It sounded like she was talking from personal experience.
She was silent in the car on the way there, the only sound the sole of her trainer tapping in the footwell as she furiously typed messages on her phone, a perpetual frown on her face every time I looked over.
I had a bad feeling, but couldn’t decide if it was to do with Eliza and her dad, or that today simplyhadto go right, and there was no real way I could prepare for it more than I already had. What did I know about talking to an international pop star? What if she was insufferable, as some reports said? What if she hated us on sight? What if she couldn’t stand our watches?
My heart scrambled in my chest as all the possibilities of what could go wrong today whirled through my head like a tickertape parade of doom.
I had to pull it together, and inject a little positivity into my day. All those negative things? They’re what Margot and Max thought was going to happen. That Playgirl Poppy was going to bugger this up. I had to focus on the positives, so the negatives didn’t come true. I wasn’t going to fall into their trap. I was going to be Positive Poppy. Playgirl could jog on. I patted the watch box I’d brought in my bag.
The Uber dropped us by Central Park. We dodged through a stream of runners as we made our way to the meeting place.
We found Roka exactly where she said she’d be, sitting on a bench near the Bethesda Fountain with a baseball cap pulled low, and glitzy oversized sunglasses that did little to make her less conspicuous. Or maybe pop stars liked to be a little outthere, whatever the situation. It was weird to me that she wanted to meet up in public in the first place.
In person, she was shorter than expected, but there was something magnetic about her up close, even in her semi-disguise. People who didn’t get near enough to her orbit walked past without a second glance, not knowing that one of the most famous people on the planet was right in front of them.
She’d shot to fame in the past year with an insanely catchy song about getting over a breakup that had gone global. Showing she was no one-hit wonder, she’d followed it up with two more smash hits. How much longer would she be able to get away with a baseball cap and sunglasses as a disguise? Her hair – a modern mullet with skin at the sides, bouffant on top – was normally on show, so perhaps the hat was what threw people off.
“You must be the watch people.” Roka stood and extended a hand. Her nails were bitten to the quick, but her smile had charm and serious wattage: the type that filled stadiums, and made fans forget their names. “Thanks for accommodating my need for fresh air. I’ve been in the studio all week, and if I have to sit in another room with fluorescent lighting, I might actually lose it.”
“No problem at all.” Eliza slipped into her professional mode that made her voice go up half an octave. “We’re just happy you took the time to meet us, aren’t we, Poppy?”
Stunned she’d included me already, I made a honking noise to tell Roka that yes, we were thrilled.
Roka gave me a stare that I fully deserved.
“I’m Eliza, this is Poppy,” Eliza added.
Roka shook our hands, and introduced herself too, like we didn’t know who she was. I liked that.
“Great. I was thinking we could walk? Or maybe rent one of those boats?” Roka gestured towards the lake, where a handful of rowers yanked oars through the water with varying degrees ofsuccess. “I haven’t done anything spontaneous in weeks. Unless you count a bottle of Patron on my rooftop in the middle of the night with my producer. Which I don’t.”
Eliza’s face didn’t show her panic. Even though I knew she didn’t much care for rowing boats, having been tipped out of one when she was little. “A boat? I’m not sure that’s the best environment—”
“It’s perfect,” I jumped in. “Plus, it sells into our brand of taking time for yourself, right, Eliza?”
The look she gave me could have melted the Statue of Liberty.
I walked up beside her. “If she wants to go on a boat, we should do it,” I whispered.
“I know,” Eliza hissed back.
“You could stay on the bench. I’ll go with her.”
But she gave me a very firm shake of the head. “It’s fine.”
It wasn’t.
Twenty minutes later, I took a deep breath on the jetty as the young attendant held out his hand to help us in. I asked if he could look after our bags, just in case a freak storm capsized us.
The only person looking thrilled about this was Roka. But if she was thrilled, I was, too. “Business is all about making people like you.” I was heeding my mum’s words.
Roka climbed in, ignoring the attendant’s offered hand. “We can take it from here.” She slipped the young guy a note which must have been more than normal judging from his grin.
“If you’re sure.”
Once the guy was gone, she carried on talking.
“You should probably know, I don’t usually do big-brand partnerships. My manager, Beth, screens out most of the corporate stuff.” She held out her hand to help Eliza down. “But you’re different. Family business, right? Plus, Beth mentioned you’re both queer, which honestly makes everything easier. I’mso tired of working with straight men who think they need to explain my own demographic to me.”
