by Alexa Davis
Michael shot me a weird look, but luckily, he didn’t question me further. I couldn’t explain what I was feeling to myself, never mind anyone else!
“So, we want these guys, am I right?” he asked. “I think we should set up a contract with them, get them recording an album with us. The sooner we get rolling on this one the better.”
“I agree.” I did my best to get my head out of... wherever it was and back into business. “I think we need to act before someone else does, and from what I can gather, there was a lot of interest at the fundraiser.”
“You must be their first choice or they wouldn’t be here.”
“Maybe you’re right, but I’m not willing to bet everything on that. We need to sign these guys up now and make some decisions about where we want to go next.”
Michael watched once more, tuning me out. For a second, I allowed myself to get lost in the music, too. When I listened to Lila sing, it was easy to forget where I was, it was easy to feel like she was only singing for me – and that was the sign of a star. She captivated me, entranced me, and wasn’t generic at all.
“So, do you want to give them the good news, or shall I?” Michael finally asked as they started to draw to a close. “I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.”
“Oh, I’m telling them!” I announced, jumping up quickly. “I found them so I’m the one who gets to give them the good news.”
I moved away quickly, not wanting him to jump up and steal my thunder, which I knew he was very capable of doing. Pushing the door open, I found two very anxious faces staring back at me. Neither Lila now Kyle knew how well they’d done. I absolutely couldn’t wait to put them out of their misery.
Chapter 10 – Lila (Thursday)
I glanced over at Kyle as he finally stopped playing, wondering if he was going through the same turmoil of emotions as I was.
I had no idea what Xander and Michael thought of our performance. Their expressions were totally unreadable throughout and they spent a lot of time talking. I hated not knowing what they were saying. They could have loved us. They could’ve hated us. Xander might’ve been thinking that he’d made a mistake with us and that terrified the living hell out of me. I didn’t want my dream torn apart before it’d even begun.
The door swung open, Xander stepped inside, and my heart raced like crazy. I folded my arms across my chest, but the shaking was probably still obvious. He smiled at us both in turn, and I sucked in a deep and very terrified breath.
“Well, guys, I have to say that was awesome. I’m impressed again.” The tight knot that had formed in my stomach started to loosen. Maybe this was going to be okay, after all. “I’ve been talking to Michael, and we’d love to sign you to the record label... if that’s something that you’re interested in?”
I almost leaped forward, prepared to wrap my arms around him and offer him everything for that opportunity. That was better than I ever could’ve asked for. I came in here with my hopes high, and Xander had managed to exceed them. I wouldn’t have ever allowed myself to truly hope this much. Maybe hypothetically, but realistically I was just hoping for a compliment or two.
But before I could speak up, before I could agree to anything he offered, Kyle spoke up for us, managing his first words of the day. “That sounds great, but we’d need to discuss it in private first.”
I spun around to stare at him with fire in my eyes, but the look he gave me instantly cooled that. He was being smart, taking things slow. I probably should have been doing the same. After all, I didn’t want to end up getting screwed. “Yeah, Kyle’s probably right,” I agreed. “We need some time to talk about it.”
Luckily, Xander didn’t look too offended by us being careful. “Well, what we’re offering is for you to record a whole album worth of songs. We want to put a lot of marketing and money behind you guys. We know you have what it takes, and we want to go on that journey with you.”
I blinked a couple of times. I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming. There was no way in hell this could be real. Any moment now, I would wake up in my bed, nervous and about to face the scariest day of my whole damn life. There was no way this could actually be happening.
But pinching myself proved otherwise. That hurt, this was real life.
Oh, my God.
“We’ll send you over a contract to review in your own time. We certainly don’t expect you to make any decisions right now.”
“Thank you so much,” I gushed. “That’s amazing, thank you for... believing in us.” I couldn’t work out why Xander seemed so ready to give us what we wanted, and I was a little unsure of what we were potentially letting ourselves in for. After all, it sounded too good to be true, so it probably was. But I still wanted him to know I was grateful.
“No, thank you both for coming in today. You sounded incredible. You both have real talent, and I believe that we can make a decent go of this together.” He shook both of our hands, and as he turned to me, I felt that spark of excitement again. This man was awesome. He was allowing me to hope – and for that reason alone he made me feel things inside.
Yes, I was still aware that he was handsome, but that had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all... Just because I found him attractive didn’t mean the spark was anything to do with him touching me. It was the life change, that was all.
“So, if you write down your address, I’ll get the paperwork messengered to you. You have my number, so you can call me to let me know what you think. If it’s something you want to go forward with, we can set up a meeting, maybe have dinner, and go from there.”
“That sounds awesome.” I couldn’t get the big beaming smile off my face as I spoke.
With that, we moved from the studio room and said our goodbyes to Xander and Michael before making our way outside. I felt a little sad to be leaving our glamorous morning behind, but I was safe in the knowledge that it probably wasn’t going to be forever. If Xander stuck to his word – and I had the feeling that he was the type of guy who did – then we’d be back in there recording an album soon enough. That would become my job, not just a glimpse of the high life.
