Let the Flames Begin

It took a while for the auditions to be over. It felt like forever actually. I sat lazily in my chair, leaning back and hanging my head over the back of the chair, closing my eyes briefly. I knew I didn’t belong there. Every other goddamn person in the room knew that I shouldn’t be there. And yet I was. Waiting around for an interview I’d never even planned on participating in. The whole thing had been a total fluke.

When the auditions were finally over, the few of us that remained we called out individually for an interview in an area backstage. Everyone got called before me, and I was starting to think they maybe they knew. Knew that not only was I not a world-class musician, I was just a kid living on the streets. I wasn’t worthy.

When they finally did call me backstage, I slung my guitar over my shoulder and walked slowly, taking my sweet-ass time to get there. I was ushered into a small room backstage by Jeremy, who was being over-friendly it seemed, and I sat down at a table across from the band members, putting my guitar on the ground beside me.

“So...” Jeremy trailed off, breaking the stiff silence. I placed my hands flat on the table and leant back in my chair, looking at Jeremy.

“Full name?” Hayley asked briskly.

“Ryder Lewis,” I replied.

“Nicknames?” Jeremy cut in.

“Nope,” I said, staring back at him. He smiled and shrugged.

“How long have you been playing guitar?” Taylor asked quietly.

“A year or so,” I guessed, trying to think back to when I’d got the guitar.

“Really?” Taylor almost choked on his drink. “Seriously?” he asked me.

“Uh, yeah,” I said awkwardly.

“Who was your teacher?”

“Never had one. Self-taught and all that,” I said, a slow smile spreading across my face. Taylor raised his eyebrows and looked impressed. As did Hayley and Jeremy. Hayley started rifling through papers and Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, what kind of music do you listen to?” Jeremy asked me now, eyeing my coke-stained shirt.

“Nirvana is my favourite band,” I said. “I also love The Beatles, The Strokes. A bit of everything, really. Good music is good music, you know?”

“Totally,” Jeremy agreed, his smile growing wider. What was it with this guy? Jeez.

“Your name isn’t on the audition list...” Hayley trailed off, looking down at the papers in her hands, her brow furrowing. Shit. I should’ve known they’d catch me out. Probably a good thing, too. I didn’t have much of a chance in Paramore, for God’s sake.

“I tried to tell Jeremy before, I was kinda pushed into the audition room by mistake. I was just passing by, accidently smashed into a security guy on my skateboard and the rest as they say is...”

“History,” Taylor finished for me, a small smile present on his features.

“You were...” Hayley said hesitantly. “I’ve never seen someone play guitar like you. I can’t believe you’ve only been playing a year and you had no teacher! It’s just when you play, I just don’t know how to explain it...it’s like...”

“Like you and the guitar are one being,” Taylor finished for her, a light blush working its way across his cheeks. I smiled and thanked them. They continued with questioning about my home life (I ‘lived alone’), my current job (‘delivery person’ i.e. – thief) and where I lived (downtown Franklin i.e. – under the nearest bridge). There was no way of avoiding their deep questioning and coming up with answers on the spot had definitely been challenging. At the end of the interview, they all shook my hand.

“Do you have a phone number we could reach you on?” Hayley asked after a moment.

“Uh, no,” I said. There was no way I could afford a cell phone. Hell, I could hardly afford a can of coke. Hence, the thievery. Dog eat dog world and all that.

“How will we contact you to tell you if you’re in the band or not?” Jeremy asked me.

“Well, you know, it’s a small town. I guess I’ll see you around,” I said with a smile, before high-tailing it out of there. There was no way I was going to stick around for further questioning. Plus, I still had to catch up with Robbie, wherever she was.

Once out of the venue, I ran straight for the park, where I was sure to find Robbie. The poor girl was only sixteen. Her parents had died and her older brother had bailed on her, leaving her living on the streets all alone. I’d been quick to somewhat ‘adopt’ her and show her the ropes of street living. She’d had no friends to turn to, just like me. She had no one.

We were together because of the one common thing we shared – we were both alone on the world. Life had chewed us up and spat us out. We’d been through the worst of it, but we were still going. I found her sitting on a bench, her hands stuffed into her pockets.

