Page 18 of Uriah's Orbit
Turning my head, I cracked my eyes open and looked stage left. There were four people standing there, staring at me. Glancing stage right there were a half dozen people there, the same shocked look on their faces.
I looked back to stage left, and saw Uriah drop his arms from their fold. “Fuck me.” He marched off the stage. I looked at the people on stage right.
“Did I suck it up?” I asked.
A young black woman stepped forward and walked toward me. “That was so not sucky I think it erased at least two bad performances, probably more.”
“It was okay?”
“Okay?” Another young woman choked, walking forward with the first one. “Okay. Jayne, he’s going to make us look like complete amateurs up there.”
“How can Austin Lowell sing like that?” the first asked.
I smirked. “They wouldn’t let me sing like that before this album. We fired the producer, and just wait until you hear the new album.”
The woman held her hand out. “Jayne Hillman, Aida.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I answered. “Austin Lowell, Radames.”
“I’ll say,” the other woman said. “Yvette Tomo, Amneris.”
Bill walked out from behind everyone on stage right. “Now do all you twits believe me that this guy can sing? Can we stop hazing him and get to block and rehearsals?”
Uriah
“I’m telling you,I had no—and I meanno idea—that the guy could really sing.” I sighed and sank into the couch.
“Is my house now the official hang out spot?” Chase screamed from upstairs.
“You have a multimillion dollar baby penthouse,” Maddox screamed back. “Of course it is!”
“Then buy your own fucking beer!”
Marcus leaned in. “I’m buying him a kegerator for his birthday next month. You can all chip in for the kegs after that.”
“Nice.” Jace nodded.
“Hello? Could we please deal with my issue here? I found out Candy-pop man can actually sing!”
Maddox threw a pillow at me. “Do you think that you can have six albums, with a seventh dropping in two weeks, if you can’t sing?”
“Autotune!” I barked at him.
“No, dude. You can’t autotune live performance. And they all actually sing on stage,” Maddox said. “I’ve seen them. I chased their tour for a few cities last time and they genuinely sing on stage. There’s no lipsyncing with them. They are actually talented.”
“Great,” I said. “So he’s not only hot, he can sing.”
“He, and the other guys are friends. They like making music together. I know that a lot of boy bands disappear after three or four albums but those five just hit it off and are real friends. And they’re all talented, clearly.”
“Don’t tell me that!” I groaned.
“Why?”
“Because Candy-pop is not only able to sing, he’sreally hotin person. And now you’re telling me he’s genuine? I’m going to die.”
Marcus walked out of the kitchen. “I heard the new album. I helped mix it.”
Maddox, Jace, Noah, and I all turned to him. “What?” we chorused.
