A Bitter Cinderella Story [Tom Keifer/Nikki Sixx fanfic]

Chapter 4: The Contract

There was not much else to say about their last day in Los Angeles, but suffice to say the boys had enjoyed their weekend. Once Monday rolled around, and they were back to their low-paying shitty jobs, everyone had a new perspective about what signing with Euphoria could actually mean. If they received the call. 

It was Wednesday when it came. Callum had great news, Euphoria wanted to sign them. 

"Do you have a fax machine or access to one?" Cal inquired over the phone, he wanted to send them the contract immediately for them to read. 

Shit this was happening all too fast. Tom needed to call the guys, discuss this, look over the contract before they even came close to accepting and committing. 

"Uh no." 

After some in depth scouring of the local phone book, Tom found a local post office that had a fax to use by the public. He promised to return Cal's call from the post office so he could fax the documents over. 

Over an hour later, freshly printed, Tom had the contract in his hands. It had over thirty-some pages full of legal jargon that was very hard to decipher. The band was called, and met over at Tom and Eric's place. 

"Is this even in English?" Jeff snorted slamming down the last page down. 

"They do this on purpose for anyone unfamiliar with these legal terms so they can hide shit," Fred pointed out. 

He paused thinking about something, "I could ask my dad for a favor, he has contacts that deal in law, and business stuff." 

"I thought you weren't on good speaking terms with your parents," Eric stated. 

"Eh not really. I mean they're still pissed I threw my future away, according to them. They just don't understand but maybe if they see a massive record label like Euphoria wants to sign us, that I can make this a viable career maybe they'll come around." 

"I mean yeah we have to have someone look this over, can you try Fred?" Tom was pacing the room. 

He didn't want to sign everything he worked so hard, they worked so hard on to be taken advantage by some greedy multi-million dollar company. At least not without some checks and balances that ensured they got a decent deal out of the whole arrangement. A part of him still wanted to rip that contract up, he wasn't a sell-out, but how long could they move between the Empire Rock club, the Electric Factory, Club Pizazz, and a couple more that actually booked them regularly. Traveling out of Philly was expensive, meaning the gigs they played outside the city barely covered travel costs, gas, motels...it just wasn't viable in the long run. 

It was music, or working a dead-end shitty job. Jeff and Fred had family connections to fall back on, but Tom, with his dreadful high school transcript would never be able to even access community college unless he spent time upgrading. Unlike his parents, he didn't want to teach, or be locked in an office all day, five days a week, that depressed him. Someone had suggested modeling to him, but well, that route was fraught with other issues. 

Fred made a call to his parents, it was long, and everyone could tell Fred was rather tense during the entirety of the call but he finally gave everyone a thumbs up. His father worked for one of the biggest energy companies around. His parents were Lebanese expats, arriving during the mid-60s, a time of tumultuous change but with hope. Civil right movements were sweeping the country and much of the world. His father as an engineer moved the family around until 1970, made their home in Philly. His brother came over too in 1971, settling in California then L.A just before the devasting economic crash of 1972. The country still had not recovered, and for most, became even worst.