by Emma Vikes
Once, I asked them if it bothered them and they told me that they were cool with it. They’ve always been used to the fact that I had been the most marketable, even before we rose into fame. They liked being in the background and earning just enough as a band and it allowed them to do things outside the band that they liked, like Dylan had his own gamer channel on YouTube and José had one too, as a vlogger. As for Carlos, he also taught dancing as another activity. They told me that they weren’t really the type to always be in the frontline and they were glad that I had enough charisma for all of us.
But there was something that bothered me since yesterday when I announced to them that we were no longer with W&R Records and if there was anyone I could get an honest answer out of the three of them, it was José. “Before anything, why did you really want to sign with Finch Records? Is it because Audrey said that she was willing to sign us as a whole?”
It took him a little while to answer me as he got up and made himself a coffee and I knew he was buying time to formulate a good answer, one that I could easily understand. “When you said that there would be companies lining up to sign with us, Audrey was the first one who came here with the offer. I guess, you could say she was sort of an answered prayer after we uttered a desperate request.”
“You’re not only doing it to spite me because of how I dropped us from W&R?”
José chuckled but shook his head. “We’re a little upset with that but you did what you had to and we can understand that, in a way.”
“But Audrey?” I was still pressing for a better answer because well, it was just hard for me to believe that they would want to sign with a person that I hated and José was very aware of that.
“Audrey came with her offer first than anyone else and besides, I think she’s a good person despite how she treats you.”
I made a face. “How can you say that?”
He was thoughtful for a moment and then he shrugged. “I saw how sincere she was when she was protecting Amber from you. She values friendship and I think she can see that we have the same kind of friendship going on. Despite how much animosity she has towards you, I think she’s a good person in the same way that I think you’re good, no matter how much of an asshole you can be.”
“You’ve concluded that after being in the same room as her in a span of half an hour?”
José chuckled and sipped his coffee. “She came back and stepped on her pride for her company. She still hates you for breaking her best friend’s heart. I think that’s enough to know what kind of person she is.”
The doorbell rang and echoed throughout the room and José focused on his food as I got up. “Well, let’s see if she’s really as good as you make her out to be if she can stay as my assistant for a month.”
He didn’t say anything further as I jogged from the kitchen to the front door and opened it to see Audrey with a scowl on her face. She looked good, more like a CEO of a company than a personal assistant as she was dressed in a plaid suit and a plunging white inner blouse and finished the outfit off with cream-colored heels. Her hair was tied in a bun and big sunglasses covered her eyes. No matter how much I despised her, there was no denying that the plain Jane I met five years ago had morphed into this insanely attractive woman in front of me.
“I should’ve told Theo to add ‘no checking out of Audrey’ on the list of terms when I had him make it,” she said in a monotonous voice as she shoved a folder to my chest and walked inside, removing her glasses and setting her handbag down on the sofa as she settled in the living room, looking like a sore thumb in a modern rustic atmosphere.
I sifted through the terms of agreement she had given me. “Where’s my coffee?”
“Excuse me?” Audrey asked, staring at me as if I grew another head.
My eyebrows rose. “You’re my personal assistant. Getting me coffee, lunch, or whatever snacks I want, running my errands, answering my emails and calls, that’s what personal assistants do. Or did you not get that when you agreed to the job?”
Audrey narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t even signed that yet.”
I waved the folder in front of her and shrugged. “We had a verbal agreement made last night so whether I sign this or not, you are my assistant, Audrey. But I’ll humour you since you made the effort to make this, I’ll read it and then sign it but for now, I want you to get me coffee.”
Audrey’s pursed her lips and for a moment, I expected her to fuck me off, tell me she wasn’t able to do this whole thing because she couldn’t stand being in the same room with me. “Fine, I’ll go to Starbucks.”
“We have a coffee maker here. You can make me one.” I waited for Audrey to comment and tell me off again but she stalked off to the kitchen and I followed her, the folder in my hands. Audrey was moving around the kitchen cautiously and she eyed the coffee maker we had and then searched the drawers for the capsule that she needed to make my coffee although she didn’t really ask me what I wanted.
“You don’t even have any capsules left,” she said after closing one more drawer.
José lifted up his hand and smiled sheepishly at Audrey. “I think I took the last capsule.”
She nodded her head and flashed him a small smile, something that actually surprised me because I didn’t think her facial muscles were capable of doing so. “It’s okay. I guess I’ll have to run to Starbucks to get you your coffee.”
Again, she surprised me by turning to José. “Is there anything you want whilst I’m heading out?”
My friend shook his head and returned her smile. “Nah, I’m good. I wouldn’t be here when you get back anyway.”
When Audrey turned to look at me, all warmth that was displayed on her face when she was talking to José seemed to have disappeared because she fixed me with a cold, hard look. “Is there anything else you need?”
“You’re not really going to ask me what my coffee order is?”
It seemed like it suddenly dawned to her that she didn’t know and she squirmed where she was standing as she shifted her weight from one foot to another, trying to play cool. “Fine. What’s your order?”
