Darcy took in a long, deep breath, holding for several seconds. Before she calmly, measuredly, blew it out. And even though she was reluctant to do so, she nodded. ThiswasEliana’s job, and she was really damn good at it, even if Darcy wobbled on being able to apply her consistent media training the way she should.
“In the meantime, focus on this. Finishing up your album.” Eliana gestured around them in the studio. “You do what you do best, and so will I.”
Darcy worked her jaw back and forth, but nodded, again.
“Great.” Eliana aimed a no-bullshit stare at Darcy. “And because I’ve gotten to know you these past few months, I’d appreciate if you would give me your word that you won’t comment on Juliet in any more interviews.”
Darcy couldn’t help but balk at that. She couldtry, but…
“Even though they’re always bringing her up?” It felt inescapable by now. Every time she was doinganything– interviews about her last album, about their upcoming album, about her life – they brought Juliet up, always mentioning whatever the most recent snarky comment was.
The look in Eliana’s eyes was sharp. “Especiallybecause they’re always bringing her up. Don’t feed into it.” Her phone chirped. Even though she didn’t look down at it, she seemed to know exactly what the alert was. “I have to jump into a call, but I’ll get you on the line later and we can workshop some deflections for you to use. Or you can workshop them with Blythe, and you can run them by me for approval.”
Blythe was truly talented at dodging comments she didn’t want to answer. So good at giving a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth smile accompanied by bland words to move the conversation along.
An impressive talent that Darcy didn’t – and had never – possessed.
With that, Eliana closed the case on her tablet and tucked it away in her designer bag, before she stood. As always, she offered Darcy a short, firm handshake, paired with her blindly white smile, that always seemed genuinely warm. She was, truly, a master at being the utmost professional while exuding a friendliness that never felt fake. “We’ll chat again soon.”
Darcy melted back into the comfy chair, dropping her head back and tightly closing her eyes. Exhaustion thrummed through her body, even on the heels of being thoroughly chastised.
When the door opened, she knew Blythe and Emerson had returned even without opening her eyes.
“So…” Emerson led, quietly.
“Did it take Eliana to knock some sense into you?” Blythe asked, with the bluntness that came so naturally to her.
Darcy blinked her eyes open, purely to aim an eyeroll at her. “You know, both of you would be feeling very differently about this Juliet thing if she was attacking either of you. And I wouldn’t be telling you that you’re overreacting.”
She feltveryconfident about that. She’d be firmly on either of their sides.
“I never said you were overreacting,” Emerson refuted with a frown.
“Fine,youdidn’t,” she conceded, because she wasn’t trying to put words in her best friends’ mouth. “But you did say I needed to just move past it.”
And Emerson hadn’t said it dismissively. She’d been sympathetic to Darcy when Juliet had continuously taken aim toward her, butstill. Darcy would never tell Emerson or Blythe to just “get over it” when they were being personally attacked.
“Isaid you were overreacting,” Blythe took ownership, as she settled on the arm of the couch next to Darcy. “And not because I don’t think Juliet is being shitty, but because… who cares what she thinks? She doesn’t know you, you don’t know her. So, you have to stop letting yourself get twisted up by anything she says.”
Blythe shrugged, like it was as simple as that.
Darcy did understand where her sister was coming from, conceptually.
She’d spent ten years doing everything she could to become successful, and she’d been told alotof not-so-great things along the way. A lot of no’s, being completely blown off, not being taken seriously. Occasionally having her talent insulted. After a competition last year, she’d had a brutal slap of reality.
Shedidn’tknow Juliet, that was true.
But she’d spent years of her life admiring her. They were the same age – literally to the day. The summer when Darcy’s teenage life had been thrown into chaos because of her mother leaving, Juliet’s first album had skyrocketed.
There was this person doingexactlywhat Darcy wanted to do. And she was talented. And she seemednice– ha – and approachable, and…
It was really stupid, but her insults felt personal to Darcy.
She should be beyond taking things personally from beautiful, wealthy girls; she’d had enough of that in high school.
Then again, maybe that was one of the reasons why Juliet so easily got under her skin.
Her comments picked at scars that Darcy had worked really hard to try to heal. The comments insulting her intelligence bounced her right back to school, where her hyper fixated ADHD and dyscalculia had been a fucking uphill battle.
