Chapter Seven - Easy
With only a few weeks until the wedding, Kevin was so glad his responsibilities ended with
attending
the wedding. He'd offered to contribute as much or as little as Fatima wanted, but it turned out that when her father's show had offered to pay for the wedding, they'd taken on more than a little bit of control of where and how everything was going to happen.
The last thing Fatima wanted was for her wedding to go full-blown reality television, but it offered them a chance to promote all sorts of things. Fatima would be promoting GDGear, albeit indirectly, and a bunch of the B-roll footage they'd taken over the last few weeks played like a massive trailer for "The Desperate Disintegration," Emily Rouchard's new movie, set to open just a few weeks after the wedding episode would air. Thankfully, because the wedding episode was going to be her father's "season finale," they would go from filming straight into editing and then airing it just a month or so later.
They'd chosen the Bella Blanca Event Center in North Hollywood, and Kevin had picked out his tuxedo a few months ago, as well as organizing his groomsmen, which consisted of Dandy Randy, his best and oldest friend Bill Hitch and Kerry, who looked more natural in a tux than she would've in a dress. Kev had offered her the option, but she'd insisted on playing the part. Fatima had appreciated that because Kevin had kept his groomsmen list so short, it meant she could only have three bridesmaids as well, and if anyone bitched about how they should've simply had more people in the wedding party, Kevin would immediately have his tragic upbringing story at the ready, the only child of two parents who'd died when he was just twenty, and usually that was more than enough to stop even the most overbearing of wannabe bridesmaid.
The only thing Kevin had been adamant on was his ability to set the playlist for the ceremony and the reception, because while he didn't care much about the particulars of the wedding, the last thing he was going to do was let someone insist he march down the aisle to some bloody Ed Sheeran song that was having a trendy moment. The licensing department of the show had been somewhat adverse to it, claiming they wouldn't be able to get permission to use some of Kevin's choices, but Kevin was willing to call in literally every favor he was owed to make sure all of the music was of his personal choosing, and a sizable chunk of the budget had gone in to getting Robert Smith and the rest of The Cure to come and play a handful of songs live at the reception. The fact that he and Fatima would walk out to The Cure's "Halo" was a personal point of pride for him. Smith was
still
working on his band's latest album, and had, in fact, been at it for years, but they had some mutual friends in production, and had decided that a little gig for a friend of a friend was something they could do. And Fatima's father was enough of an old school Brit that he couldn't bring himself to argue with The Cure.
Because of the location, the guest list had been very heavily cultivated and curated, simply because too many friends and coworkers of Fatima's father had wanted to attend, and Kevin's circle of influence wasn't all that big, although there were a handful of celebrities who'd RSVP'd as yes.
All of that, however, was still a week away, and all the planning was done, as far as he knew. Every so often, Elizabeth or Fatima would ask him about something in terms of seating, but for the most part he could just stay focused on his own work instead. He was in full composing mode for Robert Rodriguez's new film, having seen some of the dailies, able to start putting together early sweeping approaches at melodies and themes, but not so much that he could score minute by minute yet. He was also starting to listen to demos that'd been sent to him so that he could line up projects he wanted to work on after he'd gotten back from his honeymoon, something he knew absolutely nothing about. He'd told Fatima to surprise him with whatever she'd always wanted to do, and he would be happy with whatever she'd had in mind.
His soon-to-be wife had tasked nearly all the women of the house with helping her get prepared for everything, and that included Jade, who'd moved into the house after Midas Day had either been beaten or gone on hold, Kevin still wasn't sure which, but it had been a few months of utter quiet, something Kevin had been massively thankful. There were hints that Midas Day wasn't gone for good - little notes from Merlin telling him to "enjoy his holiday" - but it was clear that Midas Day wasn't happening every month for a while. He wasn't sure what to make of the mystical tattoo that read "+1" on Jade's ass, one that it turned out only appeared when he was nearby. When he was within a few feet of her, it glowed like it was beneath her skin, and it wasn't anything small either, almost the size of his fist on her left ass cheek. But when she moved away from him, it disappeared, like it wasn't even there. Jade had insisted she was part of the family now and forever more, something Kevin had been more than a little surprised by, but the tenacity of her claims made it clear he wouldn't win the argument. And Jade had proven to be a great assistant to Fatima, almost as if she was trying to emulate Elizabeth's position with him. It helped keep his mind from thinking too much about the wedding.
