Heart

If you told them at that moment that every single musician in the state of Pennsylvania was gone- swallowed up in the Sun or abducted by aliens or anything, they would have believed you.

It was that pathetic, the three of them sitting there half-dead, half-wishing they were dead, as they drew to the close of their auditions for a new lead singer and guitar player for their band, Invisible Luck. These were the moments when Austin Harrison hated his brother for ditching them and going to med school.

“Yeah… um… thanks… Tharg.” Rafi Goldwater, the band’s drummer, who was sitting on Austin’s right. Tharg nodded as the metal chains weaving in-between his long, filthy beard clanged together.

“Yeah, it was very… interesting.” Marco Novak, the bassist, said on Austin’s left, nodding slowly and unsurely.

Austin didn’t bother to say anything. He was too busy thumping his head on the table.

“We’ll call you.” Rafi said with an uneasy smile. Tharg nodded enthusiastically and exited the room. Marco slumped in his chair as Rafi ripped up his list of names and numbers.

“I give up.” Austin moaned.

“On what? Our chances of finding someone whose not tone-deaf or the likelihood of us removing this emotional scar from our minds?” Rafi asked.

“Neither. Both. Life in general.” Austin replied in between head bonks.

“How do you think his face stayed up?” Marco asked in slow disbelief. “Between the beard, the piercings, its amazing that his ears weren’t three feet long…”

“I can’t take another second of this, guys.” Rafi shook his head.

“Its alright, Rafi. Let’s just hope that... Seren Folgers... isn’t nearly as bad as… Tharg.” Marco said, reading from his list of names, and choking on the last word.

“There’s only one more.” Austin sighed. “Five more minutes of torture then we can all go home…”

But, Austin was wrong.

Walking up the stairs to the loft of Marco’s pop’s old guitar shop in polka-dot flats and a fitted We Came as Romans tee, was the answer to their prayers.

She would be the first girl to lead them.

She would be the first girl to find a new non-conformity in music.

She would be the first… everything.

They just didn’t know it yet.

“Morning, boys.” She said with a small grin as she entered the door.

“Hey.” Austin said, not looking up from his notebook. Marco looked at her strangely.

“Morning,” He said suspiciously. Austin, curious as to Marco’s tone, looked up.

“Umm, is Seren on his way up?”

The girl nodded her head not to say yes, but almost to show she understood what was going on.

“Maybe I should’ve introduced myself first… I’m Seren Folgers.” She said.

Rafi’s mouth dropped. Austin quickly turned to the flabbergasted Marco.

“You booked a girl into the auditions?” Austin hissed.

“How was I supposed to know Seren was a girl’s name!” He whispered back.

Austin smacked his friend’s arm, “still, we can’t have a girl audition!”

Rafi sat motionlessly while Austin sincerely worried whether or not his eyes were about to roll to the back of his head and he’d pass out.

Realizing that Seren was staring at them like they were all idiots, Austin cleared his throat and turned to her again.

“Look, um, we’re not entirely sure you fit the… qualifications… we have in mind.”

“Yeah… you see, we’re looking more for Adam Lazzara, not… Britney Spears.” Marco added.

Seren smiled, clicked her tongue, and rolled her eyes.

“I get it.” She started. “Trust me, I understand. This isn’t the first time I’ve come to a band that’s too… small minded to give someone like me a shot.”

She shot a glare in Austin’s direction. He felt his stomach sink.

“I’ll just be on my way,” She said with a smirk. “but believe me, when you can’t find someone else and are stuck with one of those simpletons I met downstairs, you’re going to wish you had given me a chance.” With that, she turned, and began to exit the room.

“Wait!” Rafi jumped, finally snapping back to reality just as Seren was half-way out the door. Marco and Austin turned to him, surprised. “The picks on top of the amp. Go for it.”

“That’s OK.” Seren said with a smile. “Always keep one in my pocket.” Satisfied, she strutted toward the amp and set up her guitar.

“What?” Marco and Austin hissed at the same time.

“She deserves a shot.” Rafi snapped.

“But its not like we’re honestly going to pick her.“

“Why not?” Rafi said as a reprimand to Austin’s childish sneer.

“Because sh-“

His tirade was cut off by a power chord erupting from the speakers of the Crate amp.

