I Knew You Were Trouble

Chapter Five

I wait in a hotel corridor on a bench outside a suite, next to Meredith and opposite Duncan, who is slouched over, reading the sports news on his phone. In our line of work, we’re used to hanging around. We’ve been kept waiting for forty-five minutes.

‘I’m sure he didn’t mean it in a negative way,’ Meredith says again, sounding hopeful, kicking her heels against the carpet.

‘It was pretty obvious how he meant it,’ I tell her. ‘Is anyone picking up at the office?’

‘In LA, no.’

It’s almost eight p.m. in Los Angeles. The Silverpix offices will likely be closed by now.

‘Vaughn was flying back to California today,’ Meredith tells me. ‘He might still be in the air.’

I lower my voice. ‘I just need to talk to him before the band’s management do. Or worse, before Aidan McArthur does.’

Duncan glances up and gives me a look like I’ve gone crazy. ‘Tell him to take a hike.’ He shrugs, and returns his attention to his phone.

‘I don’t know how much sway he has,’ I hiss. ‘If I screw this up, Vaughn Herrera will think I didn’t even try to get along with them.’

Duncan cocks a cynical eyebrow but doesn’t look my way. ‘One out of five,’ he says. ‘You’ve only met one out of five. Just go in there and sweet-talk the rest of them. Aidan McArthur will soon shut the hell up.’

‘He’s UBL.’

Duncan gives a sniff. ‘Aye, you said. I’m tremblin’ in my boots.’

‘You are not helping.’

Duncan knows me. Our collective pasts mean he knows me a little too well.

‘I’m just saying a wee bit of calm in this moment wouldn’t go amiss.’

I get to my feet, stretching out my back. A few nameless individuals have come and gone into the suite. I vow to accost the next person who comes in or out, whether they like it or not.

The unfortunate victim is a young South Asian-looking male with dark hair and a mountain of clothing draped over his outstretched arms. He marches past me, knocking hard on the door to the suite.

‘Excuse me,’ I say. ‘If Ziggy is inside, could you ask him to come out here, please?’

‘Uh, sure,’ the man grunts in an American accent, as the door is opened. ‘I can ask.’

He disappears inside. I sit back down, puffing out my cheeks. Across from me, Duncan’s lips twist into a grin. ‘I love that this is killing you. We should be in Bangladesh right now.’

‘Stop it,’ I chide him, planting a playful kick to his knee, which, due to the size of him, is taking up most of the narrow corridor.

We sit in silence. When the door swings open again, the guy reappears, relieved of his pile of clothes.

‘Ziggy says he’ll be right with you.’ He half-smiles politely, his voice gentle. ‘They’re running a little behind schedule today.’

He disappears again the other way, leaving me to grapple with my own irritation.

‘You remember all of their names?’ Meredith teases me.

‘Boy band one, boy band two, boy band three, boy band four and Aidan the Terrible.’

Meredith giggles. ‘Maybe don’t call them that to their faces,’ she says.

The corridor floods with light as the door swings open. I shoot to my feet.

‘ Riiight ,’ Ziggy announces in his Hackney accent, securing the door with one foot. ‘Documentary crew, would you enter, please? We haven’t got long.’

Duncan lugs himself upright, getting to his feet. I straighten out my shirt.

When I take a step forward, Ziggy blocks my path, lowering his voice. ‘I was a man down this morning because someone took him for a walk outside the hotel. I would appreciate you asking my permission next time. That’s why we’re running late today. And we’ve got a show tonight.’

My jaw drops. ‘He insisted I go for a walk with him ,’ I argue back.

‘Next time, tell him you’re too busy. I don’t want no distractions.’

Ziggy turns around, and, furious about my ticking off, I follow him inside the vast suite, Duncan and Meredith on my tail.

‘Right, boys, listen up,’ Ziggy raises his voice on approach. I glimpse all five of the boys gathered together, four of them on the grey sofa, three absorbed with whatever is on their phones, while J.B. strums on a guitar and Aidan stares rudely right at me. I come to a halt next to Ziggy.

