The Girl and The Band

Chapter 1

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groan and stop the horrific noise before falling out of bed.

Literally falling.

I can hear laughter outside of my door so I get myself off of the floor and open it to see my idiotic sister trying to keep herself from falling to the floor herself. But, it's because she's laughing so hard.

"Julz!" I exclaim while rolling my eyes at her.

"Fall off the wrong side of the bed, Lu?" she asks with a smirk.

I growl and shake my head. Julia, Julz for short, is my older sister, even though some people could easily mistake me as the oldest.

"I need to get ready. Don't want my "boss" getting mad at me," I say with a smirk.

She laughs and shakes her head, "I'm sure they won't mind. Besides, I hear they are opening the café later instead of earlier."

I smile, "Oh really?"

I guess I should tell you that Julz is my boss. She owns the most well-known café in town, The Golden Bell. "Bell" is involved since it's our last name and the café is family-owned, and "Golden" is involved because it sounded better than just "The Bell".

"Yep, some band booked a gig, so we will be using the morning and early afternoon to set everything up. I'm sure you can also do some school work," she says with a smile before heading to the kitchen.

I'm still in college working towards earning my own business degree as well as taking multiple other extra classes, including culinary classes so I can have my own restaurant just like her. And since I don't want to pay extra for living on campus anymore, I'm living with Julz in our own apartment.

I head back into my bedroom and I throw my blankets back onto my bed before starting to get ready for the day.

I take a shower and change into a cropped, white sweater and some high-waisted black jeans before drying my chocolate brown hair. And once it's as dry as I can get it, I brush it out and let it fall over my shoulders.

After doing my basic skincare, which basically is just me cleaning my face again, I do the basic makeup I do every day and head out of my bathroom.

I grab my phone from its charger and listen to some music while I fill my faux leather backpack with everything I'll need during the day, including my laptop, charger, and headphones.

Once I get everything, I slip my shoes on and head out of my room to eventually see Julia eating some toast that seems to be recently made.

"You know, toast seems pretty simple for a restaurant owner," I say with a smile as I get a yogurt cup from the fridge.

"Well we got to hurry, I just got an email from the band that is playing and they have a lot of requests."

I groan, "Why can't they help?"

Julz never has anyone set up their own gigs. Something about simple hospitality but I could care less.

"You already know why. Now hurry up, we are leaving in exactly ten minutes," she says before tossing her plate in the kitchen.

And just like she said, ten minutes later we were in the car heading for the café.

"What's the band name?" I ask.

"I'm pretty sure it's called The Howling Wolves," she replies.

"Mk...never heard of them," I say with a laugh.

She scoffs, "Me either, but they have the money."

I nod and shrug before playing music through my headphones.

Right as we pulled into the café parking lot.

We headed inside and while Julia was getting things from the back of the café for the gig, I put my bag down and tested the sound system. I took the microphone off the stand and I just sang randomly into it as I messed with the sound equipment to set it up how the band wants it.

"Well I've got thick skin and an elastic heart

But your blade might be too sharp

I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

Yeah I may snap and I move fast

You won't see me fall apart

'Cause I've got an elastic heart"

As I finish the chorus I hear faint clapping coming from the seating area outside the stage. I tense up and I walk out to see a guy with incredibly messy blond hair and dark brown eyes with a clear smirk as he continues to clap.

"We're closed," I say as I try to not get my embarrassment show.

"I'm sure an exception can be made for me," he stops in front of me and just smiles.

"Oh really? And why is that?"

"I'm the lead guitarist of The Howling Wolves. We have a gig here tonight. Although I'm surprised you don't. I've heard plenty of covers for Elastic Heart, but that's got to be the best."

I feel my ears heat up but I just control myself as much as possible, "I'm just an employee. My sister owns the place."

He shakes his head and steps up onto the stage, "Still, you're good. But I won't push it. Anyways, I guess I should probably tell you why I'm even here at," his eyes dart towards the clock on the wall and then dart right back towards me, "eleven fifteen."

I scoff and put the microphone on the stand beside me, "No kidding. What do you want?"

He smiles and grabs a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, "These are some last-minute requests we have. Mainly light cues, but there are also food requests also."

I sigh and take the paper from him and read it over before my eyes go wide, "You want HOW many cookies?!"

He smirks, "It's on the paper. Do you think you can meet our requirements?"

I groan and roll my eyes, "We will do our best. But if you don't like what you see tonight, you can leave a Yelp review."

He laughs a little and looks around, "Alright. Well, I'll be back with my bandmates. Don't disappoint."

He winks at me before jumping off of the stage and heading out, leaving me standing there with the sun coming through the window, right into my eyes.