Little Drummer Boy

Sticks and Stones

    After composing myself, I walked out of the bathroom and back into the room filled with 50 or so girls just like me, hoping that this gig will be their big break.

    This is going to take forever, I thought. But it's part of the job I guess.

    I walked around the room, trying to pass time (also because someone had taken my seat while I was gone). Every once in a while a girl would walk out of the audition room, some crying and others looking confident as ever, then they would call someone else's name and that person would go in.

    As I paced the room, I came across a flyer that looked similar the the add I saw on the Billboard earlier. It was for a band named Sticks and Stones. As I glanced at the flyer, an Asian girl with black hair pulled into a high ponytail approached me.

    "Ugh, I love them," she said. "Isn't the drummer so cute?

    "Mhm," I replied, not really interested in this conversation.

    But she continued anyway. "I think his name his Vince? Oh! And the guitarist-"

    "Wait, what?"

    "Yeah, Vince Diono," she repeated. "I'm surprised you've never heard of them. Their ads are like everywhere since they're performing down here all next week. Everyone's saying that Sticks and Stones is going to be the next big thing. I keep trying to get tickets but my boss wants me to work the night shift next week and then my friends-"

    She continued to ramble but I wasn't listening. I stared at the drummer on the flyer and my theories from when I first saw the billboard were confirmed. Butterflies filled my stomach and a slight dizziness took over my head.

    But I was snapped out of my trance when I heard, "Raelynn Monroe?" called from the audition room.

    That's me, I thought.

    "That's me," I said.

    "Well go!" said the girl with a smile as she nudged me toward the room. I was so distraught that I forgot how to walk for a second (I heard Cassidy say "amature") but I figured it out halfway to the room. "I'm Kyla by the way!" The she called after me.

     "I'll see you around!" I called back with a nervous smile just before I entered the room.
. . . . . . . . . . . .

    It was around evening time as I walked down 5th and 3rd street after my audition, but I still made sure I called Luna to tell her how it went and what they said, ("Symmetrical face," "Young features," "Simple yet divine figure," "Put her in the purple maxi," "Walk for me!") but more importantly, I told her what I saw.

    "OMG! Raelynn you should totally call him!" she exclaimed through the phone.

    "Why would I do that?" I asked as I crossed the street.

    "Because you don't know how much longer he'll be in the city!"

    "And?"

    "AND YOU NEED TO GET TOGETHER WITH HIM BECAUSE THIS IS FATE!" she yelled. I could feel her agitation shaking the phone.

    "Luna, that's ridiculous," I dismissed.

    "You two were obviously meant to be! I saw the way you used to look at each other. And then you were separated, a tragic event, but now you're back together again! It's like a romcom!"

    "Forget it, Luna," I said. "We both have our own lives now."

    "You can't possibly tell me you haven't thought about Vince," she argued. Of course I thought about Vince. But at the same time it was like I forgot he existed. I haven't seen him in so long that it's like he became nothing but a figment of my imagination—a distant mirage. "You're silence confirms it."

    "Okay, so I've thought about him," I admitted. "But it doesn't matter. I bet he's forgotten all about me anyway-"

    Just as I said that, I tripped over the uneven sidewalk and began to fall. But as if it were in slow motion, I was spun around and caught just before I hit the ground.

    I closed my eyes and opened them to be faced with brown hair, freckles, and familiar blue eyes. His pinkish lips spread into a smile.

    "Hey Raelynn."