‘Eyes on me, please,’ Ziggy hollers, at which point Miller and Ravi put down their phones. Caleb, who is sitting on the floor, continues typing something.

‘You too, Cal. Right. This is Lexi from the UK; she’s going to be taking the reins on the documentary for Silverpix.’

‘Alright, Sexy Lexi,’ Cal trills in his Aussie accent, at which point a commotion erupts behind him. Except for Aidan, each of them throws his head back, bursting into laughter.

‘ Merde ,’ J.B. swears, wiping his forehead.

‘No way!’ Ravi cackles. ‘That was, like, less than a second.’

‘Pay up, boys,’ Miller says smoothly, holding up his palms. ‘I win.’

‘You win what?’ Cal turns his head and asks.

‘He won the bet,’ Aidan deadpans, tilting his head in my direction. ‘The bet about her .’

‘What bet? I didn’t know there was a bet.’

‘You were the bet,’ Miller adds. ‘How quickly you’d call her Sexy Lexi.’

‘Mate, what the hell?’ Cal shoots back.

‘Man, I was way off,’ Ravi laughs. ‘I thought it’d take at least a minute.’

‘You all owe me a hundred bucks each,’ Miller says.

Cal looks grumpy. ‘I hate the fucking lot of you.’

‘Fellas,’ Ziggy growls. ‘We don’t have all day! This is Lexi, she’s going to be shooting the documentary, and this is uh—’ He falters.

‘Duncan,’ Duncan says.

‘Duncan, that’s right. Dunc’s on camera and you’ll all remember Meredith from before.’

Meredith gives a wave and smiles. My heart breaks a little, because the boys are all still squabbling amongst themselves and none of them pay her one iota of attention.

‘Do you wanna say anything?’ Ziggy asks, exasperated.

‘Actually, I would,’ I say, stepping forward and realising that none of them is paying me any notice either.

‘Actually, I’d like to say something, Zig,’ Aidan interrupts me, so it appears he was listening. ‘We’ve all agreed, and we’re not working with Lexi.’

I stiffen. Ziggy looks like someone’s just pulled a rug out from underneath him. ‘You agreed what?’

Aidan gets to his feet. I stare at him, my cheeks warming. The rest of the band falls silent. ‘She said it herself. She doesn’t want to be here. She’s only doing this so she can get her next project off the ground. Silverpix are desperate and she’s just a lapdog sent to do their bidding. Just like the last shithead we got given. We’re not doing it.’

Ziggy stares at him. I stare at him. Meredith looks to the floor. Cal goes back to his phone.

‘Oh, you’re not doing it?’ Zig states.

I look between them.

‘No,’ Aidan confirms. ‘I’ll talk to Silverpix myself if I have to.’

I glance across again at Ziggy. The base of his neck has gone a weird shade of puce.

‘I don’t fucking care if she doesn’t wanna be here!’

I almost jump as Ziggy explodes. The band all look up.

‘Most days I don’t wanna fucking be here!’ Ziggy continues, unrestrained. ‘I seem to recall last month, at that signing in New York, you didn’t wanna be there either! But guess what, it’s like I used to tell my fucking kids, sometimes we all have to do things we don’t wanna do! Look around you, who do you think is paying for all this? Silverpix is your biggest sponsor. The money doesn’t grow on bloody trees!’

I bite my lip, trying not to laugh at witnessing Aidan McArthur getting yelled at by his manager.

‘So, all of you, listen up! That means you too, Cal, open your goddamn ears—’

‘Chill, Zig, we can hear you a mile off,’ Cal grumbles.

I’m looking at Aidan, a muscle pulsating in his jaw. Despite the fact that he’s right – I don’t want to be here – I feel oddly triumphant.

‘I am telling you right now ,’ Ziggy continues furiously, ‘I want no messing about. None. Lexi asks you to do something for the camera, you do it. Lexi stays. We are not having this conversation again.’ He looks to Aidan, who has crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Are we understood?’ he asks calmly. Aidan looks to me and gives a curt nod, but it’s obvious he’s hating every second of this.

‘Now…’ Ziggy breathes. ‘Lexi, you were saying?’

