Spotlight Girl //a Jeremy Jordan Fanfic//

Seven: At Last We Meet

Jeremy's POV

Watching that girl sing unlocked something inside me. I don't know what exactly but, it was strong and resonated through my entire body...the emotion she conveyed through every word of the song hit hard and made my eyes well up ever so slightly.

She reminded me of someone, someone I used to know a very long time ago.

As she gets to the climax of the song, I look down at the slip of paper in my hand. Jamie Matthews.

Matthews...where had I heard that name before? I rack my brain for recognition but come up empty as the last notes of the song echoed around the room, silence falling around us. Moments went by like hours as the air lay still...then the cheers rang out, thundering into the ground as the whole crowd gave a standing ovation.

Beside myself with shock, I too stand up and cheer just as loudly as everyone else. The girl, Jamie, looks stunned, as though amazed by her own talent, and maybe more the shock of getting a standing ovation by over a thousand people on a Broadway stage!

"That...was...SPECTACULAR!" Shoshana roared from beside me, running over to Jamie and flinging her arms around her, squeezing her shoulders tightly. "I think I just lost my job!" She exclaimed, earning a ripple of laughter from the audience.

"How old are you again?" I ask, surprised at being able to speak after what I just heard.

"16." She replied, her voice shaking a little, clearly still stunned by the reaction of the audience and Shoshana's sudden outburst of praise.

"Wow..." I trail off, trying to find the words to describe the performance I just witnessed. "Just wow!" The audience lets out another wave of laughter at how dumbfounded I am and I can't help but laugh myself.

Jamie looked up at me and smiled, her eyes shining with pride and pure joy, which makes my blood run cold. Now I knew why she seemed so familiar.

Shoshana gestures for another round of applause for Jamie as she practically skips off stage and back to her seat in the stalls.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur. Performance after performance at the karaoke flitting by, I barely register everything else as I book it to my dressing room and pack up for the night, needing to get out of there as soon as I could before I had a panic attack.

Matthews...

Julia Matthews...

That's the name I was trying to remember earlier...

I hadn't thought about that name in years. Not since she wrote that last email, telling me goodbye and blocking me from her contacts...to this day I never knew why.

I remember trying desperately to get back in contact with her somehow, even tried emailing her sister...but to no avail. Every now and again she'd pop into my head and I'd wonder what might've been, but they were only fleeting moments in my day before my mind became pre occupied with something else.

That was 16 years ago...

All these thoughts crowded in my brain, causing my head to begin pounding and my skull to throb with the tension as I pull on my coat and pick up my bag, ready to leave and get some fresh air, but something stopped me.

My eyes drifted towards the piece of paper with Jamie Matthews written on it. I pick it up and clutch it tightly between my fingers. All the questions I had pushed to the back of my mind over the years suddenly came flooding back to the front, causing my head to hurt even more;

Why did Julia stop our emails?

Did something happen between us?

Was she too ashamed to let me know?