[Natalia/Anabelle]Don't Judge A Book By Its' Cover

[Collin Scott Reynolds]

Collin leaned against the doorframe of Anabelle’s studio and smiled as he watched her looking around it like a kid at a candy store. ‘ Look at this, look how comfy this looks’ she said, throwing herself onto one of the loveseats and he gave a small nod. “ Everything looks alright? You know usually I don’t get myself involved with how the studios are laid out… I’m just the music video guy,” he said with a small laugh. But he sort of felt like he owed her.. a lot. Which is the exact reason why he had introduced her to Logan. He’d been a dick in their relationship and he just wanted to keep giving her things, opportunities, to sort of make up for it. And it wouldn’t be that bad but she genuinely might be one of the nicest people on the planet, so it just made him feel that much more guilty about everything. She never even yelled at him, or got mad. What was that? Not to mention she was friends with Hunter Riggins and that guy looked like he could take down a small army on his own. Collin coughed and leaned away from the doorframe, looking over at her as he opened his mouth. What was there that he could even say? Not to mention, he was dating someone else entirely now. Natalia had sort of been the last thing he expected, but she just seemed to make everything better. The time they had together was pretty short over the next few days since he was leaving soon to head out on tour with The Maine. But he would be back as soon as he could, especially now since he had someone special to come home to. He’d been disappointed when he knew she had another movie to film right away but it seemed like most of it was going to be shot in New York so you could color him happy for the time being.

Like she had sensed that he was thinking about her, Collin looked over his shoulder to see that Natalia was walking down the hallway. He stepped out and smiled at her before he wrapped his arm around her lower waist and leaned down to kiss her. “ Hey gorgeous,” he said, feeling a sense of relief that he could finally say that and know that she was completely his. Collin brought his hand into the side of her hair before he leaned down and gave her another kiss, pulling her body closer to his before he smiled and leaned away from her. “ Um, .. oh hey. Let me introduce you to Anabelle. She just got signed,” he said, dropping his hand to take Natalia’s and led her back into the studio. “Anabelle this is my girlfriend, Natalia Richmond… this is Anabelle,” he said , placing his hand against Natalia’s lower back. He opened his mouth again, to sort of explain how he knew Anabelle since he figured it was best that he explain it but paused as he heard his named being yelled out down the hallway. “ REYNOLDS!!!!”. Colin placed on a quick smile and laughed. “ That would be Dani… I better go talk to her. I’ll let you ladies get to know one another,” he said, looking at them nervously before he stepped out into the hallway and made his way to Dani’s studio.

[Anabelle Grace Bryan]

Anabelle sat back against the loveseat and picked up the decorative pillow before she fluffed it and set it back down. How could she be serving hot wings to drunken frat boys a week ago.. and now she had this awesome studio that had some of the greatest artists of the time signed to it. She was still in shock. Hell, she still hadn’t put her two weeks in at the restaurant. Part of her felt like it was a complete dream and that she was going to wake up any second. “ No, it’s great” she said, smiling up at Collin as he asked about her studio. “ It’s more than I can even.. ask for , or imagine.. I mean.. how can somebody deserve all of this?”. She stood up from the loveseat and walked over to the controls, playing with them even though she noticed Collin cringing at her doing it from the corner of her eye. He had put a lot of effort into this. There was even a Texas flag hanging on the other side of the wall. He stepped into the hallway and she could hear him talking to a girl, most likely his girlfriend by the sound of it. She smiled faintly to herself. So things hadn’t worked out between them, she didn’t blame him. They were young, that’s when people made mistakes. Besides, it led him to find happiness and it gave her the opportunity to find someone who would actually care about her. How could she be mad about that? Anabelle placed her hands in her back pockets, turning towards the door as Collin brought Natalia into the studio and placed on a friendly smile.

“ Oh good lord Collin, like you need to introduce her. There isn’t a soul in the world who doesn’t know who she is” she said letting her accent slip through her lips. Not only that, but she hadn’t exactly mentioned to Collin yet about her newfound friendships in Ethan and Dalton Fox. Or the fact that Ethan had told her about how he had dated Natalia.. and now she was dating her ex-fiancee. Small world. The girl had good taste, clearly, but maybe she should’ve gone for Dalton instead of Ethan. The older brother seemed to be a walking heartbreak waiting to happen for whatever poor girl fell for him. She bit the inside of her lip as Collin excused himself and went to see another artist before she sat back down on the loveseat. “ I just… sort of can’t believe I’m here still,” she said with a scoff of disbelief. “ I kind of feel like I won the jackpot or something…. And everyone is so nice…” she said, offering another smile to Natalia.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia was walking down the hallway listening to Adele in her earbudd. Just then she stopped and belted out the chorus like she was performing, "We could've had it aaaaaaall, rolling in the deeeeep. You had my heart iiinsiiide of your hand and you played it to the beat." She smiled when one of the tech guys clapped. She took the earbuds out and paused her iPOD, putting it back into her purse. She was still singing it in her head and dancing down the hallway. As she turned the corner, Natalia saw Collin standing in the doorway of a studio. She smiled and headed towards him. Who would've known that he and her would be a thing? When they had first officially met, off a set, it seemed like Natalia was pushing him away, which she sort of was. Collin stuck around and showed he was different. That really affected Natalia. She gave him a chance and now look where they were, dating. It felt like everything was not falling together instead of apart.Natalia hadn't expected to be involved with Collin, but who expects something like that? It just happened and she was happy, truly happy.

