by Bryce Oakley
Zoey pressed her lips into a firm line. "You're sure? After we've been so firmly anti-public relationship?"
"I'm not saying we have to suddenly start parading down Santa Monica, but I want to celebrate what we have," Pia said, taking Zoey's hand. "I love you, and I think we're ready."
Zoey's smile softened and she reached out, running her hands through Pia's messy brown hair. "I love you, too, and I'm honored that you would want me by your side at such a special event. I'll be there," she said, nodding.
"Really?" Pia said, her eyes flashing with excitement.
"Why on earth would I miss an opportunity to wear a beautiful gown?" Zoey teased.
"I should never have doubted you," Pia joked, catching Zoey's lips in a kiss.
Zoey tasted the sweet champagne on Pia's mouth, smiling against her lips.
The kiss quickly deepened, and Zoey climbed into Pia's lap.
She pulled away, taking a sip of her bubbly. "I have an idea of how we can countdown to midnight this year," she said, adding a silly wink.
"Oh, do you? Enlighten me," Pia said.
Zoey stood up, tugging on Pia's shirt to pull her to follow.
And later, as the clock hit midnight, they lay together in Pia's gigantic bed, naked, sated, and peacefully asleep in one another's arms.
Part IV
Bloom
Chapter Fifty
Meg
“Basically, I think we should still be friends, you know? But like, just friends,” Meg said, leaning into the woman’s ear to be heard over the music. She smiled and gave the woman a very light, jovial pat to the shoulder. Not too hard. Just as friends. Just friends.
The music in the club was blasting through the speakers, the bass so resonant Meg could feel each beat vibrate in her chest, rattling her rib cage. The dark club was lit by colorful lights, moving in all different directions. It was like a laser show at a disco. Minus the catchy disco music. Instead, it was just bass and electronic drums. A shame, really.
Jessica, for her part stared at Meg incredulously - her face leaving little doubt that she was not cool with the fact that she had just been dumped in a loud club with a punch to the shoulder like some kind of little league player. She looked down at her shoulder and then looked up at Meg, a look of disbelief written all over her face.
Meg always got nervous when she ended a fling, though she’d done it often enough it should be less stressful.
Jessica, in her defense, was strikingly beautiful. Tall, with gorgeous blonde hair cut in a short, edgy lesbian-of-the-moment style. She was wearing a low cut shirt and a short skirt, just like the night they met three weeks before. The fact that she wore that short skirt with sneakers was part of what attracted Meg in the first place. Meg always liked her one night stands to be at least a little quirky. Just to keep it interesting, of course.
Meg told the bartender to make sure Jessica’s drinks went on her tab before giving Jessica a head nod, a salute, and then a thumbs up as she left. She made her way slowly through the crowded club to join Isla who was sitting at a table closer to the dance floor.
Ugh, a thumbs up? Where had that come from?
“Seriously, Meghan?” Isla asked with a grin.
“I don’t know what you mean, I’ve been very open with Jessica. Things just got a little stale for my taste,” Meg said, shrugging. She did her best to look contrite as she said it.
“How can a three week long relationship get stale?” Isla asked, laughing. Isla was a founding member of the Single Girl Squad — their numbers were dwindling rapidly, down to only three members at the moment.
Isla was tall and beautiful with blonde hair and tanned skin. That would have been bad enough, but on top of that, she had the nerve to also have an adorable New Zealand accent. Meg had wanted to sleep with her so badly at first, but then she realized she liked Isla way too much to ever consider her anything more than a friend. And so began the Single Girl Squad.
“I think I’m just not really meant to be like, a relationship person. I’m good at dating around for a little, but it just can’t go on too long before it stops making me happy and starts making me…” Meg paused, looking for the right word.
“Antsy?” Isla asked, sipping her drink with an eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, antsy,” Meg shrugged.
“I love the way you can be so cavalier about the women you date. I don’t understand it, but I respect the hell out of your confidence, Meghan Koo,” Isla said.
Meg sighed. “We’ll be heading to Denver soon, anyway, so the timing works out better this way anyway.”
Isla gave her a pointed stare.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Meg said, sipping her whiskey.
A few days earlier, The Shrikes and their manager, Micah, had held a big meeting to discuss touring plans. The band had recently released their long awaited and much anticipated second album, Kaleidoscope and they were getting their touring schedule ironed out. Touring was always grueling, but at least Meg enjoyed the people she was spending so much time with.
Meg loved her band, three women who were without a doubt the closest thing to family she could want for.
The Rush sisters, Billie and Domino, were more of the front women, with Billie on lead vocals and guitar and Domino on bass. Dom was also the lead songwriter.
Zoey McCarran was the keyboardist-slash-model-slash-fashionista-slash-paparazzi-darling.
Meg was the badass drummer.
