Behind the Scenes

twenty-nine | three shot

And it might have sewed together a piece of my heart at the thought that everything will be all right between us after all.

"Reese? Is that you?" Cora calls from her bedroom, her door flinging open before I got a chance to answer.

I nod, pushing myself away from the door. "Yeah."

My best friend's smiling face greets me as she jogs across the carpeted floor, throwing her arms around me and slamming me back into the door. Unshed tears prick at my eyes as I squeeze her back, inhaling her sweet strawberry shampoo. Cora pulls back, keeping her hands on my shoulders as she scans my face. Winged eyeliner highlights her dark brown eyes, and a rosy pink blush and sparkly highlighter complements her dark complexion. Despite having classes tomorrow morning, her make-up is done, hair is styled, and I know there's at least five different outfits to choose from laying on her bed.

She's planning to go out, and I bet she's planning on taking me with her.

"Oh honey," she wipes at a tear that trickles down my cheek, "why are you crying?"

"I don't know," I answer honestly. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

I relay the past however-many-hours it's been to Cora, telling her about reconciling with Maia and the argument with Lennon. By the time I'm finished, we've migrated to the couch: my knees are tucked to my chest as Cora sits on her knees, feet beneath her with an arm propped up on the back of the couch. I wait for her to be my voice of reason and tell me that I overreacted, or that I have every right to be upset, or maybe somewhere in the middle. Something to ease the confusion riding around in my brain without a seatbelt.

"I think he needs to get his head out of his ass, lawyer up, and fire the bitch." Cora slaps a hand over her mouth, not worried about ruining her lipstick. "I never thought I'd be saying that about Lennon Ross."

A chuckle slips past my lips. "It's crazy how much our lives have changed in these past two weeks."

"For reals. My bestie is dating a celebrity that is on thin ice with me." she says. "On one hand, I love that he responded immediately to you even if he was busy, because you're arguing and waiting would've made him more of an asshole. But on the other hand, I can't imagine anyone would be that blind to what that woman is doing to them." Cora shakes her head. "Do none of the other band members notice? Or care?"

"I guess she's been poisoning their contracts for years, but Lennon and Logan stopped reading them before signing." I tell her, watching as she rolls her eyes at their stupidity. She may be retracting her earlier claims of wishing me and Lennon the best. "Presley is preparing to get out—"

"Good for her."

"And she hasn't told the guys yet. Graham doesn't say much in general, yet alone to me. And I don't know where Milo stands."

"But they aren't the ones that are really being affected by her."

"Well, they will be when they're out of jobs."

"I'm sorry," Cora holds up her hand. "What?"

I nod. "She wants Lennon to go solo."

"Oh shit." I continue to nod as her eyebrows scrunch, watching the wheels turn in her head as she puts everything together. "Oh shit. That's why she wants Lennon to remain single. Branching off from his band, bringing all those fangirls with him and becoming a solo single act will bring in even more fangirls. That's actually pretty brilliant—from a marketing perspective, of course."

"And controlling. He's twenty years old; this isn't something that he should be worrying about."

"He's not a normal twenty year old guy, Reese." Cora reminds me. "He chose this life, and if he can't see how damaging this manager is, and it takes losing Presley and Milo and Graham and Logan and, maybe, you to realize that. Then so be it."