C-Flat to C-Sharp (PR Girls & Instalove 3)

8

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Ethan

My sleep had been a bit messed up from the stress of the upcoming show, but with Corina in my arms, I was out like a light and slept like a baby.

As I slowly woke up, I could feel her thigh against mine, her fingers on my shoulder as she cuddled against me. Without a doubt, I was the luckiest nerd in the world.

But in order to keep this incredible woman, I was going to have to treat her like the princess she was.

Kissing her forehead, I carefully rolled out of bed. After I threw on a pair of shorts, I went into the kitchen to put on coffee and start breakfast.

As soon as everything was underway, I opened my laptop on the kitchen table to read my emails and check my social media accounts. There were a ton of messages to go through, and I barely got through a tenth of them before I heard a little voice.

“Hey,” Corina said softly, coming into the room fully dressed with her hair brushed.

“Hey, gorgeous. You look far too put together already.”

I went over to give her a soft, dreamy kiss, then pulled out the chair beside mine for her. “How do you take your coffee?”

She sniffed the air delicately. “I usually drink tea, actually, but that smells really good. Just a bit of milk, please.”

I fixed her coffee and sat it in front of her, as she glanced at my laptop.

“What’s your favorite tea?” I asked. “I’ll keep some here for you.”

I didn’t think she heard me, as her eyes darted across the screen. “What are all these messages?” she asked.

I shook my head. “It’s crazy, I’m only on two social media platforms, but I get hundreds of messages a day. I just skim them and delete them, mostly.”

“It looks like they’re mainly from women.”

“Yes, mostly.” This was an awkward part of my life, and I hoped that it wouldn’t freak her out. “Although I did get a proposition from a very charming man on the other side of the country who wanted me to perform a very private concert for him, if you know what I mean.”

Her eyes jumped away from the computer. “I’m sorry, this isn’t my business.”

“I’ll never hide anything from you,” I said, turning the laptop toward her. “If you want to read anything, go ahead. A lot of messages are people talking about how they love the music, or how a certain song touched them in a special way. Or maybe they’re using a song as a first dance at their wedding, or whatever.”

Corina looked at me very seriously. “What else?”

I set down my coffee and slipped into the chair beside her.

“There are a lot of desperate women in the world, I guess,” I shrugged. “There are a lot of messages where they’re begging me to come home with them after a show, or to video chat with them. Many of them send nude photos. Those I just delete without even looking.”

“Doesn’t this bother you?” she exclaimed.

“Of course it does,” I said quickly, grasping her hand on the table. “But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

She shook her head. “Trust me, the super famous rock stars don’t have to deal with this crap themselves. They have media teams who run their online presence and social media. That keeps it from being overly personal.”

I took a sip of my coffee, smiling at her. “Yeah, but a huge part of the indie rock scene is all about being personal. Real . People know that posts are coming from me directly.”

Her fingers drummed on the table top, as she took a sip of coffee. “Wow, this really is good,” she murmured thoughtfully.

Watching Corina stare into space, it was clear that her mind was working a million miles a second. I got up quietly to warm up my giant cast iron frying pan. After a few moments, she turned to me.

“I don’t want to overstep any bounds, but you really need to focus on your performance, and schmoozing your contacts at this concert. Would it be helpful if I took over your social media for now?”