With the second album, Zoey and Meg had joined in on the songwriting and everyone had been very happy with how the album was being received — Pitchfork had called it essential listening and Rolling Stone had put it in their top 10 albums of the past year. Besides the reviews, their fans had been more intense than ever. Meg lived for the moments during shows where the singing of the crowd overpowered the four of them on stage.
Meg had never considered herself a songwriter and lyrics had never been — and would never be — her wheelhouse, but she had enjoyed helping to write the music on a couple of tracks.
The band had grown a rabid following after their first album, Heart’s Content came out and thankfully those fans stuck with them through the three-year-long break between albums.
They had some help along the way — especially when they found out that Pia Marino, a popular daytime talk show host, was a big fan.
Pia’s show had put them in front of brand new audiences, and Kaleidoscope had taken off in a way that The Shrikes had only dreamed of in the past year. They were on magazine covers and women in music interviews, and their tour had sold out every single date.
Touring was exhausting and there were so many details that had to be figured out that Meg didn’t envy Micah one bit.
They had all been on pins and needles, waiting to find out if Micah had accomplished the impossible… a Netflix special. Because their popularity had exploded after they performed on Pia’s show, Netflix and a production company had approached them about six months before to discuss a special. A Netflix show would reach an even larger audience than Pia’s show and could help them to grow exponentially. They could legit become household names. They could start playing even bigger venues — stadiums and arenas.
Meg had been trying hard not to think too much about the Netflix concert until it became a reality, which meant she could literally not focus on anything else. She wanted to be able to show the fans — and the potential fans — exactly what went into making music for them.
Each of the four women of the band were so different and they each brought a unique perspective, coming together to form The Shrikes.
Meg had never been more proud of anything in her life.
Micah’s perfect, unlined face showed zero hint of emotion when the band walked into her immaculate office and sat down on the couches around a small coffee table.
Whether Micah was just playing it cool or her dermatologist had really gone to town with her recent Botox injections remained to be seen. Micah had really embraced the LA lifestyle
when their first album, Heart’s Content had become an unexpected success. She was incredibly good at her job and The Shrikes were happy to have her, even if she could blink her lips.
“I’m sure you can all guess why I’ve called you here today,” Micah started.
The intake of air from each of the four bandmates was audible.
“You all know that I’ve been working on trying to get us a Netflix special or a live album. It’s something I’ve been working on for even longer than you know,” Micah said.
Was she trying to drag this out? Meg’s knees were actually shaking.
“Well?” Billie asked, and Meg could feel everyone hold their breath.
“We got it! We got the Netflix special! It’ll be called ‘The Shrikes Live at Red Rocks,’ and, on top of that, we also got the green light from the label to release a live from Red Rocks album.” Micah said, clapping her hands.
It took a few moments for the full weight of her announcement to sink in.
Meg blinked, trying to process the news.
Then… it was all pandemonium.
Domino jumped up and down and beat her fists in the air and let out a string of excited swear words.
Billie immediately started talking quickly and excitedly about how she knew all along that Micah would be able to secure the deal, then started talking to no one in particular about what she wanted to highlight in the show.
Even cool and collected Zoey squealed and bounced around.
“Fuck yeah, Mike! We knew you could do it! This is going to be incredible!” Meg shouted.
She took a moment to pause and admire her best friends in this, their moment of celebration, then she got up and joined Zoey in a victory dance, then ran through the room to high-five everyone.
Surely nothing could possibly bring down their high spirits in that moment. Meg felt as though her heart might beat out of her chest.
What they had worked so hard for.
Billie was crying, and Domino was patting her shoulder.
“The label has generously hired a very well respected producer for the album,” Micah continued, but she seemed almost nervous and the elation in the room turned quickly to suspicion.
“Who?” Billie asked.
“Who else? Of course it’s Collins. She did an amazing job on ‘Kaleidoscope.’ She’s a brilliant producer. She really is,” Micah said, immediately on the defense.
“Sorry, what?” Domino asked, crossing her arms.
Even Zoey had turned a bit pale.
Collins produced the Kaleidoscope album, and while she admittedly did a fantastic job... she was sort of, well, a jerk.
She was so intense in her absolute demand of perfection that even Meg had hit her limit with being harassed and had snapped at Collins a few times.
It did seem to send a clear message from the label, because Collins didn’t come cheap. She was very well-known and well-respected — though those praises were definitely not synonymous with well-liked. It seemed as though the label had enough faith in The Shrikes that they were willing to spend money to get them the best support they could, and to Meg that felt pretty damn good.
Even if it did mean she had to spend a little time with the producer from hell.
“So, you’ll be working with the meanest producer ever, but on the plus side it’ll be work on a bitching live album?” Isla pretty much summed it up.
“Well I don’t plan to take any of her shit this time, I’ll tell you that much,” Meg said as she sipped her whiskey. As she savored the amber warmth, she had a hard time shaking off the irritation she felt at the prospect of working so closely with someone so completely at odds with her own personality. Maybe irritation wasn’t the right word — frustration? There was just something about Collins that Meg didn’t like.