Seren’s fingers moved like a famous piano player and her voice was powerful enough so she didn't need a microphone. In spite of himself, Austin had to admit she was amazing. Shortly after this realization he scoffed. She was amazing. For a girl, that is. He turned with a look of you can't be serious to his bandmates.

Well, apparently they could be serious. They were absolutely mesmerized. Something inside Austin irked him… maybe he was the one not being serious.

Seren finished just as strongly as she begun. And set the guitar down with confidence.

It had to have been an interesting sight, between Rafi’s eyes totally bugging, the puddle of drool under Marco’s chin, and Austin’s gaping look of shock and frustration between the two of them. He was surprised Seren didn’t turn her heels and walk out on them just then.

“Well…” She said, cocking her eyebrow in curiosity.

“Oh, yeah, we-“

“We need a minute to discuss.” Austin interrupted Rafi just as he was about to say something completely insane.

“What are you doing?” He hissed as they huddled around the still brain dead Marco. “Do you realize exactly who you are about to let into our band?”

“Yes I do. An incredible guitarist and vocalist that can lead us toward everything we’ve always dreamed of.” Rafi replied. Marco finally snapped out of his trance and shook his head nervously.

“But… but… she’s a… you know… a she.”

“Look, that ‘she’ is our last chance. It’s her or Tharg.”

Austin and Marco shot nervous glances in each other’s direction. Tragedy smiled, “You’re in!” He exclaimed to Seren.

“Hold it!” Austin interrupted. “I think we all might be just a little tired. Maybe we should wait to make such a big decision when we’ve all had a good long time to think about it.”

Nobody said anything at first. Seren just looked at Austin long and hard. He felt like he was in high school again, being stared down by a teacher after breaking the rules.

“Can you guys give us a minute?” She said eventually, not removing her steel eyes from Austin’s freckled face. She didn’t need to ask them twice- Rafi and Marco were out of the room as quickly as possible, before a cat fight broke out.

Seren’s shoes tapped on the floor as she took two swaggered steps towards the table. “It’s Austin, right?” He nodded nervously. Once again, Seren didn’t speak for quite some time. Instead, she analyzed Austin- which made him feel terribly uncomfortable.

“Drop D.”

“Excuse me?”

“Drop D. That’s your favorite chord to play, right?”

“I, uhh-”

“Let me guess, you prefer Gibson to Fender, think John Lennon was a better Beatle then Paul McCartney, always say that your best class in high school was lunch when you secretly really liked psychology. Your favorite song is ‘Suck My Kiss’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers but your favorite band is Dashboard Confessional. You floss every day just like your mom taught you, but you do your laundry about once a month. And you played some sort of sport until you hit your ‘awkward years’ and switched over to music. I want to say... baseball?”

Austin’s mouth was hanging to the floor. “Soccer, actually...” Seren snapped her fingers.

“Damn. That was my second guess.”

“How- how-”

“How did I know all that?” She finished, shaking her head. “Like I said, I’ve met tons of guys like you. Old-fashioned and afraid of having some estrogen in their little jam session. You want to live out your ‘wildest dreams’ on the road with the boys and become the next Blink 182 or Green Day or whatever. You’re so blinded by the image you always pictured that you won’t open your eyes to what will really get you there. Me.” She smirked as Austin tried to let this all sink in. “And face it, you’re a little intimidated by me.”

This brought Austin back to the moment. “Me?” he scoffed. “Intimidated by you?”

“Yes.” Seren answered matter-of-factly. “A pretty girl comes in here and blows the roof off her audition and you’re trapped between reaching your dreams or keeping up some ridiculous, unspoken rule about not letting girls get their shot on stage.”

“Well, psh, aren’t we a little full of ourselves?” Austin put on his tough face, even though she was right again. She did rock that audition and, he had to admit, she was pretty. Short and spunky with straight and dark brown hair. Black eyeliner shaped her green cat-eyes. Even her smirk was beautiful.

Austin sighed. He couldn’t fight the truth. “Welcome to the band.”

Seren broke into a full smile now- making Austin feel something he didn’t expect. Relieved? Excited?

“You won’t regret this,” she said with intense honesty. For a moment, it looked like she was about to throw her arms around Austin and give him a giant hug. “I swear. What I lack in, well, let’s just say ‘tradition...’ I make up in heart.”