by N. Kognytao
“Well, I did spend the rest of the night wondering if it had all been a dream,” she laughed. “Since, you know, it was strange to just bump into a stranger in the middle of the night in the park.”
He smiled gently and her heart began to race. He rolled the liquid around in his glass, his green eyes looking her over briefly.
“You were sleep walking then?”
“I had considered that possibility, particularly since what you said made a lot of sense.”
“Good to know that the advice I impart is equivalent to your subconscious talking to you as you sleep walk.”
“I’ve been known to be pretty wise for my age,” she played along.
His smile broadened before his eyes oved to the table where Leah’s parents sat. “Your parents?” he asked, nodding to them.
“Yeah,” she confirmed. “They’re really excited. They always encouraged me to go after a career in singing, but they were worried I wouldn’t make it. The entertainment industry is brutal, after all and there’s some big competition.”
The man nodded slowly.
“And the younger woman?”
“Oh, that’s Meggie, my sister.”
“No other siblings?”
“Nope.”
“You get along with your younger sister?”
“She’s my best friend,” Leah said with a broad smile. “She’s the reason I was in the park that night.” Her smile softened. “She was really sick when she was little. And whenever she would get upset about her illness, I would take her to that park and stand with her on the rail and tell her there was nothing to be afraid of because we were flying above the city.”
The look in the man’s eyes confused Leah and made her worry briefly that she had said something to upset him. His eyes had darkened, but not in anger. He seemed to extinguish the small light that had graced his eyes only moments previous as he looked back at Meggie once more.
“She was very lucky to have you through such a tough time,” he murmured. “It likely helped her rally against her illness.”
“I like to think so, but she did the fighting on her own. Two years cancer-free, now.”
The man nodded, lifting his drink to his mouth.
“Now it makes sense.”
“What makes sense?”
He took a sip of the alcohol.
“Why you never auditioned for RM before. If you wanted to sing, I wondered why you had not gone after it sooner. But you had more pressing things at home that demanded your energy.” He smiled again. “I am happy for your family. And it is probably very fortunate that you were signed when you were older if you have the type of talent Mr. Gracie values so highly.”
“Why do you say that?”
“As you said, the entertainment world is brutal.”
He took another sip of her drink. Just as Leah was about to introduce herself properly, a man in a suit walked up to the man’s other side, holding a briefcase.
“Sorry I’m late,” the newcomer murmured.
“I’ve come to expect it,” he responded.
“Well, I may always be late, but at least I’m consistent,” the man said. He turned to the bartender. “Rem, the usual, please.”
“Yes, Mr. Lingard.”
Leah was surprised by the man’s sharp appearance. He was older, but handsome with a clean, well-tailored suit. She looked between the two, wondering what they were doing meeting at the bar. In a way, she was irritated by his sudden appearance, wanting to spend more time talking with the handsome man from the park.
“Who’s she?” Mr. Lingard asked, nodding to Leah.
Leah could not help but scoff, indignant by the tone of his voice.
“A friend,” the man said. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Well, I don’t think she was invited to this meeting, so maybe she could find somewhere else to be.”
The man sighed and grabbed Mr. Lingard’s drink, sliding it out of his grasp as he fixed him with a sharp glare.
“I understand that your boyfriend is cheating on you and you don’t have the balls to confront him about it, but that does not give you the right to be a prick to everyone else,” he snarled. “Apologize.”
Mr. Lingard sighed heavily, his expression shifting from irritation to chagrin.
“I’m sorry for my rude behavior,” he murmured.
He slid his drink back as Rem turned away to hide his smirk from the customers at the bar.
The man looked at Leah.
“You should go and enjoy your celebration dinner,” he told her. “Your family is probably wondering why you’re over here.”
“Right…” she murmured, looking between the two. She hesitated, not really wanting to leave. “Anyway, I just came over to thank you.”
He nodded, smiling gently.
“You’re welcome. And congratulations, again.”
Leah hesitantly left the bar and returned to her table.
As he turned back to Rem and Mr. Lingard, he caught their silent exchange of glances.
“What?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” they both said quickly.
Leah only ate half of her dinner. She spent most of her time watching the meeting occurring at the bar. It was a small concern to realize that Mr. Lingard was gay, which made her wonder if the stranger from the park was also gay. However, what bothered Leah the most was that she was crestfallen at the thought that he could be gay. However, their interactions at the bar did not show any affection between the two. Even more than before, Leah wanted to walk over to him and find out his identity so she could know more about him.
Her family noticed her distraction. Meggie continued to ask who the man was, but Leah gave the same answer the man had given to Mr. Lingard.
“He’s a friend.”
Her parents were the only ones unconvinced. Meggie went back to her dinner, telling their mother how delicious the food was and talking about how she could go to culinary school and become a chef rather than a fashion designer.
Leah did her best to pay attention to the conversation, but she could not focus. Her eyes continued to drift to the man’s back as he and Mr. Lingard passed papers back and forth, discussing something clearly important judging by their drawn expressions.
