A twig who could finish a cheese wheel unphased? Ha – maybe Ashley could introduce Cory to her workout plans some day and show her just how much work it took to achieve that supposedly natural ‘twig’ figure.

Ashley smiled understandingly at Cory’s love for pizza. “Unless you want to switch the behind-the-scenes work for singing live on stage, I think you’re good. Can’t think of too many careers where ‘pizza limitations’ are a necessary clause in the contract.” She laughed, imagining that being hidden somewhere in her contract. Honestly, that paperwork monster probably did dictate her pizza consumption.

“That’s great!” Ashley bounced in excitement about the club’s invitation to return for a longer set. “I can put the word out around my friends, I’m sure Marcus can fill the club for you – he loved you.” Mostly because he’d been very, very drunk and very, very impressed by Cory’s assault on the creepy dude outside the club, but Ashley decided it was probably best to leave that part out. She didn’t really want to think about that incident anyway – it still left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth.

The smug glow on Ashley’s face told Cory everything she needed to know about the studio’s opinion of McKenna Chase. She knew she was a house favourite.

She declined the offer of soda and settled back into the couch, pulling her notebook out in front of her once more as she tried to find her place in the scribblings hidden amongst doodles on the page.

It was surprising to hear that Dana was on the phone… and then suddenly not surprising once things clicked. Dana had mentioned this “punk chick” she’d been hooking up with but Ashley hadn’t quite processed that Cory was that chick, even though it made perfect sense. The stories she’d heard were a little odd – Dana seemed to meet her in clubs for no-strings flirtation before heading back and passing out pretty much straight away – but they were certainly exaggerated in front of the guys. Ashley wasn’t entirely sure how much truth there was in her tales but it had certainly garnered interest from Dana’s male friends…

Suddenly the phone was being thrown towards Ashley; fortunately she’d noticed before she had the chance to fumble and watch it smash on the floor.

“Hello?” she asked, preparing herself mentally for the shriek.

“MACDADDYYYY, sup dude, I miss you. Howzitgoin? So,” Dana continued, not giving Ashley even a second to respond, “There’s going to be a huge after-party next week, all the big Greek dudes will be there, wanna come? I’m gonna hook up with the punk chick again and make sure they all see – some of them don’t believe I’m this crazy like, oh my god. Please come, please come, please come!”

“Uh, maybe for a bit, but I have a ton of work,” Ashley said apologetically. “I’ll try, but it sounds like you already have a date,” she added teasingly.

She could almost hear the eyeroll. “OMG, stop. As if! Okay, I gotta go, see you there or I’m never accepting another backstage pass again.” A dramatic pause. “Juuuust kidding, you know I’m MacDaddy’s number one girl. Love you, bye, love you, bye!”

Ashley handed the phone back to Cory, her eyebrows raised. “Coryelle! Hooking up with my friends behind my back!” She exchanged looks with Nugget. Or tried to, as best as one could with a ferret.

It was sweet to see Alice indulge her mother in a hug – Ashley herself was a definite fan of people who offered hugs alongside their introductions, although she knew not everybody was the same. It was why she herself didn’t hug everyone she met, just in case she offended. Her mother had no such concerns.

Ashley’s attempt to stifle her laughter had morphed her expression into a peculiar, barely-contained grin, and Alice’s own laughs broke it into a full-blown beam of amusement.

“Aw, you’re not that bad,” she said, her Cheshire cat smile implying otherwise. It was true though, Alice wasn’t tone deaf by any means. There were plenty of people who had probably auto-tuned their way into the charts with the same basic ability as Alice. Still… Ashley wasn’t about to bring Alice into any recording sessions – except to observe and schmooze with exciting people, of course.

Fortunately her parents let them escape with relatively few questions – well-practiced in the art of trying not to embarrass their grown daughter – and they quickly deposited their blankets back into the cupboard of cosiness before rushing back up to Ashley’s bedroom. Slippers safely placed at the foot of the bed, the girls quickly got ready for bed before clambering in. Ashley loved having a big bed – she was a bit of a sprawler when it came to sleeping – so she was surprised by the contrast as Alice curled up and burrowed underneath the sheets.

