Sex, Drugs, Fame, & Love

The pen felt like ice in my hand. All I had to do was sign my name. Jessica L. Rora. I could imagine it on the paper right now. That's all I had to do! So why was I shaking?

"C'mon Jess, sign your name," Gwen whispered in my ear. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. All I had to do was sign my name, easy, right? Wrong. By signing it, it would mean that our band—Picture Perfect Moment—belonged to Rise Records. They could do whatever they wanted to us. What if they turn our band's whole meaning around? What if we turn into sellouts and forget why we do this?

Stop thinking of the "what ifs" and sign your name already! I told myself. I looked up to the guy standing in front of me. George Caper, manager for Rise Records. If I signed this piece of paper, the fate of our band will lie in his hands. He looked like someone I could trust. Someone with power, and knows how to use it. A well-dressed business man, who was also the one who found us on YouTube.

"Go ahead," he pressed. I nodded and pressed the pen to the paper. I looked around at my band mates for a sign of approval. They had an impatient look on their face and Jakey did a movement with his hands that said "go on". I closed my eyes and signed my name on the line.

George took the paper and looked it over one more time. "Congratulations, you're a band now." We all cheered for our success. This was our dream, this was the road we chose. We're not looking back now, we've reached the point of no return. "You guys should be here to record tomorrow around noonish, my office!" George demanded. We all nodded and left the room.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD JESS WE FINALLY MADE IT WE'RE A BAND WE HAVE A RECORD LABEL JESS WE HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT NOW JESS OH MY GOD JESS WE'RE HERE!!!" Gwen yelled as we climbed into a taxi.

"Gwen, that's right in my fucking ear," I stated as I put my hand over her mouth. She licked my palm but I just gave her a look. "Do you really think that bothers me anymore?" I pulled my hand away and she had a disgusted look on her face.

She smacked her lips a few times. "Your hands are salty," she cringed.

"I was sweating."

"Why were you sweating?"

"I was nervous about the whole being a band thing. Signing the paper was a lot harder than it appeared," I shrugged.

"You're weird!" she scoffed. She turned to the taxi driver and gave him the name of hotel we were staying at. Justin, Jakey, and Zach were behind us in another taxi, following us. Gwen laid her head on my shoulder and sighed happily. "Just think, two years ago we got our music studio. Now we're signed on Rise Records!"

"Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Fuck yeah! We made it Jess! At such a young age too!"

It's true, I did just turn eighteen, and Gwen is still seventeen until August eleventh. Zach turned twenty last month, in March. Jakey's turning nineteen in September, and Justin turned nineteen in February. We were all pretty young to be signed, but age is just a number.

"Hey, we can probably meet some of our favorite bands now," Gwen said dreamily.

"Like who?"

"You could meet Pierce the Veil," she shrugged.

"They're on Fearless Records, though."

"So? I heard Fearless and Rise are like best friends in the music industry. If they weren't Kellin Quinn probably wouldn't be able to sing in King For a Day. And bands from both those record labels do Pop Goes Punk, so they work together."

"True," I agreed. "We could meet Sleeping with Sirens."

"And Crown the Empire?"

"And Issues."

"And Of Mice & Men?"

"And Memphis May Fire."

"Wooow," she whispered as the cab pulled into the parking lot of our hotel. The boys' cab parked in a nearby spot. I payed the driver as we got out. Gwen and I was greeted by a big bear hug from Justin.

"YOU GUYS WE MADE IT!!!" he yelled, squeezing our guts out.

"I know I know, but can I breath?" I asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Justin apologized as he let go of us. "I'm just so excited! We're in Portland and we don't have to pay for a thing!"

"Except for food, drinks, transportation, clothes, and all that good stuff," I corrected.

"Shut up Jess let me have my moment!" Justin yelled. I just laughed. He was partially right, George did pay for tickets to Portland, Oregon. And two hotel rooms for a three night stay, but after that we have to find an apartment. He said he'd pay for the first rent if it's cheap.

"We should probably check into our room," Zach suggested. We all nodded and checked in. Gwen and I shared a room while the boys shared the adjacent room.

It was late so we all decided to hit the hay so we can have rest for tomorrow. Gwen told me to take a shower so, and I quote, I don't taste "salty" anymore. I just rolled my eyes at that and grabbed my toiletries. I stripped down and hopped in the shower. After I was done I put pajama shorts on and a tank top. I put my sky blue hair in a messy bun and took my snake bites out. I stepped out of the bathroom to see Gwen sitting on her bed, texting someone. "Who you texting?" I asked as I climbed onto her bed and looked over her shoulder.

"Jakey," she answered.

"Oooh!" I squealed.

"Shut up!" she smiled.

"What'chya talking about?"

"Being famous and stuff! God you're nosy!"

I laughed and grabbed her phone and ran to the corner of the room to isolate myself from her. I scrolled to the top of the texts to read from top to bottom.

"Hey give that back!" Gwen yelled.

"Hmmm, how about no?" I looked at all the texts. His contact name was "JakeyBear<3" how cute. Their conversation was really boring. It was about how much they miss each other, how Gwen's gonna do her hair, and all that stuff. Lame! "You guys are so stupid," I scoffed as I handed my phone back to her.

"Well at least I have a boyfriend!"

I chuckled as I crawled into bed and turned the lamp off. I grabbed my teddy bear and snuggled up into it. I turned towards Gwen and she still had her phone out. "Phones away! It's bedtime!" I yelled. She rolled her eyes but put her phone away anyways, and went to sleep.