My shoulders relax. I step forward.

‘I’d like to interview you all. Individually. So the audience can really get to know you. Find out what makes you tick.’

There is silence for some moments.

‘Naw, I don’t wanna do that,’ Danny Miller complains, running his hands through the back of his mahogany-coloured hair, thick with gel product. ‘I don’t wanna sit and have an interview. You wanna get to know me, buy a concert ticket, or go look at a fan site. I’m not interested in up close and personals.’

‘That’s not what he says to all the girls every night,’ J.B. says smoothly with a wink.

‘Fuck you, J.B.,’ Miller shoots back. ‘Least I’m not hung up on my ex.’

J.B. prangs the strings on his guitar. He then gives Miller the middle finger and I’m already making mental notes of questions to ask them.

‘Come on, guys, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,’ Ravi argues in my favour, holding out his hand to me.

‘Judas,’ Aidan jeers in his direction, but I catch his wink and Ravi’s grin.

Ravi shrugs back at him. I’m cooperating , he mouths.

‘There’s no hurry,’ I say. ‘Over the next few months whilst I’m here.’

‘I’ll talk to ya all you want, love,’ Cal blurts, and I appreciate his candour before his concentration goes back to his phone. Aidan rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

‘I also need an idea of your schedule,’ I say, looking to Ziggy. ‘So I know what you’re doing, week by week. Then I can plan in advance.’

‘Right now, love,’ Cal continues, ‘we’re all tryna learn next-to-impossible Korean language so we can get up on stage in Seoul to perform a flawless rendition of “Gangnam Style”. If you can film Miller attempting to learn his Korean lines then that should be good for a laugh.’

Miller gives Cal a swift kick to the back, harder than is necessary.

Ziggy ignores them, carries on talking. ‘We’ve got the show tonight, then another tomorrow, the Halloween special. Then in Seoul they shoot the last part of the video for “Shame About My Face”. It should have been finished by now.’

‘Like the tweet?’ I question. ‘That’s a song?’

‘You bet your arse it’s a song,’ Cal pipes up again, without looking at me. ‘It’s a damn good track.’

‘Then three concerts in Seoul before we head to Australia,’ Ziggy carries on. ‘I’ll look into when there’s time to interview them. Might have to do it in small chunks, you know.’

‘When can we start filming?’ Duncan asks.

‘Lads, be warned, the cameras are back.’

The boys all groan in unison. Aidan glowers at me.

‘You can start shooting from here on in,’ Ziggy says. ‘Try not to get in the way, eh? I’ll tell you if you need to stop. You need to take ’em anywhere, check with me first.’

‘And will we get all-access passes for the concert tonight? The three of us?’

Ziggy nods again, albeit reluctantly. ‘I’ll get you sorted out.’

I turn to Duncan and Meredith. ‘I guess we’re done here.’

We head for the door, Duncan and Meredith ahead of me. When we’re back outside in the corridor, I hear a voice behind me.

‘This isn’t over, you know,’ Aidan says, raising his voice.

I come to an abrupt halt. My chest tightens. I’m done. I’ve officially had enough of him.

I turn on my heel. He’s standing in the doorway, propping the door open with his foot. ‘It isn’t? I believe your manager just pissed all over your plans to disrupt my film.’

He doesn’t reply, just turns and walks away, the door to the suite closing behind him. It’s an irritating move, but it also gives me an idea.

I look to Meredith and Duncan.

‘You gonna let Boy Band Jimmy stand in your way?’ Duncan asks.

A smile tugs at my lips. ‘He stands in my way… I’ll just go around him.’

‘That’s more like it.’

We walk towards the lifts, an idea brewing, gaining traction. This wasn’t how I planned to approach things.

I wait until the lift doors are closed until I speak again.

‘Did we bring the body cameras?’ I ask Duncan, under my breath.

‘Aye,’ he says. ‘I’ve got them.’

‘Good. I want us to wear them.’

‘You think we can get away with that? Legally, I mean.’

I offer him a small shrug. ‘Nobody has to know. At least, not yet.’