Rise To Stardom - Chapter 133

Chapter 133: Gingerly Excited
A handwritten letter and two invites to a wedding!

One for him and the other for Oliver.

That was what was inside the mail Kyle had received.

Ryan and Katie were getting married!

“Wedding bells! Wedding bells!” Kyle spoke to his buddy who heartily laughed over the phone in response.

Both were currently having a video call.

[Yeah. That…] Ryan chuckled a bit over the phone, after which he then continued;

[Wanted to inform you earlier but, we figured you were all busy and decided to keep things low-key till we had it all planned out.]

“So, not even Joe knew?” Kyle, his mood currently at an all-time high, questioned in curiosity as he moved about his living room with a stupid smile on his visage, one that served to make Oliver who was watching him move about, don a light smile of his own.

[Oh you should’ve seen his face when I told him this morning! He was flabbergasted!] Ryan responded with a grin, only for a high-pitched squeal to ring through the phone.

[Katie’s currently facetiming with Lily as at the moment and well, let’s just say the squeals are getting a bit out of hand… obviously…] Ryan angled his phone over to his fiancée who was squealing like a teenage girl at her phone as of the moment.

Seeing this, Kyle chuckled, listening as Ryan continued;

[Considering the wedding itself isn’t still late next month though, I hope you’ll be able to attend if you aren’t too busy, hopefully.]

“Ryan. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Kyle replied in the warmest tone possible, earning a genuinely happy grin from his buddy across the phone.

Musing to himself for a brief second as he watched Ryan grin from ear to ear on the other side of his screen, the young man soon spoke again;

“Also, although I have literally no experience being in love with someone, I think I can still write a nice little wedding song. Think of it as your wedding gift.”

No sooner had Kyle said those words though, Katie who had just gotten off the phone with Lily a few seconds earlier, rushed over to her fiancé, her expression full of excitement at the thought of a wedding song solely being written for both of them.

“Kyle! You, are an absolute sweetheart!” she declared with twinkling eyes.

Even though, she herself was a musician and so was Ryan but, for the most part, both weren’t really the best music composers or songwriters.

Sure they were trying the best they could as some of their more recent hit songs, did involve lyrics they wrote and small tunes they made on their own but even that, was also with the help of renowned and well-known composers and songwriters.

Chuckling in response to Katie’s words though, reminded of the times both individuals would be arguing playfully over the most mundane things, gave Kyle a feeling of fulfillment.

Even if he wasn’t the one getting married, seeing the two lovebirds, all excited for their future together, solidified a singular plan in his mind.

He was going to make the wedding song, as beautiful as he possibly could.

So, having gotten off the phone a few minutes later, Kyle stretched a bit, a new goal now set in his mind.

‘Write a beautiful wedding song.’

‘Not highly composed. Not of high potential. Just a simple, lovely, beautiful wedding song.’ Kyle reaffirmed his goal.

“Wedding song hmm?” Oliver whom had overheard his entire conversation with both individuals, had a thoughtful expression on his face as he mused out loud.

“Yeah. I should be able to do it.” Kyle, confident in the experience he had garnered in his growing music career, nodded in response to his agent, after which he then added playfully;

“And who knows, maybe, just maybe, I’ll sing it at your wedding next…”

Shaking his head in resignation to those words, Oliver smiled and relaxed onto the couch as Kyle walked to the corner of the living room where his piano was situated.

No one knew what the future held but Oliver Stone at least, didn’t deny that he was in fact, attracted and interested in Tiana Rivers as a romantic partner.

* * *

(A few days later…)

Dahlia was originally a full-time indie game developer who was hired by a practically unknown, small videogame studio to help out as an animator, designer and programmer.

It was a pretty hefty string of positions to have her fill up but, considering how small the studio was, everyone in the company was in the same straits, each and every one of them taking up more than one position.

Typically, Dahlia was never one to accept such kind of an offer but, when she found out the next project the studio was working on, she just wanted to be a part of it no matter what.

