Van:

I slammed the phone down on the receiver so loud it fell over the counter and clattered on the ground.

"Van, maybe"-

"Maybe nothing." I interrupted Bondy loudly, looking at him. "Maybe nothing Bond. I'm sick of these pricks telling me how to do my own music."

"Van, don't worry." Carmen appeared behind him, her voice cautious. "Babe, don't worry about it, just"-

"How can you tell me not to worry about it? Do you not get it Carmen? This is everything to me." I snapped at her, watching her mouth thin and her eyes darken. She crossed her arms and disappeared back inside the hallway.

"Christ Van, as if we hadn't talked about this already. You said you'd scrap the album so long as they let you rewrite"-

"Well now they don't want me to rewrite shit Benji! Already hired some songwriter that wrote lyrics for so and so and 'he'll do wonders Van boy'," I mimicked Rich's voice, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms.

"Let's get out of it then." Bob finally spoke up.

"Out of the contract?"

"If we can get a new label to pick us up Communion would have to drop us no matter what the contract says." Bondy said. "Besides, Communion's just trying to get their hands on our music because we're one of like two best sellers for them. Bet ya other labels wouldn't mind giving us a try. Here or in the States."

"So how does that work? Where do we even begin?" I groaned. I wasn't in for the technical business side, I had no fuckin clue.

"Time to lawyer up." Bondy said somberly.

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"A lawyer? I don't even have one." My pop's voice rang out on the other line. "Christ my boy, you gotta get on that."

"I know." I replied glumly, watching Carmen talk to Nicole about something. Everyone was huddled around the living room and I was shut off on the kitchen, talking to my pop for some advice. "Ya wouldn't know of any hotshot lawyers in the States would you? Some of your old connections coming back around?"

"Guess I could ask around. Marty probably knows someone." I shut my eyes and sighed. Marty was an old friend of my dad's. He had a bit of a douche side to him but he knew his way around the business. Though he always used to shoot me and the guys down for playing at small pubs instead of trying out for some of those weird talent shows everyone liked, which he insisted were instant shots to fame.

"One Direction." He'd always speak up. "Money comin to those boys like mad. Just a little television acting and look at them." He didn't want to understand that we wanted to do things the most rewarding and true way, not like those pricks from One Direction. The goal was to replace them, not follow in their footsteps.

"Yeah yeah ask Marty." I said. "Thanks pop, really."

"Come visit soon. Haven't seen you in a while."

"I will." I hung up, taking a breath. Truth was I hadn't seen my parents in almost a year. Touring and playing ate up almost our entire schedule.

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Carmen:

I watched Van hang up, leaning against the counter and folding his arms around himself before running a hand through his hair.

I knew he was panicked and I couldn't do anything about it. He lashed out but I didn't bother with it much, because I knew it was because of the circumstances. And he'd come to bed late after studying his songs for like an hour, reading things and scribbling quickly with his pen. One time I'd stepped out and found him just slumped over his journal, a cigarette being ignored in his right hand while he mouthed words.

He had these great ideas and they were in danger of no longer becoming what he'd wanted them to be. All the other guys seemed to be taking the whole thing with great stride, but Van wasn't.

He finally joined us and tried to go along with the conversations, but he zoned out after a bit.

"What worries me is that this thing it so close, so here. It's like losing something I never had because I can see this album right there, with the album work and everything." He whispered later when he finally came to bed and I wasn't asleep. "And I feel like we've worked too hard to disappear now. Like some one-hit wonder or something."

"You're not gonna disappear." I told him as we laid next to each other in the dark. I heard the mattress creak as he moved to lay on his stomach, his face close to mine. "You guys are too good to disappear. Besides, you'd never let that happen would you?"

"No." He sighed. "I thought I'd be willing to give up just about anything for this dream. Can't back out on it now." He threw an arm over me and brought me close to him, his breath washing over my neck in warm clouds that made me shiver. "If I told you something about one of the songs I wanted to publish that might make you mad, would you try to understand?"

I frowned in the dark, trying to look at his face. He was looking straight at me. "Uh, what are you talking about?"

"Wait no now I just wanna hold off until I see if we get this album out."

"Van."

He laughed. "I just, you know I wrote songs about us. About what we went through."

"Ok." I replied. "I realized."

"Yeah, and well I just, I dunno"-

"You don't have to apologize to me for what you write. It's your mood, it's your song." I reassured him, looking at the window that faced the street. Small orange flecks of light barely made it through the blinds, and I focused on those while I talked. "I can't be mad at you for writing your thoughts and feelings into songs, it's kind of just what you do." I said, although I wondered if I meant it.

Could I always be ok with Van sort of airing out everything about our relationship? Maybe not caring so much as how other people saw it, but how it would be over us?

"Cause she's the queen of everything. I'm dedicating that part of the song to you." He said sleepily, crushing me against him in a hug filled with sloppy kisses on my neck.

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By the time we left back for the States, some big legal situation was going on with the band. They had gotten a huge deal with Island Records, but the label was still a bit touchy because of the riff with Communion. I guess Communion wanted to bind Catfish for another year at least, but the guys had gotten some hotshot lawyer from New York that was pretty good with these types of cases.

"Bye, I love you." Van stopped for a minute and looked down at his phone, probably something to do with the final decision meeting they'd hold in two weeks. Nicole and Jesse had already said goodbye to the guys beforehand and were now a bit ahead of me towards the gate while I trailed behind to talk to Van. "Hold on." He held out his arms and grabbed onto me, "I love you loads. Please take care of yourself, and call me about anything. Really, even if it's just to tell me you love me, which is always appreciated. Thanks for being my groupie this summer," he laughed while I shook my head, "I'm kidding. I loved having you with me, wish it could be like that for good now. None of this separation shit."

