Deep Down

Superstar

             “Austin, let’s go man we got a lot to do today!” my bodyguard, Dave, shouted at me, his voice filled with annoyance. Probably because this is his third attempt to get me out of bed.

          I moaned tiredly and wrapped the blanket tighter around my frozen body. I guess it would’ve helped if I wore more than basketball shorts to bed but hey, I’m Austin Mahone-YouTube sensation that turned into a ‘teen pop sensation’ as they call us, I can do whatever I want.

          Suddenly the thick hotel comforter wasn’t covering me anymore-it was covering the floor. Dave stood there, his arms crossed, making his many tattoos seem even more intimidating and his jaw was locked tight. I sat there with a dumbfound expression on my face. Chills were starting to engulf me and my morning was already not starting out good.

          “What the heck, man?” I demanded.

          “Get up, you know we have to be at the hospital in half an hour and you’re not even dressed yet,” he complained, “let’s go!”

          I grumbled unintelligible words under my breath and threw myself out of bed; the little warmth that was left in me had disappeared. I wrapped my arms around myself to try to keep semi warm, but it didn’t really work. Chicago weather was a pain.

          “I’m up, happy?” I scoffed.

          “Peachy,” he smirked, “I love waking your airhead butt up every morning and starting it off by yelling at you.”

          I raised my eyebrows at him and tilted my head to the side, challenging him. “What did you call me?”

          Dave let out an exasperated sigh, no longer playing the bad cop card. “Nothing,” he waved it away, “just get dressed, alright? Please hurry.”

          He left without another word, shutting the door behind him and leaving me alone in my empty hotel room. The silence seemed to bounce off the walls and whisper in my ears, taunting me with unsaid words. I licked my lips and looked around the room. It was an average sized hotel room, with two beds, one for Dave and one for me, which I guess was okay even though I preferred a bigger room. The beds were huge though so that kind of made up for it. I window sat behind me, overlooking the city. I honestly really liked it here; it was different from San Antonio. Especially the weather. But we never stayed here long, this was just another publicity stunt that I had to go through with and then we were off on another destination in a day or two.

          Today I was signed up to perform acoustically at the local children’s hospital. My mom had told me that when she went there with Rocco, my manager, to confirm the time and date that she almost cried right then and there just by looking at all the kids that were there. Some were barely even seven and they were diagnosed with things such as leukemia and other types of sicknesses that I couldn’t begin to remember. When she told me, I nodded at appropriate times and put on my “sad face” when needed so it looked like I was paying attention. Sure it was sad and all but they would get better, right?

          I filled my cheeks with air and then let it out slowly. I walked over to the closet and pulled the door open, revealing all the clothing that I had brought with me, most of it being gifts from expensive companies to get me to wear their clothing. Which I didn’t really mind, I mean, you can’t pass up free clothes!

          I ripped a red, long sleeved Truckfit shirt with black tiger stripes on it off the hanger and grabbed a pair of dark, faded jeans and my red sneakers to go with it. I kicked off my basketball shorts and changed into my clean clothes. I decided on a black chain and a black hat to complete the outfit and then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair. When I decided I was presentable, I stepped out of my room and into the small living room of our hotel. My mom and Dave were sitting there laughing at some corny joke Dave just told. When they saw me, their laughter slowly died down. My mom offered me a small smile and Dave gave me that, ‘sup’ nod.