Sure the pay was shit for the hours she was putting in but even then, she was more than willing to put up with it, if it meant the project they were working on would come out great.

Unfortunately, considering how the studio’s investors and publishers alike, weren’t exactly keen on expending more resources on the studio’s new project after a previous game of theirs that ‘flopped’, SpawnPoint Studio, weren’t exactly in the best of states.

Previously, they had produced just three games.

The first, was a pretty cool, action-adventure, mobile RPG game which did good, earning quite a modest sum of money ($55,000+)… at least by their standards, and especially considering that it was their very first game.

Using the funds they had secured from their first, the studio had then gone on to make their second game, one which was a full-fledged, AA, action-adventure, PC game that sold fairly well ($325,000+).

This was enough to at least garner the attention of a few small investors and videogame publishers.

So, as the unknown studio slowly got a bit of attention from the few people who felt there was untapped potential in their work, SpawnPoint Studios, soon had more fundings to work with on their next project (about $1,500,000+).

Yet, due to the greed of their publishers, even despite their protests that the game wouldn’t be profitable if they weren’t given enough time to work on it longer, a small battle-royale, live-service game which they should’ve spent one more year, ironing out and fixing its various kinks and bugs, practically got shoved out in its uncompleted state.

Still, against all odds, their third game, managed to make double the investments, although the gamers who played it, had more complaints than good things to say about it.

Yet, despite the studio being happy that they at least made back double the investments, the investors and publishers who had hoped for the game to rake in plentiful in millions of cash, were extremely disappointed and bitter, thereby calling the game a ‘flop’ since it didn’t meet their expectations.

That was also why, as of the moment, SpawnPoint Studio, was practically standing on its last legs as their small staff of just 24 people, did their best to garner newer investors in the upcoming Gamescon that would be happening in the next one and a half month, the only way they knew how.

Impress them with their fortes and a new, yet interesting direction for the studio; A single player, action-adventure, narrative, story-driven game with a slight bit of RPG mechanics.

Stretching her arms a bit in an effort to loosen her joints, Dahlia, yawned tiredly.

Blinking her eyes a few times, the lady glanced over to her phone’s screen and then decided to head home.

It was currently 8:50pm on a Friday evening.

“About time you headed home Dahlia.” Carlos Schmidt, their Studio Head, leaned out of his cubicle and said to the lady who simply gave a tired smile in response.

“Also, take the weekend off. The rest of us will fix the bugs in the code over the weekend.” he casually added, pulling his wheeled office-chair back into his small cubicle.

Despite not even being part of their core team from the onset, Dahlia, with her wealth of experience as a solo indie dev, had fit into SpawnPoint’s Studio’s tight-knit team, effortlessly.

That was why, even as she wanted to explain that she would still clock in a few hours on the weekend, some of the other few staffs whom were yet to leave the studio for the day, prevented her from speaking by shutting her off with greetings;

“Good night Dahlia.”

“Enjoy your weekend!”

“See you on Monday.”

Sighing in resignation as everyone in the office, prevented her from speaking, Dahlia simply picked up her stuff and waved them all goodbye and headed out of the studio.

Greeted by the cold night’s air, the lady, after ordering a taxi, soon got to her apartment.

Yet, despite how tired she was, there was still one thing was excited for as she dragged herself over to her bedroom and crashed onto the bed, pulling out her phone as she did.

Navigating over to TweetTalk, Dahlia soon made a short post;

–

Queen Galactica: Who’s excited for tomorrow?! #First Episode! #The Curator 10th Season!

–

No sooner had the lady posted that though, noticing as people began to pile and engage under her post, the internet celebrity, smiled a bit before she then muted her phone and placed it on her bedside table, eventually succumbing to sleep a few seconds later.

She too, just like the denizens of the internet, was gingerly excited for the first episode of The 10th season of [The Curator].