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Gem ends up texting Pearl before the night is up. Call her impatient - call her a couple dozen other things first - all she knows is that she likes this woman, and she wants to keep in touch.
It’s Gem! Was nice meeting you, she shoots off from the back of the car, and cradles the unresponsive text thread with maybe a little too much dragon-hoarding energy for Lavender’s taste.
“Who’re you texting?”
“Nothin’,” Gem protests. “I mean no one.”
It’s not until she’s home, stripped of her heels and that damn fitted dress, and halfway to crawling into bed with little more than a makeup wipe to her name, that Pearl pings her back.
yeah!
Which is…
Okay, it’s just “yeah”. It’s nothing special. But Gem still falls asleep with the warmth of that yeah dusting pink across her cheeks.
She wakes up to a phone alert, too, sending her stumbling over to the charger before her eyes are even really open. Not her alarm - that doesn’t activate on Sundays - that means it’s gotta be a call. Bleary, she picks up.
“Hello?”
“Gem!” Impulse. “Hey, sweetheart! You busy?”
“Mmm,” she debates, for a second, telling him yes and rolling back over for another hour, “no, I’m here.”
“Good, cause, uh,” he clears his throat, “some interesting photos in the tabloids this morning.”
That wakes her up. “Huh?”
“Listen, Gem, you know I don’t wanna cause any problems, but -”
“What, what happened?”
“I, uh. Whose number is that?”
Black marker, still stark against the white of her arm. “Um.”
“Because I know you know you have a responsibility to -”
“I made friends,” she cuts him off, “with a very nice lady called Pearl. And my phone was dead, so she gave me her number the old-school way.”
Impulse pauses. “Uh- huh.”
“That’s the truth!” she lies, “that’s all. I promise.”
Gem doesn’t think that Impulse would be mad to find out that she was bi, per se. She’s probably harder on herself about it than he ever would be. It’s more that it’d just be another thing for him to worry about, and he’s got enough of a laundry list already. Her career is kept safe in his hands; she doesn’t need to make him any more concerned about maintaining it than he already is.
And besides, y’know, Corporate would freak, still, so it’s not like she’s taking that step in the first place.
“Alright, well, the press are still gonna be very interested to hear about your new friend, so we better take a minute to figure out what you’re gonna say, huh?”
He's clearly been around this block before, the way he coaches her through composing an explanation of what happened, without the flubs and the lines that she definitely would've accidentally toed if she was speaking off the top of her head. She's lucky, he tells him - they've got a late night talk show taping tomorrow afternoon, and she'll be able to get the word out in a nice, official channel, rather than (god forbid) having to put out a statement on Instagram or something. The whole thing doesn’t take more than fifteen minutes, at which point they debrief about the plans for this coming week (rehearsals for the TV appearance, interview and performance, rehearsals for the music video, rehearsals again, off day Friday, they’re actually filming Saturday, off day Sunday, then they have a Buzzfeed quirky interview next Monday which she doesn’t have to worry about yet but it’s good to be prepared, y’know?) Gem nods her way through the whole thing, wondering if she’s got another text.
“Thank you,” says Impulse, “for keepin’ your head on straight. It’s not gonna be busy-busy-busy like this for long. Just ‘till the press junket stuff’s over with, and we push this last single, and then you’re in the clear.”
“Until the next tour!”
Impulse laughs. “Now you’re gettin’ it, princess! It’s gonna be a fun couple years.”
“Ah, that’s assuming I sign the contract.”
He laughs again, harder, like she can’t be serious. “Alright, I’ll get outta your hair. Go back to bed, sleep in!”
“You too, Impy.”
“Nah, you kidding? The kids are gonna be late for soccer practice if I don’t get my butt in gear!”
More giggles, more farewells, and then he loves her and leaves her like he always does. It’s far too late to go back to sleep at this point, so she pours herself a coffee and watches the street outside while she drinks it. The palm trees in LA are all transplanted, a choice made by city planners a century ago to make the place distinct on silver screens. Strangers walk by, talking on their phones, chasing their children’s excited run-ahead, dragging suitcases behind them. Gem, on the fourth floor, feels like she’s watching security camera footage. Like she’s in the booth a hundred miles away. Like she’s back in Canada, still.
Eventually, the temptation overtakes her, and she messages Pearl again.
Hope you slept well!
It’s already ten o’clock. She’s gotta be up by now, right? Unless she’s the type to sleep in past noon? As much as she likes Pearl, she can’t honestly say she knows a thing about her.
Google pops a headline preview up in her notification bar while she’s trying to clear the chaff. For you: Rumours swirl as Glimmer Girls’ Gem Taylor spotted…
Swipe. There! Gone.
