Chasing our Fate

I snapped my fingers to the heavy r&b beats blaring through the studio. It was nearly 3am, we were still working on the song Pixie, and I started nearly ten hours ago. Pixie was finishing the backing vocals while Adam, my assistant sat in my chair sleeping quietly. We never stopped working until we were confident it was good enough for her album. I downed the last bit of my coffee in hopes it would keep me up just a little bit longer. Once the song ended, Pixie cheered. However, I wasn’t too joyous until we played it back.

“Adam!” I shouted lazily, “get up!” I threw a pen at him to shake him awake.”Come listen.”

I pressed the necessary buttons until Pixie’s strong, raspy voice came through the speakers. She nervously looked at me as I nodded my head to the music, analyzing if I thought it had everything it needed. Adam bobbed his head along, enjoying what we had created even though he’d heard hundreds of times before since we started the song. That was a good thing; it meant it was catchy. I smirked at the clever lyrics that Kara Dioguardi and I had come up with earlier that week, satisfied with how Pixie had sang them. One thing that really made a song promising was the emotion one puts behind the words they’re singing. Once the song ended, I stroked my chin to make up my mind on how I felt.

“I like it,” I decided. Pix and Adam cheered in fulfillment, thankful that I finally allowed them to go home. Music has no bedtime.

“But, it’s still a little rough, were still going to do some more editing,” I warned her,
“Tomorrow though.”

I loved my producing job, I got to create music and put all of those years of studying music theory to the test. One of my goals as a producer was to put the idea of well-constructed music back into the music industry. With my dad’s backing, I was sure to become one of the best music producers. My dad was considered legendary as of this summer because of his ingenious work with Berkeley to D.C.’s latest album. I paid attention to the way my dad made sure to show of the artist’s voice and how he stuck to their styles. Meaningful lyrics, well-crafted song and artists with actual talent were necessary for me. I didn’t want smoke and mirrors.

“Are you coming girlie?” Adam asked as he shut down the studio. I nodded and yawned, gathering my things before locking the door.

“I have to stop at my office, before I go, you guys go ahead,” I told them.

They both said their tired goodbyes and headed to their cars; I went the opposite way to my office in the dark building. I rummaged through my vintage Chanel backpack for my ring of keys. Finally finding the right one, I opened my office and sighed. My work never stopped when I was in LA. To keep me going and to blow off some steam, I put on some Prince and lit my incense. I sprawled out on my soft rug and opened my e-mail on my laptop. Ignoring the usual spam, I went straight to the business inquires. I replied to the artists and the managers that wanted to set up a music writing session or time in my studio and moved on to the Author e-mail. I went under the Pen-name S.P. Jameson since my name was so infamous now. It was easier and people took me more seriously that way. To my surprise, I found out I had been not only invited to the 2012 Youth Media Awards, but I had also been nominated for an award. The Margaret A. Edwards Award was an award given to honor an author and a specific work for significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens. Publisher’s Weekly also named me one of 2012’s most promising authors. I was also up for being their “Best children’s book of 2012”. I was over thrilled that my book was still doing so well since March and it was on its way to becoming a best seller. For a new young adult author, it was all so much at once. I quickly made a mental note to inform Nick on my successes, he was going to be so proud of me. With a quick Google search, I found the date of the awards, but quickly grew depressed when I found out when it was. July 14, 2012 at the trump ballroom in Chicago, it was also the Jonas Brother’s first show in New Jersey and our seventh month anniversary.

That was one show Nick made it clear he wanted me to be there and he always talked about it because I was going to go to his family reunion/homecoming at his hometown. He was supposed to show me where he grew up and meet his grandparents. He reminded me everyday to make sure I booked my flight early and to make sure I let my parents know to in case they wanted to come. How was I supposed to choose which one to go to? I was excited for both and both were equally as important to me. I had already promised Nick I would be there, but I didn’t want to miss my very first awards show for my very first book. I groaned loudly, disrupting Prince’s ridiculous falsetto and buried my head in my arms, hoping to figure out the proper way to break the news to Nick. Either way, one of us will lose or both of us will.

Damn.
<->
“WiddleEwic wants permission to video Chat!” the computer blared with a loud bing. Stevvie awoke with a squeal, forgetting where she was. Her chest and back instantly burned and ached from being in the same position for so long.

“Dang it,” She muttered as she pressed enter to accept the chat request.

“Hey baby! Whoa, you look gross,” Eric exclaimed, “Where are you?”

Stevvie growled at her best friend before answering, “Good morning to you too. I’m at my office.”

“You look like you slept in a cave or something. Weren’t you wearing that shirt yesterday? I saw you on Oceanup in that shirt.”

