CLOSED STARTER who: @chloecampbell where: Chloe's penthouse
Showing up at Chloe's penthouse, Gemma realized, for not the first time, just how similar they really were - although, not in the way their labels thought. Their labels, particularly Deverocks, at the hands of Gemma's mother, constantly positioned Chloe as her competition. They were both blonde, positioned to be the It-Girls of their respective fields, both successful, and both fairly young. When Chloe was hospitalized after her LA show last year, it would've been insanely easy for Gemma to release an album or a single to leverage her "competitions" hiatus. She didn't. Instead, she showed up at Chloe's door.
They'd been friends before, and, even more than that, Gemma had written for Chloe, something she knew would give her mother an aneurysm if she ever found out about it. But after Chloe's collapse, Gemma realized the drugs were way worse than even she'd realized, and so she'd shown up unannounced, not to write, but to make sure Chloe was okay, would be okay. Although there were only five years between them, Gemma saw so much of her younger self in Chloe, and she didn't like what she saw. The pressure, the fame, the pills, all of it was far too similar to the girl Gemma had once been and, in many ways, the girl Gemma still very much was. Chloe hadn't asked for her guidance, but Gemma gave it anyway. Gemma herself was almost unhealthily co-dependent on the support of her older sister Maggie, and she had no idea who she'd be if she'd had to navigate this industry without that guidance.
To Gemma, she wasn't her competition - she was another poor kid who had gotten shoved into an adult role too soon. When Chloe answered the door, Gemma grinned, putting a hand to her shoulder and pulling her into a hug. She'd seen her a few months ago when Gemma was back in town during tour, but now that tour was finally over, Gemma was checking in, as she always did. "You look good," She said, pulling away so she could actually look at her, not even trying to disguise the fact that she was doing it. She wasn't lying, though. Chloe had filled out slightly and had gotten more of the life back in her eyes that Gemma had watched her start slowly regaining after the last year. "I look like I got run over, meanwhile," She said, glancing in Chloe's hall mirror as she followed her into the apartment. "Tour always wrecks me," She whined.
