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Chapter Ten: An invitation and a whole load of worries


1 month later - October 2006


Justin smiled over at Jill as he watched her enter the office with two steaming cups of Starbucks coffee.

"Yum,"Justin said graciously accepting the cup held out to him, "You spend all your wages in that place."

"I can't help it if there's a shop on the corner outside here, the smell lures e in plus it's so cold out there." Jill replied sitting down at her desk and eagerly pulling out a brown bag.

"Muffin?"

"Jill, you shouldn't spend your money on me," Justin replied.

"You don't want one? It's got raisins in it," she replied pulling the bag back to her.

"I do want one," Justin said reaching over and grabbing the bag back.

Jill removed her coat and watched him as he ate the muffin at her desk. Justin seemed to realise she was staring and looked up at her, Jill laughed as she noticed the crumbs all over his t-shirt.

"You seem so happy Jus." Jill said taking a drink of her latte.

"I suppose i am." he replied wiping the crumbs away.

"Things with you and Ruth are going well?" Jill asked as it seemed like they hadn't really talked for so long.

"Yeah they are."

Jill sighed, "Men."

"Whaaaaaaat?" he replied rolling his eyes.

"Getting anything out of you is like getting blood from a stone."

Justin stopped eating and looked directly at her once again, "You're one to talk, anyway everything with me is just dandy, it would be so good to see you settled."

"Settled, you make it sound so appealing." Jill mocked him as she threw one of his crumbs back at him.

"Shit." Jill said as he phone started to ring, "It's Neil, noooo it's too early."

Justin started to laugh as Jill picked up the phone and answered it with one word responses before she dramatically put the phone back, "I've been summoned."

"What's he wanting?" Justin asked as he now started to pick at Jill's muffin.

"Something to do with a request from Brian Schechter." Jill replied rolling her eyes, "It can't be about the article because that was last month."

"Maybe it's about another band, he manages other ones."

"Possibly." Jill replied as she gathered her notebook and noticed him munching away,"Don't eat all of it."

"Alright," he replied pulling a sad face as she took the muffin away from him.

Jill walked into Neil's office, it didn't matter that she did this on a regular basis it still made her as nervous as hell.

"Jill," Neil said as he beckoned her to sit down,"Right, I need to explain what's involved."

Jill looked at him slightly puzzled as he started his speciality of seeming to start a conversation as if he was half way through it.

"As you know My Chemical Romance are coming back to the UK this month to officially launch their album."

Jill moved uncomfortably in her chair as he mentioned their name.

"Their press people want a magazine to do an article on them to cover their provisional tour in November."

Jill swore the room was starting to get hotter as she pulled at the front of her jumper.

"It's something that this magazine specialises in and we do it well, anyway I've put a show of interest into them as it could be a great piece plus our distribution goes through the roof when they are involved." Neil continued, "So I want you to meet with their people on Thursday, you'll need ideas on how you would propose to do the piece."

Jill sat there unable to respond.

"Jill!" Neil almost shouted as he slammed a book on his desk causing Jill to jump,"Did you hear any of that?"

"I don't understand why you would chose me to do that when the senior writers do that kind of stuff all the time. I mean it's an amazing opportunity." Jill blurted out, "I'm kind of worried about being labelled as the MCR girl."

Neil looked at her like she had slapped him in the face, "Jill you did such a good with the last article and according to their manager they really liked it which is why they want to meet with our magazine and more specifically you."

"But should someone else not get a chance." Jill replied.

"You don't want to do it?"

"It's not that I don't want to do it but I'm worried about being typecast." Jill said.

She knew this was partly true but she really didn't want to be involved especially to the extent Neil was indicating.

"You won't be typecast you've covered all aspects of the type of music we cover, you've interviewed bands that even I've never heard of and you seem to spend all your time touring round the place doing gig reviews." Neil said trying to reassure her, "You're a good writer Jill, you're well respected. Don't let yourself give up opportunities like this on some sort of principle of credence with your fellow writers. I know despite the bullshit they may say, they all want opportunities like this."

Jill looked at him and nodded.

"Right, you meet with the reps on Thursday and if we get the gig we'll talk a bit more about how we can give you a bit more variety."

"Thanks Neil." Jill replied as she stood up and walked out of the office. She needed a moment, it had all happened too fast back there. Jill quickly bolted into the toilets as she checked the cubicles and locked herself in the last one,"Shit, shit, shit." Jill repeatedly said to herself as she thought about the last half hour. She didn't know if she was upset, angry or what. She immediately quietened as she heard the outside door open. The footsteps got nearer to her as she heard the person pushing open all the doors to the cubicles including her own but the lock prevented the door from moving. Jill sighed in relief as she heard the person go into the cubicle next to her.

