Publicity

Chapter 10: Guilt

I giggled as Ray and I sat in the midst of yet another boring meeting. In an attempt to entertain ourselves, we started a game of arm wrestling. Obviously, Ray was ten times stronger than me but he pretended like I was a challenge which caused me to erupt in fits of giggles from time to time. It had been a week since we had sat in my backyard and I had let my guard down, telling him the whole story with Zoey. A whole week since we had made amends and agreed to be friends.

We actually have a lot in common and get along great. Ray's the sweetest guy in the world and he's a great friend. He's probably one of the most realest and nicest person I've ever met. It's hard to find good friends, especially for people like us and I'm starting to feel like maybe something good did come out of this publicity stunt. A friendship. Now that we were in fact getting along with each other, the stunt was running much smoother. We actually looked happy when we were seen out together. We looked like one of those sappy in love couples and it was easier to go out on "dates" with him.

"Will you two please focus?!" Kenneth barked at us, grabbing our attention immediately.

Ray and I both pulled our hands to our laps and snapped our heads up to look at him. "Sorry." We mumbled our apologizes.

"This meeting is about you, after all." He responded, sounding stressed and irritated. Are all managers constantly stressed and grumpy? Or is it just Claire and Kenneth?

"Like we were saying." Kenneth continued, giving us a warning look to behave. "Nique's album is doing great on the charts. She leaves for her sold out tour in 3 weeks." The room filled with random business people in suits erupted in applause. I felt myself smile shyly and avoid eye contact. Ray nudged me, smiling widely and I just rolled my eyes. We always teased each other like this.

"Nique, you have a lot of rehearsals coming up. We have to make sure everything is perfect for tour. You also have a few interviews coming up." Claire informed me, handing me a packet with my schedule for the next three weeks. "Your schedule is pretty hectic but I tried my best."

I flipped through the pages of the packet. I still had my day off, once a week. That was literally my only resting day... The rest of the weeks I had all day rehearsals ranging from dress rehearsals, dance rehearsals, and rehearsals where I would run through the entire show. I could only imagine how exhausted I was going to be. While I was flipping through my schedule, I couldn't help but notice that there was no 'fake dates' scheduled for Ray and I. Usually, there were reserved times of the day where Ray and I were scheduled to go out together. Did this mean our stunt was over?

"Ray, your first single Icey Dicey was released today at 12 am and it's already #1 in 33 countries!" Kenneth exclaimed and the room cheered the same way they had for me. Ray was far more charismatic then I was which is probably why he stood up to take a bow. "You have a lot of interviews and TV appearances coming up, plus a few photoshoots. Besides that, you gotta get in the studio and finish up the album." Kenneth handed Ray a packet that looked similar to mine. "This is your schedule."

I watched as Ray looked over it carefully. Maybe he would notice that there were no dates scheduled and bring it up. After he scanned it over, he merely looked up at Kenneth and nodded. Well... I guess I'm the only one that noticed.

"Meeting's dismissed. You two have the rest of the day off. Have fun." Kenneth said while packing up his things. I stood up and stretched. This meeting was way to long for my liking.

"Wanna go get lunch?" Ray asked me. It wasn't until then that my stomach growled and I realized how hungry I was.

"Sure." I nodded, glancing over at Claire who was talking to Kenneth about who knows what. "Kenny, we're going to lunch." Ray gave a small wave before we exited the building.