Another press tour in NYC for her new single. This was her least favorite part of the whole process. She’d rather go on USTREAM and talk to her fans but she obviously couldn’t. She was forbidden to because they said it would cheapen her brand. She had to seem unreachable, like a literal star. Right.
Briefing with her staff wasn’t until 8 but she was already up. It was just 6:30 and she had already finished a 30-minute run on her treadmill. She was now eating cereal and reading fan mail. She absolutely adored fan mail; those letters were always the highlight of her success.
They used to mostly be about American Idol but as her career progressed the Idol shadow that was lurking behind faded and faded away. She didn’t mind being attached to the show, but it was good that people were noticing her for who she was as an artist. She tried to sign every poster and reply to every letter she could in a span of 30 minutes then she prepared for her meeting.
“Actually the itinerary is the usual: Today Show, MTV, Us Weekly, etc.” her manager, Kendall, discussed. “But Jessica, whatever happens you have to talk about your single as much as possible. I know we expect it to debut at number two but we have to keep it there or higher for as long as we can. Okay?”
She was busy tweeting.
“Jessica! Are you listening?” Kendall reprimanded her. “Put down your phone for a while, will you? This is important.”
“Yes I got it. Don’t worry, Kenny, I promise to talk about the single.” she replied. She pretended to listen during the rest of the meeting but all she was actually doing was reading her mentions and retweeting cool photos her fans were posting.
As she was scrolling down she read one tweet: @blujaynw_4vr: “@JSanchezOfficial, I see you w/@coltondixon @Brackensick @Skylar_Laine & the others but whatever happened to @phillips?”
Actually, she wondered the same thing. He soared with his first single then suddenly disappeared. She looked at his twitter page but it wasn’t updated. Typical Phillip. His fans even used to tweet her before to ask for latest updates. She had none now.
Whatever happened to him? He seemed like a stranger now…
-Flashback-
♪ ♫ “Lord, she’s still too young to treat…” ♪ ♫ Phillip sang during one of his Top 4 performances.
We were getting close. Elise and Heejun were gone and so were DeAndre and Colton. Josh and Hollie were practically inseparable so we had no choice but to be with each other. It wasn’t that awkward anymore. Actually, I loved, and even preferred, being around him. I absolutely loved his jokes. It took me a while to fully understand his humor, but now he never fails to crack me up. But what I appreciate most is his efforts to make me feel at ease during my most difficult times. He would be there whenever the pressures of the competition would get to me. It was the simplest gestures that showed me he cared: little hugs and winks when I felt down, staying up late to listen to my stories, waking up early to make me breakfast, making sure I drink my ginger tea. He was my big brother here. But he was starting to become more than that…
His stares were getting deeper, his proximity was getting closer, his smiles were getting sweeter, the impact of his presence was getting stronger…
♪ ♫ “What I mean to you is not what you mean to me…” ♪ ♫ Phillip continued singing.
I knew what the song meant but his emotion when he sang it felt otherwise. It was odd, he was always right on the pocket in terms of lyrical meaning. Why was he singing it like he meant the complete opposite? And why did it feel like he was singing it to me?
YOU ARE READING
Smashed Into You
FanfictionPhillip Phillip. He had the whole world in the palm of his hands after the recognition he received from his monster of a hit, "Home." But all the opportunities were wasted when he decided to go on a different path. Now a mature adult and musician, h...