“Dark roast. Grande,” I replied casually with a shrug.
Audrey’s squinted and stared at me for a moment but didn’t make any comment. Then, she extended her hand out, as if she was waiting for something that I should give her. “You do not expect me to pay for your coffee using my own money, do you?”
For a moment, her statement caught me off-guard. I was so ready to have fun and annoy her with all the things I had wanted her to do for me for the day that having to hand her my credit card completely slipped my mind. I asked her to give me a minute and then I dashed to my bedroom and grabbed the business credit card I had and then handed it at her.
Audrey was about to turn around and leave when I remembered something. “Oh yea and since you’re about to head out, do my laundry for me?”
She spun around, her mouth dropped open as she stared at me with narrowed eyes. “What did you just say?”
I smirked as I made my way to the laundry room and then I picked up the hamper that I had brought there earlier when I woke up. I actually meant to do my own laundry but it also just happened that I ran out of detergent to use and since I had a new personal assistant to do things for me, I had it listed as one of the things she was meant to do for me for the day.
I presented the hamper in front of her. “I ran out of detergent. But don’t worry, most of them are just clothes. I’m still in my right mind not to ask you to wash my underwear for me, although if you don’t mind…”
Audrey closed her eyes and I cocked my head to the side, smirking as I waited for her to erupt in front of me and scream her head off at me because I’d pushed her buttons. This was only my second request but considering that Audrey wasn’t my biggest fan, I knew that it would irk her and I wanted to know if I could piss her off enough to give up.
But Audrey took a sharp inhale and slowly exhaled her breath and without a word, she grabbed t
he hamper and stalked off to the front door and I couldn’t help but laugh both in amusement and surprise. “Oh and don’t worry about me getting my coffee late. I can wait until you finish my laundry.”
She was mumbling to herself over and over as she exited the house and I laughed harder when I heard what she was saying to herself. “It’s only for a month, Audrey. You can do this for a month. And then after that, you’re back to what you’re supposed to be doing. Which is obviously not being his assistant.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” José said as soon as the door shut closed and I turned to look at him. He was standing beside me and I faced him, patting his shoulders and smoothening the non-existent creases of his shirt on the shoulders.
“I should’ve gotten one sooner but I don’t think I’d be able to enjoy it as much as I enjoy infuriating Audrey and her trying to keep all her annoyance aside,” I said as I smirked, wiggling my eyebrows. I turned my attention to the folder that I’d unconsciously set on the table and picked it up, sifting through the pages to the agreement that Audrey wanted to make with me.
“Are you actually going to read that?” José was eyeing the folder in my hands and I chuckled, shaking my head.
“Have you ever seen me read anything, in all the years that we’ve been friends?”
He rolled his eyes but gave me a pointed look. “Don’t be too harsh on her, Julian. She hasn’t done anything remotely bad.”
“She slapped me yesterday.”
“I would’ve too because you were being an ass.”
“Will you please stop taking her side?” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “You know what she did to me at the hospital. You were there and you witnessed it yourself. You even defended me.”
“She crossed the line that time but we were nineteen then. She was loyal to a fault and protective of her friend and besides, her anger was only directed at you and not at me,” José looked at me pointedly when he said that, “but it’s been five years since and we’re older now. Priorities change and maybe she just really needs our help for her company. Will you keep that in mind?”
I rolled my eyes and waved him off. “Whatever. Didn’t you tell me the other day that you have a blind date today? Girls don’t like it when their dates are late unless it’s me.”
José scoffed and punched my shoulder. “You’re going to find a girl that’s going to turn your arrogance into dust one day, Julian, and I can’t wait for that to happen.”
I let out a huff but then rolled my eyes, heading upstairs for a shower and then a change of clothes. I decided to play Mario Kart as I waited for Audrey to come back with my laundry and coffee and at some point, it bored me because well, it wasn’t as fun if you didn’t have anyone to play with and I think Dylan was still asleep from playing video games all night and I wasn’t sure if Carlos was still at home or if he ever went home from Bonnie’s last night.
With a sigh, I pulled out the notebook I used to write lyrics on for the songs that we made and then opened to the page, a blank page, one that had a tune and melody but still lacked the lyrics that I wanted. I’d wasted so many pages of the notebook that I had and even wasted notebooks for this song but I couldn’t really come up with the right lyrics so I only began to hum, closing my eyes and remembering the voice that I heard five years ago, with the lyrics of a song that inspired me to push through, despite the rejection that I underwent that time, despite Audrey throwing me out of the hospital and telling me that it was my fault that Amber tried to kill herself.
Tell me, brave heart
Can you chase after the wind,
Even when sunlight burns your skin?
Do you have the courage,
To pursue even if it breaks your heart
Continuously,
Over and over and over again?
