Lies and Lullabies (Rodrick Heffley x Black Fem MC!!)

Chapter 7

    Over the weeks, Deja settled in the back guest house. It was a weird transition: the boys clearly never lived with a woman other than their mothers before now, but Deja had been helping around the house (cleaning, redecorating, and cooking), and so they quickly grew a bond. The boys were kind enough to help her move most of her belongings from the apartment and keep an eye out for Ace.

Aanya also came to help, but Deja knew she was there to meet Drew. Much to Deja's surprise, Aanya and Drew had more in common than she initially thought, but the two, for lack of better words, match each other's freak. Immediately the two clicked upon introduction, and their ability to joke together brought out an easy chemistry as the two found a sync in their senses of humor and lifestyle. It also helps that Drew's love language is being a yes man and showering his partners in praise, and God did he want to praise her.

Deja took her downtime to write more music about her life lately, and tried to make time for her coke away from Rodricks eyes. With the album taking up the rest of her time, it's easier to hide her addiction. It was relaxing for her to avoid using a much without Ace around, and it brought surprising clarity to her mind as she found herself scribbling manifestos in her journal instead of lyrics. She chased catharsis with every stroke of her pen, and found several songs she would tuck away until the wound stopped aching.

With the clarity came less panic attacks in public, and Deja realized that without Ace over her shoulder every second she could finally enjoy the fewer outings she had, and she could control where she goes and for how long with an amount of independence that frightened her.

The album was almost done, the label approved the first six tracks, and she had three already recorded and she just needed Ace to record his verses over her background vocals... whenever that would be. The album consists of ten tracks which were easy for her to get through quickly since they wanted them to utilize pop and it bored her to death. She was able to write some songs for fun and produced the music to go along with her poetry. She also finally recorded her verse for the Olivia collaboration, so now it is up to Luna when it will be released.

The fact Luna had that kind of power made her skin crawl. If she waits too long to put it out it could overshadow the rest of the tracks on the album. Deja often leaves to meet up with Ryan and Taylor at a studio the label rented for them.

On the other side, Rodrick was still getting used to having her around all the time. Though she did spend most of her time in the pool house, he found himself outside looking across and trying to catch her in the window only seeing Yamato, her cat. When his mind is not wondering they often run into each other in the studio, since there was only one. Their home studio is fitted for rehearsal rather than recording, but listening and watching her create music is fascinating to him. He always wanted to learn how to produce music, but he never had time to spare. His label always had songs ready for them, but now that they are responsible for their next album he wishes he had made time so the band wouldn't need to travel to a studio downtown.

Ernest adding events to their itinerary did not help. Not only was Payne performing at a music festival at Miami beach, but battle of the bands was also next month. The festival was the least of their worries until Ernest requested they perform a new song. The Battle of the Bands is particularly important because it could make or break a band. Yes, it's a big meet up between known and upcoming talent to get exposure, but it's a competition first and foremost. The category portion, Rock off, is cutthroat and all the performances are live. The last three years Payne has won the 'Rock offs' so they were not stressed that they would lose since they, and L&L, are the finalists almost every year.

In the studio, the band is practicing since the performance is tomorrow. At least their sellout of a manager was able to provide them with a suitable time to perform; third to last, which gives them time to hang out before they take the stage.