32. Harlowe
Itold a fib at dinner. I absolutely ate up drama when it didn’t involve me in the slightest and I could just go about my day and forget about it after I’d read or heard it.
I could tell a story with music or bring one to life with my violin, but I was shit at telling one with words.
JaToya might joke about not having a creative bone in her body, but she was a natural storyteller.
I was planning on video calling her when I got back to my dorm.
If we didn’t video call, we texted every day.
We did this in undergrad and while she was getting her PhD.
I stayed in New York while she went to Spelman for undergrad and Howard for upper education.
She’d only just gotten back to New York and taken a job where we weren’t calling and texting or visiting over breaks when I decided to play my violin in the subway and ended up here.
I was very curious about Topher and the Immortal Nightmare boys, but I wasn’t about to ask them now that we’d be working together.
Orion, in particular, seemed to hate him and I’d be working closest with him on this project.
It was a bit of a fever dream because I really respected him as an artist and he seemed almost human over dinner.
We’d come up with a decent plan over dinner. Leif had planned this out thoroughly. He had written out scenes, exactly how he wanted them to play out, and the vibes he was going for. Leif had also set up a million mood boards online. He was making this super easy for us to bring his vision to life.
I was pretty sure Cullen was just there to protect Leif and me, but he had a great idea.
Leif didn’t just need to graduate. He needed important people to come see this performance, so he actually had a job when he got out of here.
I knew that was Topher’s thing, but Topher could only do so much.
Leif had to market himself just like I was doing.
This was Leif’s ballet, but someone important could be in the audience and check the program to see who wrote the music and offer me a job.
I also understood why Leif wouldn’t want this to be the Immortal Nightmare show, but was totally fine with advertising I was helping with the score because of my viral video.
Leif was already familiar with Orion’s music because you could listen to it nearly anywhere, but all he knew about mine was the subway video. I wasn’t fond of editing videos and hadn’t finished putting together something from what I recorded in the snow.
I’d only seen Leif dance the Nutcracker Prince, so I wasn’t all that familiar with his style of choreography.
It was Cullen’s idea to have Leif choreograph to anything I wrote that I was planning on using on my channel.
It would get him used to my music, and I’d learn how he moved so I could write for him better.
Orion suggested adding a piano for some of the songs. We could either film him and use his fame to promote our channels or we could leave the piano completely out of the footage so no one knew it was him playing.
It changed my opinion of him. The only one-on-one time I’d spent with him, he acted like it was beneath him to be around me.
He was different tonight. Orion was humble, and he wasn’t trying to take over the project.
I didn’t even think he would have made a scene if Leif or I said we didn’t want to work with him.
He assuaged any doubts we might have had before we voiced most of them.
When I got to my dorm room, I sent a link to Leif to the cloud drive with my music. I had one from him with all the prep work he’d done on his ballet. Orion had sent me something too, but I didn’t open it just yet. I had no idea what he’d be sending me this early.
First, girl time. I was a big fan of having girl friends. I liked Rue and the other dancers I’d met, but we’d just met. I didn’t want to run her off being neurotic just yet. Soon, baby.
When JaToya picked up, she was still in her lab. I narrowed my eyes at her. She couldn’t talk about most of her work, but I knew she was working on some kind of robotics for surgery. She’d moved to where I couldn’t see anything to answer.
“I know, but I’m so close.”
“Uh huh, and did you remember to eat dinner?”
“Yes, Mom. I could be asking you the same thing.”
“I ate dinner with Immortal Nightmare, two ballet dancers, and a sexy tattooed guy who is a recruiter.”
“I hope it was more productive than my night. I can’t get it to do exactly what I need it to do. I thought I was there, but I’m not.”
“You could ask Davarius for help.”
There was another doctor at her lab she had a huge crush on. She profile stalked him and didn’t find anything nasty. If anything, it made her like him more. JaToya had it bad. Usually, if she liked someone, she pounced, but this one made her tongue tied.
I wanted her to hop on that. My best friend was usually the smartest person in the room and she needed someone who could keep up with her.
“Shh! He’s here. He could come back at any minute,” she hissed.
I perked up. That was a good sign. I made a zipping motion with my mouth. We were so talking about that later. I’d never embarrass her.
“I just got hired to write a ballet with Immortal Nightmare. This could be good for me.”
I broke down my night, but kept it brief because she was still at work. She would have told me if she didn’t have a few minutes to talk.
“Is that going to cause any problems?” she asked.
“Why would it?”
“Doesn’t that girl think she owns your choreographer and already not like you? I looked into her. She has a sealed record. I can unseal it, but I wanted to ask you first.”
Did I? Aside from telling everyone I was only here because I fucked Faustus, she hadn’t bothered me.
And no one really believed her after Leif started spreading that video around.
If it was sealed, it was probably from when Isobel was just a stupid kid.
It could have been something like shoplifting.
Still, it also might be serious.
JaToya also might get caught. She was brilliant, but unsealing someone’s record was deeper than she’d gone before.
I knew she could do it, but I’d never forgive myself if she got caught looking out for me.
She’d lose her job. She’d probably never be able to get another one in her field because she couldn’t get clearance with a record. No one was going to seal her record.
She couldn’t. Topher seemed to know everything about everyone. If I really needed to know, I could probably flirt it out of him.
“Oh, hey, Davarius,” JaToya said.
That was code for stop with the hacking talk because her crush was back. She showed me his photo. I knew robotics scientists could be sexy because JaToya was stunning, but was it really fair for him to look like that?
“No, on the project. Call me when you aren’t at work. And if you haven’t eaten yet, eat, or I’ll call your mom.”
“I fed her,” Davarius called.
Oh, my fuck. She didn’t tell me his voice sounded like that. He could literally narrate the periodic table and sound sexy. JaToya gave me a pointed look that she also had a story to tell when she wasn’t at work.
I hung up. I needed to look at the files Leif sent over and I was curious about what Orion emailed. I needed to edit my footage so I could get it online. It was my least favorite thing to do. I had to make myself. I decided to put it off for five minutes and see what Orion had sent me.
It was just a link to two cloud files with a note: Hope you don’t mind. I was a bit inspired. Please don’t be mad. Tag, you’re it.
My mouth dropped when I opened the file. He’d downloaded just my violin from the subway for one of the pieces I’d written and added himself playing the piano. It was better than anything I could have written. His style worked with mine perfectly.
I listened to it twice before I moved to the second file.
Tag, you’re it made sense. He’d attached a new piece he’d written.
He must have wanted me to add my violin if I was so inspired.
And I was. Orion Hart’s music always hit me in the feels, even if his personality might have put me off a bit at first.
The Immortal Nightmare boys were slightly scary. Cullen kept warning me about them. They seemed to have logical explanations for going after the people I’d witnessed them going after. Belinda should be expelled for what she did to Misha.
Orion Hart seemed to want to play a game with me. It seemed harmless and actually a little fun. His music played well with mine. I could hear the violin part as I listened to the piano piece he sent me.
Did I want to play games with Orion Hart?