Page 6 of The Spotlight Effect

“I know.”

“How was the concert?”

“Good. I wanted to see you before I went to sleep,” I tell her.

“I appreciate it. I love you, Archie,” Bea says, blowing me a kiss.

“I love you too, Bea.” At least she loves me.

I close her door and head to my room. Time to down the bottle of vodka I have under my bed.

AM I IN HELL?

ALEXIA

Today marks the start of me going to hell.

I got up at five a.m. this morning to get ready. I also made sure to check my suitcase one more time, making sure I have everything inside, before dragging my purple suitcase down the hallway and beside the front door.

“Morning,” I say, walking into the kitchen and seeing all the food laid out on the table.

“Morning, Lexi. Can you go wake Dexter and tell him to get up for breakfast?” Mom asks as she walks over to the table with a pan of scrambled eggs.

“Sure, I’ll be back,” I reply before walking off to the door that leads to the basement.

Entering the basement, hot air hits me in the face. I look over at the thermostat, seeing it’s about eighty degrees down here. Damn cold-blooded bastard. I walk down the wooden stairs and across the living room space over to the sliding door that leads into his bedroom. I slide the door open, not worryingabout noise, and he’s laid out across his bed only in his Batman underwear.

Gross.

I look around his room that looks like a tornado hit it and find an airhorn, grabbing it and pressing the button, letting it blare in the air. Dexter jumps up, causing him to fall off the bed while I toss the air horn to the side.

“Mom wants you up for breakfast, and we leave today,” I tell him.

“You’re a dick!” Dexter shouts.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I say as I walk back to the stairs and turn the thermostat down to fifty degrees, leaving and closing the door behind me.

“He’s coming,” I state, taking a seat at the table. The back door opens and Aaliyah and Astrid walk in sweating, wearing matching pink workout Alo sets while holding water bottles. “You two look disgusting.”

“And you could look better,” Astrid says, referring to my sweatpants and Sonny Angel baby tee.

“Well, I will be on a plane for almost five hours and I want to be comfortable,” I tell Astrid, placing waffles and bacon on my plate.

“I hope you know your comfort will never get you a man. Probably why what's his face dumped you,” Astrid replies.

“And that’s probably why the whole campus only calls you for hookups.” I smile at her.

Everyone knows she’s only a good fuck. She’s a pretty face and that’s all boys want her for. Everyone at the college says that. Astrid scoffs and Lia pulls her away, murmuring under her breath.

Finally, they are gone.

After finishing breakfast, I retreat to my room to go through my carry-on bag one last time before grabbing my computer anddeciding to watch Charlie West’s recent vlog while I wait for my mom to call us. The recent vlog is just a day in the life. Grocery shopping for their house, and playing with his adorable Golden Retriever, Bonnie. He also unboxes some new band merch for the summer concert.

Seeing that part makes me grab my phone and check my Ticketmaster account to see if I moved off the waitlist. I say a silent prayer as I open the app. It shows I’m still on the waitlist, but I moved from number two hundred to number fifty in five days.

Thank goodness. I’m saving for their summer concert, and Faith is my plus one but each of our tickets will be four-hundred and fifty dollars for the VIP package. I need to see this summer concert on tour when they come to South Carolina.

“Hey, hey!” Faith pops in my window that I forgot to close.

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