The Obscure Downsides of Fame

65 // Commoners

"I have too many ideas and I don't know where to start," I said. "But my main issue is making something the label would want me to release."

"You signed with them again?" she asked, sounding rather disappointed as she turned around and sat on her hot pink couch.

"It was my mom's advice. It was either this or losing my rights to anything I've done the past two years."

"Okay. Just stick to the plan this time. I don't want them to screw you over again."

"Got it," I said with a nod. "Will you help me now?"

"Yes. What will Nolan be doing?"

"Sit here and be pretty," I said, pulling him by his arm. He looked at me with a frown. "I'm kidding. I need your opinion too. You know? Commoners have to like my music too."

"Commoner?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips. "I think I'm worth a little more than that."

"You haven't earned a title yet," I said, mimicking his expression.

He narrowed his eyes. "What do I do to earn one?"

"I'll think about it," I said, leaning in to kiss him. The tips of our noses barely touched when Gen decided she wanted to ruin the moment.

"How adorable, but if you need to make out that badly, find a bedroom, or a bathroom, or a closet for all I care," she said with a sweet smile. I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek.

"Can I borrow a guitar?" I asked her, and she grabbed an acoustic for me. "So basically I came up with this thing," I said, making sure the instrument was in tune before playing what I'd had in my head on the guitar, occasionally looking for what chord was actually playing in my brain. Then I started over, this time playing the same thing exactly the way I had imagined it.

"That's beautiful," Gen said. I looked at Nolan.

"What did you think?"

"It's nice," he said with a nod.

"Just nice? That's not good enough," I said, trying something else. "How about this?"

I tried something else. Something a little less regular, and then looked back up at him to see his reaction.

"I don't know, Oakley. It's pretty. I genuinely have no idea what's good or not."

"Well, I can tell when your cookies are just good or otherworldly. You should be able to tell."

"What's your favorite kind of music, Nolan?" Gen asked him.

"I don't know," he shrugged, looking at the floor.

"Okay, so I'm gonna literally play every single genre and you'll tell me what you like the best. Just tell me when to skip to the next one." I grabbed my phone, scrolling through all my music.

"How long will this take?"

"I don't know. An hour tops."

"An hou-"

I connected my phone to the speakers and started playing the first song on my playlist.