It was all still in a week's worth of time, however, and the last thing he wanted was to be distracted by problems along the way, or things pulling his focus off trying to get through all his work before the wedding and the honeymoon. So he'd been spending as much time as he could in the studio, applying himself to one task or another. So much so that it was starting to burn him out, and when the light started flashing, indicating someone was outside of the studio door and wanted to come in, he welcomed the distraction, and moved to open the door, a little surprised to find Fatima, Elizabeth and Miriam standing outside of the door together.
"Love, we have a problem," Fatima said, "and I know we all promised to let you hunker down—"
"I need a break anyway, baby," Kevin said to her, leaning in to give her a soft kiss. "What's the problem? Something with the wedding?"
"No, it's something much more personal than that, Mr. Bishop," Elizabeth said. "I'm afraid we're having a problem talking to Ashley."
Kevin arched an eyebrow in concern. "What do you mean you're having a problem
talking
to her? Is something wrong?"
"Well, yes and no, sir," Miriam said. "I think it would be best if perhaps you went and talked to her. The only person who's been with you longer than she has is Elizabeth, and even that, only by a matter of hours. In fact, you fucked her before you did
any
of us. She's... she's got a problem, one that I hope you can help her with, sir."
Fatima smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I don't understand all the rules of your little pact with the sorceress, love, but I'm sure you'll find some solution that's to everyone's satisfaction."
"Any of you want to go in there with me?" Kevin asked, optimistically.
"I will go, Master," Elizabeth volunteered. "As the keeper of the gift, it's my job to be around when the rules and expectations are being discussed."
"This isn't my place to decide, beloved," Fatima said. "So I will trust your judgment to do the right thing, not just for yourself, but for the entire family."
"And your health is in no danger, Master," Miriam said to him. "Your physical health, at the very least. Should emotional damage result from this conversation, well, that isn't the sort of thing Strazo and I can protect you from. She's in her room, and Natalie is with her."
"Alright," Kevin sighed, stepping over to power down the console, his amp and his instruments, so that nothing was consuming power and/or heating the room while he was away. Everything had been saved or written down before he did, and the last thing he wanted was for a fire to catch while he was away dealing with some problem.
Kevin and Elizabeth headed towards Ashley's room, a place Kevin hadn't spent much time in. One of the rules the members of his house had asked of him early on was that they each get their own bedroom, and that whatever sexual hijinks they got on with, they didn't do so in the girl's private bedrooms - that was their space and their space alone, a rule Kevin was more than happy to accede to.
Ashley's door had a whiteboard on it, where she'd written out her class schedule, along with her designated appointments with Kevin. Every one of his partners liked to see him for a few hours twice a week, once by themselves and once with a partner of their choosing. This was a time she was supposed to be in class, but even with her door closed, he could tell she was in there.
She was crying.
Kevin hoped like hell he could solve her problems when he knocked on the door. "Ash? It's Kev. I'm here with Elizabeth. Can we come in?"
"Aw gawd, I guess," she said in between sobs. "It's open."
Inside her room was the sort of thing he expected it to be - a college girl's first apartment. Posters all over the walls, pizza boxes scattered across the floor, dirty clothes draped over things instead of put in the hamper, and loads of drawings plastered across the walls. The one thing Kevin
was
surprised by was the fact that his cat Stu was curled up on Ashley's bed alongside her, with Natalie, the house's cook and fitness instructor, on the other side of her. Natalie was in workout clothes, as was Ashley, and Kevin wondered if maybe something had happened when they were in their morning session. Both had their hair up in ponytails, and the slightly older Asian woman had her arm around the blonde's shoulders.
"Hey Ashley, what's wrong?" Kevin said, walking into the room.
"I'm sorry, Kevin," Ashley said, looking up at him, her eyes reddened from obviously having been crying for a while now. "I know you're supposed to be trying to get work done before your wedding, and here I am, making a mess and distracting you."
Kevin walked into the room and crouched down, kneeling in front of her, looking up into her baby blue eyes. "Well, I'm here now, so let's talk about it. What's the problem?" He took her hands in his own, finding her fingers trembling, as she looked down at them before forcing herself to lift her gaze to match his own.
"It's... I shouldn't have any reason to complain about it, sir," Ashley sighed. "I knew what it was going to be when I signed up for this, but..."
"But what Ashley?"
"It's... it's silly, because it's still
years away
, but..."
Kevin waited, and then finally prompted her again. "But
what
