The Heart Beats in its Cage (A Strokes fan fiction)

You Fucking Love Me

I cleared my throat awkwardly and brushed my hair behind my ear. Why does it feel like I was betraying Fabrizio by being up here alone with Julian?

"Uh- ya'know what? Never mind. I'll just go..." Fab said apologetically.

"Wait Fab! I'll go with you." I blurted out.

Julian frowned and looked at me perplexed.
 He put both of his hands behind his neck, turned around, and let out a huge sigh.

"What's up Lu?" Fab asked me as we walked downstairs into the basement. I shrugged and shook my head at him. I didn't know what to say to him or if I even owed him any sort of explanation.

"Hey, um I wanted to know if you'd like to go grab a bite to eat after this?" Fabrizio said as we got to where the guys were practicing.

"I'd really love to, Fab! Oh... um... but I'm busy later actually." I said, remembering that I promised Julian we would talk out the issue that arose earlier. I already know what I'm going to say to him, just not how yet.

Fabrizio nodded and gave me a look as if to say 'I understand'.

"Maybe some other time?" He asked.

I nodded in agreement. I went to go sit down next to Danny on a couch that the Valensis had set up. It wasn't like a regular creepy run down basement down here at all. It was rustic and beautiful. The walls were made up of exposed red brick, with dark wood flooring. There were Christmas lights hung all around the walls illuminating everything, but with a subtle glow.

They had a microphone, drum set, a bass guitar and a guitar set up. The speakers were on either side of the guys. I just wanted to stay down here. To sit and read and listen to music.

"Aright, so whaddaya guys wanna play first?" Nick asked.

"I'm down for anything man." Fab said.

"Uh... how about some Velvet Underground"? Niko asked quietly.

"Yeah, sounds cool." Julian said as he approached the mic. He licked his lips and looked at me very seriously. As soon as my eyes met his, he looked down at the floor. "Let's do Heroine?"

"Nice Jules, but not in my parent's basement man," Nick joked.

They began to play. Julian's vocals were sort of sleepy, and raspy.

You would've never thought that this was their first time playing together. They sounded amazing. There were a couple of hiccups here and there, but they communicated so easily that they overcame them fairly quickly.

After a couple of hours of jamming and rehearsing with one another, the guys stopped playing for a while and began talking amongst each other. They discussed strategies and how to go about the Battle of the Bands.

"Maybe we should go? They might wanna talk to Nikolai about being in the band and all that stuff," Danny whispered.

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, guys? We're gonna take off now. You guys can go ahead and discuss 'business'" I said making air quotes.

Danny and I began to walk upstairs and over to Heather's room.

"Wait!" Nick said, "How'd we sound?"

Danny and I looked at each other and made disgusted faces. "Yeesh," I said.

"Damn!" Julian exclaimed, laughing.

"Nah, we're just fucking with you guys. You rock, you totally have this battle of the bands in the bag." Danny assured them. "Plus, your bass player is amazing." Danny said smiling over at Nikolai.