The next day, Laura, Carly, and I were at my place in Santa Monica.
"I can't believe you didn't go, Carly," I said, referring to the party last night.
"I was with Sam..." Carly replied with a shrug. "And Sam didn't want to go to the same place that Melanie was."
She murmured, "...and see her dating Freddie."
"About that," I said, "they kissed."
There were a lot of people at the party—Carly and the rest would hear about it sooner or later. It's not like they were being discreet about it, especially kissing right in the middle of the dance floor.
"They did?" Carly said, astonished.
Just then, the doorbell rang. A moment later, Freddie appeared at the door.
"Look who's here," I said with a grin.
Freddie stepped in and greeted everyone with a wave.
Noticing he looked a little awkward, I asked, "What is it, Freddie?"
"I can't believe I kissed Sam for the second time," he replied.
"You kissed Sam?" Laura asked, trying to sound surprised.
We all looked at her, and she quickly added, "Yeah, Jake is better at this—even though I'm the actress..."
"Now you're slandering me," I said. "And no, Freddie. You kissed Melanie."
"Can we stop this?" Freddie said, clearly still thinking it was a prank.
"Freddie, Melanie is real," I said. "They'll be here soon."
Freddie looked a bit skeptical, but we kept chatting casually until the doorbell rang again.
Moments later, Sam and Melanie appeared. Melanie greeted everyone with a cheerful "hi," while Sam gave a more subdued "hello".
"There are two of them?" Freddie said, astonished.
"Yeah, and you kissed both," I murmured close to him.
Carly, who was beside me, jabbed me in the ribs.
Freddie glared at me but then gave a small smile and murmured, "Yeah, I did."
The six of us sat down, gathering around the table. Sam immediately began attacking the food that was laid out, wasting no time at all.
"How could you make out with Freddie, Melanie?" she said through a mouthful.
Freddie choked on his drink.
"What? He's adorable," Melanie replied, glancing at him with a playful smile.
He coughed a bit and turned red with embarrassment.
"I can't believe you two are sisters," Carly said.
"Me neither," they both responded in unison.
"You know, one time she tried to convince me I was adopted?" Melanie added afterward.
We all laughed about that.
"So are there any more secrets we need to know about your family, Sam?" I asked.
"Not that I can remember," Sam replied, though her tone didn't exactly convince anyone.
Melanie chimed in, "I don't know what you already know about our family, but here's a fun fact: our mom also has an identical twin."
"Huh, it is a fun fact..." I repeated absentmindedly.
The six of us ended up talking the whole afternoon away.
In the blink of an eye, the end of July arrived—and with it, the recording with Britney.
Pepper and I were gathered in one of the many recording studios at the facility.
This particular studio belonged to one of our subsidiaries—JDS, a joint venture between JD Company and Sony Music. We held 51% of the shares. As Pepper always said, we didn't need to compete on every front. Sometimes, it was smarter to partner with a giant.
And with our ten-year agreement in place, I wasn't worried about being swallowed later. Ten years from now, forget about a subsidiary like Sony Music, I could probably buy Sony entirely.
We've already signed with Evanescence, Justin Timberlake—who, until recently, was part of the boy band 'N Sync—and Maroon 5, which regrouped and added James Valentine to their lineup.
Also, Avril Lavigne, who fired Cliff Fabri and signed with us instead (recording+agent)
Thus, no famous artists yet. But out of all of them, the most debatable would be Maroon 5 (considering, cough, I'll be singing their songs before they even release them. It's not stealing if they never had it).
"So, My Big Fat Greek Wedding passed $330 million worldwide?" I asked Pepper.
"Yes. Brokeback Mountain is nearing $90 million worldwide," she replied.
"It's because of prejudice. Why can't everyone be like me? I don't care what people do with their own holes at home—I just want to take their money. I mean, cough, sell something, and then take their money," I added with a smirk.
Pepper just rolled her eyes but added, "But Brokeback Mountain was very well received by the critics. We might ever win an Oscar..."
I went to get dressed in the Marshmello outfit. A few minutes later, I came back fully suited.
"Jake, have you decided?" Pepper asked.
"Yes, I'm going to introduce myself to her," I said. "But it needs to be done with a proper ta-da—pulling off the helmet."
At that moment, more people entered the studio—Cher, Regina, Laura, Carly, Sam, and Freddie. Right behind them came the adults: Charlie, Alan, Judith, and Evelyn.
I walked over to Cher and Regina. "You two are incredibly calm," I said, surprised.
"We're tired," Cher corrected. "Pepper introduced us to your personal trainer and said we could only come if we worked out with her this morning."
"Wow, you met that demon," I said with pity.
Yeah, I had a personal trainer. She is a demon. But the results are excellent, I glanced down at myself
"She made us run 10 laps," Regina said with fake teary eyes.
Then the moment everyone had been waiting for finally arrived—Britney walked into the room alone.
Before Cher and Regina could scream, I quickly covered their mouths with my hands.
But then, everyone heard a high-pitched, girly scream of "It's Britney!"
Everyone turned toward the source of the shout.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Alan said, noticeably embarrassed.
I facepalmed (in my helmet)
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