With The Rising Sun

I woke up next to Marco the following morning. It was a fantastic evening. Something I wanted to do every evening. Though I was still sore from all that writing, I doubt my body could hold out, especially with the size of Marcos’s creativity.

Marco was fast asleep. As I lay next to him, I watched his slight breathing and took in every part of him. His brown hair was tangled and wavy, somewhat messy. I was glad to see that he still suffered from terrible bed hair.

I let out a small chuckle, seeing him like this.

The noise stirred Marco, and he slowly opened his eyes. His brown eyes locked with mine.

“Buongiorno.” He whispered, slipping back into his native language.

“Morning,” I replied with a smile.

“How did you sleep?”

“I slept by closing my eyes, silly,” I replied, poking my tongue out at him. Dad jokes aside, I responded earnestly, “I slept really well.”

“That’s good.”

He pulled back the sheets, and he was completely shirtless. He must have taken his shirt off sometime last night, maybe because we were both sleeping in the same bed. Perhaps it just got way too hot, so he removed it.

“I make breakfast.” He said as he got out of bed.

“Okay. Do you want a hand?” I asked, using my hands to cover my eyes. I was trying not to look at his extremely toned body. Who am I kidding? I was only pretending not to look while actually burning the memory into my mind for later.

“No, you stay there.” He responded as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out some bacon and eggs. Ten minutes later, he finished making everything and brought it over to me, who was still lying in bed.

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” he smiled as he handed me the breaky.

“The fuck, you say?”

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.”

“Never heard that version before.”

“I heard on TV.”

“I always heard it as wakey-wakey, hands off snakey.”

“Australia has a lot of snakes.” He laughed.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s what they meant, but let’s go with that.” I couldn’t break it to him what it actually meant.

I ate the bacon and eggs, and my God, was good. Marco was a great chef. I wasn’t particularly good at cooking. I would always burn things. How you could burn ice cream is a mystery I’ll never know. So, I was impressed by Marco’s skills. Not only was he a great singer and amazing in the writing department, but he also knew how to cook. He was truly a prince.

Once I was done eating, I knew I had to head back. I knew I would have to do something related to the Solstice competition today, though I wasn’t sure what it would be yet. That was for our delegation to sort out.

I gave Marco one last kiss before I left his room. I was about to sneak down the hallway back to my room before anyone noticed me coming from Marco’s room. But before Marco’s door had even closed, the lift doors opened, and the head of our delegation, Stephanie Branbull, stepped out, spotting me instantly.

We locked eyes, and for a split second, she didn’t say anything, but then she quietly instructed, “Follow me.”

She motioned for me to follow her, and although she didn’t say anything else as we walked to her room. I gathered she was displeased seeing me sneak out of Marco’s room.

She led me to her room, which was closer to ours than Marco’s. It seemed they placed our entire delegation close together. Her room served as both her bedroom and the main office for our entire delegation. She took a seat at the table.

“Why would you be stepping out of another person’s room at this time?”

“Marco and I are dating.”

“Since when?”

“Well, we have been sorta e-dating for the last seven or so years.”

“Great. Anything else I should know?”

“Did you need to know that?”

“I need to know everything.” She sighed. “I know you may like him, but you have to remember he is the competition. A significant amount of investment has been made to ensure we win. We can’t have you distracted by writing songs with another country’s representative all night.”

“I can manage both.”

“You may think that, but you must remember that significant stakeholders exist. It’s not just you; it’s the entire country.”

“Fine, I got it.”

She seemed to accept this response. She started sifting through her ledger. I was about to leave when she added.

“Oh, also, don’t forget you’ve got the press gathering tonight.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” I had forgotten. However, I wasn’t going to tell her that as I was still upset about her reaction to Marco and I dating.

“I want to see you all here at three to go over things for tonight, and then you’ll all leave as a group.”

“Formal wear, correct?” I asked.

“That’s right. It’s the Solstice Gala. I want you all to look snazzy. It’s the biggest event for press interviews and making connections. Doing well tonight can help win over the hearts of the public.” She paused for a second. “I may get Darcy to help style you all. I’m happy to leave all the styling choices to her. That girl has a good eye.”

That was something we both agreed on.

“Yep, no worries, I’ll pass it on to her.”

“We cannot afford to make any mistakes tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“It’ll be the first time anyone sees the band. So I need you all to make a good impression. This could make or break us.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I hope your late night won’t impact your ability to answer.”

“Like I said, I got it. Gee, lay off me, will ya.”

“As long as you understand. Your actions impact us all.”

I didn’t say anything else. I understood that she was worried about me being distracted. But why should it matter who I was dating? I was still going to put on a great show and do my best. She was making it out to be some giant geopolitical issue.

Feeling disheartened, I decided to return to my room.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 7