Of Course, It's You

Chapter 20

HANNAH

Between Mike being there and temporarily putting off the inevitable, serious chat they needed to have, and Carmen now suddenly being nice, and dare she say attentive. Hannah's head felt like it was going to explode. But the weird thing was that she didn't feel like she had earlier where the walls were closing in. There wasn't this pent-up stress like before. Her body felt freer and open instead of shutting down.

She was so excited to have her best friend meet one of her favorite clients. The heart and soul she put into her music and her personality were two things he loved in people. And she just wanted to be happy with him, with everyone. Forget about the stress of their relationship and forget about the complicated feelings with Carmen. She also wanted to forget how apprehensive she was in knowing that Mike was now sitting next to Carmen.

There was a brief feeling of understanding when she thought about Carmen's fear of the secret they shared, and if it were to get out to certain people. She could see how her desperate need to hide it from people could turn her fear into anger. She had heard stories of the elusive Carmen Mills in the office. Of course, not until after Jules looked her up online.

She was a very dedicated and hard-working woman. Yes, she seemed to exclusively date high-end models, but it almost seemed that she had a purpose behind that. Her father made a lot of money off his company, but it was she who wanted to grow and expand. Or so she heard in the rumor mill in the hallway.

After a tap on her shoulder breaking her from her thoughts on Carmen, Hannah turned to find Emryn, sporting an entirely new hair color.

"Hey bitch!" The girl exclaimed. Her hair was a bright blue, her eyeshadow dark, and her lips pink.

"Oh my god your hair! I love it!" They hugged, the smell of coconuts enveloping her.

When she leaned back out of the hug, Emryn placed her hands on either side of Hannah's face. "How the hell are you?" Emryn had always been a very hands-on person.

"The real question is, how the hell have you been? I saw your single topped the charts last month. It's still up in the top ten, last time I checked." Hannah struggled to get out of the embrace. As much as she loved Emryn, it sometimes was a bit much. But she couldn't help herself. She touched the end of her shoulder-length hair, "God, I love it. It looks great on you."

"Just for you babe."

Ah, Emryn. Always a big flirt. In the beginning, Hannah had been concerned that she would take it too far. Worried that she would flirt just a little too much and people would question how she got into the record label – much like Carmen's false assumption when she wanted to threaten Hannah. It wasn't until later that Hannah concluded that Emryn liked to rile her up. She flirted with everyone, but she knew how flustered it made her. It just fueled her to continue with the banter.

Introductions went around again.

"I hear you're about to do some wild things." Carmen said.

Emryn raised a brow. "Is that an invitation?"

Hannah choked on the air she inhaled.

"Funny," Carmen kept her face cool, unruffled by the audacious remark. "I heard you are scheduled to record a new album soon."

"Ah." Emryn nodded, not without looking the woman up and down. "Yeah. We're scheduled I think sometime this week or next.

Hannah felt a wave of emotions from watching someone looking at Carmen the way that Emryn did.

The band began playing a few chords.

"We're testing out a new single tonight. See how it goes with the crowd. We'll probably record that first so it can be ready for an early release."