Page 10 of Legendary Rock Star
My mother chimed in. “What were you doing?”
“Singing. I went to a studio and sang.”
“That’s it?” my father asked.
I nodded and met my mom’s brown eyes as I said, “There was no time for anything else. Seriously.”
I knew I had my father’s features and my mom’s slightly plump body. She’d made me one too many cherry pies from scratch.
Most of my friends’ moms reheated last night’s take-out dinner when they dined at home. My family was strange to them, as we ate most of our meals at home and my mom and I cooked while my dad prepared passages he’d read at church during his sermon. My mother picked up her fork as she stared at me. “You seem different, though.”
We ate the last meal she’d brought to L.A. for us and it made my mouth water for the last time. How she kept the French toast fresh was a mystery she’d never reveal.
As I stood, I said, “I’m going to win and hopefully move here permanently.”
“You don’t have to.”
“L.A. and New York are the places I need to be.”
My father kissed my forehead and said, “We’ll figure it out later. And we’ll be in the audience when we can.”
They didn’t want to hear me. I’d argue later.
“Well, this is it,” I said and trembled a little. This was the first time in my life I’d not see them every night to talk about my day.
Yes, I’d gone to college, where all my friends had that experience. But I’d lived at home and commuted to continue my music classes.
And now I had my chance. I wasn’t going to blow away my dream of winning the competition. I hugged my parents and didn’t want to let go.
When I finally did, my dad said, “Last night you were beautiful and you sang like an angel.”
“Thanks.” I hugged them one more time and picked up my bag.
Once I slipped out and headed down the stairs toward a car with my name on it, I realized this was it. This was my dream.
And yeah, I probably should be tired, but I wasn’t. Still, last night had to be a one-night-only thing.
Phoenix and I were not destined to be. My destiny was to star on my own stage.
And I as I headed into camp, my head up, and I found my sleeping area, I believed I was in total control.
But then I saw Phoenix reading some papers. His dimples deepened when he glanced up at me, and he winked when he said, “Tonight we practice and tomorrow we film again.”
Goosebumps grew. I knew this was a test, but I sat down beside him and saw he was writing notes for a song I didn’t recognize. Was it a new song? I didn’t ask. Instead I said, “I’m slightly terrified.”
He turned toward me and his brown eyes melted me inside a little bit as he said, “This is for sweeps, so they only have eight weeks to film. This ends faster than you can imagine.”
Fast wasn’t good. It meant I needed to be hyper-focused on more than his lips, or how his kiss lingered on my lips. I wasn’t his second chance with a good girl. I was here to win. I jumped out of my seat and said, “Good luck, Phoenix.”
He put the papers down and stood, grabbing my hand. My pulse quickened when he said, “Wait. I got a text from my agent.”
His agent was well known as one of the best. I raised my eyebrows and asked, “Yeah?”
He glanced around, then took out his phone from his back pocket. “He asked for your information, for you to sign a release. Can you text it to him?”
Maybe last night was a big mistake. My thoughts went back to singing with Phoenix, to kissing him … No. I needed to stop my imagination before I found myself wondering about his naked body.
Steam must have been coming out of my ears. But I took his phone and texted as I said, “Sure. So he liked our songs?”