"Hey, what ya doing?"

Jill almost fell off the toilet as she looked up to see Ruth peering over the top of her cubicle.

"Thanking god that I'm not actually doing the toilet." Jill replied, "Are you some sort of toilet perv or a reincarnation of moaning myrtle."

"Nah, just worried about you hun," Ruth replied, "You better let me in because if someone comes in and sees me here, well I will get a dodgy reputation then."

Ruth jumped down and impatiently waited for Jill to open the door, "Right, what's going on, Jus said you met with old crab face about Brian what's his name?"

Jill just looked at her blankly as she struggled to put words together, "You're gonna think I'm stupid."

"Only time I thought that was when you dressed up as Alice Cooper to the Halloween party."

"It wasn't Alice Cooper," Jill retorted.

"Jill, tell me what's wrong," Ruth gently asked as she knelt on the ground and placed her hands on her friends knees, "You've been kind of weird for a while now."

"Thanks," Jill replied, "It's the whole My Chem thing, I over-reacted and I just don't want to be the person doing all the MCR stuff."

Ruth watched Jill, she was fidgeting like mad and it was obvious she was worked up, "Jill, first of all breath, " Ruth asked as Jill smiled at her, "You've done one article on them and that does not make you their PA, as nice as that sounds, Oh Iero butt every morning."

"Ruth, focus." Jill replied slightly laughing as she watched Ruth stare into space.

"Yep anyway, what I'm saying is you are way over-reacting, I'm thinking that this is more of an excuse than a real fear." Ruth replied, "Seriously hun, speak to me."

"I'm losing my mind, I made it sound back there like I was an ungrateful bitch. He offered me the chance to represent the magazine to get a huge deal and I let my personal feelings fuck it up, "Jill said fighting back the tears, "My Chem are a huge band and you know I'm a huge fan."

"I do Jill." Ruth replied trying to comfort her friend.

"I just don't want to put myself in that position again, it's totally unprofessional I know." Jill said nervously rubbing her nose.

"What position?" Ruth asked with an inkling of what her friend mean't but not wanting to put words in her mouth.

"I just got over that nutty stuff and now I have to put myself back in there again."

"Jill, I'm not following you." Ruth said gently stroking her friends arm.

Jill hesitated and looked at her friend, "I don't want to see him again, I'm like a stupid 12 year old girl."

"You mean Bob?"

Jill let her eyes fall to the floor again and she nodded, "See I am so lame and I just don't understand it. I don't even know him but I can't stop thinking about him and he probably wouldn't even know I exist."

"Jilly, you are not stupid," Ruth started lifting her friends chin up, "You have a crush, a bad one at that but don't let it get in the way. You're an amazing writer and it sounds like MCR know that and want you to be the one that writes this."

"I just need to get over myself and deal with it, hey we might not even get this job and I'm fretting over nothing." Jill replied cheering herself up.

"That's right but you better get this job because I want something good for the website and I want you to be happy." Ruth said helping her friend on to her feet.

"Thank you." Jill said hugging Ruth, "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Hey did you see The Black Parade single is selling really well?" Ruth replied.

"Is it?"

"Yep," Ruth said grinning, "Looks like they've hit the mainstream."

"mmm," Jill replied, "Well I better go and get working for Thursday."

"You go girl and remember I'm always here if you need me, well not here as in the toilets but you know what I mean."

Jill laughed, "See you later."


------Thursday------


"Jill, I've had a look at the proposal and it's good." Neil said as he launched the papers on to her desk.

Jill looked up at him and wondered why he felt the need to always be throwing stuff and it was usually in her direction. "Thanks."

"You all ready?"

"Yes boss." Jill replied confidently.

"Excellent, we could really do with that job." Neil informed her heaping the pressure on with a shovel.

She watched as he left the office and wished so much Justin was in the office but he was off in Germany for the magazine. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her phone.

"Hello, Jill speaking."

"Hi Jill, this is Jenna from the My Chem press team."

"Hi Jenna," Jill replied.

"I'm afraid we've had to push back the appointment and we were hoping that you would be able to meet us around 6pm."

"6 would be fine with me." Jill responded quickly checking her diary.

"That's brilliant, would it be possible for you to meet us at the Virgin Megastore. As you know the band are doing an exclusive appearance there tonight and we really need to be down there. I realise this will be an inconvenience for you but it would help us a lot."

"No problem." Jill said.

"That's great, just come in to the usual entrance of the store and I will leave your name for the security to give you access. It might be a bit hectic but you shouldn't really have a problem at that time. See you later Jill and thanks again."

"Thanks Jenna, see you then." Jill replied as she hung up.

