Guitar Notes Tug Heart Strings

“Cee, did you get that story in yet?” Cecelia looked up at her editor. His tall statue made the interns cringe. His balding head and the bags under her eyes told Cecelia he hadn’t been sleeping, so he’s nervous for this issue.

“If you check your inbox now, it’ll be there,” she said with a smile. He let a breath escape. “And Jack? Get some sleep.”

He rolled his eyes and slapped his papers against her doorframe.

Cecelia stretched in her black rolling chair and slid away from the front desk. She turned and faced her back desk to her iMac desktop. Jiggling the white mouse, her screen popped to life.

Opening her mail, her eyes scanned past all the junk mail. She opened the magazine’s newest issue’s budget and started scanning the items about to run for this month.

It had been a long month of following around minor bands all preparing for a big summer concert. Cecelia organized all her notebooks for the numerous bands she had to watch perform, practice, get to know, and write about.

The music industry wasn’t going anywhere, especially when bands were being created out of nothing everyday. The problem was, in Cecelia’s eyes, they all sounded the same. They all wailed on about the same crap, and they wore the same outfits and it was like a record on repeat.

“Hey Cee, Josh and Jack want to see you.”

She picked up a new notebook, her laptop and a pen and headed out to the conference room.

The walls were covered with magazine covers of the bigger bands they snagged. Cee had them memorized since her first day on the job, and she’s been able to help the company add a few of those covers.

Pulling open the glass door, she sat in the middle of the table surrounded by her colleagues.

“So, what did you think of the last group?” Sean asked. He had his camera on the table in front him, ready to go at a moment’s notice. His hands were playing with a rubber band and his legs kept moving up and down.

“Eh,” Cecelia shrugged. “You know how I feel about these bands. I need something new to get me out of this funk.”

He grinned and nodded. “I thought they were crap. They sound like the last five bands we had to cover.”

She smiled and opened a new document on her computer. “Well, my opinion doesn’t need to be stated now.”

She piled her long hair into a bun, and slid off her denim jacket. The conference room was always so unbearably hot, and adding twelve employees didn’t help.

“Alright then, let’s get started shall we?” Jack asked as he grabbed his iPad. “Nice work on this issue everyone.”

The employees knew this was their time to clap. They had been through the same routine a number of times.

“Now, let’s get started on the next one,” Josh said. He watched as Jack nodded and began to go through his notes.

“Kelly, what do you got?”

“I was thinking, maybe we could do something on festival foods,” Kelly said.
Her short blonde hair was down today, her arms were full of the bangles she wore everyday, and her round green eyes were wide. Cecelia noticed when she began speaking quickly she got excited.

“What about the foods?” Josh asked. He was the publisher of the magazine, and he never let an unanswered question go by. He was tough, but he knew how to run the magazine and keep it successful.

“I was thinking we could do a here’s what you’ll find, here’s what to bring kind of deal,” she said with a shrug.

Josh tapped his fingers against his chin. “But there needs to be a why these foods are picked. Are they going to keep you drunk longer? Are they supposed to be healthy?”

“Why not do both?” Cecelia asked. All eyes turned to her and she sat up. “Not in so many words write ‘This will keep you drunk’ but do a list of those, and a list for those health food hipsters.”

“Okay go, next.” Josh said. He smiled at Cecelia and nodded.

“Way to go Cee,” Sean nudged her.

“I need to butter him up to move me to the bigger bands.

“Hey, if you go I get to go, so bring on that butter.”

As the list went on for the next story Cecelia listened to each idea. She knew the ones that would get rejected, and then that reporter would get a hand-me-down story that everyone tried to avoid.

“I want to do something different,” Cecelia started. “Don’t get me wrong, I love spending my days with the bands. But the bands all sound the same, I need something fresh.” She said staring at Josh.

He leaned forward in his seat and looked at Jack. “Will everyone else except for Cecelia excuse us? If we haven’t gotten to you I expect your story or stories ideas in my inbox in five minutes.”

Sean patted Cecelia on the back and stood with his Nikon. The crowd flushed out of the room, whispering rumors that she was being fired.

She sat up and raised her eyebrows.

“So you agree with my idea?”

“Cecelia, I think you’re good at your job. You hand in clean copy and you know what our readers want. I want to give you bigger and better projects, I just don’t trust the others to pick up your old stories.”

She sat back against her chair and sighed. “So I’m being punished because the staff is incompetent to follow around bands and write about them? That’s bullshit and you know it.”

She closed her laptop and picked it up along with her notebook.

“I am going to find a bigger band to follow and I’ll write the piece. You’ll love it, see that I’m right and have to promote me.”

“Prove me wrong,” Josh called as she stormed out of the office.

She walked tall as she passed the other offices and closed her door when she reached hers. Putting down her laptop and notebook, she pulled open her desk drawer and grabbed her black iPhone.

“Jess, who are the bands that everyone loves right now?”

“Hello to you too Cee, you’re little sister is just fine thanks. How are you?”

Cecelia rolled her eyes and pulled open the magazine’s website.

“I’m good Jess, just working. I need your help.”

“You’re always working, that’s nothing new. But, the fact that you need my help is fabulous.”

Cecelia knew Jess was smiling on the other end. “Stop annoying me,” she said as she scrolled through the site. “Who are the big bands right now everyone loves?”

“Well, there’s this band called Thunderheads. The name is so douchey, but the guys are awesome and the lead singer is hot,” Jess said as she sighed.

“What the hell kind of name is that? Never mind, what’s his name?”

“The fact that you work for a music magazine astounds me, his name is Ren Matthenson.”

Cecelia wrote that down and smiled. “Thanks Jess, I owe ya.” She hung up without saying goodbye and began to search for this band.