She felt herself smiling in spite of herself at his compliment. She assumed it had been an off-hand comment, but she was still pleased to hear it from him nonetheless. She hadn’t even expected him to pay attention to what she wrote; she had no doubt that he read it- she was well aware of how he always followed the paper- but she hadn’t considered that he even noticed her name attached to an article, let alone remembered or gave any thought about what she wrote. She pushed that thought aside, shaking her head. "Oh, no, it can be that bad," she assured him. "This may be one of the worst issues in a while." She paused for a moment, thinking, before she gave a short nod. "Yes, I think so. I'm doing you a favor telling you to avoid it. Really." She flashed a wry smile before she took a sip from her drink.
"Okay. So basically the whole thing is about the wedding of the seeker for the Falcons. I really wish I was kidding though apparently, this is somewhat of big deal. Fuck if I know why but there you go. The headlining story? An interview with his wife. Me and one of the blokes that I worked with had the fantastic opportunity to cover the wedding itself. I mean, thrilling stuff right there. I can’t think of anything better." She grimaced, rolling her eyes. "Honestly. You think they'd want to cover something, I don't know, important but apparently that's too much to ask." Her expression darkened for a moment, and she turned away from him, glaring down at the bar. The whole thing was ridiculous, really, but she hadn't really had much of a choice; it was either write it or lose her job, and while she expressed her disgust for all of it, the editors paid her no mind.
On the bright side, it couldn't get much worse. It was disheartening, but hopefully it would improve.
She glanced back up at him, biting her lip sheepishly. Her outburst felt odd and almost embarrassing; she hadn’t talked to him in years so ranting didn’t seem entirely appropriate. Then again, this was James and she was sure that he’d agree with her. “Whatever. Let’s not talk about it, yeah?” The point of this conversation was for them to catch up, not for her to bitch about work.
“Tomorrow?” She studied his expression, surprised to see that he appeared nervous about it. It made sense, of course- recording an album was a big deal- but it just seemed odd seeing him nervous about anything. “I’m sure it’ll be fantastic,” she told him, meaning it completely. She didn’t have any doubts about that; maybe it wouldn’t be number one or lead him to a path of stardom and fame, but she was confident that it would be amazing. He was talented, and he actually had something to say, unlike half of the idiots who currently topped the charts. She couldn’t pretend to know anything about music of the music industry, but she was certain that he’d find some sort of success with it, regardless of whether or not millions of copies sold.
“Oh really? My very own autographed copy? Wow, I’d be honored,” she laughed. “Would you even write a ‘to Katherine?’ That would really make it incredible.” She mirrored his grin, her sour mood fading away.
“So what’s it sound like?” she asked curiously, shifting to a more serious tone. “What’s it about?” Could she ask him that? His inspiration could be too personal to candidly share, but he was putting himself out there via record so the subject couldn’t be that taboo. And no one said that he had to answer her. “I don’t think I’ve heard any of your music, other than the two songs you played at the talent show- though one was a cover, yeah?” She had never really figured out why he had played that song of all songs, though she hadn’t spent long deciphering it. In any event, she had enjoyed listening to him, and she remembered rather liking the first song that he played, though she wasn’t entirely sure that she could recall the tune now.