Charts. October 14, 2024.
#Position(Change from last week) Title by Artist *Peak Position*
#1(+3) Don't Let Me Down by Amity Hills *NEW*
#2(+1) Side to Side by Juliet Vasquez Ft. Nicki Minaj *1*
#9(-1) Best Song Ever by Crystal Army *4*
#10(-4) Glamorous by Santana Ft. Ludacris *2*
#11(+1) Say You Won't Let Go by Juliet Vasquez Ft. Sam Evans *1*
#12(+1) Light Em Up by Crystal Army*NEW*
#16(-2) Ain't About What You Got by Rhythmix *4*
#17(-2) Sorry by Travis Hilton *2*
#18(-1) Before He Cheats by Sarah Linley *10*
#20(+8) Touch by Rhythmix *NEW*
#21(=) Love On The Brain by Santana Lopez *5*
#24(-4) Scars to Your Beautiful by Lyric Heron *15*
#27(-4) Style by Juliet Vasquez *1*
#39(+5) Blow Your Mind by Santana Lopez *NEW*
#43(+8) Needed Me by Mercedes Jones *33*
#46(+8) Dark Times by Travis Hilton Ft. John Brown *NEW*
#47(NEW) Hold Up by Mercedes Jones *DEBUT*
#58(NEW) Live Like We're Dying by Xavier Michaels *DEBUT*
#69(+1) Could Have Been Me by Dean Monroe *64*
#87(NEW) First Time by Lyric Heron *DEBUT*
Fantasy League Rank.
1(=) Kitty/Julie - 3159
2(=) Stefan/Crystal Army - 2426.2
3(=) Bree/Santana - 2107.8
4(=) Kara/Rhythmix - 1955.3
5(=) Harmony/Amity - 1749.8
6(=) Artie/Sarah - 1128.3
7(=) Marley/Travis - 961.25
8(=) Luke/Mercedes - 891.25
9(=) Charlie/Lyric - 754
10(=) Peyton/Dean - 283
11(+1) Rory/Xavier - 43
12(-1) Jeremy/Jake - 0
13(=) Ryder/Riley - 0
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So here's what you missed on Glee. Everybody's pregnant. Mercedes and Chad, Leila and Jake, Marley and John, and now Julie and Alex. Jeez. It's almost like someone purposely wants them to be the same age. At least we know Ryder and Brooke won't be joining them at any point since she can't, you know. Too soon? Well that's what you missed on... GLEE!
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"So tell me again when your due date is?" asked Alex.
Julie smiled. "June 13," she said. She had been saying it over and over again and he loved hearing her say it.
"June 13," he repeated.
So she said it again, "June 13."
It had been decided that Julie would only do one more week of touring and would close out with the two shows that she was having in London on Friday and Saturday, just a week after she'd been there with Crystal Army.
The fans weren't exactly thrilled about it, but there was already a lot of speculation over why she was ending the tour after just a month on the road. 16 dates could hardly be called a tour, but she promised to pick up where she left off as soon as the time was right for it.
On Thursday before that weekend, Crystal Army were in Glasgow and Julie was in Manchester, just an hour apart by plane, but with both having shows happening at the same time, it was impossible to meet up.
Instead, Julie and Alex spent their backstage time on the phone, Alex lounging in his dressing room while Julie was getting her hair and makeup adjusted.
Though Morgan and Quinn had returned to Lima the previous week, Marley had stayed on tour with the guys, as per John's request.
Sam had the twins and was hanging out with them backstage, showing them off to everyone there, and Tyler was taking a big nap somewhere hidden, so John took advantage of the free time to take Marley on her next prenatal visit.
"That's fantastic," he was saying on the phone as Marley walked beside him, the two completely hidden by his security team as they were escorted into the hospital there.
Crystal Army were huge in Europe and someone had already recognized him on the street, so it was only right that he came prepared with bodyguards in case anyone came at them, especially with Marley so vulnerable to any attacks.
"Ok," John said, "well I hope it's a good one. I'll talk to you later."
He ended the call and turned to Marley, who seemed uneasy with all the security around them. She had told John this would just draw more attention to them but once inside the hospital, it wasn't even needed anymore. It was just weird.
"Guys, you can go ahead and stay here," said John, noting her remaining discomfort. "We'll be just in the other hall. The head security guy, Ray, nodded and moved aside, signaling the others to do the same. John took the lead from there, taking them to the front desk.
The nurse already knew they were coming and seemed to recognize John instantly because she smiled and said, "Right this way, Mr. uh, Cusumano."
She smiled, amused as she directed them towards their room, while Marley repeated, "Cusumano?"
"We use code names," John explained. "Aliases for privacy."
"And you chose Cusumano," she responded, nodding. "That makes sense."
"Alan Cusumano," John added.
"I feel a little nauseous," she said. John was about to ask if it was morning sickness when he realized it was part of the joke about his name. He just rolled his eyes at himself for losing his wit and continued walking.
They were led into a room much like the one they had been to in Lima, except maybe a bit more cozy looking. The beds were a light olive green and there were decorations all across, from small figurines to impressionist portraits.
"Hello, how are you?" said the obstetrician waiting for them inside the room. "I think this is probably the first time I'm ever early to one of these appointments so let's jump right in, shall we? I'm Dr. Browning. Mrs., uh... Cusumano, is it?"
