I definitely would.
Was Neil…flirting with me? My heartbeat quickened. I couldn’t deny that, for the last month or so, I’d hoped he had feelings for me the way I’d grown to have feelings for him. This was different from just planning a date, though. He’d never flirted this overtly before.
Maybe someday soon you’llget to see exactly what I wear to bed.
I’ll count down the days.
***
WHEN I SHOWEDup at the Dark Sound Studios office the next morning, the security guard directed me to the parking lot out back. There were a couple large buses and a dozen staff members already there.
My staff badge let me wander around virtually unnoticed. Everyone was rushing around looking harried, trying to finalize the last details before we officially took off for the summer. It was just like being backstage. Everyone seemed to have a job to do, and they were all doing it at maximum speed.
I didn’t want to stand around gawking while everyone else was working, so I pulled out the phone Deena gave me.
For my internship application, I had to map out a general social media strategy. I’d worked on it so hard I could rattle it off by heart. I knew what sort of pictures I needed. This was the very beginning of the tour, the very first morning, and fans would like to see the kind of stuff involved in a big tour like this.
I opened the camera app and snapped away, going from one area to another, trying not to get run over by the people rushing to and fro. None of them paid me any attention. It seemed that as long as I had a staff badge, I was virtually invisible.
“Is there a reason you’re standing in the middle of my shot?”
I turned to find a video camera in my face, the camera operator hidden behind it. He hadn’t been the one to speak. A man stood next to him, arms crossed, annoyance evident on his face. He didn’t have a headset on and he didn’t have a staff badge. I opened my mouth to apologize and was met with the most stunning pair of light blue eyes I’d ever seen. The rest of his face was just as stunning, perfectly sculpted like a Roman statue. With his crisp, light green collared shirt and tan slacks, I had to wonder. Was he a model? What was he doing in a music company parking lot?
“Can I help you?” Maybe he was lost.
The man turned from slightly annoyed to aggravated in an instant. He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers, looking pained, as if he had a migraine of epic proportions.
“You can help me by getting out of my shot.”
I glanced at the camera operator and it dawned on me.
“Oh! You must be part of the film crew.”
“I’m the assistant producer.” The man eyed me up and down and sneered. He beckoned over the closest person with a headset. “Can somebody tell me why there’s a groupie hanging around?”
“I’m not a groupie,” I told him through gritted teeth. “I’m—”
“You’re in my way,” he interrupted.
The person he’d grabbed stared at me with a blank expression and shrugged, continuing on his way. He’d had no idea who I was, but I had a staff badge, so I was safe.
“Just find somewhere else to take your groupie pictures.” The producer pulled out his phone and starting tapping at it, ignoring me completely.
I fumed inwardly but didn’t want to cause a scene, especially not on my first official day. “I’ll just go do my job somewhere else, then.” I turned on my heel and stalked off in the opposite direction.
Life had been too good to me lately. Scoring an awesome internship working with my favorite band, getting to follow them around all summer and using my social media skills to promote them—there had to be a catch. Of course it was egotistical industry execs with big heads and holier-than-thou attitudes abusing the lowly intern.
The man had been more handsome than I would have expected from some pompous music executive, though, and he didn’t have a staff badge. I glanced back at him, but he was speaking with the camera operator, who seemed to be listening. Not a model, then, and probably telling the truth about being on the film crew. It didn’t bode well for me if that guy was any indication of the people I’d be working with on this tour.
I pulled out my phone and typed furiously to Neil. He would understand, being in the film business himself. I was sure he’d run into his fair share of self-important jerks.
@AudioAiley:Turns out there are assholes in every industry.
A few minuteslater I got the reply:
@PointShootNeil:Something happen?
Just some pompous ass mistreating the lowly intern.
