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- Epilogue -

Amina

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“Are you sure aboutthis? It feels weird.”

Korine squinted at me. “Being famous feels weird? Gee, who'd guess.”

“Stop it.”

“Then get over yourself and accept that you now have fans who are fighting over seeing 'where it all began' okay?”

It was crazy to me that Roshio's attempt to make fun of me two months ago had resulted in me growing a core group of fans. They'd dug into the old Caffeline Instagram videos, messaging the account, begging for a chance to meet me in person.

Korine didn’t have to ask twice—I was eager to come visit her in Portland. The never-ending nature of working with Bach and Sherman was exhausting. This trip was tiring, too, but it wasn't purely work.

“On that topic,” she said, pulling something from her purse. I recognized the purple and gold glitter of my debut CD. She stuck out her tongue. “I adore your music. I'm yourfirstfan, so sign this without making me feel more awkward, please.”

I took the black marker and scribbled my name in disbelief. “I'm flattered you like the songs.” It sometimes still hit me that this CD had come close to being locked away from the world because of my aunt's legal team. I hadn't heard a word from her since she'd gotten her money. It was a silver-lining, honestly.

Peeking out the window at the crowd lined up outside the café, I asked, “How are you doing, by the way?”

Her smile went crooked as she tucked the CD into her purse. “Eh. I'm entertaining a sideways career change, we'll see how that goes when this is over with. Come on, I'll show you where the dressing room is.”

“It's the storage room, yeah?”

“I... yes.” She put her hands together apologetically. “It's really clean in there, though! I stayed up all night arranging it for this.”

“It's fine,” I assured her, heading down the familiar hallway. It was strange to think about how recently I'd worked here. Opening the door, I took in the mirrored vanity, the lack of boxes stuffed with coffee grounds. “It's perfect, Korine!”

“It's not; but thank you.” She showed me where she'd hung my outfit for the show. The dress with its full skirts complimented the pearly flats. When I lifted the cat ears and tail, Korine made a small noise. “If you don't want to...”

“It's fine.” Waving the tail around, I tapped her on the nose with it. “Unlike a hastily filmed video, peoplewillsee something like this. And it's cute.”

She jumped up and down, squealing. Just then someone knocked on the open door—we both saw Bach. He propped himself on his elbow, eyeing me appreciatively. “She'll look cute in anything.”