"Apparently," nodded Marley, as John grinned beside her.
"Why don't you have a seat for me, right here?" he said, sitting her down. "You've indicated you want to do the ultrasound first."
"Yeah, I peed before coming here," she said, "so it may take a few more minutes to get that sample for you."
"That's quite alright," said the doctor. "So let's see, you're in your second trimester. Correct?"
Marley began to nod but John followed her to the elevated bed and said, "That means it's past the 12th week mark. We're at 14."
"Yes, thank you, Jo-, eh, Alan," said Marley.
"Wait, you're a nurse, of course you know that," John sighed. "Sorry, I'm just nervous."
"There's nothing to be anxious about," the sonographer said, but John knew that was a lie. Plenty could be wrong. "You can just have a seat right there beside her, if you want, and you'll get a great view of the images."
"I'm fine standing," said John, though he did get closer and prepare for what they might see.
"Are you first time parents?" asked Dr. Browning as he poured the gel over Marley's stomach.
"Yes," said John, while Marley answered, "No."
They glanced at each other but Dr. Browning didn't follow up with anything. "You said you were at 14 weeks?" he asked.
"Yeah," Marley nodded. "And two days or something."
"Well, I'd estimate you're closer to 16 weeks now."
"What?" John said, immediately taken aback. He'd done the mental math many times already.
"Don't freak out," Dr. Browning told him. "We calculate due date based on menstruation, not conception. So this just means that the conception happened pretty quickly after sex."
Marley looked up at John and then back at the doctor in a bit of a panic. This was a topic she wanted to keep buried deeply underwater somewhere.
"Oh," said John. "So even if it hasn't been that long since..."
"The number 16 still more accurately represents where your baby is in gestation," Dr. Browning nodded, signaling to the screen. "Here we go. Baby looks healthy. This would be the head right here on the top. This is his spine, curled up in excellent fetal position... And there's the abdomen area. You can even see here in the baby's chest the heart. That flicker right there."
Over the confusion of their pregnancy timeline, both John and Marley stared at the screen. There was something about that flicker that was hypnotizing—neither of them wanted to look away. Seeing their focus, Dr. Browning hit a button a few times and zoomed into the heart a bit more.
"Why is it sitting like that?" John asked, noticing the odd positioning of the baby.
"Your baby is just curled up," he answered. "It's on its butt which isn't ideal but in the next few weeks your usual OBGYN can help you ensure that by your due date, the baby is in the correct position for a healthy birth."
"But the baby will be fine, right?" John said, confused.
"Yeah, this happens quite often," Dr. Browning nodded.
"Kind of looks like praying, right?" Marley said, amused by the way the fetus was almost sitting.
"Oh no," John responded. The sonographer looked confused so he added, "I'm, like, you know, atheist. So it'd be ironic for my baby to be praying since the womb."
"Funny," said the doctor, who John now noticed had a cross pinned by his pen on his coat pocket. "Here, why don't I turn up our sound now so that you can hear the heartbeat more clearly?"
"Please," Marley nodded. The doctor turned a knob on his machine and the sound increase. The steady beating surrounded them. "John, are you going to cry?" Marley teased.
John looked at her briefly and then back at the image. "I might," he responded. "Quick, talk to me about baseball and guitars." Marley laughed as John bent over a bit to speak directly to the baby. "Hey little guy or girl. We need you to move, ok? Stop praying, there is no god."
"John!" Marley exclaimed, though she was laughing despite knowing how terrible this was.
The doctor seemed even more displeased with them now as he said, "Well, it seems your child was inspired by your words." He shut down the noise of the heartbeat and zoomed out on the image, where they could see the tiny hands and feet moving.
"Oh my god," Marley said. "That's amazing. John, talk to my stomach again."
"You have weird kinks," he said, which made her glare at him threateningly. "Ok, ok," he said, bending down once again. "Uh... So are you more Yankees or Red Sox?" In a high pitched voice he answered himself, "Yankees," and then in his regular voice said, "You're disowned."
"John, look," Marley urged him to glance up at the screen, where once again the fetus was moving about in response to his voice. "Look, feel."
She took his hand and put it on the stomach without thinking, without realizing that was the first time he had gotten a feel. Despite the wetness from the gel, it was a great experience for him, being that close to both of them. "Is that kicking?" John asked.
"Yeah, I don't think your jokes were very funny," she mocked.
"Well, I hope you keep that humor when you want a PlayStation 10 and I get you a PlayStation 3," John told the fetus. "Not even a new one. It'll be a hand me down. And only like five games. Ok, eight if it's a holiday. 10 on your birthday. But that's it."
Marley continued to laugh, which made the fetus move about even more. "So," said the doctor, still very serious, "looking at this, as I mentioned before, that position isn't very healthy. I'm sure you've seen an ultrasound image of a fetus before, lying with its back along the uterine wall."
"Right," said Marley as John stood up right again and stopped playing with the baby.
"In a few days, whether it's here or back at your usual doctor," he continued, "go in and get another ultrasound. Preferably transvaginal so they can really get a look there. And then you can find out the gender."
"Already?" said John, suddenly more alert again.
"Yeah, you could come back tomorrow even," the doctor shrugged. "Perhaps by then the baby will be sitting differently and we can get a good look."
***
Marley stuck around a little longer. She missed home, Ben, and even work but the idea of getting their gender reveal so soon and together tempted her to stay in Europe. The next day they traveled from Scotland to London, where Julie was having the first of her final two shows.