“Hey,” I said when I reached her. “Where’ve you been all morning?”

“Hey Ryder,” she said, looking up at me. “I was hanging around hostels, seeing if they had any extra places.”

“Any luck?” I asked, taking a seat next to her.

“None,” she replied glumly, staring at the pigeons in front of us.

“Oh, well,” I sighed, getting up and holding my hand out for her. She took her hand out of her pocket and grabbed mine, and I pulled her up off the bench.

“Where are we going?” She asked as I led the way out of the park.

“You know, the usual,” I said with a wink, heading for the mall. We set up in the busiest part of the mall. I got my guitar out of it’s case and sat down, slinging it across my lap. Robbie set up my empty guitar case in front of us and I began to play.

Busking was the only way we earned any sort of an income, but it was nowhere near enough to support two people. I usually skipped meals or stole stuff to keep Robbie going. We’d been together two years now, and she was like the sister I never had. Course, I’d been out on my own from around her age as well. I knew how hard it could be. Going through your teenage years was hard enough, but being a homeless teen with nobody to rely on? It was near impossible. I would know.

I’d had a home once. And a mother. When I was fifteen, I came ‘home’ (a crappy two bedroom apartment) and my mother had gone AWOL. Left without ever leaving any sort of clue as to where she was going. She was probably so doped up she didn’t even know who she was, let alone that she had a daughter.

I lived in the crappy apartment on my own for a while, but couldn’t keep up with the rent. I was a minor, and therefore should’ve been put into a foster home or whatever, but no one had any idea. I forged a note from my mother and dropped out of school. I’d been the way I was now ever since.

By the end of the busking session, Robbie and I had made a total of fifteen dollars twenty. I played and Robbie sang – she had an amazing voice, so pretty. We picked our stuff up and headed straight for a goodwill store where we bought a new jacket for Robbie and a new shirt for me. We used the rest of the money to buy a cheap meal for dinner, before making our way back to the park. Robbie had been telling me about a new spot she’d found, that was far more secluded and safer than our usual bridge spot.

We walked through the park until we came to the thick group of trees that lined it. Robbie walked straight through them and I followed behind, impressed by her growing confidence. We walked on for another ten or so minutes until we reached a small clearing.

“Nice,” I said to Robbie, who’d moved our few belongings there and set up a make-shift shelter using fallen branches. The one thin, foam mattress we owned between us was under the shelter, the crappy sleeping bag spread out on top. We both crammed in under the shelter, Robbie taking the mattress as usual, sharing the unzipped sleeping bag with me.

“I feel like we’re on survivor or something,” I said with a smile and Robbie laughed. “We’d show all those losers how to live,” she said. “They don’t know the first thing about surviving!”

“Damn straight, they don’t,” I laughed, leaning my head back. I pulled the sleeping bag closer to me and rolled onto my side to face Robbie. “You wanna know something weird?” I asked her. “Sure,” she replied easily, her brown eyes staring into mine.

“I met Paramore today,” I said. Robbie’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you serious?” She said excitedly. Paramore was her ‘favourite band ever!’ – direct quote. I laughed and took her hand. “Yeah. They’re all actually quite nice.”

“How’d you get to meet them?” Robbie asked me.

“It’s a funny story...” I said, before telling Robbie everything.

“Do you think you’ll see them again?”

“I don’t know,” I said, closing my eyes.

“It sounds like Jeremy has a thing for you,” Robbie said with a giggle. I laughed and rolled over to lay on my back, staring up at the sky through the gaps in the shelter Robbie had made.

“Do you like him?” Robbie asked me after a moment.

“Who? Jeremy?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure, he’s a nice guy and everything...” I trailed off.

“Ryder...”

“No, not like that. Taylor was kind of cute, though,” I said, turning my face to look at her again. She was, predictably, grinning from ear to ear.

“What?”

“Look at you, hanging out with all the celebrities. Imagine if you got in the band! That would be so cool!” Robbie exclaimed.

“Unlikely, Robbie,” I told her.

“Hey, you made it through to the interview, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but I have no phone number or home address. I’m a little hard to track down.”

“You never know, Ryder. It is a small town.”