Ride or Die (Scomiche Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Big Group, Small Individuals

Scott’s POV

We all walked through crystal clear glass doors, and into a stark white room. It was a square shaped area with a white couch lined up against the wall to our left and 2 matching white chairs parallel. A blinding-colored desk was directly in front of us, and a lady who looked particularly like she had a stick up her butt was looking over her glasses at a computer behind it.

“Hi,” Mitch said meekly. The desk lady didn’t respond.

“Excuse me?” Kirstie tried as well, but she wasn’t moving.

“Hey, Kendra!” Kevin boomed, reading the women’s now visible nametag.

“Yes?” Her voice sounded eerily like Minnie Mouse’s as she looked up from her work and stared at us with a pair of cold, glass eyes.

“We’re here to see Mike Davis,” Avi’s intimidatingly low voice made Kendra sit up in her chair.

“And?” She crooned.

“Well, can you tell us where he is?” I sounded ruder than I probably should have, but this lady was driving me insane.

“5th floor, first door on your left,” Kendra snapped before turning her gaze away from us and continuing her work at the obnoxiously bright computer screen.

“Thanks, chick,” Kirstie said sarcastically, leading the group to the elevator doors slightly behind the desk.

We piled into the elevator and Avi lit up the “5” button. An orchestra symphony played quietly in the background as all five of us stood straight as lines. We were all too nervous to say anything, so when a beeping rang out above us and the doors slid open, everyone awkwardly stumbled out.

“First door on the left,” I pointed to the supposed door of Mike, and nervously led the way there.

“Do you knock for this kind of thing?” Mitch asked.

There was a momentary silence as we thought it through. Kevin was finally brave enough to thump the door three times.

“Is that my pizza delivery?” A familiarly eccentric voice rang out.

“No,” We all said in unison.

“Wait a minute, is that Pentatonix?” He asked.

We all replied in unison again- “Yes.”

“Come in! Come in! Right on time!” As soon as we opened the door, Mike Davis was sitting behind his desk with his feet kicked up and his phone in hand.

Much like his voice, Mike was eccentric and slightly awkward. He was overweight by quite a few pounds, and he had a wisp of chocolate brown hair and cream eyes to match. He had pudgy cheeks and a yellow smile, but looked like he genuinely had good intentions.

His office was, like the lobby, all one color. However, this time that color was navy. Pentatonix squeezed onto the navy couch adjacent to his desk and looked expectantly towards Mike, who was illuminated by sunlight coming in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows covering the back wall of his office.

“Quiet kids, eh?” Mike laughed, dropping his feet and rolling on his chair closer to us.

We smiled politely, but still stayed timid.

“Well, I guess I’ll kick off the convo, then. I’m so excited to be your manager-” But Mike as interrupted.

“It’s not a permanent decision yet,” Mitch said worriedly, looked at the rest of us.

“Yeah, nothing permanent,” Avi added. Kevin, Kirstie and I all nodded in agreement towards Mr. Davis.

“Relax, relax. I’ll start over. If I was your manager, I’d be so excited! I want to put the name Pentatonix on the map! I already have a week of performances lined up, should you accept. You’ll get huge, people will be dying to meet you, be you!” Mike was getting off on his own speech.

All the couch-dwellers looked at each other with tacit agreement.

This guy was a manager, a real one, in LA.

He was stoked about being our manager.

What kind of idiot would reject that offer?

“Mr. Davis?” Kirstie started.

“Please, call me Mike!” The loud man smiled.

“Well Mike, we’d like to accept your offer. We want the performances, we want to get huge,” Kevin said.

“Fabulous! You’re first performance is tonight at 10!” He swung around in his chair and rolled back over to his desk.

“Wait, what?” Mitch stuttered.

“Well I knew you’d except, you’d be stupid not to! So be ready, I’ll text you the details! Now head on out, my pizza is coming and I requested the cute blonde delivery lady!" Mike shooed us out of his office (playfully, of course) and we were left outside the door, awestruck and terminally speech impedimented.

"So our first LA performance is tonight?" Kirstie reiterated the conversation with Mike as we started walking.

"Pretty much," I lit the '5' button up and we started downward in the elevator.

No one spoke much on the way day, and it was like a dejá-vú moment. The only difference this time was that the soft music in the background was no longer an orchestra, but a band playing a light, marchy song.

Everyone scowled at the witch-like Kendra as we headed out of the still stainless glass doors. Piling into our trusty little car, the band headed back to our hotel, considering our first performance was in 6 hours.

I don't think we even felt like it was real- we were all numbed by the stardom that happens in LA and the ginormity of a real concert wasn't hitting us.

Our off canter group was slowly brought back to reality as Kevin turned up a Lady Gaga song on the radio.

The members of Pentatonix looked at each other with coy smiles, and one by one we joined in on the chorus. We started singing in harmony, dancing like the crazy teenagers we should be, and laughing like the five friends we were.

It was like the stars aligned; we were brought back to simpler times, Arlington times. It was comforting yet nostalgic nonetheless as we headed back to our big hotel in this big city full of big dreams. 

We all wanted Pentatonix to be big. Huge, even. But we also wanted to be small individuals, and when the beginner years were over in this musical journey, we still wanted to be us.

Scott.

Mitch.

Kirstie.

Avi.

Kevin.

Pulling up in front of the hotel, no one wanted to get out. We didn't want our moment to end. So... it didn't- the five of us turned up the next song (Taylor Swift, specifically) and rocked out like we always have.