NICKNAMES

Cerian.

I yawned awake feeling a nasty hangover manifesting it's presence in form of a migraine and the contents in my stomach churning and turning. A sign that I would be throwing up soon and that wasn't even the worst part...The other half of my bed was empty.

There were times in the past, when I'd weak up to breakfast in bed or a morning kiss and maybe some good fuck.

Other times I would wake up to cheesy love notes ,an almost withering flower or heart shaped balloons or an empty promise to fix the broken water pipe that's dampening the ceiling .

Flash forward to recently,I wake up to nothing except white walls,large windows ,meaningless million dollar paintings and regret for every wrong decision I ever made.

I slowly slid out of bed and crawled to the bathroom to hack and heave till I emptied my intoxicated stomach.

When I was done I went back to the room and checked my phone for messages and to see if my face appeared on the media underneath a boldly typed headline:

CERIAN REIGN DRUNK AGAIN

Surprisingly my face wasn't on the media just my name popping up on a number of sites claiming I was spotted at some unknown bar with a porn star..I didn't bother to read much of the details about me and the said blue movie actress because I got a pop up message from yours truly saying.

"Get to the studio Now!!"

On those words there used to be ones that said, "I love you," today,they are extinct and can never be found in the dictionary that we both posses.

~

"Cerian,your late again," Dean groaned when I walked into the studio, "And please don't say you were held up at the line in Starbucks," He said casting his eyes on Starbucks mug in my hands.

"Well I was," I shrugged, "And I even got you your favorite,"

"Carmel Macchiato.." He clapped cheered and got up from his seat as I handed him his drink, "I hate you,"

"Hate you too buddy,so what are we recording today,I just want to get over it and go back home,"

"Nobody's hero,only a couple of songs left to wrap up your album,"

"Yaay, I'm excited," Dean rolled his eyes at my sarcasm and he sat on his swivel chair.

"Just get in the booth before yours truly walks in here and finds us goofing around,"

"Is he in?"

"Yeah,came in early something about signing someone,I have no idea. Booth now," He pointed.

I stuck my tongue out at him and walked into the booth before Dean decided to bite my head off and feed it to his pet alligator. Once I was in the booth, I put on the sparkly headsets that were placed on the condenser microphone and waited for Dean's thumb up sign to start singing.

Dean and I have been friends for almost five years, we met at a gas station washroom in Seattle. I was stuck in the toilet because the door was jammed and after trying to open the damn thing, I gave up and just waited for help from above.

A few minutes later,I heard the washroom door open and someone walk in and as I rose my hand to knock on the door I froze and listened. The stranger was making some pretty good guitar noises which I recognized as gate way to heaven's guitar solo by Led Zeppelin.

Instead of trying to find help,I let myself get carried away with the music ,I didn't even realize I was singing along till I heard a tap on the door from the outside.

"Hi there,you've got a great voice," He said.

"Thanks,you're amazing too," He chuckled softly ,"Sorry to ask this but isn't it a bit uncomfortable to sing in this place, it fucking stinks "

I laughed softly," Tell you the truth,it is but...I'm sort'a stuck in here,the door's jammed,could you try opening it from outside,"

"O..okay,I guess lemme see," I took a step back and listened to him fumble with the door knob and it just wouldn't budge,he tried pushing it open but nothing.

"Whoa,door's completely stuck,"

My heart sunk,I was going to get stuck in here and there was no way out,I couldn't climb my way out to the next stall because there was a thick metal gauze separating the stalls and the window was out of question since not even my head could fit in.

"Thanks for trying,"

"You're giving up aren't you?" He asked.

"Sort'a, I've been here for almost thirty minutes and I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic," I admitted.

"I'm not giving up," The stranger said," I'm getting you out plus I also want to see what my new friend looks like,"

"Friend?" I heard him shuffling around as if he was looking for something.

"Yeah ,we are friends,aren't we?"

"I guess,you seem nice,"

"Then it's settled,step back,I got a fire axe,"

He started chopping the wooden door with the Axe,once, twice and on the third time the shredded door flew open revealing my new friend to me.

His black cropped hair was pointing in every direction,the huge glasses on his face was looped to the side. The black hoodie he had on looked slept on and dirty. He was disheveled even with the axe in his thin frail arms.

