Limelight

Chapter Nineteen

Aaliyah cringed. "Do you have to call it a setlist? You make it sound like I'm not only singing like three songs." She asked and then shrugged, making a face, "Well four now, but still?"

Blair waved a noncommital hand, digging into her a yogurt pot. "Setlist sounds more professional, and this is a professional gig, get in that mindset, Aaliyah. You're a professional artist," She said and crinkled her nose in distaste, "Ew, is this banana flavored?"

Aaliyah shrugged. "I guess so, the lunch lady gave me the first one she touched. I told her that you'd rather have strawberry for whatever Godforsaken reason, but she's low-key scary—"

"It's okay, I'll just tell myself that I'm actually eating strawberry. It's all about the mindset, right?" She said putting the spoonful in her mouth cringing physically, and everyone looked at her in a mixture of amazement and horror and bemusement.

Christian guffawed, and with a dirty look in his direction, she continued talking, "Also, I've also been talking to my dad about a tour for you. Since you started promoting the release of hidden your fanbase has grown even more, and my dad agreed that if the traction you're gaining now is any indication, you're fanbase is to grow exponentially once you drop hidden and if your album is a total success, a US tour could be in your future. It's not a world tour like Madison's but it's definitely huge for a new artist."

Aaliyah's brows shot up, she hadn't processed everything she had said yet. A tour? After her last marketing meeting, Aaliyah didn't think she had much of a fanbase to begin with, let alone enough to have a tour. The last few weeks had been worth it then. She hadn't come up with anything to say yet, but Christian clearly had. "Well damn," He started and everyone looked to him, "Can Blair be our manager instead?" He asked looking to Jacks, and Aaliyah laughed not knowing whether he was serious or not.

Sol snorted but didn't say anything, flipping through her sketchbook whilst nibbling on a bagel, a smile on her lips that didn't seem to be all that genuine. Aaliyah tried to ignore that guilty feeling roil in her stomach taking her gaze away from her. Since the Bonfire, Solana had been a little frosty towards her, and her career. She had tried to explain herself to her and apologize for her attitude, but Solana clearly wasn't the forgiving type, even though she said she understood, she still wasn't really talking to her, and always acted cynically when they were talking about her career, which was often if she was being honest, and Aaliyah couldn't help but be uncomfortable by it. She didn't think that Aaliyah still performing at The Sound of Bachata really helped either.

"That's great, Aaliyah!" Jacks said hugging her to his side smiling proudly at her. Aaliyah smiled back at him, waiting for the familiar warmth to unfold in her stomach when he held her like that, "Maybe we should celebrate. We have a practice after school today, but you can come and then we can go out after that. We can go ice skating in central park."

Aaliyah smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Jacks, but I can't," She replied, looking to him meaningfully, hoping he could truly see how bad she felt. Jacks frowned, his expression bemused, "I have to practice for tomorrow. I really want it to go perfect."

"I'm sure it will be whether you practice tonight or not," Jacks replied hugging her tightly against him, his gaze imploring, with a soft smile, "You've been working non-stop. We haven't hung out in weeks. Today should be celebrated it's your debut, Aaliyah."

Aaliyah didn't entirely feel comfortable with having this conversation in front of everyone like this. She didn't like the way he made her feel like the absentee girlfriend in front of everyone. When in all honesty, Aaliyah had tried to make room in her schedule to hang out with Jacks, but he was also busy with his career, and Aaliyah didn't blame him for that, she understood. "The board doesn't see it that way," She said with a sigh, "They're looking for any reason to prove that I'm not serious enough. They still think I'm incapable and inexperienced especially when Blair became my manager. Besides, now that the setlist has changed. I need to run through that again. Can we just make a raincheck, maybe for next week? Ice skating does sound like a lot of fun, something I haven't had in a while," She said with a tired smile.