BEYOND THE LIGHTS «j.p.»

no place big enough

Los Angeles, 2017

Rio stares out of the floor to ceiling windows that overlook downtown Los Angeles, the sky has long since morphed from the pink and orange hues of the setting sun into the inky blackness of the dark night. Daphne sits next to him, tapping her fingernails against the glossy, oak table, anger weeping through her. They were alone in the meeting room for now, awaiting the record label executives.

"You know what this is about, don't you?" Daphne asks him, breaking the angry silence she had created as soon as she and Rio stepped into the room. "This is about that show you put on up on the balcony last night."

Daphne glares at him, though he doesn't look at her, he just continues to stare out of the large windows that line the outside wall. He knows it makes her angrier, and maybe that's why he does it.

"You better hope this isn't bad." She growls between gritted teeth. "Because if it is, I swear to you I'll—"

She doesn't have time to finish her threat, though Rio is sure it's one he's heard before, because the door opens and the executives, donning their usual business suits, waltz into the room with an air of power and control.

That's what Rio hated about this. The people who ran the music business didn't know or give a damn about good music, all they cared about were numbers.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we called you in on such short notice." One of them says as they take their seats across the table from Daphne and Rio.

"It has crossed our minds, yes." Daphne says, shooting one sideways glance at Rio before turning her eyes back to the executives. She had turned on her business-mode now, one of the many masks that she wore on a daily basis, and one of the many reasons that Rio was growing to loathe her.

"Well," another says, and Rio thinks his names is Charlie, but he can't quite remember, "as you know, the...incident..." he gives a pointed, almost cautious look at Rio, "that occurred on last night has been on every major news station, gossip site. I mean, somehow Perez Hilton live-streamed it as it was happening."

Daphne keeps her composure, but Rio notices the one hand that's beneath the table ball into a fist, and he knows that he has it coming as soon as this meeting is over.

"To keep this short," the first executive says, "it's bad for business, it's giving bad credit to Rio's name, and we're not comfortable with releasing the album underneath this public scrutiny."

"What?" Daphne asks, looking at each of them in turn, giving them all the same incredulous look. "You can't be serious. Whatever happened to the saying 'all press is good press'?"

"Not for our record label it's not." Charlie says, his tone unforgiving. "And not when it's wasting my money. We'll wait for this to pass before we move forward with the release."

"And what if it doesn't pass? What if this looms over his head for the rest of his career?" Daphne asks.

"If that happens, he won't have to worry about a career. He won't have one." Charlie finishes, giving them a look before they all stand up and unison and walk out.

As the door closes, Daphne stands up, pacing the floor and running her fingers through her hair. "I can't believe this." She whirls around and looks at Rio, moving to stand closer to him and pointing a finger in his face angrily. "This is not going to happen to us because you made one stupid mistake!"