The light of her phone screen shone through the fabric. Ashley was a little impressed that it had taken this long to get back round to Jason again – they’d been having too much fun all night to think about boys.

“Hi Jason,” she said dutifully, ducking her head under the covers so she could join in. “Tell him I’m stealing you and he needs to duel me at sunrise for your hand.”

She looked at Alice. “What? Relationships need a bit of spice, right?”

Ashley’s response was interrupted by the sudden realisation that her mother was waving at her through the window, her father close behind her with a glass of wine in hand. She quickly waved back, trying not to be too rude in breaking the conversation, before resuming.

“Sorry, parents are back,” she explained swiftly, as if Alice hadn’t already figured that out. “Uh… Yeah, no I don’t think it’s easy to be really, really famous. But I’d like to try it,” she added with a cheeky grin. “I think it’s probably okay so long as you have good friends around. A good friend is an honest friend and sometimes you need a good kick of honesty to help you keep it real.”

It felt entirely like Alice was giving her too much credit. All she did was slip into the role of McKenna for events and shows – it wasn’t like she had to hide her true self anyway. Playing McKenna just meant bringing all of her positive attributes to the fore and dusting them with a sprinkle of showbiz preppiness. Ashley wasn’t exactly an undiscovered rebel with a dark past.

“Hey, it’s not like either of us have these terrible secrets to hide, I’m sure you’d do fine in the limelight,” Ashley assured her. “You wouldn’t be reinventing yourself, would you? Just… keeping the focus on the right bits, like your optimism or your sense of humour. Maybe not your cardio ability,” she teased, struggling to come up with a flaw. “I know McKenna is never going on those celebrity cooking shows… My career would be over!”

Star cookies sounded really cute actually. Ashley was half-tempted to try them herself and make them a ‘thing’. If her fans latched onto it, she could be rolling in cookies…

“Pffff.”

She pretended not to notice that Alice was indeed pretty flat-chested.

“Not a requirement for backstage passes at my shows, don’t worry!” She laughed at the thought of attracting groupies. Then she glanced back at the window once more, spotting the tops of her parents’ heads as they sat at the table.

“Wanna meet the parents?” she asked. “Or would Jason get jealous that you’re meeting mine before his?”

She couldn’t resist teasing Alice over her “getting pretty serious” man. Well… boy. Man? Ashley hadn’t been bowled over by the two guys they had met at mini golf. Jason had called her Fun Size after all, which was just plain rude! Until proven otherwise, he was clearly not worthy of the title of Man.

“Oh shuddup, you beautiful blue-haired lady!”

Ashley tried to paint a mental image of Old Lady Alice in her mind, and for some reason couldn’t gloss over the hair with silver. She hoped Alice would keep it blue forever. Another vibrant selection from the rainbow would also be acceptable, she supposed, but the blue was definitely more fitting than anything else Ashley could colour – even from a more natural palette.

“Any and all baked goods will be satisfactory in meeting my terms,” Ashley said in a serious voice that was only half-ruined by the giggle running throughout. “Or just like, any food really. It might have to go through a food processor depending on how long these babies last.” Ashley flashed her perfect set of pearly whites at Alice. Genetic, of course. With the slight assistance of a year of braces during middle school…

Ashley was not going to pretend to know the first thing about quantum theory either – science had never been her forte.

“Hey, I’m sure you have some knowledge – you know what sounds good to you. That can be pretty helpful for artists. After all, if no one wants to buy my music I can hardly afford to keep making it, not matter how artsy and progressive I try to make it.”

McKenna Chase was definitely not pushing many boundaries musically, but Ashley liked to think that the songs were more complex than they appeared at surface value. She was far too much of a music geek to just throw out something easy-breezy with some meaningless lyrics on top.

She smiled at Alice’s brief pause before answering. Definitely not a secret mega-fan.