Leah felt hypersensitive to him, which meant when he stood and gathered his coat to leave, she nearly jumped out of her seat. Her parents looked between her and the man before exchanging confused and interested looks.
She watched him walk away, Mr. Lingard still talking to him as he righted the collar of his coat. As he passed her table, his eyes caught Leah’s.
In that moment, the world around them disappeared. There was no one but the two of them, staring deeply into one another’s eyes, trying to read the other’s soul. She did not know how long they held eye contact, but it felt both like an eternity and a split second.
All too soon, it was over and he turned away, leaving the restaurant.
“Alright, who is that man?” Anne pressed.
Leah felt his absence with her entire body.
“…a friend,” she repeated.
Chapter Three
Leah could not escape dreams of green eyes and the calm voice. She spent the rest of the night kicking herself for not getting his name when she had the chance. She spent her dream running around Griffin’s Point trying to find him among the faces of the patrons.
After the exhausting dream and the few hours of sleep, Leah was practically a zombie when she went to RM Entertainment the following morning. She stepped off the bus with her head down and eyes half-closed. Her feet moved in and out of her field of vision, hypnotizing her tired brain with their constant rhythm.
“Leah!”
Startled, her head snapped up and she saw Aaron walking toward her.
“Oh, morning.”
“Whoa, you look horrible,” Aaron said bluntly, laughing. “Celebrate a little too hard last night?”
“Oh, yeah, you know me. When I go out with my parents I’m a real pa
rty animal,” Leah played along.
“Well, Mr. Gracie pooled a team together for you, so you should wake up!” he exclaimed. “And, just to make sure that you have the best of the best, I have also been appointed to your band.”
A broad smile broke over Leah’s face.
“Or maybe he wants to put you with someone with real talent so that you’ll push yourself.”
“Oh, please, years of practice beats talent any day,” Aaron teased.
“Tell that to everyone who saw my audition.”
Aaron laughed, wrapping an arm around Leah’s shoulders and turning her around.
“Alright, super girl, we’ve got some time before meeting everyone, so let’s get you some coffee.”
Aaron led Leah around the side of the RM Entertainment skyscraper to a crowded coffee shop called the Muse Café. Many patrons of the café had their instrument cases beside them and were mulling over notebooks while bobbing their heads to the music playing in their headphones.
“I’m assuming everyone here works for RM.”
“Not everyone,” Aaron corrected. “A lot of artists come here for the atmosphere and the good coffee. If you make it as big as everyone is hoping, the coffee here will become your best friend. You’ll need it just to stay awake when they’re working you twenty-four-seven.”
Even though Leah had never really had a taste for good coffee versus bad coffee, she had to admit that the coffee from the Muse Café was amazing. She had a spring in her step as she finished the drink, following Aaron’s lead to a room on the fourth floor marked Studio Two.
Studio Two was a fairly large room with two couches and several tables. The longest tables were set up at the front of the room supporting the computers, audio mixers, and monitors for the recording room beyond, which was visible through an observation window. Keyboards were also scattered around the front of the room, tiered based on their settings for composition.
Among the large posters on the wall and modern fixtures in the room, three men sat, bobbing their heads to the song playing over the speakers. When Aaron and Leah entered, everyone turned to look at them. Aaron went forward to warmly greet the two sitting on the couch while the older man turned in his chair and lowered the music volume. Aaron smiled and nodded to Leah, who stood hesitantly by the door.
“Leah, this is Keith, drummer, and Carson, keyboardist,” the guitarist introduced.
“Hey, nice to meet you,” Leah said, walking over and shaking hands with them. They appeared to be of high school age, but exuded confidence from years of training under the RM label.
“Saw the video of your audition. It was awesome,” Keith said with a broad smile.
“Yeah, you really blew them away,” Carson agreed.
“You’ve got potential. Let’s start with that,” the older man at the recording computers said coldly.
Leah had felt nervous even looking at the older man. He was reclining back in the rolling office chair, his thin face surrounded by the large hood of his black sweatshirt. His narrow eyes were dark and serious, which made him a bit intimidating, even with his extremely thin frame.
“That’s a good a place as any to start,” Leah said, forcing a smile to her face to disguise her nerves. She walked over and extended a hand. “Leah Dillon.”
“Yeah, I know who you are, I was at your audition,” the older man said, shaking her hand. “Jay Reis, RM Producer.”
Leah’s body froze, causing her to hold the handshake far longer than necessary.
“Jay Reis?” she repeated. “I…aren’t you…”
“A producer for several RM artists,” Jay said, forcefully breaking the handshake.
“The producer for 4Ever!” Leah gasped, her eyes wide in shock.
“Former,” he agreed, nodding. “Tim asked me to work with you, since we have such a tight timeline before the concert. We’ll decide after that if you should work with a different producer.”
“No!” Leah said quickly. “No, I’d be honored to work with you.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said, glancing at his expensive watch. “Where the hell is Yasmine?”
“Oh, is she playing bass?” Aaron asked.
