Passionfruit

9.

Hey guys! Quick A/N. I usually upload on a different website more regularly and sometimes I let Wattpad get swept under the rug. I have three chapters to upload today to catch you guys up with my other sites. Hope you enjoy! 

I stared out the window of Luka's car, Santa Monica Beach zooming past me with crowds of people out enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I rested my chin on my hand, trying my best to zone out the conversation the girls were having around me.

"...and then there's this show that I heard about in New York we could head to," Luka was saying from her place at the steering wheel. "It's a contest. For up-and-comers. That'd also be a great way to boost sales."

"You don't think this is enough?" Gumi whined. "I'm exhausted."

"You didn't expect this to be a walk in the park, did you? We have stuff we need to get done," Luka insisted. "And if you want this album release to be a success, then we have to work our hardest right now. The release party will help, but Ken's gonna get our name out there even more."

"What will we need to do?" Miku asked from the passenger's seat. "Can we use a song from the album?"

"I don't think so." Luka switched lanes into the off-ramp, taking us back in the heart of downtown. "But that's why we're going to talk to him. So we can ask him questions like that. And also find out about our pay." She put emphasis on the word, sending a grin to each of us in turn.

"What's that contest?" Gumi asked.

"It's a yearly event in New York," she explained. "It's for artists with a fanbase, but not A or B-Listers. And it's a week before the release party. I think it's perfect, but I do understand you guys might be feeling a bit overwhelmed."

"Out of everything we have to do in the next month, that sounds the most fun," I told her. I yawned. We were just coming back from a nice dinner in Santa Monica, which, on the surface, seemed like a nice treat from our wonderful manager, but was actually another opportunity for her to talk business with us.

"Do you guys want me to set it up? Think American Idol, but only a week long. I just have to make a few phone calls and get your hotel reservations and then we're in."

I looked over a Gumi, sending her a shrug.

"I'm down," Miku told her. "How far are we? I just wanna go home."

"This isn't going to take long," Luka insisted. "I mostly just want you guys to meet Ken. He's a pretty big producer, and we might be able to get some big opportunities through him. And who knows? Maybe this movie will blow up."

"What's it about? Why do they want us?" Gumi opened her phone, checking her notifications, and immediately set it back down.

"It's about a bunch of female superheroes. They want the album to be exclusively-female artists, too."

I perked up. "I like it."

Luka took a few more turns, finally pulling up to a towering office building. I craned my next to see the top, my eyes widening. I hope we're not going all the way up there.

Luka turned into the attached parking garage. It was nearly empty, but it was also pushing ten o'clock at night, so I couldn't imagine many people would be working this late. She parked us next to a set of double doors leading to an elevator.

"Just be cool," Luka told us as we rode up the elevator. "This shouldn't take more than five minutes."

I nodded, leaning against the back wall of the elevator to get the weight off of my leg. I'd managed to keep my scrape hidden from my friends pretty easily just by wearing long pants and slapping some bandaids on it. It was mostly healed by now, but it annoyed me a bit when I wore tight pants for too long. The fabric of my jeans rubbed against it.