Chapter Twelve

Backstage, Marianne sat by herself in a secluded area, headphones on her ears, her notebook scattered around her. John had sent her some instrumental beats to listen to and see if there was anything she could do to add her "flavor" to them. She was mouthing the words to her lyrics with where she thought the hook was located, and deciding whether or not they were going to look. She didn't care for a lot of her lyrics; she believed that you could write a hundred songs before coming up with something gold.

Candice Michelle approached her. "Hey, girlie," she replied. Marianne looked up. As of late, Candice had been going out of her way to be nice to Marianne, and it left her feeling suspicious of the GoDaddy Diva. "What are you up to?"

Marianne pulled the headphones off of her ears so they hung down around her neck. "Just working on some stuff for Cena's new album." Candice nodded, leaning over to look at the scrawled notes and lyrics written all over the page.

"John seems to be showing you a lot of attention," Candice replied. Marianne shrugged.

"Well, we are working on an album together," Marianne informed her dryly. Candice nodded. "He sent me some instrumentals to see if I could put some vocals here or there and see if there was anything I could do with some guitars. He told me he wanted a rock fusion in this album."

"Can I hear some of the instrumentals?" Candice inquired. Marianne shrugged; she didn't see the harm. She removed her headset and handed it to Candice and let her sample a few of the backbeats. "That man is so talented," Candice replied, handing the headset back to Marianne when she was finished. Marianne nodded.

"Guy is a machine." Candice stood up.

"I've got to go get ready for my match against Jillian. Wish me luck."

"Shut her up, please," Marianne replied. They both laughed; her singing was wretched. Marianne watched, bewildered, as Candice made her way down the hall. She couldn't understand why Candice was being so nice to her all of a sudden. It was a little weird. She shrugged and put her headset back on her ears, listening to the instrumentals and revamping the lyrics. She was determined to have it all figured out by the time she went to the next studio meeting in two days.

Torrie discovered her cousin working hard. She smiled. The last few weeks had been so busy for her and she and John Cena had been bonding like she had never seen. John had taken a shine to her, their love being music, and she couldn't help but wonder if something more was blossoming between the two. They were texting each other like crazy back and forth, spending just about every waking moment with one another or communicating with one another. She remembered when days had been like that with her ex husband. It was the honeymoon phase.

Summer would eventually fade into autumn, and Marianne would be back at school, working on her music courses. She wondered what was going to happen between her and John then. The two of them were so in sync with one another that it seemed foreign to Torrie that they would lose touch, become strangers. For the first time in a long time, Marianne seemed happy. And she had really come into her own since coming on the road with Torrie, with the change in her appearance, the opportunity to work on the new album with John Cena, and the chance to meet new people and get a broader experience in her life than what she was used to.

Torrie approached her cousin. Marianne looked up and removed a headset from her ear. "Hey, Torrie," she said, a smile pulling at her face. "What's up?"

"Not too much," she replied, sitting down beside her cousin. "Album stuff?"

Marianne nodded. "Yeah. I'm meeting at Basscamp in two days, and I wanted to have a bunch more things done for when I go. That way I can say that I've been keeping as busy as the guys."

"I don't think John expects you to be as busy as he is." Marianne nodded; she didn't think that she could. The man was a machine; how he never crashed and burned was a mystery to her.

"I know. But I just want to keep busy."

"Well, I've got to go do a photo shoot. So if you need anything, Candice can direct you to where I am, okay?"

Marianne scrunched her face. "Do I really have to talk to her?"

"Either that or Jillian."

"I'll talk to Candice." Torrie laughed, slapped her cousin on the back and made her way off to her photo shoot. Marianne shrugged, put her headset back on her ears and began to work with the lyrics again.