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Callie smoothed down her skirt as Mark pulled up at Jo Wilson's place. She took in the house, for how big and beautiful it was.
"Woah" she exhaled, feeling a lot more panicked now.
"Nice isn't it huh?" Mark laughed.
"She must be seriously rich" Callie pulled a face. "I have to get this deal Mark"
"We are going to write a better song than what Yang could ever do" Mark promised her. "I've got a list of lyricists for you to meet with once we're done here"
"I must be crazy going up against Yang" Callie gulped. "I mean I get we were pretty big, but the rest of us just sort of got pushed out of the limelight, not her though"
"It happens Cal, people go solo…doesn't mean they're necessarily the better ones in the band"
"Except she was, she excelled at everything" Callie sighed.
Mark nodded and rang the doorbell. He hoped as much as Callie that she'd get this deal. It would mean big money for both of them. And he and Lexie were struggling recently, especially with her just finding out they were expecting a second child. The news was great, they'd tried hard for the past couple of years to give Rebecca a sibling but now they were worried about the cost of raising a second child. Soon they would have to ask for a loan of Lexie's sister and Mark really didn't want to ask other people for money. He wanted to provide for his family, Callie getting this deal would ensure he did so.
Jo Wilson didn't come to the door, but instead her manager did. Mark had been the only one in contact with Jo and her manager, and from what he'd experienced so far, the manager seemed a bit of a douche. The manager smiled, and invited them into the house, just as impressive on the inside as what it was the outside.
"Nice to meet you Miss Torres" the manager smirked. "Alex Karev, big fan of yours…almost broke my heart when I found out you were gay"
Callie tried not to roll her eyes at a comment she'd heard too much of over the years. Instead she returned the greeting. Alex showed them through to a sitting room and told them miss Wilson wouldn't be too long. Callie leaned into Mark once Alex had gone to get them some refreshments.
"He seems a bit of a jerk" she muttered.
"No kidding, I've spoken with him on the phone before" he muttered back. "I wonder why Jo Wilson puts up with it"
"It's a mystery to me" Callie replied. It was true, there would be lots of people jumping at the chance to be her manager, so why she had one who appeared stand-offish was beyond Callie and Mark. Alex came back with the refreshments a couple of moments later then excused himself again. Fifteen minutes passed, and Callie still hadn't met Jo Wilson.
"I see time-keeping isn't one of her strong points" Callie glanced at her watch.
"For gods sake don't mention anything like that to her" Mark almost snapped at Callie.
"What's gotten into you?" Callie looked taken aback at Mark's reaction. He sighed.
"We need this Cal"
"What because Disney land bookings are drying up?" Callie joked, half laughing. Mark looked at her with serious eyes.
"They are. Callie this could be the last chance we have here. And I need it just as much as you do"
"I doubt that"
Mark opened his mouth, to tell his closest friend of many years about his money problems, his corresponding marriage problems plus the recent news that he was about to be a father again, when Jo finally walked through the door. She smiled apologetically when she saw Callie and Mark.
"I'm sorry" she told them sitting down opposite them. "I was in the recording studio finishing a track"
"You have a recording studio here?" Callie widened her eyes, thinking of her own excuse of a recording studio that she used from time to time at home. Jo smiled, not answering Callie's question.
"I was a big fan of your band, they were my favourite girl band growing up"
Callie smiled at the compliment, suddenly feeling very old. Jo Wilson was probably only a little kid when Callie was in the prime of her career.
"I'm excited that you agreed to work on this project" Jo continued. "I'm sure you're aware that another one of your bandmates is also writing a song"
"I believe so" Callie kept her reply short.
"I'm aware that there was some sort of dispute between you and Cristina Yang"
"It's nothing" Callie lied. "But just to clarify we will be working alone on the song?"
"That's right" Jo confirmed. "I'll give you two weeks to write the song"
"Two weeks?" Callie exclaimed.
