Crushed and Created- Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

New Year's Eve

ALISHA

Getting up in the morning, I never felt it coming. I never felt the dizziness settling it and I fell into the mattress again. Hardly able to open my eyes, I fumbled around for my meter and my pod.

“Shit.” I mumbled, texting Adrian to come into my room ASAP. Thankfully he was the most recent contact in my phone, and before I went totally unconscious he darted into my room.

“Holy fuc…are you fine?” he ran to my side, yelling for someone to come in. I heard some commotion outside as Adrian tried to test my oxygen levels. He tapped his foot impatiently for the 30 seconds as the results came in. My brothers were by my side just as the meter beeped twice, sensing dangerously low levels.

“Son of a bi…” Arbaaz clamped his mouth shut meanwhile Sohail helped me up. Adrian literally shoved a straw into my mouth as Salman tried to keeps his hands stable while injecting me with my medicines.

“How do you feel now?” asked Sohail, tucking a strand of my hair behind my earlobe.

“Better.” Truth was I felt better, but that wasn’t good either. I felt like my throat was some thorny shrub, my head a nuclear power plant and my body an elephant.

“You scared me…you were so pale and…ghostly.” Adrian gulped, looking at me and back to his shoes. I knew how it could be like, I had seen Nick go low and high- just one look and you felt scared.

“Sorry.” I apologized and he shook his head to say I didn’t need to. Salman looked at the guitar beside my dead and raised his brow,

“New song?”

“Part of a new song.” I nodded, pointing my chin towards my diary lying on the bedside table. Salman opened the page with a pen in it and read through the messy lines.

This is a story about a girl named Lucky

Early morning, she wakes up

Knock, knock, knock on the door

It's time for make-up, perfect smile

It's you they're all waiting for

They go,

"Isn't she lovely, this Hollywood girl?"

And they say,

[Chorus]

She's so lucky, she's a star 

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking

If there's nothing missing in my life

Then why do these tears come at night?

“That’s all I could figure out.” I shrugged, biting my lip. Most my songs were direct or were some serious metaphor- extreme stuff. But this was new to me, narrating my life story from a third person view.

“This is what you feel? Crying yourself at night?” Adrian sat beside me, reading the lyrics repeatedly.

“Sometimes it just gets overwhelming. Like the SNL thing.” I explained. I had not cried myself to sleep then, I just locked myself till late noon, and came out later. After a while it just gets alright, you just get used to the fact that you were make fun of on national television.

“And that is why I admire this girl.” Arbaaz mumbled at Malaika and she giggled.

“Huh?”

“Do you have any idea how many nights he spent not sleeping because of Salman’s success and therefore he coming into pressure and limelight?” Malaika asked me and I shrugged. I was very little then, and I hardly had any memory of him being depressed. But I did know there was this one phase when he was about to give up on everything and get away from the glamour industry. But here he was now, dealing with millions of dollars.