Is it enough?
It was finally the night of her album release party and all Rio wanted to do was get her picture taken and go back home. Those parties are rarely for herself and mainly for the record label to gloat her like a pawn to the music industry. In choosing which company was going to put her best interest at heart, it was a concept for picking the lesser of two evils. Even though Rio wanted to do nothing with her current label, she knew that she was at the best one.
Rio had just finished doing her makeup and was currently putting on her suit before Jen called her on the phone. Rio quickly puts it on speaker, seeing as she was still at her house and not on the way like what she told Jen 20 minutes ago.
Before Rio can answer with ‘hello,’ Jen beats her to it. “Don’t even bother telling me you’re close, Vidal. I know you’re still at home.”
Rio rolled her eyes, “Jen, I can’t be late for my own release party. I’m literally what the party is waiting for to get started.”
Jen scoffs playfully, “and what will the label think of me as a manager if I can’t even be strict with my client about being on time?”
“Okay, point taken,” Rio said, letting Jen win once today.
“Now, hurry up please. I know you still have to pick up your girlfriend on the way. Who, if I may add, is probably also mad at you for not being punctual.”
“Woah,” Rio chuckles. “First, I would never be late to pick her up. Second, she’s not coming.” Upon hearing this, Jen remained silent on the other side of the line. Rio looked at her phone, seeing if her manager hung up. “Jen? Still there?”
“Oh, um,” Jen stuttered. “Yeah. Just didn’t expect her not to come to your big night, that’s all.”
Rio frowned. She always had a back-and-forth relationship with Jen. Even though she was a pain to have as a manager, she was also Rio’s best friend. Jen happens to be very protective of her client and Rio didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about Agatha.
“Hey,” she started. “It’s okay that she didn’t want to come to this. I didn’t have high hopes considering that she’s not the type of person to make appearances like this. Half of the music industry’s biggest names around us and world-renowned songwriters and producers,” Rio convinced Jen.
“Are you sure? I mean, this is an album release,” Jen justified.
“I’m sure,” Rio reassured her manager. “Plus, I’m actually going to have dinner with her and her son tomorrow night. Honestly, I’m more excited for that than this party.”
Rio was telling the honest truth. Despite it probably being nice to be seen in public with Agatha, Rio knows not to push her girlfriend out of her comfort zone. Eventually, Rio believes that they’ll get there. They have all of their lives for it. For now, she just wanted Agatha to get used to her before getting used to whatever came with Rio.
Jen sighed in relief. “Well, good. But seriously. You better be here in five minutes or I am getting fired.”
“You’re overreacting,” Rio dismissed, running her hands through her hair and practicing a few smiles in front of a mirror for the cameras tonight.
“And you’re not reacting enough!” With that phrase, Jen ended the call allowing Rio to get her keys, lock her door, and start her car.
-
“Mama?” Nicky asked.
Agatha and her son were currently laying in his bed with a nighttime story book. The last thing Agatha can remember is reading how a dragon exhaled fire from his mouth upon seeing a soldier. The next thing she opens her eyes to is the book slumped across her chest, indicating that she fell asleep mid-story.
“Hm?” Agatha says sleepily, keeping her eyes closed. It was evident that she was more tired than her son. She had a frustrating day at the office, arguing with her producers about why the they were being so secretive about who the most recent chicken shop date guest is.
“Where’s Rio?” Nicky questioned, causing Agatha’s eyes to widen. “She hasn’t been here in a while. Was it a one time thing?”
Agatha turned her head to her son and kissed his temple, “baby, no. Rio is just busy. We’ll actually see her again tomorrow.”
“Really?” Nicky asked as he looked at his mother with sparkling eyes that looked like Rio’s eyes.
“Yes. We're going to have a special dinner just the three of us,” Agatha confirmed, slightly surprised at how Rio popped in Nicky's mind. “Can I ask why you suddenly thought about Rio?”
“I don’t know. You were just really happy when she was here,” Nicky explained. “I liked how she made you smile during lunch and when she said she was going to give me a car.”
Agatha chuckled at the last part, knowing that Rio was dead serious about that. “Well, I actually wanted to tell you something,” Agatha said, taking a deep breath before revealing their secret to her son. “Rio and I are dating.”
Agatha looked at her son for any sign of reaction. So far, he only turned his head and smiled at his mother. “I know, mama.”
“You do?”
“Yeah,” Nicky said. “No one ever comes here except for Lilia and Alice. And I’ve seen Alice with her wife so I knew that you wouldn’t date her,” Nicky shrugged as Agatha laughed. “And I know you wouldn’t date Lilia because she’s already my godmother and you’re my mother so that’s kind of weird.”
Agatha loved it when she and her son could have conversations like this. Although this was the first time they talked about Agatha’s love life, it was reassuring that Rio was the one that made the mother and the son talk about this topic.
