Disharmony

Wishing For Rain

She hummed to herself as she strummed her guitar. This was her favorite time of the day. The few weeks before the tour began were generally a crazy mess of rehearsals and interviews and promo, which meant she was allotted about twenty-seven minutes a day to herself. As always, she planned on making the most of that time.

Usually, she would curl up on a comfy couch with a cup of tea and just enjoy the quiet, but she was feeling particularly inspired today.

So she’d spent her few moments of solitude working on a new song. The idea had come to her as a result of a recurring dream she’d been having about the life of a popstar. The one where the idealistic girl came to the big city with dreams of fame only to realize that perhaps it was overrated and she wasn’t so lucky after all.

It was a tale as old as time, really. It seemed that now days, more often than not, starlets would arise only to realize that fame and fortune were not as glamorous as they thought. Kari’s biggest fear was that, one day, she’d realize that as well.

For her, it was never about being famous. She just wanted to write and sing and perform. But it seemed she couldn’t do what she loved without constantly being the center of media speculation. They followed her everywhere.

To be fair, she did give them an awful lot to write about. Not that she did it purposefully. She just wanted to have fun and live her life. Why should it matter what the tabloids make up about her? She knew who she was that was most important.

Chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip, she played the chord she’s working on over and over. It didn’t sound quite right in the context of the rest of the song, but she can’t figure out how to replace it. Sighing, she put down her guitar, tucking it away safely in its case and turned to find Xavier watching her quietly, arms crossed over his chest, gray beanie pulled over his hair as he chewed contemplatively on his lower lip.

“You should really start wearing a bell,” she said, her voice breathy from surprise. “One of these days you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” he said in a low voice, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black sweatpants and rocking back and forth on his sock covered toes.

She pursed her lips and studied him for a moment. Xavier Spiers was hard to read and it annoyed her beyond belief because she generally enjoyed being the unpredictable one in any given situation. She couldn’t tell whether he liked her or utterly despised her.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t care. But under normal circumstances, the other person also tended to make it abundantly clear where she stood. Sometimes Xavier was kind and sincere and other times he acted as though she could get run over by a bus and he wouldn’t shed a tear.

The uncertainty was frustrating.

Determined to figure out what lay behind that cool sky blue stare, she raised her chin defiantly. “What’s your secret, Xavier?”

“Excuse me?” he asked, his eyes twinkling. The bastard was amused at her irritation.

“You must have one,” she prodded.

He shrugged. “Maybe. But weren’t you the one who said it wouldn’t be any fun if everyone knew?”

She rolled her eyes. Of course he would use her own words against her. What she had failed to mention in their previous conversation was that said fun only applied when she was the one with the secret.

Huffing, she tugged the hair tie off her risk and raked her locks back from her forehead, tying them into a loose bun atop her head as she sent him a glare.

“What are you doing here, anyway? You’re not scheduled to rehearse until after I’m finished,” she pointed out.

Seeing as his set was much shorter, he’d been allotted time for when she was done. And she had yet to begin, so there was no reason for him to be in her rehearsal space.

“I just wanted to see you work,” he admitted quietly. “I figured I could learn something from you.”

His answer was surprisingly genuine and she gaped and blinked rapidly, not knowing exactly how to respond. He was getting good at leaving her speechless and she didn’t like it.

“Ok,” she stammered, trying to regain her composure. It returned within seconds. She was Kari Stevens after all. “You do that. I’m going to go rehearse.”

His lips kinked into a satisfied smirk and she could tell he was quite proud of himself for bewildering her, even if only for a moment. Nodding, he kept his gaze steady, watching as she turned on her heel to walk out onto the stage. She could feel his eyes on her as she stood at the edge of the platform, waiting for her cue to begin.

She shook out her limbs, taking deep breaths to stretch her lungs until the stage manager nodded for her to sing.

The show was meant to dazzle and entertain. There was a good mixture of slow ballads and upbeat anthems the fans could sing along too. It incorporated many costume changes, dancers, and confetti canons. At the end of the day, she wanted the fans to leave knowing that they would never forget her concert.

As the first show was still a few weeks away, her costume changes did not need to be practiced just yet. Mainly, she needed to make sure her vocals for each song were still up to par. So far, she’d picked fifteen of the songs she would be singing live, but had yet to decide on the last five.

She had a distinct feeling once her current song was finished, she would want to include it as well. She was very picky about her tours; they needed to be absolutely perfect.

The reason she worked so hard was because she knew her limitations. She would be the first to admit that her voice wasn’t the most powerful or most soulful in the business. That being said, she could hold her own and refused to do anything but live singing in all of her performances.