"Is that a problem?" Jo asked. "Cristina said she would be ready by then"
"Nope" Callie gritted her teeth. "No problem at all"
"Great" Jo smiled, continuing on with all the details Callie and Mark had to know. "So you have two weeks and I'll need a copy of the song to listen to. After that we'll record it here in my recording studio and then the song can go on my new album ready for my upcoming tour. The person who writes the best song will be the support act on my tour and will perform the song with me"
"So you want a duet?" Mark asked.
"That's correct" Jo smiled. "I want the song to be something similar your band would have done, I don't mind what you name it. All I want is it to be done in time for my album to be released"
"Okay" Callie smiled. "This really is a pleasure; I promise we won't let you down"
"I am confident that you won't" Jo smiled. "I must go but I wish you luck over the next couple of weeks. I'll have my manager be in contact with yours" she nodded at Mark. Alex came back through the door and gave Jo the biggest smile, different to any behaviour Callie and Mark had witnessed. The way he was with Jo seemed the entire opposite to the way he was with anyone else. Callie gave Mark a smile.
"Alex, will you walk Callie and her manager to the door please" Jo asked. Alex nodded at her.
"Of course I can" he replied eagerly. He glanced over at Callie and Mark and beckoned at them to follow him. "It was nice meeting you guys" he said whilst Jo could still hear him. "As soon as you have a song, let me know and we'll bring you in and get it recorded at the studio here"
"Cool" Callie replied. "See you later" she called out as the door shut behind them.
"Well it turns out douche face has multiple personalities" Mark commented on Alex's different behaviour.
"She's his boss" Callie pointed out. "And I think he likes her"
"No kidding" Mark shot her a look. "It was totally obvious the way he was around her"
"I didn't think it was that obvious" Callie bit her lip.
"Maybe once we've wrote this song, we'll find you someone to date. How long has it been since Penny now?"
"Let's not" Callie grimaced. "I'm trying to get out there" she protested.
"I'm not sure watching TV with ice cream every night quite qualifies as getting yourself out there"
"Well I must still have it" Callie pointed out. "I noticed Arizona checking me out the other day"
"You're cleaner?" Mark answered.
"Uh huh" Callie answered. "It was pretty cute actually, she looked a bit like a teenager when she realised I sussed her out"
"You're a mean woman Torres" Mark laughed.
"So are we going to talk about your behaviour in there?" Callie asked.
"No" Mark replied.
"Mark, we've been best friends for years"
"Fine" Mark took a deep breath. "Lexie's pregnant"
"Mark that's great news" Callie beamed.
"Yeah except it kind of isn't" Mark muttered.
"What do you mean?" Callie asked.
"We're pretty much broke, that's why I need this as much as you"
"You could have asked me for a loan Mark" Callie replied.
"I was never going to do that Cal"
"Fine, then we better get meeting with the lyricist's then. Oh and Arizona will be dropping by in the afternoon to clean. I've upped it to every day" she smiled.
"You've never had your house cleaned everyday" Mark commented.
"I've never had anyone fun to look at" Callie smirked.
"She's pretty hot"
"Yeah, but she isn't checking you out is she?" Callie laughed. "Let's go meet these lyricist's then, I want to write a song so good it make's Yang's look like a nursery rhyme"
Callie slumped down in her chair after the third lyricist came by. Already no one was appealing to her. She and Mark had interviewed them all and given them a shot to write a song on the spot.
"We'll be in touch" she told to the last guy, showing him out the door just as Arizona was about to knock.
"Oh hey" the blonde grinned, keeping her eyes on Callie's face rather than the rest of her body.
"Hey" she greeted Arizona invited her in. The lyricist spoke.
"When exactly will you be in touch?" he asked.
"We've a couple more people to interview but we'll call if you've been successful" she ensured him. The lyricist nodded and left Callie's house.
"What's that about?" Arizona wondered out loud. "Sorry that's none of my business" she muttered, blushing for intruding on Callie's business.
"It's fine" Callie told her. "Do you know who Jo Wilson is?"
