-August’s point of view-
“Look!” I pointed to the TV screen. “Pirates of the Caribbean” had only been on for a few minutes. I saw Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) come on and sighed. “Isn’t he beautiful?”
“Yes he is. Captain Jack Sparrow is a real beauty!” Carmen said.
“I meant Bloom,” I said, knowing that she already knew that.
“Yeah, I know. But you were looking at the wrong actor. Orlando may be a pretty boy, but Johnny Depp is a gorgeous man.”
I laughed. This had been a fun four weeks. I couldn’t believe summer was slowly passing by. It was like we were stuck in time. I didn’t have any big decisions to make. I was like a little kid on vacation- no worries on my mind.
We watched the movie and continued the debate on the hottest leading man.
A little while later, the phone rang.
“Yello?” Carmen said and I laughed at her. “Huh?.... yeah, sure. Umm... hold on a second!” She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and smiled. “It’s for you!”
I looked at her, wonderingly. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this August McFadden?”
“Yeah,” I answered. I heard her quietly display distaste. Should I have said ‘yes’ instead? I recognized the uptight voice as Edith’s.
“Are you available tomorrow to come to the arena for rehearsal?”
“Rehearsal?” I didn’t understand. “For what?”
She sighed again, like I was being incompetent and she was wondering what she had done in life to deserve having to talk to me.
“Do you recall auditioning to open for the Backstreet Boys?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’ve got it. So, tomorrow around three.”
Edith stated that more as a statement than a question. Like I had no choice in the matter.
“Umm.... sure,” I said. I hung up before she could voice her distaste of my inability to articulate correctly.
“So?” Carmen demanded. “What did our dear old friend say?”
“Umm... I got it,” I said, in a state of shock.
“WHAT? What happened to whomever else that got it?”
I shrugged. Good question. How in the world did I get this? The opportunity alone was surprise enough, but to have beaten out the others... the groups and soloists who had been so incredibly talented.
“Oh my gosh, Carmen, what do I do now?”
“Oh, no! This is awesome news, can you just enjoy it for a minute? Worry tomorrow!” she jumped up. “Woo-hoo! Imagine, you on t-shirts headlining for the biggest group in the country! That’s amazing!” She gave me a hug.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, I found myself standing in the arena. I was overwhelmed with the amount of people walking around, completing various jobs. A whole group was working on lighting for each song, and others were working on sound...
“August? This way,” Edith led me away from the main area to a smaller room. A man was sitting down at a down. “This is August McFadden, she’s replacing Sandra as the opening act.”
I could tell by Edith’s tone that she had had nothing to do with this decision. Sandra was obviously a much better choice, in her opinion.
Although I made sure to listen to him intently, by the end of the discussion I was finding it difficult to cover my yawns. I was told to come back tomorrow at the same time to start looking at possible selections.
Several songwriters had already written several songs, and we would pick the ones that would sound the nicest on the Grand Piano.
I walking back into the main corridor, wondering what time is was.
I yawned and looked up. Brian was walking towards me, yawning at the same time. We both laughed.
I don’t know where I was expecting to go. I guess since it was with the Backstreet Boys I was thinking they’d want to go somewhere expensive (which I sure couldn’t afford). So when the car that AJ was driving turned into the McDonald’s, I could only laugh. I got out of the car, with Brian, Howie, and AJ. Nick and Kevin got out of the other car.
AJ cut through everyone, “beauty before age,” he laughed at Kevin and headed to the front of the line. He ordered a combo.
I was the last in line. I went to sit down with the others. Howie, AJ, and Kevin were sitting in one booth. Nick and Brian were sitting in one behind them.
Nick laughed. “She spent more time flirting than practicing,” he glanced at Brian.
Brian just smiled and took a bite of his hamburger.
Nick looked like he was picturing this.
I shrugged, and moved in my seat some. Brian had the most intense eyes, always seeming to be paying close attention to everything. “I don’t know. I was just having fun watching everyone else sing or play or whatever.”
Chapter Five
“Hi,” I said and was about to keep on walking, not knowing what else to say to him. Especially since he was who he was.
“What are you doing?”
“I just finished a long meeting. I’m done for today, I’m supposed to come back to tomorrow ready to try and play a few songs.”
“Oh, good. Come on, we’re taking a break to go and eat lunch. You should come.”
“Thanks, but I’m not really hungry,” I declined politely.
“Okay, well you can come meet everyone,” he put a hand on my shoulder and guided me back into the “right” direction.
“Come on, sit down,” Brian moved over.
“Man. My legs are killing me,” Nick said. “Is it just me, or is Fatima just riding us more and more? Sheesh. It’s not my fault that I couldn’t remember the second half of the ‘Everybody’ dance. Its been awhile since the Millennium tour...”
Brian laughed. “Nick, that was in the video. We’ve done that routine hundreds of times...”
“Shut up, Frick,” Nick threw a fry at him. “So, when do you start rehearsal?” Nick asked me.
“Tomorrow,” I answered. A second later I added, “so what happened to the other person who was supposed to open?”
“Kevin especially realized what a mistake it had been to have her. You didn’t seem to mind letting her go, either,” he added to Brian.
“Well, we need a musician. Not a fame-seeker. She should’ve been spending more time working on her dancing and less time trying to get me to take her out on any given Saturday,” Brian spoke bluntly. “Anyway, we have to be able to think of some topic other than her.”
“So, do you live in Florida?” Nick asked.
“No, I’m spending the summer here with my friend.”
Nick nodded. “The girl who was with you for the audition?”
“Yep, that’s her. Tall blonde, like she just walked out of an Abercrombie and Fitch add...”
“Did she sneak into the dance auditions?” Brian asked, skeptically.
I laughed. “Yep, that’s her, too. She likes performing a lot.” I was glad to have the discussion off of me, but Brian continued.
“What were you playing the night that Kevin saw you in the club?”
“The Vanessa Carlton song, A Thousand Miles,” I said. “Carmen volunteered me to get up there.”
“Why didn’t you want to anyway?” Brian wondered.
“I’m going to get another burger,” Nick got up.
“Did Carmen get you to the audition, too?” Brian asked.
“She’s a strong influence, that’s for sure. I honestly never dreamed I would actually make it,” I told him.
Brian nodded, still looking like he was thinking about something. “Well, you did. Welcome to the Backstreet Boys tour group.”
Chapter Seven
Dreaming of Destiny
Frick's Fairytales