Try Everything

“Okay, well that’s different than not missing anyone,” Lincoln pointed out with a small laugh. “I don’t miss any of my exes either. Though, I only actually have one.” 

“I guess your right, Link,” she said with a bit of a nod. “One?” Zara asked not quite believing such a gorgeous girl only had one suiter, “Please tell me you’ve been whoring it up when you weren’t with them,” she said.

Benji blinked twice, abruptly drawn out of his own thoughts and confused at the sudden attempt at conversation. He even put in the effort of fully turning and glancing around the space behind him, certain that he would find somebody passing by that Zara was offering the comment to, but ultimately baffled to find it was just him and her. “Oh. Uh.” He offered dumbly, studying her for a second longer as his mind buffered. As childish as it was, he always associated Zara with his hatred for all things fashion and being forced into putting even the tiniest bit of effort into his image, and as a result often struggled to find a middle-ground for small talk. “Yes. It’s… the worst.” He decided finally, as if he had any real experience with the subject matter – the closest thing to an ‘ex’ that he had was anybody he hooked up with twice in a row.

Zara scrunched up her face, “Are you okay?” she asked seeing the boy clearly struggling to come up with words. Her first thought was that maybe he’d recently sent a similar text but she really hoped not- that’d be more awkward of a conversation than she had currently prepared to enter herself in.

“No one at all?” Lincoln questioned. “Like, not even your family or your best friend?”

“Oh- well yeah,” she told. “But none of my exs honestly,” she explained. 

izzy laughed at the other girl’s words, pleased with the fact that zara shared her sentiments. “i’ve seen what some people wear on their days off and trust me when i say they’re really benefitting from having you around,” she stated. 

“I guess I should be grateful, without their shitty taste I wouldn’t have a job. Hard to remind myself of that sometimes though,” she told. 

“wouldn’t want it to be anyone else,” izzy replied with a light chuckle. she knew from the beginning there was a reason why she got along so well with zara. “ugh, that’s annoying,” she responded to the other female’s statement “i swear, i can’t with some of these people here. one song hits the charts and they’ll think they know more than they actually do.” 

“Exactly, right? Like I’m sorry did you literally do any of this alone until now? No? So maybe listen to me when I tell you you look boring,” She said smiling at the girl that seemed to understand her. 

izzy saw the wide smile on zara’s face as she gushed about the outfits. “no, thank you,” she responded. “nice to know not everyone is out to get me in this cut-throat industry.” 

“Well someone’s gotta be on your team,” she told. “And I gladly volunteer,” she told. “Now horrible is the people you help who ignore your advice,” she said making a face.

Lincoln scrunched up her nose at the other girl’s words. “Ugh, I hate that,” she sympathized. “Even worse when it’s coming from someone you really don’t miss.”

“I never really miss anyone,” Zara laughed a bit not thinking too much about how that sounded.

a smile immediately came across izzy’s face as she heard zara’s familiar voice. although the two had only hung out once before, they clicked immediately and got along really well. “zara, sweetie!” she exclaimed, the excitement evident in her voice as she threw her arms around zara. “about time you found me,” she teased, pulling away from the hug. “by the way, i just saw the outfits you put together for annie and i for tonight’s show and i’m in love,” she gushed at the other girl. 

“Oh- thank you!” Zara said her smile widening. “Gotta do my best for my girl,” she told. 

“Then I guess I certainly picked the right person to ask.” Alexa grinned, happy to have someone come along.

“Oh, that you did,” she said quite seriously. She quite prided herself on being a good time. “You ready?” Zara asked, always ready for an impromptu adventure. 

Lincoln managed to force a smile at Zara’s words, feeling more than a little overwhelmed at the thought of making a choice for herself when it came to public appearances, sure she’d make the wrong one and get herself into some kind of trouble. “Um, I haven’t thought much about it,” she said honestly. “Could I get back to you on that?” she questioned, with every intent to text her manager and ask what she was supposed to say before getting back to Zara. 

“I mean sure, but I could help you with that too,” she told. “It’s kinda my job,” she winked. She wouldn’t lie, she had been frustrated with artists seemingly not giving her job much weight in the past but she tried to always give people the benefit of the doubt, after all you always did catch more flies with honey than with vinegar or so some olde person once said. 

Moony looked down at his leg. “Yeah my right leg is really my most defining feature,” he told with a small laugh. “But you have a lot of people here who are definitely more important ‘models’,” he told, shaking his head.

“I knew it,” she nodded referring to his right leg as she played along. She frowned making an ‘ew’ sort of face at his second statement though, “That’s not true,” she said rather definitively. All her clients were equally important to her and she certainly knew from experience that more popular did not equal better person, now if she could only get other people to see that.

“Oh,” Lincoln let out a small sigh of relief when she realized what a simple thing it was that Zara wanted to talk about, not that she was sure exactly what it was she was afraid that Zara might want to talk about before. “Um, my management usually handles that kind of stuff,” she explained awkwardly. “I tend to just show up to the fittings to make sure I can actually perform in whatever they put me in,” she chuckled. 

“Well lucky you, you get me and a bit more freedom with this tour,” Zara said almost feeling bad for the girl. “So I’ll ask again, about your thoughts, not your management’s.”

Lincoln nodded at the girl’s initial statement, running through her memory banks to try and remember the girl’s name. “Oh!” she exclaimed awkwardly at the other’s sudden exclamation. “Um, yeah I do,” she agreed, nodding nervously, not sure what it is Zara could have to say to her. “What’s up.”

“So, I’m thinking about looks for interviews and other off stage sort of events and I wanted to talk to you a bit your style and the image you’re hoping to portray,” she told. “I’m going to be talking to everyone about it really but I feel like for you I don’t have as much to go off as some of the older performers so I wanted to make sure to get you early on,” she explained looking expectantly at the girl for her to share.

Alexa was almost worried she had offended Zara, before she heard her laugh. “You know you’re probably right, I supposed they’d realize it was me when the cutout wasn’t singing or dancing.” She teased, before nodding. “I would love company– adventures are so much more fun with other people.”

“I think so,” Zara played along. “But perfect, I’ve been wanting to sneak off some time today,” she told, “and like you said crimes are much better with partners.”