Page 34 of Movers and Shakers

“Lila,” I started, and she paused.

“Yes?”

“I know you’re with Blaze. And I will always respect that. But if you’re ever not with him and want anything different, I’ll be waiting.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “I don’t know if I could ever leave—at least not until my fame dies down.”

“I’d wait that long.”

“Really?”

“If you’re on the end of it? Then every single day would be worth it.”

Her eyes grew misty and she slowly nodded. I hoped she would stay. If she did, I’d do the impossible and stay away from work, but her smile fell and she walked out the door.

Chapter Six

Lila

“You’ve been busy,” my producer, Sasha, said over our video call.

And I had been. Over the last two weeks, I’d written many songs. The lyrics weren’t changed yet, but it was easier to get the song on paper to record rather than force myself to change it. I could rerecord singular lines to be better.

Or at least that was what I was telling myself.

“What do you think of what I’ve given you?”

“These are good. It reminds me of the stuff you used to write when we first met.”

“They do?”

“Yeah. And Mia approved all of these?”

“Not . . . exactly. She’s more worried about me making progress than the content of the songs.”

“So that’s why they’re good.”

I didn’t know why, but I felt the need to defend both myself and Mia. “What I was writing before wasn’tbad. . .‍”

“It just wasn’t you. For one, you sound like you’re actually in love here.”

“Um, yeah. Rekindling a flame and all.”

“Rekindling? More like finding a new one. There’s no way these songs are about Blaze.”

Sasha had always been perceptive. She was the first to tell me some of my fans might not like my dance-pop hits. She’d been right, but Mia had vetoed her. And then I’d broken records.

“Nothing is going on. He told me to get inspiration from other places.”

“Hetoldyou?” Her dark eyebrows were near her hairline. “I thought he wanted to be your only inspiration.”

“He usually does, but these are different circumstances.”

Sasha hummed and looked back at the screen, which presumably had the songs I’d sent her. “Do you want me to work on these as is?”

“Yes,” I said. “We can change them later.”

“If we do . . .‍” It was almost muttered.

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