Chapter 25: A Different Stage

While Alex was navigating the heavy responsibility of scouting Juice WRLD, Olivia was in a different kind of whirlwind. Her world had become a blur of sterile audition rooms, encouraging but inscrutable casting directors, and scripts with brightly highlighted lines. Her parents had been taking her to auditions since she was young, seeing her natural effervescence and emotional intelligence as a perfect fit for the screen. For years, it had been a fun hobby, a series of near-misses and small co-star roles. But now, something was different. The confidence she'd gained from performing on stage with Alex had translated into a new, magnetic presence in her auditions.

The show was a flagship project for the Disney Channel, a new comedy called Bizaardvark. It centred on two teenage best friends, Paige and Frankie, who create funny songs and comedy videos for their online channel. The casting call was massive, a multi-stage process involving acting scenes, improvisational comedy tests, and, crucially, musical performance.

Olivia walked into the final callback feeling a calm she'd never had before. Her nerves were still there, a familiar flutter in her stomach, but they were no longer in control. She'd spent the last year mentoring with a global pop star, singing her own soul-bearing songs to thousands of people, and falling in love. A room full of Disney executives felt surprisingly manageable in comparison.

Her audition song was an original she had written with Alex, a sweet, upbeat pop-rock number about a girl with a crush on a nerdy guy who loves comic books. She played it on the guitar she'd brought, her voice clear and strong, her performance imbued with the genuine, infectious joy that was becoming her signature. She didn't just sing the song; she sold it, her eyes sparkling, a natural smile playing on her lips. When she finished the last chord, the room, which had been a sea of professionally neutral faces, broke into spontaneous, warm applause. One of the producers, a woman with sharp eyes and a kind smile, looked down at her notes and then back at Olivia. "Well," the producer said, "I think we just found our Paige."

The call came two days later. Olivia was in her bedroom, on a video call with Alex, telling him about her disastrous attempt at baking cookies that afternoon. "They were completely flat, Alex! Like, sad, brown frisbees!" she was lamenting, laughing at her own failure.

Her mother knocked and then poked her head into the room, her face pale, holding her cell phone like it was a delicate artifact. "Liv," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "It's your agent. They… they want to talk to you."

Olivia's heart leaped into her throat. "Patch me in, Mom!" she urged, her eyes wide as she looked at Alex on her laptop screen. "Alex, hold on, this is it!"

Alex's own heart started to pound. He watched as Olivia's expression shifted from playful to intensely focused. She listened, her eyes growing wider with every passing second. She nodded, whispered a series of "Oh my gosh" and "Thank you so much," and then hung up.

For a moment, she was silent, just staring blankly at the wall. Then she turned to her mother, and then to Alex's face on the screen.

"I got it," she said, the words barely a breath. "I got the part. I'm Paige. I'm one of the leads."

The room exploded into a joyous chaos of happy tears and hugs between Olivia and her mother. Alex watched from a thousand miles away, a massive, proud grin spreading across his face. "LIV! THAT'S INCREDIBLE!" he yelled, his voice full of genuine excitement for her. "I knew you would! You're a star!"

But later that night, after the initial wave of euphoria had subsided, the true weight of the news began to settle in for both of them. Alex and Olivia had another video call, this time without the joyful interruptions. The reality was a daunting logistical puzzle.

"The shooting schedule is… intense," Olivia said, nibbling on her thumbnail, a nervous habit he knew well. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, a stack of scripts with "Bizaardvark - Ep. 101" printed on the cover already on her nightstand. "It's six months, ten-hour days, five days a week. Plus on-set tutoring. They're basically building my entire life around the show's production."

Alex listened, his own experience with demanding schedules giving him a unique insight into what she was about to face. This wasn't like his tour, which had an endpoint. This was a full-scale commitment, a complete reordering of her universe.

"And music?" he asked gently, already knowing the answer.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping a little. "They want Paige to write and perform songs on the show. My agent thinks it's an amazing platform for my music. They'll even let me perform my own originals sometimes." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading for understanding. "But there won't be time for Echo Chamber right now, Alex. No time to record an EP, no time to do my own shows. This… this has to be my whole focus."

A pang of professional disappointment hit him. He'd had such high hopes for her debut EP on Echo Chamber. He knew her songs, her voice, her potential to be a massive musical artist. But he squashed that feeling immediately, replacing it with the support she needed. This wasn't about his label; it was about her life.

"Liv," he said, his voice firm and steady. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime. A lead role on a Disney show? That's a dream come true. You have to do it. You have to give it everything you've got."

Tears welled in her eyes, tears of relief. "You're not… mad? Or disappointed?"

"Never," he said. "How could I be disappointed in you for achieving your dream? Echo Chamber will still be here. The studio will still be here. Your songs will still be here, waiting for you. This doesn't have to be a 'goodbye' to music, just a 'see you later.'"

"But what about us?" she whispered, her voice small. "Long distance is hard enough, but this… this is a different world. I'm going to be surrounded by producers and cute co-stars, and you're going to be… well, you're Alex Vance. You could have anyone." The insecurity that was so often the fuel for her best songs surfaced, raw and real.

He looked at her, at this brilliant, talented, wonderful girl on the brink of superstardom, who was still just a teenager worried about her boyfriend. His heart ached with love for her.

"Hey," he said softly, leaning closer to his laptop camera as if he could bridge the distance. "Look at me. None of that matters. Not the producers, not the co-stars. It's you. It's always been you. This is going to be hard, and we're going to have to get really good at texting and FaceTime. And yes, I'm going to be jealous of some Disney actor who gets to see you every day." He gave her a small, self-deprecating smile. "But we'll make it work. We'll support each other. You'll be amazing on that show, and I'll be your biggest fan, watching every single episode."

He could see her visibly relax, the tension leaving her shoulders. "Promise?"

"Promise," he affirmed. "I'll even learn to like tween sitcoms."

She laughed, a real, beautiful laugh that was like music to his ears. "They're not all bad."

They talked for another hour, making plans. He'd visit the set when he could. She'd send him drafts of the songs she was writing for the show. They laid out the groundwork for their new reality, approaching it not as an obstacle, but as a new adventure they would navigate together, but separately.

When they finally hung up, Alex leaned back in his studio chair, the room silent around him. A part of him was sad, mourning the musical collaboration that was now on indefinite hold. But a much larger part was bursting with pride. He knew firsthand the sacrifices and pressures of the entertainment industry. For Olivia, this was her stage, her spotlight. His role, for now, wasn't to be her producer or her label head. It was just to be her boyfriend, her anchor, her biggest supporter from the audience. And he was more than okay with that. The music could wait. Her dream couldn't.