amelia's already heading to the cafe early in the morning when her phone rings. she gets it out of the back pocket of her jeans, seeing it's her dad calling, which makes her smile happily.
"dad!" she exclaims. "good morning, how are you?!"
"good morning, little bee." he chuckles, calling her by her silly nickname, making her roll her eyes playfully. "i'm good, thank you, honey. how about you?"
"don't call me that, daddy!" she whines. "i'm good too, thanks. just about to buy my coffee, actually. what brings you to call me so early on a wednesday morning?"
"well, actually, i need you to come see me at the office today." he says, as she's just entering the coffee shop, heading for her usual table. "um, right now, to be exact."
"wait, what?! now?" she asks, confused. "why?"
"there's something i need to talk to you about, honey." her father sighs. "i know it's a bit early and short noticed, but it's really important."
amelia sighs, feeling slightly annoyed. she was ready to meet "will" today. she wasn't even able to sleep at night properly, thinking about what to say to him the next morning - she was sure today was the day. she shakes her head and takes a deep breath, ignoring those thoughts and bad feelings. you can't be annoyed at your father over a stranger, amelia. also, he couldn't possibly know about your plans. so it's not his fault.
"alright, daddy." she says softly. "but i'll have to take the tube, so it's gonna be a while until i get there."
"there's no problems at all, darling. oh, do you have your security card on you? it's easier to just use it to get in, and it's quicker."
"um, yeah, i think so... oh! can we go out for lunch after?! please, dad, it's been so long." she says, almost begging. she knows how hard it is for her father to leave his work.
"oh, baby, i'm so full of work today..." he sighs heavily. amelia rolls her eyes. obviously.
"you're always full of work, daddy." she replies, letting a hint of annoyance take over her voice. "you never have time for me."
"you know it's complicated, bee." he stays quiet for a moment. "but... i'll find some time today, okay? we can go to your favourite restaurant, it's really been too long." he gives in, and amelia smiles widely.
"thank you, dad! i can't wait to see you!" she gets up from the chair feeling joyful, and heads over to the counter to order her usual cappuccino.
"can't wait to see you too, baby." he replies.
"okay then, see you in a bit." she says.
"yes. oh, and amelia?"
"yeah?"
"i miss you. so much. i'm sorry i'm always out of time." she notices his voice turns sad suddenly.
"dad! it's okay, really, don't worry. i understand, you know i do. it's okay, i swear. i'm just happy we get to see each other today." she reassures him.
"you shouldn't have to understand these sort of things, though. this wasn't supposed to happen..." he sighs. "anyway, i love you, okay? don't ever forget that. i have to go now, see you soon, little bee."
"love you too, dad." she says softly to the already dead line. he hung up before she could reply.
she puts her phone back into her pocket and quickly orders her coffee, thinking about "will". i was being silly. how could i be so sure i would meet him today, when i don't even know if he'll be here? we haven't even spoken since yesterday. stupid girl. she tries to convince herself that she doesn't care she's not meeting "will" today. clearly, she likes to pretend a lot.
she takes the coffee cup from the counter when the lady calls her name, and heads for the tube station. but, as much as she tries to, she can't take the feeling of slight bitterness away from her heart. she was so certain that today was the day.
...
"fuck!" brad swears when he looks at the time on his phone. 7:34. i'm late again, great. that's just awesome.
he stumbles out of bed and runs to the bathroom, quickly entering the shower to get his body to properly wake up. he needed to get extra early on the studio today - they still don't have the new single ready, and the deadline is getting closer and closer. they have a lot of work to do, so it is essential to be on time every day this week. and i have already failed. nice.
he gets out of the bathroom thinking about amelia. it's been awhile since they last texted - and brad is afraid to say something after what happened yesterday. also, he won't be able to stop at the coffee shop today, so there goes another chance of finally meeting her for real. he sighs, frustrated. another time, then, i suppose. he gets ready so fast it has to be some sort of record. it's 7:46 when he leaves his house. not too bad, i might not even arrive that late.
he gets a taxi, because it's quicker than walking. this is becoming a habit, he thinks, realising the got a taxi three days in a row. he decides to stop being such an idiot and text amelia.
coffee guy: morning amelia, i hope you're good today. X
coffee guy: also, sorry about yesterday :( X
he locks his phone and sighs, running his hand through his hair and looking out of the window, trying to focus on his work. they have so much to do. he can't believe he's late again. his phone vibrates a few minutes later and he looks at it hopefully, only to be disappointed.
joe: fuck brad, why can't you be on time at least once?! hurry up, yeah?! X
he rolls his eyes, feeling slightly annoyed but knowing that he has no right to feel this way - joe's not lying.
he doesn't take long to arrive at the building, hurriedly paying the driver and getting off the car. he jogs to the entrance, greeting the security guard and rushing into the lift, sighing in relief when he presses the button to the 13th floor.
