Tightrope

Chapter Five

All Thursday morning, Tori watched the door. Her day had been fantastic so far, and she knew that she wasn't supposed to be expecting Jade until close to noon, but that didn't prevent her from glancing worriedly through the glass at the doors every few minutes, almost expecting her pretend girlfriend to burst through them an hour early.

In comparison to the day before, they were getting a lot accomplished, which Tori normally would have been very proud of and excited about, but everyone was starting to look hungry, prompting her to worry that they'd break for lunch before Jade arrived. She purposely messed up a couple of times, dragging out recording the last part of what would likely be the album's very last song in order to delay lunch time, but her worries were relieved when, just as she set her headphones down, Jade walked through the door, looking rather perturbed, but otherwise perfect, dressed in a form-fitting blue shirt, a pair of dark jeans, and some black boots that Tori had noticed were missing from her closet that morning. Her dark hair hung in waves down her back like it usually did, but this time she was holding it back from her face with a black headband adorned with a small white flower – another thing she'd stolen from Tori. She looked less severe than usual, and honestly, Tori thought, more beautiful, although her facial expression slightly disguised that. Before anybody's first impression of her could be affected, Tori burst out of the recording booth and met Jade at the door, grabbing a hold of her hand and receiving an explanation before she could ask her why she looked so annoyed.

"You need to tell people when I'm coming. The guy at the desk didn't believe I was your girlfriend, and your phone is off, so I had to flash him to get in here."

"You what?"

"You heard me. I am not at Mardi Gras, or spring break in Panama City, and I am not a stripper, so if this is going to be a regular thing-"

"It won't be... I'll talk to him." Holding Jade's hand even tighter, Tori turned to introduce her to everyone, listing off a long string of names that Jade wasn't interested in learning, while every man in the room stared at her.

"...and this is James, he's my manager." Tori motioned toward one last person, a tanned dark-haired man in his 30s who had walked into the room just in time to be introduced.

"Ah, Jade, right?" He asked, sounding awfully preoccupied, "I've heard all about you. Nice to meet you." He said quickly, before turning his attention back to his phone.

"Okay, so if we're going to break for lunch now, we'll be go-"

"Why don't we all go to lunch together?" Suggested the drummer, Marcus, a buff but short man with bleached blond hair, who Jade figured couldn't possibly be any older than she was. She vaguely remembered Tori explaining that he was only at the studio on this particular day because his father worked there and he'd tagged along. That must have also been how he'd ended up with his position in Tori's band, Jade assumed, because he certainly didn't look like a very good musician.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Exclaimed his taller, less attractive friend - the bass guitarist, whose unimportant name escaped Jade's mind at the moment. She studied the look on his face as Tori played with the fingers of her right hand, still held hostage by the scam artist's left one. Unattractive Bass Guitarist didn't seem to realize that Jade was completely aware that he was staring at her chest, which was pretty much the entire basis of her opinion of him.

"Uhh..." Tori spit out, glancing at Jade as if she were asking for permission, even though the whole scheme was completely in her hands. "Well, I guess that would be okay." The two present members of the band seemed a little too happy at the sound of Tori's agreement, so she immediately turned toward her manager, who was still doing something on his phone while tuning everyone out.