Page 70 of This Side of Beautiful

“Yep. Stop following the trend.” I started tuning my guitar.

Brian hit the drums in agreement.

“Fuck every last one of you,” Cedrick growled. “Can’t you see I’m trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle?”

We all stared at him for a long second before howling in laughter.

Cedrick bit back his grin. “Fine… fine… I’m done with pretending. I do love cheese way too much.”

I picked up my cell and texted Janae.

She responded,

I’m bringing back turkey burgers andfries for everyone. I’ll be back in time, beforelunch. We have too much work to do.

“She’s already on it,” I informed them. “Now, let’s run it.”

“Brian, play that violin again.” Cedrick squinted.

I smiled. “I know that look. You hear something.”

“For Janae’s song. We start with the violin.”

“I see it… then Santi comes with the trumpet. I can also blow the sax with him if we want more of a chorus sound,” I said.

Brian raised his hand in victory. “Number one.”

Cedrick beamed. “Nothing less.”

May 5

Del’s jaw would be sore by the end of the night. He’d grinned from the beginning of “Fallen Star” to the end. We replayed it five times at his request in the studio. Janae sat next to him, her leg shaking sporadically as we waited for his opinion of the song we’d stayed up all night to finish. We were so into the music that the cameras didn’t seem to faze the group and they didn’t bother me.

Janae asked anxiously, “What do you think?”

He clapped. “It’s a hit. You made the right decision to release independently again.”

Janae hugged Del while Cedrick and I dapped each other.

“The guys will drop the video and audio tomorrow. We already posted a hint on our social media,” Cedrick announced.

Del leaned back in his chair and looked at all of us. “Once this song hits, people are going to be asking for more appearances. Are you ready? Austin wants you. Next year, Jazz Fest in New Orleans is considering The Hollow Bones and Janae as a headliner.”

“We’re not a band,” Janae interjected. “This was just a way to get me back out there.”

“Well, it’s working.” Del shrugged.

Cedrick glanced at me before speaking. “Are you still selling us separately or as a combined band? Our album won’t feature Janae, and she’ll start working on her own stuff again soon, right?”

Del rubbed his hands. “Listen, I am trying to book you separately. Right now, everyone wants you both. We can spin it how we want. We can have a tour where we switch the headliners every night. One night, Janae closes. The next, The Hollow Bones.”

I sighed. “Except Hollow Bones will be on stage the whole time. No one wants to see Janae with any other band but us backing her.”

“Before everyone gets bent out of shape, let the song hit and tour more as a team. Grow your fanbase, and next year, you can tour separately. By then, Hollow Bones will have dropped album number two, and Janae will be signed with a label and done or almost done with album number four.” Del searched our faces again. “It’s a win-win, and it seems like you gel well. Am I wrong?”

Cedrick answered first. “We gel. Just don’t want our brand to change where we’re Janae and The Hollow Bones.”

“I don’t want that either, and I mean that respectfully.” Janae squeezed the hand of Brian, who stood nearest her.

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