Page 6 of Seeking Stars
She glanced at the classic image of the group's lead singer on her chest, one arm extended up above his head, the other holding the mic close to his face.
"Oh, yes. Freddy is the best." She left it at that, limiting herself to facts.
"Agreed." A sudden grin appeared on Liam's perfect face. The same grin he flashed often for the cameras. "Though I have to say, I'm partial to Brian, myself."
"They were all amazing." She added a tiny upward slant to her lips for Coulton's benefit. Not responding to Liam's smile might make her look antagonistic and, if this was a work meeting, she needed to be careful. Polite. She also forced her eyes to remain focused on his, unwavering; as much as she would have liked to let them roam all over him and memorize every one of Liam McMillan's features, she couldn't afford to appear starstruck— both out of pride and professionalism.
"Glad to see you like her," Coulton said, mostly to Liam. The older man must have thought that if Liam smiled at Ana, then he must approve of her, somehow. Ana still had her doubts. "I had to scramble for a solution once you asked me for help and, well, I won't bore you with the details, but learning about Ms. Lira’s talent was a lightbulb moment."
"Okay," Ana said. "I appreciate being of help, I do, but I could help a lot more if I knew what it is I'm supposed to be doing."
"Forgive me, Ana, you're right. Let me explain," he began, before taking a sip of his coffee.
Ana copied him. Liam didn't move. Clearly, he did not want to be a part of this meeting.
"Liam here is… extremely busy, as you can imagine. Everyone wants a piece of him right now. Any stress you assume comes with his job, well, triple it. Such a schedule is important yet exhausting. He wants to slow down for a short period of time and, as my wife continues to remind me, compromise is key to any good relationship. So, I’ve figured out a way to give Liam somewhat of a break without affecting his PR opportunities."
"Right," she said. "How do I fit into your compromise?"
"My wife figured that out, actually. I was… verbalizing, shall I say, some of my stresses of the day, and she noted that people don't typically know what it's like to be a celebrity. Or they can imagine, but they still want more. They all live in this contradicting place of thinking they know a celebrity like they know their spouse, and always craving more. They want to get close to the life of an A-Lister, get into their mind, see what they assume to be the splendor and glamor of fame. Or, they want to see them fail." Coulton added a chuckle here, as if this was all kind of a joke. Ana didn't find it in her to share in his amusement. "Thing is, my wife's a fan of your work, Ana. She gave me the idea."
Time slowed down again. All synapsis in her brain froze for one, two, three seconds. A tonne of bricks found a home in her lungs.
"A documentary?" Ana barely registered the skeptical tone to her question. Her mind had gone blank.
"A documentary," Liam confirmed, but his voice lacked the almost giddy excitement lacing Coulton's words.
"I saw some of your work, Ana," Coulton continued, ignoring Liam's evident displeasure. "The way you film— the way you study your story— it would be the perfect way to showcase Liam's most human side. I understand you do your own editing?"
A documentary? Of Liam McMillan?!
"Right, yes," she confirmed, still reeling. "I find that it helps me tell the story properly. I get to know the people I work with so closely during the filming process, that editing everything myself helps me figure out exactly what I want to keep and what can go. Also, no one gets to see the moments that don't make it into the movie. I find that the people I work with like that, for privacy."
It also helped her save a lot of money, but she didn't say that.
"Imagine my pleasure when I discovered we were signing you up at TCA," Coulton said. "We could keep it all in-house! So I had Magda call you. Diana is over the moon at the idea, of course. Now here you are."
"Here I am," Ana agreed, mostly to buy herself time.
A documentary. Of Liam McMillan.
Her brain short-circuited.
"I trust I don't have to say how big this would be for your career, Ana," Coulton started to say, before being interrupted by Liam.
"I don't think it's Ana that you need to convince here. This is the complete opposite of what I asked for. I asked for a break, time to rest. I didn't ask to become an object of study. No offense, Ana."
He dismissed her with a flick of his hand. She narrowed her eyes at him but didn't get to say anything. She'd become invisible to them as they faced each other.
Coulton's voice grew louder. "And I explained to you why I don't think an actual break is a good idea. I want to be able to tell the press that you're on an exciting project, something that hasn't been done before."
"And I explained that I want a vacation. If you tell me I need to wait six months, even a year for hell's sake, but I'll get an actual, alone to do whatever I please break—"
"Liam, I told you, this is not the time. It may not be the time for another year or two. These are going to be the most intense five years of your life, yes, but it's five years of investment for a lifetime of dreams… and you're halfway there."
"I hit the ground running when I signed with you and I haven't taken a single break yet. I've let you set the tone, and the pace, of everything I've done since signing with you. I think I deserve rest, four years in."
"You'll have time to rest when you make it, Liam. When you have the world at your feet. Don't forget it's keeping a steady pace that wins marathons. Don't quit on the final leg of the race! You'll leave this stage behind sooner than you'll realize and, I promise you— the results will last forever. Don't throw it all away now. You hired me to be your agent and your manager. Hell, I'd like to think I'm also your friend and mentor!"
