ᴄᴏɴᴠᴇʀsᴀᴛɪᴏɴs

ETHAN HEMMINGS

RECORD LABEL EXEC IN LONDON

“This is a big one for Alex because we’re coming off such a high. We’ve got big numbers to pull. Big, big numbers. X went Double-fucking-platinum. This was a huge year for us and we need to capitalize on that. We need to come back with full force when we do come back in a couple of months. He was in the office a few days ago. Did I tell you? I didn’t tell you! Lord, you’re going to get a kick out of this one. Just after the New Year he just asked for a meeting so I cleared my morning for him and he said he was eager to show us what he’s got. Of course I want to listen, this kid is gold certified. I was like, look, I will fucking get you whatever you want if you deliver the numbers you’ve been delivering. Anyway, we listen, and...the album I’m hearing now? It’s just not there yet. We’ve got half an album, and I told him that. I said, look kid, you’re fucking good at what you do and I’m fucking good at what I do. There needs to be something to take it to that next level. I said, who do you want? Rick Rubin again? You liked working with him, I can get you Rubin. He’ll look over the final product like last time. Markus Dravs? Max Martin? Rob Kirwan? Paul Epworth? He and Blanco have been writing together. Now that’s a good combination. Where was I? Oh, right. Half an album. The first album got people excited, the second was a worldwide masterpiece, and the third needs to go even bigger. I hope he realizes that. This shit needs to go through the fucking roof. I want everyone onboard with it. He's gotta pull it off. Sure, people are clinging on to him now, but no tour and not many press appearances in the next few months means that the fans will hang on to whatever new thing comes around as he's away. We know how the music industry works. You're hot one second, trash the next. I don't give a shit about Adele and her comeback, I'm talking about the acoustic types that are in his genre. Who knows who else will pop up to get some attention? Another Sam Smith, another Gues Lievsay, you just never know. He's proved that he can make a solid second album and the first wasn't just a fluke so we've gotta keep the momentum going. He’s always been focused, we’ve still got time. He’s a hard worker, he can get it done. The Grammy’s are going to be great, he’s going to take home from his categories this year. We all know it. How can he not after the year he’s had? Now that's definitely what he needs. The press that comes from a win like that. It'll be fucking great. Just things to remember. You got all that down? Good."

IONE JAMES

IT'S COMPLICATED IN LOS ANGELES

Ione: Well, he’s asleep now.

Dani: Did you guys...?

Ione: Oh, no. No. We talked, if you can call whatever we did talking, and then he fell asleep. Literally just passed out on my couch. I sort of wondered if it was a new avoidance tactic, like, “new narcolepsy, who dis?”

Dani: Wait, wait, wait. So he insisted on coming to see you even after you told him no just so he could… take a nap?

Ione: I don’t think he actually meant to fall asleep.

Dani: Why didn’t you wake him up? You’re just letting him sleep there?

Ione: Because I sort of felt like waking him up would make it worse. I can’t imagine him being groggy, tired, and cranky would make it any easier.

Dani: What is he, a fussy toddler? Ione, wake him up.

Ione: Okay, maybe I’m the one using it as an avoidance tactic. I know how this is going to end and I’m not ready to face it yet. Is that a better reason for not waking him up?

Dani: No. Get it over with, like pulling off a bandaid. You just need to be honest with him about all of this, tell him he’s not the only one who’s tired.

Ione: I’m afraid of pushing him further away.

Dani: Okay, then, Ione. If you want to be a doormat, be a doormat.

Ione: I’m not a--

Dani: I think your only choice is to smother him.

Ione: I think I already have, that’s probably part of the problem.

Dani: No, I mean with a pillow.

Ione: Oh. I considered that, but Brooke would probably kill me.

SOPHIE MILLIGAN

ALEX'S YOUNGER SISTER AT ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY

“I dunno, I guess it’s my turn to worry about him now. I'm not sure what's going on but it's definitely something. He sounded a bit off. Well, that's not true. He sounded alright but I'm me and I know he was putting on a voice to save face. I feel helpless because I’m here away from everyone. I mean, we're all kind of in different places anyway, but it can be hard. The friends I’ve made here are spectacular but sometimes it still feels lonely when I can't just drive over and see what's going on at home. Alex and I Facetimed earlier and I showed him snippets of the gallery I’m helping with but I could tell that something was missing. I don’t know. I want everything to be okay, selfishly, because then it helps me feel okay too. Not that I’d ever say that. You know me. Laugh it off, keep moving.”