Natalia brought her arms up around Collin's next when he reached for her. She kissed him back, "Well hello there." she said with a smile before she kissed him again and then leaned into him. This just felt so right. She kept her eyes closed for a second after the kiss ended and then opened them when he began to speak. "Oh, the new girl, Ive heard some great things." she said as she smiled, took his hand and followed him into the studio. Natalia smiled when he introduced them and then smiled when she asked Collin who didn't know her. Natalia looked around her studio, "Wow, feels so homey in here." She smiled when she saw the Texas flag, "Oh my goodness, I love it. I have my Tennessee flag hanging up. Great to rep the home state." She smiled to Anabelle as she said she couldn't believe she was here, "Oh I know exactly how you feel. I remember when I had my first meeting with Logan, I was so nervous. And now, its home." she smiled once more, "we're all like a family."

[Anabelle Grace Bryan]

Anabelle pulled her legs up into the chair and watched Natalia as she looked around her studio. She smiled when she made a comment about being from Tennessee. “ Oh I didn’t know that you were from Tennessee,” she said with a bit of surprise. It seemed like everyone at the label was from all over the place, which was kind of nice actually. She narrowed her eyebrows, slightly surprised that Natalia would be nervous for any meeting. She was pretty established before she signed to Taboo records, and she still got nervous? Logan Renner was pretty intimidating though. She licked her lips and nodded when Natalia said that they were all like family. “ Some of you seem closer than others..” she said, giving a quiet laugh before she took in a deep breath and just decided to go for it. “ Like you and Collin. That’s great, it’s good to see him happy,” she said with a nod. She never understood how exes could make things awkward and not be supportive of one another. And Natalia was a beautiful girl, why wouldn’t Collin fall for her?

Anabelle wrapped her arms around her leg, scanning Natalia once more before she spoke up, “ So you must have met Collin on set of a music video? Or just…here?” she questioned. “ I don’t mean to pry, and you don’t have to answer.. I’m just curious,” she said, knowing very well that it would be alright if Natalia didn’t want to answer her questions. And it probably looked strange that she was asking so many about Collin when she hadn’t explained the situation. But then again, that sort of seemed like Collin’s place. Ethan had thought it was pretty amusing… but he seemed to be less mature than his brother, so who really knew. “ … Do you mind giving me a tour? Collin was going to show me around but he’s sort of busy and.. Logan was going to show me around but then Blake came barging into his office and I think she kind of overpowers a lot of his attention..” she said slightly confused. There was a story there clearly, but she wasn’t going to pry into that one. If she wanted to ask Natalia about her and Collin that was one thing, she could decline to answer since it was her own personal business. But to gossip about other people wasn’t necessary, especially when she was new and trying to get to know everyone.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia smiled, "Yup, born and raised. Well until I was 9 anyways." she laughed a little, "my grandparents live out there and I go back sometimes. Just nice to have somewhere like that to go to." she was sure Anabelle would understand exactly what she was talking about. Natalia could tell that Anabelle was a bit surprised when she told her that she was nervous, it was true though. Yeah Natalia had been pretty established with her career already, but getting signed with Taboo in NY was like winning the lottery. The best of the best were signed here and for Natalia to have the meeting and then get signed was a big thing for her. Plus, Logan was one intimidating guy when he had to be.

Natalia nodded when she said that some were closer than others, it didn't even sink in to what she was implying. Anabelle's next comment took Natalia back a bit. Who was this girl? She had just met her and she was questioning her about her relationship with Collin. "Yeah...we're close." was all she could get out, she was just shocked. Natalia leaned against the wall as she looked at Anabelle, as she said she didn't mean to pry..then why was she asking these questions? Natalia just shook it off and smiled, "We met professionally on my Party In The USA video set, but we really never talked off the sets. One night before Christmas, I was in here just fooling around and he happened to still be here and we officially met.." That's all she felt she needed to share right now. "Oh, yeah..sure." Natalia agreed to giving her a tour. She remembered her tour and who had given it to her, Joel. Natalia took a moment to think of him and say a quick little prayer. She looked over to Anabelle, smiling "Shall we?" She walked out of the studio and headed down the hall. "So, how do you know Collin?"