All the Faint Lights

Chapter Four
“This one’s for you and me, living out our dreams. We’re all right where we should be. Lift my arms out wide, I open my eyes, and now all I wanna see. Is a sky full of lighters, a sky full of lighters,” I sang softly and then looked over towards Jake who was going to rap the next part.

I loved working with Jake; he knew my secret and didn’t judge me. He was funny and a great friend, he understood that I didn’t like the music I sang, but didn’t say anything; he was honest, sometimes brutally when it came to my singing.

I finished the song and then looked at Jake and pounded my fist with his and then looked towards my dad and O’Ryan to see one smiling but the other frowning, can you guess who the upset one was?

I sighed and then looked at my dad, “What now?”

“Do you even care about trying to make it?” he asked and I growled and shook my head.

“You’re unbelievable, you really are!” I yelled into the microphone and saw O’Ryan and Jake flinch and quickly take their headphones off, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Jake said and then I took the headphones off and placed them onto the hanger.

“Where are you going?!”

“You’re obviously not happy with anything I do, so I’m going,” I said and then walked out of the box.

“Caroline! Get back here! We’re not finished!”

“No dad! We are!” I yelled shaking my head and grabbing my things, “I’m so done with this, I don’t want to be a part of it anymore!”

“What?” dad asked confused and angry.

“Dad! You stress me out about something I don’t even care about! I want to do country music! Not this pop music!” I confessed and I looked over towards Jake to see that he was smirking.

“Excuse me?!” he asked and I scoffed and shook my head.

“Find yourself a new singer, her names Alana, she works at the store, she’s good,” I said and then looked towards O’Ryan, “Give her a try.”

“Caroline!” dad yelled as I walked up the stairs and headed out of the house, a smile on my face for finally confessing my feelings.

As I drove down the street, I called my sister and told her that I was going to give singing my songs a shot, because I didn’t want to do it before. I told her everything that happened and the said that she was going to meet me at the studio.

I pulled in front of RJ’s studio and found a parking spot down the street. I got out and jogged through the chilly October weather into the studio and smile when I saw my sister talking with my brothers.

“Proud of you!” Trisha smiled as she hugged me, “Are you ready for this? The band has been practicing in hope of you changing your mind.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that they have,” I said and Trisha, Asher and Gordon smiled, “No more sneaking around, it’s just country music now.”

“Hell yeah!” Asher said and then hugged me tight.

-Trisha-
“I’d love to know just what you’re thinkin’, every little river, runnin’ through your mind, you give and you take, you come and you go, you leave me here wonderin’ if I’ll ever know, how much you care or how much you don’t, whatever you need, whatever you want…”

Caroline, Asher, RJ and I were smiling as Gordon sang ‘Somebody’s Heartbreak’, a solo song that I specifically wrote for him because he had just gone through a rough breakup a few months ago. It’s been about three days since Caroline said that she wasn’t going to have anything to do with pop music and she was going to start singing her own songs, well, she did one of those things.

We’re still trying to get her to sing her songs, the band knows the music, we’re just waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to sing them, she thinks that they’re not good and they are.

“…Baby, baby, baby, be mine, all mine. If you’re gonna break someone’s heart, yeah. Might as well, might as well be mine,” Gordon sang and everyone clapped when he finished and placed his headphones on the microphone.

“All right, Gordon!” Caroline cheered and Asher swung his arm around her shoulder and laughed, “Let me go Ash!”

“You’re up, Linny! You gunna sing your song?” Asher asked and I sighed and shook my head.

“Come on guys, I don’t want to,” she whined and RJ sighed.

“Well we need to work on the demo again because SOMEONE spilled coffee on it,” he said as he glared at me.

“I said I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Don’t yell at me, I’m having a tough week!” I growled and Caroline looked at me.

“You still havin’ problems with that Neal situation?” Caroline asked and I nodded my head.

“I keep telling James just to let it go, but it’s making him upset,” I sighed and leaned against the wall.

“Poor baby, he was such an ass,” she muttered and I sighed and shook my head.

“He’s not normally like that, he apologized for that,” I said and she shook her head.

“Whatever,” she said and RJ snapped his fingers towards us.

