I'm Not In Love

Chapter Fifteen

Trap

       I arrived at PRIME fourty minutes after Alisa called us. The twins were already there, judging from the text she sent me. I ignored that, I was an international top artist, I was allowed to be late.

         I had used an aspirin earlier which had mostly cured my throbbing headache.

      I had slipped on a short-sleeve deep blue top;revealing a part of my tattooed  hands. A black jeans and a black,Nike high top. I had my white hair in drooping bangs and a small silver chain on. I was a big artist and therefore I cared a lot about my appearance.

        Making a straight face, I jammed my hands in right that we've all had it rough but I doubt she was philophobic,and was ruined because she would never be able to find love,or have a family of hers, because the two people she ever loved bailed on her,jilted her and left her scarred for life that even the thought of loving someone scared the living s**t out of her. I doubt that her beloved mother whom she loved ever plot with her secret lover to kill her father. I doubt that she had had it that rough. My past had left me heartless and that was who I was.

       A successful heartless musician.

I rode the elevator up to the last floor, where I saw Alisa outside Steve's glass-framed office. She released a sigh of relief and came to me quickly.

      "You're late", she said.

       "I am here at least".

   She ignored the tight tone to my words and continued," anyway,just be civil in there till you leave okay?"

      " I'll try my best", I told her. She let out an annoyed groan,taking that from my tone I was damned well going to do the exact opposite. She opened the glass door for me anyway and followed behind me.

      I came face to face with Steve. Nick and Nike already sensing tension  kept looking from me to Steve.

       "I thought I clearly scheduled this meeting for thirty minutes ago",Steve blurted,his brown eyes glaring at me. He was aging, although he was looking nice,his face had little wrinkles to it.

     I sat down even when he hadn't offered me a seat. Yeah, I was as rude as that. "Hangover,Steve. Hangover", I said to him calmly. As much as I respected him, I wouldn't be an international artist if I were to be quivering and shivering at him. If I were to be at his beck and call. I had more pride to be doing that.

       He palmed his face,clearly annoyed at my bland statement. "Listen young man, you're becoming too rude these days. I only let it go last time because of the newcomers. This is my company and I deserve some damn respect", he yelled at me.

     I turned to look at him,okay ,maybe he was mad a little. But I wanted to say last time wasn't all my fault,if only he had challenged the girl for being late too. I knew he was always going to challenge me for being late.

       "Uh Steve,I guess what Trap was gonna say was , he is sorry for being late... Right, Trap?",Nike intervened,nudging his head at me to do as he had said.

      I shot him laser glares, they were making feel guilty. Alisa hit me gently on my arm too. I looked up to her and she was hinting her head at Steve too. Then I gave up. "Fine. I'm sorry okay. For last time and now", I told him as coldly as I could possibly. I was not one to say sorry. They knew me, I'ld rather f**k it all. But Steve did deserve my respect.

      He resigned he knew I didn't mean it  but he left it as that. I wasn't going to say it twice.

   "Anyway, how's the dance practice coming up. We are very close to the day", he said playing with the pen in his hand.

    " I haven't fired anyone so far"

  "You wouldn't, even if you wanted",Steve retorted," I know those guys are good and I'm not about to lose them. So you had better get used to them".

       I scoffed at him,and looked away.

    " They are pretty good,Steve. We are not about to lose them either",Nick said too.

    " Yes,they are very good" Nick added.

         Traitors

     " Good. Any new song you're working on?",he asked, looking from man to man, "sit down ,Alisa"

      Alisa had been standing for a while and Steve must have noticed her shifting on her weight,so he offered her a seat.

      "I'm okay sir",she said,even though she wasn't. Her legs were red in those high ,pink heels.

       "You're not allowed to talk back. Just Sit",he ordered her,which she eventually did, sitting beside me on the white sofa. Usually, she would stand, because we all knew she was just our assistant manager,but now she was sitting with us. Probably a big surprise to her. I thought she was over due for some real respect in the company, because Alisa deserved it. It wasn't probably easy managing three big artist alone,even now that Big Bo wasnt around.

         "I have a meeting in some minutes,so tell me,are y'all working on a song yet?",he asked again.