"Yeah she's a big star right now isn't she? My niece loves her" Arizona told Callie. "Why?"
"Well she wants me to write a song for her, problem is I'm not good at lyrics, I prefer melodies. That's why we're interviewing lyricists" she told Arizona.
"Woah" Arizona exhaled. "That's incredible"
"Don't happen to know anyone who's good with words. Do you?" Callie half-joked but at this rate she would take any suggestions.
"Not that I can think of, but I'll let you know" Arizona smiled. "I should get cleaning, I promised my brother I'd pick his kids up from school"
"Sure, no problem" Callie watched Arizona leave.
Mark came through to where Callie stood.
"Cal this is a disaster"
"Please tell me what we've seen so far isn't the best you can come up with?" Callie groaned. "I bet Yang's got some really good people lined up"
"We're not going to think about this in terms of Yang" Mark told her. "We have one more person coming today, a girl. If she's no good then I promise I won't rest until I've found you someone good"
"Well you want this just as much as I do" Callie told him. "So you better come up good"
"I've got to go, Lexie has an appointment at the hospital and I promised I'd be there" Mark told her. "The next girl should be arriving any moment now, let me know how it goes" he told Callie. Callie watched him leave, just about to shut the door when a girl arrived, who Callie presumed to be the lyricist.
The girl lyricist turned out to be really young and as Callie suspected didn't quite meet her needs. The girls hands shook as she sat down at the piano ready to play the song.
"What did you say your name was?" Callie asked.
"Stephanie Edwards" the girl stuttered.
"There's no need to be nervous just take your time. I want a four-line song so I can set it to a melody"
Stephanie began scribbling down on a piece of paper, having not prepared anything for Callie to look at. Once she was done she handed the paper to Callie who glanced it over before deciding what tone to set it to. Arizona had come into the living room, she hadn't wanted to intrude but what did Callie expect her to do? Wait around until she was done? She had to pick Nick and Lena up and she definitely didn't want to be late. Arizona watched Callie study the lyrics that the girl beside her had written. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she tried to pick a melody for the song. Callie remembered Jo wanted something similar to what the band had years ago, and as it was a duet she decided to make it a slow and mellow tone. Stephanie's Edwards lyrics just didn't sit right for the tone Callie had suggested. Callie sung each word out, surprising Arizona with how well she could sing. Admittedly, Arizona had googled Callie's bands or rather Tim had forced her through some old videos but their songs were auto tuned and definitely not a reflection on Callie's true voice. Arizona listened to Callie sing the words to the melody she'd composed, whilst the inner English student inside her was desperate to fix the lyrics. She started to mutter replacement lyrics, not realising she was doing it out loud until Callie stopped and stared at her.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry" Arizona went a completely new shade of red, wondering if she could make her excuses now and leave and never ever come back. "Just ignore me"
"That was brilliant" Callie studied Arizona. "The lyrics"
"I agree" Stephanie told her, a little embarrassed she couldn't come up with anything like that in front of Callie.
"You never told me you were a lyricist"
"I'm not" Arizona told her. "I've got a degree in English…I write poetry" she admitted. "You know what I really have to go and pick up the kids. Not my kids" she was beginning to ramble as she abandoned the cleaning supplies and picked up her coat. "My brothers" she told them. "It was nice meeting you" she told Stephanie. "Bye" she slammed the door shut and ran down the hallway as fast as she could. Callie was in two minds as to whether to chase her down the hallway or stay with Stephanie.
"I'll let you know" Callie told her. "I've got a few more people to interview" she lied, showing Edwards to the door. Arizona had completely disappeared out of sight. Edwards didn't hold out much hope for Callie's call, especially as she commented again of how Arizona did a much better job than what she could have. Callie got out her laptop once Edwards had left. She opened up google and typed in Arizona Robbins. Arizona seemed like a natural lyricist and Callie had to find out everything she possibly could about her before she could ask for her involvement in this project.