You Can Find Me In The Space Between

Chapter Fifteen

"Don't start don't start! I'm coming!!" Carrie yelled out to Julie as she ran into the living room with a big bowl of popcorn. Julie had gotten the sense that Carrie was a little hurt that she hadn't been involved in the plan to find Alex, so Julie had promised Carrie they wouldn't watch any of the videos without her. Julie had suggested that Flynn take a first look at the videos to quickly weed out the bad ones. Julie knew Pete and Benji would just be scrutinizing the drummers to see if Alex might be one of them. And this way, the whole band could watch them together for the first time. Plus Carrie. And then obviously Carlos and Ray too. It was like their own personal American Idol, and Flynn was their Ryan Seacrest.

Their routine had been to watch all of the best recent audition tapes every Friday night. Pete hadn't been sure at first whether or not they should trust Flynn's ear, but Julie reminded him there was a reason why Flynn was in the music program. She had a great ear. Pete officially had taken back his hesitation after the first Friday viewing. Plus, in true Idol form, she also included some truly horrible videos just to bring a little laughter. They had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of videos that had been sent within the first 24 hours. It had now been over a month, and they had probably watched around 100 videos as a group – but Flynn had seen thousands! She would typically only watch the first 20 seconds, but that adds up fast. Tonight was their last night. They had given themselves 5 weeks, and rationalized that if they didn't find him by then, they would have to find a different strategy.

In honour of it being the final viewing party, Flynn stood up to give a recap of the best videos so far before introducing the next batch. Each applicant was supposed to send a short a little blurb about themselves along with their 3 minute audition tape. The first video was definitely one of the funny ones – they had a very professional introduction, and then the film showed a 2 year old playing on a Fisher Price drum. Definitely not Alex (they decided he would come back as a teenager – it was the only way to stay optimistic), but a dang cute kid all the same.

They continued watching the videos; some good, some bad. Pete took it very seriously and would make notes on each of the drummers, Julie was surprised at first till she remembered how passionate he was about their band and Alex. Benji, on the other hand, insisted that every single drummer had to be Alex. Especially if they were blonde, tall, or wearing pink. One time, there was a girl named Alexandra and Reggie just about lost his mind.

"Okay – next one up... Oh I remember this one! Get this, so this guy didn't even send in his application, but his friend? girlfriend? some girl, sent it in for him. I guess she was sneakily recording him. Check it out though, she even sent the cutest note," Flynn said before a beautiful girl with long red hair filled the screen.

"Wow," Benji said softly under his breath with practical heart eyes.

Pete leaned over, and whispered into Benji's ear. "What happened to that girl from the dog shelter?"

"She moved on. In fairness, I ghosted on her. See what I did there? It's something the youths say," Benji said without taking his eyes off the screen.

Hello Julie!

My name is Fiona, but I'm actually submitting this for my mate. Nate... well he's had a bit of trouble in his life, but he's recently become quite proper on the drums and we don't even think he's had any formal training. I think he was too anxious to send in his own video, like he didn't want to get rejected so he didn't even want to try. So yeah, I filmed him while he wasn't watching just so you could hear how great he is. Sorry you can't really see his face, but I'm promise you, he's fit. He's always breaking gal's hearts when he tells them he's not interested. Right, so I think you should give Nate a try, I'd miss him terribly, but I've always wanted to go to California, so maybe this will be my excuse?

Cheers!

"So... do you think when she says that she's his mate, and how he turns other girls down, and how she'd miss him... they're totally dating right?" Carlos asked.

"Carlos, I think she just means that he's her friend and she'd miss her friend if he moved away," Ray suggested. Benji's face lit up with a smile at Ray's words, though only Pete noticed, and patted his friend on the shoulder.

A moment later, the screen changed

The profile of a young man wailing on the drums with a huge smile on his face. He had a slight sheen to his forehead and his arms moved in coordination as if it was a dance, and yet he looked as if he was doing nothing more than simply drumming his fingers on a desk. Skill wise, he was on par with some of the other applicants, and there were others still who were more impressive. But the band made eye contact with each other and they silently agreed to add Nate to the short list.

By the end of the night, Julie, Pete, and Benji had finalized their list. From all 5 weeks, they had agreed on 7 different drummers. Benji had suggested they also fly out Fiona, as an emotional support person, but Pete put his foot down saying they weren't going to fly a girl out just so Benji could flirt with her.

***

Nate was reading through his economics textbook when Fiona all of a sudden muttered 'shut up' beside him. "I didn't say anything Fi. We're not allowed to talk in the lib-" Nate began before Fiona jumped up and started screaming. Nate looked around as he saw everyone giving them dirty looks. "Sit. Down." Nate said through gritted teeth. When Fiona didn't move, Nate grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. "Seriously. What is going on?!"

"Okay... so um, you remember how I told you that band was holding drum auditions?" Fiona tentatively asked. Nate skeptically nodded. "Okay... well don't freak out or anything, but I may have sent a video in. And... um... well... THEY WANT TO MEET YOU!" Fiona wasn't sure what she had anticipated Nate's reaction to be, but it certainly wasn't this. "Why aren't you smiling? This is amazing? You look constipated."

Nate didn't think he looked constipated, but he chose to overlook the comment. "Fi. I told you I didn't want to apply," Nate said while groaning.

"And I get that," Fi replied. "But they want you to come out anyway. Nate, this is huge. They are only bringing out 7 drummers. Out of everyone who replied, they want you come out. Come on Nate! You know this band is a big deal – it was the first thing to snap you out of your fugue. Plus, do you really want me to write back and say you actually don't want to get a free flight to America, and hang out with rock stars? Because if you really really want that, I'll do it. Even though you'll obviously regret it for the rest of your life," Fiona finished, nudging his arm with her shoulder.

Nate gave an exaggerated sigh but he couldn't contain the smile on his lips. "Did they really say they want me to come out?"

"Were you not listening to me Dumbo? YES! They want to meet you!"

"I wish you could come too. How am I supposed to do this without you? You're my best friend, Fi!"

"Correction, I am your only friend. And do you really think as your only friend I would let you go alone? Heck no!" Fiona said while laughing. She suddenly got a bit of a shy look on her face. "Plus, I may have actually already booked my flight before they sent the email, and you're not going to make me go alone. Right?"

"Why would you book your flight before you even found out that I was going to go?!" Nate asked incredulously.

Fiona got a serious look on her face. "Rinehart, you may not see how great you are, but I do. And if they didn't pick you, well then I was just going to go and give them a firm talking to because, obviously, they'd have to be crazy to not even give you a shot!" Fiona grabbed Nate's hand and dragged him back into the library. "Now c'mon! We need to grab our books and head back to pack. We leave next week!"

"Focus on the step in front of you, and not the whole staircase."