All Because of You

Chapter 14

Work was going well. People seemed to like the pictures that I modeled in, but more importantly, I was loving it and getting paid. Even knowing this, when Ricky called me down to his office, I couldn't help but freak out a little bit as my mind flew through the numerous 'what ifs'.

What if he actually secretly hates me? Oh god, I'm probably being fired, I couldn't help but think. I wasn't meeting with Ricky until my lunch break, so I spent the entire morning psyching myself out. By the time noon rolled around, I was tempted to just leave and claim that I had forgotten or maybe just go hide in Connor's office. But logically, I knew that I couldn't do that, so instead I reluctantly dragged myself to Ricky's office door and knocked hesitantly.

"Troye!" Ricky greeted me with a huge smile, ushering me quickly into his office. I smiled nervously back, trying not to let the butterflies overwhelm my stomach. Ricky, sensing my anxiety, chuckled gently as he sat down. "This is nothing bad, I promise." His words relaxed me a little, and I sat down, letting myself take a deep breath to calm down.

"Connor showed me your songs." My deep breath quickly became a sharp intake of air as I registered what he was saying. What? How? "Don't freak out, he didn't tell me it was you; I figured that out by myself. He only agreed when I asked if it was you. They're great! I didn't know you could sing like that." I felt myself begin to blush as he gushed over my music.

"Thanks," I said shyly.

"Don't thank me yet," he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I showed them to some friends of mine, and they ended up in the hands of an agent. There's a record label who's 100% interested in signing you!" Excitement and nervousness coursed through my mind, and I felt my heart twang with a range of emotions as a smile tugged at my mouth and a lump grew in my throat.

"I donno..." I muttered. "The music industry is hard and I'm not really that great, plus I don't have the same background or experience as everyone else and-"

"Do you love music?" Ricky cut me off, and I blinked at him, surprised.

"Um. What?"

"Is music your passion? Do you honestly, truly love it?"

"Yes, but-" This time, Ricky held up his hand, cutting me off and making the room fall silent.

"You're young. You're talented. You truly have a passion for music. So why not try it while you still can? If it doesn't work, who cares? You already know you can fall back on modeling. You're young, innocent, handsome... You're everything the music is and everything the music industry wants to have. Just try it." Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and exhaled, imagining all of my anxiety and fears leaving my body with my breath.

"Okay." Ricky's face immediately lit up.

"Great! I scheduled a meeting with them today at 2. That gives you enough time to get some lunch before coming back here, and I can take you there. I'll see you here at... Say... 1:25?" My head spun; everything was moving so fast. It felt like just last month, I was on the streets with no hope of ever leaving. Now, my employer at a modeling agency was helping me possibly get signed by a record label.

"Yeah," I said, dazed. "That sounds great. Thank you!" I stood up as he did and let him lead me to the door, waving over my shoulder as I left one last 'thanks' before disappearing.

I trotted happily to Connor's office space, excited to meet him for lunch and tell him the good news. Five steps away from the door, my nerves started acting up as I thought about the meeting that could drastically alter my life, for better or for worse, but as I caught sight of Connor waiting for me, I swallowed all of my fears back and let my excitement once again take control as I bounded up to him.