[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
I hit the alarm clock, instead of going off with some annoying BEEP; I have it go off to really bad old country music. I sat up and stretched my arms up over my head. I turned to were Lenny would be laying, but instead of finding him, I found a note.

“Meg-
You looked like an angel. I couldn’t find it in me to wake you, sorry I couldn’t stay. Call me later... Love you!

Lenny,

P.S. don’t forget about your meeting at the studio today with the guys!”

I laid the note next to my bed and got up. I heard Betsy’s bell on her collar swing back and forth. She came and rubbed against my leg

“Hey my Betsy, did mean ol’ Aunt Izzy lock you in the bathroom,” I said picking up the cat and walking into the kitchen. There was a note stuck onto the refrigerator, I pulled it off and read it out-loud,

“You’re going to have to buy more vodka, Izzy and I kinda drank it all!”

“Remind me to take the key away from them,” I said to the cat shaking my head and putting her on the floor. My refrigerator was basically empty, except for a half gallon of milk and some leftover Chinese food. I found a box of Golden Graham cereal and I curled myself up on the couch and turned on the TV. I got a total of 7 channels, and 5 of them were a combination of Spanish or Christian. I ended up watching some passionate Spanish novella; I didn’t understand what they were saying. But whatever it was, it was sexy!

After Un Crimen Pasional was over, it was time to start getting ready. We weren’t going to do my demo album today; they were just going to show me around the studio.

It looked cold and rainy outside so I deiced on jeans and a sweater.

I grabbed my scarf on the way out and wrapped it around my neck. The hallway of the apartment building was colder then usual. I heard Guss banging on something in the boiler room.

“Is everything alright Guss?” I said poking my head in

“Aye, this bloody boilers going out again,”

“Oh, well anything I can help you with?”

“Nay, ye pretty lassie got better things to do,” he said standing up and whipping his forehead.


When I got to the studio the guys hadn’t shown up yet, so I sat in the waiting room.
For a music recording studio they had really bad music playing. I flipped threw some old magazines, “Are Brad and Jen having marital problems?” read the cover of a magazine I picked up.

“Um, I’d say yes they were,” I said throwing it on the chair next to me. I sat there for around thirty minutes, they had a little fountain running somewhere because you could hear water running. Before I knew it another thirty minutes had pasted. I had had enough, I guessed they obviously weren’t going to come, and I had better things to do, well maybe I didn’t but I couldn’t stand sitting here waiting anymore. I grabbed my purse and headed for the door. I wasn’t paying attention and ran right into a man.

“Oh I’m sorry, excuse me”, I said looking up at him

“Well, where are you going?” he said smiling back at me, “Sorry, the guys ran into a problem, I guess you’re just going to get me for the day,” AJ said smiling down at me. _________________________________________________________________



I woke up to a pair of eyes glaring down at me.

“JESUS!” I said jumping a foot off my bed.

“No, but I do hear I look a little like him,” He said with a smirk on his face

“How’d you get in here Kevin?” I said sitting up rubbing the back of my head that I had hit against the headboard.

“That receptionist is a sweetheart, I told her you had stayed in my hotel room because you lost your keys, and all she needed from me was your birth date and full name. It’s a good think I remembered.” he said pulling up the chair next to the bed and sat in it.

“There was a reason I never liked that girl.”

“What are you doing AJ?” he said looking at me serious now

“Well, I was sleeping,”

“I’m not talking about that, and you know it,”

“Kev…”

“AJ, what’s this?” he asked holding up a baggy of coke

“Kevin, it’s not what you think,” I said grabbing for it

“No? Because I think it’s exactly what I think. I thought this was over?” he said sitting back in his chair.

“It is... it was. It was just a mishap, I haven’t even…”

“Alex, don’t you dare lie to me! This is why you’ve been late the past week; I knew something was going on. I wanted it to be something else. But always trust your gut feelings”

“I won’t do it again…”

“Like hell you won’t! I’m taking it all.” He said getting up and grabbing the bottle of jack

“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting rid of it!” he said walking into the bathroom

I got up and went into the bathroom. Kevin opened the bottle of Jack and emptied it into the toilet, and then ripped the bag of coke and dumped it in as well.

“Say good-bye AJ,” Kevin said between his teeth.

I turned my head to look away,

“That’s what I thought,” he said flushing the toilet.

He walked past and didn’t look at me. I stood in the bathroom doorway watching Kevin circle the room.

“Is that all of it?” he said knocking over the coffee table. “Well AJ? Is there anymore?” he said gritting his teeth

“NO! Ok no there isn’t, are you happy!” I shouted

“No, no AJ I’m not happy! You never seem to change, how many times does this have to happen before you learn?” there was a long silent pause, then he continued “I’m giving you an assignment.”

“What am, I six?” I asked dryly

“No, if you were six I would have more control over what you do, and I’d be able to watch your every move. But sense I can’t I’m leaving it up to trust.”

“Ok, then what do you want me to do?”