       " We thought it could wait till after the concert,Steve. We have a lot on our hands at the moment", Nick answered a matter-of-factly.

     Which was true,how could we possibly write a song with all these mad schedules going on.

          "You're PRIME'S biggest act, you guys are hot in the industry, you'll always have a lot on your hands. So it doesn't matter if the concert is two months away. Let's release a song two weeks after. That way the crowd still keeps on cheering for Trimix,right?", He said his brown eyes looking at each of us. Maybe he was right,we needed songs to keep our place in the industry.

     The boys looked at me as if for any confirmation,and I sighed, "Fine but you buy us some time. At least free a week of our schedule. We need to be sane to write a good song", I said looking straight at him.

         " Alisa's gonna take care of that. Cancel any unimportant schedule", he said casually.

       " Yes sir."she wrote something down on her tiny note pad.

       That was more work for her.

   "I heard Big Bo hasn't been coming to work."

        "Uh?" Alisa's voice shooked. She turned to me but I just raised my shoulder. I didn't tell him,he was only bound to know if his staff hasn't been coming to work. That was I told her to tell him earlier

   "He said he had an emergency,sir"

        "How come I didn't know about this?",he asked her.

   Alisa didn't know what to say,I could tell with her eye darting around and her uneasiness. I felt like I should save her the trouble.

      "He told me. I guess he was afraid you would flip",I put in for her,I didn't want her taking any blame for Big Bo's recklessness.

       " How stupid did you think I felt knowing your manager hasn't been coming for a month now. ",He said almost like to shut me up,but I let it roll off, "I can't have the rest of the staffs thinking they could all leave the company without my approval. And besides she couldn't possibly take it all alone." He turned to Alisa, " Take up the manager post asap, I see you've been doing a good job alone. And look into hiring a new assistant", he said

       So just like that, Alisa was promoted,Big Bo was sacked and now she would be looking into hiring an assistant.

        "Thank you sir. But ..."

    "No buts. Big Bo clearly broke the rules around here. When he comes,tell him to see me".

       With that said, Alisa couldn't argue further, " Thank you sir" she gave him a Curt nod and rose up." We'll be leaving sir",she said and with only a nod, Steve went back to his work.

       We stood up too and left his office.

   Once outside, Alisa squealed excitedly and we laughed with her.

      "Congratulations girl,you deserve it", Nick said, ruffling her already wavy strawberry blonde hair.

      "I know right. It's not easy keeping you guys out of scandals", she said.

      And I laughed again," You mean keeping Nick out of scandals"

      Nick made a move to hit me and I dodged,making Alisa to laugh the more.

     "But then Big Bo ...", She said , a far away look in her eyes,as if she was feeling guilty for not able to secure his post.

        "Big Bo is not your liability. You're not at fault,okay?",Nike assured her.

      And she nodded. " Anyway,in the meantime,you have an interview with a reporter on your latest award. Selena and Emma would do some touch ups and your costumes are ready in the waiting room. Today is a Saturday so that's all for the day."

    Good cos I needed to meet with my doctor. Heaven knows I haven't been myself since that girl arrived.which was scaring s**t out of me.

       " And why haven't you been  our manager  since", Nike said draping one arm on her shoulder playfully. I saw her tense up at that and I smiled

       She was torturing herself by not saying anything about her feelings. I mean I envied people who could love someone. I would have went out with my crush if I wasn't philophobic. That was if I had a crush at all.

        "Being your manager,means more work for me if you don't know", Alisa point out to him as we walked the row of offices down to the elevator. Some offices weren't open as it was a weekend,while some were up and about for their artist.

        "But you would have an assistant soon enough",Nick said.

       " True. But y'all know nothing. A manager work is always cut out for him/her. Especially with y'all troublesome boys to keep in place.", She said as if she deserved an Olympic medal  for her work.

      I scoffed," shouldn't you be more glad to be working with us?"

      She squealed as we entered the elevator, "God knows I am. I can't believe it yet. It feels so surreal"

       Nike dragged her to his side at once," believe it baby", and he winked at her.

        She shyly flushed all sorts of red and I smacked him at the back of his head. "All you do is flirt".

