Page 54 of Before the Encore

“How is this different from the other six black dresses?” Madison asked.

“Hello?” Ruby huffed, shooting her a disapproving glance. “The sleeves?”

Madison shrugged, which earned her an eyeroll.

“Honestly.” Ruby turned to the man opposite, popping a hip. “You saw the other two. What do you think?”

The man’s eyes bugged. “I-er…” He glanced to Madison. “I prefer the one with three-quarter sleeves. It flatters the wrists.”

Madison raised an eyebrow. Maybe the two of them weren’t sharing the same mutual torment as she thought.

“Thank you.” Ruby offered a strange curtsy to the man. “At least someone is paying attention.”

“Uh-huh. And how do you plan to pay for these new, expensive clothes again?”

“My lovely sister.” Ruby’s face cracked into a grin, and she fluttered her eyelashes. “Have I told you recently how very lovely you are?”

“Funnily enough, quite often since my first instalment of tour money came through.” Madison shooed her with a hand. “Hurry up. I’m wasting my best years away in this chair.”

“You’ve got grumpier since LA,” Ruby teased before ducking back behind the curtain. “I’m not sure how Bonnie puts up with you.”

That made Madison’s mouth tick, but luckily Ruby couldn’t see it. She’d been hounding her with Bonnie-related questions since she arrived, determined to sniff out the truth. Madison didn’t normally keep things from her sister, but her relationship with Bonnie was…complicated. One minute, Bonnie was begging her to touch her in the cramped space of her dressing room, the next, she could barely look her in the eye. After the show last night, Bonnie had thanked Lipstick Fever and left for her flight before the set had been dismantled.

Bonnie refusing to acknowledge what happened between them, then running away like that…it left a funny taste in Madison’s mouth. Especially as they had a few days before their London shows started, and no scheduled obligations either, so she wouldn’t even see her.

Whatever. If Bonnie didn’t care, then neither did she.

Ten minutes later, with another two shopping bags hanging off her arm like a camel, Madison and Ruby finally left the shop and stepped back onto the busy London pavement. People pushed past, taking pictures of seemingly mundane buildings. The aroma of fried onions mixed with the hot tarmac smell.

“Is there anything else you wanna do while you’re here?” Madison asked, the sun warming her bare arms. “Wanna see a show or something?”

“I’m already seeing yours.”

“No, I mean a West End one.”

“That depends.” She shot Madison a sly smile. “Will Bonnie be joining us?”

“You know the answer to that.”

A black cab beeped, the driver leaning out the window to shout at a cyclist who’d cut up his lane.

Ruby sighed. “Oh, come on, Maddy. Why are you being so secretive?”

“I’m not. There’s nothing to tell.”

Ruby scoffed, her annoyance deepening the line between her brows. She looked so much like their mum sometimes, it struck Madison. All three had the same eye shape and the dark hair, but where Madison was all edges and lines, Ruby possessed their mum’s softness and symmetry. A softness that was often misleading. “Per-lease. I’ve watched enough #moom content on social media to know that’s bollocks.”

“Couldn’t people have chosen a ship name that doesn’t sound like a deranged cow?” Madison muttered.

“I think it’s cute. And don’t change the subject.”

They paused on the pavement, waiting for the crossing to turn green. A straggle of daredevil locals darted across in between small gaps in traffic.

“You’ve been played by the algorithm, Rubes, just like everyone else.” Madison huffed a laugh. “You’ve played right into my hands, buying the bullshit.”

Ruby jabbed her shoulder. “You’re forgetting that I’m your sister. I know you. You’re acting the same way you did when you liked Meg from the bar.”

The name acted like a swift punch to the gut. “That was different,” Madison said, hoping her sister didn’t notice the pause.