Meg had decided long ago that the best way to get through life was to let things come as they may, not take things so fucking seriously all the time. She kept what made her happy, and when something stopped making her happy, she simply let it go. Women, the part-time job she had before joining The Shrikes… Hell, even her own family.
But the show at Red Rocks was going to be incredible. All of her dreams were coming true. She just had to get through one — two weeks max — with Collins, and then she could reap all of the rewards. Just like on the album.
She could do this.
She could definitely do this, right?
Chapter Fifty-One
Collins
“Do you even know your own song?” Collins barked at the keyboardist in front of her.
He was the youngest member of his band, and she could see he was obviously feeling the pressure by the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look he had on his face.
Collins sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
Why did she agree to work with this doofy band again? Oh, right, because her brother loved them, and she wanted to make him proud with a good record.
At the time she had agreed, she had mistakenly thought that anything different from their last record would be a step in the right direction… and now she knew that her initial gut instinct had been correct.
“Get yourself together, man. We go again in ten minutes,” she said. She turned abruptly around and walked out of the room.
She felt a little fresh air would do her some good, too.
She knew she was being hard on the kid, but if he couldn’t take it while still in the studio, then he wouldn’t be able to hold up later on.
She was never one to hold someone’s hand through a problem of their own making. She had her own career to worry about. In fact, that was all she worried about.
She stepped off the elevator and strode out the front door of the building. She breathed in the fresh air and felt instantly calmer. Well, that was probably a placebo just from feeling sunshine on her skin and the inevitable vitamin D her body craved, but if it worked, it worked.
As she walked, she stretched her shoulders and neck, trying to release some of the tension she had been feeling throughout the day.
With a break, she could be much more composed when she went back in.
Collins knew that she owed every bit of her success to her hard work, dedication, good ear, and her extremely popular and terrifying ability to be a ball buster. Her motto: All the talent in the world was useless if you couldn’t stand up for yourself and make them see you.
It wasn’t easy being a woman in a male-dominated industry, but more than that, it wasn’t easy being a confident and talented woman in a male-dominated industry.
Her entire career had been a pissing contest.
In the early days, she never hesitated to go toe-to-toe with all the whiny men that gave her trouble over every little thing.
Eventually, through lots and lots of trial and error, she learned to pick her battles, and more than that, she figured out how to fight and win those battles — the key to her success had been aggressive confidence, brutally honest opinions, and zero sugar-coating anything.
She glanced at her phone and was happily surprised to see it was her brother calling.
“Yo, Brosef! You got my message?” She asked, slipping easily into a silly voice to imitate a frat boy. She loved her brother Jake more than any other human. He was second in her affections only to Ollivander, her fat, cuddly, orange cat.
“I saw you called but who checks voicemail these days? And like, who calls instead of texts for that matter?” Jake joked.
She rolled her eyes. “Wow, those are some harsh words coming from a man whose birthday dinner is coming up. Maybe I’ll just let the invite slip off my calendar after all...”
The Collins family had a tradition of making a big deal out of honoring birthdays with a gigantic, loud, rowdy dinner at a restaurant. It was a nightmare for any servers in the place, she was sure, but they tipped well and birthday dinners were one of her favorite family traditions.
She didn’t get to join them often — her family was back in Denver, far from the sunny streets of LA. She squi
nted in the light, wishing she had thought to bring her sunglasses on her walk.
“What? You’ll be in town? For how long? I’m so honored you’ll come all this way just for little old me, Lacey,” Jake teased.
She would have absolutely murdered anyone using her first name, but Jake got a pass. In fact, he got a pass on almost anything that would have made her completely write off any other person.
“Don’t call me that, ya Jakeass. I’ll be in Denver starting next week, it looks like. Can you keep a secret?” She asked, grinning.
“Not at all, but for you, I can pretend!” Jake teased.
“I’m producing the live album for The Shrikes at Red Rocks,” she said in a hushed tone. Red Rocks had always been her favorite venue, and the opportunity was huge for her. It was a stepping stone to bigger and better.
On top of that, it would be the first time in around six years that she would be able to be with Jake for either of their birthdays. They spoke fairly often, but that just wasn’t the same. She loved her life, she loved her career, she loved her cat, but she missed her family.
“Shut. Up,” Jake said, gasping.
“I know,” she said, grinning again. She could hardly wipe the smile off her face since learning the news. Working on The Shrikes’ Kaleidoscope album had been one of the highlights of her past year, and she was proud of the work they had done together.
“I thought you hated working with them on that album, though?” Jake asked.
“No, I just hated working with some of them. You remember they threw their manager at me the moment I made them work hard?” Collins said, rolling her eyes.
She had a feeling that The Shrikes weren’t exactly psyched to be working with her again, but even if they weren’t her best friends, they had to know she’d make them sound damn good.
Again.
“Besides, we don’t need to be friends. I just have to do good work,” Collins added.