Out of Tune: The Original 2015 Draft

chapter 24

Music is to the soul what words are to the brain—Modest Mouse

Have you ever felt really out of place? I'm not talking the "maybe I shouldn't be here" kind of out of place that just makes you feel awkward. No, I mean the out of place with the red lights flashing and all the stops saying "you really, really don't belong here. Leave NOW!"

That was the kind of out of place I was in as I sat in the corner booth at Jump Java, a local coffee shop that was centered smack dab in the middle of the neutral territory between Spencer's house and my mom's house.

I'd been in the little coffee shop for nearly an hour. I was on my second coffee and my fourth chocolate chip cookie. Nerves pushed me to eat and my leg bounced up and down in anxiety, though I suspected the excess caffeine had something to do with it as well.

We were scheduled to leave on the #SpectacularYou Tour in two days. The past week had been a flurry of activity. We packed and rehearsed and thought of more things we needed to pack before rushing back to rehearsal. Taylor, I would say, was the most stressed of us all. She was constantly on the phone, setting up plane tickets and car rentals and everything else we needed for when we got on the tour. We would be gone for three weeks, hitting up big cities all across America and spreading the word of how awesome it is to be you.

We'd made sure to get all of the assignments we'd be missing from our teachers so that we didn't fall behind in school. Even though we had a budding music career, and it seemed like it could really go somewhere, none of us wanted to fail senior year. If our musical aspirations fell through then we would definitely need backup plans and most places of employment wanted a high school diploma these days.

As I sat in the corner booth in Jump Java, I couldn't help but think of everything that I still needed to do for our trip. I'd yet to finish packing, but thankfully Anna, Jared and Spencer had already undertaken the arduous task of getting all of our equipment ready so that the only thing we would have to do with it was shove it into the van as we left for the airport. I still had to figure out what clothing I was taking with me on the tour, but I was lucky enough to have a style expert, aka Taylor, pick out all of my outfits for every show we would be performing on tour.

Taylor would be joining us on the tour, much to her brother's displeasure. Kyle was extremely unhappy that his twin would be accompanying us, but Taylor was our manager and we needed her with us. Her parents didn't seem to mind the fact that she would be gone for a month. When I'd been over at her house, helping her gather her things, they'd actually seemed quite pleased that she'd undertaken the job of being our manager. They thought it was great for responsibility and would look awesome on a college application.

I took a sip of my coffee as the door to the coffee shop opened and a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes entered. She glanced around the small café for a moment before her eyes settled on me in the corner. My mother smiled nervously before she walked over towards me with slow steps.

"Aileen," she said when I was within earshot. My mom sat down in the seat across from me. "I'm glad you called."

It was true. After our date at the aquarium, I'd taken Spencer's advice at called my mom to see if she'd wanted to meet up for a cup of coffee. She'd agreed almost instantly and while our relationship was nowhere near fine, it was nice to know that she was willing to put in the effort to fix whatever we had left.

I smiled half-heartedly at her. "It's good to see you."

"You too."

A soft silence settled upon us for just a second. It was just bordering on uncomfortable and I was just starting to think what have I gotten myself into, when she said, "I heard that you're going on tour."