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"Jerrica?"
Jerrica sighed as Kimber approached and called her name, the singer turning to face her sister with a slightly forced smile. She had just gotten home from another meeting with the Starlight Music board of executives, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse face-first into her bed and sleep for the next twenty-four hours. But she had so much to do, interviews to plan, photoshoots to set-up, songs to write and recordings to schedule...
Jerrica was tired. And from the concerned looks on her sisters' faces, she must have looked tired too.
"Are you... alright?" Aja asked from where she was stood at the counter, looking to be halfway through putting some dishes away. Shana was next to her, sweeping the floor, although she was currently leaning on the broom and staring at Jerrica with a raised eyebrow.
Jerrica wasn't alright, but she didn't have time to not be alright.
"I'm fine," she assured her sisters, attempting a reassuring smile but from their expressions she knew it had come out as more of a grimace, "really."
"Are you?" Shana raised an eyebrow, "really?"
Kimber tentatively wrapped an arm around Jerrica's shoulder, walking towards the couch with her.
"Come, sit down."
Honestly, Jerrica was surprised that her fellow sisters and bandmates hadn't staged an intervention sooner.
"Jerrica," Kimber continued as she guided Jerrica to sit down on the couch, the singer's younger sister's features drawn together in worry with a note of concern present in her tone, "I'm sorry, but you look awful."
Jerrica felt like she should have been offended by that, but she knew Kimber was right. The last few weeks her appearance that was reflected in the mirror had gotten worse and worse, her hair greasy and pulled back into a messy ponytail, her eyebags darker and deeper every day, her normally neatly pressed and styled clothes rumpled and messy. Jem was making less and less public appearances, and when she did her interviews were rushed and awkward.
The public was noticing, the board was noticing, her sisters were noticing. Everyone was noticing that Jerrica wasn't alright, that Jem wasn't alright.
She was tired, her body hurt, she couldn't focus, and everything was just too much.
"You need to sleep," Aja chided as she pushed a mug of warm tea into Jerrica's hands as Shana wrapped a blanket over Jerrica's shoulders, "you've been working yourself into the ground, and I know for a fact you haven't been eating right."
Jerrica sighed, blankly gazing down at the gently steaming tea as she held the warm mug close to her chest.
She hadn't had a full nights rest in weeks, she was always working late and getting up early. She always had something to be working on, some sort of obligation or task or idea she had to get done.
She couldn't remember the last time she had nothing that she needed to get done.
"I can't, I don't have the time," Jerrica explained, feeling the familiar panic of overwhelming stress wash over her, "the Misfits keep trying to steal our shows, the Starlight Music board is getting on me for slacking on my management duties, Jerrica needs to attend so many meetings, I have to keep up with my practice for Jem, I have so many interviews and photo shoots and recordings and-"
Jerrica paused, carefully leaned forward to set her mug of tea on the coffee table, leaned back, and then burst into tears.
"Jerrica!" Kimber moved to sit at Jerrica's side, her hand rising to rest against Jerrica's back as Kimber tried to soothe her.
"I'm sorry," Jerrica spoke between sobs, her shoulders heaving as she tried to muffle her cries behind shaking hands, "I'm sorry, I'm okay, I'm fine. It's just-"
"Jerrica," Kimber cut Jerrica off, her eyebrows curving upwards as Jerrica's sister grabbed one of her hands, holding it tightly as she spoke, "you're not fine. And that's alright, but you just need to tell us what's wrong."
"Maybe we can help." Aja added, "you don't need to handle everything alone, you know."
Jerrica took a deep, albeit shaky, breath in, trying to get her emotions under control before she spoke.
"I don't feel like I have the time to be Jerrica anymore," she said, "it's either Jerrica or Jem, I don't have the time for both. And everyone wants Jem but Jerrica needs to do everything for Jem and I just can't keep up."
Kimber hummed sympathetically, squeezing Jerrica's hand comfortingly.
"Here," Shana gently settled her hand on Jerrica's knee from where she sat on the other side of Jerrica, Aja beside her, "we known you've been busy balancing both your life as Jerrica and your life as Jem, but we didn't know it was this bad."
"Now that we know," Aja reached over Shana to gently rub Jerrica's shoulder, "we'll help out more. We can get interviews scheduled better, and we'll help you with everything Starlight Music related."
"Are you sure?" Jerrica sniffed, raising a hand to wipe at her wet cheeks, "it's... a lot."
"It's a lot for one person," Kimber gently patted Jerrica's knee, "but with all of us helping out, we'll get everything sorted in no time. We're sisters and we're all apart of the band, it's about time we started pulling our own weight around here."
"I just..." Jerrica sighed, "I don't want you guys to get overwhelmed too. It's all so much..."
"We'll work together," Kimber assured her, "and if it gets to much, we'll find a way to lessen the workload. Alright?"
Jerrica nodded slowly, feeling at least a little less stressed.
"Here," Aja pressed the still-warm mug of tea into Jerrica's hand, gently wrapping her fingers around it, "drink this, and then head to bed. Get a full night's rest, and we'll figure out a plan in the morning. Alright?"
Jerrica nodded and took a slow sip of the tea, savoring it's flavor and the warmth it brought to her.
Perhaps, with her sisters at her side, it would be alright.