Five Years of Fame [COMPLETE]

12. Goodnight, LA

Winter, Year 2, Month 12

Her day of departure arrived much too soon for Reeve's liking. She would have preferred to have stayed just a few more days snuggled in her mom's arms, eating cookies, watching old movies with Dani, and listening to Christmas music while her LA life carried on without her.

She only turned her phone back on when she settled into her seat at the airport to wait for her flight. It was more of a distraction to keep herself from crying. She had to force herself to let her mom go. She still had a plane to catch, a fact Molly had to whisper in Reeve's ear to get Reeve to release her from their hug.

Reeve's promise to Molly from Christmas night echoed in her mind while she sat staring absently at her phone while her LA life tried to creep back in even while she still sat in Boston.

A part of Reeve she had thought long gone had woken up during her time back home. When she landed back in LA, it was as though she was seeing it for the first time all over again. Only this time she knew all of its dirty little secrets. Her promise to her mom bounced back and forth in her brain as details tried to rise up and distract her. She squinted as she stepped out into the bright California sun, already missing the overcast winter days of New England.

The sight of Kelly waiting for her at the curb helped Reeve get back into the LA mindset. But Reeve knew she couldn't wash off the scent of Boston that still clung to her, separating her from the stench of LA.

Reeve tried diving headfirst back into work. It was with the vain hope that it would help her straighten out her mind again, get her refocused. The two sessions she had with Anton after returning to LA were far from productive. Her mind couldn't stop wandering. It drifted out the open studio window, over the city, past the famous landmarks, all the way across the country and back to her mom's family room couch, back to the small kitchen and a sink full of dishes, back to the Cafe on Christmas Eve.

Anton had to fight to gain even a fraction of Reeve's attention and she apologized every time he had to bring her back to earth. After two long writing sessions that resulted in nothing, Anton called it a day and scheduled a time for them to meet up again after the New Year, after the award show, after her performance, hoping once those were passed they could get back to work.

Reality seemed to finally be settling itself on the day of the award show. But while everything around her returned to normal, Reeve still felt out of place. Since returning she had done her best to pull her thoughts from Boston, to focus on the job she had to do in LA and try and find even a fraction of her professional side. She found she could at least fake it as she drove to the hotel where the after-party was being held.

The reason why the biggest music award show of the year had been held on New Year's Eve Reeve was not privileged enough to know. But it felt intentional like God was trying to show her something. Either way, she knew it wasn't a coincidence.

She had been nominated. None of the big categories but a few and one of them she was most likely going to win as Jon had been hounding Kelly to make sure Reeve was there to accept the award. Reeve had no intention of going. She was not going to stand up on that stage, put on a fake smile, accept an award for an album she detested when there would be people in the audience, competitors in her category that she knew deserved it more than she did.

Jon only agreed to accept the award in her place once she promised to perform at the after-party. People needed to know that she wasn't dead. His words.

Reeve took a minute to breathe, the car coming to a rolling stop in front of the hotel entrance. A hundred and one camera flashes were already lighting up the night sky before she had even opened her door.