And once again, the two snuck away to get to the priciest hospital in London, the most trusted and recommended place they could get to to finally discover if they were having a boy or a girl.
"I don't even know what I want," said John as they sat together in their new hospital room, waiting for the sonographer to arrive. Marley had already changed into her hospital robes and was sitting uncomfortably, feeling a draft up her thighs and hoping the doctor arrived soon to get it all over with.
"I would prefer a girl," Marley said. "I have Ben so it'd be nice."
"Oh true," John nodded. "I mean, the twins are like my nieces basically so it does sort of feel like I've had daughters but... Either way, I'll be happy."
"I slept on my left side, like the doctor suggested," said Marley. "I just really hope we can find out and this trip wasn't for nothing."
"It won't be for nothing whether they tell us or not," said John. "There's no fault to getting to see that little alien looking fetus on the screen. I'd do it every day if it was possible. Matter of fact, I think I wanna get the sonogram digitized so I can take a copy of it home. Might be nice to have that with me on the road."
Marley nodded. It was sweet how excited he was but she was just nervous about how fast time seemed to be moving and how quickly this baby was growing. After gender came telling everyone. They planned to tell Alex and Julie at the concert tonight, but Marley was tired of hiding it at all. She looked pregnant and clothing wasn't going to hide it any longer.
So she said, "When do you get your next big break from touring?"
"Well I know that we get two weeks off during November," said John. "We'll probably be doing promo for our next single, though, so I don't think that it's really going to be time off. But then in December we'll be touring in the US again. Major cities. And then once the month is over we get a big break going into 2025 before the next major leg of the tour starts."
"Well, this baby is going to be due in early April," she said.
"Correct," he nodded. "And don't worry, I plan on being there as much as I can. We still haven't finalized what the second leg of the tour will look like so I'm hoping just a few dates here and there and then we go on a big break before doing another leg, like, a year from now. Julie is sick or something so I'm pretty sure that Alex won't wanna be away much longer either."
"No, yeah, that's great," she said. "Not about Julie being sick but about you doing whatever you can to be back home. But... That's not what I was going to say. I guess I wanted to know what the plan was about telling people. Because we need one, besides telling Julie and Alex."
"Well, you can tell, like, Ryder and Unique or something as soon as you get back," John suggested.
"I mean, telling everyone," she said. "Going out into the open about this. I hate feeling like some shameful secret, John. And... I mean, anyone can do the math and figure out when I got pregnant."
"We can do that, tell everyone," he said. "The only question is... how do you want to tell them?"
***
"Hello, hello, sorry for the wait," said the sonographer as she walked into the room, interrupting John and Marley's fairly long conversation about planning their pregnancy reveal. "I'm Dr. Holden."
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith," said John, to which Marley rolled her eyes.
"I see that," said the doctor, eyeing John carefully. She knew exactly who he really was.
"We just had a prenatal visit yesterday," said Marley. "But we were hoping to get another ultrasound today to see if the baby moved."
"Yeah, it was like on its bottom or something," John added.
"And you want to find out gender, correct?" said Dr. Holden as Marley sat down on the bed and lied back, nodding in response to her question. She hit a few buttons on the machine and then connected a probe, which she stretched towards Marley. "Go ahead and open up your legs for me, please."
Marley did as instructed and John looked away, wondering if perhaps this was supposed to be more private. But if he wanted to be there during the actual birth, then this was a moment he would have to get through with total ease.
Once the probe was inside Marley, the image appeared on the screen. "Brilliant," said Dr. Holden. "Well, as you can see your baby is on its back but facing away from us so we are going to need to move it around a bit so we can have a look."
"How do you—" John began, but the doctor had already began to move the probe around. John moved back a bit, startled by how easily the doctor was just moving her gadget around inside Marley, and how calm she seemed to be about it.
"Wakey, wakey, baby," said Dr. Holden, and sure enough, the baby began to move around.
"Oh, before you tell us what it is," said John, "I was hoping to get it in like a little envelope or whatever so we could take it elsewhere and do the reveal together. Dramatically."
"Of course, that can be arranged," said the doctor.
She continued to probe at the fetus, who wiggled about and little by little spread out its arms and legs. Marley smiled but John just stared at it. Now it looked like any other regular baby, not praying or anything.
The doctor moved the probe once again and now in the image was what was clearly the pelvic area. "There we go," she told them. "I will get your results printed and in an envelope for you to enjoy and maybe reveal with your close mates or whatever the situation is Mr. and Mrs. what was it now? Smith?"
John nodded and the doctor removed the probe from Marley, which caused John to once again turn away, too weak to handle the insertion and removal process once again. Once it was out and Marley sat up, he and the doctor left so she could change and then they were on their way to The O2 Arena.
***
"Most of them are just worried about you," Addison said as Julie sat in her room, post meet and greets, preparing for her show. "You're visibly more exhausted and canceling the whole rest of the tour, not just this leg, has them pretty freaked out. There have been some refunds but many of your fans are holding onto your ticket for when you do tour again."
"Which might not be for another year or probably two," Julie pointed out. Beside her Alex was eating from a plate of nachos, crunching away and listening.
"Your statement seemed to put the general public at ease at least," said Addison. "I thought we might be facing outrage at the cancellations but luckily it wasn't that bad. Now, can you please tell me what's going on so I can do more to help?"
