Cleary

Everyone always says money can't buy happiness, but no one actually believes it. I once read in a book, that we often look for sincerity, kindness, generosity, and a big heart in men -things i think we often find in woman- ; while selfishness, greed, and arrogance are all the traits of success. I have no clever remarks, or even opinions on this phrase. I just hope, it's not true. Because if this is a mans world, like the quote hints, god made a mistake making me.

3rd person POV

It was a typical day for James, he woke up made himself presentable and ran down the stairs. He sat down on his favorite deck chair, before slathering tanning oil on his arms, and legs. It was almost summer which only let one thing register in his mind, tan time! It was only five minutes until he saw Cleary pass by. She looked kind of like she always did, happy and her train of thought seemed to be just about everywhere. She caught his gaze and gave him a brief smile, and of course he took that as an invitation to talk to her.

"So what do you say Cleary? You, me, romantic weekend in Tahiti?" She laughed, and shook her head as she kept walking, she turned around briefly and walked backwards only for a few moments but long enough to answer his question.

"I think I'm too young to date, besides Tahiti is so cliche!" She laughed, as she walked over to a blond boy. It only took him a moment to realize that he had seen him on some advertisements for Cudda.

"I'll wear you down one day!" He replied looking at her through his dark sunglasses. This was apart of James's typical day, everyday since spring began he would ask Cleary out and everyday she told him the same thing. That she was too young to date even though she stood at the tender age of sixteen. He smiled as he opened the magazine that was always between two deck chairs. He smirked as she said something to the boy with a very animated expression. Well at least she had something to talk about.

"I am a girl of five feet tall, just looking for some answers to a world that answers none of them at all." Each word felt heavy, like the individual word carried enough weight to sink a boat. The singers voice was light, and it spoke of a honeysuckle individual. Which made James think it was probably a girl.

"I'll say hi, but not reply, to the letters you write; because I've found some piece of mind." James hummed along as he slathered mayonnaise on a slice of bread. He wanted to meet the singer, but that was impossible. The first problem was because she never hosted a concert, despite being a hot sensation right now.

"Because I'm only as tall as my heart will let me be, and I'm only as small as the world will make me seem." And second the reason she was so hot, wasn't entirely because of her music. It was mostly because no one knew her identity. She went under a name JOKER, no one even knew who her record company was. Through many hours of roaming a magnifying glass over her album, James had discovered there was an elaborate design engraved into the cover in gold.

"And if the going gets rough, and I feel like I may fall." After a lot of thinking he finally determined that the seal belonged to Camera Shy Records. He still had some digging to do on the agency, but he had found out it was a very exclusive company that helped it's clients let their voice be heard and give them an opportunity to make it somewhere in this town.

"I'll look on the bright side, I'm roughly five feet tall." James smiled as he stacked Brussels sprouts on top of cheddar cheese and a thin slice of meat. James was thinking of turning a vegetarian, he had been getting a bad taste for meat lately. He set his hands down on the counter, and closed his eyes. He couldn't think of one reason why JOKER wouldn't want people to know who she really was. He sighed and took a bite of his sandwich. Some things would just never make sense to him.

James sprinted up the stairs, the elevators had all been broken. Somehow he had managed to find a long flight of stairs. And once he had gotten to the top he was out of breath. No wonder no one ever took the stairs up Roque Records, Gustavo would have probably died, and everyone else would just be in a coma for a few weeks. He took a few deep breaths before he walked over his recording room.
This sudden visit had been caused by the unfortunate misplacement of his phone. Which basically meant it fell out of his pocket again, he checked everywhere and finally admitted it had to be on the red couch in their recording studio. He stood outside the door and knocked, after several moments of silence he opened the door.

"Goodbye you suck! Never really like you. No more what's up, cause I don't care anymore! Goodbye you suck, I said I never liked you!" He didn't know what to do as he entered the room, he was just shocked. He knew this voice, he idolized this voice. Her eyes were closed and she was dancing as she clutched the microphone in one hand, and the other on the headset that the music was on. There was no one behind the keyboard, tampering with the instruments or anything of that nature. It was just her.

"You're like the friend that was more like an enemy, and evil smile that'll get you anything you nee-" and that was it, she just stopped dead right there. She dropped her microphone and her hand fell from the headphones.

"You know in TV shows the character always says this isn't what it looks like, but it always is?" She said quickly, he nodded numbly in response.

"Well this isn't what it looks like." Typical Cleary.

"I record the songs on a special CD, and then someone comes by and tampers with the music in the background and makes it sound juste right. The entire process is completely confidential, I change recording studios once every three weeks." She explained, she was sitting in a chair opposite from him while she made small gestures to elaborate her point.

"Does Gustavo know about it?" He asked and she simply shook her head.

"The head of the company knows, and all he really knows is that an artist from Camera Shy Records is recording a song here. He or she has no idea who or even of the identity of the artist." A strong silence occurred between them and she waited several moments in case he asked any questions. When he didn't she started talking again.

"So what do you want?" She finally asked, he raised an eyebrow unable to think of a witty retort, or anything for that matter.

"What do you mean?" And she flashed him a sarcastic smile, like she didn't believe that he was all that innocent.

"Oh come on! Everyone wants something for keeping a secret like this." And it dawned on him, she half expected him to run out on the street and scream out he knew the identity of JOKER. He smirked realizing he could get anything he wanted from her right now.

"Alright, I do want one thing." He saw her tense, and he smirked before he said it. Cleary was beginning to get more interesting in his eyes after he learned her little secret.

"Be my girlfriend for six months." He declared.