love you in the dark || adele x fem

Chapter One

"You are joking, right?"

She didn't believe what she just heard. This wasn't happening, not today. "Please tell me it is a joke. We need him." She was begging at this point, feeling a nervous rush build up in her stomach. She really needed Anthony today, they were on such a tight schedule.

It was the first day of July. The sun was burning relentlessly, making the L.A. air flicker during the day. The air conditioning in the big hall tried it best to cool the air down, but it still felt stuffy und uncomfortably warm. The mingling of hectic voices and construction sounds made the woman's head pound.

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the noise around her, so she could catch a clear thought. Breath in. Breath out.

Her eyes met her assistant's dark ones. "Rose, tell me Anthony will be here in a bit." Rose shook her head. "He had to leave, indefinitely. A family emergency. I don't know when we will be back, Adele." The blond singer slumped back in her chair, defeated. "Is he okay?"

Two days. That was all they had.

Two days to shoot the remaining visuals for the big screen for her upcoming residency. Only one more month and she was standing in front of 80.000 people. For ten shows. She pushed the thought aside. Every time she thought of the upcoming month, her throat was tightening, and she had the urge to throw up. Or burst into tears. Or hide in the corner. She knew it were her nerves and that it would be fine in the end. Quickly she pushed the thought aside. No time to freak out about this now. They had more urgent problems to solve now. Like finding a new Make-Up artist who could be here within the next hour and was able to create Adele's signature look. Just like Anthony had been doing it for the past years. Her team was already on it. They would find a solution.

Adele pushed the curtain to the side that was hiding her from the rest of the hall. Everything was set up already. Her dress was ready, the cameras were already positioned at the set. She watched as the set came to life. Water dropping down. It would look like she was in the middle of a rainstorm, exactly what they had intended. These visuals for 'Set fire to the rain' were the only one missing. They had no time to waste. In less than two weeks she was on her way to Munich for the insane project that they had planned to the smallest detail these last months. It was all becoming very real now. If today went as planned.

One deep breath later, Adele went over to the director of today's shoot, to talk to him about the details for the visuals again, so that everything went smoothly later. If they found another Make-Up Artist on such short notice.

"I'll be there with a driver in 30 minutes. I will fill you in with the details on the way to the location. See you!" With those words the line went dead.

Was Valerie dreaming? Was this phone call real? Or was she still dreaming? She couldn't exactly tell. The conversation hadn't sunk in yet. She had been on the phone with Rose Moon... Rose Moon who was Adele's assistant. The Adele. She had to still be asleep. There was no other explanation. This was all a dream. A crazy real feeling dream. She wanted to pinch herself, to make sure that she really was awake. She needed to gather all her things now. This was a once in a lifetime job offer and she had to perform perfectly. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the big mirror in the hallway. She looked like she had seen a ghost or just witnessed something horrifying. She couldn't show up on set looking like this! But there was not enough time left to get ready. It was more important that she packed everything that she might need, or not need, for the job. She was going to work for Adele!

Her phone buzzed just as she threw the last make up brushes into her bag. Just in time. A few deep breathes later, her professional mask was in place. Today was important. She had to look composed, like she was not freaking out considering the huge opportunity ahead of her. Just stay calm.