"Here's to you, Mia, and your awesome voice and songs, to all of us, and to all of our futures!" Laney raised her beer. My face warmed at the compliment.
We all clanged our bottles before taking long sips. Our discussion then fell into planning for the tour. The possibilities were endless. Our stars were on the rise.
Chapter Two
Serena, Kat and I sat in the car waiting for Laney to be done with her final shift at the coffee house. Today was her last day as a barista, and we had a meeting with Una at the record label's main office in Seattle.
"I hate March snow," Serena complained as a few flakes fell from the late March sky. "Snow shouldn't be allowed after January." She continued with her rant for about fifteen more minutes. The remainder of the ride was quiet.
We entered the recognizable lobby with the familiarly annoying and fake receptionist Tonya. Serena leaned in over the desk.
"Good morning Tonya. How are you today?" With an exaggerated smile, Serena fluttered her eyelashes.
I snickered. Tonya rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed.
"Una is waiting for you in the second level conference center." She turned back to the computer and started typing.
"What? No escort service today?" Serena's hand went to her chest in mock horror. "I thought you were the 'escort' for the company." Serena winked.
Tonya turned with an angry glare. The rest of us held our laughter until we got to the elevator.
"You know you really are a bitch." The doors slid closed as to emphasize my comment.
"No, Mia, she's the bitch. From day one she's been an asshole, so I choose to treat her the way she treats everyone else." Serena shrugged.
"You mean everyone she doesn't want to sleep with." Kat added with a giggle.
"Yes," Serena turned to Kat. "I amend my statement to include Kat's comment." I smiled and shook my head while Serena and Kat gave each other a high-five.
The elevator doors opened to the second level and we all walked off, looking both ways to see which way was the conference center.
"Anyone remember where this room is?" I turned to them.
"I think it was this way," Laney pointed to the left and we started in that direction.
"Mia?" I turned. Una walked from a room we’d just passed.
"Hey, sorry, is that the conference room?"
"Yeah, didn't Tonya bring you up or tell you where to go?" She raised an eyebrow.
Kat answered. "That bitch only told us second level conference center. She wouldn't want to lose a press-on nail by pushing an elevator button."
Una shook her head. "Well, if you would, please join me in here and have a seat."
Everyone found an empty seat while Una handed out folders. Each folder contained lists of names, tour dates, papers that needed signed, and so much more. I didn’t know where to begin.
"Okay ladies, we are going to go over the tentative tour schedule. I say tentative, because new dates could always get added." She looked around at us, probably to see if we had any questions. "So far we have one addition to your schedule and it will be after the kick off concert here in Seattle." She pulled open a binder and pulled out the tour date listing. "As you see, we added the date you’ll play at your old high school."
We had graduated from the same high school. Therefore, when I’d received the request from the high school student council to appear for one of their dances, I forwarded it to Una hoping she could make it happen.
"We’re going to make a stop there and you will be able to spend the night, play the night of the dance, and then spend one more night at home before we head out on the bus."
"Thank you so much, Una, for working the school concert in." I said, smiling to her.
"Not a problem. I think it's a great thing to do for your school and from a manager stand point its awesome free press." She winked and smiled.
We continued to go over the schedule and other fine print of some documents. We had to agree to press conferences, interviews, and to promotional photo shoots. I understood the need for the photo shoots, but I wasn't too excited about it. Laney and Kat were bouncing in their seats happy to get professional makeup and hair artists.
Una was finishing things with us when someone knocked and entered the room. It was Richard and another man. Una stood up quickly.
"Father," she nodded. "Nicholas," She nodded again.
Ah, this is Nicholas Shaw. I’d never seen him in person. He’s an extremely handsome older man.
"Una, dear, how are things going?" Richard hugged her. Una looked irritated at his open affection.
"Things are going well, we were just finishing up." She smiled proudly.
"Absolutely wonderful," he exclaimed. "I thought that since Nicholas was here we could make some introductions." He gestured to Nicholas as he spoke.
