Page 147 of Movers and Shakers

At midnight, Blaze dropped his album as a complete surprise, and fans clamored to listen to it. Since it was produced by most of the same team that made Lila’s music, we all had an expectation of quality. But Blaze is made to be the muse, it seems, because those lyrics do NOT work. He whines about how Lila found someone else, how he did everything for her and got nothing in return.

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Lila myself, but even I can admit that SHE wrote her own songs. Blaze didn’t do EVERYTHING for her.

He was in a position to turn the tables and make everyone see his side of the story, and unfortunately, it looks like he fumbled the bag.

5642 Comments

H8terfister69: Lmao we knew this would happen eventually

BuzzBuzz: This doesn’t make sense! He helped her with ALL of her original stuff! How could his album be so bad?

RealLilaFan247: Because SHE wrote it, you doofus.

NomChompy: Ah, the garbage taking itself out. Perfect.

The album played on the plane while Barry and I laughed until we couldn’t breathe.

It was truly awful. It was all the worst parts of my old songs—the repetitive lyrics and the synthetic pop beats combined with Blaze’s pitchy singing—making it more of a comedy routine rather than an emotional album. He tried to drop mean one-liners about me in every song, but paired with his voice, they all sounded cringey.

There were tears in my eyes from it. When he’d threatened to release an album, I knew it would have been bad for me if the album weregood.But this? This was the best-case scenario.

“He tried to get picked up when I did,” I said when we finally managed to calm down. “I knew he was a bad singer, but I thought he would at least take some lessons. Or that Mia would be able to whip him into shape.”

“It just proves that she never made your songs good. Only you did.”

Warmth spread through my chest. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

As we got close to landing, I asked if he could put his hair in a hat. I hated to even bring it up, because I knew he wasn’t a fan of hiding, and yet he didn’t complain as I tucked his long strands away.

And when he looked totally different, it was time to disembark. As usual, people were dying for photos of me. Juno had been relaxing for most of the time, preparing for the chaos of LA.

When we got out, it was definitely that. There were yells of Lila’s name, asking for my opinion on Blaze’s album, or if I was seeing someone else. Photos were snapped of the three of us as soon as we got off the plane until we were driving down the road. Barry grabbed my hand the second we were alone.

“It’s so good to be back,” I muttered. “There’s more security at the practice arena. And we’ll take the long way to throw them off the trail.”

Barry’s hand didn’t leave mine and his eyes were on the windows.

A terrible thought hit me.

“You can always tell me if this is too much,” I offered softly.

His eyes finally settled on me. “It’s not too much.”

“Your grip on my hand says otherwise.”

Barry’s eyes trailed down to our intertwined hands. “Sunshine, I’m holding your hand because Iwantto, not because I’m worried about some strangers I don’t know. I’m more worried about how they makeyoufeel.”

“But it’s so hectic. No one can handle it.”

“I can, and I will. And I’ll do it without complaining once.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to, the same wayyouwant to give everything to those around you. I’m going to return the favor, and then some.”

His hand squeezed mine, and for a brief moment, I thought he might not be real. How could one person want to do so much for me? How could he want to be in this loud, wild life I had?

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

---