An album... A whole freaking album! One that a record label was willing to put money behind. That was how much faith he had in us. This could lead to some serious money, and I was so damn excited for that. Our life could be about to completely change forever more.
Much as I felt like I was about to explode, I held it together until we were far enough away for me to lose my cool without blowing the whole thing. “Oh, my God,” I squealed, jumping up and down, tugging on Kyle’s sleeves. “Did you hear that? That’s amazing. Did you hear what Xander said? He loves us, he wants to sign us, he wants to give us an album...”
“Don’t get too carried away,” Kyle warned, but I could hear the happy edge to his voice. “We don’t know what’s going to happen yet. The contract could suck; it could stick us. It might not even happen. Xander might decide to go a different way. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up in case it doesn’t work out.”
I grinned to myself, knowing what he was doing. He was trying to calm his own nerves. That speech had much more to do with him than me. “Yeah, I see what you’re saying,” I replied in a mock serious tone of voice. “I suppose I shouldn’t start planning out the album cover, what I’ll wear on stage on our first tour date, how I want to conduct myself in interviews...”
“Will you stop it?” He grinned and shoved me playfully. “I’m trying my best not to scream like an idiot here.”
“Just do it,” I stunned him by saying. “Just scream. Let it all out, scream like a fool. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Kyle’s face flushed red as he glanced anxiously from side to side. “But everyone will stare.”
“So?” I shrugged. “Who cares? Who cares if everyone stares? What does it matter if people look at you? You don’t know them, they don’t know you – what does it matter what they think?”
He opened his mouth, trying to think or somethi
ng to argue back, but there was nothing. He knew that I was right, and although he wanted to be sensible, he also wanted to be silly. We’d just had the best damn day of our lives. Why couldn’t we just let that emotion go?
“Fine,” he rasped, before letting out the most pitiful scream I’d ever heard in my life.
“Oh, my God.” I was hysterical now, the laughter pouring out of me. “That was pathetic. It’s a good thing you aren’t being murdered! Honestly, no one would hear you to rescue you.”
“You do it better then.”
As a massive yell exploded from my chest, I spun on my feet, flinging my hands up into the air. I didn’t care if anyone stared, not today. I was the happiest I’d ever been, and I wanted people to know that.
I’d spent so much of my life struggling, we both had, and now we had the potential to change that. Sure, I was going to have to get over a lot of fears to get there, but I’d already progressed by leaps and bounds. I knew I could do the rest.
“Okay fine,” he conceded, holding up his hands in a surrendering gesture. “That was an amazing scream. Now can we go and get some ice cream to celebrate? I feel like I need a sugar rush or something.”
“Yeah, come on, let’s go.” As we walked, the memory of being in that studio came through me once more. “Wasn’t that awesome? Being in that studio, didn’t it make you feel special? It made me feel like a star.”
That was partly because I’d sung so well. I felt so confident, so secure in myself, so safe in the knowledge that I had it. That had come from the professional studio room much more than from me.
“It was pretty cool,” Kyle admitted, cocking his head to one side. “And much as I love playing on my piano at home, it was so cool to have a real grand piano to play on.”
“We’ll get you one,” I promised happily. “When we’re all like super rich and stuff. You can have one of your own. We’ll get a bigger apartment, too, so you can fit it in.” Okay, I was getting carried away with myself, but I didn’t care. “And then I can get a whole new wardrobe without you nagging at me every two seconds.”
“I’ll just be happy if we can keep our heads above water without the constant stress!” he replied, making me feel a little bad. Maybe I was being a bit idiotic.
We’d gotten our big break from the fundraiser for the foster kids. They were less fortunate, and that had been us. I didn’t want to lose sight of myself at the first chance of things changing.
“It’ll be nice if we don’t have to freak out every time a letter comes through the door. I’d like it if you could drop that shitty job at the diner. It’d be awesome if we could just get by like everyone else does.”
I didn’t think everyone who’d grown up with both parents were sailing by without any financial stress, but sometimes it was hard to see us ever meeting what we had in our minds as normal. This might have been an abnormal way to get there, but it was the closest we’d ever been.
“We’ll get there,” I told him warmly, in a much calmer tone of voice. “Soon we’ll look back at this time in our life as a bump in the road that we just had to get over.”
“I hope you’re right.” He nodded. “Now that would be amazing. All we need to do is make sure we have an album’s worth of songs.”
As we entered the ice cream shop, my mood was all over the place. I was so jittery, so excited, but thoughtful, too. I hoped I’d be able to turn that into something productive, into some decent music. Kyle was right; this would be hard work and the sooner we got started on that the better. We needed to get some songs together that were as good as, or better than, the one we’d done today. I needed Xander to be impressed by me.
Oh, God, this is too much. If I wasn’t careful, the pressure was going to get to me, and I’d end up totally losing my freaking mind.
Chapter 11 – Xander (Saturday)
It felt good to wake up without a million and one things on my to-do list. I didn’t even have to go into the studio today. We didn’t have anyone booked in and since Michael had a whole day of activities planned with Steph – a relationship that still seemed to be progressing somehow – I didn’t have any meetings with him, either.