She lets out a hesitant sigh. If only it were really that easy.
like the dead, Pearl’s reply comes at 10:36. And then, in a rapid-fire double text, you holdin up?
Yeah all good!
thats great, says Pearl, hope youre not too busy today
Oh no I have the day off thank goodness
phew
technically so do i but im not really on the popstar schedule so i kind of have every day off lmao
Luckily
*Luckyyy
more time to spend with the babies
… The huh?
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Two huge white dogs, and a little grey cat draped across one of them. Oh, okay! Very weird misconception very rapidly averted.
Cute!!!
when i write songs this is who im really writing about
Oh are you a songwriter
i try to be lol
not easy
I know right!! I wish I could write
yeah sometimes youve just gotta keep at it
lock yourself in the bathroom till the words go
Gem finds herself laughing aloud at that. They keep in touch, a little sporadically, through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon - through her stretches, through making lunch, through cleaning her kitchen and running her stuff down to the laundromat. (You’d think with the money she was bringing in, she’d have been able to find an apartment with a washer and/or dryer, but you can’t win ‘em all!)
Pearl floats from topic to topic, bemoaning the need to take the dogs to the vet soon, then switching smoothly into an anecdote about how Sausage (her manager, right?) used to have a cat that would hide in the walls of his house growing up, and from there to the pros and cons of having a roommate who kicks about in your basement.
I think I’d like living with someone again! I’m not allowed a roommate on this lease :/
who were you living with before?
Oh just my family
yeah?
where did they end up
In Canada </3 I mean we call and stuff but I miss being in the house with everyone
well if you ever wanna come meet the babies then im probably around
idk how busy you are
I’m off tour! For now! So I’m not un free
Whoa, hey, little desperate, dial it back.
Maybe we should meet up somewhere else that’s not your home first though haha
oh yeah thats fair
well we could do brunch this week or something
I have a day off on Friday
sounds perfect, ill get back to you :]
Yes! Score! She’s got a - uh - an appointment!
In the morning, the car comes to pick her up; this time she’s awake at a more reasonable hour, and has time to do her makeup and get her hair back in that fancy up-braid style she only learned a couple years ago, nice and out of the way for dancing. They’re not doing anything super taxing today, so she settles for a granola bar for breakfast, timing her bites carefully to not spill oats and chocolate chips across the driver’s floor. As long as she stays hydrated, she’ll be good. Water weight’s the easiest weight to lose, right?
People give her looks at the studio. She’s tried to scrub the marker from her arm as best she could; she’s not sure if it’s her imagination, or if the ghost of a black shadow still lingers on her skin where it used to be. From the way that Freya is smirking, it might as well be there in glowing rainbow colour.
“Hey, Gem!” Katherine says, “you get home alright on Friday?”
“Yes!” A relief, to have somebody break the silence so nonchalantly. “All good, no worries there. How was your evening?”
“Oh, fine. And yesterday I made a strawberry pie! I brought a little in a tupperware, I thought you might wanna try.”
It’s almost like she hasn’t heard. Has she not heard? “That sounds lovely,” says Gem, and it comes out with far more palpable gratitude than she’d intended.
While a few of the girls trade adorable skirts for sweatpants, Joey wanders up to her. “Someone’s been busy.”
“It’s not what it looked like!”
“Uh-huh,” Joey folds his arms, “sure. You already know what you’re gonna say tomorrow?”
“Impulse talked me through it.”
“Hell of a man. A lot more patient than I would be. But, of course, I’m lucky, and I got the greatest girl in the world as my talent!”
“I’m so jealous,” Gem plays along.
“I know, honey. As much as the internet would love to see that happen…”
“Hey, are we starting the warmup?”
Freakin’ Joey. He knows what he’s doing.
At least he can’t bother her while she’s jogging on the spot, high knees, kicked heels, while she’s circling her shoulders and bouncing into a lunge. Seven girls - women, really, all within two or three years of her, but even she falls for her own marketing every now and again - perfectly pressed and presented, though it’s only a rehearsal. Gem lets herself fall into routine, and then into the routine of the performance that they’re gonna put on for the Late Night Show tomorrow afternoon. It’s the dance for the second single they put out, like, six months ago, Butterfly Baby, and tomorrow may well be the last time they ever do this choreography. After this, they put all their money down on Bright Lights for the music video.
Gem doesn’t need to watch the other girls to get this right, but her eyes keep landing back on Katherine anyway. Front of the pack, queen bee, movements graceful and smooth in a way that brings Gem to painful awareness of all the angles and sharp edges on her own isolations. Katherine has this kind of easy strength to her that could make any choreography look natural.
