︵‿︵‿୨ 1972 ୧‿︵‿︵
RAIN WAS FALLING in sheets against the window of the seventh floor office while Sadie sat inside, staring at it. The rest of the band was discussing their new record deal with their manager now that the album was completed. Usually she'd be interested in talking details, but after weeks of very little sleep and very long days she found herself distractedly gazing outside while the conversation flowed around her without ever reaching her ears. Her mind wandered to the previous night's conversation on the phone with Jimmy, which had been a nightly ritual for more than a couple of months now...
"What do you think Sadie?" Her blue eyes switched suddenly from the grey sky outside to the expectant mocha-brown of her bassist. Rene arched an eyebrow which clearly accused the blonde of not listening, which she had every right to since that was exactly what she had been doing. "Do you want to bring the release date forward?"
A deep sigh resonated from the man behind the desk in front of them, and their manager lent forward with his chin resting on steepled fingers. Colin Burton, their manager and unofficial party babysitter, fixed deep-set green eyes on Sadie and explained himself again. "There is only a few weeks left of summer and soon kids will all be back in college. Since college age students account for more than half our record sales I want to launch the album and organise tour dates before exams come and we lose half our audience."
Sadie shrugged, "You're the boss. What is our new timeline?"
"I want to launch in a fortnight," Colin told her, tentatively, clearly wary of their reactions. And he probably should have been, considering that four jaws hit the floor on the other end of the table. They'd finished recording only hours before, and now they were already organising to release it to the world in only 14 days. Colin took their silence as an opportunity to keep talking. "I can have marketing put out the call tomorrow to organise press, cover art and a release party."
Lela, who seemed the most collected of the women, spoke first. "And the tour?"
"I'll have to make a few calls," Colin told her, green eyes moving between the four of them to gauge their expressions. "But I can have you on the road around September, and in the State's by October. It won't be as big or long as your last tour but—"
Penny cut him off there. "That's fine. Last year nearly killed me, literally. And I'll take as little time in the Midwest as I can." Sadie couldn't help but agree. Their last two tours had been almost back to back, and Sadie had only been properly sober for a small percentage of it (which she knew couldn't have been good for her poor liver). It had been fun, exciting and everything else a rock tour should be, but it left her drained, and she was glad someone else in the band was the one to say so. And, as Penny had said, the Midwest sucked.
"Note taken," Colin agreed and scribbled something illegible on the paper in front of him. "So what do you think? Are you ready?"
The four women looked back and forth between themselves, and Sadie was momentarily in awe of how far they'd come since playing shitty pub covers three years ago. Now they were older, a little bit more frayed around the edges, and making career decisions about how to take their million-dollar sales even higher. She grinned a little bit and turned back to look at Colin. "I say let's go for it."
【☆】
"WOW, TWO WEEKS?" Jimmy sounded surprised by Sadie's news when she called him late that night. She wished she could've seen his face as he let out a static-distorted laugh, but just hearing his voice over the phone was enough for now. "You guys must be excited."
"More relieved, actually," Sadie sighed as she started absent-mindedly fingering the corner pages of her song-book. It was full-to-bursting with the amount of extra pages she'd squeezed in, but she couldn't bring herself to buy a new one just yet. She went on; "I seriously think that this is some of the best stuff we've ever written, but we've been so caught up in perfecting it these past couple of months I don't think we realised how much it was draining us. I'll be glad once it's out for the rest of the world to hear."
"I know what you mean. Sometimes I almost miss when I was just a session guitarist and didn't have as much pressure on me. But then I think of all the free drinks I get now and I think fuck that." They both laughed at his admission. For just a moment she'd almost mistaken him for being serious, but of course he had to go and prove her wrong once more in classic Page style. After a seconds pause he continued. "How about your release party? Surely you're excited to get drunk and have hot guys chase you and your success around."
Sadie scowled slightly at the thought. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I've slept with enough men in this industry to know that they're all selfish in bed. Something about being a musician really goes to a guys head, and not in a good way." Her statement solicited a disbelieving chuckle from the man on the other end.
"Really? All of them?" He asked, "I've never had a girl complain after a night with me."
"I'm honestly surprised you've even spoken with a girl after a night with them," Sadie teased him, and she didn't have to see his face to know he was rolling his eyes at her. "Besides, no girl is going to admit to a famous rock-star's face that he's a bad shag."
"There's no way I'm going to convince you otherwise, is there?"
Sadie hummed, pretending to think about it. "None you'll get the chance to try out."
"That's a shame," he admitted with a hint of humour creeping back into his voice. Clearly not even her accusing him of being bed at sex could dent his ego. "So I guess escorting you to your party is off the table?"
Sadie hadn't expected that of him, and the question honestly caught her off guard for a moment. They'd been talking practically everyday for weeks, but she'd never even considered that he would want their friendship to extend beyond that... into their real lives, where people could see and judge them. Moments with Jimmy felt like something private that belonged to her only. She didn't know if she was ready to share those moments with the public yet. "The rumour-mills would go crazy," she deflected. "They'd say we were dating."
"Would that be such a bad thing?" He asked and Sadie held her breath, but before she could read into the statement too deeply he quickly continued on. "For business, I mean. Two huge rock-stars photographed together would be good for both our bands. Especially with your new album coming out so soon."
She released the air she'd been holding. "I don't need a man to sell my music, Jimmy."
He didn't miss a beat in replying again. "I know you don't, but I thought maybe you'd like one to keep you company."
A wary smile crept back across the blonde's face as she considered his proposal again. She'd dealt with a lot crazier press than Jimmy Page before. In fact sometimes she even missed seeing her name on every gossip magazine while she'd been on tour — from barfights to one-night-stands, she'd done it all. What harm could one man do that she hadn't already? "Okay," she said eventually, "But you've got to bring the others too. I know Caterina and Robert have been getting closer since they wrote a song together and I am going to need some details."
A laugh resonated from the other end of the line. "I think I can swing that with the guys."
Sadie was still grinning as she lay her head back against the wall. "And you can buy me a new pair of shoes for the occasion too. To replace my old ones."
Jimmy sighed but didn't disagree. "I think it's time for me to go to sleep. You might be done recording, but I'm still expected in the studio tomorrow."
"Goodnight Jimmy," Sadie said softly, regretting hanging up already. "And good luck tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Scottie. I'll see you soon." And the line went flat.again.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
word count: 1339
the shortest chapter yet, but get ready cause ya girl has Things™️ planned for next time...