An Unsung Melody

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Logan: Sorry, it's early, but I wanted to send a clip of this song over to you. It's more than I imagined it could be. Thanks for your work on it.

***

Ashley tumbled into the kitchen the next morning, still exhausted but excited over everything that had happened the day before. Just feeling some freedom over her career was like a burst of sunlight in the gloom she'd been in.

She'd woken up to a text from Logan with a snippet of the song they'd worked on the day before, and she loved it more than she'd ever expected to.

"Justin!" She said excitedly as she caught sight of him. "Wait until you hear..." she trailed off and looked around in surprise. "What is this?"

"Breakfast," Justin said as he slid a plate across the counter to sit in front of the stool where she stood.

Ashley fell into the chair, taking in everything on the plate, "you made me breakfast? A suspiciously high in iron breakfast?"

"And vitamin C," Justin told her with a grin.

Ashley chewed the inside of her lip, then looked back up, "Are you trying to make me cry?"

"No," Justin said, sliding a second plate across the counter to sit by the other stool. "I'm trying to get you off those iron supplements you hate so much. And also keep myself safe from Elle."

Ashley poked at the omelet looking thing on her plate, "Is it edible?"

Justin fell onto the stool beside her and took a forkful of the mixture, watching her as he put it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "It's actually not awful," He said with a tone of his own surprise. "But maybe it needs some hot sauce."

He hopped up with enviable energy and went to the fridge, coming back with three different bottles of hot sauce and some mild salsa, which he handed to her with a sigh. "Or boring old salsa."

Ashley took a bite; her eyes widened in surprise. "It's not bad! When did you learn to cook?"

"I started getting sick of all the restaurants and catered food so I just started experimenting over the last couple of years. I can't take credit for the recipe though, I googled it."

Lynn came into the kitchen then, balancing a lap top, her phone, a notebook and some loose papers. She gave them a disgruntled look, "Just so you know, things are a mess with the things Lance's group sent over today. Did you know you got a request to be a part of a new movie project?"
Ashley looked surprised, grabbing at the papers and notebook before they could fall, "as in acting in a movie?"

"Voice over," Lynn said absently, "possibly a song or two to go with the movie. Is that something you've been interested in?"

Ashley looked at Justin who tried so hard to look innocent that she suspected he knew more than he was letting on. "I guess I'm interested."

Lynn had settled the laptop on the counter, her eyes still roaming over its screen. "It looks like the people from MTV reached out about you at least presenting at the VMA's this year; they wanted a performance, but I think it's too late for that. Would you consider presenting?"

"The VMA's are always a good time, I'd be up for being involved."

"I'll reach out today and try to see what repairs I can make. Some of these requests are months old. What was that boy thinking?" She fell into muttering about Lance as she continued to go through items on her list.

Finally she looked up again, taking her glasses off and eyeing Ashley intently, "I sent over my management contracts to you with DocuSign." She pointed the stem of her glasses at Ashley, "You will read them thoroughly before you sign them?"