Only In It For A Minute

“So you think I should take it?”

“Of course, I think it would be amazing opportunity for you and they obviously think you can do it,” John reassured me. “Plus, speaking from personal experience, you need to go out and see the world and not just get stuck in one place. If they’re offering LA now, who knows where else this could take you.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he said through the phone.

“For caring,” I told him. It was the first day of tour for him and he was taking the time out after their set to talk to me on the phone, when he could have easily shrugged it off until the next day.

“Of course I care, you’re my girlfriend,” he said, and I smiled. “Anyway, I’m really sorry but I’ve got to go, it’s time to load out and the guys need my help.”

“OK, thanks for calling, I know it’s probably cost you a lot.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’d call you everyday if I had to,” he told me. “Bye baby.”

“Bye,” I said as he hung up.

It was nearly 8am and I needed to leave at 10.30 so I got up and grabbed some breakfast. Lucy was already up and dressed to go to the internship she had at our local publishing company. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but as she kept saying ‘it was a step in the right direction’. Meanwhile, Lizzie was still in bed since she only worked part time as a sales assistant in Topshop. I finished my breakfast and went straight in the shower, before getting dressed and drying my hair. I straightened it a bit before putting on a little foundation, mascara and lipgloss. I didn’t dress quite as smart this time but I still wanted to make a good impression.

Not long later I was back on the train into Paddington and then on the tube to Piccadilly. As I got to Raw Power’s building, I pressed the buzzer at the door and waited to be let in.

“Hello welcome to Raw Power Management,” the woman behind the reception desk said.

“Hi, my name’s Natasha Barratt, I’m here to see Mike King,” I told her.

“OK, just take a seat and I’ll let him know you’re here.”

A few minutes later, I heard a few familiar voices coming into the reception area. I looked up and smiled as I realised it was the boys from You Me At Six.

“Tash? What are you doing here?” Max asked walking over to me.

“Erm, I’ve got a job here, well not here but with Raw Power,” I told him.

“What do you mean here but not here?” Matt asked.

“Well, it’s going to be in LA but I’ll be working for Raw Power,” I told them.

“That’s amazing! Please tell me you’re be working for us?” Max asked.

“I have no idea! I literally got the job yesterday.”

“Well, that’s great, congratulations Tash,” Josh said, giving me a hug, which followed with them all giving me a hug.

“Natasha?” Mike said, as he walked in.

“Hi, sorry,” I said, beginning to walk towards him, before turning back. “See you guys.”

“Bye Tash,” they chorused.

“So, I see you already know one of our clients,” Mike said as we got comfortable at his desk.

“Yes, You Me At Six are old friends of mine now,” I told him.

“I see,” he said, looking through his desk. “Ah here we go,” he said, holding out some papers to me. “If you could just read through these and fill them out appropriately. These are just so we can get your information into our staff database.”

It was all simple stuff, name, date of birth, address etc. Then he handed another pile of papers.

“These are for your working visa application. Because you already have a job and have us backing you, it will already be easier for you to get the visa, but you still need to fill these out, the sooner the better, but you can take these home and fill them out,” he told me.

I looked at the forms and noticed there were quite a lot of questions to work through, but I put them in my bag as Mike continued to talk.

“Next I want to talk about when you’ll be starting,” he said. “I’ve got to ask, do you have to give notice to any current job?”

“No.”

“OK, good. We’ve got here that you’ll be starting on the 1st December, do you have any problems with this?”

“Not at all, that would be fine,” I smiled.

“Finally, there is of course the matter of your living situation,” he said. “Do you know what you want to do?”

“Well, I haven’t really had a chance to think about it,” I told him. “But a house share or finding a room mate would probably be best since I don’t know the area or anything.”

“I don’t know if you would be interested, but we have three other people going over with you, two males and one female, who will also be looking for somewhere to live, if you wanted to share with them?”

“That would be ideal,” I said. He agreed to pass my contact information on to them when he met with them so we could possibly sort something out.

That was my biggest fear of all this, actually moving there. The job itself was something I knew I’d love to do so it didn’t seem so scary to me, but to live in a whole new country was a strange thought. I would be starting completely over. So at least if I wasn’t living alone and instead with people who were in the exact same situation I was then it would make it a bit easier.

After about 40 minutes, I was finished talking with Mike and out of the building and on my way home.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Lizzie asked, as she walked over to where I was sat at the dining table on my laptop.

“Trying to find somewhere to live,” I told her.

“If I’m horrible company, you only have to say, Tash. You don’t need to move out,” she laughed, sitting down next to me.

“It’s for somewhere to live in LA,” I said. “But now you mention it, are you and Lucy going to be alright when I move out?”

“Yeah I think we’ll cope,” she smiled. “This suddenly feels more real doesn’t it.”

“It does,” I sighed. “I’m going to miss you guys so much.”

“It’s been us three against the world for three years now,” she said. “Did they tell you when you’re leaving?”

“Well I start in the office on the 1st of December and I want to be there for a few days first,” I said. “And John’s got his tour over here so I guess I’ll go over after that.”

“When are they here?”

“7th until the 22nd of November, which would give me a week in LA to get settled.”

“But that means we’ve only got five full weeks left together,” she said pouting.

“I know, just means we’ll have to make the most of them.”

“Starting tonight!” she suddenly perked up. “Let’s go out and celebrate your new job properly,” she said, jumping up and grabbing her phone. “And I don’t just mean a night at Facebar like usual.”

“Yes! Let’s get everyone out! But how about we don’t go quite as heavy as last week!” I laughed. I gave up apartment hunting and began to plan our night out instead.