Jill tapped her fingers against the desk as she thought about what she would do with the 3 hours she now had spare. She quickly packed her bag with what she would need for tonight. Her in-tray was packed with bits and pieces she should have been working on but she was hyper for tonight and she knew nothing else would get her full attention. Jill grabbed her coat and her bag and e-mailed Neil to let him know she was leaving for the meeting. She skipped down the stairs as she made her way to Ruth's office.

"Hey Ruth."

"Hi Jill, how's it going?"

"Everything is fine, the meeting has been pushed back so I'm off to kill some time since I'll be working late tonight. I can't face starting on anything else." Jill replied.

"I am so jealous, I could do with getting out of here but the forums are going mental and I've to monitor the content. It's quite edgy today."

"What's up?"

Ruth moved her screen round so Jill could see it, "It's the usual, I hate or I love MCR."

"Ohh, we let people say that sort of stuff." Jill responded as she cringed slightly at the directness of some of the discussion."

"Yeah unless it gets too close to the bone but most of it is hilarious." Ruth said grinning, "Sounds like they'll be quite a crowd tonight."

"I'm just going in for the meeting and then going home, I think Jenny is covering the actual event and Ian's doing the photo's." Jill replied.

"You enjoy yourself and you should stay if you get the chance."

"Ruth, don't start that again." Jill said playfully knocking her friend on the shoulder.

"Okay, see you later."

Jill left the office and made her way to the elevator. She loved going out on assignments and getting away from the stuffy office and boring stuff. It was a beautiful October night in London, still a bit chilly but the sun was setting and nothing was going to get her down. Jill popped into HMV to have a quick look through the new releases and to see if there was anything her Dad might like. Jill would usually get free samples from her work but there was nothing like going into a music store, just finding a new album and listening to it for the first time. Jill's Dad hated the whole download music thing, he preferred vinyl but Jill had eventually convinced him he needed to at least invest in a cd player because quite frankly he would have a hard time trying to get new stuff in vinyl. She picked up a copy of My Chem's Three Cheers album and decided she would send it to him. After paying for the cd she nipped into Starbucks and ordered her favourite skinny latte before sitting down and having some much needed relaxation time.

Jill checked her watch and started to walk towards the Virgin store. She could see the fans had started to queue for the appearance and from what she could see some had been there overnight. The fans were having a huge party as they waited as they sang MCR songs and talked non-stop as the bemused commuters walked past. Jill aproached the front of the store and was immediately stopped by security. Jill flashed her press badge and informed them of her name as they eventually stepped aside and let her in. Barriers were placed around the store and the staff were all running about setting things up. Jill glanced over at the so-called stage, there was barely any room on it with Bob's drum kit taking most of the space. It would definitely be intimate.

"Hey are you Jill?" a voice asked.

Jill turned around, "Yes I'm Jill."

"Hi, I'm Jenna."

"Nice to meet you." Jill responded.

"I'll take you through the back, there's still an hour until the band go on so we've got plenty of time."Jenna explained as she walked through the staff entrance and guided Jill through the stock room.

"Oh I hope I won't hold you back."

Jenna laughed, "Don't worry, the meetings not with me."

"Oh right."

"The guys are all waiting for you." Jenna added as moved quickly through the back room.

Jill stopped dead, "Excuse me, did you say the guys? Do you mean the guys in your team?"

Jenna turned noticing she could no longer hear Jill's footsteps.

"Oh sorry Jill, I just thought you knew."

Jill could feel herself automatically taking a huge gulp and her relaxed state of mind disappeared. "Am I meeting with Brian?"

"No, no it's with the band." Jenna answered flippantly as Jill started to follow her again.

Jill could see the fire exit and it suddenly became so tempting to just run through it but then Neil flew into her mind and the bollocking she would no doubt get. There was only one thing to do. Grow up and take it on like a woman.

Jenna knocked on the door and Jill stood behind her, biting her lips and pulling at her jacket.

The door opened, "Jenna." A voice shouted out.

"Hey guys, I've got Jill here to meet with you all." Jenna said as she gestured behind her for Jill to follow in.

"JILLLLLLLL."

"You've got 15 minutes and I'll call back." Jenna said as she practically pushed Jill in the room and closed the door behind her.

Jill just stood there.

"Jill, How are you?" Frank asked as he hugged the girl in front of him.

"Hey Frank, I'm fine." Jill replied smiling warmly at him, "Good to see you guys again."

There were no formal handshakes with this group as they all gave her a warm hug but it didn't take her long to notice Bob wasn't there.

Ray seemed to pick up the fact Jill was looking around her, "Oh Bob's just had to go out for a minute but he'll be back.

"So do you want me to go over the proposals?" Jill asked as she opened her bag.

"Proposals?" Gerard asked.

