Chapter 58: Not Goodbye
Merrick puts a few things in his small cubbie at Lovers. He looks sadly into the small space, where his uniform vest, pants, and name badge are stored. Today was supposed to be his first day on an official job, he was supposed to start earning money to help Adam, Yuri, and Jamal pay for bills and expenses. And now... He has to leave before he can even start.
"You about ready, Merrick?" Nick says as he comes up behind the merman, patting him on the shoulder.
"..." Merrick doesn't know how to answer. He sighs deeply as he bows his head.
"What's wrong, man?" Nick asked as he looks to his friend.
"... I just got here..." Merrick finally said, "I was supposed to help... Things are tough at the house now, and the one time I decide to be useful for once, I can't even..." He shook his head.
"I know, man," Nick said, "It sucks, but it is what it is."
"And... You were nice enough to hire me, when I don't even have the least bit of experience in working in a human store, and now I must leave... I was just lucky to be hired, and then..."
"Hey, hey, it's ok, man," The Latino put his hands on Merrick's shoulders, "I git it, bro. This is something you have to do." Merrick turned to look at Nick, "And don't worry bout it, man. I got your back."
"Are you sure...? Sasha said this place was hiring."
"Yeah, man, we're fine for now, but if we need to get someone else, I'll just hire a temp or seasonal to work here." Nick nodded his head to him, "But for sure, your job wull be waiting for you when you get back."
Merrick smiled weakly as he moved in, and kissed Nick on the cheek. Nick smiled affectionately as he rubbed Merrick's arm.
"You any idea when you coming back?"
"No..." Merrick closed his eyes, "... I suspect that I might have to be gone for... Maybe six moons... Like how it used to be before I was banished..." Merrick brought his hand up, and took a dab of sweat from his temple, looking at the drop with worry.
"You be aight, man," Nick patted him encouragingly, "You be aight..."
~~~
The Dream Waltz is getting ready for the next scheduled performance. As usual, people are hanging out, chatting, drinking, and laughing as a couple of stage hands push large, crystalline statues onto the platforms, over a mount of electric light to make the fake crystals illuminate brightly.
Adam walks up on stage in a white and grey jacket and pants with swirled sequin designs along the suit. He takes the mic and addresses the audience, just like on his first time last weekend.
"Hello," His voice booms, "How's everyone doing tonight?" The crowd gives a cheer in response for him, "Hahaha, thanks, guys, that means a lot," He nods and smiles, "Now I WAS going to sing Blow from Ke$ha, but... I can't really go for an upbeat song right now. I'm kinda depressed at the moment."
"Awwwwww" The audience collectively pouted for him.
"Anyway, here I go, with Castle of Glass." The lights of the building dimmed as the audience clapped and cheered him on. The music begins with a rolling with a pulsing track, with a melancholy beat as he began to subtly pump his legs to move himself up and down, before putting the mic to his mouth.
"~Take me down to the river beeeeennnnd" Adam began "~Take me down to the fighting eeeeennnnd ~Wash the poison from off my skiiiiinnnnn ~Show me how to be whole agaaaiiinnn~" The audience approves of his singing thus far, "~Fly me up on a silver wiiiinnnnnggg ~Pass the black where the sirens siiiiii~iiinnng ~Warm me up by the nova's glooooowwww ~And drop me down to the dream belooowwww~"
~~~
Merrick walks along the line of people waiting outside of the Dream Waltz, until he comes across a rather tall, beefy man wearing a tight black shirt, snug black jeans, a belt with several items of equipment, and an earpiece with a microphone next to his mouth. The man looks down and sees the blonde male come to him, "Hello, Merrick" He said with a friendly smirk before reaching for the velvet rope, and unlocking it to let him through, "Go right on in."
"Thanks, Steve." Merrick says with a smile as he walks into the club.
He makes his way through the crowd, and sits at a lounge chair, and looks with excitement as he sees his lover up on stage. Something about Adam in costume and performance just feels like a fascinating notion about his boyfriend. He figures there's a lot of gay singers out there, and if they have boyfriends, is this how they feel when their mate is putting up a good show?
"~Cause I'm ooooonnnlly a craaaaack~" Fractured and imaged spotlights circle around him, "~In this caaaaaaaaastle of glaaaaaaaassss ~Hardly aaaaaanything there for you to seeeeeeee~eeeeee ~For you to seeeee~"
"~Bring me home in a blinding dreeeeeeaaaammm~" Adam continued as the imaged spot lights swung left and right, top and bottom, "~Through the secrets that I have seeeeeee~eeeeen ~Wash the sorrow from off my skiiiiiiiin ~And show me how to be whole agaaaaiiiin~"
"~Cause I'm ooooonnnlllly a craaaaack~" The crystalline statues around him conintued to blur with different cool colors of blue and white, "~In this caaaaaaaaastle of glaaaaaaaassss ~Hardly aaaaaannnything theeeerrree for you to seeeeeeee~eeeeee ~For you to seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~" The music pumped in a faster rhythm as Adam held that note few several seconds as the spotlights moved faster and faster around him more and more.
"~Cause I'm oooooonnnnnlly a craaaaaaack~" The music calmed down, as well as Adam's voice for that moment, "~In this caaaaaaasstle of glaaaaaaaasssss~" Even the spotlights came to a snail's pace with the song, "~Hardly aaaaaaanything elllse I need to beeeeeeeee~eeeeeeeee~"
The music jumped right back into a quick, powerful rhythm. "~Cause I'm ooooonnnnnly a craaaaaaaack ~In this caaaaaaaaastle of glaaaaaaaasssss~" The spotlights cycled around him as fast as before as well, "Hardly aaaaaanything theeeeeerre for you to seeeeee ~For you to seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ~For you to seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~"
The music pounded further as Adam held his voice for several more seconds on the last lyrics, until it abruptly came to a stop. The audience applauds and cheers for him as Adam takes a bow. The lights dimmed as he turned, and walked to behind the curtains while the various stagehands go to collect the two large fake crystal props.
~~~
Merrick walks with chipper down the side of the lobby, towards the employee door, where he entered, and headed for the dressing room. No performer who works at the Dream Waltz has their own room – there are five private dressing rooms in total, and they're all shared or assigned for the various performers.
He reaches for the door to number 3, when a heavy hand comes down on his shoulder. Merrick turns to see another large guard there.
"Where's your pass?" He asked with a threatening grumble.
"Pass? I don't have anything, I just wanted to see Adam."
"You ain't stayin here unless you gotta pass, or a job here. Now move it." He said forcefully.
"Wait, no! He's my boyfriend!" Merrick grunted as he resisted.
"I don't care if he's your Siamese Twin, you ain't allowed in here." The guard said as he started to overpower Merrick.
