by Sian Ceinwen
“Ooh, want to go together this week?” Heather asked. “I love clothes shopping.”
“Sure.” Lita smiled at her. “It’ll be nice to go with someone other than Ben.”
“I would’ve gone if you wanted me to,” Sebastian protested.
“God, don’t trust Sebastian’s taste, darling,” Heather smirked. “I’m a much better clothes shopping partner.”
Lita laughed. “I can imagine, and, hey, I’m more than happy to have a literal fashion designer assisting me in choosing clothes.”
“Want to come with us, Ariana? Girls’ day?”
Ariana smiled. “If Lita’s happy to have me along, I’d love to come.”
“More than happy.” Lita returned her smile.
She really liked Ariana and was glad to have her come along. Lita remembered what she’d said to Sebastian earlier. If she let herself dwell on whom she was talking to, it was easy to freak out about it, but when she was just chatting to everyone, they were all so normal. If she forgot exactly who they were and just interacted with them as people, it was easy to just think of them as her new friends.
When they arrived at Six Flags, half an hour later, everyone in the limousine cheered.
“Time to get my party on,” Sebastian announced.
The door of the limousine was opened by Callum, and Lita was pleased to see Heather’s bodyguard was here because she didn’t know if Ben and Daryl had made it here yet, and there were paparazzi hanging around at the entrance to the theme park.
As everyone else was getting out of the car, Sebastian held Lita’s arm. “Wait a sec, Lita. You guys go ahead,” he said to the others and then looked at Lita. “There’s paparazzi here, obviously. We’re going to do some photos together before we go in, do you want to be in any? It’s okay if you don’t want to.”
“I’m fine to be in photos with you, Seb.” Lita smiled at him. “It’s not like there aren’t photos of me all over the internet anyway. Considering there’s going to be a photographer at the party, it doesn’t matter if I have my photo taken on the way in as well.”
“What about answering questions? They’ll probably ask about Mirabella. Sorry, I shouldn’t be putting you on the spot; I didn’t even think about it until just now.”
Lita sighed. “I get it; it’s a normal part of your life. I don’t really want to tell them about her, it’s none of their business, but maybe we could just say there’s ‘pregnancy complications’ and leave it at that?”
“Sounds good, princess.”
Sebastian hugged her quickly, then took her hand as they got out of the limo. As she exited, Lita realized there were actually five bodyguards here. She recognized three of them from the night she met the band and assumed the last one must be Ariana’s. It looked like only Daryl and Ben were missing.
On the way in, the group posed for photographs together, then Sebastian and Lita had photos taken together. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him as the cameras flashed almost constantly.
“What’s happening with your baby?” a reporter asked.
“There are some complications with the pregnancy,” Sebastian replied without hesitation and gave a charming smile at the reporters who looked eager for his answer. “And we appreciate you respecting our privacy in regard to it.”
“Of course, best of luck with the rest of the pregnancy, Lita.” The reporter smiled at her.
“Thank you,” Lita managed to reply and was grateful that he wasn’t trying to push her further.
Sebastian answered some more questions, fielding another couple about the pregnancy from people who wanted to press for more details, and then eventually, they were able to leave the press behind and enter the park.
“You did great, princess,” Sebastian assured her.
Lita was surprised to see that there were quite a lot of people wandering around the park.
“I thought that you hired the whole park out?” Lita asked in confusion.
“He did.” Heather rolled her eyes. “Everyone here is a guest.”
That was when Lita realized that she could recognize a lot of the people that she saw. There were some unknown people, but pretty much every group of people had at least one famous person in it.
“Sweet jesus.” Lita shook her head. “You said that your party was going to be big, but I didn’t think you meant this big.”
He laughed. “I don’t know what to say, princess; I told you just this morning that I’m Sebastian Fox. I can’t help it that I’m awesome.”
They made their way through the park, being greeted by plenty of big-name celebrities who all wished Sebastian a happy birthday, then mentioned leaving a gift for him on a gift table that was apparently somewhere near the entrance of the park. Sebastian would thank them, introduce Lita, and then move along, only to be stopped by the next celebrity seconds later.
Eventually, they managed to get to a food stand, and everyone got an alcoholic beverage, except for Lita, who got water. They got hot dogs as well and ate them as they walked up to a rollercoaster.
“Let’s do this!” Hayden grinned.
“Just after eating?” Heather asked. “Pass. I’ll stay, keep Lita company, and my hot dog in my stomach.”
“Weak, angel,” Harrison teased her.
“Taunt me all you like, honey; I’m waiting more than five minutes before I get on any of the rides,” Heather grinned at him.
Harrison kissed her, then joined the very short queue for the ride with Hayden, and was greeted by everyone there as he did.
“Want me to stay with you too?” Sebastian asked Lita.
“Don’t be stupid; go ride the ride and chuck your guts up so you can get a taste of what I went through for months,” Lita told him with a grin.
He laughed in response, then left with both Gabriel and Ariana to ride the ride.
“You didn’t have to stay with me,” Lita told Heather.
“I don’t mind. I really will not be shocked if one of them is sick; we’ve been drinking and literally just ate. I’m not going to be the puker,” Heather laughed.
