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“Yeah. When I was sixteen, I would listen to his music all the time. I would blast it after arguments with my mum. She was overbearing and he was never there, so he was easy to put on a pedestal.”

Luca finds it hard to imagine sixteen-year-old Florence. In her mind, she’s the same as she is now—self-assured, charismatic—only shorter. Maybe it’s just hard to picture a Florence who idolized her father when all she radiates now is spite.

“What changed?” Luca asks.

Florence casts her a quizzical glance. “What do you mean?”

“Why’d you take him off the pedestal?”

“I just grew out of it. I guess I realized that touring isn’t an excuse to never pick up a call.” She sniffs. “Also, he didn’t write a single one of his hits himself, so.”

Luca can’t help the laugh that escapes her at that. “Really?”

“That’s what Earl told me.” For the first time since she sat down, Florence’s lips curve into a grin. “I told you. He’s a moron.”

“But you still want to prove that you’re better than him,” Luca says.

The grin widens. It looks a little bit feral, honestly. Luca is obsessed with it. “I want him to see us rise in the charts and feel stupid for never having seen my potential. I want to run into him at an award show years from now and shove the Best Rock Song award in his stupid little face. I want him to be haunted by my voice whenever he turns on the radio.”

“He will be,” Luca says.

“Oh, yeah?” Florence’s eyes glint with amusement. “Are you going to make it happen?”

“No,” Luca says and then adds, with every ounce of certainty in her body, “You are.”

“Same side as last night?” Luca whispers thirty minutes later.

In the pitch black, she can’t read Florence’s face. “Sure.”

Luca winces at the loud squeaking of the bed as she shuffles back to her side of the mattress. Florence slides in after her. They don’t even bother with the blanket this time, knowing they’ll be drenched in sweat come morning.

“Think you’re tired enough to sleep now?” Luca asks.

Florence shifts. Her foot brushes against Luca’s calf before quickly pulling back. “I think so. It’s always easier after we’ve talked.”

In the dark, Luca blinks at the back of her head. There’s a warm feeling in her chest. She likes that idea so much. “Yeah,” she says quietly. “For me too.”

Florence lets out a breath. Even after showering, she still smells faintly like perfume. Luca wants to shift forward and bury her nose in the crook of her neck. She’s afraid that her body is going to do just that the moment she’s unconscious and unable to resist the impulse.

“Hey, Luca?” Florence mumbles.

“Hmm?”

“Thanks for listening.”

“Thanks for talking to me,” Luca says.

Florence makes a content little sound and burrows farther into the pillow.

Luca closes her eyes. It’ll probably be another hour before she can get her body to acclimatize enough to Florence’s proximity to go to sleep, but she’s fine lying here just like this, listening to the steady in and out of her breathing, witnessing another part of Florence Gibson that no one but her and the three other people in the room will ever get to see. They’re her favorites, she thinks, as she slowly drifts off.

“Too Gay for the Mainstream”: Jeffrey Blake Shocks Fans with Homophobic Comment in Leaked Star Factory Footage

By Natasha Jadhav

Jeffrey Blake has come under fire after exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the talent competition Star Factory surfaced on the online forum Timeline earlier this week. In the forty-second clip, the critically acclaimed British rock star is overheard talking to fellow judge Tamara Whitten. When asked by Whitten why he passed on one of the 2012 Star Factory season’s contestants, Daniel O’Hare, Blake was recorded saying, “I try to be realistic. I want to pick real talent, someone who has a shot at making it after this show’s over.”

In response, Whitten asks, “You don’t think Daniel could make it? I thought his voice was extraordinary.” To which Blake answers, “His voice is good. But . . . come on. Did you see the way he walked in? He’s too gay for the mainstream. Maybe in ten years, but not now. I think I did him a favor, honestly.”