The Illusion of Danger

Chapter 51

(Authors' note: at the end of this chapter it does start to get a little PG-13. There will be a "~" before the spicier things start happening, if you'd like to skip the rest of the chapter after that. Enjoy!)

Over the next few months, now December and very close to Christmas, everyone at the Lackadaisy was gathered for not only an early Christmas celebration but also for Rocky's birthday.
The band was playing and providing a great atmosphere. Mitzi and Wick were having a nice time chatting, Ivy was trying to convince Calvin to dance, and Viktor was tending the bar for no particular reason considering the lack of patrons this particular Sunday evening.

The band decided to take a break, Zib setting his saxophone down before moving down off of the stage to get a drink. Once he obtained his illicit treat, the brown-striped cat made his way over to where Rocky happened to be sitting alone, watching all of the festivities.

"Hey, why're you sulking over here? You haven't moved since you got here and he could probably use you up there on that violin of yours."
Zib began as he leaned on the back of the chair across from the tabby.
"You seem pretty dismal. Maybe playing will help you feel better, huh?"

Rocky looked up from his glass of water, not in the mood for much else that evening. Even though he wasn't a drinker, he might have taken a shot just as a cheers to the holiday and his birthday.

"I'm not really in the mood tonight. I think I might just go early, I'm feeling kind of tired anyway."
Rocky gave Zib a weak smile and stood up.
"Thanks for the music though. It's been a fun night."

That seemed to take Zib off guard a bit. This really was strange behavior for Rocky since he was always so cheery and eager to get up and play for others.
"Not even one song? We'll play one that you wanna play."
He then took a sip of his drink, hoping that the offer would cheer the tabby up a bit.

"There's only one person I would like to play for tonight."
He placed a hand on Zib's shoulder, almost not catching what he had said.
"That's the sandman. I'm going to turn in early. Thanks for the offer though."
With that said, the tabby turned to make his way out of the club.

"You're not even going to say goodbye to everyone else? Not sure I've seen you perform the Irish goodbye before."
Zib commented, watching as Rocky left the establishment with nothing more than a wave of his hand.

"Something's not right with that..."
The man hummed to himself with another sip of his drink and turned back to rejoin the band.

Rocky made his way up the stairs and out of the building to his vehicle. The snow was piling up on the ground for the night, so he would need to drive extra slow back to the apartment. It gave him plenty of time to sulk about the fact that Mordecai had completely forgotten about his birthday. The tabby moped the whole drive home. He didn't want to be upset with Mordecai, it was just a birthday after all. He would have many more to come, but this was his first with the tuxedo, so it was important to him.

After the short, yet slow drive home, he parked his car a block or so away. He had been parking a little closer lately due to the weather being so cold. After locking his vehicle, he almost ran to the apartment building. He was freezing his tail off by the time he got into the building, shaking off any snow that had fallen on his coat.

The tabby made his way up the stairs slowly, after running in the cold his lungs were almost frozen solid. When on the third landing in front of his door, he unlocked it and stepped inside.

Mordecai happened to be on the telephone with his sister as per their schedule. This time was a little later than usual due to some of Rose's plans but it worked out in their favor since her son had already been put to bed and Rocky came home sooner than anticipated.