“Fair enough. I can’t believe Sebastian hired a whole fucking theme park for his birthday.”
“I can. He’s pretty crazy, and I can’t pretend this isn’t awesome; my thirtieth was nothing like this.”
“What was it like?” Lita asked.
“We hired a restaurant, and all of our families and closest friends were there. What about you?”
“Kind of similar, which is odd,” Lita laughed. “Only it was at a community hall. My mum and my aunts all catered it, more arancini than you could ever dream of,” Lita said, remembering that Heather had apparently wanted arancini from Giovanni’s the night she met the guys.
“Ooh, I love arancini; it’s my favorite.”
The guys were all getting strapped into the ride, and Lita took a picture with her phone, then sent it to Becky.
Have I mentioned he hired an ENTIRE FUCKING THEME PARK?
When she’d told Becky what Sebastian was doing for his birthday, they’d both been blown away.
Is it completely mental?
Lita laughed when she saw her reply.
Yes. And every other person we talk to is famous as fuck. So weird.
The rollercoaster took off. Heather and Lita cheered and waved as the group passed them. Lita looked down and saw a reply from Becky.
Send me ALL the pics. No offense, dude, but your life is crazy.
“Texting Becky?” Heather asked.
“How did you guess?” Lita grinned at her.
“It’s not me, and both Sebastian and Ariana are on the ride.”
“Oof! Is my social circle really that small?” Lita cringed.
Heather put an arm around her shoulders and hugged Lita. She pulled out her own phone and took a selfie of the two of them together.
“No smaller than mine. I much prefer to have a few people that I actually trust, rather than a huge social circle of people that may leak shit to the med
ia.”
Lita thought about it. “Yeah, I can see that. I bet people try to use you to get to them all the time.”
“Not as much now, because I’m less accessible thanks to Cal, but yeah.”
“It’s weird for me because I was a fan, but despite everything, the guys are so… normal.” Lita shook her head. “I never expected them to be so down to earth.”
Heather smiled. “Yeah, we’re lucky, to be honest. We’ve all been together so long that when anyone is being a dick, they’re pulled up hard.”
“Is that dick mostly Sebastian?” Lita couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
“He has been, but they all have their moments when they get too big for their britches. Quite often, I’m the one who has to slap some sense into them,” Heather grinned.
“Gabriel mentioned about it being worse on tour.”
“Yeah, think about it, night after night, you’ve got thousands of people cheering for you and treating you like a god. There’s no reality on tour, just these hours of being a god, then to a hotel, and then being a god again.”
“I’d never thought about it like that,” Lita said. “I suppose you’re right. I’ve been to their concerts, and yup, we treat them like gods when they’re on stage. I can see how it would go to your head.”
Heather frowned and sighed. “We know people who have gone off the rails. It’s not pretty. They let it get to them and became insufferable assholes. It’s just so awful to see, and I’m so glad that the guys haven’t ended up like that. Hiring out a whole theme park like this might be extravagant, but Sebastian has remained a decent human being for the most part.”
“Except for the way he treated women for years,” Lita couldn’t stop herself from adding.
Heather looked over at Lita, and she met her gaze. They just looked at one another, and Lita found herself wondering again if Heather had any idea about the reasoning behind him sleeping with so many women. The way that he’d been affected by Heather’s presence in his life.
“Yes, except for that. We probably should have called him out on it the way you did.”
Lita’s eyebrows flew into her hairline. “He told you guys about that?”
“That you basically told him he was a misogynistic asshole and he needed to quit it? Yeah, he did.” Heather raised an eyebrow at Lita.
“Not exactly what I said, but a good summation,” Lita told her.
Heather pursed her lips and frowned. “I honestly don’t know if he would ever have heard that from us or how he would’ve taken it if we’d tried.”
“I still worry that those attitudes toward women are so ingrained that he will never really get over them.” Lita cringed.
The ride had finished, and both women watched as the rest of the group got off and started to walk toward them. They were all laughing and talking, obviously having loved the adrenalin rush that they’d gotten.
“Don’t lose hope, Lita. I know that he’s still going out to clubs and shit, but I really think he’s changed a lot.”
Heather didn’t get a chance to say any more than that, because their friends arrived at that moment.
“That was so good,” Sebastian announced with a grin. “You missed out, Heather!”
“I’m sure I did. I’ll go on the next one.”
The ‘next one’ was a ride that lifted the riders a hundred feet in the air before dropping them back toward the ground.
“I’ll sit this one out; I don’t have that much of a death wish,” Ariana shrugged.
They watched as everyone got on the ride, and Lita asked, “Are you scared of heights?”
“I didn’t want to say it, but I read about a girl having her foot chopped off on a ride like this once.” Ariana cringed. “I haven’t gotten on one of these types of rides since.”
“Thanks for telling me, now I won’t either,” Lita said while shaking her head.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin them for you too.”
“It’s not like I can go on any rides at the moment anyway.” Lita indicated to her stomach.
When the group got off the ride and started walking toward them, Ariana laughed. “Oh dear, it looks like my husband didn’t fare so well on that ride!”
