The Masked Singer

[Chapter Thirty Five]

Chapter Thirty Five

This week has been a whole lot of crazy and hectic. I've been revising and rewriting music along with attending promotion events squeezed in-between every free second of my day. Exhaustion and the horrid taste of double shot coffee has become too familiar for me.

Sleep is the one thing that occupies my mind and fills me with happiness. At least tomorrow holds excitement, my family will be touching down in New York for my performance tomorrow. I'm looking forwards to spending time with Mom and Hannah shopping before going to the final rehearsal before the show.

I still wish Dad didn't leave, it gets lonely when you're by yourself. Despite Dad always barking out orders, he did them with an appropriate decision based on my welfare. Ava on the other hand, I feel like her little toy — her machine.

Most of the time it feels like she doesn't care about me. I've yet to get some time for myself. Instead it's consisted of early morning photoshoots, lunch with bosses, talk shows and then dinner with other promoters followed by more talk shows about people bugging me about my identity and music.

I need personal time where people don't pop out of the bush with the purpose to harass and photograph me.

When we pull in front of the hotel and I feel relief. Soon I'll be inside my room and in bed. I'm going to curl up into a ball and blast the air conditioner so it's nice and cold. Maybe I'll order pizza and bug Lucy over Skype.

Since this week arrived, I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her. Just a few hurried Skype calls here and there, and the odd text message in-between car rides. Although Alex makes the perfect substitute for the friend missing in my life, his boyish charm and stride to make everything perfect continuously reminds me that he's not my best friend Lucy.

I wish she could be here tomorrow. Lucy has always been the rock that keeps me centred and on track, also the sister from another mother. We started this together and she's missing the highlights.

The sound of my door being opened pulls me out of my bubble of thoughts. Quickly, I unbuckle my seatbelt and slide out of the car and into Alex's arms. He wraps his arm tightly around my waist so that he can guide me into the hotel lobby safely.

He's such a sweet boy, adorable and thoughtful, overall simply amazing. I feel like I really could be lost without his careful guidance and reassurance. Without spending the last couple of days with him, I doubt I would be able to appear confident.

What would I do without Alex leading me through everything?

"Come on, just a little further to go," he whispers into my ear.

A yawn ripples through me and my eyelids flutter dramatically as I try to stop the droplets of water from running down my face. The heavy feeling of the fabric weighing down on my skin makes me feel uncomfortable. I really want to run my hand over my face and throw my hair back, but I can't.

Fortunately for me, the elevator doors quickly spring open and we scurry inside. It's a bit squishy, but do-able. The feeling of no air flow quickly makes the small room stuffy and hot, I'm so relieved when the doors open on our floor.

I'm the first person to leap out and make a run for my room. Images of jumping onto my bed and cuddling my pillows pushes me to walk faster.

"Someone's in a hurry." Alex chuckles.

I smile over my shoulder as I grab my key card out of my pocket and slide it through the lock system on the door. It beeps when it's been accepted and clicks as the door unlocks.  

Alex, Archer and I go inside and find Ava sitting on the couch with paper work and the television running. Archer leaves for the kitchen which leaves just Alex and I alone in the middle of the open room.