Fall Out Boy, and One Girl?

Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?

I woke up at my usual early time and made myself some breakfast. It was around eight, so I think it's time to send an email. I went downstairs to my studio and turned on some music before hopping on my studio laptop.

Dear Fall Out Boy;

Hello! My name is AJ and I'm thirty years old. I saw your advertisement on how you needed another member, and not to boast, but I can play almost any Fall Out Boy song on any of the instruments you've had on your stage in the past fifteen years. Yes, including tambourine. If you need a back-up vocalist, or even a lead-vocalist(sorry Patrick), I'll be happy to do so.
I've written music myself, lyrics, music and all. I've published an album myself, though nobody has heard of it because it's somewhat old. I don't mind not having attention, or having lots of attention. It's just something that I've never acknowledged and I don't really care about, I hope that doesn't matter too much.
I do hope that you'll accept me into your band, and even as a friend, maybe? Anyways, have a wonderful day.

-AJ

I reread the email before deciding it was okay to send, and sent it. I leaned back for a second, staring at the screen, and then my anxiety kicked in. What if they think I'm weird? What if they reject me because I'm a girl? Wait. Shit. I never mentioned I was a girl, let alone what gender I even was. I put my head in my hands and groaned. I slammed my laptop shut and went to my recording room. I selected Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia) by Patrick Stump, put on my headphones, and hopped in the booth. I started singing along with Patrick's voice and felt all my anxiety fade away. Halfway through the song I'm dancing and smiling, my anxiety is gone. I finish the song, and move on to the next, and the next, and the next. I finish his album and decide it's time for a break. I hop back on my computer and scroll through twitter when I see a little red box by my email icon. I suddenly feel a rush of a mix of feelings. Excitement? Surprise? ANXIETY?! Yeah, that. I open up my inbox and sure enough there's an email from Fall Out Boy. i open it up and it's a letter of happiness. They'd be happy to let me join as long as I talked to Pete and Patrick. They sent me a Skype username and I couldn't help but laugh. FallingoftheOutdoorMen. I was crying while laughing. I opened up Skype and while it was loading, I turned on some jazz, not too loud, but not too quiet. I logged on to my account, which was quite subtle compared to theirs, AJae is what I chose. I typed in their name and requested a video chat. They accepted and two happy faces appeared on screen. Those of Pete Wentz's and Patrick Stump's. I smiled and waved at the two men. They both stared for a second before waving and smiling back. "Are you AJ?" Patrick asked. "Yeah, are you Patrick and Pete?" I joked. They both laughed. "So you can play any instrument, huh?" Pete asked. "Well, any percussive instrument. The oddities are saxophone, bassoon, and any orchestral string instrument." I listed. Patrick's eyes widened. "That might be more than me." He stated. "Eh, but you're still learning! I don't want to learn any other brass or woodwind instruments. I want to learn odd ones, like kalimba or mabira." I explained. "Well that's true." Pete said, looking at Patrick. "So, AJ, where do you live? i don't mean to be stalker-ish, but just for reference?" Patrick asks. "Oh, I live in Iowa. I can say for time difference I live around four hours from Wilmette." I state, "Another midwesterner! Yay!" Patrick cheers. I smile. "He's excited because all the applicants have been from the coasts." Pete comments. I nod in understanding. Patrick calms down and Pete is looking at some papers that are in front of him. It's a comfortable silence, but granted it's not silent, my music is playing in the background. If Patrick were a dog, his ears would've perked up. He looked at the screen. "Are you playing jazz?" He asks. "Yeah, Louie Armstrong, my favorite jazz musician." Pete smiles from behind his stack of papers and patrick is beaming at this discovery. Pete sets his papers down and looks blankly at the screen. He clears his throat so we settle down. "So, to put this simply, what gender are you?" He asks. There's a moment of silence before Patrick turns to Pete with this astonished look on his face. "Pete, you can't just ask someon-" Patrick starts, but before he could finish, I burst out laughing. They both look at me like two deer in front of a car. "Oh my god! That was precious! Pete, that's the first time anybody's asked me that, thank you!" I wipe tears from my eyes. He smiles. "I'm a girl, though I look and prefer to hang around guys. Heck, I grew up with two brothers who were both older than me."  I say. Patrick now seems embarrassed. "It's okay Patrick, Pete was just being polite.." I assure. He goes back to his smiley self.
"Well, AJ, let us think about this, we'll get back to you as soon as possible." Pete grinned. I waved. "Goodbye guys." I smiled. "Goodbye AJ!" Patrick said before the video ended.
I leaned back in my chair and smiled. I just talked to the Patrick Sump and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy. I laughed. That was way more laid back than I thought it would be. I closed my laptop, stopped my music, and climbed the stairs.
They might take a while, so I decided to go to the music store. I chose my motorcycle and drove to the store. I walked in and the cashier greeted me instantly.
"Hey! Ash!" He called out. "Aye Sean!" I smiled. He wrapped me in a hug. "Any new sets that I can blare it on today?" I asked, pulling my jacket tighter to me, it was cold. "Yeah, SJC sent in a new one, wanna test it?" He asked me. "Hell yes." I said. He guided me into the small room and gave me a pair of sticks. "Remember, destroy the sticks, not the set." He warned. I smiled innocently. "No promises, Sean." I say before banging the doldrums.

-DLJ