Push to the Limit (the sixth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 5: Same Directions

Julie and Nick: 'Cause space is just a word made up by some who's afraid to get too... 

Ryder let out a deep breath, staring at his computer screen. Julie and Nick were singing together on a stage, this time in Orlando, and it was the closest he'd been to seeing her in two weeks. 

Both: Close! 

"This again?" Marley asked as she walked downstairs, their son in her arms and her work bag on her other shoulder. 

Ryder tried to resume his kitchen activities and appear as though he was only casually playing the concert footage in the background, but the truth was that he had been staring at the screen attentively for the last entire song and he had played it about twelve times already. 

"Ryder," Marley said as she joined him and closed down the laptop, "these videos of her singing on tour have been on a loop for the past week. Have you talked to the real life Julie yet?"

"A couple of times," Ryder said with a shrug. "Short conversations here and there. But she's always too busy to really talk."

"Well then maybe you'll have to force her to talk," Marley said. "But in the meantime, you have to take care of our son."

She gave him a look and held Ben out for him. 

***

"Eight shows and five appearances in two weeks," said Julie as she and her manager, Keith, walked off the set of the Ellen show. She had just watched Nick perform and now had to wait for him to get out of there so that they could hit the road and get ready for yet another show.

"Nick's album came out a week ago," said Keith. "Your new single came out three days ago... What did you expect? It's just going to keep getting busier from here. We are hitting hard with this promo and I've already booked you four talk shows to perform the single at. Sing it at your concerts, too, and you're going to see your song possibly peak higher on the charts than Nick's."

Julie smiled. Her feature on Nick's single had already dropped from the charts but he had an album now and he was focusing on that, which meant that he wasn't able to promote her anymore than he already was doing by having her on tour. Now it was up to her to do the work all for herself, which meant she had to put her full energy into promoting this single.

At least, that's what she kept telling herself to justify why it had been two weeks and she hadn't put any effort into hashing things out with Ryder. 

 "Good news," said Keith. "Your music video has over five million views and sales numbers just keep going higher and higher. We'll reach Top 10 in US iTunes in the next couple of minutes and if you keep going at this rate, you're looking at an instant Top 40 debut. I'm getting so many calls and emails about you right now and I'm currently trying to lock down an appearance on Jimmy Fallon's show as early as day after tomorrow."

"That's my birthday," Julie said, though she wasn't sure what her point was. The look he gave her indicated he wasn't either. "Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "Book the appearance."

***

"Hey Santana," said Sebastian as he walked down the steps of a platform onto the lobby of a hotel she'd just arrived in.

She heard his voice, scowled and said, "Ugh, hi."

"What?" he asked. "No hug. No nothing?"

Santana didn't respond, momentarily distracted by the girl standing behind him. She was pretty, blonde, and distracted, texting away. "Who is this?" she asked. "You have a niece or something?"

The girl laughed, though it seemed she was laughing at what was on her phone. Sebastian put an arm on her shoulder and explained, "This is Sarah Linley. We are currently working on a contract for her at Blackbird Records."