Flamingo

I know its been hard enough on me.

In one hand I have my cell phone and the other I have my keys to my apartment. It's pitch black outside and the porch light I keep telling myself to fix is still not working meaning the entrance to my home is too dark to locate the key hole so when I am working night shifts and arrive home before sunrise I have to participate in this fun game of shining the flashlight from my phone onto the key hole while I try to open the door.

When I finally accomplished my goal and make it through my front door successfully I dramatically flop myself down on my sofa. Life is hard Im 23 and have lived in Vegas all my life, I shunned any ideas of moving away or heading to college because I had dreams of singing, that was my goal to make it as a singer but so far all I could put forward to my goal was my regular weekly spot at a bar in downtown where I knew most people were not interested or too drunk to care that I was signing my heart out hoping someone somewhere would listen and see my potential.

I knew one of my main issues was I was a rock chick at heart and refused to be a sellout and become some fake pop princess I had integrity and stayed true to what I believed in. While my dreams faded into the distance as my mid twenties approached far too quickly I earned just enough money to cover my rent and bills working as a receptionist at Caesars palace. I started working there when I was 19 as i had hoped maybe it would lead to me being on stage or I would meet someone which connections who could help me reach my dream....if only I had known how naive I was then maybe I would not be sat here exhausted and disillusioned with life.

'Morning Summer'

I looked up to see my best friend and roommate who was lucky enough to have just woken up from a night full of sleep.

'Hey Freya'

'Good night at work?'

'Yeah the nights are always the most interesting, last night I had to clear up two lots of vomit and kindly ask a couple to take their increasing sexual make out session to their room.'

'Nice. Lucky you. I'm off to work now with your night shifts recently I feel like I haven't seen you can we arrange drinks soon?'

I smiled and nodded, drinks and some irresponsible behaviour at a bar on the strip was just what I needed right now to pull me from my sulk at life in general, a rubbish job with no sight of that changing anytime soon and tragically no boyfriend or even man interested in me I could easily drink away those negative thoughts while I danced the night away with my best friend.

---

I twisted and turned in bed, I was groggy but something had awoken me from my snooze and as I woke up slightly more I became aware of the fact my pillow seemed to be vibrating. Confused I lifted up my pillow and could see the screen on my cell phone flashing and a blocked number was calling me. I never answered blocked numbers as they were always a sales call of some kind but I noticed when my phone stopped ringing I had 4 missed calls which were all from a blocked number.

I sighed slightly confused and concerned that I'd missed an important call and as I tried to settle myself down to sleep again trying to convince myself if it was anything important a voicemail would have been left.

It was when my phone began vibrating again around 30 minutes later I dived over enthusiastically towards my phone and hastily slid my finger across to answer the call.

'Hello'

'Hi can I speak with Summer Ward please?'

'Yes speaking'

'Hi Summer this call may seem out of the blue but I've been asked to invite you in for an audition'

My mind flitted back to try and figure out what audition this was for, for a couple of years I had looked through the local Vegas newspapers and magazines in search of things to audition for but had lost heart in that a while ago so I was confused as to what this audition was for.

'Sorry but audition for what? I have not applied for anything or at least anything I can remember for a while now'

'It's an audition for a backing singer role for an upcoming tour, to my knowledge you were spotted by one of the singers representatives in bar downtown last week. The girl he had lined up has recently pulled out so another backing singer is needed and he would like you to audition for the role'

I was confused and intrigued as the man on the phone told me I could audition today and he gave me the address and I said I'd see him in an hour, it wasn't until I hung up the phone that I realised in my half asleep half excited state I forgot to ask several key questions the main one being who the hell was this singer was.

In the midst of the phone call I had grabbed a pen and paper to write down the address, ski at least knew where I was going.

I jumped out of bed trying not to let the nerves or the excitement take over and got myself ready as quickly as I could, brushing my hair and applying enough make up to ensure I didn't look like I had just woken up.

I grabbed the piece of paper as I started the engine of my rusty old car paying attention to the zip code to make sure I was driving in the right direction down the Las Vegas freeway. This whole situation was slightly crazy who was this person and they had sent someone to watch me sing? It was all very peculiar but in my desperation I was not going to turn down an opportunity.

'Battleborn studios' I said out loud to myself trying to figure out where I had heard that before, the dismissing that thought as I made my way to my last minute surprise audition, feeing the most underprepared I'd ever felt in my life.