rubbed my shoulder. "More than I care to admit. I was seeing a therapist in the city but she wasn't very good. She also wouldn't give me a prescription even though I have a few diagnoses." I replied, looking down. Sebastian gave me a reassuring look, "Do you want to talk about it? Or just sit for awhile?" I decided to open up, telling him about the dream and a little more about my childhood. It felt odd but freeing finally telling someone just how bad it was for me. "...And this happened most nights?" Sebastian asked, giving my hand a squeeze. "Most nights, yes. I usually locked myself in my room until they were passed out, then I would sneak out for most of the night. Unfortunately for me I was unlucky a lot of the time and had to deal with two angry, drunk parents. I hung out with the wrong people and got myself into bad situations. Sometimes I'm shocked I graduated high school on time. I used to think my mother wasn't so bad but the more I look at things she was just like him." Sebastian pulled me into a big hug and consoled me. It was nice having someone listen and give me kind words. "I graduated high school and moved out as soon as I could. I had a crappy little apartment and worked a soul sucking job at Joja Corp, I worked there up until my grandpa died and gave me his farm." I continued, my words slightly muffled as I stayed pressed against his chest. He got up and gave me a glass of water. I looked at the time, three in the morning. I let Sebastian know I'd sleep in today, I didn't feel like getting up early after yet another nightmare. "What was the kind of crowd you hung out with?" Sebastian asked as I cuddled my jellyfish Miso. "A lot of the burnout kids, who'd get drunk and high most nights and never showed up to school. I also hung out with a lot of older guys. I used to think I was only valuable if I got attention from men, it was pretty embarrassing. I've been doing a lot of healing lately and think I've pretty much overcame that. Part of me never wanted to go to school but I knew if I didn't graduate as fast as I could I couldn't move out so quick." Sebastian pulled me into a hug, "I just want to say that I'm so sorry you went through all that. None of it was your fault and you didn't deserve it." He said as he rubbed my back. I started to tear up a little, I've never had that said to me before. I rubbed my eyes and gave him a kiss. He asked me a few more questions before cuddling me back to sleep.
I awoke later than usual, but still pretty early. The clock read eight in the morning. I could hear some rustling coming from the kitchen. I walked in to see Sebastian cooking me breakfast. "You sleep okay? I made sure the crops were watered and the animals were fed, farm work isn't as bad as I thought." Sebastian said as he fried some bacon in the pan. "Thank you, Seb. And sorry about last night." I replied as I scratched my head. Sebastian had been staying over a lot more since giving me the bouquet and it was getting harder to hide my mental illness symptoms from him. He walked over and wrapped me into a hug. "Don't be sorry, Celeste. I'm just glad you're feeling better. If I ever saw your step dad I wouldn't hesitate to give him his what for," Sebastian started, "Breakfast is almost ready, why don't you go take a seat?" I couldn't help but giggle when he mentioned giving my step dad a piece of his mind, it was a nice thought to think of him getting hurt for once. I sat myself at the table and petted Enoby as she climbed on my lap.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast and Sebastian went off on his way. I didn't have much to do today. Band practice was tomorrow and I had promised to get more of my original songs ready for gigs. I spent most of the day in my room, switching from various instruments and scribbling things down on sheet music. My phone rang as I was plucking away on the piano, I picked it up. "Hello?" I asked, it was a group call. "Can everyone hear me? Is everyone on the call now?" Abigail asked. We all let her know we could hear her fine and were on the call. "I've got amazing news, a band dropped out and Kade got us a gig! It's at Trevor's Bar in downtown Zuzu, this Friday at 9pm. That's a prime spot." We all were worried. "Friday?! But that's, like, four days away!" Sam anxiously replied. "I know..." Abigail started, "But Celeste has been working like crazy getting her songs ready, and if we practice every day we can do it." We agreed to an emergency meeting today and every day after until the gig. We were all nervous but excited nonetheless to finally play at a real venue. I packed up my notes and guitars and set off to Sam's house.
"So how many songs do you have ready?" Sam asked as I walked in the door. "Well there's the three we've been practicing, and I have two more so that's five. Then there's Sebastian's songs which makes seven. We only need ten songs to fill out the set and the last three can be covers. I think we'll be A-OK." I replied, setting up my guitars. "Well we're gonna have to have longer practice sessions, and Kade says we have a better chance of getting picked again if we have a big crowd so we need to invite people," Abigail started as she adjusted her drum kit, "Sam you invite your parents, Sebastian, yours too. And don't forget to invite Maru. I know Alex is bringing some friends. You have parents in the city, Celeste? You should invite your family." I looked down shyly, "Sorry, I don't have contact with my parents. But I can ask Emily if she can join Haley." Sebastian gave my hand a quick squeeze. "Oh... Okay!" Abigail started, "Let's go through the new songs." I handed everyone my notes and we got to work. We started on my song Lovesick and it surprisingly came along faster than we thought. Thank god I wrote thorough notes. We spent most of practice getting down the new songs, practicing for so long that we had to take a break to get food from the saloon and quickly get back to practicing. We practiced until 10PM and agreed to start a little earlier tomorrow. Sebastian walked me home, we decided to keep our equipment at Sam's to make it easier on ourselves. "I'm sorry you had to mention your parents like that." Sebastian stated as we walked the road to my farm. "It's okay, Seb. They were gonna find out one way or another. I just wish I had more people to invite." I replied, flashing him a reassuring smile. Sebastian looked down nervously, "Admittedly I'm a little scared to ask my family. I don't know why though." I squeezed Sebastian's hand, "Don't worry honey, I'm sure they'd love to support you. The worst they can say is no, but I'm sure Robin would love to go." Sebastian pulled me into a big hug. We soon neared the farm and Sebastian gave me one last kiss before heading back to the mountain.