Page 55 of Starstruck
“About fucking time,” I grumble, taking the seat across from her.
She huffs a laugh and rolls her eyes, knowing me well enough by now to not let my attitude phase her. “How have things been going with the album?”
I tilt my chin. “Good. Mastering starts tomorrow.”
She smiles. “That’s great. Happy to hear that things have been going well.” She claps her hands together, leaning forward on the table. “So, about your tour. You have ten cities left across central and northeast US. I’ve spoken to the stadiums, and it’s looking like June through July will be the best time for you to finish up.”
My brows furrow. “That soon?”
As much as I’ve missed performing, I wasn’t expecting to get back out that quickly. I figured most of the stadiums would have been booked for other shows by now, seeing as June is only a month away, so I assumed I’d finish after the benefit concert.
Val nods, grinning. “The stadiums have agreed to move things around to accommodate you. You’re one of the biggest acts a lot of them host, after all. And we want to get this tour done before the benefit concert so we can begin promoting RND around then.”
I nod slowly, running a hand over my mouth. As much as I’ve been losing my mind over not performing,nowis also the worst fucking time. Going out on tour now means losing time from the already short period that Lennon agreed to be friends with benefits for.
“How long?”
She opens the notebook in front of her, holding it out to show me the rough schedule she’s drawn up. “Looking like six to eight weeks. I’ve got you starting in?—”
“I can’t do a two-month tour right now,” I interrupt, gritting myteeth.
Jeremy’s brows pull together as Val’s jaw falls open. “Baxter—” Jeremy begins, but I shake my head. No fucking way am I leaving for that long when Lennon put a four-month timeline on us.
“No. I’ll do a month, tops. But I agreed to be around in case Lennon needs help with anything concert-related.”
The look on Jeremy’s face only grows more confused with that sentence, but I ignore it. It’s clear he knows something’s up with us, what with how we acted in his office and that comment just now. But Lennon said she doesn’t want people to know about us, and knowing how close Jeremy is to the Thorne family, I’m guessing he’s near the top of that list.
I look back to Val, brows raised in question.
She glances down at the notebook, writing a few things down, before turning back to me. “I’ll have to talk to Nick”—I roll my eyes as she says my touring manager’s name. I’ve never been a fan of the guy—“but I think the best we’ll be able to do is five weeks. And it’s going to be back-to-back. No breaks, no time to breathe.”
“Fine.” I nod. “The shorter the tour, the better. I don’t care if I’m exhausted—I put on a good show no matter what.”
Val looks to Jeremy with her brows raised, his still furrowed, a silent conversation passing between them. With a nod from him, she looks back to me. “Okay. I’ll get back to you on the exact dates, but expect around mid-June to mid-July.”
“Sure,” I say with a nod, though the idea of being gone even that long pisses me off. But they’re right—the sooner this tour is done, the better. And it will be good to be back on stage again.
[24 ]
STOOD BY ME
LENNON
“BELIEF” BY GAVIN DEGRAW
“Hey, Lens,” Paige says with a grin as she enters my office with lunch. It’s a rare occasion for her to visit me at work, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen her, so it’s nice that she came. Isa’s already seated across from me as I hold up my finger to Paige, focusing on what The Lighthouse’s manager is saying on the other end of the phone.
“Yeah, thanks Erica… Okay, cool. Thank you so much… That’s great, talk soon,” I say before hanging up. Then I look to my best friend and sister with a smile on my face and nod. “They’re in.”
Smiles fill both their faces as they begin to cheer. I surprise myself when I cheer along with them, but I’m damn proud of how far this concert has come. We’re just under four months out, but considering I spent the first three months looking for a goddamn headliner, I’m impressed with what I’ve been able to pull together in the pastone.
Because as of just now, I have officially confirmed all sixteenperformers for the concert.
Finally.
“So, what’s next?” Isa asks as she takes a bite of the chicken souvlaki Paige brought.
I unwrap my pita and switch tabs back to the spreadsheet on my computer, examining the rough schedule I’ve outlined for the day. It currently has each performer in order of when they go on, their genre, and how long their set will be, and I plan to add in the exact times once I have a more concrete idea of how much time is needed between sets and how early the show will begin.