"Nope," Julie smiled up at her. "You'll know when I want to tell you. Now let us have some privacy, please, there's something we need to discuss."
"Sure," Addison exhaled rather loudly, frustrated by her client's lack of trust in her. As she opened the door to John about to knock, she remembered why that lack of trust was probably deserved.
"Oh," said John, as Marley showed herself from behind him. "Hi. Is Julie..?"
"Yeah, go right ahead," said Addison. She briefly smiled a greeting at Marley before hurrying away, knowing there were dozens of better ways to spend her time right now than being there in discomfort.
Marley watched her go, knowing now what she knew about John and Kara and that woman, and then tried to remember the happy subject they were there to discuss.
Holding the envelope in his hands, John marched right in and said, "We're here!"
"Hey!" Julie stood up, greeting them. Marley saw the nachos and her stomach growled, so she quickly hugged Julie and then went over to sit by Alex so she could have some too.
"Go ahead," Alex told her, wiping his hands clean on a napkin and then sitting back, his hunger now satisfied.
"What took you so long?" Julie asked. "I'm going on in no time."
"I know, I know, but we had something important to do," John said. Tyler and Sam walked in then, Gaby in Sam's arms and Izzy running in beside him.
"What's going on?" asked Tyler.
Izzy ran up to John's legs and hugged him, thrilled to see him. John noticed then as he tried to close the door that Valentina was there, standing by it and refusing to go inside.
"Oh wow, you have everyone here," John said.
"Come inside, Val!" Izzy urged her friend, signaling her forward. Valentina looked around at everyone, overwhelmed, and then dashed across the room to stand by Izzy, mimicking the way she hugged John's legs which only further confused him.
Tyler shut the door and said, "The girls insisted on coming."
"Yeah, sorry about that," added Sam. "When you told us to come meet here the girls wanted to see you and then Val didn't want to stay over there cause the girls in the other dressing room are getting ready and it's hectic and it's... Hey."
"Hi," John said in response to all of that, as Sam was visibly winded. "So, we gathered everyone here because there's something really important we have to discuss. Big news that will affect everyone here."
Alex and Julie looked at each other, wondering if either had spilled the beans to John. Surely, he'd talk to them about it first before outing their pregnancy to everyone at once.
John continued, "So, we were wondering how to say this but we didn't figure out the best way to do it so we decided that I should just come right out with it so... We're having a baby."
There was a very big mixture of responses. Most notably, Sam exclaimed, "Wait, WHAT?!" but at the same time Alex had laughed, thinking it was a joke, Tyler looked confused, Julie was staring speechless and waiting for more information. Val and Izzy had ignored the news but Gaby, still in her father's arms, mimicked his response following it with a big gasp and a lous, "Wait, WHAT!"
Marley sat anxiously waiting.
"Who's we?" asked Tyler.
"Me," John pointed at himself. Then he pointed across the room and said, "And Marley."
They all turned to her in a way that made it feel like a horror movie, so Marley's eyes widened as she said, "Yeah... Surprise!"
"Wait, wait, wait," Sam said, readjusting Gaby in his arms. "You mean... You're going to be like the next sperm donor to the Rose children or..?"
"Not exactly," John said. "She's already pregnant."
"With your baby?" said Tyler, still the furthest behind, mentally.
"How?" said Sam. And Gaby said, "Yeah. How?" She played with her hands, not really sure what the conversation was about but knowing she wanted to be a part of it.
"You don't wanna know why, Gaby," John told her. "We'll tell you when you're older." Izzy and Val let go of his legs, uninterested in him any longer, and ran over to where the nacho platter was. They whispered and giggled, the only sound at the moment.
"Is this a prank?" Alex said, laughing again and breaking the silence. "Are you doing this because..." He didn't finish the question but he really thought in that moment that Julie had told him about their pregnancy and he was trying to mock them in some shape or form.
But Marley stood up and said, "No, it's the truth. I'm, uh, I'm pregnant."
Everyone looked at her once again and now that she was standing it was pretty clear. That wasn't just any bump. That was a baby bump.
"So you two..." said Julie, pointing from her to him. "You...? What?"
"I know, scandalous," John rolled his eyes. "Can we not focus on the how anymore and talk about the—"
"When?" Alex interrupted. Last thing he knew, John had slept with Kara. Now he was finding out he'd slept with Marley, too? It didn't make sense.
"Um, fifteen weeks ago," Marley answered, knowing that giving them answers to their questions was better than trying to get through the conversation with them making all sorts of assumptions.
Alex began to do the math, sure that the others were doing the same. He'd been married to Julie for that long. That was in the summer. It was July. Early July. Which was when they were on that cruise. Meaning it either happened just before the cruise, just after, or possibly during.
He turned to Julie and knew she was thinking the same thing. They were going to share their baby news. But now they couldn't, or they'd just be stealing their thunder.
"Congratulations!" Julie said, turning to hug John. This got everyone going, congratulating and receiving thanks, and finally the questions ended.
When the hugging was all over, John held up the envelope and said, "We were out yesterday and today because we were at the doctor and... Well, I hold in my hands the gender of this fetus growing inside of Marley's stomach as we speak. So far we know the baby is at about sixteen weeks of gestation, possibly very pious, and a bit of an asshole when it comes to humor."
