Darcy’s tune was essentially tattooed in her mind; at her show last night, she’d almost fuckingplayedit onstage. Christ.
Robbie lifted his eyebrows at her, in thataw, shucksway he had. “I didn’t even realize. Catchy as all hell.”
“I can’t believe she wrote a fuckingsongabout me,” she seethed.
She’d had a ranting session for the entire plane ride here to Laura, who’d managed to talk her off a cliff. Temporarily, anyway, as she currently felt as though she was about to dive right back over it.
“Well, she wrote a verse about you,” Robbie corrected, laughter in his voice.
She aimed a withering glare at him. It was good to have Robbie here tonight, to give her an outlet for this rage before she had to go on stage and perform with a smile. Granted, she already knew tonight was going to be an insanely successful show, simply because Robbie was going to appear as a guest.
Throughout the last eight years – since they’d started their “romance” – they’d always highlighted their relationship in at least one duet per each album they released, accruing seven so far. They’d arranged a mashup for tonight of their three most popular.
Well,Juliethad made the arrangement and sent it to Robbie, who had easily agreed. One of her favorite things about her faux boyfriend was how much he deferred to her. Both in terms of their publicity choices and when they sang together. Match made in heaven.
Usually, some of her favorite nights on tour were when Robbie came to surprise the audience. He did a great job of getting her out of her own mind.
Usuallybeing a key word.
“Living in my brain?Shelives inmybrain?” She demanded from Robbie, sliding off of her chair, driven by the intense need to pace. “It’s a bit hypocritical coming from her, given thatsheis the one who wrote the damn song.”
“Verse,” Robbie oh-so-helpfully pitched in again.
Ignoring him, Juliet continued to pace, tossing her arms out wide as if it could help expel this energy surging through her. “She’s the one who took it there. Not me. IfI’mobsessed with her, what does that make her where I’m concerned?”
When Robbie said nothing from his perch leaning against the wall, watching her with a mildly amused stare, she paused and cut him an expectant look.
“Oh, you wanted an answer for that? I assumed with the pacing and venting that it was rhetorical.”
“You are the least funny person I know.”
“That is definitely not true. We both know at least a dozen of the least funny people in the world, including your stepfather.”
Thatwas just enough to get her to crack a grudging smile, even if it was also half-grimace. Because, yeah, Robbie was right. And Harrison wasn’t even a corny-middle-aged-man kind of unfunny; he was the kind of unfunny who took pleasure in putting people down and witnessing failures.
She would know.
Robbie sighed. “Look, if you want my honest feedback–”
“That’s what I asked for.” In her own silent way. But he should know that by now.
“You’re doing the world’s best job of giving Darcy power over you. Maybe she wouldn’t sing about you being obsessed if you, y’know,weren’t.”
Her cheeks heated and she wanted desperately to blame anger rather than embarrassment at having been called out so blatantly. Still, she sniffed. “How am I supposed to ignore her when she is every-fucking-where?”
She couldn’t drive down a street without seeing advertisements for We, The Romantics’ tour in a few months, given that tickets had just gone on sale. She couldn’t go on any social media – even her fake one, the one she used with her middle name – because Darcy wasstillall over. Her voice – uh,her band’ssongs – played as multiple of the most popular trending audios.
Almost all of Juliet’s personal life was wrapped up in her professional life. Robbie and Laura were her confidantes, and most of her free time when she had it, was spent focusing on her next albums.
There was nowhere to turn withoutDarcyalready there.
And now! Now, she’d released that song about Juliet.
“You know, maybe she’s right. Maybe you should apologize to me for not talking about me more. Maybe that way she’ll write songs about you being obsessed with me. Problem solved.”
She scowled. “Yes, and that would be so great.”
Even if she took away the Darcy aspect of his ribbing, it made her stomach churn. Her arrangement with Robbie was perfect in many ways, but one of the biggest – for Juliet – was not actually having to deal with a partner who had some fragile ego.