She looks over at a half naked Jake who is busy flipping through his phone. She slaps him on the arm and he sits up, laughing.

“What, Sophs? Don’t worry about it. It's probably nothing, he's a busy guy right? He was probably just distracted. C’mere. It's fine.”

ANDRE & CALVIN

ROOMMATES IN ATLANTA

Andre: Kendrick is King.
Calvin: King of everything. He’s got that shit down, man. Like this weed.
Andre: The fuck are you even saying?
Calvin: Man, I don’t know.
Andre: This part is my shit. The yam is the power that be, you can smell it when I'm walking down the street --

Suddenly, the song’s tempo changes. It’s remixed with an Alex Milligan track.

Andre: Oh, fuck no!
Calvin:The fuck is this shit?
Andre: I think my high is wearing off.
Calvin: Goddamn, if I wanted to go to sleep I’d go the fuck to sleep. Man, switch that shit. I want a good buzz going. Not this panty-dropping bait shit from white boy. I only use that when I gotta, know what I mean?
Andre: You’ve USED Alex Milligan to get laid? You're weak, man. The fuck kind of girls you fucking that buy into that shit?
Calvin: Look, man, you underestimate what some sweet talking and a sweet song does for a girl. It gets her easin' up.
Andre: The fuck is wrong with you? Just switch this shit already and then grab me some chips while you're already up.

MILO WEIMAN

AJ WEIMAN'S BROTHER. MET ALEX IN SOUTH KOREA IN MARCH.

“That was a fun night especially when we hung out top of the Hyperion tower. You only came after but Lela and Daniel pretended to be Hyun Bin’s publicists so that we’d get access to the floor we wanted to go to before they realized we were fakes. Wait, what about when Alex tried Jjambbong and almost died? His face was priceless, I still have that saved in a video on my phone. He was the one who said he was up for anything so he should have been wary about the food we picked for him after he told us that. I should send that video to him, hold on, let me send it. Going to Hongdae, too. I haven’t been there in forever. We arm wrestled a chef, played some pool and did karaoke where we all needed to try and sound as bad as possible. Hyun-woo's rendition of I Will Survive was probably my number one, but there was also Ji-yoon's version of Torn, Alex doing Tainted Love, Nikki singing Heartbreaker and Steven's version of Superbass. Near the end of the night Alex and I got these two guys in hot dog costumes to give them over to us by paying them in beers. We walked around like that for a half hour before the costumes got too hot. I might've asked a few people to ask me about my weiner...Okay, yeah, I did. Everyone else has that on camera so my embarrassment can be around as blackmail forever."

NICOLE KITNER & FRIENDS

GIRLS ALEX HAS NEVER MET IN MIAMI

“Oh, yeah, Alex Milligan and I totally hooked up when I was in Cabo. He was there with a bunch of his friends who were all super cute and he looked at me from across the room and..."

“Oh my god, Nicole, you are such a liar!”

“No! Listen! He was there on vacation last year and he came up to me and was like, ‘let me buy you a drink’ and I’m just like…are you…and he’s like, ‘no need to worry about any of that, darling. I just want to get to know you’ so, yeah, I’m sure as hell going to get to know his fine British ass.”

“That sounds very grand, even for you.”

“Don’t believe me? I’m going to text Mel right now and you’ll see.”

Hey babes!! W the girlies right now. They don’t believe our craaaazy Cabo stories and are trying to get me to text you for proof. So…what happened?

She turns the phone around for her girlfriends to see. “And now we wait.”

They all lay back on their sun chairs and that’s when she quickly sends another text.

Mention me hooking up w Alex Milligan ;) Rachel was bragging about that NFL player she dated for a minute so I had to one up her. Dumb bitch. These fools love the dramatic stories. XOXO love you chick let’s do lunch demain.

She's just as quick to delete the message so that it didn’t show up on her texts but it was still read. After another few minutes, the text is in.

