Page 115 of Foes & Cons
LILA MURPHY & BUD LEROY
And if we’re here once I wanna laugh with you. After all there is I’ll never lie to you. We’re gonna smile. We’re gonna deal. You’re the one who sees me for real. Only silence if it’s ending.
Vampire Falls. Season six, episode ten – “Music, Maestro”.
It’s the best karaoke party of all the karaoke parties, and I’m not just saying that because I’ve made up with my bestie and had quite,quite, a lot of beers and also other drinks.
Damon Van Schwartz and Dylan insisted we sit at their table with the rest of the actors, so I’ve just spent the last four minutes screaming in Amber Anderson’s ear about how the scene with her sister makes me cry every time I watch it. I know sitting with civilians probably isn’t how she’d like to spend a Sunday night, but she doesn’t show it, and before that she grabbed my hand and told me she was seething I didn’t win the cosplay, which, to me, is better than getting full marks. Apparently, she threw a glass of water in another judge’s face in an act of frustration and ‘to sober him the hell up’.
Sadie, unbelievably, is still going, weaving around the chairs to chat with everyone. They all respond like the professionals they are, giving her their full attention before she loses hers and moves on to the next person. Charlie watches her every second, smiling as he nurses his soft drink and hugging her back every time she goes to check in with him.
Felix looks way more relaxed than we’ve seen him all weekend, and I smile at him as he heads round the table and crouches down by my chair.
“Eliza,” he says, both hands across his heart. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done tonight.”
“It wasn’t me,” I say, shaking my head. “Vivian did all this.”
“But you wouldn’t give up,” he says, his mouth set in a serious line.
“I . . . just wanted everyone to have this, Felix.”
“I know,” he says, nodding as he reaches into his inside pocket. “I don’t know what your plans are, but if you’re looking for very,very, badly paid work with terrible hours, these guys are looking for good, passionate people.”
I frown at him then look down at the purple business card he’s handed me and read the gold type.
“Dragon Events?”
Felix pulls himself up, nodding at me.
“Think about it,” he says, smiling at Damon Van Schwartz who’s waving him over to do a shot. “I said about the bad pay, right?” He wanders over to Damon before I can respond and Roxy comes back to the table, biting her lip to keep from smiling after spending the last twenty minutes talking to Vivian. I put the card in my pocket and decide to tell her about Felix later.
“I think the DJ fancies you.”
“Course she does,” Roxy says, taking a swig of her beer. She waves at Sadie. “Think your song’s up next, Sadie.”
Sadie gasps and waves Charlie up, her eyes wide with excitement. He looks back at her, very much not mirroring her excitement, but pulls himself up.
“What did you choose?” asks Roxy.
“I don’t know.” Charlie shakes his head. “I let her pick.”
“Up next is beautiful Sadie and her averagely handsome brother, Charlie,” announces Vivian.
Everyone applauds Charlie and Sadie as they head up to the stage, one slightly more enthusiastically than the other. The applause doubles when the song title comes up on the screen.Called “With You” but known to Fallers as theDeath Duet, Lila and Bud sing it together after a Kweticca demon temporarily stops both their hearts, causing their lives without each other to flash before their eyes. They slope into the diner afterwards and order two Kitchen Sink Burgers, and by the end of the scene they’re on the Full Moon Diner counter, singing together in a perfect moment of lightness after we all thought they’d been killed off.
Charlie holds Sadie’s hand, and she looks up at him, holding her microphone up ready. The lighting around them changes through a few colours before it settles on blue, matching Sadie’s dress. Nice touch, Vivian. The intro starts and we all quiet down, settling back in our seats to enjoy. I look back at Roxy.
“I love this song,” I say.
“Me too. Can’t wait to see . . .”
Roxy’s face crumbles from happiness to concern when the intro is over and the first line of the first verse should be sung, but it’s not. Sadie’s frozen on the stage, her wide eyes looking out at everyone as the mic shakes in front of her face.
“Oh no,” I whisper, my hands over my mouth.
Everyone at the table – everyone in Conference Hall A – holds their breath, willing poor Sadie to find her voice and sing her heart out and enjoy the moment she’s been waiting for since she arrived here. But there’s nothing, and I can see her lip wobbling, even with Charlie kneeling down and trying to coax her out of her stage fright. I can’t watch.
I look at Vivian, sure that she has a plan or another song lined up, but she’s facing away from the stage, staring down at her laptop in concentration. Suddenly, unable to watch the terror on Sadie’s face any longer, someone jumps out of their chair and rushes up onto the stage, leaning into Sadie’s mic and squeezing her hand as they pick up the lyrics to the song.