"Hi there," He greeted putting the axe down and adjusted his glasses, "I'm Dean Flintstone,"

"Cerian, Cerian Michelle Reign and yeah," I rolled my eyes at the surprised look he gave me," I have girl's name,"

"No judgements here," He rose his hands, "So are we getting out of here or what?"

"Yes we are, I feel hungry anyways,"

"Dominos Pizza is a few blocks away," Dean suggested and who on earth says no to Dominos."

That was how Dean and I met ,I introduced him to Yours Truly,turns out he knew a lot about music and he joined our Hollywood dream . Five years later he's one of the youngest most successful music producer.

"Cichelle ,you're rushing,you were supposed to sing ,not go all

Busta rhymez on me," Dean interrupted.

"Cichelle..really.." I quirked my eyebrow.

"Yeah,I merged Cerian and Michelle and came up with Michelle the least you could do is thank me okay we are going off track,"

"You're going off track," I accused.

"That's because you questioned my choice of nickname for you," He pointed, "Just be an appreciative friend, will you?Not like you can come up with cool nicknames,"

"Glasses.." Dean slapped his head.

"Classy, now you are just mocking the fact that I am myopic ,really classy Michelle," I shrugged, "Back to business, follow the metronome ,"

"Cool, let's start from the top,"

~

Thirty minutes later I was lain on the sofa,legs propped up on the back rest,playing angry sticks on my phone while Dean was busy editing the song we were working on,none of us saying a word to each other mainly because Dean likes it quiet when he's working plus he always has this face that says "Don't talk to me I'm working,"

The door suddenly opened and a five year old blonde in a cute rainbow dash onesi waddled in followed by Corny who looked completely exhausted from probably chasing a five year old.

Corny was Dean's partner the two have been together for two years after they met at my concert. Corny's a tall really hot naturally tan guy with golden hair that he always ties in a neat bun and gelled to perfection,his eyes are a warm milk chocolate color and lips,naturally pink and always curved into a smile even when he seems to be in a bad mood.

"Papa.." The little girl called,running over to Dean and I watched lovingly and a bit enviously as my friend turned away from his work and picked up the little girl showering her head with kisses as he got up and shared a kiss and a warm welcoming hug with his extremely tall partner.

Corny is a seven foot guy and a great NBA player.

"Hi Cichelle," Corny shared a one arm bro hug with me.

"You too?"

"Me too what?" He asked,pointing at his chest while Dean just smiled like an idiot. "What did I do?"

"You're calling me Cichelle,"

"Dean came up with the name,told him it was stupid and you'd hate it,"

"Really babe? " Dean whined, "Throw me under the bus because that's just how much you love me and our daughter, "

"Don't drag Crystal into this," Corny said, grabbing my feet and putting them down so he could get some space to sit on, "By the way,the doctor said we should feed her a lot of spinach,"

"Oh,is that why she's been getting tired lately? Crystal no that's papa's wallet stop chewing ,give it,"

Crystal's big brown eyes looked indecisively between the wallet and Dean's huge hand then she dropped the wallet and made a dash into the recording booth while screaming.

"She does that when she's told no,"Corny explains as Dean rushes after his daughter.

"So how do you say no to her?"

"We don't, we just let her throw her tantrums till she's burned out, we can't let her have what she wants,that's not good parenting,"

"I don't understand parenting plus I don't think I ever want to deal with that. Think I'll just stick to being number one uncle,"

"You guys aren't planning on getting kids?"Corny asked.

I wanted kids,two - three or maybe five of them. I wanted a lot more, love,mutual understanding ,shared decisions ,hell trips to the dentists because kids would be screaming in the backseat of our car. I wanted to be called dad but that was just one of my many dreams that would never come true.

"Nope ,kids are stress it would be hard balancing our careers and parenting ," I lied.

"Dean and I are doing just fine balancing careers and parenting,"

Corny was sweet and a good friend but he was pushing me into a very uncomfortable corner by questioning my relationship without even knowing it.

Kike I said before,I really want to be a dad,I even went through some foster homes searching for kids to adopt but when I told Yours Truly about it,he was quick to burn down my dreams.

"You're always on tour,I'm always in the office or touring with you or making deals across the globe no one's going to look after kids plus you know I hate babies."

"I'm gonna go.."I got up straightening my shirt and walked out of the room ignoring Corny's conceded look.

I needed a smoke..