“Ooh, look who it is!”

Vanessa is the first to grab her phone and read the text message out loud.

cabo was insanity! oh my god, where do i even start? we wound up on a yacht with the ceo of the hotel’s son and got unlimited everything. got recognized as models and stood in for them on that beach photoshoot for vogue. drunken nights at the club where we got to go behind the dj booth + the most jealous i ever got when alex fucking milligan went out of his way to talk to nicole while he was all tanned and sexy and i turned away for a minute only to look back and they were making out in the corner of the room. lucky bitch. i swear, the craziest shit happens in cabo. can’t wait for that to be us this summer!! hope you ladies are having fun in the sun xoxoxo

All the girls screech together as a few people looked over to see what all the noise is about before rolling their eyes and turning away.

“You are a lucky bitch! I wonder who we’ll find this summer. Hopefully Chris Evans. Desmund Rowe. Maybe Adam Levine. Oh, Oliver Cobb! James Fornarola, too. The possibilities are endless.”

LUKE CRAVINGTON

ALEX'S FIRST MANAGER IN LOS ANGELES

“Look who's on TV. Mr. Bigshot Milligan."

"Yeah, I like his music."

"He’s a shitty person and his music is mediocre.”

Luke's flavor of the month stops smacking her gum and looks over at him. “You’re shittalking Alex Milligan right now?”

“Babe, he’s Alex. Just Alex. What is it with this full name crap like he’s some big star. He’s a person. We used to be friends before he fucked me over the minute he decided he wanted to get success in a greedy way. By himself, forgetting the people that helped make him. I’m going to be realistic about it, babe. Fine, congratulations, his songs play on the radio, good for him. I was the one that got him into studios he would have never been in before - he never even dreamed of it at the time but I made it happen. I let him crash on my couch. I showed him around the LA scene so he knew what the deal was. I got him into parties you would think only exist in movies. I’ve seen him at his lows and then when I get to mine he just decides to ditch and that he's over all of it? Everything's just done? Yeah, that makes me mad. Even now. That's bullshit. He’s smart, though. I'll give him that. He shows everyone what he wants them to see but that’s not the truth. But I know. I know.”

DESIREE & TRINA

CASHIERS AT RALPHS IN LOS ANGELES

Desiree: Guys have no clue what they’re doing with the way they dress. Look at this dude.

Trina: Pajama pants, oversized shirt, hoodie, sunglasses...where’d he even come from?

Desiree: Must be one of those trust fund brats who lives around the corner and sleeps the day away then parties all night.

Trina: No...you think so? I thought he was just another wannabe LA model and actor out of work, as usual, and trust me. I’ve dated plenty of those types. They use the lack of jobs as an excuse to hang out looking like that because they say they’re just ‘looking for their vision.’ Bitch, no, you’re just lazy.

Desiree: Nuh uh, I see those types a lot at this place and they look just like that because they’re hungover and they know daddy will pay for any problem they might get into. I bet boy cleans up nicely at night, but right now he knows he can look like shit because none of his rich friends come here.

Trina: Oh, look at that. He’s coming to your aisle.

Desiree: Lucky me. Hello, there. Good afternoon.

Alex puts on his American accent to reply with casual chit chat.

Desiree: That’ll be $25.50, please.

He hands over the money, collects his change, says his thank you’s with a smile and heads out with his bag. When he’s out the door, the two girls lean in for more whispers.

Trina: My money’s on failed screenwriter with a hoarding problem who is trying to get his show on the air. Wishes he looks good with a beard but he’s just not there yet. Wants to get a dog to impress the ladies and make a real connection. He wants his show to be on HBO and star Ryan Gosling and Rose Byrne as exes working at battling PR companies with their unique employees but Rose needs to deal with her drunk dad, Tom Hanks, and Gosling's got a new much younger, eccentric flame in Mava Szalinski.

Desiree: I still say trust fund brat who stumbled in here by accident when he walked the wrong way from Trader Joe’s. He’s going to get to his fancy loft apartment and after the chef makes him pancakes, bacon and eggs he'll hang out in the pool for a few hours while he drinks that vitamin water he just bought. He'll make a few calls to pretend he's actually doing shit with his life, probably for real estate or the stock market, then get ready to hit up Exchange...but for the record, I would totally watch that show.

