Bad Decisions (A Julian Casablancas Fic)

Chapter 11: First Day

Lilah's alarm sounded at 8 AM. She was still tired; she tossed and turned all night. She thought maybe her plan was working. She was acting like nothing happened, and so was he. Maybe that means a new start, she thought.

Her restless sleep ended. She reached over and shut her phone off before it woke any of the guys. This was her first day of work. She had to show Ryan that she was cut out for this internship, and that she really needed it.

She got her robe, which she made sure she remembered this time, her underwear, and headed to the bathroom. Lilah's nerves were lessened as the hot water ran over her body. This whole experience still seemed surreal to her, but she had to push that aside for the sake of this internship.

~

She exited the bathroom and started to do her makeup. She decided to do her everyday look of a winged liner and nude gloss. She chose her high-waisted, black flare jeans with her cut off Cigarettes After Sex t-shirt. Melody always made fun of her when she wore it. Lilah still didn't think she knew they were a band. As Lilah was thinking of her friend, she sent her a quick text saying: "Good Morning or evening, don't remember the time zone." Lilah did her hair as she always did, which was curled at the ends.

By the time Lilah was completely ready to go, it was 10:30. She texted Ryan to make sure he was up, and to wake Albert and Nick. Lilah didn't want to be the one to wake Julian, so she decided to go to Fab and Nikolai first. When she got to the living area, she saw Nikolai was already ready, and scrolling through his phone. Fab was still snoring away on the sofa bed.

"Good Morning Nikolai," Lilah waved as she passed by to the kitchen.

"Morning, Lilah. So, what's the plan for today?" He asked, looking through the entryway of the kitchen. She liked that he was organized and interested like she was.

"Well, we gotta head to the radio station by 11:30 at the latest, and they need to interview 2 or 3 of you. They said 5 people was too much, so I'll let ya'll hash that out. Then I figured we'd get lunch and do whatever ya'll wanna do later." Lilah answered as she got a glass of water.

Nikolai replied with a "Cool, meet ya down there," before heading out the door. Before she could say anything, he was gone. "Ugh," she sighed aloud. Now she had to be the one to wake them up. She thought she'd make it fun with Fab.

Lilah leaned in front of his face and shook him slightly. He was stirring as she said, "Okay Fabrizio, I told you. I got water," and sloshed the water around in her glass. His eyes suddenly opened, but relaxed when he heard her giggling.

"You're sick Delilah," he said with a sleepy voice.

"Get up we leave in 45 minutes!" She insisted while standing over him.

Fab groaned, but got up and headed to the bathroom.

As he was walking away, Lilah asked, "Can you wake Julian please?"

He turned around and glared at her, but let her know he was teasing with a smile.

Five minutes had passed and all Lilah could hear was groaning and a "fuck off" here and there. Fab came back in and said, "Go get him boss lady, he won't fucking move."

Lilah chuckled but was kind of nervous. She felt like she had to walk on egg shells around him or he would hash out at her again. Fab went in the bathroom while Lilah stuck her head in Julian's door.

She let out a breath, "Julian."

No answer.

She said it a little louder, "Julian..."

He didn't move a muscle.

She walked over and looked at him. He looked so peaceful. His mouth was slightly agape and tiny breaths were coming in and out. She wondered what it would be like to see that every day. She mentally kicked herself for thinking such bizarre things and placed her hand on his shoulder.

He jumped slightly and opened his eyes. He smiled but quickly covered it up by rolling his eyes. "You're fucking everywhere," Julian started. His voice was raspy, and sexy, Lilah thought. "Get lost, Delilah."

She wasn't going to act like this bothered her. Hell, she didn't like to be woken up either. "You know I can't do that. We leave soon, it'd be strange if the lead singer wasn't there."

She stepped back as he started to get up. "I'll see you in the lobby in 30 minutes. Be there, please. Make my first day a little easier."

Lilah left as Julian went to kick Fab out of the bathroom. He hated that she was here, or that anyone besides his band was here. He just wanted to get drunk and do shows. He had an idea, maybe if he made her first day hell, she'd leave. He wasn't going to be mean to her directly, if he could help it, he was just going to be the most troubled rock star he could be.

~

They all thankfully made it to the radio station. Julian volunteered to be interviewed, along with Albert. Lilah was confused because she thought Julian hated interviews, but she thought maybe this was his way at an apology.

As the boys got in the booth, Lilah, Nick, Ryan, Nikolai, and Fab watched from outside.

"Wow, I can't believe you got Julian to do this, and without a fight!" Ryan exclaimed to Lilah. She really hoped he wasn't up to something.

"Uh, yeah. He volunteered, actually." Lilah looked over.

The guys all looked at one another with puzzling faces. Fab just said, "Maybe he'll use this as an excuse to get completely wasted later."

Lilah drew out a long breath. Then the interview started. The interviewer, Chris, started asking about the new album. Lilah noticed that Albert was the one answering most of the initial questions, and Julian would pipe in now and then. It bothered her that he was barely participating, and dodging questions directed to him. Ryan seemed upset too.

The interview was almost at over when the final question was asked, Julian interrupted. "You know what? This is bullshit! We shouldn't have to come onto some radio show to speak for our music," Albert tried to shush him as gasps came from outside. Julian continued, "The music should speak for itself. Half the questions you asked where fucking ridiculous and insulting. Asking how I felt for being so-called privileged? What kind of question is that, and who the fuck cares?"

Everybody's mouths and eyes were wide open as Julian stormed out. Lilah couldn't believe what she just saw. Albert apologized on the air, and the interviewer switched on the album as quickly as he could. Ryan, Chris, everyone was seething with anger. Lilah felt like this was partially her fault. She knew he had to be up to something, but again she mistook it as an act of kindness. She should've known by now that Julian was unkind, and downright mean.

She was fighting the urge to cry. She always cried when she was angry. Nikolai, Nick, and Fab went to find Julian, as Fab and Ryan were repeatedly apologizing to Chris for the disturbance.

This was Lilah's first job of her first day. The goal was for the interview to go smoothly. She hoped Ryan wouldn't blame her for this and cost her this internship, but he himself was confused as to why Julian was doing the interview. Lilah thought if she wasn't there, this wouldn't have happened. Then it dawned on her, he did this on purpose. He's said it multiple times "No one wants you...Get lost."

She knew of one thing, if Ryan didn't fire her, she wasn't going to let Julian get his way. She's not going anywhere.

~~~

Sorry it's been so long. Missed you. See you soon.

much love xx

-L