International Love

Chapter 12

“Ladies and gentlemen, Harmony Dreams.” The reporter announced as all four of us walked out on stage to one of our songs.

Today was the day of our performance on ‘The Morning Show’. Today was also the day that I would have my first performance post vocal rest from being strangled. I was nervous. What if my singing voice gave out on me? What if I wasn’t able to get up to a fourth octave anymore? There was so much unknown with my first performance back. But first we needed to get through the interview portion.

“Ivy, do you have a voice yet?” Erin Johnson asked.

“Yes, I do.” I smiled, “I’ve had it back for a couple of days now. I’m talking much better. The singing is what’s going to be questionable.”

“Oh boy does she have that voice back. We heard her last night in our penthouse.” Lacey laughed.

I felt my face turn red but I had to play it up like it was blushing rather than anger.

“Lacey!” I laughed as everyone else laughed.

This was going to be a grueling interview if Lacey kept up with the jabs.

Throughout the interview they asked about our tour, our Grammys win, about our personal lives, and relationships. We made an agreement as a band that we would not discuss anything about mine and Dereks relationship. It was not the right time for this to go public.

“So, we hear that you have a song to perform for us?” Erin asked.

“We do.” Steven smiled.

“Okay, after the break we will hear Harmony Dreams perform their hit single “Summertime and Sunshine”.” She continued.

“And cut.” The director called, “2 minutes to set the stage.”

The stage crew cleared an area that was going to be used as our “stage” and brought four microphone stands out. If this were a performance on our tour or a concert we’d be using our own custom microphones. Instead we used the shows microphones.

“Lacey, can you stop being mad at me? I know I shouldn’t have hid it from you, but you and Derek weren’t even in a relationship.” I said whispering to Lacey as I was handed my in ear monitor pack.

“You never should’ve done anything with him, Ivy. You knew that I had feelings for him.” She responded not looking at me, “We are nothing more than band mates and I will do whatever it takes to destroy you.”

She walked away and left me there dumbfounded. She’s officially made it her personal mission to destroy me. Maybe it’s time for our relationship to become public.

“It’s time.” I whispered to Derek, “We need to come forward soon.”

“I agree.” He responded, “No more hiding.”

“We’re back on air in 5,4,3,2,1.” The director yelled.

“Welcome back to ‘The Morning Show’ let’s here it for Harmony Dreams performing their hit single ‘Summertime and Sunshine’.” Erin said.

Our music started and suddenly all the drama with Lacey washed away.

“Woke up this morning with summertime and sunshine beating down on my face. I’m not going to let this day go to waste, no no.” I sang.

Performing was the one thing that made everything wash away. I didn’t feel stressed, anxious, depressed, I felt nothing but joy. Performing along side my best friends, even Lacey made me feel on top of the world. It was a rush.

Throughout our performance our melodies and dancing was actually decent given the amount of drama we had currently going on between all of us. As much as I wanted to be friends with Lacey again and not have her jealous fits going on, I knew she made it her personal mission to destroy me and my career. If there was so much turmoil within our group, why stay? Our contract renewals were at the end of the year. I had the option to not renew and remove myself from Harmony Dreams. But I knew I’d be leaving Derek behind. But maybe we could branch off and create our own duo. There were so many options, I just needed to decide which was the best option for me.

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“What do you mean you’re not going to renew your contract with the band?” Derek yelled.

“Okay, shhh.” I said shutting our bedroom door, “I haven’t decided yet. But I can’t continue to be in a band where one of the members has made it her personal mission to destroy me. I can make a solo career. But babe, I can’t do this forever.”

“I understand.” He said, “But it won’t be the same without you.”

“Maybe it’s just time to break up. Maybe you and I could branch off together.” I smiled kissing him again.

He deepened the kiss as he lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around him and continued kissing him.

“I so want to make love right now, but we have to go to the dance studio to get started.” He smiled kissing my nose.

He put me back on my feet and grabbed our bags from the bed and walked out of the room. I quickly changed out of the clothes I wore for ‘The Morning Show’ performance. I slid on a pair of leggings and a pink sports bra with a black tank top. I took one of Dereks zip up hoodie jackets and put it on since it was still cool outside. I slid on a pair of white Nike tennis shoes and walked out of the room.

When we got down to the lobby of the building our penthouse was in, it was per usual surrounded by paparazzi and fans. Derek laced our hands and I was about to pull it away until I remembered that we agreed to stop hiding. I could feel Lacey’s eyes burning into my back as we walked outside and every single one of those people went completely crazy.

“Ivy! Ivy! Are you and Derek a couple?” I heard.

“Yes they are.” Lacey said sounding incredibly irritated, “And it’s the most repulsive thing I’ve ever experienced.”