Page 17 of Before the Encore

Ruby: Then why was her lipstick on your neck????

Madison: it wasn’t hers

Ruby: U cheated on her????

DUDE WTF?? THAT’S BONNIE BLOOM

Frank walked into the lounge just as Madison sighed, drawing a hand down her face.

“Hey,” he said. “You ready?”

“Yeah, two mins.”

He nodded, spinning on his heels and disappearing back down the hallway. She peeled herself from the sticky leather, shooting off quick texts as she gathered her things.

Madison: I should give you the world’s biggest wedgie for that

Gtg I’m very busy and important

I’ll ring you later

Her phone buzzed with another response, but she silenced it and slipped it into her pocket. Evan glanced up as she entered the control room.

“Madison. Great. Ready to record the verse for ‘Ghost’?”

“Yep. Born ready.” She lifted her gaze, unable to stop the question leaving her lips. “No Bonnie today?”

Evan busied himself with the controls. “She called ahead. She’s coming in later, after your vocals.”

“Ah, okay. Sure.”

Huh. Maybe Bonnie was avoiding her, not Bailey. She enjoyed the back-and-forth banter they shared, the flirting and teasing, but Frank had warned her on many occasions of her tendency to push things too far. Truthfully, Madison never knew where the line was until she crossed it.

Or until Roberto got their lawyer involved.

Bonnie hadn’t been as rebellious as Madison hoped. Calling ahead during whatever existential crisis Bonnie currently occupied stunk of her structured professionalism, but at least she hadn’t chucked her career in the toilet at the prospect of them fake dating. Madison wasn’t thrilled at the idea either; it’d dampen the good run she was having in LA. But she supposed she had to make sacrifices somewhere.

None of that mattered now; she had a job to do. She stepped into the booth and pulled on the headphones, letting the noise drain away. The smell of coffee lingered on her clothes, the room’s industrial wood musty and yet clean. Evan played the track, and she closed her eyes. With the drums her guiding rhythm, she inhaled, flowing into the music, and opened her mouth to sing.

* * *

Bonnie appeared at twelve on the dot, quietly entering the lounge. Her pink lipstick was painted perfectly, those big doe-like eyes shy as they passed over the group. Madison bit back her smile; Bonnie’s presence immediately filled her with ease. Despite all the craziness and drama, working with Evan and recording in this studio had been a dream, one within arm’s reach of grasping. She just needed to keep Bonnie on board.

“Hey,” Bonnie said softly, heaving a big bag of goodies from her shoulder like a gay, sparkly Santa Claus. “I brought a couple of things.”

Madison’s gaze roamed the pink leggings hugging her thick thighs, tearing her eyes up just in time to avoid a lecture.

“What’s the occasion?” Madison asked, unable to help herself. “Did Scarlett finally die from exhaustion?”

“Funny,” she deadpanned, blonde hair falling over her shoulders like flowing water. She handed a pack of chocolate Hobnobs to Kam.

“Real Hobnobs!” Kam cuddled the packet of biscuits like they’d fallen from the heavens. “Amazing, Bonnie. Thank you.” She pulled Bonnie into a quick bro hug which, given her flailing hands, seemed to take her by surprise.

Frank gave her an awkward fist bump after receiving his selection of doughnuts. Then Bonnie approached Madison, digging into her Louboutin Santa’s sack. She produced another bag of blue Takis and handed a cherry Slurpee out to her.

“Cool, thanks.” Madison accepted them, the edges of her mouth curling. “Kiss and make up?” she teased. “We might as well get practicing.”

Bonnie frowned and stepped back. “Can you not wait five minutes before you start being an arse?”