“Yeah?” Anna prompted.
“Well, you mentioned that you want people to take you more seriously, to see you as an adult, so what if you use the tour to debut a bit of a new look for yourself?”
“A new look?” Anna twisted her lips to the side. She liked her look. It was very authenticallyher, no matter how bubbly and colorful, and her stomach sank to realize Eden didn’t understand that.
“Nothing drastic,” Eden said. “A new hairstyle, maybe? A little tweak like that can go a long way toward making you look older. And you could upgrade your tour costumes from athletic wear to something a little fancier. I could totally see you rocking a pair of rainbow sequined pants.”
Oh.Just like that, Anna’s disappointment vanished. She imagined herself onstage with a fresh new haircut, wearing pants that glittered with the colors of the rainbow. It felt more mature, yes, but it still maintained her signature style. “You know what? I love that. I’m going to call my stylist after lunch.”
Eden’s cheeks pinked just slightly, but it was enough to make Anna’s stomach give a dizzying swoop. Eden looked down at her plate. “We can’t always control the way the media portrays us, but there are ways to help steer the narrative.”
While they ate, they chatted about the tour schedule and which cities they were most looking forward to visiting, and then they moved to the lounge chairs and stretched out. Eden looked relaxed and content. She had a beautiful laugh, which made Anna want to hear it more often.
“Let’s take a selfie,” she suggested, pulling out her phone. “I can post it and tag you to help keep the excitement for the tour going.”
“Sure.” Eden slid onto Anna’s lounge chair, her body pressed close as Anna held her phone overhead. Her cheek pressed against Anna’s, and there was the scent of roses Anna had come to associate with her. Today it was mixed with lemons from her lunch.
Anna took a burst of photos as she and Eden hammed it up for the camera, and then she spun her phone to check them out. “Oh, we’re cute.”
“Very cute. Pick whichever one you think is cutest and post it. I trust you.”
CHAPTER NINE
The first week of rehearsals was always the most difficult. It felt like trying to juggle a hundred balls, all of them different sizes and sometimes moving in unexpected directions. Eden enjoyed the challenge, even on the days when it was hard to imagine things ever coming together to form a cohesive show.
She’d learned to trust the process. It always felt chaotic at first, and it always came together in the end. Today, she and Anna had their first official rehearsal for the “After Midnight” duet. They’d spent the afternoon finding ways to tweak what they’d done at the Grammys to make it fresh and exciting.
“We have to remember that after opening night, our duet won’treallybe a surprise,” Anna said after Paris suggested a change to the staging that would better conceal Anna before the big reveal.
Eden frowned. “Won’t it?”
“For the casual fans, the people who attend a show without following our social media or interacting with other fans online, sure, yeah, they’ll be surprised each night,” Anna said. “But our hard-core fans will have heard about the duet and seen pictures online. They’ll be anticipating it, so we should lean into that and make sure we give them what they want.”
“How so?” Eden asked.
“A way to tease, maybe? What if I rotate between several costumes that reflect your iconic looks? You could do a post on your social media asking fans to name a favorite ‘early Eden’ look that they’d like me to recreate or even put up a poll for them to try to guess which costume I’ll wear each night. We embrace the fact that they’re expecting me to appear during the song and still build their anticipation because they want to see what costume I’ll be wearing.”
“I love that idea,” Eden said. “What do you think, Paris?”
“Love it, too, and I’m jotting everything down.” Paris held up her phone. “A Twitter poll could be a great way to get the fans hyped.”
After they finished rehearsing, Paris showed them a post she’d drafted with a few photos from their rehearsal—photos that hinted at but didn’t confirm a duet to start building hype. With their permission, she shared it on Eden’s social media and tagged Anna. Then Paris excused herself to make a call.
“Heading out?” Eden asked Anna as they began to pack up their things.
“Yep. I rode my bike today so I could take a ride up the coast before I go home.”
“Oh.” Eden felt a tug in her chest. It took her a moment to realize it was longing.
“I brought my spare helmet,” Anna said, glancing at her. “Just in case.”
“In case of what?” Eden asked, even as her heart sped, imagining them whizzing down the road together, leaving the pressures of the world behind.
“In case you wanted to join me.”
“Yes,” Eden answered before she’d had a chance to second-guess herself.
Anna laughed. “That was easier than I expected. Really?”