"Jess," she whispered.

"What?"

"We finally made it!" I could hear the excitement in her voice. We did make it, but we're not officially there yet.

(>‿◠)✌

I woke up at eight, brushed my teeth, straightened my hair, put my snake bites in, and got dressed. I went to wake Gwen up. I grabbed a pillow from my bed and hit her with it repeatedly. She wouldn't budge. "GWEN WAKE UP!!!!" I yelled, in her ear. She shot up like a rocket and slapped me.

"It's only eight! We don't have to be there till noon!" she yelled.

"I know, but I want to get breakfast. Go get ready, I'm gonna wake the guys up." I walked over to the boys' room and knocked on the door. I said "Jakey" in between knocks so I sounded as annoying as Sheldon does from The Big Bang Theory. Jakey answered the door—with major bedhead—and gave me a dirty look.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"Get ready! We're going out for breakfast soon!" I demanded.

He rolled his eyes. "I'll wake the guys up."

"Thanks, Jakey-bear."

He blushed at the sound of his cutey nickname Gwen gave him. "Shut up," he said, trying to hold his smile.

I laughed and walked back to our room. Gwen was in the bathroom curling her teal colored hair. After everyone was done it was nearly 9:30, so we hurried and called a cab. I told the driver to go to the nearest restaurant that serves breakfast. He obeyed, and in a matter of fifteen minutes, we were at this cute little café. We all ordered bagels and coffee, feeling too nervous to eat anything big. Seriously, the nervousness was eating my stomach from the inside out.

After we were done eating it was 11:30, and it takes about twenty minutes to get to Rise headquarters. We called another cab and told the driver where to go. He took us there and we hurried to reach the fourth floor, where George's office/studio was at.

We were outside the door, and I took a deep breath before opening it. I was surprised to see a different band behind the glass, playing. I looked at George and he smiled. "Are we late?" I asked.

"Not at all my dear! I planned this so you can meet one of our latest project!" He pointed to the glass and I saw four guys in there. I guess they were George's "project". The lead singer actually looked kind of cute, for someone I've never met. He had his eyes closed while he was singing, and when he opened them he looked at me with a confused look on his face. He walked out of the studio followed by the rest of the band.

"What's going on?" he asked George in a husky voice.

"Danny, I want you to meet our latest project!" George pointed to us and I waved shyly.

"Why are they here now? We still need to finish our song." I could tell this guy is a very determined guy. He looks a lot cuter when he's not behind glass and there isn't a microphone stand blocking my view. He was muscular, but lean at the same time. He had some scruff around his face, and eyes that could kill. He had messy dirty-blond hair covered by a grey beanie. He was gorgeous, but he didn't seem too nice.

"I want you to meet them!" George repeated. "This is Picture Perfect Moment." He pointed to us and the guy looked straight at me. I could feel my heart racing inside my ribs, I hope it wasn't loud. "Picture Perfect Moment, this is Devils Inside." He pointed to the other band and I waved.

"Hi," I said shyly.

"Hey," the guy replied.

"Why don't you guys get acquainted? You'll be working together a lot," George stated. I'll be working with mister gorgeous, I hope I don't embarrass myself.

The guy walked up to me and stuck his hand out. "Hey, I'm Danny. Sorry if I came off a little mean, I was just confused." Oh my glob he's talking to me!!

"That's okay, I'm Jess." I took his hand and shook it. He was about a head taller than me.

He let go of my hand. "So, how did your band get noticed?" He was making small talk! Pinch me now!

"YouTube. I got a music studio two years ago for my sixteenth birthday and we recorded and put stuff on YouTube." I tried to act as normal as possible, which was a little hard, because everyone knows I'm not normal! "You?" I added, keeping the conversation up.

"My band and I played at a bar and I guess a guy who works here was there that night. You know, the old fashioned way," he shrugged.

"Well that's cool."

"Yeah, it is." He smiled a perfect smile. God could this guy get anymore gorgeous!? "So where you from?" he asked.

"Wisconsin, I've never been to Portland before, let alone Oregon," I shrugged.

"Really? I know this state like the back of my hand. I've lived here my whole life."

"Oh cool!" Huh, I guess cute guys do come from Oregon.

"Yeah, hey if you want, tomorrow I can show you around town, I can show you the best places here!" he offered.

Oh my flipping glob! "Okay, that sounds great," I casually said.

"Alright, let me see your phone." He held out his hand and without hesitation I gave him my phone. Oh God what if he steals it? He pressed some keys on it and gave it back to me. He was on the contact app and I saw a new contact. Danny Aero. Oh what a hot name for a hot guy! "Text me later, kay?" he ordered.

"Okay," I nodded, trying to hide my smile.

He smiled his perfect smile again. Oh God is he trying to kill me!?

The rest of the recording session went really well. Devils Inside didn't get to finish their song, but we got to record a little of our song, Apocalyptical Despair, the song that got us here. Danny said it sounded really cool, and he liked it. He made me blush a few times, and I tried to hide it the best way possible.

When we were finally done it was almost six. Danny came up to me and started talking in his husky voice, "Text me when you want to leave tomorrow, and where you're staying at and I'll pick you up."

"Okay, will do!" I smiled. He smiled his perfect smile and walked out of the room.

Gwen came up to me and propped her elbow on my shoulder. "You got a date?" she asked.

"It's not a date, Danny's just showing me around the city," I shrugged.

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like."

I'm gonna be alone with this super cute guy. Walking around town. I could already feel the upcoming butterflies.