"ugh, finally!" tristan says when brad opens the door. "we had to start without you, mate."
"yeah, i thought you would've. i'm sorry, i promise i won't be late anymore." he walks to where his guitar is placed, picking it up and starting to tune it.
"i do hope you're serious this time." james glares at him, pissed off. "you can start by recording the vocals still missing from the chorus, what you think?"
"yeah, sure!" he agrees, walking to the recording booth.
...
amelia takes a taxi from the tube station to her father's office building. it's quicker. she thanks the driver and gets off the car, already searching in her bag for the security card. she finds it and looks up just in time to not bump into someone.
"oops, sorry." she says, smiling and blushing a bit, looking at the tall guy in front of her. he smiles back and nods.
"no problem at all." he walks away with two guys, one of them slightly shorter than the others. she calmly follows them into the building and watches as they wave to the security guard and head to the lift, the one guy she bumped into pressing the button.
"hi." she greets the guard, showing him her card, and he just nods and points to the direction of the lift, where the three guys are still waiting, chatting lightly. she thanks the man and walks over there, standing behind them quietly. she can't help but overhear their conversation while they wait for the lift, that seems to be taking forever to come down from the 22nd floor.
"...but the single has to be wake up, we can't change it now!" the one she bumped into says. he's tall and fit, with blonde short hair. "it's too close to the due date, it'd be madness to change it. plus, joe would totally freak out."
"yeah, but it's not finished. it would be easier to just find another track that fits well as a single and it's already done, so it could buy us some time to work on wake up properly." the other tall one replies. his hair is a bit blonder and longer, but not much though. "i really think rest your love would be perfect."
"but tris, wake up is also the name of the album. we're counting on the single to introduce it, so we can't really change it." the same guy says. the lift finally arrives, opening its doors to reveal a suited man typing on a phone desperately, not even bothering to glance at them as he walks out.
amelia then looks up at the boys and the smaller one gestures for her to enter first, so she nods and goes in, being followed by them, who are still discussing their topic.
"tris, james is right. we can't change it now, and i don't think they would allow us to anyway, and i'm not talking about joe. the song's almost done, if we work really hard this week i'm sure we can get it finished by monday." the shortest comes in, and the one who's called james huffs, annoyed.
"yeah, but we kinda depend on brad to get it finished, cause he still got lots of things to do, but where is he now, eh? he really gets on my nerves by never being on time."
amelia presses the button to the 24th floor, where her father's office room is located, and the smaller boy whose name she still doesn't know presses the button to the 13th.
"he'll be here, james, you know he will." the guy called tris pats his friend on the back.
"we just need to really focus on getting done everything that's not brad-related, so when he arrives, he can jump in straight into his parts." the unnamed boy says.
"well, yeah, i guess you're right, con." james sighs, getting his phone out of his pocket. "joe's already texting. he's gonna be furious when he realises brad's late again."
amelia's just silently standing there, listening to their conversation, cause there's nothing she can do. she feels bad for the boys for having to wait on this brad guy, cause she knows how annoying it can be to have a person in your life who's always late. but she, somehow, is also feeling bad for the guy who's late, cause it sounds like james doesn't have much confidence in him.
even though she has no idea who these guys are or from which band they are members of, she feels a bit overwhelmed by being together with them in that small space. it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and she's internally having a fangirl moment just by the fact of sharing the same air as people from a real life band. but this kind of situation isn't unusual in amelia's life. well, it isn't that common anymore cause it's been ages since she last stood in that exact same lift, but being in the same room as artists from the music industry is something that she had experienced a lot.
the lift stops, the doors opening, and the boys walk out, now silent, and leave amelia alone with her funny feelings. she chuckles lightly at her own silliness. oh amelia! you don't even know who they are! you're acting just like your 11-year old self. oh. but i've missed this feeling. and it feels like home.
so, what happens is: her father owns a record label. like, a big one. so amelia kind of grew up amongst singers and band members, because she used to spend a lot of time in the office with her dad as a kid. she had met a good amount of known artists, even some of her favourites. but because it's been so long since she had her last episode of meeting famous people, she can't shake the feeling of being freaked out by their presence away from her. now she wonders the name of their band and what their music sounds like, and who's the brad person and which are their individual roles in the band. little does she know.
the lift stops again at the 21st floor, and a tall, dark-haired man walks in.
