A Defining Mistake

Chapter 14 - Outtro

A droplet of coffee slipped out of the dinosaur decorated reusable coffee cup onto Ada's fluffy hoody hood. She was tilting her head and posing with the cup, trying to take a cute selfie without drawing too much attention to herself. Over the last two and a half years since her appearance on Am I Enough?, she'd gotten pretty good at evading the paparazzi. Most of the time her whereabouts weren't cared about, she wasn't important enough to be researched and tracked unless the information was easily available. They would hang around outside theatres she was performing at, catching her as she arrived or left the building or when she joined The Heap on tour as her location was readily available online. Sometimes Ada slipped up and posted her location and other times she didn't care, didn't want the paparazzi to rule her life. It felt like a good balance. Still, the act of taking a selfie in public oftentimes draws attention regardless of anyone recognizing her, even in the private airport lounge she was sitting in. Somehow, she managed to get a cute snap worthy of her Instagram stories. The photo uploaded with the vague caption 'Scotland bound', Ada continued scrolling through Instagram, occasionally flitting over to Twitter. She grinned when she read Jordan's message, replying to her Instagram story with: 'I can't wait to see you.'

'You can't by flying up to Scotland, you have to be on This Morning tomorrow.'

A message came through from her manager, Javi, stopped Ada in her tracks. Javi was referring to her Instagram story and her heart sank. She tapped on Javi's icon and called him.

"Since when I am going on This Morning?" Ada demanded. She was annoyed. She was not one to forget her appearance bookings, never had before. Javi, however, had done this a couple of times recently, mixing up appearances and dates. Of course, she always got the flack for not showing up or being late. "It's not in my calendar?"

"I emailed you weeks ago." Javi brought the same energy right back, immediately defensive. "I'll show you."

"Please do." Ada was confident, smug even. Before she rang, she'd checked her email and her calendar and found nothing. He was silent for a while before he began to stutter. Ada cut him off. "You didn't send it, did you?"

"I guess not," Javi admitted. "You can't pull out of this one though Ada, can't you just go to Scotland tomorrow night?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Ada sighed. "I better go home and get up to London. Have you at least booked me any accommodation?"

"I'll get on that now."

Ada brought her hand up to her face, taking a deep breath before moving into action. First, she deleted the story for her Instagram that, unfortunately, had already had near on 50,000 views in the last 15 minutes.

While she gathered up the belongings spread about her, feeling thankful she didn't have any checked luggage, Ada opened her favourites menu on her phone and called Jordan. He answered on the second ring, despite probably running around making sure everything was in order for The Heap's show that evening.

"Hey you," his tone was warm and Ada could hear the smile in his voice, erupting butterflies in her stomach. Then she remembered why she was calling and felt every single butterfly die a painful death. His next words added salt to the wound. "Less than three hours to go."

"About that," Ada felt her mouth turn down involuntarily, knowing tears were imminent. She rolled her eyes at herself, feeling ridiculous. It was only 24 hours after all. "Javi mucked up my schedule. I'm supposed to be on This Morning tomorrow so won't be able to fly up till tomorrow afternoon."

"He screwed it up again?" Jordan's light warm tone changed to disbelief. "This is getting bad."

"I know it's getting ridiculous. I feel bad though, we've been working together so long. I'm sorry babe, I can get on the next plane after I'm done. It's only another 24 hours I know but it's not the point, it's so annoying." Ada was almost in tears now, holding her head in her spare hand. "I wish I had a manager like you, you're so organised."

"So, have me then," Jordan replied. "Why don't I be your manager?"

"What?" Ada said, startled. "You've been with the boys for so long though? You never said you wanted to quit?"

"For you? I'd quit any day," Jordan said. "We've been together for two years but go weeks without seeing each other and when we do see each other its only for a couple of days. If I was your manager, we'd be together all the time and you wouldn't have any screw ups."

"Are you being serious?" Ada said, a smile spreading across her face as she pictured her and Jordan travelling the world together. "I don't want you to give up everything for me."

"I wouldn't be giving up anything, Ada," Jordan chuckled lightly. "I'd be gaining everything."