Everyone but Marley was confused but Julie just said, "Oh my god, just open it already."
He signaled Marley over and she walked across the room, joining him for the reveal. As he opened the enveloped and pulled out the paper inside it, he said, "And the grammy goes to..."
Marley laughed, a hand over her stomach. "This baby really hates your jokes."
"Kicking again?" John asked. She nodded and he said, "Damn it... Why did we make such a grouch?"
"I wonder," Tyler said sarcastically. They glanced at him and he added, "What gender the baby is. Because... Mercedes is having a girl and Jake and Leila just posted on Instagram that they're pregnant with a boy. And you... You have the results but you won't hurry up."
"Nice save," John rolled his eyes, unfolding the results and reading over it very quickly. "YES!" he exclaimed, losing his cool and tossing the envelope up in the air. Everyone waited anxiously as he turned to Marley and said, "It's a boy!"
"A boy!" she repeated, throwing her arms around him in celebration.
Julie sighed, subtly reaching for her stomach without realizing it, like she would just be able to tell the gender by being in the room with another reveal. But it didn't feel any different.
"Name him Sam," said Sam as he congratulated John, giving him a hug and a pat on the back.
"I probably won't," said John, hugging him back.
"Definitely won't," Marley added.
"It was worth a shot," Sam shrugged. Then he turned to Alex and Tyler and added, "I can't believe it. I really thought John would be the last one to become a father. You two are slacking."
"Are we?" Alex asked, with every intention to just blurt out his own news.
"I won't be having any kids until I'm at least 35," said Tyler, and the conversation turned into banter among the guys until it was time for the show to start.
***
In Lima, Mercedes sat in her living room preparing for the livestream she had scheduled. Already, her team had warned her that livestreams had gone up just a few minutes prior to Julie's penultimate show and that it might give her some competition, but those livestreams were fan-filmed and hers being of professional quality would surely help.
"Hi everyone!" she exclaimed once the filming had started. "I am coming to you live from my living room which as you can see is a pretty comfortable space for me. My house in L.A. is great but it's always nice to be at the place I got back home because it just... I don't know, it feels right. Basically I wanted to say thank you for continuing to support my music. I know a lot of you have expressed disappointment that I can't be out on the road all the time because of this pregnancy so I just wanted to thank all my fans for doing what they can to make up for me being unable to really hit the promo hard, not only with Needed Me but also now with Hold Up. So as a thank you, I'm going to let everyone just send in questions..." She glanced down at her phone on her lap. "...which I see you're all already doing already. So yeah, I'm gonna go through these comments you're all leaving and answer as many questions as I can."
She looked down at the phone, knowing the best thing she could do in this livestream is not stop talking, to keep the interest of everyone who had tuned in. It was difficult; she was already winded from that opening statement.
"Ok, so..." she began. "My pregnancy... Yes, I am really pregnant! It's not a lie, I did put out the statement for the press that you guys all saw. And I see is it a boy or a girl, I was supposed to wait a few days but I want to tell everyone now... We are having a girl. I'm really excited. Should be coming early in the new year, like around the second week of January. Something like that."
She scrolled past a couple of questions. The fans were sending a lot of gibberish and emojis in response to the baby gender news, but other than that most of the ones asking questions still weren't about her.
"Uh..." she said, reading one of them out loud. "Is Hold Up autobiographical? Oh no, don't worry about that, guys, it's really not. My marriage is healthy and happy. So no, don't. I'm glad though that some of you have been able to connect and relate though. That's what we make the music for. So yeah...."
"Someone wants to know what my favorite song is right now... I'm really enjoying Don't Let Me Down by Amity Hills. She lives a few streets away from me, actually, and is having a little party tomorrow to celebrate the song going number one so I'll probably be at that." She looked down at more comments of fans freaking out over that connection.
"Do I like Santana Lopez? Yes, I do. Many of you know she and I went to high school together and we're basically besties. Our schedules don't always cross so we haven't done any major public thing together but... She's great and I love her new song too. Blow Your Mind. It's great, you all should definitely check that out."
Everything in the comments now seemed to turned into questions about Amity or Santana, but Mercedes didn't want to spend all her time talking about them, so she searched for something different. Who is Amity dating??? Would you ever collaborate with Santana? and a lot of emojis and exclamation points filled up the stream's chat until finally she saw something not about them.
And it was worse.
"Are you Team Tracy or Team Juliet?" she read out. "I'm Team... Both of them. I am closer to Julie personally but I love Tracy, she's great and I think that both she, Juliet, and uh, Tracy, I think they're both really talented and I support them both on what they do with their music. I think my preference shouldn't really matter to the world. So that's my answer on that."
She tried to move on but now all the comments were about Tracy and Julie. She had to keep up the pace so she tried hard to find something different but couldn't. Until someone told her to sing something.
"Um, how about," she said, "since I haven't been able to go sing on any show or live anywhere I sing the new single acapella. Maybe just a portion, yeah?" She smiled and saw as the comments finally changed a bit with excitement about her singing. So she cleared her throat and began, completely unrehearsed.
["Hold Up" by Beyoncé.]
Mercedes: Hold up, they don't love you like I love you. Slow down, they don't love you like I love you. Back up, they don't love you like I love you. Step down, they don't love you like I love you. Can't you see there's no other man above you? What a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you. Hold up, they don't love you like I love you. Oh, down, they don't love you like I love you.