Katie Hanlin

EX-GIRLFRIEND IN BELFAST

Katie: Thank you for filling the glass all the way to the top. Trying to get me drunk to spill the secrets, are we? That's really all there is to it. The love wasn't the same anymore and as much as we wanted it to be we knew it wasn't. We grew apart, not together. The distance was especially hard on me because I couldn't just drop everything to go run off and be with him on tour. He understood that. I've got a job, my family, friends, a life here. It wasn't functional. Nearing the end of it we were on different pages and we barely spoke. I'd Skype him for a couple minutes then he'd run onstage and I'd be at work. He'd call me and the connection would be shit.

Rebecca: I mean, if I had a song like Tenerife Sea written about me I'd hold on for dear life.

Katie: Oh, shut up. I don't even really know if --

Rebecca: Blue eyes. Casually including French when you speak French. Referencing the way your hair was when you two first met.

Katie: Yeah, yeah. We had a lot of fun. There's no doubt about it but I'm happy with where I am now, you know how happy I am. Ryan is the most wonderful man and we fit together so perfectly. Alex seems happy with where he is now, too, and I'm glad. There's no animosty there. He's doing well for himself and when it ended that's all I wished for him. The best, and he did the same for me.

LEWIS, COLIN & PAUL

UK FRIENDS IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

"Mate, come on! Look at how fucking bored they are just standing here. We told them we'd get them into this club and we'd have the best night ever so we need to fulfill that promise. I've got an 85% chance of shagging...what's her name? Heather? Heather! If we get them into the goddamn club! Come on! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are in the LAND of opportunity! We are HERE to make stories and have a damn good time. Fuck it, come here you shit. I've got an idea."

Colin huddles the girls nearby with word of their master plan.

"You really think that's going to work?" Rachel scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"Trust me, love. It's going to work."

A few moments later the group of six have gone in two separate directions with Lewis, Colin and Paul walking past the long line of well dressed people waiting to get into the nightclub. This isn't even one of the bigger clubs and there's still such a crowd. This might not be as easy as anticipated. When they reach the front of the line they attempt to breeze right into the club but then two big bouncers stop them. "Head to the back of the line, boys."

One of the bouncers can't help but smile at the brazen attempt while the other remains calm but firm.

"Mate, do you know who this is?"

One bouncer looks at the other before turning back to the boys. "Look, it's prime time in the evening, if you bring some ladies with you and keep in the line you might get in around an hour from now okay? Have a good night."

"Fucking hell, come on. This service is just insanity. This is Alex fucking Milligan! Come on! Top 40 hits, sings the songs your girlfriend probably cries to while eating ice cream. "Keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans... Er. "It's too cooooold for angels to fly." Thinking Out Loud? When your legs don't work like they used to before...I'm thinking out loud maybe we've found love right where we are..."

The bouncer eyes a silent Lewis up suspiciously. He does have that disheveled acoustic musician look.

"Man, don't feed me that bullshit."

Colin steps forward. "He's too much of a sodding good guy to say so himself but that's really Alex Milligan in the flesh coming here from London to have a good 'ole time in the big bad Vegas. I'm with Interscope records. That's Paul, his personal assistant."

"Uh huh, alright. Sure. Look boys, we got a business to run now I'm gonna have to ask y-"

The three girls from earlier come rushing by and immediately start gushing over Lewis.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, but I have to say this...you are so much hotter in person!"

"Can I get a selfie with you?"

"Your are literally my favorite musician."

"What brings you to Vegas, party boys?"

"So what's The Weeknd really like?"

"I'd loooove to party with you."

The bouncers look at each other and back at the scene unfolding right before them. Suddenly, one perks up.

"My daughter's getting married this summer. Her fiance's a military officer and they're using that song of yours, Photograph. You all go on in and have a good time, alright?"

The other bouncer looks shocked but they are all quick to scurry towards the blaring music and vibrant lights. Right before heading inside, Lewis turns around and salutes. "Congratulations to your daughter and god bless your future son-in-law, mate. God bless America, too!"