At No Time || Bruno Mars

22

"Trystan, how have you never done an interview before?" Peter caught up to his song partner in the hallway.

"Oh." Trystan jumped slightly at his sudden appearance on her way to a vending machine. "Steve never made me do any, and I didn't think they were anything critical. The world would only see it as the artist's song, so why not let them talk about it?"

"Because it's not really their song if they didn't write the lyrics or produce it. Elle Marie's a great singer, but you were the driving force behind it all." Trystan didn't seem to take heed to Peter's admission, and he was silently glad of it. They'd all done a part to create the song, but it was Trystan who brought about it's true essence with her lyricism. Peter wasn't sure he would be able to live down any of her gloating. Though, he acknowledged, he wouldn't mind seeing her left dimple as she did so.

"Well, that's good and all," Trystan responded flippantly as she stuck a couple of coins into the giant machine, "but I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do in there. What if I mess up?"

"How do you mess up a radio interview? This isn't like you're getting a job, Trystan," Peter chuckled. "You just answer a few questions and you go home. Simple." 

"That simple, huh?" Trystan mocked as she bent over to attain the bag of chips she bought. Peter tried not to struggle to maintain his eyes on her face. "Well, if I mess up and embarrass myself, I'm blaming it all on you." She opened the pack and popped a chip into her mouth. "I'm serious, Hernandez."

How is everyone so calm right now? It's frickin' Rose Royce! Trystan's nerves fretted as she sat directly across from the large, dark man. His face was jolly enough so not to scare her off, but his demeanor had her wanting to crawl into a hole. She'd respected this man before she even entered the music industry, and she felt that was what made her nervous the most. What if someone she revered turned their nose up at her; thought her inadequate?

Peter, who sat to her right, could tell she was skittish, even if it wasn't apparent on the outside. He would have laughed aloud had it not been inappropriate or disregarding of her anguish. Trystan always got so nervous before a big, at least in her eyes, event, but he knew it would pass, just as it had when they had the listening meeting.

Peter, who typically found Rose Royce entertaining, was rather bored with the questions he was asking Elle Marie. Being a new artist, he was going easy on her, but everyone knew a Rose Royce show was the best when he tried to scare the shit out of people. He wished Neal or Roger were accompanying him to sneak silent jokes to take his mind off his boredom, but they were in a separate room doing another interview.

"So, how old are you, sweetheart?" Rose Royce asked the teenager. She smiled cheekily before answering she was nineteen.

"Nineteen? Huh, that's pretty young. Delusion 's got some deep lyrics; how could a nineteen-year-old possibly have gone through what happens in the song?'

"Well." Elle Marie didn't falter, and even leaned in closer to the mic. "I don't think age has anything to do with it."

"Oh, really now?"

"Yep, really. I know some people older than me who've never been in love before or never got their heart broken. Some even as old as you."

"Oh, the little one's got jokes!" Trystan let out a sigh of releief when Rose Royce let out a hearty laugh. She was frightened that he'd eat the younger girl alive after a jab like that.

"It's really all about what we've experienced. I have a little sister who's twelve, and she recently gotten her heart broken. We can all laugh and joke that kids don't know what real love is, but some really do. A lot have the same emotions adults do. They may not be able to express it in an "adult" way, but it doesn't mean they aren't there. Delusion is a song about an experience, not an age."