I had a whole day ahead of me to do absolutely nothing. The only problem was I wasn’t totally sure how to just do nothing. I was so used to being busy, so accustomed to always having the next thing needing my attention, I wasn’t sure how to just relax.
As I sat down with a cup of coffee gripped tightly between my fingers, I tried to recall the last time I had a whole day to myself just to see what I did then, but I couldn’t. It was almost as if it’d never happened before.
Never mind, that didn’t matter. This was going to be good. Twenty-four hours to get my head in order.
The sound of my cell phone interrupted my thoughts. Oh, thank God! I jumped up excitedly and grabbed at it, so grateful to have someone needing me.
As it turned out, I wasn’t so good at just relaxing. It was only eight-thirty, and I was already going crazy. Any longer and I might have ended up at the studios helping the cleaners with their work, just for something to do.
“Hello?” I didn’t even bother to look at the caller’s number before I answered, I was too excited. “Xander Runner speaking.”
“Hi, Xander, it’s Lila.” My heart leapt up. What a nice surprise! At least... I hoped it was.
I hadn’t yet sent over the contract, the finer details weren’t totally completed, so I prayed this wasn’t her cutting off the deal before it’d even begun. I wanted her and Kyle. I didn’t think that I’d be able to find what they had anywhere else. If I lost them now, it’d crush me.
“Sorry it’s so early, I just wanted to speak to you, if possible.”
“Don’t worry, I’m up and about anyway. What’s going on?” She paused for a moment, which made me panic slightly. This was obviously something challenging for her to say, which meant it couldn’t be good. Maybe it was more of a face-to-face conversation. “Do you want to meet up?”
Just as I said those words, I heard a loud bleeping sound coming from my laptop, alerting me to an email. While I waited for her to answer, I moved over there to see what it was.
Hi Xander, Jo here. Just wanted to check you were still coming in today...
Oh, of course! I did have something to do today. I’d promised to go in and see the foster kids. My heart danced excitedly, before I remembered the phone conversation I was having. I was talking to Lila about potentially meeting up... Damn it, how was I supposed to prioritize those two things? Was there any way I could combine the two?
“Yeah, face to face might be better.” She definitely sounded nervous. I was going to have to figure out some way of making this work. Luckily, I already knew that Lila had some interest in the charity since she’d been at the fundraiser.
“I’m actually meeting with Jo today. I’m going to the foster home to see the kids for a while; would you like to come with me?”
She paused for a second, before answering me with enthusiasm. “Yeah, that sounds good, actually. Thanks.”
“Hang on, I have the address right here.” I knew it from my childhood since it was the place I’d grown up, but I wanted to get it exactly right.
“Oh, don’t worry, I know where it is,” she reassured me. “I’ll see you there in a while.”
As she hung up, I felt a little blown away, but then maybe she knew about where the place was from rehearsals for the show or something. I went and grabbed some more casual clothing, thinking about Lila the whole time.
There was something captivating about her. I found her on my mind more than I cared to admit, and this day was even worse. I was far too excited to spend time with her. I had a feeling that it wasn’t just her star quality, which was confusing. I’d always had a rule that business and pleasure wouldn’t mix, and maybe this was the time I might be considering breaking that.
Damn it, I can’t! I had that rule for a reason. I’d decided on it the moment I started the company because I didn’t ever
want things to get messy. There was nothing worse than a complicated break up affecting my business. But I couldn’t seem to stop the fantasies from floating through my mind, regardless.
Anyway, this wasn’t the time to be worrying about things like that. I needed to get to the orphanage.
***
I walked through the front door to see Lila already there, talking to the receptionist as if they were old friends. I cocked my head to one side and regarded her curiously for a second, wondering just how involved with this charity she was. Maybe she volunteered here a lot, maybe she did a whole lot more than just the fundraiser. The idea made me respect her more.
Maybe that was something I needed to do more of. Maybe I needed to find more time to volunteer.
“Oh, hey.” Lila’s face lit up with happiness when she saw me. As a warm glow spread across her features, I found her even more attractive, dangerously so. How was I supposed to stick to my rule if she kept looking so damn gorgeous?
“Hi, how are you?”
I wanted to have a little chat with her, to see if I could figure out where her head was at, but before I could, Jo and the young girl from the fundraiser, Mia, joined me and pulled me into the other room. I felt the need to explain why Lila was with me, but as it turned out, I didn’t need to. Everyone knew her well, and no one seemed shocked by her presence.
The day started off as a tour of the home, which had transformed a lot since I was there. I could easily pick out the differences, the improvements, but I kept them to myself. Even though Jo knew I’d spent my childhood there, I didn’t want to reveal it to everyone else just yet.
Luckily, I didn’t have to, because before long Mia invited Lila and me to play what turned out to be the most competitive game of softball ever. I assumed that because it was all kids, it’d be fun and easy going, but boy was I wrong. My team ended up getting hammered by Lila’s, and she teased me relentlessly by it.
“How does it feel, being beaten by a woman?” Her eyes sparkled as she shoved me playfully, causing me to forgive her in a heartbeat.