She’s received enough reviews about how she needed to work on her vocals; she didn’t need to give the public even more ammunition with which to trash her career.

Her personal life, well that was another matter. Despite what Henry may think, Kari had always ensured that her off stage antics never affected her shows, interviews, or recordings. As long as she was doing her job, she didn’t see why it mattered to anyone what she did with her time off.

She gulped back several sips of water after finishing the mid-tempo ballad in the middle of her set. It seemed like hours had passed since they started and she was starting to show all of the symptoms of dehydration and exhaustion.

“Can we take a break?” she called out to no one in particular.

A voice from the side responded. “Sure. Let Xavier rehearse a little.”

Breathing deeply, she took a long, slow sip of water, allowing the cool liquid to flow through her veins and calm her senses. Her head spun as she turned to walk towards the side stage, stopping short when her vision became blurry and she was no longer able to see her path. Blinking, she stared at the floor, hoping it would soon become clear.

Fingers wrapped around her elbow and her immediate instinct was to jerk her arm away. She spun on her heel to find Xavier raising his hands in a defensive pose, lowering them slowly while she shot him a glare.

“Just making sure you’re alright,” he said innocently, “You looked as though you might faint.”

She nodded slowly. More than anything, she wanted to hate Xavier. It would make her life so much easier. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be getting the memo. His concern was touching, which in turn made it irritating.

“I’m fine,” she responded, her voice hoarse, so she chugged the rest of her water bottle.

Whispering a low thanks, she turned slowly and walked to the side of the stage, plopping down on a nearby amp. She sipped her water quietly as she watched Xavier rehearse.

He’s mesmerizing, she thought to herself. His set had no gimmicks, no dancers, no lighting effects or background visuals. It was just him and a guitar, singing his heart out. And she couldn’t keep her eyes off him.

Without any outside help, he managed to keep her entirely captivated and leave her on the edge of her seat. She watched as he squeezed his eyes closed, the veins in his neck popping as he poured his emotions into the song. It was amazing that his passion could be seen even when the only people listening were her and a few of the stage crew.

Kari couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that way. Sure, she loved performing. Being in front of people was the biggest, most gratifying rush there was, but it never left her feeling as though she’d somehow made a difference.

Xavier put so much soul into his singing that it was hard not to be moved by his performance.

A tap on her shoulder broke her spell and she turned to find Henry standing behind her, an unreadable expression on his face.

“You alright?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and studying her.

She gulped down the last of her water and nodded. “Yeah, just taking a break.”

“Well, I’m glad I caught you,” he smiled, taking a seat on the amp beside her. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

“I’m not in trouble, am I?” she joked. As far as she could remember, she hadn’t participated in any scandalous activity in the past three weeks, which was actually a new record for her. And Xavier had sworn not to tell Henry that she’d snuck out to his concert. So Henry didn’t really have any reason to be upset.

But as she watched him shake his head, she realized he wasn’t angry, he was almost nervous. He parted his lips and paused for a second.

“What would you think about doing an interview with Xavier?” he asked cautiously.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “With Xavier? As in, we would be interviewed together, at the same time.”

Henry nodded, biting his lip, replying quietly. “Yes.”

She wasn’t averse to the idea, but she was extremely confused as to what purpose it would serve. “But why? Besides the fact that we’re touring together, we have nothing in common. Technically, we’re not even in the same genre.”

“That’s the point!” Henry exclaimed brightly, as though it was the world’s best idea. “If we can show the world that two people from such differing backgrounds can get along, then it would look really good for your image.”

There it was: the real reason Henry wanted her to do an interview with Xavier. It was all for publicity.

She rolled her eyes. “Perhaps, but you’d have to get him to agree, and to be honest, I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“He likes you just fine,” Henry said dismissively.

When she shot him a skeptical glance, he sighed and pulled out his phone. After a few moments of tapping away on the screen, he holds it up to her, showing the transcript from a magazine interview Xavier had done recently.

Xavier Spiers tells all, the headline read.

Curious, she scanned the rest of the article, which began with Xavier talking about how excited he was to be on tour and that he was grateful for the opportunity. Finally, he was asked about her, and what it was like to work with her, the woman at the center of all tabloid scandals.

His answer took her by surprise.

To be honest, I don’t really know her that well, but I look forward to working with her in the future. There is no other artist in the industry who has Kari’s unique blend of style and substance. Every show she puts on is extremely entertaining. She’s an excellent performer, but at the same time, her songs are relatable and personal and I haven’t met a single person who hasn’t shared an emotion she’s written about at some point in their life. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kari Stevens will be a force to be reckoned with in the music industry for many years to come.