"Ladies, this is Nicholas Shaw, manager of The Forgotten." Una motioned toward him.
We greeted him in unison.
"Good afternoon, Ladies. It's a pleasure to meet you." Nicholas spoke very professionally and dignified. Well spoken, handsome, and manager of the current hottest rock band, I was ready to swoon.
"Let me see if the guys are still here in the building, perhaps you all could meet before you begin your tour?" He turned and walked from the room.
"Excellent idea Nicholas," Richard proclaimed. I watched him exit too.
"God that man has the ass of a twenty year old." Kat whispered into my ear.
I nudged her with my elbow and shushed her, but I couldn't disagree. Danger, swoon coming, danger, swoon.
Una turned back to finish the remaining items on our agenda, until we heard the door open again. Nicholas entered with The Forgotten. I, of course, had known the band just as everyone else in the country, so identifying who they were wasn't a problem.
One by one, they entered the room. Jimmy with the skinny build and long shaggy black streaked blond hair. Elliott the large muscle man type with the shaved head; Jackson the extremely tall with super short bleached out hair and goatee. Then there was Christopher. Christopher was tall and lean, but still had muscular definition and broad shoulders. His hair was midnight black with a blue cast his unruly spikes. Their posters and pictures really didn't do their appearance justice. They were ridiculously attractive. They definitely had all the bad boy hotness you could ever want.
All of them had some form of tattooing. Jimmy's arms covered in a multitude of tattoos and both ears had large diamond studs. Elliott had a large tattoo on his left bicep. A bicep that looked like it would rip his t-shirt sleeve at any moment. The under part of his forearms had words I couldn't read. Large gauges fitted into both his left and right lobes. Jackson had a double bar piercing above his left eye and a lip ring. His tattoos were on his arms and I could see part of one along the left side of his neck. Christopher tattooed similar to Jackson, had a viper pierced lower lip. When he licked his bottom lip, I caught a glimpse of a small silver ball in his tongue. Everyone sat across from us, except for Christopher who chose to stand next Nicholas with a scowl on his face.
There was an uncomfortable silence and the glare on Christopher's face was insulting. How could he hate us already? He didn't even know us. Una cleared her throat and started making introductions.
Pointing out each person as she spoke, "Jimmy, Jackson, Elliott, Christopher, this is Kat, Laney, Serena, and Mia also known as Hushed Mentality. Ladies this is The Forgotten."
"Welcome to the tour" Elliott spoke first with a mischievous grin and the more I saw of him the more I realized just how huge he was. He looked like he could win Mr. Universe.
"Thanks," we all replied.
"It's nice to meet you all." I spoke up looking at each one of them quickly.
Christopher snorted and I shot a look to him immediately. What an asshole. I guess waiting to make judgment wasn't going to take as long as I thought it would.
"Oh-Kay," Nicholas spoke up before the tension got any worse. "We are going to head out to handle some promotional photos.
" Christopher quickly turned and walked out of the room.
"It was a pleasure to meet y’all," Jackson said as he was leaving.
Jackson was even taller in person, though I shouldn't have been surprised. In all of his interviews, reporters, or whoever, always brought up the fact he was almost seven foot tall. I smiled at him. He nodded and exited.
"Bye," Jimmy spoke with a nod. For a moment, I noticed he was shorter in person.
"Later," Elliott smiled brightly and waved. They both followed Jackson out.
"Ladies," Nicholas bowed his head and left the room with Richard following. Richard didn't look happy, but I couldn't be sure.
"Well, that was interesting." Una said. "I apologize for the discomfort of the situation. They are all really nice gentlemen…"
"Yeah and when you say gentlemen you aren't talking about Christopher right?" I blurted out with a smirk. Serena couldn't hold in her laugh. Kat and Laney joined in.
Una blushed.
"Well…" she closed the conference room door "I'll be honest and up front with you. Christopher is difficult, brilliant but difficult. I am hoping that he will warm up to this, but those chances are minimal. Can you handle that?" Una looked each one of us in the face.