“You’re right. That is weird,” Agatha agreed.
“Where is she now?” Nicky asked.
“Who? Rio or Lilia?”
Nicky chuckles, “obviously Rio, mama.”
“She’s celebrating her new album release. She’s not home right now,” Agatha ran her fingers through her son’s growing hair.
“She’s having a party? Is she famous?” Nicky followed up with more questions.
As Agatha loved how curious Nicky was when it came to Rio, she was way too sleepy to answer his endless questions. “Yes and yes.”
“How come you’re not there?”
“Because,” Agatha had no excuse. She could tell Nicky the full story but Agatha assumed he would be too young to release all her baggage on her 6-year-old son before a professional therapist.
“Because?” Nicky suggested for his mother to continue.
“Because I’m not really comfortable being around a lot of people,” Agatha goes with the shorter version of the truth.
“You can’t be like that forever while you’re with her, right?” Nicky questioned.
“What do you mean?”
“What if she stops being with you because you never go out with her?” Nicky asked worriedly.
Agatha’s eyes soften at how her son was already dreading the thought of Rio leaving. If it made him feel better, that thought also made Agatha want to throw up.
“I don’t think Rio is the type of person to just leave because of that, Nicky,” Agatha said, believing every single word.
After everything that happened with Wanda, she knew that Rio and her wouldn’t work if she thought of Rio as a ‘Wanda 2.0.’ All they had in common was fame. Other than that, Rio couldn’t be any more different compared to her ex-wife. Agatha knew that she needed to and had no other option but to trust Rio that she wouldn’t break her heart.
“But you have to make it easy for her,” Nicky said, finally closing his eyes. Agatha hoped he would fall asleep shortly because this conversation was too much to have with her son.
“What do you mean?” Agatha asked, invested in his last comment towards Rio.
“You have to make it easy for Rio to stay for us,” was the last thing Nicky says before falling asleep.
With those last words for the day, Agatha was half glad that there were no more questions coming out of her son. With those same last words however, Agatha also found half of her feeling regret about not being Rio’s date to her own party.
The least Agatha could do was sit in the corner and watch her girlfriend entertain everybody else. This was a big night for Rio and her career. She knows for a fact that Rio wouldn’t miss an event like this for her. So, why was she still in pajamas thinking about it in his son’s tight-spaced bed?
After getting out of his room, she gave Lilia a quick call asking if she was available tonight to keep Nicky company at their house while he sleeps. And an hour after the call, Agatha was on her way out of the house in her best dress, fearlessly walking towards her Uber. She had no idea if she was overdressed or underdressed but being underdressed sounded more embarrassing to her.
Not that she thought Rio would be mad. If anything, Agatha could show up at the release party in the same pajamas she had on an hour ago and Rio would have her arm around her waist the whole night, not giving a shit about what anyone thinks about them. To Agatha, that was a nice balance to have. Rio had made it clear to Agatha that she would not lose her balance if she chooses to be in a relationship with the singer. So far, Rio has lived up to that promise.
-
As Rio arrived at the party, camera flashes started going off and so was her sanity. Being indoors with Agatha for a couple of weeks was refreshing and has given Rio a taste of living a life without cameras shoved up her face and flashes burning her retina. Although she was caught off guard, Rio Vidal was never caught unprepared. She looked to the side to see Jen, giving her a nod that indicated she wanted her special sunglasses for red carpets.
The flashes were eventually going to die down but it would never go away completely. As long as Rio could enter the door to the venue where the party was at, she was safe from needing sunglasses the entire night.
As Jen gave her introduction, she gave a small speech before introducing Rio to everyone who was in attendance. She saw some familiar collaborators and record label managers. Her eyes darted to everyone she recognized as she gave them a ‘thank you’ speech. She kept her dialogue short, wanting eyes off her as soon as possible. Ever since meeting Agatha, anyone who isn’t her that looks at Rio for too long made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t know why but at the same time, she knew exactly why.
“I just want to thank everyone for coming to this release party. This album means a lot to me and it’s my most unique album out of all my other projects. There were a lot of sleepless nights and fights I had with myself about what to put and what not to put in this album but I couldn’t be more proud of the finished product. I want to say thank you to my record label for allowing me the privilege of making music as their artist. I want to also thank my collaborators and producers. Thank you for not blocking my number when you would get woken up by me and my voice notes in the middle of the night,” Rio spoke into the mic, everyone's laughter following shortly after.
“Last but not least, I want to thank my manager who has to put up with me the most. Jen, I owe you more than I could give and I will thank you for giving me opportunities to better myself everyday. Thank you for pushing me in ways I know a lot of people are scared to do for me. Thank you for making sure I’m ready for the worst and for being there for me even if it turns out to be even worse. I love you Jen,” Rio said, getting off the stage to hug her best friend.
