Wish You Were

Joe sat at the long, mahogany table and drummed his fingers impatiently. He and his brothers were waiting for a meeting with their producer. They were all extremely nervous. They hadn't met him yet, and their future record relied on him. They needed to make a good impression.

As the door to the room opened, all three boys simultaneously stood up. They relaxed when they saw that it was their manager, Lou. They had only met him a week ago right after they got signed, but they were already completely comfortable around him.

"Hey guys. Ryan's running a little late, but will be here soon. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute before your meeting started."

The boys nodded and sat down, waiting for Lou to continue.

"Ryan is… tough. Sometimes. Just know that wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Ryan is the boss. If Ryan says jump, you jump. If Ryan wants you to record five songs in one day, you record five songs in one day. I'm not trying to scare you away from this. Ryan's the best producer we've got, but it is that way for a reason. This whole thing won't be spoon fed to you."

The boys nodded. If they weren't nervous before, they sure were now. This Ryan guy was already intimidating them, and they hadn't even met him yet.

Lou stood up, waving to them. "Hope I didn't scare you too much," he said, laughing. "Ryan should be here in a couple of minutes."

As Lou left the room, Joe looked at his brothers. "Guys, I don't know if this is such a great idea."

"Come on, Joe. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You aren't going to let this Ryan guy scare you, right?" Nick rolled his eyes. For being the older brother, Joe sure was a lot more immature.

"I'm not scared, Nick," he said, defensively. "I just think that-"

His sentence was interrupted by a knock on the door. All three boys' stomachs dropped their hearts racing. This meeting could be one of the most important of their career.

Ryan walked in, smiling, not seeming intimidating at all. "Hey, guys, I'm Ryan." Each of the boys shook Ryan's hand, their mouths hanging open stupidly.

This "Ryan guy" was in fact, a girl. A young girl. A young, blonde, tan, attractive girl. She was wearing a black skirt that was a little short for an office, with a while ruffly top. This was not the Ryan they were expecting to walk through the door. They were expecting a middle aged, stiff man to come in. Not a girl. Especially not this girl.

Joe gulped, his hands sweating. She's hot, he thought, almost forgetting he had a girlfriend.

"Not expecting me to be a girl, eh?" She said, smiling. She sat down, opening her huge binder and flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

The boys sat down, not knowing exactly what to say. Kevin broke the awkward silence. "Uh… not really," he said, nervously laughing.

"It's alright. I get that all the time. I'm used to it."

Ryan jumped right in to explaining her plans for their album, allowing them to give input about what they wanted as well. In just a short amount of time, they really understood what direction their record would be taking.

Joe felt a buzz in his pocket and took out his phone. He had a new text from Leah. "cannonball competition- i owned. wish you were here <3". He smiled, glad that she was having a good time. Today was their school's annual senior barbeque, but he of course had to skip it because of the meeting. He hadn't seen Leah in a week, since the day they got signed. They had been so busy- it was one thing after the next.

He had really wanted to go to the party, but he knew that this band was more important- not only to him, but to his brothers as well. He quickly typed a short reply and turned his attention back to the meeting, hoping he didn't miss anything. When he looked up, Ryan was staring at him.

He felt his cheeks grow red. "I, uh," he began, trying to think of an excuse for why he had been on the phone. He couldn't think of one. "Sorry about that," he said, apologetically.

Ryan giggled. "This isn't school, Joe. You won't get in trouble for using your phone. Now, where were we…" she continued, looking over her notes.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that she wasn't mad. Ryan didn't seem as bad as Lou had described her as.

Soon after, they were finished talking about the album. They continued to joke around a talk about random things.

Ryan looked down at her watch. "Wow, we really lost track of time. It's already almost five," she said, standing up. "Do you guys wanna go out for a drink?"

They all looked at each other awkwardly before Kevin spoke up. "Uh... we're all underage."

Ryan smiled. "Just so you know- in this business, you're never underage. But suit yourselves. I'll have a drink and you guys can watch. Or have soda or something, I don't know. You up for it?"

Kevin and Nick smiled, excited to be hanging out with a totally hot girl. They quickly agreed and started packing up their stuff.

Joe tensed. He and Leah had had plans for dinner tonight. He wanted to hang out with her, but he had just met Ryan and didn't want to make a bad impression on her. Leah would understand him backing out of one date, but he wasn't sure how she'd feel if she knew what he was doing.

Joe quickly typed a quick text explaining the situation to Leah. "hey babe, this meetings gunna last the rest of the night. wont make it tonight, sorry. another time?"

He ran his hand through his hair, anxiously waiting a reply. Soon enough, a little envelope popped up. "its totally fine. call me after, k? no matter how late, i'll be up. i love you :)"

Joe smiled to himself. She was perfect.

Ryan's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey loser, you coming?" He looked up to see her smiling at him. There was no doubt about it, she was gorgeous. He stood up, walking over to her and his brothers, who were headed out the door. He closed his phone, forgetting to respond.