As soon as she started singing however, the comments began to fill up with other things.
Mercedes: Something don't feel right. Because it ain't right. Especially comin' up after midnight. I smell your secret, and I'm not too perfect. To ever feel this worthless.
There was praise for her voice, of course, but her answers to those questions had basically opened a bunch of cans with warms she didn't want any business with.
Mercedes: How did it come down to this? Scrolling through your call list. I don't wanna lose my pride, but I'm a mess me up a chick. Know that I kept it sexy, and know I kept it fun. There's something that I'm missing, maybe my head for one.
They were primarily about her comments on Julie and Tracy. Fans of either of the girls who were watching urged her to pick a side, with many people saying she was being a bad friend to Julie if she didn't side with her.
Mercedes: What's worse, lookin' jealous or crazy, jealous or crazy? Or like being walked all over lately, walked all over lately. I'd rather be crazy.
But she wasn't very close to Julie, nor did she think Tracy was ever wrong in feeling a little betrayed by her and Alex getting together, especially with Julie shading her on social media multiple times. The answer the fans wanted wasn't the one they would get if she told the truth.
Mercedes: Hold up, they don't love you like I love you. Slow down, they don't love you like I love you.
So she kept singing, cutting parts short so that she could bring up any other topic to stray them away from celebrity drama she had never wanted to be a part of.
Mercedes: Oh it's such a shame. You let this good love go to waste. I always keep the top tier, 5 star. Backseat lovin' in the car. Like make that wood, like make that wood. Holly like a boulevard.
They were asking for details about things she didn't know or things she did know but wasn't at liberty to talk about.
Mercedes: What's worse, lookin' jealous or crazy, jealous and crazy? Or like being walked all over lately, walked all over lately. I'd rather be crazy. Hold up, they don't love you like I love you. Oh, down, they don't love you like I love you.
And this is why she didn't like to do live streams or press for that matter.
Mercedes: I hop up out the bed and get my swag on. I look in the mirror, say, "What's up?" What's up, what's up, what's up. I hop up out the bed and get my swag on. I look in the mirror, say, "What's up?" What's up, what's up, what's up.
It was never about the music.
***
After the concert ended and Crystal Army, along with Marley, were soon to leave to the airport for the next day's show in Ireland, Julie asked John to meet her in their dressing room for a quick conversation.
He already knew what it was about but still, out of respect, didn't follow his instinct to run from her, and instead showed up just after she had finished changing out of her tour outfit.
"Hey!" she exclaimed when he appeared. "Shut that door, will you?"
"Look," he said, closing the door, "I already know you're going to lecture me and ask all sorts of questions but I should remind you that you were in my position just a few years ago. You slept with Sam, I slept with Marley, shit happens. Ok?"
"Ok, hold up," she laughed. "I wasn't going to yell at you! I just wanted to tell you that..." She began to tear up and he made a face. That was fast. "I think you're going to be an amazing dad. The way you are with my daughters... John, I'm so proud of you and so happy for you even if this came out of nowhere!"
He sat down beside her and she immediately pulled him in for a hug. As she squeezed him, he breathlessly said, "Ok, but you do know that I'm not dying, right?"
She pulled away, wiping the corners of her eyes, and said, "I know but it's been so crazy lately and it feels like time is just passing us by, I mean, it's October. Soon the girls are going to turn three and I'm going to be 28 and you're going to be a dad. I just..."
"You're not dying either, right?" he said, a bit startled suddenly. "Because with all this secrecy about you being sick..."
"No, no, I'm perfectly healthy," she assured him. "I just need rest and... Oh my god, John! You're going to be a dad! And with Marley, your babies will be so cute!"
"Thank you," he laughed.
"How did..?" she said, calming down a bit and smiling. "I mean... Like... You had sex with Marley!"
"I did," he nodded. "Thank you for acting like we're sixteen years old."
"I'm sorry but this is crazy to me! I mean... How? When? I want to know how it happened."
"Ew, Julie..."
"No, not those details. Just like... The before part. I mean, wasn't she like, saving herself or something? How did you manage that?"
She nudged him and he laughed, saying, "Well, we were there for each other and... It was like... In one night we sort of fell in love with each other all over again and then... it just happened. But I messed it up. I was all over the place and she saw that and just like that the love was over. That sort of love, I guess. Or not over but... It's just complicated."
"Believe me, I've been there," she frowned. "But John, she's having your baby! This is huge. If you like her, then... The part of me that always wanted you and Kitty to end up together can get over it and this can be your second chance. You haven't completely messed up yet, she's still around."
"Yeah, maybe, but that's all over," he said. "I mean, when you were going through this with Sam you came to a time when you decided that you were going to just stop trying and focus on the girls, right? So that's what I want to do. Just make this baby a priority and not add anymore drama to the situation by trying to give it a shot again."
"I guess..." she sighed. "My Jitty heart continues beating now that you both have children with your high school flames!" John rolled his eyes. "But oh my gosh! You're gonna be a dad! I can't get over the idea. I mean, we used to talk about this when we were kids. Our babies are gonna come at around the same time and they'll get to go to school together..."
"Wait, our babies?" he stopped her.
Julie's mouth made an o-shape and then turned into a smile. "So there's something we haven't told you yet..."
She put a hand to her stomach and he said, "You're serious?"