“You know the girl you met last night? I want you to train her, not to much, just show her the ways, give her some tips. Go into the studio with her. It will be therapeutic for you, teaching someone else, helping someone else. Do this for me, and stay clean. If you can stay clean for the next two weeks, I won’t tell the guys. If you don’t I’m telling them about it all. And I promise we will kick you out! It’s time to stop babying you. You need to make a decision of what you want to do with your life.”

“I don’t think I can,” I said shaking my head

“WHAT? Why?” he exclaimed

“No, I mean I can’t help that girl… its complicated.”

“Well that’s to bad AJ, because you’re going to, now she’s going to be at the studio today, I want you to go, show her how things work tell her stories just do something.”

He walked to the door, and looked back at me, “I’m watching you AJ, don’t screw your life up anymore,” and he shut the door behind him.

I sat there in my disheveled hotel suite. I probably would have cried if I hadn’t been so damn angry! Who does he think he is? The truth was I was going to have to do what he wanted, whether I liked it or not. Why of all the people in the world, why that girl? If I were a suspicious person I’d start thinking it was a conspiracy. But more likely it was just my bad ass luck! Most people would be thrilled, like it was a sign from god or something. I found it to be annoying, if god wants to tell me something why doesn’t he just say something? Why send out signs that I don’t know how to read…
____________________________________________________________________

“Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, James Taylor, Backstreet Boys, Madonna, and BARBRA STREISAND!” Meg exclaimed looking down the halls of everyone who had recorded in the studio.

“Are you a fan?” AJ said with a smirk

“Yeah, I am!” Meg laughed

“And, we’re probably the only ones you don’t know on the wall.”

“I know you guys!” She said turning to face him

“Sure, that’s why you had no clue who any of us were last night.”

“Yes, I did,” she protested

“What songs do we sing?”

“You sing…” Meg scratched the back of her head for a moment, “The Shape of My Heart and Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely and other great ones!” Meg said reciting every word Nic had told her the day before.

“Oh, were those the first two that came up on Google?” he asked laughing

“No, though the Internet would have probably been more efficient,” Meg said smiling

“Ah! That’s funny, well it’s actually refreshing, and I’m just a guy to you. That’s kinda cool, this hasn’t happened to me in a long time.”

“Well, then you can stop making me feel bad for not knowing you then.”

“Um, sorry that’s never going to happen!” he said laughing and opening the studio doors.
______________________________________________________________________


“What’s this?” Meg asked

“It’s an amplifier,” AJ said leaning up against the table

“Oh, and what’s all this other stuff?”

“It’s mixers. I’m not quite sure how it all works together but I’m pretty sure you press this button— ‘BEEEEEEP,” Meg covered her ears from the loud shrieks while AJ scrambled trying to turn it off.

“There!” he said hitting the red button to the left.

“Glad to know you know what you’re doing.” Meg said rubbing her ears

“Sorry about that,” he grinned

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Pressing wrong buttons?” he said with a mischievous grin

“No, I mean singing, professionally anyway,” she said running her fingers down the amplifier

“Sense I was 14. That’s when the guys and I got together,”

“WOW! Are you the youngest?”

“No, Nick’s the youngest. He was only 12.”

“Jeeze, I was trying to win a kiss from Johnny McKenzie when I was 12 and 14.”

“And did you ever win that kiss?” AJ chuckled

“You have no idea!” she said laughing

“What a lucky guy.”

Meg looked over at AJ. And they held each others eyes. Trying to change the subject AJ continued rambling on about this thing and that.

“And we usually sing the same song about a 100 times until we get it perfect!” he said leading her into the recording room

“Wow, have you ever just said ‘it’s good enough!’?”

“Oh, if you only knew,” he said shaking his head

“Ever sense I’ve been little I’ve dreamed of this. When I was about nine I’d sing Madonna songs in front of my mirror with my hairbrush as my microphone!”

AJ laughed. “Let me guess Like a Virgin?”

“No, actually Holiday my mother never let me listen to Like a Virgin she said it wasn’t for little girls ears,” Meg said laughing

“Personally I liked Holiday better!” he said winking at her.

“Speaking of songs, what was it again that I’m supposed to sing for this demo thing?”

“Well, actually it’s whatever you want to sing, it’s up to you,”

“Hmm”

“What?”

“What do I want to sing to start with?”

“That’s for you to know and me to find out. Well there’s nothing more for me to show you today, this is practically it!” he said pulling open the door.

“Well… then I guess this is it,” she said brushing her foot across the floor

“Are you hungry?”

“Are you offering?”

“Well if you’d like me to I will!” he said laughing

“Then sure, I’m hungry,” she said walking past him as he held the door open.

________________________________________________________________________

“So, were do you want to eat?” he said trying to hail a cab

“Um, whatever,” she shrugged

“Well, you’re from here I’m not so you tell me where you wanna eat?”

“Well as I can see, you’re not from here cause you’re hailing a cab all wrong!” she said laughing and sticking her fingers in her mouth, she let out a loud whistle and in a matter of two seconds a cab pulled up next to them.

“Now, let me take you to the best Italian place in the world!” she said opening the cab door

“How did you do that? How’d they even hear you?”

“I don’t know they got like whistle radar!” she said laughing

“I doubt it; I think they got pretty girl radar,” he said grinning to himself, “where are we going again?”