“That’s been a pretty random break for me actually,” Ashley said happily. “I think it got popular after someone put it as the soundtrack to some weird OTP video, just trickled out through various fandoms into the general worldwide web,” she explained with a laugh. “A little weird; it’s really not a love song, though I can see why they thought that. More about moving to a new city and getting a fresh start, taking every chance you can. I wrote it ages ago when I was young and dreaming of travelling the world to become a superstar.”

She hugged herself excitedly. “Kinda fitting that it’s giving me this huge boost, I guess. Worldwide stardom here I come!”

Nodding enthusiastically as Alice began to reminisce about all the stars she could see at camp, Ashley made her way to the cupboard where her family kept the spare blankets and bundled a sizeable heap into her arms, gesturing for Alice to do the same. She imagined her parents would be home soon – they weren’t usually up past midnight – but she was sure they wouldn’t mind her blanket haul. She often padded her way out the back when it was late and she needed a few restful moments of quality time with the universe. Usually it was her mother who eventually came out, draping a blanket over her shoulders, sometimes joining her in silence, sometimes gently reminding her that she had to be up early the next day. Once, Ashley had woken curled up on the back step, the 3 AM chill startling her into consciousness. She didn’t plan on repeating that experience.

She sipped at her drink, admiring the curls of steam that tumbled through the air before her.

“It must be nice to be in walking distance of everywhere,” Ashley pondered, staring up at a makeshift constellation she was attempting to put together. “I’d love to live in the middle of it all one day. If I end up staying here, that is,” she added, frowning softly. “Weird to imagine settling down anywhere else though. Travelling, touring, sure. But I don’t think I could do the whole relocation thing to my mom,” she said with a laugh.

Ashley half-convinced herself that she was actually looking directly at potential new homes in space – ready to become the first Intergalactic Superstar. Her manager had said she had universal appeal – surely that was what she meant?

“I’d retire to some party town, keep myself young,” Ashley joked. “I’m sure I could convince a few friends to join me. My friend Dana definitely has her retirement plans fixed on rejoining Greek life, I bet. You can wave your walking stick angrily at me when I’m 90 and blasting music. Maybe it’ll be my latest album…”

She finally let out a dismissive giggle. “Or maybe I’d be better off stood right next to you complaining about the young’uns.” Ashley smiled. “And Dana, leading them, obviously.”

Ashley winked. “Ah I see, I’ll get you in touch with my manager then, see if we can kickstart that fabulous performing career of yours. Maybe this imaginary landlord will give you a discount on rent if they’re a fan!”

She did her best to look proud of her baking disaster (the only significant one she could recall, but a hilarious one at that) as Alice bowed before her. “Yes, yes…” she sighed. “It’s a gift, but a burden also. And you think your powers bring responsibility!”

It was nice to see Alice trying to make her feel better about her cooking skills, even though Ashley wasn’t bothered herself. Like Alice said, not everyone wants to learn how to cook, and becoming too rich and famous to worry about such things was definitely on McKenna Chase’s to-do list.

“If you ever want to move into the personal chef business, hit me up once my platinum-selling album drops,” she said, heart racing at the prospect. Sometimes she really could get too attached to her daydreams of success – she needed to keep grounded. The true levels of fame and accomplishment that she aspired to were awarded to a select few in her industry and honestly, the odds weren’t great. But she was still young, and there was still plenty of time to work the odds in her favour.

Once Ashley was into her pyjamas – an over-sized t-shirt with SOCAL emblazoned across the chest that she’d acquired in her first ever trip to Los Angeles, paired with a pair of bright blue shorts with silver stars on – she pulled her ridiculous fluffy slippers back onto her feet and headed down to the kitchen with Alice. It was quite the contrast to see Alice go from Paladin to PJs.

She peaked out the window. “We can do, or we could grab some blankets and have a look at the stars for a bit before bed?” Ashley pulled at the fabric of her shorts. “You could say I’m a fan. And it’s a nice night – not that you can ever see much with the light pollution, but at least we have no fog or clouds…”

She could remember the first time she’d seen a night sky away from the city. Mind. Blown. She’d been a little infatuated ever since.