Her brows raised, she nodded. "You can't say anything! We're waiting until Alex's dad recovers a little to tell our families so... It's a secret."
"How pregnant are you?" he asked, looking down at her stomach. "You're super skinny and I still can't tell."
"Just six weeks," she answered, "so we're not really supposed to tell anyone since... Well, things can change."
"Yeah, miscarriage is more common in the first trimester," he nodded.
Julie smiled, "Look at you, all educated on pregnancy!"
"I've been reading books," he shrugged arrogantly. Then he added, "It'll be great not to have to hide them from the guys."
"Oh see you're gonna make such a great dad!" Julie exclaimed. "And our kids can be best friends! Ooh, they can date! Aww, I'm even more excited about this baby now. I was getting sad, having to cancel this tour but... Now I'll get to be home with Marley, keeping each other company while you guys are on the road."
John smiled. The sentiment was nice but that felt wrong, him and Alex away while the women were stuck at home resting for these pregnancies.
The door opened and Julie glanced up, ready to scold whoever interrupted without knocking, but ti was Alex and Marley. "We need to go," Alex said, walking over to his wife and giving her a kiss. "Call me when you're at your hotel?"
Julie nodded, smiling and then glancing over at John, who just opened up his arms and said, "Get in here, bro."
"What?" said Alex, confused as John pulled him into a hug.
Marley stared from the door, wondering what was going on, but Alex had figured it out. He pulled away and turned to Julie. "You told him."
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't help it!"
"Told him what?" Marley asked.
Turning to her, John answered, "Looks like you'll have a Mommy group buddy."
Marley turned to Julie and gasped. "You too?"
She nodded. "Me too!"
"Oh my god, that's awesome!" Marley hurried to hug them. "Congratulations!"
"Double babies!" Julie exclaimed.
"Triple babies," Marley reminded her. "Jake!"
"That's right!" Julie gasped. "Triple babies! No, quadruple babies! Mercedes too!"
"Fucking hell," Alex said, overwhelmed. "We're gonna be outnumbered by kids soon."
"The more the merrier," said John, already excited to give his unborn son a sister some day, regardless of who the mother would be.
But Julie made a face and said, "Um, no, I think I can put a cap at three for me."
"Sure..." Alex said, putting an arm around her and shaking his head at the others. And for the first time in a while, there was no weirdness between him, John and Julie that had existed ever since he and Julie had gotten together. Hopefully these loving sentiments would last.
***
"Hey, congratulations on your song!" said Mercedes as she arrived at Blackbird Records, where Amity's party was beginning on Saturday afternoon. "I am loving it!"
"Yeah, I heard about your shoutout, thank you for that," said Amity, giving her a hug. "And thank you for coming."
"I am so glad to see so many women topping the charts this year," said Mercedes.
"Yeah I'm still overwhelmed about being one of them," said Amity.
Harmony appeared behind her and said, "Everyone is so thrilled! I think more than anyone Amity deserved this hit." Mercedes nodded in agreement, though she would've liked another hit of her own, and Harmony added, "Come get a pic?"
"Yeah, of course," Amity nodded. She thanked Mercedes again before walking away and Mercedes spotted Travis across the way, casually talking to people as they passed him by, so she went over to join him.
"Didn't realize you were in town," Mercedes said. "Last I heard, you were in Africa."
"Yeah I did two shows there earlier this month," nodded Travis. "But I'm in town just for this weekend and then using my supposed 'break' to promote my next single."
"Oh right, that came out yesterday," she said. "I heard it in the morning and it's so good. I was confused, though. I thought you would make the song with John your next single. It's almost top 40 or something?"
"Yeah, it is," Travis nodded. "But we're both on tour and... It just wouldn't be easy to promote. I'm excited for this album even if the lead didn't last as much as I thought it would. The album is fun and I'm thrilled you're on this one again. Maybe you'll just feature on every album I put out."
"I'd be completely fine with that," she laughed.
"Well if it isn't Ms. Get Pregnant And Stop Caring," said Luke, interrupting. He handed a drink he'd just fetched to Travis and held onto his, glaring at Mercedes.
"Oh, hi, Luke," she said, confused. "Glad to see you're here. And doing well, I see."
"Oh I'm fantastic," he told her. "But you... I'm sure you've seen the charts. You were stagnant for a while and now you're just free falling. I'm rooting for you, I really am, but there's only so many times I can start out a video telling my subscribers about your music. You gotta do something too, 'Cedes. Get out there, go on a talk show."
Mercedes made a face. "Ok... So it was nice to catch up. I'm just... gonna go talk to other people over there. See ya, Travis. Luke."
She walked away and Travis said, "That was super rude."
"I know, she's the worst," he said.
"You." Travis corrected him.
"Well, I need my music to do well this era," Luke said defensively.
"Why?" asked Travis. Then he had an epiphany. "No," he said. "Please tell me you're not doing that stupid competition again."
"Oh, you thought it was cool when you hadn't released any music but now it's stupid?" said Luke. "I'll have you know I did play it last year and I drafted first and I chose Crystal Army, not you, and I won. So I made a lot of cash and I took you on three great dates in Europe with that money. You were third place in that by the way, and you were winning for like half of the year and then you stopped releasing anything when you went on tour and ended up on sixth place. Bree was so pissed."
"So this year you drafted Mercedes," Travis said, rolling his eyes.