She sat in stunned silence as she stared at his kind words. As he said, they barely knew each other. Still, he had praised her and not once brought up her reputation in the media. He seemed more concerned about her music than whether or not she’d partied with members of the royal family.

It was a refreshing change, one with which she wasn’t sure how to cope.

She blinked as she brought her gaze up to meet Henry, who was staring at her with a knowing smirk.

“Alright,” she paused, “But maybe he’s just good at interviews.”

Henry shrugged and took his phone back. “Or maybe he actually has a very high opinion of you. Either way, I see no downside to this situation.”

She nodded in agreement. “Ok, I’ll do it.”

“Good,” he smiled, “Now I need to get back to the office. You have a good rehearsal.”

She smiled in gratitude as she watched him leave and turned her attention back to Xavier. He had just finished his song and was taking a small break before launching into another one. Bending down, he picked up a half empty water bottle that was sitting at his feet and took a long sip to rehydrate.

Her mouth went dry as she watched his lips curl over the edge of the bottle and his long fingers tighten around the middle. Shaking her head, she swallowed to moisten her throat and a horrified blush tinted her cheeks when their gazes met.

He held her stare for a moment, his eyes glinting with devilish charm before he licked his lips and winked slowly before turning back towards the microphone. Perhaps his actions were meant to be offensive, but oddly, they had the opposite effect.

Xavier’s air of mystery and unpredictability was only making her like him more.

“Good job, Spiers” she muttered to herself as she hopped off the amp and went to tune her acoustic guitar, “You just received another mark in the plus column.”

….

“Today’s the day, are you ready?”

She would have rolled her eyes had it not been for the person currently coating her eyelashes in mascara. The day of the interview had finally arrived and Xavier was far too excited about it. She assumed it was because he enjoyed seeing her in uncomfortable situations.

Turning in her seat when the mascara wand was lowered, she found Xavier leaning casually against the doorway wearing nothing but slim fitting black jeans and small silver dove shaped pendant which dangled in the middle of his chest. She didn’t even flinch. It was hardly surprising anymore, as he generally enjoyed wearing as little clothing as possible. Still, that didn’t stop her from fantasizing about biting down on that necklace as he did decidedly unholy things to her.

Kari had a shock the first night she came back from rehearsal to find Xavier lounging in her hotel room, almost entirely nude save for some tiny black boxers. She had stared in awe for a moment, admiring his well-toned body before mentally debating whether or not it was a good thing that she now knew about his ability to open locked doors, as he was now using it as an excuse to enter her room whenever he pleased.

Taking a moment to appreciate his current state of undress, she smirked as she stood, careful to keep her curls intact. Crossing her terry cloth robe clad arms over her chest, she raised one eyebrow. “What’s got you so excited?”

He shrugged. “I love interviews.”

It made sense, seeing as he was good at them as well. Xavier was sweet and charming and polite and had been media trained extremely well. Despite her advantage of being in the industry longer, Kari still had yet to perfect the interview. Her brain to mouth filter was almost nonexistent and she often wound up cursing or revealing inappropriate thoughts.

It wasn’t always intentional, but often times she just decided that she didn’t care. Unfortunately, that often also produced some clean up on Henry’s part.

At first, the interview was meant to be for a magazine. But someone who worked for the magazine leaked the news and the media caught wind. The interest had grown rapidly and soon Henry had no choice but to accept a televised interview.

It would be recorded in the seating area of her hotel suite, but broadcast live to the nation. Henry thought this would provide a more intimate feel. Because knowing millions of people were watching her every move was extremely intimate.

She supposed it was a compelling subject. Everyone wanted to know how the golden boy and the wild child could possibly get along.

She watched as Xavier was called over to retrieve his shirt and laughed at his utter reluctance to wear clothing, a trait they shared.

In reality, they actually had a great deal in common in regards to singing and songwriting and their taste in music. They differed, however, in how they conducted themselves in regards to other areas of their lives.

Xavier was like pouring rain: soothing and calm and comforting. It seemed he always knew exactly how to handle any situation thrown at him. Kari, on the other hand, was like burning fire: abrupt and heated and difficult to contain. Individually, those elements were fine and maybe even necessary. Together, however, it never seemed to work.

Her interactions with Xavier were intriguing to say the least. Over the past few weeks, he had developed an astounding sense of comfort around her. She didn’t particularly mind, she was just unused to people so quickly adjusting to her presence.

