can i lay by your side|corbyn besson

3

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" I ask a man on the bus. He shakes his head and I sit beside him.

Yesterday, I had responded to David telling him I'd love to meet with him and the band. He had given me the address so now I'm on my way to their house. Alhambra is about 18 minutes away from LA and I don't have a car so I took the bus. I had to bring my guitar and backpack of my belongings because the street obviously isn't a safe place to leave things.

I have enough money from my three jobs to get a whole night in a lovely motel. Lovely meaning shitty, by the way. At least it will be better than the street.

When we reach my stop, most of the people pile of the bus onto the busy LA sidewalk. I walk for a few minutes to the motel and check myself in.

I leave my guitar and bag on the bed. I don't want to be gross when I'm meeting the band so I take a quick shower. The warm water makes me smile as I wash my hair.

I turn off the water and walk out to the small room to change.

I pick out my loose, dark purple t-shirt, black jean shorts, and black leggings and change quickly before slipping on my all black vans hightops.

I dry my hair and leave it down to dry on my way there. Finally, I walk out of the room and start walking.

Oh wait! I forgot my makeup!

I bite the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from busting out laughing. Yeah fucking right. You can wear as much makeup as you want but I don't and never will like makeup.

I looked up the house on my laptop before I left and memorized the way from the motel to their house. The walk is only about twenty minutes and as mother always said, I'm young and spritely, so I use the sidewalk.

I got bored quickly so I started kicking rocks on the way there. I hit a bunch of people's feet so the word 'sorry' was used many times.

When I finally reach the house, I look up the long ass driveway. Well then...

After a few more minutes of walking up the dumb driveway, (that's right, I called it dumb) I reach the front door and ring the doorbell. I smooth out my shirt before a man opens the door. The man looks a little older and I have a slight suspicion that it's David.

"Max, it's nice to meet you." He shakes my hand and lets me step in. "I'm David, the boys are in living room. I hope you got here alright." He smiles and I follow him further into the home.

"Of course. LA traffic was better than I expected." I respond nervously.

"Really? I can never get anywhere around here." We laugh together and I can't help but look around for a second. I have never lived anywhere bigger than an apartment but this house was something else.

"Max, these are the boys. Jonah, Corbyn, Daniel, Zach, and Jack." David gestures to the five boys on the couch. Each one waves or says a hello and I smile back.

"Hi." I say, simply.

"C'mon, sit down." He says and I do just that. "I would assume that you're familiar with the music." He questions.

"I've listened to a few songs and covers of yours." I state, smiling nervously. I forgot how awkward I am in interviews, if you could even call this an interview. I forgot how awkward I am in any situation. I don't know if I made the right outfit choice. I wasn't showing anything off but I look too dark. I wouldn't want the pop scene to change me but I still feel like a should've worn something a little more colorful.

"What do you think?" One of the boys asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. I look over from David to Corbyn.

"What?" I ask, my eyes growing slightly wider. God, Max, you heard him. The boys smile, they weren't mocking me but just smiling nicely.

"Hey, relax a little bit. We're not going to throw you out if you breathe wrong or anything." I smile back at him and start to calm down a little bit. Corbyn seems nice. I mean they all seem nice but I haven't to to the others. But these boys are my age, I shouldn't be so nervous. "I asked about your thoughts on our music." He smiles.

"I thought it really good, different from most pop bands that I've heard." I answer.

"I realized you might be a bit out of your comfort zone with this kind of music. We found you on YouTube and I noticed you cover much more rock, or at least songs that are a bit heavier." David says what I've been thinking this whole time.

"Well, yeah. I guess I don't listen to much but it think I can work with either genre." My hands are shaking and I mentally scold them for it. I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous. They told me not to be. Calm the hell down, Max.

"No, actually we love the way you sing." Daniel speaks up. "You have a raspier, more rock n' roll tone and we thought it that not only could you bring a female voice, but maybe change the style a bit." I smile again.

"Right. I told you we wanted a female singer but the ones we saw before are just girls who WANT to sing but just... can't. Your covers on YouTube are authentic." David adds.

"How can you tell they're authentic?" Really? Now's the time to ask questions, Max? David looks slightly taken back but not offended, thank God.

"Well, it's easy to pick out the ones that are technologically enhanced. Something told me you don't do that. Unless I'm mistaken." He raises and eyebrow and challenges me. I panic and immediately answer.

"No, I wouldn't-"

"Why don't you play us something? Show us if you don't mind." He asks. My eyes widen at the sudden request.

"Uh- yeah sure." I try to sound confident but I almost sound confused.

"What do you play?" Daniel asks.

"What do you have?" I ask quietly.

"Guitar?" I nod and he smiles and stands up. He runs upstairs and a few moments later, comes back with an acoustic guitar, similar to my own.

"Thank you." I mumble and look down. It's been a couple months since I've played but nonetheless, I begin to strum the beginning of It's a Man's Man's Man's World by James Brown(sung like Juliet Simms, though.)

I start out very nervous but this song just makes me so happy to sing. I begin to grow more confident and I find myself back in my room with my mom. The chords and notes on the guitar wash over me and I feel stronger singeing the lyrics.

Once I finish, I look up to find the boys with big smiles or with their mouths gaping open.

"You're in." David speaks up, are huge grin forming.