The Leading Man (Multiband Fan Fic)

Chapter 4 - Janie's Got A Gun

Katie's P.O.V

"Jon Bon Jovi?" I looked at Dylan, as Vince went with the gov, and Alec let some girl in.
"Alec, man! Naw chicks! Audition..." Stevie complained.
"Not a chick! Vince's girlfriend. Sorry about that. Grab a seat..." Alec turned from my cousin to this almost Madonna look-a-like.
"What-cha reckon then?" Dylan asked me, Eddie and Stevie coming over to the soundboard.
Eddie sat on my left, then Stevie on my right, with Dylan on his right.

"He looks like Jon Bon Jovi!" I said, as the gov showed the guy into the recording room.
He pointed out the mic, doing the usual routine. "Grab some headphones off the wall, if they don't work for you, try another pair. All mics are in full working condition, what we want from you is a song of your choice, blah, blah, blah..."

"He looks the part..." Eddie spoke up.
"Hey, girlfriend. How old is he?" Dylan looked back at the girlfriend.
Alec was sat where Eddie was sat, Maria next to him, then Kirk, then the girlfriend.
"My name's Marie." She smiled, placing a hand over her heart.
It took all I had not to eye roll.
"We're both twenty one. His birthday was in May." She told us.
"OK..." I nodded, turning around to the guy. "He looks more like a Vinnie..."
"Everyone looks like someone else to you, Monroe!" Alec laughed.
We all laughed, Eddie throwing a pen at him.

"Weh noh talkin' abou' her, though... She has teh same name as Maria..." Stevie scratched his head with his drumsticks.
"Oh shit!" I looked to Eddie.
"It's Marie. Not Maria." The girlfriend spoke up.
Eddie shrugged at me, and we saw the gov coming back.

"Katie, write it all down. You've seen loads of guys. He wasn't on the list." Kirk pointed out, a glass of vodka in his hand. He and Dylan lay out all the drinks we had on the small coffee table.
"Alec, pen!" Eddie called out.
Alec tossed the pen back, hitting the glass with it.
We four smiled at Vinnie, Eddie grabbing the pen, as Vinnie saw the pen throwing.
The gov walked in and Eddie started writing on some music paper, that was left next to him.

"Vince... What?" Eddie asked, looking back.
"Morgan!" The girlfriend told him.
"Vinnie. I like Vinnie better." I sat back, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Christ, Monroe." The gov laughed, taking a stand besides Eddie.
We only had four chairs for the desk, which was pretty mad really, but worked for us, like for right now.

"OK, Vinnie." Dylan spoke into the mic.
"Hey!" He replied, speaking into the mic. He adjusted the headphones on his head and smiled at us.
"So, the gov should of told you... One song, any song of your choice. What will it be? We can provide..." Dylan asked him.
"Considering he just showed up here... He already scored points for me." Eddie whispered to me.
"Me too." I nodded. That took balls for him. No one was supposed to audition today.
"Uh... I guess 'Janie's Got a Gun'... If that's OK?" He thought about it.
"I'll allow." I nodded to Dylan. It was cringy when people came in singing either one of our songs, or an Aerosmith, but there was something about this guy...
"Go ahead. In your own time..." Dylan gave him the OK.

The gov fixed it up, grabbing the Pump album, placing into the speaker and jumping to the track.
The album was Stevie's, bringing it to the studio with him, as something for background, as we didn't have much to work with. We were just going to explore the new sound today.

Vinnie nodded and cleared his throat, telling us he was ready. The opening notes filled the room.
Fair enough, he didn't do the 'Dum Dum Dum' parts. We want to hear his voice.
He looked a bit nervous, his eyes darting from Eddie, to me, to Stevie, to Dylan.
He missed his cue. Gov stopped the music.
"You, uh... Missed your cue there, mate." Dylan spoke to him.
"Yeah, sorry! Can we start that again?" He asked, motioning for a re-run, with his hands.
Dylan looked to me. I nodded at him.
"Alright, just don't miss it this time." Dylan told him.

He leaned back from the mic, taking his finger off the button.
He looked at me, I looked at him. If you can read my mind right now, Dylan... There's something about this guy.
"Come on, baby..." His girlfriend whispered, as the song started again.
I heard Kirk pour a drink for her, sending it her way. 'Dutch courage' I believe they call it...

As the intro rang out, we all sat watching him carefully. He was different from everyone else who auditioned, but I couldn't pin point how he was different.
We all stayed still. No one moved a muscle.
Vinnie looked at his girlfriend, then nodded to himself.
"Janie's got a gun" He was in.
"Janie's got a gun
Her whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun"
I sat up.

"What did her daddy do?
What did he put you through?
They said when Janie was arrested"
He placed a hand on his headphones, really feeling the music.

"They found him underneath a traaaain
But man, he had it comin'
Now that Janie's got a gun
She ain't never gonna be the saaa-aaa-aaa-ame!"
His voice cried out, his eyes closed.

The gov stopped the music, catching Vince off guard.
Eddie stood up and walked behind Stevie, so we could huddle.
"You heard that, right?" Eddie asked.
"He can sing." I looked at Dylan.
"Is he what we want though?" Dylan asked.
"I lieh 'im. We haven' heard en'one sing lieh thah." Stevie pointed out.
"Gov!" Dylan motioned him over.
Gov stood behind me, on Eddie's right.
"Reckon he can do it?" Dylan asked.
"He's got great potential. Looks, moves, hair... He's a singer. Sure, not professional, but it can work." Gov replied.

Dylan nodded and we broke up.
Gov and Eddie taking back their places.
The guy was stood at the mic, trying to work out what we were saying. I'll bet anything, he looked to the girlfriend for answers.

"So?" Dylan asked.
Eddie gave his approval.
I gave a discreet nod.
Stevie looked from the guy, to Dylan. He gave his nod.
Dylan licked his lips and looked at me.
"All of us, or none of us." I reminded him.
He placed a finger on the button and approached the mic.
"Do you want the gig then, or not?" He asked the guy.
Vinnie looked at us and smiled brightly. "Holy shit! Yes!" He beamed.
The girlfriend squealed.
We all sat at ease and Dylan asked our singer to come back into this room.

"Where's the coffee?" I turned back to Alec.
"I'll go check." He got up, leaving the room.
Kirk had his feet up on the table, smiling at me.
I shrugged at him and turned to Billie. "Can you tell Joe?" I asked her.
"Why can't you?" She smiled at me, sitting up right.
"'Cause we've just entered the process of making our next album." I shot back at her, my sass coming on hot.
"OK, OK..." She smiled at me, nodding.
Vince walked into the room and smiled at us, his girlfriend jumping up, hugging his neck and kissing his cheek.
He put a hand around her waist, to keep them both balanced.

"So, Vinnie-"
"Vince!" The girlfriend corrected Dylan.
"Whatever." He looked her in the eye. Same ol' Dylan.
"You'll have to go with the gov to sign your contract, then we're straight into making this album. We'll need you around, so where do you live?" Dylan asked him.
"New Jersey." Vince looked at us.
"Holy shit... Isn't that four hours away?" I looked to Stevie, the smart one.
"Less thah. Ov'r three." He looked at me.
"OK... Maybe go home, tell whoever you need to tell, then get your ass back up here by the day after tomorrow. We mean it. We really need you here, man." Dylan told him.
"Yeah, I got it." Vince gave us his word.