Holliewood (Completed)

chapter twenty-four

"So do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Devon asked, rubbing his arm.

"I'm okay with whatever," I sighed, not really caring for the order in which he would tell me.

We were out grabbing coffee and having a meeting at his favourite cafe.

"Okay. So the good news is your album is projected to do four hundred thousand first week sales," Devon spoke

That was good. I wanted to give myself a pat on the back, but I didn't know what he was about to tell me, "And what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that the label isn't satisfied with those numbers."

"What do you mean they aren't satisfied? Most of the other artists on the label can't even get those numbers a month after release."

"Fair observation, but not many of them are eight years into their career. The other artists on the label for example, Rylon Ray, he's nine years in and he pulled seven hundred and thirty six thousand first week sales. He went platinum in two weeks."

"And my last album went triple platinum in eight months, Devon. Triple platinum."

"And I'll always be proud of you for doing that, but we have to aim higher.  Don't get me wrong, you're doing very good. They just need you to pull at least seven hundred thousand first week sales."

"They expect me to essentially double my sales in six weeks! That's impossible. We've done tv promo, radio, social media campaigns and hashtags, hell, we've even pushed my fake relationship with Raymond. Him and I have done a collaboration, red carpets and public appearances. I've put in so much effort on my side," I spoke in frustration.

"I know. I've spoken to Patricia about it and she's doing everything on her side to strategise. On my side I'm in talks of making you headline the second day of the Rerun Festival in late August."

I placed my face in both my palms and let out a heavy sigh. I could already feel the results of the pending exhaustion.

"On your side, I expect you to showcase more of the relationship on social media. Go live on Instagram if you have to. Post a Tik Tok if has to come down to that. Just do what you can."

I inwardly rolled my eyes.

"Also, I need you to stop putting Patricia in positions where she has to buy pictures from the paparazzi because they are trying to sell fake stories," he continued.

I lifted my face to look back at him, "What do you mean?"

He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture. I saw the familiar greenery. It was a picture of me and Day at our picnic last week. The angle of the picture showed it came from a hidden camera. We were both in the middle of laughing and my hand rested on his shoulder as if I was nudging him.

"I didn't even know they were following us, I didn't use my car that day."

"Okay, your explanation doesn't matter now, but you have to dead whatever it is you've got going on with this guy. Raymond does an even better job than you at concealing whatever relations he's got going on and you can't have indoor picnics to prevent things like this? Come on, Hollie."