Out of Tune: The Original 2015 Draft

chapter 22

Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no music left in them.

—Louis Armstrong

"You got a smile so bright. You know you could have been a candle. I'm holding you so tight. You know you could have been a handle."

Spencer paused and looked over at me, giving me my cue. I took a deep breath, opened my mouth and—nothing came out. I stared out into the still audience as they watched and waited silently for me to find my spot and pick up the lyrics but I couldn't and after a moment, the guys stopped playing.

I turned to face them. "I'm sorry," I said. "I just...And they keep staring at me."

Spencer reached for my hand and gave my palm a gentle squeeze, "They're not real."

"I know," I groaned. "That just makes it so much worse. At least people can blink."

I glanced over my shoulder at our assembly that consisted of a variety of stuffed animals which Miles swore did not come from his house. From the look on Taylor's face when he'd mentioned that part, we all knew that he was lying.

Still, the toys with their beady little eyes unnerved me. They were somehow much worse than real people, but every time we'd considered putting me in one of our gigs as a vocalist, I felt sick. When I'd sung for Spencer I'd been going on pure adrenaline but now it was only nerves I carried in my stomach.

Spencer and the guys were doing their best to help rid me of my nervous energy but nothing worked. This was their latest ploy, having me sing in front of inanimate objects but I was considering this to be one of their greatest fails. I couldn't bring myself to even whisper a small note, much less an entire line of lyrics.

We'd been working on this song for the past few days and we were hoping to have it ready in a week's time. Anna and Jared's anniversary was coming up and this was one of their favourite songs. We'd been rehearsing on the sly, though it hardly mattered as I hadn't been able to utter a single word.

"This is never going to work," I said. I lowered myself to the ground and leaned against one of the guitar amps and closed my eyes. "I think we should just give up now."

"Not a chance," Spencer replied. "You're too good and way too stubborn to give up now so we just have to find something else that will make you comfortable on stage again."

I cracked an eye open. "Like what?"

He hesitated and shrugged. "Give me a couple days. I'll come up with something, I promise."

"Of course you will," I replied sardonically. "Because you're Spencer freaking Mathews and you are the guru of music."

Spencer smirked. "Don't hurt yourself on that sarcasm. You're laying it on pretty thick."

"Sorry."

His smile grew as he reached his hand out towards me. "It's okay. What do you say we take a pizza break?"

He always knew just what I needed. "Why are you so awesome?" I asked as I took his hand and clambered to my feet.

"It's because I'm Spencer freaking Mathews, the guru of music." He winked and I laughed loudly. I let go of his hand to grab my bag and then dutifully followed behind him as he and the rest of the guys, and Taylor, marched up the stairs. We passed by Anna and Jared as they walked in the door and then we headed out to Quincy's.

At the pizza parlor, we ordered our usual from the overly-enthusiastic pizza man. As we waited, conversation broke about which superhero was the best—I voted for Spiderman if only because Andrew Garfield was a major cutie. Taylor, though she didn't have much input when we got onto topics like these, nodded at me approvingly. Miles glowered at his girlfriend until she gave him a peck on the cheek.