       He laughed it off anyway.

Anna

         I felt like I took two little preschoolers on an excursion.

     It was exhausting,and tiring keeping up with the girls. Amy and Kate have been pretty much hyped up about going shopping. They bought a lot of clothes,where I only bought about two crop tops and a short. My old ones were starting to look___ old. And mostly because I didn't have much money to spend on clothing like them.

         Then we went to an ice cream store,and brought different flavors for us each. We went to China Town and it was so beautiful, it was my first time in the town and everything was just so overwhelming,new and bursting with life and activities. The girls dragged me into a restaurant called the  z&y Bistros and they served us the yakitori off the menu. It was so good, the chicken thighs, the steaks,the sea food hot pot, the spicy dumplings. We ate so much that we were making fun of our big bellies.

      After that we went straight to Amy's hotel room. If luck would have it her way, Alisa should be able to find Amy a job in PRIME so she could move in with us. Otherwise, she would have to rent a room around the neighborhood. Amy was rich as that,all her parents money were left to her and the company where her father had been working for were paying her monthly. So she had enough for school and her stuffs.

         "Come in guys",Amy ushered us in. And bummed on the big bed.

   "Wow. This is pretty",Kate gushed as she looked around the room,painted in nude color.

         I sat on a nearby  chair and dropped the things we bought on the floor, "okay I need to be pampered',I announced.

               " What for?", Amy dared to ask. Rolling on her side to look at me.

       "Imagine you guys dragging me into your little escapade.", I turned to Kate and pointed at her, " I should have known better than to trust you. You were going to behave yourself weren't you?", I accused her,feigning annoyance.

            " Well, I couldn't help it. I mean I couldn't turn her down",she defended could and settled in a chair

     Amy laughed," But you enjoyed it either way, Anna. Admit it",she said rolling in the bed excitedly.

    I glared at her ,how dare she point that out. Because it was so true.

     "How's grace. Hope you left her all good?", I asked her accusingly.

     " Grace's good. God bless her soul, she's been real good",she said without going into much details.

    "Ha!",she said all of a sudden,"I want to know all that went down with god Trap. How is he,did you check his abs?, I'm sure he would give Chris brown a run for his money,with his six packs and his muscles" She gushed giddily,a very far away look in her eyes.

          Matching her tone,I  replied, "I don't think so".

        "Uh?" Amy raised her brow , surprised at my reply, " really?,what have you been doing not checking?",she asked blatantly,as if it was the sanest thing I should have done.

       "Oh God,you don't mean I should turn into a crazed p*****t and raise up his shirt to know if he has abs ,do you?",I asked her

      " How else are you gonna know?",she retorted, sitting up straight on the bed.

     "Amy!" I shouted and Kate giggled.

   "She's always too sensitive", Amy told Kate .

       Kate went to the TV and started fiddling with the remote finding a suitable channel.

     "Trap has been bad to Anna, Amy. He is actually as the tabloid had said. He is so cold and rude unlike Nick and Nike", Kate said with a sad tone,her back was to me so I couldn't make out her expressions.

       Amy's mouth formed a perfect "O".

    "But on the bright side you get to see his cute face,right?"

     I let out a strained sigh, " I don't know why I'm still friends with you"

   She laughed heartily," you love me. That's why. Anyway I'll say don't cross borders,he is a big artist and wouldn't want a girl trampling on his pride. That way you do your job,avoid been sacked and trouble", Amy said very coolly.

     Mmn,maybe she was right. But I didn't think I would be able to avoid him that long. I didn't want to dwell on that too much,but only my phone brought me out of reverie. It was a message from Dr. Stein reminding me about the appointment today.

       My eyes bulged, I totally forgot about it. Damn nerves!.

       That moment my phone fell off my hand,and I faintly gasped. My hand stiffened.

       "Are you okay", Amy asked ,and Kate turned to look at me,"who was that".

       "My interview. Uh...at the part-time job..uh I gotta go. I'll be right back", I lied, with a fast pounding heart and a shaky breath I took my phone with my left hand and quickly scuttled out of the room.

       God help me, I think shock would kill me before the nerves did.

        I needed help.