Luke nodded. "Yeah. And I didn't expect to win. But I'm eighth place now. Lyric isn't that far behind Mercedes, who was had a successful album to help with charting. All Lyric has had is one song and now they both have new songs and... I can't afford to stay at eighth or go any further, Travis. I won this last year. It'd be a national embarrassment."
"Where do I rank?" he asked curiously. "And who chose me?"
"Marley," he answered. "And you're right above me at seventh."
"Seventh?" Travis exclaimed. He lowered his voice and added, "How am I only seventh?"
"You don't have an album out to boost points," Luke shrugged. "Julie and Crystal Army and Santana and Amity... They all have multiple songs and albums. And Rhythmix too. Sarah has one song that's almost a year old and an album even older and she's ahead of you, babe. You gotta pick up the slack."
Travis frowned. How bad his song was really doing by comparison to their friends was coming to light.
"Or don't," Luke continued. "But do me a solid and mention Mercedes when you're doing promo. Ooh since you have a song with her coming up you should choose that as your third single. That way I can get some points."
"I'll think about it," he said. "Though I'm still not sure how I feel about you all making bets on our careers but... Who's losing?"
"Tie between Jake and Riley," he said. "We don't know when Riley is releasing and it looks like Jakey has put himself on paternity leave so... At least I won't be last."
***
"I don't understand why it's taking so long to choose," Riley said, sitting on Jake's living room couch. He was out but his wife was around to listen to all her complaints. "I mean, how long did it take for you? When I was in Rhythmix it felt like everything was happening so quickly but it's taking forever now and I just wanna get out there and kick things off you know? I already told them which song I want to put out first but they've been 'deliberating' for weeks now."
Leila returned to the couch, taking a seat beside her with a bowl of chopped up fruit slices to snack on. "Sometimes it's a quick process, sometimes it isn't. Depends on how they plan to promote it. Maybe they just want to wait until all major competition is out of the way."
"I wish Kitty was here, Riley says. She'd be pressuring Julie to release my music every day until Julie caved. My mom can be pretty pushy."
"How is Kitty doing?" asked Leila curiously. "We haven't heard much from her."
"She's fine," Riley answered. "Preparing for the election. The final debate is on Wednesday so she's been focused on that."
"I hope she doesn't mind that we're voting against her candidate," said Leila.
"Oh we all are," Riley laughed. "She has gotten mad at me for saying it so many times."
"Well I'm glad you're at least getting to spend some time down here keeping me company," Leila said. "Jake is here a lot but I need girl time, you know?"
"And now that the tour is ending the other girls will be back soon," Riley nodded. "You won't have to be so lonely."
***
"Ok, everyone, this is our last day of this tour for a while," Julie said as she stood in a circle with her dancers, Rhythmix, Lyric, and a few others, including Addison and her manager Keith.
She had all sorts of jitters about it, which she released by jumping from foot to foot.
After she had calmed down, she continued, "I'd like to apologize again about this tour ending so soon... I mean, we had this huge run planned and... You were all going to be a part of it for the next dates in the US and suddenly that's not the case anymore so I'm so sorry. I'm also sorry I can't tell anyone why."
"For the millionth time Julie, it's fine," said Lyric, smiling from beside her. "Focus on your health. We'll all be ok."
"Yeah, and we're going out with a bang tonight," added Shana.
"Plus, it wasn't the same without Leila," said Kayli, shrugging. "So I think we should all celebrate that we got this far and we had a good run."
"Exactly, I think we should celebrate," Julie said. "We have to go soon so... Why don't we do one for old times?" She looked at Shana and put her hand in the center of the circle.
Shana grinned and followed, with everyone else joining in. "Ah-mazing in three... two... one..."
"AH MAZING!" they all exclaimed together, though not quite as perfectly as the glee club used to do, and everyone headed to their different positions as Lyric directed herself to the stage to kick off the show.
***
When Julie was headed to the airport, she received a call from Alex, right on time. He had made a habit of calling her right after each of their shows ended and the moment she had answered she could hear all of the chatter going on backstage.
"Are you on the move now?" she asked.
"Yup, we're headed out," he answered. "Germany awaits."
"I wish I could go," she said, "but I have that Jimmy Fallon thing next week and I have to rehearse for the performance of this next single and... Anyway, I do hope you have a great time there. I know you love Germany and its history and your connection to it."
"Ok, that's enough of that," he said, annoyed. "How was the show?"
"Emotional for everyone," she said. "But I'm sure once they know why I stopped touring they'll be a lot happier about it. And I can't wait til you get to come home and be with us at the end of the year."
"Julie, I was talking about that with John backstage," he said, "and I think that... Well, the more I think about it, the more I go back to my original feelings on it. I don't think I should be touring either. If you have to quit your tour, I should too. It's only fair."
"No, there's nothing fair about that," she said. "Your fans are going to be upset too and... Well, you know how they can be. They'll just blame me. It's just, it's unnecessary. You're capable of touring and I think you should do it."
"But I don't want to do it," he said. "Julie, I'm going to be someone's dad. I know you've done all of this but... I haven't. Not really, not like this. And I know that Sam missed out on a lot of moments in your pregnancy. The gender reveal and the actual birth are pretty big ones he's always regretting and I... I don't want to regret anything. So... I am going to take a few more weeks to really figure this out but right now that's where I stand. I want to leave this tour and come home."