"Yeah… yeah, I guess it is," Tim said. He couldn’t deny that, as much as he might want to. When they reached the elevator, he stabbed at the button with his finger, lighting it up. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he shifted his weight idly back and forth on his feet. "So how long have you been a writer?"

"Oh, since I was ten," Jenny replied with another one of those painfully bright smiles. "I wrote, umm, short stories and fiction until I got into high school and then I signed up for the school newspaper one year and… I guess that was kind of it." She shrugged, that self-deprecating ear-to-ear grin never faltering. Tim found himself charmed by her in spite of himself. "What about you? Have you always worked in the music industry?"

"Uhh, yeah, I have," he said, nodding. "My younger brother… he was in a band and he needed somebody who could yell at the roadies and the club owners for him." A beat and he glanced at her, a small grin quirking up the corners of his own mouth as he shrugged. "I guess I just never quit yelling."

"Oh!" Jenny laughed, bringing up her free hand to cover her mouth as she giggled. Tim grinned at her and the elevator dinged as it finally arrived at their floor, the doors sliding open smoothly. He pulled his hand from his pocket and gestured for her to go in ahead of him and she beamed at him. "Thank you."

Three floors up and the doors were sliding open again to let them off, Jenny once again proceeding Tim, her notebook and notepad clutched to her chest, the microcassette recorder held in her other hand. It reminded Tim of a horror movie he’d seen, once, of a vampire hunter approaching a moldy crypt, holding a stake and cross to ward off the evil. Unfortunately for Jenny, Tim knew only too well that those tokens wouldn’t protect her; Shane could be really impossible, when she wanted to be. She had a history of walking out on interviews, passing out mid-interview, not showing up for the interview at all. He could only hope that Shane would realize that Jenny was new to all of it and go easy on her – she seemed like a sweet kid.