Right Here in My Arms

“Excuse me... Are you Rowan Brooks?”

I looked up as I heard my name from an unfamiliar voice. I looked at the tall and skinny man who stood by my table and examined him. He had short curly brown hair that was covered with a black beanie and his bright green eyes were rimmed with thick black liner. He wore a Black Sabbath t-shirt with a pair of black jeans and black shoes. I stared up at him and slightly nodded, “Yes, I am. You must be Mr. Valo.”

“Why yes, that’s me,” he tried to charm me with a smile.

I nodded and looked down at the watch the rested on my right wrist. “Right... Well, you’re almost half an hour later,” I informed, looking back up at him.

The smiled slowly disappeared from his face and he nodded once, “Right... Uhm, I’m really sorry about that.” He took the seat across from me and set his elbows on the tables and rested his chin in his palms, “Have you ordered your lunch yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet,” I replied.

He smiled and called the waiter over and immediately ordered his food and I mine.

“I was beginning to think you were going to show up,” I mumbled after the waiter left.

“Haha, right... Sorry, again. Well, let’s go on with this,” he replied.

I smiled and nodded at him, “Right, well. Clearly the record company is interested in you and your music. The producers that work there think you guys are very talented and they’d definitely like to sign you if you are interested as well.”

He smiled and nodded, “Well, maybe I am... Maybe I’m not.”

I smiled at him, slightly annoyed by his sense of cockiness, but shrugged it off. “Right, well. As you probably know... uhm... Soulless Productions has signed major bands and can offer you a lot of you do decide to take the offer,” I mentioned

He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit a cigarette, placing the pack on the table. “Yeah? What can you offer my band and I?”

I stopped and stared at the cigarette that he let barely dangle from his lips. The smoke swirled around his face until the wind picked up slightly, blowing the smoke into my face. I coughed and waved the smoked out of my face. “Well, I’ve just gotten onto this label, so that’s the downside to talking to me about this, but there’s a lot of promotion involved and we get you noticed pretty quick. The producers can give you want you want, but can also build from that,” I mentioned. I really didn’t know of all too much to say. I knew this record label was different from any of the others I worked on with my father, but I tried my best to explain and convince him to join us.

“Does your dad own the record label?” he questioned.

I laughed and shook my head, “No, actually he’s the artist liaison for the label.”
“Oh really?” he raised a brow at me and took a drag from his cigarette.

I nodded, “Yes sir. He gathers up the talent and whatnot.”

“So then why are you here instead of him?” he asked, a smile making its way across his face.

I smiled up at the waitress as she brought our food out then looked back over to Mr. Valo, “He asked me to come meet with you since he was really busy today and wanted to have someone meet with you as soon as possible.”

He smirked and put his cigarette out on the ground and taking a bite of his food, “I see.”

“I’m sure that you can still meet him yourself before you make your decision if that makes a difference,” I mentioned, looking down to my plate.

“No, no. I’m glad that it was you that came out and met with me,” he mentioned, smiling at me.

I looked up at him and smiled before taking a bite of my food. I swallowed my food and took a sip of my water, trying to think of a way to convince to join us, but I couldn’t think of anything. I was coming to a blank and I never did this on these lunch dates. I typically could easily speak about the record label and I could usually get them to agree to join pretty quickly, but this time I couldn’t. I didn’t know what it was. Was it the fact that I didn’t know Soulless Productions as well as my dad’s label or was it the fact that this Finnish band guy was keeping me lost for words? I shook my head and sighed, “Soulless Productions is a great record company and can do a lot for your band, but it’s just up to you whether or not you want to join it.” I let a small smirk come across my face with the sentence bet let it fade after a little while.

“What do you do at the label?” he asked.

“I’m an assistant for my father. I help him out with things when it gets a little hectic for him. When he’s busy, I’ll schedule the auditions or schedule for when a band goes in to record,” I explained, “But let’s not get off topic here.”

“Do you like it? Do you plan on to continue with it?” he questioned.

I understood that he was curious, but he was getting off topic. We were supposed to be talking about him and his band, not me. I shrugged, “Yeah, I like it. It’s pretty cool and I enjoy working this job. At this point, I want to continue with it, but who knows in the future? I plan on continuing in my fathers footsteps and continue on with this. I might want to open my own record label one day, but things could lead on a different path for me. Nothing’s set in stone just yet.”

He grinned and nodded, “Is that so? Well, Rowan. It seems that you might have a bright future ahead of you if you continue down this road.”

“You think?” I asked, smiling back to him.

He nodded again.

I didn’t know what it was about this band guy. He was different. Typically other band guys that I met just got straight to the point and tried to get through this lunch as quick as possible. They’d demand to know all about the record and what they could give them and just accept, or decline, and leave. They’d be rude, but whatever. Some band guys were just bitter people and not wanted to deal with people. Why my dad signed them, I have no clue but hey... Whatever floats your boat? I sighed, “Well, I guess I’ve said all that I can say for now on the subject of Soulless. It’s your decision and I really hope you decide to join us.”

He smirked and pushed his plate aside, “Maybe... I’ll think about it.”

I nodded and smiled.

“I’ll give the label a call with my answer tomorrow,” he mentioned.

I nodded, “That would be fabulous.”

He looked over at the traffic and stared in that direction for awhile and then turned his attention back to me. “Say,” he started, “Why don’t I make up for being late today and buy you dinner.”

I smiled and laughed, “But we just had lunch.”

“Well, maybe some other day. Or whenever you’re free, my dear,” he tried to charm me with another smile.

I nodded at him and politely smiled back to him, “I’d really like that. But I feel to need to tell you that I don’t date my father’s clients.” It was real sweet of him to offer to buy me dinner and I would rather enjoy going to dinner with him, but he was a client, a potential one, nonetheless.

“Oh, no. It won’t be a date. Just as two to people eat together, or just as friend,” he mentioned.

I thought about it for a minute and then smiled while nodding at him, “Yeah... Yeah, okay. I’ll go with you.”