Introduction:
"God, I didn't realize you were this naive!" Michelle says, eyeing the glassy eyes Charlotte bestows. She stands up to walk slowly over to Charlotte, her black heels clacking on the cold floor.
"How could you?" Charlotte whimpers, wiping the tear from her cheek. "I trusted you!"
"You shouldn't have."
Charlotte thinks why she hadn't seen it earlier. In fact, it was so clear to her that she just trusted them so much. That got her to thinking why she did. It wasn't like they were saviors or anything. They'd signed her, released her album and let her tour across the world. Like any record label would do. She realized then that it wasn't what they had done, but that they had been there for her. When she had her birthday, or when she felt like a complete mess the door was always open. At that point, she'd never thought it was weird that they wanted so much control over her life. In fact, she enjoyed the aspect of it. So it definitely wasn't strange when they wanted full control over the percentage of money they took. Charlotte, for the first time, saw that they weren't really there for her, they were just there.
"I know." she mumbles, her pride slowly fading.
"Look, Lottie, if you didn't care so much, then we wouldn't have- well you know."
"Framed me for being an alcoholic?" Charlotte's insides twist up as she says the dreaded sentence, "How could you be so cruel?"
Michelle chuckles and lets her hand rest on the desk. "It's solely business. No one believes an alcoholic, honey." she says in a snarky tone. Her usual sarcastic voice is now masked with angst.
"Michelle, you're my manager. Obviously I didn't expect this."
"Expect the unexpected. Lottie. If you keep quiet, I'll fire the man who made the accusation." she wrings her hands, "Hell, I'll even make his life miserable!"
Charlotte considers how much she would like to see the man pay, but shakes her head. Seeing the severity of the situation. she'd not be so dense to fall for Michelle's bribery.
"No." Charlotte manages.
"Fine. Then I'll have to fire you." Michelle counters, glaring at Charlotte with her icy blue eyes.
Charlotte, unable to speak with a croak in her voice jolts up from the seat. Without another word, she runs out the door into the hallway of Beats Music Company. A passerby grimaces as Charlotte walks by. Guess everyone by now has heard the news. Too embarrassed to even explain herself, Charlotte drives home and locks herself up in her crammed apartment, wiping her dripping mascara stains.
And she sits. And drinks, and cries. And she eats, but her metabolism won't allow her to gain as much weight as she wants to. And she watches cheesy romance movies. And this goes on, and on, and on.
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