The studio was bustling with activity, a stark contrast to the quiet, intimate sessions Cat had grown used to when she was first starting out. Now, her second album was underway, and everything about the process felt larger. Bigger studios, bigger expectations, and a bigger team.

Cat sat in the vocal booth, headphones snug over her ears, as the producer's voice crackled through the intercom, she didn't have Sam anymore, 'he was only for new talent' they'd told her. Like he wasn't skilled enough for her anymore, but he was, she knew he was. "Let's take it again from the top, Cat. A little more energy this time."

She nodded, swallowing her exhaustion. The words of the song swam in her mind as she closed her eyes and sang. Her voice wavered slightly—fatigue creeping into her delivery—but she pushed through. She had been in vocal training almost every day, learning to stretch her range, protect her vocal chords, and refine her technique. It was grueling, but it was necessary. Or so everyone kept telling her.

When the take ended, she pulled off her headphones, waiting for feedback. The producers murmured between themselves, while outside the booth, a songwriters scribbling notes in the corner. Cat felt like a cog in a much larger machine, a far cry from the small, soulful sessions with Andre and Sam, where the music had felt like theirs alone.

Andre wasn't here today. He hadn't been around much lately. Their schedules rarely lined up, and when they did, he seemed distant, as if he was purposefully being pulled away from her sessions. She missed him. She missed the simplicity of writing songs with him, where every note had felt like magic.

"Cat, we need you in the PR meeting after this," a voice said, snapping her back to the present. One of her managers stood in the doorway, scrolling through their phone. "We've got a merch line we need you to sign off. Oh, and vocal training has been pushed to 7 p.m."

Cat's stomach twisted. She'd already been in the studio since early morning, her body and mind begging for rest. "Got it," she said, her voice quieter than she intended.

The session wrapped up an hour later, and as Cat stepped out of the booth and everyone else left. She had about 5 minutes to spare so decided to give Jade a quick call.

"Hey, superstar," Jade said, as she answered. "How's it going?"

Cat let out a small laugh, slumping onto the couch in the corner of the room. "It's… a lot. Everything feels bigger now, and I don't know if that's a good thing."

Jade paused for a moment, analysing her voice. "You don't sound too happy about it."

"It's not that I'm not happy," Cat said, twisting the cap off a water bottle. "I'm grateful—like, really grateful. But… it's just so much. Vocal training, PR, producers telling me how to sing my own songs. It's exhausting."

Jade replied quickly. "You've got to tell them how you feel Cat; you can't keep stretching yourself that thin."

Cat shook her head, a flicker of frustration in her eyes. "I can't step back, Jade. Everyone's counting on me. They have this whole plan for the next album, the tour… I don't want to let anyone down."

Jade sighed, "You're not a machine, Cat. You can't give them your best if you're running on empty."

Cat stared at the floor, her mind buzzing with everything she had to do, every expectation she felt pressed against her. "I don't even know if these songs feel like me anymore," she admitted. "Andre hasn't been around. I miss how simple it used to be."

"You're still you, Cat. Even if it feels like the world is pulling you in a million directions, your music is still yours. Don't lose that."

"Thanks," she said softly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Jade smiled to herself, "You won't have to find out. I'm here."

Cat nodded, taking a deep breath before standing. "Alright, PR meeting. Let's do this. Love you."

"Love you too."

As Cat ended the call, Jade put her phone back down onto the table. Her filmmaking project group was deep into brainstorming, the scattered papers and scribbled notes around them a testament to how long they'd been at it. Jade reached for her notebook, but her phone's lock screen lit up—a photo of Cat, mid-laugh, taken months ago when they were at the beach.

"Whoa, Caterina fan, huh?" said Emily, one of her groupmates, leaning over to get a better look.

Jade blinked, startled. "What?"

"Your lock screen," Emily said, grinning. "I didn't take you as a hardcore fan of hers."

For a second, Jade didn't understand what she meant, then it hit her. To anyone else, it did look like she was just another fan of Cat's rising music career. The thought made her stomach flip.

"Oh, god, no," Jade said quickly, her voice a little too loud. "She's my—" She paused, the word girlfriend sitting on the tip of her tongue. But something stopped her. It wasn't worry exactly, but the uncertainty of how much she wanted to share. She swallowed and forced a casual smile. "Housemate. She's my housemate."

Emily raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Really?"

"Yeah," Jade added, her voice steadying. "We grew up together."

This seemed to ignite a flurry of excitement. Another groupmate, Caleb, leaned forward, his eyes lighting up. "No way! You're telling me you live with Caterina? That's insane. She's, like, blowing up right now!"

"I mean, it's not really like that," Jade tried to say, but the group wasn't listening.

"You have to get her to act in our film," Emily insisted, her enthusiasm bubbling over. "Imagine how much attention we'd get with someone like her in the cast!"

Jade rolled her eyes. "She's not really an actor. She's busy recording her next album. Trust me, she doesn't have time."

Caleb waved her protest off. "It doesn't matter! She's already got the stage presence. She'd be perfect for, like, a cool, mysterious singer role or something."

The group erupted into ideas, pitching increasingly dramatic roles for Cat. Jade sat back, trying to hide her unease. It wasn't that she didn't want to share how proud she was of Cat—she did. But the way her groupmates talked about her, like she was some unreachable star, made her feel oddly disconnected.

She glanced at her phone again, at Cat's smiling face, and felt a pang of longing. Cat wasn't just a rising star to her. She was still the same person who used to make her laugh in Elementary school, hide behind pillows on the couch during horror movie marathons, and who auditioned to HA with her.

"You okay?" Emily asked, pulling Jade out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," Jade said quickly, tucking her phone into her bag. "I'm fine."

But as the group launched back into their brainstorming, Jade couldn't shake the feeling that something about all of this—Cat's fame, her life outside their little world—was changing things. Was it a problem that people knew she lived with Cat? That from that information they could find out where Cat lived? Was she at that level of fame where they needed to hide that?

She made a mental note to add a code to the gates, and maybe upgrade the security cameras.