Falling with Every Step

Mary Jane Carter signed the dotted line that officially made her a part of the Decaydance family. She finally had her first record deal, and it was all thanks to Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz.

“Welcome aboard, MJ,” Pete told her as they both stood up and he reached over to shake her hand.

“Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. I will not let you down,” Mary Jane told him.

“Hey, you better thank Ashlee. Without her, I never would have heard any of your music,” Pete said.

Mary Jane turned around to look at Ashlee. Before Ashlee had married Pete, she had lived in the apartment next to Mary Jane. Ashlee had fast become friends with Mary Jane and soon heard Mary Jane’s music. Ashlee couldn’t believe that she hadn’t been signed, and passed a demo on to Pete. Pete, in return, immediately met Mary Jane, listened to her play live, and now she was signing a record deal with his label.

“Thank you so much, Ash,” Mary Jane said walking over and hugging her.

“Hey, what are friends for? Besides, you totally deserve this!” Ashlee exclaimed.

“Okay, back to business,” Pete interrupted. “I want to start recording as soon as possible. I’ve heard some of your songs, and their amazing. I don’t think you’re going to have to make too many adjustments to them. Maybe some here and there. But, I was hoping to have you work with Patrick. You know, have him produce your record.”

Mary Jane nodded her head as she listed to what Pete had to say. She couldn’t believe how fast everything was going. Just a few months ago, she had been sitting in her apartment wishing someone would hear her sing and offer her a record deal. And now, she was sitting with Pete Wentz talking about Patrick Stump producing her first record!

“And I’m hoping you can do a couple of collaborations. We might have you do a song with Fall Out Boy and one of the other bands, too. But we’ll talk about that later.”

“Okay,” Mary Jane said, not knowing what else to say.

“And what we’re really shooting for is for you to join us on tour in a couple of months.”

“What?” Mary Jane said. Did Pete really just say he wanted her to go on tour with them?

“Well, we’re doing a tour for Decaydance’s five year anniversary. Most of the bands signed with us are going to be going on it. If everything goes right, you’ll be going with us. That is okay, right, MJ?” Pete asked.

“Of course!” Mary Jane yelled. “Sorry,” she said quieter, when she realized how loud she had been.

Pete and Ashlee laughed in response. “Good,” he said. “Now, let’s go talk to Patrick about this record, huh?”

“Yeah,” Mary Jane said following Pete out the door. Her life was in for a big change.