Page 13 of Legendary Rock Star
I went to meet the woman with unnaturally red, almost orange, hair whose name tag said Wanda, and her sidekick, the bald man named Chris. He immediately said, “So let’s get you out of that black frock.”
Yeah, right. My hair stood on its ends and I said, “I’m good.”
He held out his hand like he wasn’t taking no for an answer and I complied.
Wanda’s face fell and she pressed her hand to her cheek like she’d just witnessed a car accident as she said, “No, you’re about twenty pounds heavier in the belly area than we hoped.” She reached behind her and said, “We’ll have to work with this, though.”
“Corset?” I asked as I took the thick black thing with strings from her.
Wanda walked around me and said, “Absolutely. It will create the figure we need for you and enhance your breasts at the same time.”
I didn’t move. I said, “I don’t know how to sing in a corset.”
Chris started combing my hair and directed me toward a chair while he said, “You’ll have twenty-four hours to figure it out.”
Wanda had a pink tape measure she must have pulled out of her back pocket and she wrapped it around my arms and thighs, stopping me from sitting. My insides churned at the idea of learning how to sing a new song, and how to sing at all with a corset, in such a short time. “Can’t I just pick out my own outfit?”
Wanda finished with her measurements and said, “You’ll never win if you don’t accept backstage help. The judges will assume you’re not listening.”
I took the seat for Chris to work on my hair and hoped my glance was like steel as I said, “Then I’ll need a practice corset to wear while I’m meeting with the band.”
An hour later, my hair was bigger than I’d ever worn it and my dress was soft around my wrists but tighter than ever around my waist.
Walking was more of a challenge than I’d expected. I wasn’t cute as I made my way off the set and toward the orchestra.
Phoenix was on the side, seated on the floor with the other contestants, and it seemed like everyone was sharing music together.
I must have missed the community bonding, not that it mattered.
I was here to win. So I passed out the composition I’d rewritten with Phoenix, ignored how my cells bloomed alive with awareness of his nearness, and tried to sing it through the first time.
I messed up a few of the lines. I needed to practice. But then Phoenix came on stage with a hot water for me and said, “You sound breathy.”
I sipped it and realized he’d added lemon. Sweet gestures shouldn’t matter, though. But I pressed my head into his shoulder for a moment as I said, “I’m trying here.”
He hugged me. I knew everyone was staring at us, and the longer I lingered the more people stopped to look. So I stood back and he massaged my shoulder like we were friends as he said, “Well, once you’re done, meet me for dinner. I’ll save you a seat.”
“Thanks, Phoenix.” I said and saw him return to sit with the other contestants.
This time, as I practiced, I ignored all the pains in my body. I’d master this corset by sleeping in it if I had to. I was in this to get a recording contract and a tour. Nothing, not even the lips of the most handsome man in the world, was going to stop me.
5
Phoenix
The last thingI needed was a hard-on for the world to see.
Attraction wasn’t supposed to steal my motivation.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Maggie, no matter what I tried, though I knew I needed to focus.
To get my mind off the short blonde, I’d rewritten every 1950s classic for all eight of the contestants remaining. Maggie had her pop song. I had my classic rock with a slight country edge. And I’d tossed out thetweet, tweet, tweetrefrain. Finnigan had his old school goth-rock version. Jane had her feminist rock sound. Wyatt and Rihanne had country versions of theirs. Sawyer had his hip hop and Joe went out with a power ballad.
None of the selected songs had kept their classic version.
Songwriting had always been rewarding to me, and my only way to get my voice out for the past few years.
Tonight, the world not only heard my vocals, it heard people performing my arrangements, and seemingly in every tune.