"I know. Good luck with everything at the meeting. Everything will work out, ok?" I swallowed dryly, pulling him into a hug again. "I love you, don't stay up too late anymore, and"-

"Carmen!" Nicole and Jesse were now way farther on. I turned back to Van, the words now having to tumble out of my mouth.

"I love you, call me, I'll call you, uh, don't worry about anything. Love you." We kissed for like the tenth time that half hour and I turned away to catch up to the girls.

"Bob gave me his number." Nicole said quietly as we walked towards the boarding gate.

"Why am I not surprised." I teased.

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Van:

After Carmen left, the days slowed down a bit. I was still stressed for the meeting that was getting closer and closer, and I was trying my best to reassure myself that things were gonna be fine. What did we have to lose?

Oh wait, our entire dream. Right.

"It's gonna be fine, christ on a stick." Bondy muttered into his cup before drinking.

A knock at the door made Bondy glance up and then shrug, still drinking. "I'll get it I guess." I mumbled, standing up and heading to the door.

A bleached blonde smiled up at me while fixing her jacket. She had a pair of very familiar eyes.

"....Abby?"

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?"

"Are you done being mad at me?" She asked, her eyes bright.

"Are you drunk?"

"No," she laughed, "I'm just really warm."

"Ok." I moved to close the door, but she put her foot against the door.

"Van." Her voice dropped to a plea. "Van, please."

"Abby I really really don't want to see you or talk to you." I muttered. "For the sake of your dignity, just leave."

Her footsteps echoed down the hallway and I finally leaned against the door, taking a deep breath.

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Carmen:

I shut the book, leaned back, and shut my eyes, rubbing my temple. "I'm sick of school."

"Me too." Jesse teased.

"Just one more semester. One more semester and that's it." I repeated, standing up and walking to the fridge. My phone rang from my back pocket. "Hey babe."

"Hi." Van's voice sounded small on the other end. "What are you up to?"

"I'm just doing some homework, having loads of fun. How'd the meeting go?" I asked, remembering that it'd been yesterday.

"It went well. A bunch of clauses came up on the contract and Rich's face was red the whole time. And well now it's on to the next one. And here's what you're going to absolutely love."

"What?"

"We're recording the whole album in LA."

"What?" I asked breathlessly. "Van don't joke with me."

"I'm not joking."

"That's great! When are you coming?"

"About a month or so. The lads are just as stoked, I think the States have grown on them quiet a lot. And I, well I couldn't be more buzzing." I could hear his smile on the other end.

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Van:

"Remember that one band with the three sisters? They had that one song, man it was good but the name escapes me." Bondy put his fingers in his hair, shutting his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, I think I know who you're talking about. Started with an H...Hyatt?"

"Haim." I responded, looking down at my phone.

"Right, they're signed to Island too. Hey Van, remember how you said you fancied the little one?" Bondy teased me.

"I was drunk and single. Besides, I thought she was cute." I replied.

"Well let's hope you don't run into each other again and she gets the wrong idea." Benji said.

I ignored them both, looking up around the airport. We were here three hours earlier because Bondy had read our departure time wrong. I was stewing at him for that.

"They've all got their own good." Benji and Bondy were still looking at a picture of the band I assumed. I texted Carmen, letting the phone fall back onto my pocket as I stiffened another yawn.

"Bondy you're gonna get it for making us get here so early."

"My sight is failing me Vanny boy, what can I do about it?"

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The flight was quick and soon enough we were heading back to my apartment. I still kept it around and I couldn't be happier that this time we didn't have to stay at a hotel.

We dropped our stuff off and took an Uber to the label building. I'd told Carmen to meet me later at my place, she'd had some big presentation in class while we'd arrived so I didn't get to see her beforehand.

Everyone at the label was loud, so it wasn't much of a change of scene. Our new label director was a tall older fellow named Stewart, who'd instantly praised us for The Balcony the minute we'd walked in.

"This new album, I've already got it all planned out." He listened to me and nodded, assuring us that it was our project and he was just a supervisor. All in all it was a pretty successful meeting.

We were getting a tour of the building and some of the studios when Bondy slapped my arm and pointed. "Look."

There were three girls in one of the studio. Bondy had a sixth sense I swear. I recognized the youngest, Alana. She was crouched down with her instrument in her hand. They hadn't noticed us. We stopped and watched them begin to play. They really were good.

I thought of some of the songs I'd written. It would sound even better if it were a girl singing them. Three.

We said hello when they were done. We'd talked before, but it was brief laughs at festivals and whatnot. I was kinda embarrassed to talk to Alana because I could clearly remember that short interview where I'd blurted out that about her.

"So you're the famous Van McCann." She smiled, extending a hand then just coming in for the hug. They were a very friendly group, and in no time they were inviting us down to dinner and whatnot.

"If you guys ever need some new songs, I'm your guy." I told Danielle, who smiled.

"That'd be great. We're big fans of the album, and the lyrics are incredible."

"Don't tell him that. He'll get a big head." Bondy spoke up, winking at me. I stuck my tongue out. The girls were talking about something or other when my phone vibrated.

Carmen: What time would be good to meet at your place?

"So dinner tonight?" Danielle looked at all of us. "Come on, ya can't say no."

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, when another message came up.

Carmen: How about we grab some dinner?

"Well..." Bondy looked at us, shrugging. "I can't say no to a good dinner. What about you Van? You have plans?"

How about we postpone dinner and I just go see you later?

I sent the message and looked up. "I'm up for dinner."