The doorbell rang and echoed throughout the house but I ignored it, closing my eyes and then switching to another song, a song that’s been stuck in my head but was sung by a different artist. I knew the one ringing the doorbell was Audrey and maybe I should’ve given her the passcode of the house so she didn’t have to ring the doorbell whenever she came over. But I was in the middle of singing and the music trapped me in its warm embrace.
When I stopped singing and ended the last note on the guitar, I realized that the house was silent. There was no one ringing the doorbell over and over again or even knocking on the door. For a moment, I wondered if Audrey left because I wasn’t answering or opening the door and maybe that meant that she gave up on this job. I opened the door and then jumped back when I saw Audrey standing right in front of me, jaw clenched and her hands at her side, the coffee on the floor as well as my laundry.
My eyebrows furrowed in surprise. “How long have you been there?”
She blinked and looked at me, surprised to see that I was right in front of her. She looked a little dazed and she shook her head, as if that could bring her back to the present. She licked her lips and shrugged. “Carlos opened the door. You weren’t answering. I thought you left.”
I jabbed my thumb to the inside of my room, feeling a little awkward. It wasn’t that I felt awkward because she must’ve heard me singing since I worked as a musician for a living. I just felt a bit vulnerable when I was singing earlier. “I was just playing some songs.”
Audrey nodded her head and she seemed unsure of what she was meant to do. She crouched down to pick up the coffee and shoved it to me. “I heard. Here. Dark roast. Like you wanted. Did you sign the papers?”
She seemed a little bit out of loop, as if she was unbalanced or something like that. I walked back to my room and retrieved the pen and paper but before I walked back to her, it suddenly occurred to me why her reaction was familiar and just like that, whatever awkwardness I felt dissipated and I knew just what to say to annoy her.
“You liked hearing me sing, didn’t you?”
Audrey’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she slowly backed away, her eyes fleeting to the folder in my hands. “You’re a little too full of yourself, don’t you think?”
I smirked as I stepped closer and Audrey continued to back away until her back was against the wall. I cocked my head to the side, my curls falling a shy above my eyes. “You have the same daze look as my fans do. Don’t you dare deny it, Audrey.”
Audrey turned away and huffed. “Did you even sign the agreement?”
I leaned closer to her and her eyes fluttered close and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I put the paper against the wall and wrote another one to add to the list and then signed it, handing it to her and then stalking off, a satisfied smirk on my face.
6
Audrey
In the twenty-four hours that I have ended up having to be with Julian Hudson, I didn’t think that I could hate the guy even more. He was insufferable, demanding, insensitive and so arrogant that I wanted to murder the horse that he was on so he could get off of it. He made me do things that wasn’t even part of the job description of a personal assistant but he kept dangling the contract in front of me, using it to his advantage.
Don’t fall in love with me.
How dare he assumed that I would fall in love with a playboy like him? Never, in all the years that I’d known about Julian Hudson, did it ever cross my mind that I wanted to be with him in any way. I could barely tolerate the idea that I was meant to be his assistant even if it was only for a month and if they signed with us, that meant having to meet with them on regular occasions and I could barely wrap my mind around that idea.
Even a dumb fool could notice how much I despised the idea of being next to Julian Hudson and I could barely handle the fact that I have to step on my pride and ego just so I could be the one to run what was rightfully mine. But the nerve that the boy had to assume that I would fall in love with him made me want to punch him right there and then and fortunately, to be honest, it’s rather unfortunate if you ask me- I got a grip on myself.
“You look like you’re about to murder some
one,” Theo said rather loudly as he placed our breakfast tray in front of me. We were in a breakfast café near the house that Julian and his bandmates lived in. It was 7 AM in the morning and I’d already done my usual routine so I called on Theo and asked him if he was up for a breakfast date. He was. He always was when it came to me.
I gripped the stylus that I was holding and put down the tablet in my hand. “Julian just told me yesterday that I better add into the list not to fall in love with him.”
Theo was sipping his coffee as I said that he almost spat it out as he stared at me in disbelief. “He really said that?”
I grabbed my coffee order and took a sip, letting the warmth of the liquid seeped throughout my body and letting it console me in a way that only coffee could. “Can you imagine? I could barely stand being in the same room as him and he assumes that I would ever fall in love with a jerk like him? Jesus, I have standards, doofus.”
I expected Theo to add more harsh comments but noticed him eyeing something or err, someone. I turned back and glanced in his line of direction to a guy sitting two tables from us, his blonde head bowed down to a book he was reading and it slightly bobbed a little as I noticed airpods stuck in his ears. “Pardon?”
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a cinnamon roll and then stuffed it in my mouth as I pointed at the guy with my thumb. “You know you can just ask him out.”
Theo pouted as he leaned back in his chair, slightly sinking down a little. “I’m not really sure I’m his type.”
“So would that mean his type would be female, age range around 20 to 25, height is around 5’5 to 5’8 and probably a brunette or a blonde will do as long as she has a vagina?” I asked trying to sound innocent as I said it all.
Theo looked at me bluntly. “Sometimes, you remind me so much of Amber that you make it seem like she has never been gone for two whole years.”