This strangeness was further compounded by the fact that, generally, her conversations with Xavier were hardly civil. They were sarcastic and dry and brutally honest. And although she enjoyed the banter, she wasn’t sure innocent observers would understand.

Sighing, she walked towards her closet to put on the dress she and her stylist had agreed on for the occasion. It was cute and form fitting with a navy blue top and white and navy zigzagged patterned skirt which flared slightly as it approached her lower thighs. The color combination perfectly contrasted with the bright pink stripe she’d asked her hair stylist to dye in a few days prior.

She slipped off her robe and stepped into the dress, tugging the skirt roughly to pull it over her hips and struggling slip her arms through the holes. Once the material was successfully covering her body, she groaned as she realized she’d have to perform a series of acrobatic tricks to zip up the back.

Soft chuckling in the doorway drew her attention and she looked into the mirror to find Xavier standing behind her, quite amused by her predicament. He’d put on a navy button up which somehow caused his eyes to look brighter than usual. The sleeves were rolled to just below the elbow and the shirt only buttoned halfway up, leaving a good portion of his tanned chest exposed, along with that damn necklace.

“You could make yourself useful, you know,” she glared at him through the mirror. “Zip me up.”

Laughing softly, he took a step forward and reached for her zipper. His bottom lip sucked between his teeth as their gazes met in the mirror and he closed the back of her dress at an excruciatingly slow pace. Despite the fact that there was no need to do so, he ran his fingers down her back afterwards, smoothing out the silky material and keeping his eyes locked on hers as he did so.

The entire situation caused an odd twisting in her stomach and for a moment she wondered if she’d misjudged Xavier. Maybe he wasn’t as much of a goody two shoes as she’d originally thought.

“Thank you,” she nodded at his reflection before turning towards the shoe rack on the side. He took a step back as he watched her dig through the unorganized pile before pulling out a pair of nude pumps.

“Do you need help?” he asked.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Putting on my shoes? What am I, Cinderella?”

“You’re definitely no princess,” he remarked as she stepped into one shoe and then stepped into the other while maintaining a balance achieved through years of having to wear heels to red carpet events.

He probably meant his words to be insulting. Or perhaps he truly didn’t see her as the princess type. Either way, she actually took his words as a compliment. For some reason, she’d always associated princesses with being weak, as needing saving. And she never wanted to be thought of as either of those things.

Smoothing down her skirt, she nodded towards the closet door. “Ready?”

Nodding once in reply, he turned and led the way to her sitting area, where cameras and lights were already set up. The interviewer, a popular celebrity news reporter, sat in a large chair, shuffling through a stack of notecards.

Kari and Xavier took their seats on the large couch beside her, settling themselves comfortably back into the plush leather as they waved their hellos.

The camera man indicated they would be going live in a few seconds and the interviewer, Jenna, smiled widely as he held up his fingers and counted them down.

“Hello,” Jenna beamed, “Welcome to Entertainment Extra. I’m Jenna Fisher and tonight we’ve got a very special interview. Kari Stevens and Xavier Spiers join us on the couch to give us the dish on their upcoming tour and maybe even reveal some secrets. Let’s get started.”

She shifted slightly in her chair to face them, her lips widening into a friendly smile. “Hi, guys. Thanks for being here.”

“Thank you for having us,” Xavier piped up, polite as always.

“Maybe I should be saying that to you,” Jenna responded, angling towards the camera. “We’re actually in Kari’s beautiful hotel room right now.”

“Not bad, is it?” Kari laughed as she glanced around the presidential suite.

“Not bad at all,” Jenna agreed. Clapping her hands together, she faced them more directly and hardened her gaze as though she meant business. “Now, you two have been working extremely hard the past couple months to prepare for this tour, which I believe opens in a week. Is that correct?”

Kari nodded. “Yep.”

“And you’re playing Madison Square Garden?”

Kari smiled dreamily at the mention of the venue. Madison Square Garden was one of her favorite places to perform. Ever since she first started out in the music business, it had been a dream to one day perform there, and when she was eighteen, she’d finally gotten the chance. The fact the iconic venue had sold out for the opening night of her tour was beyond amazing.

“Yes,” Kari grinned, “I’m so excited.”

“Now you’ve played there before,” Jenna continued, “But Xavier, this is your first time. Are you nervous?”

“Well, yeah,” he admitted, smiling sheepishly. He had a way of speaking with gestures which was absolutely mesmerizing and Kari watched the movement of his wide palms and long fingers in utter fascination. “That venue is so huge, so iconic. Of course I’m worried that I’ll mess up and forget a lyric or something. But at the same time, I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s one of the top places every musician dreams of performing at.”