They run the routine over, and over, and stop to take notes, and then over and over again. Gem keeps up, keeps a smile on her face, and hardly even feels tired until she’s already collapsed.
It happened so quickly. Maybe a little spark of dizziness, and then everything went TV-static-white, and she was stumbling to the floor in the middle of the choreo. Somebody pauses the music; somebody comes to support her neck, even as she’s sitting up, ready to get back into things without a fuss.
“Don’t die on us, Gem,” says Joey, holding a water bottle up to her face, “that would be so awkward for the schedule.”
She takes the bottle, rolling her eyes. “Thanks, Joey, I’m so glad to know you care about me.”
“I do! How dare you!”
“Joey,” Katherine’s voice, soft and concerned, cuts through the banter, “leave her alone.”
My hero, she debates saying melodramatically, but decides against.
Their choreographer pats her back once she’s done with her drink and instructs her to go grab a candy bar from the vending machine down the hall. “And you’re gonna get something substantial for lunch, you hear me?”
Gem nods obediently and picks herself up off the floor. They’ve started up the music track again before the door even closes behind her.
She buys a Milky Way and then pads back to the hall outside the studio, settling a foot or two away from the door to chew. In the meantime, she checks in with Pearl.
hows rehearsals?
Good! Taking a break right now haha
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Maybe it’s a little presumptuous to send a selfie, peace sign wrapped around her chocolate, but she does it anyway. It takes Pearl a couple more seconds to start typing after that.
looks good!
dont overdo it
i dont want to replace brunch with a funeral
She snorts, shocked into laughter.
Pearl!!!
gemmm
Don’t SAY that
its true!
The swish of the door sweep startles her. Katherine, waving hesitantly, eyes wide. “Are you okay?”
“Mhm!” She takes a performative bite of her chocolate bar to underscore her point. “Just takin’ a breather.”
“Mind if I join?”
“Oh - sure, if you want to!”
Katherine settles on the other side of her and swigs a waterbottle full of some kind of juice drink. She doesn’t seem to have some monologue teed up about how Gem needs to take better care of herself, which is nice. She just watches the wall and passively emits an aura of comfort.
sorry im a big dark jokes person
didnt mean to make you uncomfortable
No it’s fine sorry I was talking to my bandmate
ah right
in which case ill get right back into it
You are something else
something good i hope!
Of course. You’re great
look whos talking
So what are you up to today?
oh not much
was gonna go to the shops this afternoon
im almost out of peaches
Gem stifles a chuckle. Katherine’s head shifts, a little hum of interest breaks the silence between them.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Gem says, but Katherine’s eyes have already darted down to her screen, and her eyebrows lift. What- oh. Pearl sent a selfie of her own.
“Is that Luna Scarlett?”
“Huh? Um - no? This is my friend Pearl.”
Katherine frowns, pats her pocket, and huffs. “I left my phone inside. Google Luna Scarlett.”
So she does, and - “Oh!”
Because, yep, that’s Pearl in all her glammed-up glory. There are pictures of Pearl in the very same clothes she was wearing Saturday night, the same red lip and tousled hair. She flips back to the selfie Pearl’s just sent her and compares; today, her face is bare and her hair is swept back in a ponytail, but the bangs and the eyes are still identical.
“Well, huh,” she shakes her head, bemused.
“You’re texting Luna Scarlett? Gem! You gotta tell me about these things, I told you she was my favourite!”
“I didn’t know!” she pushes back, “she’s just my friend Pearl from the afterparty, I didn’t know she was -”
“Gem.” Katherine shoves her, just a little. “It was a music awards show. The guests are gonna be famous musicians.”
They both giggle - because, yeah, that was kind of silly, that she hadn’t thought to wonder about the identity of her mysterious new friend. Katherine doesn’t seem upset, at least, or offended or anything, although Gem’s not quite sure why she thought she would be.
Still, though, she takes the moment to get down the last of her candy bar, and shoots Pearl a quick OK I’m gonna go back to rehearsals now good luck with your peaches!! before picking herself up and dusting herself off. Katherine rises with her offered hand as well.
With a little sugar in her system (and maybe a little swig of Katherine’s juice as well), the rest of the day goes unremarkably smooth, and she’s stepping out on to the stage to perform the first of three taped takes of Butterfly Baby before she knows it. (One for the pans, one for the closeups, and then there’s gonna be a third when the audience arrives to get the authentic crowd reaction.) This time, thank goodness, she doesn’t fall over.
When the host of the interview asks her about the gossip that’s been swirling around her markered arm, Gem plasters on a plastic smile and repeats exactly the phrasing Impulse taught her to sell. The interviewer takes it with good nature.
Her eyes dart down the couch to Katherine, and Katherine seems… withdrawn. Huh. Weird.