Surviving (Surrender 2)

“Come on RJ. You’re beautiful, you’re graceful, and you’re who this song is about. Why don’t you fill the role? Declan and the rest of the guys will be comfortable, and we can get the raw emotions into the scenes. I can set you up with a contract.”

I think about this for a minute, and the door opens behind me.

“What’d she say?” Charlie asks smugly.

I’m gonna kill her.

“She hasn’t said no...yet.” Mike answers her.

“You guys set me up? You did this on purpose?” I screech.

“No, Rave, I thought you were the perfect girl from the beginning but Mike had me searching through model sites. He wanted a replica of you because of the song. When I found Raine, I knew she was as close as we could get. But then I knew you’d be crazy jealous. I brought up the idea to Mike about you, and he was completely on board. So, we think you should be the poster girl for the video since you are the muse. What do you think?”

I argue with them through their logic and then realize the idea excites me.

“Can y’all give me a few days to decide? I need to talk to my family and my real friends,” I glare at Charlie. “Then we need to talk to the other guys in the band. If I agree, I want this to be a complete surprise to Declan.”

“I already talked to Jenna and your real friends and everyone agrees. But whatever.” Charlie says bitterly.

“Charlie, I’m not going to fight with you. I can’t believe you went behind my back. And what’s with her? We looked nothing alike. How’d you think she was a replica of me?”

“I couldn’t find a you that we could afford. Raven, I really want you to consider this. I didn’t do it to piss you off. Think of the big picture. Declan will be more comfortable with you and his performance won’t be forced. This is a huge opportunity for you and the band.”

“Okay.” Everything she said is right. This is huge.

“Okay, you’ll do it?” Mike asks eagerly.

“Okay, I’ll think about it. The answer is probably yes, but let’s talk to Jay, Nate, Cooper, and Blake. And I need you to promise me this will be something I can show my dad and Robbie. Nothing pornographic in any way.”

He nods his head in agreement.

“This is so great.” Charlie claps. “You and Declan go on home and Mike and I can talk to the guys. I’ll call you in an hour.”

I hug them both and go to the lobby to meet an angry Declan.

On the way home, he barely speaks to me. He answers my questions with nods or grunts. Finally, I lose my temper.

“Declan, what the hell’s the matter with you?”

“I didn’t like being dismissed back there for your little meeting. And you’ve talked about everything else except what you discussed.”

I stay quiet trying to figure out how to dodge what we really discussed.

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Um, I wanted to let Mike and Charlie know I was unhappy with their model choice. I asked them to find you a gorgeous lesbian to work with.” I answer embarrassed.

He starts laughing and not any laugh but a loud, body shaking roar. I glare at him.

“You’re telling me that you were jealous of that girl? You talked to the CEO of my label about a replacement. A lesbian replacement? Please tell me, how did that go?”

“It went well, asshat. They listened to me, and I’ll know more tonight. I don’t see what’s so funny!”

“It’s funny that you took me out of that room to convince me to their ideas and the whole time you were jealous.”

I want to give him a smart ass remark, but he’s right. I chuckle with him and hear my phone ding.

Charlie–Rave it’s on! Everyone loved idea. Call Mike on Monday.