Jenna nodded, shifting her gaze back to Kari for agreement.

Kari blinked to pull herself out of her trance and smiled widely. “He’s going to be f*****g amazing.”

Jenna’s eyes widened at shock at the profanity and Kari briefly considered apologizing before coming to the conclusion that she’d meant exactly what she’d said. She glanced sideways to see Xavier’s reaction and was pleasantly surprised to see his lips kinked into an amused smirk as he held in laughter.

“That’s great,” Jenna stammered as she struggled to regain her composure, sitting up a little straighter and taking a deep breath in. “So how exactly did this start? How did you guys meet and decide to tour together.”

There was the million-dollar question. They couldn’t exactly admit to Xavier being asked on tour in an effort to clean up Kari’s image, so she kept the smile on her face as she racked her brain for the best possible answer.

Xavier stepped in first, producing a lie based somewhat on the truth. “She came to one of my shows with a friend.”

Kari nodded and played along. “Yes, one of my girlfriends is a huge fan, so she kind of dragged me along to see him and I was very impressed, so I told my manager we should see what he’s doing this summer.”

“That’s cute,” Jenna smiled softly and Kari let out a sigh of relief.

“So are you guys fans of each other’s music?”

Kari nodded immediately. She’d listened to Xavier’s album after she learned about the agreement and almost instantly fell in love with his music.

“Of course,” she replied, which earned a surprised smile from Xavier. “He’s incredible. My favorite song of his is Won’t Give Up.”

Jenna shot Kari an impressed smile and they both turned to Xavier, who was gazing at Kari with wide eyed amazement. To be honest, it wasn’t that impressive of a feat. The song she’d mentioned was one of his more popular ones and therefore a pretty safe choice. Still, she liked that he seemed satisfied by her response.

He blinked once, widening his smile before speaking. “Same here. Her songwriting is incredible.”

“And your favorite of her songs?” Jenna prompted.

Kari watched him, intrigued and expecting him to name one of her singles, or the emotional ballad everyone was buzzing about. But his answer took her completely by surprise.

“The Last Kiss,” he said, smirking as he kept his gaze locked on hers.

It was a song from her previous album, which meant he’d listened to more than just her current record. He’d done his research and she needed to return the favor.

She shot him an impressed smile before turning her attention back to Jenna.

“Would you two ever consider writing together?” Jenna followed up.

Kari shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Xavier laughed in agreement, shifting to swing his arm around the back of the couch and settle in more comfortably.

The rest of the interview asked the standard questions about their dating lives, which they both declined to answer, and what they were looking forward to about the tour. Thirty minutes later, they wrapped up and thanked Jenna before walking back towards Kari’s bedroom.

“That wasn’t too bad,” she remarked as she took off her earrings and set them down on top of the dresser.

Xavier flung himself onto the bed, laying out spread eagle on his back and staring at the ceiling. “Nope.”

Pausing to kick off her shoes and pull her hair back into a messy ponytail, she stopped at the edge of the bed, playfully smacking his shoes.

“I didn’t know you listened to my last album,” she said.

He tilted his chin downwards so he could see her. “I’ve listened to all your albums. I even know some of your unreleased songs.”

She blinked as she processed this news. “Wow. Thanks, I guess.”

Shrugging, he sat up and swung his legs childishly. “I don’t know why you’re surprised. I like to know about the people I’m working with.”

“Fair enough,” she pursed her lips. Turning her back to him, she looked over her shoulder. “Can you unzip this for me?”

He lifted his eyebrows in surprise, but nodded, leaning forward to pull the zipper down in the same deliberate manner in which he’d raised it. The pads of his fingers brushed over her skin and she held back a smile as she turned to face him once the zipper was completely undone.

“Can I do something for you?” she whispered, leaning forward and dropping her gaze to his lips. She was quite short, so even though he was sitting on the bed, they were practically at eye level and she could see his eyes darkening as she spoke.

He shook his head, but minimized the gap between them, bringing his lips so they were just inches from hers.

“Can you do something for me, then?” she asked.

He nodded, not breaking eye contact.

“Can you close the door on your way out?”

It took him a moment to process her words and he snapped out of his trance groaning as he rolled his eyes. She laughed as she moved out of the way, allowing him to push himself off the bed and stomp towards the door.

“You’re awful,” he called back as he left, closing the door as she had instructed.

She chuckled loudly in response, shaking her head as she stripped down to her underwear and walked towards the bathroom to take a shower. Xavier was fun to rile up. As she reached inside the shower stall and turned on the water, she decided it was a good thing Xavier was like rain. Because she loved thunderstorms.