The Music Between Us

6

The following Thursday, as the three of them prepared to perform their set – a mixture of popular covers and a couple of original songs – Chic marched over to Jackson, a clipboard with a single sheet of paper in hand. 'Jackson, announce this before you begin tonight,' was all he said before Jackson took the clipboard from him and Chic walked back to the counter. Jackson skimmed through the slip of paper before turning to Gunnar and Willow, his eyebrows raised amusedly.

'Holy shit, look at this,' Jackson whispered to them. Gunnar had been setting up the speaker stands while Willow tuned the guitars. They shuffled quickly over to him as they read the sheet:

THURSDAY NIGHTS @ CHIC'S CAFÉ!

Weekly open mic competition with prizes.

2nd place - $200 cash

1st place – opening act for SHANIA TWAIN on tour (Nashville dates ONLY!)

See Chic to enter

Good luck! 

The three of them immediately looked between each other, the same shocked expressions on their faces. Willow almost staggered back but caught herself. Gunnar simply froze while Jackson darted off in Chic's direction. He waved the clipboard at Chic excitedly. 'When were you gonna tell us about this?', he asked. Chic took a quick glance between him and the clipboard before turning his attention back to counting the money from the register.

Chic sighed deeply, 'God knows why I even agreed to it. Or my wife, should I say? She received the email and accepted.' Not really a response, Jackson supposed, but more to add to the surprise and confusion.

'Wait, you've got a wife?' Jackson knew it came out rudely, but in all the years he'd worked for Chic, he'd never mentioned anything related to a private life. All he spoke about was café, café, café, money, money, money.

Chic clearly didn't like Jackson's tone as he narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at him. 'Watch it, Davis,' he growled. Jackson held up his hands in an attempt to ask for mercy. Chic went back to counting money as he mumbled, 'I take it you want to enter.'

Jackson merely blinked at the man, who lifted his eyes quickly to meet his stare. Chic groaned, then grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, handing them to Jackson. A sign-up sheet. Jackson quickly added his name alongside Willow and Gunnar then handed the sheet back to Chic.

Jackson smirked and swaggered back to where Gunnar and Willow were almost finished setting up. 'Well, well, well,' Jackson easily got their attention, 'guess who just added our names to the competition sign-up sheet?'

Willow's head instantly shot up as she accidentally dropped a microphone, earning a dent in the shield. 'W-What? Oh my God, oh my God!' Her heart fluttered, both excitement and terror flooding her senses as she imagined a scenario where they opened for the living legend, Shania Twain. Then came the less glamorous image of her totally fucking everything up on stage. She knew which one was the most realistic.

Gunnar grabbed his brother, squeezing him in a bear hug as they high fived, while Willow stood frozen. The two of them swapped glances at each other then back to her. 'Willow,' Jackson spoke in a sing-song manner, trying to snap her out of her wild thoughts, 'Willow... are you in the room with us?'

She snapped out of it, tried to smile normally. 'Yeah, y-yeah, I, uh...', she breathed.

'Look,' Gunnar stepped toward her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently shaking her, 'we'll be fine. We don't need to win, or place. Just think of it as a fun little competition... No, actually, think of it as the same shit we do every Thursday.'