“There’s this Italian place in Little Italy, they make the best Italian food in the world!”

The cab dropped them off at a little restaurant between a deli and a bakery. There were little tables outside with red and white table cloths. In the restaurant it looked like a scene from an old Mafia movie, the tables were covered with the same table cloths as the ones outside; there were bottles of olive oil and bread on ever table. Behind the counter there was a little fat Italian lady, with coal black hair and beautiful olive skin. She was yelling in Italian to the guys in the back, and when she saw Meg, her face lit up

“Meg, la mia bella come la sono?” she said holding her face between her hands

“Sono bella, we’ve come to eat your fabulous special,” Said Meg.

“Tony, buono, buono due digiuno speciale,” she said yelling over at her son in the back and pointed them to a table in the corner.

“What did she say?” AJ asked

“Oh she asked me how I was, and then I told her that we came for the special,” she said folding her napkin over her lap

“That’s all she said?” he said lifting his eyebrow

“Well basically, then there was some yelling at Tony to hurry up with the order!” she said laughing

“Were did you learn to speak like that?”

“I don’t remember I’ve been talking Italian sense I was a little girl, my grandmother was from Italy. She never learned to speak proper English, but some how she always knew what we we’re saying! Mrs. Viscardi knew my grandmother, my grandmother practically raised her. She was an orphan sent over to America. My grandmother met her over there and came to New York with her. Mrs. Vicardi was only six at the time and my grandmother was in her teens. Anyway that’s the story.”

“Oh, so are you from New York?”

“No, my mother is and her family but I was born and raised in North Carolina. My dad comes from old southern money, he’s also a lawyer. He met my mother when he came to New York one spring and then they ran off together. I’d spend the summers with my grandmother; I always loved New York so when I turned eighteen I packed my bags and moved.”

“Is your grandmother still alive”? AJ asked breaking off a piece of bread

“No, she died the year I came here. I’ve been alone in the city ever sense.”

The little Italian woman came wobbling to their table with two huge bowls of spaghetti

“Mangiare, Mangiare,” Mrs. Viscardi said as she set them down

“What does that mean,” AJ asked leaning into the table

“It means eat!” Meg said reaching for her fork
________________________________________________________________________

"My lord! That was delicious!" he said leaning back in his chair

"Mmm,"

"I feel like a need to run a marathon after all that!"

"Better yet I know were a race track is!" she said leaning back in her chair

"So what do you do for a living Meg?" he said pushing his plate to the side for Mrs. Viscardi to pickup.

"Well, it depends on what day of the week it is. From Thursday to Monday I'm a waitress at a five star restaurant, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday I usually help out my friends with their store, or do nothing at all."

"When do you sing?"

"In the shower," she said dryly, "whenever I get a gig, sometimes I can go months without one, but then there are times when one gig can pay for a whole month of living."

"Sounds like a real life to me."

"Ha! I don't know if it's a real life, but it's my life."

"I wish I had that."

"You wish you lived paycheck to paycheck and in a rundown apartment with a land lord named Guss with two S's? What did you smoke this morning?" she said eyeing him

"Yes, that's what I'd like I guess, I've never had that. I’ve never been a regular Joe; I've never had to… struggle, I guess is what I'm trying to say."

"Then you're lucky."

"Really, God my life isn't reality; I can't just walk into McDonalds without a team of bodyguards. Sometimes it seems I can't even take a piss without someone looking over my shoulder. It starts getting you. You're not you anymore, you're what they want you to be, and you’re what they think you should be. You tend to lose yourself."

"Is that what happened to you? Who's the real AJ?" she said pouring wine into her glass

"It's been so long; I can't even remember who I am."

"Then I guess we have to help you find yourself."

"We?" he said looking up at her

"Oh, I mean you." she said turning a shade of pink

"We didn't sound that bad to me."

Meg started to laugh; "We've known each other all of five minutes,"

"Well in that case, it's been the best five minutes of my life so far,” he said with his lips curled up.

"Wow, I didn't realize I was that good! Give me a week and you'll be a changed man," she said winking at him

"Is that a promise?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

Meg arched her brow, "What do you mean?"

"Meg, I've never met anyone like you, you don't know me, so there for you can't expect anything from me and then be let down when it's not me. I'll make you a deal; I'll help you with your demo, whatever you want I'll do if you give me a week."

"You're not an ax murderer are you?" she said slanting her eyes

"No, I might be a lot of things but that's not one of them!" he said laughing

"Alright, on one condition,"

"Shoot."

"You have to sing to me."

"What?" he said with a confused look on his face

"There will come a day when I ask you to sing to me, and I have to warn you it may be in the middle of Central Park, but whenever, wherever you have to!"

"Then it's a deal,” he said smirking

"It's a deal,” she said reaching out for his hand to shake. "Now I hate to run this party short. But I have to go to work," she said standing up from her chair and wrapping her scarf around her neck

"Will I see you tomorrow?" she said picking up her purse

"Of course, when do you want to meet?" he said helping her with her coat.

"Afternoon, I have something to do with a friend, but after that I'm free."

"Then it's a date."