“Less talk, more sing! Get that skinny ass into the box,” RJ said and I nodded my head and looked towards Caroline to see that she was heading towards the box, high fiving Gordon as he walked out and over towards us.

“Who’s James?” Asher asked.

“James Neal, one of my clients, he made a mistake and made a comment to the media and is paying the price for it,” I said and he nodded his head, “Feel bad for him, the one thing bad he does and he’s being treated like he’s always doing it.”

“What he do?” Gordon asked as he walked over.

“Called one of the Bruins’ defenseman a ball-less baboon,” I said and the guys smirked and shook their heads, “It’s not even bad!”

“And what are they saying about him?” Gordon asked.

“Just trash talking James, he’s a sensitive guy!” I said and the guys laughed, “He is!”

“I’m sure he is, he’s a millionaire pretty boy, I’m sure he’s ‘really’ sensitive,” Caroline said into the microphone and I waved her off.

“You just sing!” I yelled and she laughed and nodded her head towards RJ.

“Give her track five, RJ!” Asher said and he nodded his head.

-Caroline-
‘…Ok, ok, it was a left here, and then- no it was a right here…’ I thought and then looked back and forth at the hallways, wishing that there were signs around here, “Where the hell is the damn elevator?”

“You look lost,” I heard and then turned around to come face to face with James Neal.

“Hey, baboon boy!” I teased and he frowned and shook his head.

“Really?”

“Sorry, just slipped out,” I laughed, “I’m lost.”

“Obviously,” he smirked, “Have fun.”

“What? Come on!”

“I’m not the one who’s lost,” he said as he turned around and started to walk away, “This baboon boy is going to head up to his agent’s office.”

“Yeah, have fun ya jerk,” I muttered and started to walk down a hallway and then stopped, because I realized that Trisha was his agent, “Shit! Wait up!” I turned the corner and then ran right into his chest, “Ow!”

“Was wondering when you would figure it out,” he laughed and then turned around but I stopped and rubbed my nose, “What?”

I started to poke his chest and was a little surprised to find it like solid rock, “That explains why it hurt,” I muttered and then pushed him along.

“You’re the one who was poking me!” he said and I scoffed and walked past him, down the hallway, “Do you know where you’re going?!”

“Dammit,” I muttered and turned around and saw him smirking and leaning against the wall, “After you.”

“Oh please, ladies first,” he teased as he walked over towards me, his basketball shorts bouncing back and forth as he walked, his tight athletic shirt showing off all of his muscles. I looked away as he walked up to me, only to look back and see his hair sticking out of his backwards Penguins hat.

“Oh so now he’s a gentleman,” I said and James rolled his eyes.

“I’m trying to be,” he said and I nodded my head, following him to the elevator.

“Thanks, I can find my way from here,” I said and he stepped into the elevator, “Or not.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said that I needed to see her,” he said and I sighed and walked into the elevator, “Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you,” I said as I walked in and stood next to him, “You annoy the hell out of me.”

“Why? What did I do to you?”

“One thing bad happens to you and you act like it’s the end of your life,” I said, not even bothering to look at him, “You’re just a spoiled millionaire hockey playing brat.”

“Wow, tell me how you really feel?” he said, no humor in his voice, “Look, if this is about that comment I made to Trisha, I already apologized to her-“

“Wow, you’re so dense-“

“And you have no clue what you’re talking about! You don’t know hockey and you don’t know me, so stop assuming that you do!” he yelled and I snapped my head towards him.

“I might not know hockey, and I might not know you, but I know plenty of people that are just like you! You guys are all the same!”

“No one told you to try them all!” he yelled and my eyes widened and I shook my head.

“Not what I meant! I’m not a whore!” I yelled and shoved him into the wall, ‘…Wow, this conversation took a turn for the worst…’

The elevator door opened and I wanted to walk out, but my sister was standing there, looking a little surprised to see me, “Linny?”

“Here, wanted to give you this!” I growled as I reached into my purse and gave her the demo that RJ and I have been working on redoing for the past two days. I then shoved James out of the elevator, passed my sister, “Take this prick with you!”

I hit the lower floor button and watched as the doors closed and I headed down to the floor I was out and stomped passed some guys muttering about how much of an ass James Neal is and then stormed out of the arena.