"morning." he nods, pressing the button for the 13th floor.
"good morning." she smiles.
the doors close again when the man starts typing on his phone, lightly tapping his right foot on the floor repeatedly. a few more seconds and they arrive at amelia's floor, just as the guy answers a call.
"morning, connor, i'm heading there right now, yes..." she's able to listen as she walks out of the lift and down the hallway to her dad's room.
she sees him talking to his secretary when she turns left at the end of the hallway. her mouth goes up with a huge smile and her heart is drowned in happiness.
"daddy!" she exclaims once she's close enough. the man immediately turns around, a just as huge smile printed on his face too. he runs to her and embraces her with both arms, lifting her from the ground and spinning in a circle.
"oh my god, amelia, how much i've missed you baby!" he says, putting her down but not letting go of her body.
"i'm sure i've missed you more, dad." she replies, and kisses his cheek when they separate.
"uh oh, not at all. not possible!" he chuckles, takes her by the hand and starts walking, saying, "kim, please, cancel all my plans from now till 9, and from 12 to 2, please. thank you. c'mon kiddo, we've got a lot of catching up to do."
and so they walk towards his office room, amelia throwing herself in her dad's big chair behind his desk.
"oh how i love this chair!" she says, leaning her back against it. "don't ever change it!" peter laughs at her comment, sitting on one of the armchairs on the other side of the room.
"or else i'll be betraying you?" he asks, knowing that this is what she's about to say.
"that's correct, mister." she folds her arms jokingly. "or else you'll be betraying me." she repeats, nodding, and gets up, walking to where her dad is, and sits on the other armchair in front of him.
as peter said before, they do have a lot of catching up to do, so they focus the next hour on getting to know how's life been for both of them. amelia talks about her book writing process and her classes, conveniently missing the part about coffee guy, and her dad talks about work, work, more work, and also about her mum. but she doesn't care about having to listen to him talk about work - she actually enjoys hearing everything about her parent's lives, even if it's just work.
"okay so now moving on to the serious topics." peter says after hearing amelia's speech about how he and her mum both need to get some time off to relax and clear their minds. pretty much the same thing she'd said to andrea just the day before. "i might need you to do me a huge favour, and you're not gonna quite like it." he says, leaning back in the armchair and scratching the back of his neck. amelia nods, a bit apprehensive, biting her bottom lip.
"what is it? you're making me nervous, dad." peter sighs, unsure of how to tell her. he knows he could be asking for too much.
"well... i'm gonna have to travel to france for a week next month and... i need you to stay here in my place." amelia just stares at him, blankly. what?
"sorry? um... are you saying what i think you're saying?" she asks, unable to believe what he's telling her.
"i'm afraid so. i need you to work for me as my representative, for the whole time i'm away. it's only gonna be one week, though." he clarifies.
"dad? you can't be serious? i can't stay in your place?! i know nothing about what you do! i can't do this! like, don't you have someone that already works for you? dad, come on, you can't possibly be serious about it." she says, desperately. she has no idea what exactly her father does there. okay, he owns the place, but that's pretty much all she knows.
"i am serious, baby. i need someone to stay here at the office while i'm gone, and it has to be you because... okay, being 100% honest right now, it's gonna be the worst week for me to travel, but i can't reschedule this, and the thing is, the entire week we'll be having preparations for this party on saturday, so there's gonna be lots of people coming and going and lots of things to sign to. since you're my heir and you actually own 40% of the company, you're the only one who can sign to these things. i know, it's pretty awful and i'm really sorry i'm having to ask you to do this, but i really cannot skip this trip. but i trust you, honey, completely, and i know you can do it. it's not gonna be as hard as you're thinking. you're not going to have to do my job for me. you'll only have to stay here and sign stuff that needs signing and decide stuff that needs deciding. i'll make sure to have everything you'll need to know written down in organised notes and there will be for sure someone here the whole time to help and advise you. you can also come here another time in the next days for me to show you everything thoroughly. i'm sorry, amelia, seriously, but i really need you on this." he explains, as amelia just stands there staring at him, not knowing how to react or what to say. i can't say no to my dad when he really needs me. but i don't think i can do this.