Jill pulled out her folder, "Yeah you wanted the magazines to let you know how we would hope to do the story on you guys during the tour."

"I'm confused." Frank replied.

"Frankie, you're permanently confused." Mikey retorted laughing at his friend.

"It would be cool to see how you intend to do the article and stuff and what we would be letting ourselves in for," Ray said noticing that Jill was feel slightly baffled herself, "You do know that we chose you to do this?"

Jill's head suddenly snapped up, "I thought I was here to propose ideas and that other magazines were doing the same."

"Nope." Ray replied, "That's if you want to do it of course."

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBB." Frank suddenly shouted as he saw Bob appear through the door and he launched himself on the drummer. Luckily for Frank Bob caught him and then proceeded to throw him on the chair. "Bob, Jill's here." Frank said.

"Hi Jill, nice to see you again." Bob said holding his hand out much to the amusement of the other four guys in the room.

"Hi Bob," Jill replied shaking his hand.

Unknown to each other, they both sat aware that the other people in the room were staring intently at them. Jill could feel her face starting to burn and she wanted nothing more than to fall through the floor.

"So Jill, you gonna come on this crazy tour with us or not?" Ray asked, "You'll have to put up with four slightly mad guys and one insane one."

"I would love to." Jill replied automatically. She felt weird, half of her wanted to say no but when it came to the final answer she couldn't say anything but yes.

The expected knock on the door arrived and Jill almost leapt to her feet.

"That's great Jill, welcome aboard." Ray replied pushing himself up and giving Jill a huge hug.

"I loved your last article Jill and we'll have fun." Gerard added also giving her a hug, "But we can be smelly and stroppy."

"I have a brother, I think I should be okay." Jill responded laughing.

"Jill," Frank said hugging her so hard she could hardly breath, "Are you a veggie or a meateater?"

Jill was slightly taken back, "Oh I'm a veggie."

"Sweet, hey Gee we'll outnumber the meat eaters." Frank replied high-fiving Gerard.

"Me next," Mikey said pushing Frank out of the way, "I'm glad you said yes Jill."

"Thanks Mikey, I hope you liked the article I was so worried because I wasn't sure how much you really wanted other people to know." Jill explained.

Mikey smiled a rare smile, "You held back and I really appreciated it, that's how I knew you were the right person for this. Your article helped me a lot. It put it out there and it made me face it head on."

Jill smiled back at him and she gave him a hug, "You've done really well, have a great time tonight. Jeez you can already hear the fans in here."

Frank, Gerard and Ray all looked round at Bob as Jill continued to speak to Mikey. Ray used his eyes to signal to Bob to speak to Jill. Bob hated that they still teased him about this and he knew things would get much worse now that Jill was set to join them next month.

Mikey saw Bob approaching and he instantly moved away, "I hope you'll be okay with this mad lot for a whole week." Bob said pointing to his band mates, "It took me a while to get used to them."

"Hey, we're not that bad." Gerard responded.

"You'll just have to protect Jill from us, eh Bob?" Frank added.

Bob slightly sighed as Frank smirked at him, "See Jill this is what I have put up with."

Jill started to giggle, "Sound like my office."

"Anyway, it will be good to have you with us." Bob said giving her a hug. Jill stopped breathing, it felt so nice and she hugged him back. It was over in seconds and Jill felt herself moving away from him as soon as the hug was broken.

"Guys, I need you to put Jill down now." Jenna said trying to get them to let Jill go.

"Hey Jill, are you staying to watch us?" Frank asked.

"I wasn't" Jill started.

"You should stay, we're going for something to eat after it and it would be cool for you to meet the rest of family before you go on tour with us." Gerard added.

"Say yes," Mikey said putting his arm round Jill.

"Yes, thanks guys."

Jill quickly followed Jenna who looked like she was about to batter someone. "You can stand by the VIP bit." Jenna said taking Jill over to the place.

"Thanks Jenna." Jill said.

"No problem, I'll be with you too, this is when the fun begins." Jenna said as she directed Jill's attention to the door as the fans started to pour in and the store started to blast The Black Parade single through their sound system.

Jill was so nervous and excited at what lay ahead and she smiled to herself as she thought about how proud Ruth would be of her. She had met Bob and yes it was slightly awkward but she was okay, she knew she could at least keep her feelings in check around him. Jill had so much to tell Ruth when she got back to the office.





Two updates in a week, I think I got over my wee writers block - fingers crossed. I really hope you liked the update. Please rate/review as it's so nice to hear what you all think. Huge thanks to all the people who left a review - you guys are the best. Hope you don't mind that I jumped forward a bit. Now the real journey begins - hurrah. How will Jill and Bob cope stuck in a bus together? Ha ha