Chapter 7
Lights and cameras. Cameras and lights.
A camera, then a blinding flash to follow it.
One after the other.
And another.
And another.
She ran down the street from the coffee shop to her apartment.
When she reached the main glass door, she hurried up, grabbed the key, and unlocked it. She shut the door, knowing they had no legal rights to cross that boundary.
The paparazzi swarmed around her door, still taking pictures.
She angrily thrusted her hand toward that glass, causing a sound, then put up her middle finger.
How do you like that, assholes? she thought. Then she strode up to Tobias's apartment.
"Sweetie, I'm home!" she yelled. "And, boy, have I got a story for you."
He came out of the bathroom door with just jeans and his hair wet.
He laughed. "Let's see… it's only eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, so I'm quite curious as to what could've happened."
She smirked. "I just got run down by the paparazzi for the… fourth time this week, I believe."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I guess I should've gone to get the muffins."
"It's fine," she said with a smile. "You couldn't have known that was going to happen. Seriously, don't worry about it."
He smiled, as if he got a bright idea. He put on his shoes, told Tris he loved her, and her back, then he was out the door.
Tris sat on the couch and began to read. Her mind strayed to other topics though.
Her single was released two weeks ago, and absolutely blew up (hence the paparazzi). She had an upcoming meeting with Sweets Productions. She was terrified and also excited. Terrified because she didn't want to leave Tobias, but excited, because she wanted to get to work on her album.
He dropped the book and picked up her phone to call Christina. They often talked, at least twice a week.
"Hey, bud," Christina said.
"Hey, love."
"What's up? You usually don't call until my evening when you're on your lunch break."
Tris sighed. "I'm in a predicament. The one I always talk about."
Christina sighed along with Tris. "Okay. So I was thinking yesterday when all of the sudden I got a wonderful idea… What if you made, like, demands, to the record companies. So, for example, you would demand that Tobias be your producer for someone in LA. Can you do that? Is that a thing?"
Tris's mouth hung open. "That's genius. Why didn't I think of that?"
Christina laughed. "So why don't you just stay in New York and demand that of Sweets? And besides, these companies should be begging for Tobias to produce your music after that kick-ass single 'You.'"
Tris smirked. "They should. But I don't think Sweets will let me write totally originally, and they'll completely transform what I'm all about when it comes the time to make my album."
"Okay. So when you have the meeting, view your best options. On your top three, it'd be Tobias as a producer, original songs, and original look, right?"
"Yeah."
"So whatever company offers you that and more, go with that one."
"I still have to talk to Tobias about it though. I mean, he may not want to just drop everything and move to LA with me, you know?"
Chris laughed. "Of course he will."
"What do you mean 'of course he will?' You don't even know him."
"I feel like I do though. He loves you, Tris, and from the way you talk about him, you're really in love with him too."
This brought a smile to Tris's face. "Well, yeah. Of course I'm in love with him. We're like Superman and Lois Lane. We're each other's worlds."
"Do you think he's the one?"
"What?"
"You know. The one."
"I don't know if he's the one, Chris. There's no way to tell the future, but what I do know is that I wouldn't be totally opposed to the idea of us being each other's one in the very distant future."
"Tris, if you don't marry this boy in your lifetime, then you're an absolute idiot."
"We've been together about three months. It's too early to start thinking about that stuff."
She heard Christina laugh. "Okay, Tris. Okay. I've gotta go now. I have a business dinner party. I'll call you tomorrow."
Tris smiled. "Okay. Thanks, Chris. Love you."
"Love you too, Trissy-Poo."
She chuckled, then heard Tobias come inside the apartment.
She suddenly began to feel butterflies in her stomach.
But she put on a smile anyway.
Tris turned around, seeing him for the first time. He carried a moderately large teddy bear about the size of Tris's upper-half and a box of muffins.
She got up off the couch, grinning, and slowly walked over to Tobias with a bashful grin. He handed her the teddy bear, and she observed the object carefully.
"I shall name him Lieutenant Hugglesworth ll," she said as she wore the smile she knew drove Tobias crazy (in a good way).
"Lieutenant Hugglesworth ll," repeated Tobias as they walked into the kitchen.
"Well, it was either that, or Ron, and Ron is no fun, wouldn't you say?" she said coyly.
He laughed and shook his head. He set down the box of muffins on the counter, then leaned back against it.
"Thank you," she said, leaning in to hug him. She stood on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck. His arms squeezed her waist, which made Tris's butterflies suddenly disappear.
"I love you," she said. "So much. So very much. And in case no one's ever told you this, I appreciate you. And I value you. And you do matter. And you are important. And I absolutely 100% adore you."
He pulled back smiling. "How?" he said admiringly.
"How, what?" she asked, chuckling.
"How on Earth did I ever get so lucky, and what did I do to deserve someone as spectacular as you?"
She laughed. "I don't know. But I've learned not to question things like that. Only to appreciate them."
"Appreciate them," he repeated, beginning to understand.
Tris grabbed the tie to his dress shirt, drawing him closer, then lightly kissed him. "Yeah. So why don't you take me back to the bedroom and show me just how much you appreciate me?"
Tris kissed him again, making him an offer he simply could not refuse. "Enticing," he muttered. "Very, very, enticing. But we have to be in the studio in a half hour. And with New York traffic…," he said, wandering off as his lips travelled down her neck.
She moaned.
And so Tobias lost all control.
