Hold Fast

The time for the meeting finally came and we made our way across town to the building. When we got there, I was pretty surprised by the sheer size of the place. It must have been at least twenty-five storied high if not more. If we weren’t intimidated before, at least I was now.
We walked into the building and I stepped up to the receptionist. She asked who I had an appointment with and then checked the books. She told me that it would be just a few minutes before someone could come to show us to the meeting hall. While we waited, we sat in the lounge area.
As we sat there waiting, Kellin reached over and gripped my hand in his. I turned to him and he was talking to Mike about something. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my breathing. It wasn’t long before a young woman walked up to us. I stood up, ready to greet her.
“Hello, you must be Pierce The Veil.” She said, glancing down at her clipboard and offering her hand. I reached over and shook it firmly.
“Yes, I’m Vic, nice to meet you.”
“Sarah.” She smiled. “Now if you guys will please follow me.” The rest of the guys stood and we followed her to an elevator. With the six of us inside, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. Luckily we were all a bunch of skinny ass kids. She pressed the 12th floor and we began our accent towards the floor.
The elevator stopped and Sarah led us down a long hallway and left us in a meeting room. We sat around the far end of the table awkwardly. None of us said anything and we all just stared at each other.
“Anyone else feel like we’re in trouble, or just me?” Jaime asked as he tapped his fingers against the table lightly.
“No, I feel that way too.” Tony agreed.
“Well there’s no need to feel in trouble gentleman.” We all snapped our head in the direction of a male voice. The voice belonged to a tall white male dressed in what looked like a very expensive light gray suit. His hair was combed to one side and he had a Bluetooth headset in his left ear. In total, he looked the part. “My name is Jason and I’m going to be your agent.” He walked over and shook our hands.
“I’m Vic, this is Mike, Jaime, Tony, and our friend Kellin.” I introduced us to him as he took his seat.
“Nice to meet you all.” He pulled out a briefcase and began setting up some paperwork. “So today I just wanted to talk with you guys about the possibility of signing you to our label. So we’re going to go over some basic questions and really get to know you and what your goals are.” We nodded along with what he was saying and the questions began.

We must have been there for a few hours just talking. He asked really detailed questions about our music and what we were passionate about. He spent a long time talking to each of us about our places in the group. He even spent some time getting to know Kellin and how his relationship with the band aided in our process. By the time we were finished, the sun had set and it was fairly late in the evening.
Jason stood and stretched a little before putting away his notes. He then walked over and shook our hands again.
“I really appreciate you guys taking the time to come all the way here. I’m going to have a meeting with some other people in the company and you’ll be getting a phone call from me within a few days.” He led us down the hallway towards the elevators. “Enjoy the rest of your stay here and have a safe trip home.” We thanked him before heading out.
“That was the single scariest moment of my life.” Tony breathed, leaning against Mike.
“Yeah, I was pretty sure my brain was going to explode if I had to answer one more question about bass mechanics.” Jaime agreed. We all chuckled as the door opened at the ground level.
“I was surprised by how much he asked me.” Kellin stated as he slipped his hand into mine.
“Well, you’re an important member of this group Kellin. And so are Jack and the rest of the guys.” I kissed his forehead. “We need to make sure we call them tonight.”
“So where are we going for dinner?” Mike asked as we walked out of the building.
“I saw this really nice Japanese place that was close to the hotel. Anyone up for sushi?” Jaime suggested.
“Yeah I could go for some fish right now.” I laughed. We hailed a cab and headed for the restaurant. The place was called Masato’s and it looked really traditional. The lady at the front looked rather surprised to see five teenage boys come in alone because she seated us in our own private room. She made us take our shoes off before walking inside and then took our drink orders.
I had to admit that the room was really nice, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we had been put back here to be separated from the rest of the guests. Not that I was going to complain about it though. Once the waitress took our drink orders, we were left alone again.
“Anyone feel out casted?” Kellin whispered calmly.
“Can you really blame them?” Jaime answered. “I mean what would you do if five teenage boys in skinny jeans and band tees should up in your restaurant?”
“I would welcome them warmly.” Kellin stated matter-of-factly. I just chuckled and patted his leg.
“This is why I love you, Kellin.” He smiled warmly at me, leaning over, kissing my cheek. He backed away as the door slid open and our waitress returned with our drinks. She went around and took our orders before quietly leaving again.
“So what do you think the label is going to say?” Mike asked, taking a drink from his tea.
“Do we have to talk about this now?” Tony complained.
“Yeah Mike, I mean we just left the place less than twenty minutes ago.” I added. “I think I’ll puke from the anticipation if we talk about it now.” I took a long drink from my soda and set the glass back on the table. The waitress came back and set our food on the table in front of us.
The majority of our time in the restaurant was spent talking about what we wanted to do on our remaining day here in LA. The more time we spent talking about it, the more I was convinced that I wanted to live here in California one day. There were so many things about this state that were so much better than Colorado. The weather was probably my favorite part of California. The only thing that needed to be thought about now was convincing the others to come with me. Maybe even Kellin would want to come with me.