Stevvie groaned once again, upset that she fell asleep on the ground. Eric sat at his work desk with his perfectly shaped fohawk and a stylish scarf around his neck. He had a slight five o’ clock shadow that somehow he managed to pull off and not look grubby. Interning for Christian Siriano did him some good.

“Yes, I was wearing this yesterday; I fell asleep here last night.”

“Again? You need to work on that.”

“What do you want Eric?” she asked.

“I can’t just want to speak to my beautiful and rich best friend of what is it? Seven years now?” he scoffed.

“Not at 10 in the morning because that means it’s like 8 in New York,” she replied.

“True, anyway. I was wondering if you could maybe buy me an early birthday present?” he bluntly asked.

“Your birthday’s in February…” she reminded him, “How about a ‘late’ one?”

“Whatever you want to call it anyway there’s this retro looking satchel on ASOS.com that I am dying for, I’m telling you if Christian saw me with it, he would hire me on the spot and since I know you always shopped there…”

“Send me the link…” She replied, putting her head down once again, “You are pathetic you know that? ‘Christian would hire me on the spot’ really babe?”

Eric shrugged, “Oh and can I get another favor?”

“What,” she asked flatly.

“Can you whore my clothes out? I kind out convinced the other interns you were my first ‘celebrity’ client.”

“Eric, there’s two problems with that. I’m not a celebrity nor am I your client.”

“Well, that’s where you come in! All you have to do is wear my designs around LA and especially when you’re with Nicholas because he is a celebrity. Come on you wear my designs anyway!”

“Okay, okay…jeez, send me stuff and I’ll see,” she interrupted his pleads.

“Thank you baby! You’re the best!” Eric sucked up to her.

“Goodbye,” Stevvie smirked, clicking off the live chat.

“My back is killing me now, fun.” She muttered.

It had been a little over a week since she saw Nick and so far, she was going strong. With her being so busy, she didn’t allow herself to miss him too much. On the weekends, she was in class and she taught lessons to kids and the weekdays she was in LA working with her artists or in her Chicago office working on her writing career, which including book signings and appearances at events. About every two weeks, depending on where each of them were, they found a way to see each other, hopefully when Nick had couple of days off rather than just one.

<->

I ran my fingers though my hair, unsure of what to think. Stevvie had just informed me that she might not be able to make our New Jersey shows. It was our biggest break besides LA. We had two shows there and then two to three days off to hang out after that, and I had so many things planned for us. Now, she was telling me that she might not be able to make it at all.

“So, how big is this award to you?” I asked, trying to understand “Is it like the Grammy’s or something?”

“More like American music awards big, but just as important because I’m a new author,” she replied, “I’m so sorry Nick.”

“No, no…don’t apologize,” I began, masking my disappointment, “It’s not like you planned on getting nominated, and this is huge for you and I want you to go. I’m proud of you baby.”
I watched her let out a relieved sigh. I knew it was probably chewing at her all night, she hated letting people down.

“If I didn’t have a show, I would be there to support you,” I added. I desperately wanted to reach through the computer and touch her, feel her heartbeat against my chest and brush the hair that continued to fall in her face,

“Tell your grandparents I said hi for me okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, speaking of that…when am I going to meet some Jameson extended family? Or go to your parents’ house for that matter?”

A guilty smile formed on her face as she shrugged. Stevvie knew it was long over due.

“Okay…okay…um, I know we’re a little over due for that stuff. There’s just a slight problem with Jennifer’s parents…they kind of hate you. So, we’ll meet Nonna and Papa first. They live in New York, so…the weekend after next?”

I went through my mental calendar and decided we could allow it. “Good. Wait…why do Jennifer’s parents hate me? I’ve never met them!”

Stevvie smirked before yawning. “Okay, she doesn’t like hate you hate you, but she is a little….judgmental of you and your brothers.”

“Continue,” I urged, not understanding what she meant.

“Well, you’re a rock star babe! Let’s just say my grandmother made me promise every time I visited that I would never date a musician. I guess it maybe has to do with the fact that Jennifer ran away from home with Todd at age sixteen and then got pregnant on top of that. Do you catch my drift?”

“Ooh…she thinks I’m going to get you pregnant?!” I stated, shocked, “Does she not know
who I am?”

Stevvie laughed, revealing her bright smile. “Yeah, she does. But, its just the whole ‘free spirit’ rockstar grudge she had against Todd for years. I’ll explain more later.”

I sat back, trying to imagine their reaction when they found out she was doing exactly what they hoped she didn’t do. It made me slightly amused and curious about the situation. It was going to be fun trying to make a good impression on them.

“All right baby, I have to go to soundcheck. I’ll text you later,” I just remembered, noticing the time. “Have a good day today, I love you.”

She blew me a kiss before signing off.