selfish | salia

Chapter 19

I was still sat on my bed, not having a clue on what to do. I debated calling Angele, but I wasn't sure what she would say, and right now all I wanted was peace and quiet. Time to think.

But I was reminded that it was hard to get that around here, because my door burst open and Freya strutted in, plopping down on the end of my bed.

"I didn't strangle him. Maybe I should have, but no, I just told him he was an idiot. Several times. Talia Mar, your boyfriend is- Oh my god, what's wrong?" She stopped midway through her rant when she saw my tear stained cheeks. "I didn't mean to insult Simon that much I-"

"It's nothing to do with Simon. Well, maybe it is. It is and it isn't. I think I might have to break up with him, Freya," I sobbed.

"Woah, hold on, break up with him? Why are you breaking up with him, you guys-"

"I haven't told anyone about this, and you have to promise me you won't either," I faced her, looking at her dead in the eyes until she nodded along.

"I promise," She said solemnly.

"Before Simon, I hadn't dated anyone for two years, not since my last boyfriend. He was called Owen, and he practically ruined my life. He was just - very controlling, and manipulative, and did some pretty shitty things. Things I don't know if I'll ever tell anyone else about, but I'm guessing you get the idea?" I checked to see if she was still following along, and she was so I continued. "Okay, so after Simon posted that picture on Instagram, you know the one where it kind of confirmed us? Owen somehow still had my phone number and called it, threatening that if I didn't break up with Simon, he's release my songs I wrote a couple of years ago...I poured my whole heart and soul into those songs, and if he releases them that's my career ruined...I'd lose motivation, I'd have lost the money, not to mention the countless hours of my life I spent making them myself. But I also can't bring myself to break up with Simon, I love him so much Freya," I finished, the tears starting to roll down my face once more.

She sat there for a couple of moments, in silence. "How would you feel about releasing the songs today?" She suggested, and I looked at her like she was crazy.

"I don't have a record, I don't know how any of this stuff works, Freya. It's too much at a short notice."

"Why don't you just -"

"Trust me, Freya. I've thought of everything. I'm either going to ruin my dream career, or lose my boyfriend. I can't keep both."

"Yes you can," She said, getting up. "Come on, follow me," She grabbed my arm, yanking me along with her. Despite my protests, she carried on walking until she reached - Vik's room?

"Freya, how is Vik going to help me?"

"We're not here to see Vik. We're here to see Eloise, come on," She continued, pulling me in their room where Eloise was sat on Vik's bed. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Eloise, how quickly can you talk to your friends at RecordX?" Freya asked, quickly explaining the whole situation to her, leaving out the personal parts about Owen, just saying that he was a crazy ex.

Eloise turned to face me. "I have all day to sort this out for you. Leave it with me, can you send the copies of all of your songs over to me by lunch time?" She asked, coming over to me and squeezing my hand in reassurance.

"Uh - yeah, I can send them over," I spoke in bewilderment. Was this really going to work?

"If everything goes well, I'll send the songs over to Kyle - he's the go to person, and he should be able to fix up a quick under the carpet deal, so we can release your songs under your name, on all streaming platforms by tonight. Then, if this ex boyfriend tries to release them on YouTube, they'll be copyrighted and taken down. Trust me, I know how this stuff works now" She grinned at me, and for the first time in a long time I started to feel my stress levels go down.