"Fuck him!" Kat slammed her hand to the table with a chuckle.
"Kat," I tried to sound serious and not laugh. That's not exactly what happened.
"Look, Una, he can do what he wants. We'll do our performances and let him be. If we have to interact with him, it will probably only be on a professional basis and I think we can all handle that."
She smiled at us all. "Good to hear." We all stood, ready to leave. "Oh and ladies, just so you know, I don't doubt you being able to handle those guys," Una's words full of satisfaction.
We headed out to the van discussing all the information and everything we needed to wrap up over the next week and half before we left on the tour. Based on the information, the first thing we were obligated to was a photo shoot in two days.
* * * * *
When Nicholas called us up to the conference room to meet with the girlie group I was reluctant to show up; however, Nicholas played the father card on me.
I walked in and took in the appearance of four girls at the table. Una introduced them.
Kat, a platinum blonde with purple streaked haired, who looked like she should be model bathing suits. However, the large sleeve tattoo and lip ring probably made that career path impossible.
Laney a small girl with spiked pink hair, a toothy smile, and an apparent case of over activeness bounced in her seat. I was sure if I looked under the table, she would be bouncing her leg excessively or something.
Full-breasted Serena had curly, neon red hair. The Marilyn Piercing in her lip was hot.
Then Mia in an oversized long sleeved T-Shirt, from what I could see, she was a thin girl with long black hair, a small diamond in her nose, and haunting dark eyes. The way her eyes drew you in was all-consuming. The attraction sparked my irritation to a higher level of anger.
They all sat there staring us until Elliott spoke. The damned idiot couldn't just keep his mouth shut so we could get out of here.
Mia spoke and I couldn't help but snort. She isn't going to last. I'll have this wanna be rocker begging to leave the tour in no time. Hell, if she only knew what I had planned and I've already picked out a much more worthy band. She shot me a look filled with irritation and hate. Bring it on little girl. You have no idea who you are messing with.
Nicholas excused us from the room and directed us toward our scheduled photo shoot for our cover. We had to take care of it today, even though we'd to be back in two days for another one round of tour promotional photos.
"Christopher?" Nicholas didn't bother hiding his annoyance.
Shit, here we go. 'Chris you need to be a professional…'
"Nicholas?" Richard stopped Nic before he could scold me. Ha, looks like you're going to get it first.
Standing there, I watched my father's face fill with shame and irritation. Richard's looked stern. Their voices were too low for me to hear anything. With a nod, Nicholas shook Richard's hand, and headed toward me.
"Son, could you please attempt to be civil?"
I began to walk away but he kept pace with me.
"Please Christopher. You're going to be on tour for almost ten months. You can make this easier or harder on everyone." He exhaled harshly.
"Hey, I already told you I'm not happy about this. I think there are many better options than this chick group. I'm not going to pretend to be happy or even okay with it."
I wanted him to shut the hell up, even though he wasn't finished with me, yet.
"You don't have to like them Christopher, but you do have to work with them. So I suggest you get off your fucking high horse, man up, and do your job."
Shock slowed my pace. Nicholas doesn't swear, at all. He believes it undignified and unintelligent.
He quickly out stepped me and took the lead to the studio downstairs. I caught up with him, but before I could argue, he began again.
"You don't have to be friends with them or anything else, but you do have to be professional. That's all I'm asking. No, that's all I'm requiring from you."
"Fine," I growled.
We didn't say anything else. We didn't have to. It didn't matter anyhow after seeing how easily I could irritate Mia. My plan would work and would work quickly.
Reaching the studio, a couple of floors down, I entered the dressing room. My band mates assaulted me with their opinions about those damn girls.
"Did you see how fucking hot they are?" Jimmy boasted and slouched into a chair. "Damn," he purred out.
"Dude that red head almost did me in with the Marilyn piercing. Then the long black haired chick, fuck me, she bit her bottom lip and I almost burst in my pants!" Elliott fist bumped Jimmy from the seat next to him.