“Making me cry tonight was not on my schedule, Vidal,” Jen choked, tilting her head up to prevent tears from falling down.
Rio shrugged, “what I really wanted to say was thank you for introducing me to the love of my life. But I knew I couldn’t say that so I had to make you cry which is the next best thing.”
Jen scoffed, hugging Rio again tightly, “I love you, too. Thank you for saying all of that.”
Little did Rio know, Agatha had arrived as soon as the singer stepped onto the stage. Agatha watched her give her speech to everyone at the party, being moved specifically at her words towards Jen. Realizing that Rio talked little about her family or any siblings, Agatha assumed from this moment, the family that Agatha had been expecting for Rio to tell her all about was Jen.
“Hey, you look familiar,” a voice snapped Agatha from her gaze at the two friends hugging and back into the party.
Agatha didn’t know whether she should lie or be honest. If she lied, this person was obviously just going to search her up and find out she lied. Given that she already looked familiar to them, it would only take two brain cells to realize that she was the host of the number 1 ranked web series in Hollywood right now.
If she were to say her real name, Agatha would find her name all over Rio’s fanpages tomorrow, giving her fans more reason to believe that they were a thing. Which, they were. Agatha just didn’t know if she was ready for everyone else to know. As this was running through her mind, she started slapping herself mentally at how easily Nicky got her to dress up and come all the way to a public party. So easy, that Nicky did it almost in his sleep.
“Hello?” the person said with an attitude, waving her hand closely to Agatha’s face, which she found very rude. Thankfully, there was a bystander present to witness all of this. The most attractive bystander out of the whole party, actually.
“Agatha?” Rio called out as she walked towards her. As Rio passed the person who rudely put her hand up Agatha’s face, the singer gave the person a side eye, “don’t ever do that to her again." Rio said sternly. She grabbed Agatha’s hand softly, leading her away from the person who was left embarrassed.
Agatha smiled in adoration for Rio and her protective nature towards her. “Rio, you didn’t have to do all of that,” Agatha said as Rio pulled out a seat for her now-date to her release party. Agatha kissed Rio’s cheek before sitting down out of habit.
Rio’s eyes widened at this, knowing they were in a very public place with cameras everywhere and that were pointed at Rio. “Agatha, you know there are cameras here, right?” Rio asked, sitting beside her.
Agatha chuckles, “I know, Rio.”
Rio looked at her girlfriend, trying to remember the last time they had a conversation about this party. “So why did you kiss me? I thought you weren’t comfortable being seen in public yet?”
Agatha pursed her lips to the side, “I thought so too, but then Nicky talked me into it.”
“What did he say?” Rio asked in anticipation. Rio always cared about Nicky’s opinion of her ever since they met. Rio’s next text after her goodmorning texts to Agatha would always be somehow related back to her son.
Agatha cherished how Rio cared about her son. One of her worries of dating someone again was how they were going to be with Nicky. That worry dissipated as soon as Nicky and Rio first met. As much as Agatha wanted to spend the night talking to Rio about Nicky, she knew that this wasn’t the right time or place. Rio had other people to tend to and make her appearances for the cameras.
“We can talk about this when the party's over. I want you to focus on yourself tonight,” Agatha said, placing a hand on Rio’s leg. Rio smirked at this.
Rio leaned in, putting her lips close to Agatha’s ear, “I won’t be able to focus on myself while you’re just here wearing this dress when i could be taking it off, just the two of us in the bathro-”
“Agatha!” Jen yelled in excitement, interrupting what Rio was going to say. “So happy that you came. Are you enjoying yourself?”
Agatha nodded, looking back and smirking at Rio who was mildly sulking. Agatha knew that her girlfriend wanted nothing more than to tease her but ended up failing due to Jen cutting her off.
“That’s good,” Jen said. “I’m sorry to ruin a moment between you two but Rio needs to shake a couple of people’s hands. Can I borrow her from you really quickly?”
“Sure, go ahead,” Agatha smiled.
Rio takes Agatha’s hand as she stands up to go with Jen. “Are you sure you’re okay with staying here alone?”
Agatha nodded again, this time to Rio. “I’ll be alright. Go.”
With that, Rio left Agatha at the table, letting their hands linger for an extra second as she walked away from her. About a minute later, Agatha’s phone chimes.
Rio: If at any point in the party you start to feel uncomfortable by all the cameras, I'll let Jen tell the photographers to go home
Rio: By the way, thanks for coming - it means a lot to me that you’re here
Rio: I love you
Agatha thinks hard about sending it back to Rio until she realizes that she had never said it before. She didn’t want to be the first time she said ‘I love you’ to be over text when Rio was just 20 steps away from her.
She’ll just say it later.