Imperfect Attraction (SAMPLE)

Chapter One

Hello, my name is Melanie Orr. You probably know me best as one-fourth of the internationally known girl group, Dream Chasers. We're a multiplatinum awarded group that came about in a bit of an extraordinary way. You're probably wondering what that has to do with anything. Well, to fully understand the love story I'm about to tell you, you need to know my history. You need to know why I allowed myself to get into this messy situation.

The year was 2015 and an eighteen-year-old girl with mahogany-colored and kinky-curly hair, an angular-shaped head, almond-shaped chocolate eyes, blemish free coffee-colored skin, and plush pink lips stood nervously in line behind at least twenty other people. The girl was me. After years of singing in the youth choir at my grandma's church, being a part of the school chorus program, and taking free vocal lessons at the local community center, I was finally auditioning for Star Quality (USA). It's a competitive television show like The Voice and American Idol. It was created and produced by the one and only Jamie Krane. Jamie Krane is a forty-something-year-old Irish native and former rapper who founded and became the CEO of Kranky Music Label about twenty years ago. Kranky is responsible for discovering several big-name singers who went on to become Grammy award winners. Its latest successes were in 2013 with a boy group by the name of Stitch and in 2014 with a girl group by the name of Blended. Both groups came from the United Kingdom, but they now have fans all over the world.

It was in December 2014 when the latest season of Star Quality (UK) ended, and Jamie announced he was bringing the million-dollar talent competition to the United States. My Abuela, Neta Orr, thought it was a sign from God. My dad, Calvin, thought it was a risky step to take. He and Abuela have voluntarily shared custody of me since my mom, Angelica, passed away when I was ten years old. She was an aspiring singer who sang backup for a well-known R&B artist. One day while they were traveling from one tour location to another, the driver of a big rig truck fell asleep and collided with their tour bus. My mom's injuries from the impact were so severe that she died before arriving at the hospital. Entering my teenage years without her was not easy. My dad never remarried and my Abuela was too far removed from society to understand the issues I was facing. Still, I managed to make it through.

When my gaining Abuela insisted that I sign up for auditions for the competition, I laughed.

"Can you believe Abuela wants me to audition?" I asked my dad that night as we sat at the small round dining table eating spaghetti.

His wide shoulders shrugged as his dark mocha hand gripped the fork. "You have talent. I know that, but I'm not sure you should try to make a career out of it."

"Are you worried that the same thing will happen to me that happened to Mom?" My mouth turned up as I studied my dad's face. My eye shape and color came from him along with my almost round cheeks.

"Yes, I am," he said with a sigh. He and Mom were high school sweethearts. They went to college together. He studied accounting and she focused on music and business management. They got married during their last year of college. Dad went to work for an accounting firm after graduation and Mom found a job in administration at a small music label. By the time I was born, Mom had been noticed for her good singing voice and was asked to provide background vocals on a few songs. By the time I was five, she was regularly auditioning for background singing roles. She secured her first one around my sixth birthday. Dad kept working at the accounting firm, slowly moving up in the ranks, while Mom chased her dream of being a successful singer. They were happy and in love. Dad took it hard when she passed.

"You don't have to worry about me, Dad. Auditions probably won't come anywhere near Birmingham, Alabama," I said nonchalantly. I wanted him to believe that it wasn't a big deal to me. I didn't want him to feel bad about voicing his concerns. He tried to overcompensate for Mom's absence a lot by giving in to my every desire. Sometimes I worried that that was the reason he hadn't remarried or even dated anyone long-term. I thought he was worried about upsetting me. Maybe he was worried about upsetting Abuela as well. Mom was her only daughter. She was devasted when Mom died. When she became overly involved in my upbringing, Dad let her without complaint. He was always trying to make everyone happy, but I couldn't help but wonder if he was happy as well.