"Bloody hell, why can't I hit that f sharp correctly?" she yelled incredulously as she paced around the sound booth. "I am rubbish. An absolute wanker, Tobias!"
Tobias couldn't help but smirk. Her British side really came out when she got mad.
He got up and followed her into the sound booth, his back to window where people could see him. Both Sweets (his boss) and Shawn were watching. He didn't want them reading his lips, so he made sure they didn't see his face. And they couldn't hear them speak because the sound was turned off.
"Tris," he said. "You are not rubbish, and you are not a wanker—whatever that is." Tris glared at him, which caused him to chuckle. "Are you just nervous because Sweets and Shawn are watching?"
"Not your boss. Just Shawn. I mean, he's kind of a big deal," she laughed.
"You know, when you first got here, he had a bit of a crush on you."
"What?" she asked, keeping her cool.
He shrugged. "Yeah."
"Bloody hell, why didn't you tell me that before we started dating?" she teased in a low voice as she looked down. He could tell she didn't want them to read her lips either.
He laughed. "Too late now. You're mine."
She rolled her eyes. "Dammit."
He shook his head while chuckling. "We're getting off-topic. Is there anything I can do to make you hit that f sharp?"
She shrugged. "Not really. I mean, it's just something I have to do on my own. Although," she said, pretending to be upset and put her face in her hands, covering her mouth, "a kiss wouldn't exactly make me do worse."
He smirked. "You have no idea how much I'd love that at the moment, but we can't. Later, though. I promise," said Tobias with a wink.
She removed her hands and frowned. "Fine."
"I love youuuu," he said coyly as he made his way to the door.
She rolled her eyes, but smiled, and then put her headphones back on.
He came out with a serious straight face, then turned the sound on. "Ready, Tris?"
"As I'll ever be."
Tobias started to play the piano track they recorded the previous day, and then she sang.
And when she sang the chorus, she absolutely nailed the f sharp.
As she finished the song, Sweets said something to Tobias.
"You two work well together."
Tobias only nodded, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shawn trying to hide a knowing smirk.
After Tris sang, she had a large grin as she opened the door to the sound booth.
Sweets stood up.
"Tobias, what would you say if I made you head producer of the entire company? You would produce for not only Tris, but also others. She—Tris—will be your primary focus right now though. I'm sick of producing and running the company. It's too much. I need you to produce, and you're clearly much better at it than I. The assistant producers will help you out with it though. But you, you deserve this, especially after seeing you produce a hit single that's already #5 in the world."
Tobias's jaw was dropped, and Tris's large grin transformed into an enormous one.
"Y-yes, sir. Oh my god, yes. Absolutely."
He smiled. "Wonderful. We'll discuss technicalities later. Meanwhile, I need to have a meeting with the assistant producers, letting them know who their new boss is. And now I need a new intern," he chuckled.
"Okay. Thank you, sir. So much."
He smiled, then went out the door.
Tobias and Tris and Shawn all looked at each other in amazement and silence.
"Oh my god," Tobias laughed. "I'm going to be the head producer for one of the largest music production companies in the world."
"Oh my god," Tris laughed. Tobias saw pride in her eyes—she was proud of him. That was all he ever wanted. To make her proud to be his.
"Oh my god," Shawn said, joining. "Wait," Shawn said, "does this mean that you can kinda change the old rules? 'Cause the old head producer Mike was the one who created the rule. Sweets just kinda went with it. He never really enforced it. So you could take away that rule, right?"
Tobias's eyes lit up. "That's correct. In-office relationships are officially permitted," he declared with a wild smile at Tris.
Shawn smiled. "I called it from the beginning. I so called it," he said excitedly.
"What?" Tris asked, smirking. She knew that he knew about them.
"You two," he said, as if it were obvious. "You guys are dating."
Both Tris and Tobias were silent.
"For how long?" Shawn asked.
"Two, maybe three," Tobias answers.
"Weeks?"
"Months," Tris said with a chuckles. "About three weeks after I arrived in America."
Shawn's eyebrows rose. "Wow. So you two are probably pretty serious then, aren't you?"
Tris and Tobias met eyes.
Tris and Tobias looked down, Tris pretending to play with her hair, and Tobias pretending to scratch his neck. They started muttering incoherent things that were completely indirect answers. They were messy and flustered about the answer to the question, which was something rare for the both of them.
"Sorry," Shawn said, laughing. "Anyway, I need to get to work on writing. I'll see you two later." He hugged Tris, then did a little bro-hug-type-thing with Tobias. "Congrats, man."
Tobias smiled. "Thanks, Mendes."
So Shawn walked out with a smile on his face, leaving Tris and Tobias alone.
Tris fixed his collar, even though it wasn't messed up.
"I'm so, so proud of you, Tobias," she said softly. "You deserve this. You're going to be great."
He smiled. "I really do love you."
She pulled him in by his collar and kissed him. It was a light kiss; one that made her feel like she was on top of the world or in the clouds.
Tris stepped away from him before she got too tempted. "I love you too. Very much, actually."
"Is that so?" he asked.
"Indeed," she said, smiling. She walked over to the couch to grab her phone and jacket.
She skimmed through her messages from Christina as she talked to Tobias. One read: Look at this immediately! Did you know about this?
"So, do you want to… Go to, uh, dinner…," she muttered with a confused look at her phone. Then suddenly, realization struck her when she saw the attached photo.
"Fuck," she whispered. "Tobias," Tris called, louder this time. "You have to see this."