“She won’t be if she doesn’t get here soon,” the producer groaned. He sighed, leaning further back in his chair. “So, you write your own lyrics. What kind of song do you want for the concert next month?”
“I’ve been giving that a lot of thought, because I don’t want to be the typical female singer who only sings about ex-boyfriends and a broken heart,” the singer said, grabbing one of the other chairs and sitting down, turning to have a view of everyone in the room. “I know we’re an opening act, so our job is to fire up the audience and get them ready for Glaring Nights. Glaring Nights is mostly rock songs, so we need something powerful and in your face.”
“Then why are you there at all?” Jay pressed. “If you’re just going to do the same thing as Glaring Nights, they might as well open their own show and we’ll save everyone a lot of time and money.”
“No, I don’t want a rock feeling, I want power. Something to get your heart racing, you know, hair standing on end, all that. That doesn’t have to be rock.” Leah looked at the other musicians, who were leaning forward, interested. “Let’s face it, no one ever just wants to be the opening act, right? Every opening act is doing it for exposure so they can get their own show. They want to be the main attraction.”
“We can’t overshadow Glaring Nights, though,” Keith said.
“Why not?”
Leah’s challenge had everyone silent. While the younger men were shocked at the brazen attitude, Aaron smiled. Jay was silent and stoic, watching the new singer.
“Look, the audience knows that Glaring Nights is going to be there. They bought the tickets to see them. They know the songs, they know the members…Glaring Nights already has the advantage. They don’t need to put on the best performance of their lives anymore, right?”
“Don’t let Tim hear you say that,” Jay murmured.
“But it’s true,” Leah insisted. “What I’m saying is that the audience will remember Glaring Nights anyway because that’s who they bought tickets to see. Not us.” Leah shrugged her shoulders. “Outshining Glaring Nights would ensure that we were remembered after the concert.”
“Yeah, but Hayden would be pissed.”
“Maybe then he would realize he needs to put his all back into his performances,” Leah said. “I mean, one thing I always liked about 4U was that his energy never diminished, even as he got older. He always went on stage and put his all into performing like he was still trying to win an audience.”
“Let me stop you right there,” Jay said quickly. “Yes, he always put a lot of energy into his performances, but I will tell you this about 4U—it was never work for him. Music was his passion and it still is. When he gets on stage, that energy he gets is not something he’s worked for. It’s natural and infectious, and he acts like a gigantic seven-year-old on stage because he just goes up there and has fun. That’s something that draws people to him. People feel genuine happiness.” Jay looked at Leah seriously. “If music is your passion, and you show that through a very powerful song, then you may be able to sear yourself into the memories of the audience, but it will not be easy. You get one song. That’s it.”
“Then we better put our all into it.”
The door to the studio opened and two people entered. The first was a young woman with dark black hair, dark makeup around her almond eyes and a silver piercing glinting in her eyebrow. Her baggy cargo pants matched with her oversized sweatshirt, though it was clear from the way the guitar strap hugged her body that she was quite thin.
Behind her was Tim Gracie, dressed in a light-colored three-piece suit with his designer sunglasses sitting atop his head.
“Good morning, everyone,” he greeted, closing the door behind him as Jay stood and walked to him. The two took each other’s hands and hugged briefly.
“Good to see you in th
e studio again,” Jay teased.
“Hey, I come to the studio plenty to visit the artists,” Mr. Gracie chuckled.
“Yeah, sure, but when was the last time you felt the pressure of recording?”
“Every time Michael has to put out a new album,” Mr. Gracie said with a teasing glare, “since you refuse to push him.”
“He just whines like a little kid when I tell him to work. You know you’re the only one that ever can get him to focus,” Jay protested. He turned to look at Leah. “I hope that you can stay focused.”
Leah raised her hand in a salute, straightening in her chair.
“Ms. Dillon, I would like you to meet Miss Yasmine Lee,” Mr. Gracie introduced, motioning to the young woman beside him. “Sorry I kept her for so long, but I need to let you all know that she is not to work for another four days, is that understood? She’s not sixteen, yet. It would be illegal.”
“You’re fifteen?” Leah gaped.
“Got a problem with that?” she growled.
“No, not at all,” she assured quickly.
“Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing,” Yasmine said sharply.
“I never said that.”
“You’re just a late bloomer.”
Leah just blinked in surprise at the attitude, unable to stop the smile from coming to her face.
“Yasmine, play nice,” Mr. Gracie said carefully, raising an eyebrow at her. He turned back to Jay. “She is not allowed to earn wages for a few more days, so please don’t record anything with her until her birthday.”
“No problem.”
“Think you can have a song ready by the concert next month?” Mr. Gracie asked, looking around the room expectantly.
“Absolutely, sir,” Leah said with a confident nod and a broad smile.
“Alright,” he said, placing an arm around Jay’s shoulders. “I’ve given you the assistance of a very dear friend of mine and an extremely talented producer, so use your time wisely. I’m putting quite a bit of faith in you.”
“Hey, I made you famous, didn’t I?” Jay teased.