Lita followed Ariana’s gaze to Gabriel, who was looking very green around the gills. He took another few steps in their direction before turning swiftly and vomiting into a bush that was next to him.
They rushed over to join the group, and when he finished vomiting, Ariana asked, “Are you okay, Gabe?”
“Yeah, Heather was probably right about eating and doing rides,” he said with a chagrined smile.
“Vindication! Pukey vindication!” Heather laughed.
Lita held her water bottle out to Gabriel. “Here, have this.”
“Thanks, Lita,” Gabriel said as he took it and rinsed his mouth out.
Gabriel sat out the next ride with Lita, and they had a pleasant conversation together. It wasn’t until she was standing alone with Hayden while the others were being strapped into a ride that had them in harnesses, suspended from the rail, and spun them around and upside down through several loops that she realized what had been happening.
“Did you all agree to have one person sit out on every ride to be with me?” Lita asked him.
Hayden blushed. “Um, kind of.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“We know. It was when we were on the first ride; Heather was with you, but we realized that if she’d come with us, you’d have been left all alone. None of us wanted that, so we decided to take turns sitting out of the rides.”
“I feel bad that you guys are missing out on rides to be with me.” Lita frowned.
“It’s no big deal; nobody wants you to have to be sitting around on your own all day.”
“I’m not sure what Sebastian thought I’d be doing at this party.” Lita shook her head, and Hayden laughed.
“Seb’s not exactly known for thinking everything through to its most logical conclusion. He probably got as far as you being here with him for his party and was happy enough with that.”
Lita couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, I can see that. He’s pretty impulsive.”
“Do you think that’s good for you?”
“Probably. I mean, sleeping with Sebastian is probably the most impulsive thing I’ve done in my whole life. I normally think things through to their most logical conclusion, then their least logical conclusion, and all of the conclusions in between,” Lita told him.
“I think we’re very similar; I’m like that as well. I always have been. Remember when Gabriel said that he was the last member of our band?” Lita nodded. “Well, technically, it was me. I was asked before Gabriel, but even as a teen, I was like that. I wouldn’t commit until I was sure about what I was getting into. Gabriel accepted as soon as he was asked.”
“So many Cruise Control secrets, so little time,” Lita laughed.
“Anything else you’re burning to know? I’m an open book.”
“June me would die if she knew Hayden Vega would one day say that to her, you know.” Lita shook her head in amazement at how much her life had changed.
“Well, November you is fast becoming one of Hayden Vega’s favorite people. My hero, who beats Seb at pool, and makes awesome video games.” He grinned at her, and it was Lita’s turn to blush.
“Stop, I can’t even!” Lita fanned herself dramatically, and Hayden laughed. “Okay, were you sad that you didn’t get a big birthday party like this one? Seb said you were at Galena for your thirtieth.”
“Nah, I would’ve hated a party like this. My birthday was perfect; we were recording Games We Play, and it was such a good night. My girlfriend at the time was there, and I couldn’t have asked for a better night.”
“Ally, right?”
“Yeah, I forgot you would’ve met her at the wedding.”
“Are you still friends?” Lita clapped her hand over her mouth, “Sorry, don’t feel obliged to answer.”
> Hayden laughed. “Yeah, we’re still friends. She’s seeing someone new, and I’m back with Blake.”
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t like him,” Lita said. “You’re amazing and so kind and sweet, and he is…not. I was really hurt by what he said in the car.”
Hayden didn’t reply immediately. He watched their friends as they were tossed and turned on the ride in front of them.
“It wasn’t okay for him to say that, and I’m sorry it hurt you. He does this sort of stuff all the time, and it drives me nuts because when it’s just him and me, he’s a totally different person. I keep hoping that he’ll show that side of himself to you guys, but he just keeps trying to wind everyone up, or something, and everyone fights with him.” Hayden sighed heavily.
“Does he make you happy, though?” Lita asked.
Hayden smiled. “A lot of the time, yeah. When we go out with his friends, he’s different then as well. I don’t know, he never really got along with the guys, and I guess that hasn’t changed since we got back together. I’d been hoping that me not being on tour would mean that things would be different.”
Lita thought about it and then laughed. “All I’ll say is that he’d want to be really good in bed.”
Hayden burst into laughter as their friends started walking back to them from the ride. “I can neither confirm nor deny that is the case.”
The rest of the party passed in a whirl of her friends sitting one by one with her as the others went on rides. They ate from several different food stands and drank more. A few times, Sebastian found and introduced her to several different members of his family, and Lita was thrilled to see Nathan and Bianca again as well.
Later in the evening, an announcement came over the speakers for all of the partygoers to meet in the center of the park, where a stage had been set up. Lita saw Cooper standing there at the microphone and hissed involuntarily.
“He knows not to come near you,” Sebastian told her. “Are you okay if I mention you in my speech?”
“Sure.” Lita breathed a sigh of relief as she said it.
Cooper made a big show of making a speech about Sebastian for his birthday, then Sebastian went on stage and thanked everyone for coming. Lita was amazed again by how many people were here and just how famous everyone was.