I rolled my eyes.
"What about you man?"
I looked up at Jimmy's question, but he was talking to Jackson.
He shrugged. "They're attractive."
"Bullshit, douche bag, which one?" Elliott pursed up his lips and eyed Jackson from the corner of his eyes.
Jackson smirked. "The tiny little spiked hair girl was too damn cute, man." He shook his head and lightly laughed. "You know I'm a sucker for tiny girls."
Elliott burst into a chortle and Jimmy laughed with him.
"Jesus, leave it to the giant to want to get with the dwarf," Jimmy snorted.
"Hey, I can't help it if I prefer my women eye level with my zipper." Jackson retorted with a cocky smile.
"Hell yeah, you sick bastard!" Elliott excitedly agreed.
"How ‘bout you Chris? I bet it's the blonde one, huh? She looks your type." Jackson shot the question with a nod.
I glowered at him, but refused to respond.
"Oh Christ, super emo boy is in effect today." Elliott groaned out. "Where's your cape?" He mocked.
Without lifting my head from the couch I'd sprawled across, I lifted my hand and gave him my middle finger.
"Don't get too comfortable with them." Eyes now closed I let a happy grin form.
"What are you up to now?" Jackson asked suspiciously.
I remained quiet and returned my attention to my plan.
Two days later, we were back for more photos. Entering Nobil Records in the late morning, I saw Tonya at her usual post in the receptionist seat.
She fluttered her eyes and tried waving seductively. I turned my head without acknowledging her. Why couldn't she get the fucking hint that I would not be messing with her again. Jackson tainted her. I shuddered and we groggily climbed onto the elevator, heading down to the photo studio for the promo shots.
"Don't ever let me drink that much again." Elliott groaned, his temple pressed to the wall of the elevator. The elevator dinged and Elliott shushed it. We busted up laughing and walked off.
"That's what you get for doing body shots all night." Jackson lectured.
"Dude, you saw how hot the dancer was," Elliott defended his activities from the night before. "You're just jealous." He smiled crooked at Jackson.
"Jealous of what?" Jackson chuckled. "You passed out drunk and Chris fucked her in the men's room."
Elliott's face dropped. "What?" He whined.
Jimmy patted my back. "Well, played Chris." Jimmy laughed.
"God damn it," Elliott growled.
We entered the studio and rushed into make-up by the photographer's assistant. Each of us took a chair and waited for the stylist and make-up artist to arrive. After about fifteen minutes, they finally showed up.
"Sorry guys we had to do some touch-ups on the first group," Layla apologized as she picked up her sponges and tubes.
"First group?" Jimmy questioned while Meghan was working on his bleached platinum head. Honestly, he hardly had hair on his shaved head. Why in the hell was she wasting time on him?
"Yeah they were brought in earlier, but, you know, girls take longer than guys." She smiled and kept working. I sat back and relaxed while she finished up.
We were all in there for about an hour before Nicholas arrived.
"I want you all on your best behavior. We're shooting the tour promos today."
That's when it clicked. Tour promos, girls, first group, it was the damn girlie group.
Quickly I moved out of the dressing room to see if they were still here, but wardrobe grabbed us and pulled us in to change.
Finally, able to get the dressers off me, I stepped out to the large room with the photo stage. There they were standing grouped together and the photographer fawning over them. I felt the guys approach and stand around me.
"They are soooo hot!" Elliott said loudly next to my ear.
My brow creased. They aren't that hot and I knew hot.
"I agree." Jimmy said, licking his lips. Jackson just stared with his mouth slightly open.
"Will you guys suppress your damn hormones for like two minutes?" I scoffed.
"This coming from 'mister come on I'll fuck you in the men's room'," Elliott laughed loudly. "You know that 'Blondie' is on your to-do list, and before you ask, No, I will not do body shots with her so you can get her."
Falling Stars Page 2
