Poptastic by Victoria Holmes

Author:Victoria Holmes [Holmes, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-07T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Julia was unsure whether her relationship with Krisha was ending or if her girlfriend needed support getting through a rough patch, but after spending multiple evenings watching the pop star sobbing in her dressing gown, it was clear she was completely out of her depth.

Krisha’s attitude was erratic. She could be spiteful and unkind and often seemed irritated by Julia’s presence, but still it was Julia she called when another negative article appeared in the press – when Stephan Mather’s publicist emailed to say he wouldn’t be including their recording on his new album, after all – when nobody wrote anything about her at all.

In such moments, Julia dropped everything and rushed to offer comfort, still half convinced that it would get better, that what they had was real, that she could help. She thought of offering Krisha space but was too insecure to step back voluntarily. Besides, she was still holding on to her job by a thread and had had almost no contact with her friends since they’d harassed her girlfriend for selfies and autographs. Despite their problems, Krisha was still the best thing in her life.

Alison’s fury at discovering she’d failed to make the cut for Poptastic filming had been dreadful to behold. Julia might still have got away with it if she’d just invited the lesbians, but Matteo’s widely shared selfie had been the final straw and their falling out served only to punctuate the monotony of office life with awkwardness and bad feeling.

Having made no progress on any of her agreed targets, Julia was summoned to another performance review meeting that Wednesday. As she took her place in the now familiar setting she felt strangely detached from the look of disappointment on Sandra’s face. They had barely started when a message came through from Krisha.

I don’t feel good. Everything’s confused.

Where are you? Should I come? Julia replied at once.

‘Please don’t let us disturb you if you have something more important to do,’ Sandra said, looking furious.

Julia had never seen her boss angry before, but Krisha’s safety was infinitely more important to her than Sandra’s feelings. She’d have gladly thrown away any hope of saving her job to rush to Krisha’s side in a grand and heroic gesture, but Krisha didn’t reply, so she was forced to twitch through the meeting, frequently checking her mobile as a long list of her shortcomings was presented to the room: ‘You seem distracted, you’re constantly on your phone, you take too long at lunch and still leave at five on the dot, and some days even earlier.’ The suit rattled on.

It would have been worse if Julia hadn’t been so worried about Krisha, but as it was, she signed another warning without comment before rushing off to call her girlfriend, whose phone went straight to voicemail.

‘What the hell do you think you were playing at in there?’ Sandra asked, stopping Julia in the hallway.

‘Sorry, I’m having some personal issues,’ Julia replied, racked with worry for Krisha.

‘Do you have any idea how much I’ve stood up for you? Any other manager and you’d have been gone months ago.

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