Come To Me

6

I had called the band and told them I was in. We got ourselves a record deal when Brody had put a film of us performing at the underground club. The next day we got a million views on youtube. About five managers emailed Brody that they wanted to meet us. Brody interviewed every manager and finally decided on the best one, Tom. He's a businessman in L.A. He's experienced and owns a large amount of money since he made other rock bands get to the top of the bulletin boards.

I was hesitant about joining the band since I don't age. Tony told me to do my best to make myself look older, therefore, I let my stylist change my wardrobe. Now I wear cardigans over collar, long sleeve shirts with ties, color jeans, shades, and hats. I don't like it but Tom wants us to dress like an indie band.

I had told Rick and Louis about Janeth and they said they knew her.

"When we met Janet, she was fifteen," Rick says while he drives.

"Yeah, she said she ran away from home," Louis continues. He's sitting in the passenger seat.

"Yeah she was cool," Rick adds.

"She met our old singer, Frank," Louis says.

After a while Louis says, "We're really sorry for what happened to Janeth."

"Yeah, me too," I say.

After a six-hour-long drive, we finally make a pitstop. While Rick goes put gas on I go buy snacks for another six-hour drive.

Louis stays in the car to keep watch on our stuff.

I had bought three bags of beef jerky, three Arizona's, and six bags of chips. I promised Janeth I would eat better but there's no time to make a pitstop at any healthy restaurant because only fast-food restaurants have drive-thrus. So I grab a banana from a basket and water.

After the long drive, we finally made it to another underground club. It's a way different one than the one back home. This one doesn't have a bar. The lights are actually bright and they have waiters.

Before we go to our tour, our manager, Tom, let us do one more free concert at any club we like. Rick chose this one since his friend owns the club and had asked us to perform there to get the place going.

We sit at a high table desk and order food that the club serves.

"I'll get a salad and water," I tell the waitress. Louis and Rick both ordered hamburgers and a soda.

"That waitress had her eyes on you Brandon," Louis says as the waitress leaves.

Rick elbows him. "Sorry," Louis says.

"She's not Janeth," I say to myself.

Louis is really open. He can be blunt and funny too. Rick is more serious and not so much on the funny side. I don't know how these guys stayed friends. I had asked them what really happened to Frank. They said they kicked him out of the band because he got into massive drugs.

"We tried helping him," Rick says.

"But you can't help those who don't want to be helped," Louis adds.

The waitress comes back and gives us our food. When she hands me my plate she winks at me. How pathetic I say to myself.

"Why are you eating that bro?" Louis says as he takes a big bite of his hamburger.

I shrug. "I haven't eaten healthy in a while," I say.

Once we finish eating the waitress comes back to pick up our plates. When she gets my dishes she drops a paper and leaves. I don't bother to look at it and I slide it to the middle of the table.

"Now performing are the Unnaturals!" The guy on the stage says.

"That's our cue," Rick says as he starts walking to the stage and I follow. I turn around and see Louis grabbing the paper that the waitress gave me and he puts it in his pocket.

I shake my head at him and he shrugs.

"She's cute," he says.

We get on stage and introduce ourselves. Tom doesn't let us sing any of our original songs until we go to the tour. So we sing another artist's music.

After an hour of performing, we pack up our instruments and leave the club. We drive to California which is a day away. I sit back tight while Louis drives and Rick tries to create a new song.

I wake up and I see Rick driving and Louis sleeping.

"Want me to drive?" I ask Rick.

"Nah it's cool I just started a few hours ago," he says.

We finally arrive at a huge building. We enter and tell the girl at the front desk that we're here to see Tom. She calls him and tells us, "He's waiting for you guys in room 630."

We go in the elevator and push the button six. We finally find Tom's room and enter. He's on the phone and drinking coffee.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Tom says on the phone and hangs up.

"Hey guys, how was it?" Tom asks us.

"Great thanks for letting us perform for free one last time," Rick says.

"No problem, take a seat guys," Tom says.

We all take a seat and look up to Tom. He in his mid-thirties and dresses in suit and tie.

"So guys," He hands us each a schedule. "This is where and when the Unnaturals will perform."

We all look at the schedule. It goes from California to Arizona, to Washington, to Florida, and finally Massachusetts.

I do my best to count all concerts we have booked. I lost count on thirteen.

"How did we get all these bookings this quick?" Rick asks Tom.

"Your videos of you guys performing at the underground club got so many ratings, everyone wants to meet you guys," Tom says.

I take a deep breath. I can't believe Tony and Stephanie got me into this.