"but, dad... what about my classes? i have to go to class every afternoon... i can't really skip it for a whole week! and also... would i have to... host... this party? cause that's just... that's too much." she shakes her head, frowning, feeling worse by the minute, cause she doesn't want to turn down her own father.
"well, i suppose you could come here in the mornings and then after your classes finish at the end of the day? it's only five days actually, honey, cause i leave on a saturday and return on the next one, before the party. you'll only have to work on the weekdays. and no, you won't have to host the event. please, amelia, i really, really need you."
amelia sighs and looks down at her hands, that are holding each other firmly, knowing she only has one choice, in fact. she takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, nodding and lifting her head up to stare at her dad, shrugging.
"if you need me that much and i'm the only one who can do this... then yeah, of course i'll do it."
...
brad sighs deeply when he finally finishes recording the missing verses from the chorus. he is having some trouble concentrating today, his mind often drifting to amelia and the fact that they haven't talked since the situation yesterday, which makes him mess up a lot in the notes he needs to hit - good thing the other boys are too busy in their own duties to pay attention to him and his mistakes. but, lastly, he gets there, feeling satisfied with the work he's done.
he walks out of the recording booth at the same time as joe enters the studio, a frown on his face at the same time as a smirk. weird.
"boys. peter loveless would like to talk to you. come on." he says, as if that's the most normal thing ever. the four boys freeze in their spots. peter loveless? the peter loveless? they exchange hesitant looks, all their hearts beating anxiously.
"the peter loveless?" connor echoes brad's thoughts. "as in peter-the-owner-of-the-label-loveless?" he asks, incredulous.
"the one and only. now let's go. just be yourselves and act normal. it's simply a casual talk, nothing to worry about."
nothing to worry about. yeah, right, like that's even possible. if you think amelia makes brad nervous, you have no idea how he is feeling right now. and he doesn't even know who peter loveless actually is. yet.
the five of them walk through the hallway towards the lift, each of the boys working on trying to stay calm, and each of them failing in their own ways. brad's hands are sweating and he can't really control his breathing. for the first time since yesterday morning, amelia completely leaves his mind. not for long though, but brad doesn't know about it yet.
joe presses the 24th-floor button once they get into the lift, giving the boys a quick pep talk to try and calm down their nerves. none of them says anything. the lift doors open and brad's stomach twists. calm down, for fuck's sake, bradley. stay. the. fuck. calm. and don't mess up.
peter loveless is just down the hallway, talking to an older man, both of them suited up. the boys have never met peter loveless. of course not, the fucking owner of the label! that's a huge honour. he shakes his head and smiles at the other man, who then turns around and enters through a door by his right. peter loveless then quickly says something to the woman sitting at the desk, probably his secretary, who nods, as the boys and joe approach him. he looks at their direction and smiles kindly, reaching out his hand to greet joe.
"good morning, peter, how are you?" joe says politely.
"i'm actually great, thanks joe, how about yourself?" he replies and looks at the boys, who are just standing there attempting to control their emotions. they all smile at peter loveless, timidly.
"i'm good, thank you. peter, let me introduce you to the boys, also known as the vamps."
and so joe introduces them all, and they shake hands with peter loveless, amazed and not being able to believe that's actually happening to them.
peter loveless starts talking about a party the label's gonna host next month and says that they are all invited, and asks them if they would like to perform a couple songs to the guests, to which the boys respond with great excitement.
he's so nice. if you met him without knowing who he is, you'd never believe he owns a record label that profits millions each year. that's what brad's thinking when he turns his head to his left just to glance at something that the corner of his eyes caught randomly. i swear to you. brad stops breathing. he stops listening to what peter loveless is saying. he stops seeing everything else around him. his heart only doesn't stop beating because that's sort of impossible. but you get what i mean.
i'll give you one chance to guess what brad sees. but only one. go ahead. guess it.
so?
amelia.
amelia?
...