Lost in Paradise

My nerves almost got the better of me as I walked through the doors into the auditorium. I mean, it was Gustavo Rocque; one of the biggest producers in the music industry today. The last thing I wanted to do was make a fool out of myself.

Luckily, I didn’t get the chance to.

The song I had chosen to sing was “World Around Me” by Escape the Fate; one of my favorite ballads. I had only gotten a few lyrics in when he stopped me. “Next!” he practically screamed.

I was floored. “Next? You’ve barely heard me at all!” I exclaimed. “At least listen a few more minutes before sending me off,” I argued.

“Why would I listen to any more of this? You have NO TALENT! Get out of here!” he exclaimed, and security was at my side in an instant. I huffed, trying not to cry, and headed back out to join the guys in the lobby.

When I got through the doors they all started shouting excitedly, until they saw my face; I had let the tears start falling. “What happened?” Kendall asked, pulling me into a hug as James continued to freak out in his chair.

I sniffled and lifted my head to look at all of them. “He barely listened to me at all. I got out three words and he said I had no talent!” I sobbed, burying my face back into Kendall’s chest. Then the assistant came out and called James’s number. He stood up, gave me a big hug and a kiss on the head, and headed through the doors.

The remaining four of us snuck through another set of doors, so we could listen to James’s audition.

The exact same thing that happened to me, happened to him. Gustavo stopped him after only a few seconds and said he had no talent.

That was when Kendall went ballistic. “No talent!?” he exclaimed, going up to the front of the room. “You haven’t had a hit in ten years! I got a hit for you!” Then he started singing a made-up song, calling Gustavo a giant turd, and getting up on the table and kicking papers and stuff around. Eventually security came to get him, and that was when Carlos decided to help. He ran down and jumped on the security guards.

Then Logan groaned, and decided to try and help as well, and I was left all alone in the seats. “Oh, fuck it,” I said, running down and getting in on the party.

Eventually it all got sorted out, and we were all escorted back to Kendall’s house by the police. Needless to say, we were in a bit of trouble. But, once we explained that we were trying to make mine and James’s dreams come true, we were pretty much off the hook. We just spent the rest of the night chilling and watching television.

Until there was a knock on the door. And Gustavo Rocque was on the other side.

He came in and talked to Mrs. Knight about bringing Kendall the LA to record some demoes. Kendall. Not me, not James, KENDALL. The one that wanted to sing the least. So, obviously, he turned Gustavo down, and he left fuming. To say that James and I were pissed was an understatement. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?” we both shouted at the same time. Kendall’s mom gave us a look for our language, but we didn’t care. “This was your one chance to make it big in Hollywood and be famous, and you just threw it down the shitter!” I seethed. Carlos

“I’m not the one that wants to be a singer! That’s your dream!” he exclaimed, pointing at the two of us. “I would have said yes if it had anything to do with the two of you. I won’t do it without you guys,” he continued as I stood up and pulled my coat on. “Where are you going?” Kendall asked as I walked to the door.

As I turned back to face him, I saw James stand up and join me at the door. “We’re going home,” I said simply, looking back at his mom. “Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Knight. I’ll see you at work tomorrow, Kendall,” I said before giving the guys one final glance and walking out the door, James quick on my tail; he was going to spend the night at my house.

“You okay?” James asked once we were in my car and headed back to my house. “I thought for sure you were going to explode or something earlier.” I just ignored him and turned on the radio, starting my favorite CD from my favorite band, Black Veil Brides. James turned it down right away and turned as best he could to face me. “Come on, talk to me,” he pleaded. “We all know you have a problem with keeping everything bottled up inside.

I turned the volume down more and sighed. “What do you want me to say, James?” I huffed, trying to stay calm. “That it should have been us? Is that what you want me to say? Huh? Don’t get me wrong, Kendall is an amazing singer, he really is. He’s throwing away a once in a lifetime opportunity! He could be great and super famous, and he doesn’t even care!” I cried, pulling into my house’s driveway. We just sat there in silence for a few moments after I turned the car off. Then I saw someone running up to the house, and remembered that Carlos was also spending the night. “Come on,” I said, turning back to James, “I wrote a new song, and I want you to hear it,” I finished, getting out of the car, waiting for Carlos to catch his breath, and heading into the house. When Carlos got to us, he turned around and let me jump on his back like he always did.

When we got into the house we went straight down to the basement, which was also my bedroom. Yes, my bedroom was in the basement, but I wasn’t complaining. When we got there, Carlos backed up to my bed, and I dropped down onto it. “Thanks Carlos,” I giggled as I bounced. “Now,” I said, clapping and rubbing my hands together, “I want you guys to hear the new song that I wrote,” I continued as I stood up and went over to my keyboard. That was another reason why my room was the basement; because of my always playing around with music and my parents getting tired of hearing it all the time. “It’s called Fix Me,” I said as I sat down on my little bench and started to play.

When I was done, the guys were quiet for a little bit. “So? What do you think?” I asked nervously. I really liked this song and was really proud of it.

After a few more seconds Carlos was the first to speak. “I can’t believe Gustavo said you had no talent. That song was amazing!” he said happily. James agreed silently by nodding. But what was weird was the fact that James couldn’t look me in the eyes; he just kept staring at the keyboard or anywhere but my face.

I just brushed that off and we went about the rest of our night, talking and watching movies almost all night.