The New American Dream

Part Three: After | Chapter Sixteen

The first week of December we got the chance to, rather spontaneously, go to another Homesick Soldiers show. The show was announced two weeks earlier and we managed to get VIP tickets. The show was sold out within two days, the VIP tickets within a few hours. I was glad that I had saved some money. I mean, I hadn't spend any money in the past few months except for on books and some occasional snacks here and there so I had quite a little saved up from that alone. It paid for the ticket so that was enough.

Meeting them was surreal as always. Recognition flashed over their faces and I was more than relieved about that for some reason.

"If it isn't our favorite cover band," Tyler said with a smile when we approached them.

My heartbeat picked up. "Really?" I laughed.

"Absolutely," Alex agreed, smiling at us as well.

"Well, you'll be happy to hear that we recorded more covers then," I joked.

"Hey really? That sounds awesome!"

"Yeah it was a bit hard lately, but... we managed to record some more."

"We heard what happened and we're really sorry," Maison said and I teared up once more, damming my stupid brain.

Not now, please!

Nate thanked them instead of me.

"Hey, don't cry!" Tyler said when he noticed and hugged me.

I guess it did the trick because I was too shocked to keep crying, instead I hugged him back.

"Thank you, I try not to cry but sometimes..." I trailed off.

"That's totally normal, don't beat yourself up like that. You lost a person that's never easy," Alex said and hugged me as well, I was very thankful for that.

Sometimes I would get overwhelmed with how much I loved them. They cared about their fans so much it was unreal, whoever you asked you would always hear stories of how loving they were, how supportive. Even from parents. And then some people had the audacity to damn them as bad people. Yes, they made mistakes in their past, but don't we all? I always tried to remember, whenever these idiots did get to me, that when Homesick Soldiers had started becoming famous they had been barely teenagers yet. They had been thrown into the spotlight at such a young age, no wonder they made mistakes. No one is proud of what they did when they were fifteen, just that most people didn't have a spotlight on them. Sometimes you need to forgive and encourage people to do the right thing. I hated the whole black and white mentality in America. Things could either be good or bad, yes or no, one thing or the other thing. An absolutely awful mentality to live after.

We chatted a little more, took pictures once again and got another signed poster, then we were off. I was still shaking a bit when the concert started but I had the time of my life once again, yet post concert depression kicked my ass.

Either way I felt like the little chat we had had with them helped me a lot. Also I had recorded lots of the concert, the VIP, getting ready for the concert and whatnot so we could at least make another vlog out of it. The first one had been widely liked, it was our most popular video right after our first one. Though neither of us had watched it, it was too painful. Only Julius had seen it when he had edited it for us anyway, I had only checked the reception. I hoped this one would be a hit as well.

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When I got home that evening I realized that I had a missed call, or rather my mom told me that someone had called for me. I knew how weird that must have been because I never got any calls, I had a smartphone after all. I thanked her and quickly returned the call, already knowing who it was.

The day before I had called the cafe that had offered us to play for them and we had had to decline. The manager hadn't been there so I had asked them to return the call when he got back. Quickly I dialed the number again and thankfully someone picked up, it was the manager himself.

"Hi, it's Allie West. I already called yesterday but I was told you weren't in."

"Yes, I tried calling you back earlier today," he said. I thought he sounded friendly.

"Yeah sorry, I was at a concert. But here I am, I hope I'm not interrupting anything this late?"

"No, no, don't worry, it's all good. What did you need?"

"I was wondering if the offer to play at your place still stands. We have two new band members and already had several band practices. We could play now if you still want us to."

"Oh, that sounds great! How about you guys come in on Monday so we can talk about the details? Bring a parent if you'd be more comfortable that way, it's all good with me," he suggested.

"That would be great, thank you so much. We'll be there."

"Alright, I'll see you guys on Monday then."

"Yes, thank you. Bye!"

I ended the call and let out a squeal, took a moment to collect myself and then send a voice memo to our groupchat.

"Guys, you won't believe it!" I said excitedly. "I just saw that I had a missed call from that cafe that offered us to play for them and I called the man back and he said he was still interested in us. We're supposed to come in on Monday so we cal talk about the details!"

It didn't even take a minute, then I was already skyping with Nate, Cassie showed up not long after.

"Jace's showering but he'll be there soon," she assured us.

I invited Dan and he also joined, five minutes later Jace was with us as well. We skyped for hours, well into the night, and talked everything over, all of us were more than excited.

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From then on would play at Albright's Cafe, which was really more a lounge than a cafe, two evenings a week and sometimes also on Saturday nights. I loved the place the moment I set foot into it, it wasn't like a normal cafe at all. It definitely fit the music we were playing, being decorated in lots of black, white and red, a lot of contemporary and modern artworks hung on the wall.

Fred Albright, name giver and manager of the cafe, was a man in his mid-forties with a friendly face and obviously a great taste in music and interior design. He had multiple different newcomer bands play for him on different nights of the week. Apparently one band stopped playing for him because they had disbanded in June and since then he had a gap to fill, which was the job we took up now.

"This straight up looks like a cafe Homesick Soldiers themselves designed," I joked and was promptly agreed on by everyone.

Mom wasn't happy about it but she allowed me anyway. On one hand because she was just happy that I got out of the house and got better again, on the other hand because she knew she wouldn't be able to stop me if she tried. I hadn't really listened to my parents since I had been thirteen and I felt like she was finally picking up on that.

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Hey :)

I know this chapter is rather short but while I was editing it I thought I would only make it worse if I kept adding onto it, so I hope you'll understand :) Also I can promise you that the next chapter is gonna be really long so I think that makes up for it :D

I have spontaneously decided to give you the next chapter already because I simply didn't like this one much and I guess I'm still a couple of chapters behind from not uploading last week. So there you go, once more I give you an extra chapter :D