Stay B-Side Me

ARTIST: Camilo

The bright stage lights flashed in my eyes, blinding me for half a second. The crowd's deafening shouts were all I could here before our drummer's countdown began and I hit the chords on my guitar. The enticing sound of our instruments playing in harmony was everywhere. Our music. Everywhere. Everybody in this stadium was listening to us play, and they were loving it. Wherever I looked, it was adoring fans, just staring at us in awe. We did it. We made our debut

As we played the last measure of the song me and Kenzie had spent hours composing, the crowd began chanting the band name. I was smiling so hard I thought I'd cry. I turned to find my girlfriend with a similar expression on her face. The lights cut out and she ran to me and wrapped her arms around me in a thick, warm embrace. We stood there for what felt like hours before the rest of the band joined.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

"Can I have a cheeseburger..." Jaiden scanned the menu once again before continuing to the waitress. We had just finished playing at the venue and were now celebrating by eating at the nearby cafeteria. "Ooh and I want to try the cheese fries please..." I pulled the menu away from him and grinned. "You're not going to die of starvation, Jaiden. Let Charis order now," I said as I passed her the menu. She scrunched up her nose before shaking her head in dismissal. "I ate before the concert, thanks though. I frowned. "Come on, babe," I said softly, "there's no way you're not hungry after all that... bass... playing?" She laughed, but didn't take the menu. "I'm okay, baby. I swear," she said. I didn't miss the way she ran her fingers through her hair after saying that. She only played with her hair when she was uncomfortable. My smile faded as I gave the menu to Kenzie.

A few minutes had passed as I headed to the restroom of the venue. As I opened the bathroom door, a familiar man was just about to exit. He looked at me a bit too long before grinning. "You must be Camilo, from Planet... gah?" I chuckled at the way he said our name. Our band name was Planet-gA, pronounced gay, but people tended to get that wrong. "That's gA," I responded. "Have we met? You look familiar..."

The man pulled out a business card and showed it to me. It read Nick-E Records at the top and my skin froze. Nick-E Records. As in, one of the highest ranking music production companies in the region. It was founded a couple of years ago by the daughter of Taylor Swift, Nicole Walters. I then remembered the man in front of me, as the Nick-E recruiter who'd introduced himself to us before the performance. "Oh!" I remarked, "You're the gentleman from Nick-E." I read his name. "Vincent Rabishane?" "You can call me Vincent." He requested. "Hey, you guys' performance was amazing, seriously. With some work, I could recommend you to the head producers, who knows..."

I forgot how to breath for half a second. "Wh-what? You're serious?" I stuttered. This was a big deal. Like, huge. If Planet-gA got scouted by Nick-E, everyone would know our name. "Of course, with some improvement, that is. Hey, how about this. Nick-E has a small event in which artists can attend, any artists really. It's similar to a survival show. Winners re-debut under the company. I can give you some more information, but I'll need you to accept to the terms of joining."

Nick-E accepting amateur artists? This was unheard of. "I do need to get going, though," Vincent checked his watch, "If you would like to participate, today is the last day I can scout." I thought back on the band. On how we started making music in middle school. I thought about my dreams of being as big an artist as Justin Bieber, or Shawn Mendez. I thought about the hours we spent practicing, just to make our first song. I couldn't miss this opportunity, not with how hard we all had worked.

My heart was pounding in my ears as Vincent opened the form on his tablet. "You can read this and sign at the bottom," I read through the form, but all I could think of was how amazing this was. I was pretty sure even Vincent could hear my heartbeat at this point. My finger moved in the slow motion of my signature as I signed it. This was it, this was the moment we'd been waiting for since the moment we picked up our instruments. I was not going to throw it away.