Stuck On Strings

I Want to be a Thought Inside your Mind

Who knew auditions would be so hard to set up? With Tyler's pickiness, Jake's politeness, Ryan's foolishness, and Liam's uncaringness it was almost impossible to choose a date and time for the auditions, much less a new member. Natasha was in the middle of a text conversation between herself and Ryan when Liam walked into the living room. Liam didn't mind bringing someone else into the band. He saw it as an opportunity to make a new friend or two, but there was an opportunity he saw that he didn't want to miss.

"Why don't you sing for us Nat?" He asked while opening a bottle of cream soda. The small girl jumped and turned to look at him.

"Dear god, Liam you scared me half to death!"

"You're avoiding the question."

"You're not seriously going to drink that entire two litre are you?"

"Natasha." He said sternly. Natasha sighed in defeat. "You're a great singer! Ty and I hear you in the shower all the time, you've got one hell of a range. Better than Ty does."

"I don't want to be part of the band Liam, I'm just your manager, not your singer." Natasha tried to explain to him. But Liam wouldn't take no for an answer.

"But Natasha, you're always sitting in the corner working during rehearsals and not engaging with the rest of us."

"I'm working."

"How much work is match-making really, Nat?" Liam asked genuinely. Affording a two bedroom apartment was difficult due to the unknown amount of money that would come in from itunes sales. Natasha knew the boys wouldn't want to take time away from their music to get a part time job. So Natasha took up match making as a second job. She would regularly meet with clients and introduce them to other clients and often get invited to weddings two years later. She made a good amount of money from it so the boys couldn't complain that she didn't focus all her time on the band. Natasha sighed at the boy.

"Li, I'm not going to sing for you. We have auditions tomorrow, go get rest." She mumbled. Liam wanted to push her on the subject but he could see she was tired.

"Fine," He agreed. He walked over to her and gave her a little hug and mumbled a goodnight before sauntering to his room. Natasha sighed before sending a text to Ryan.

'Hey, sorry, Liam wanted to talk'

'about what????' Came the immediate reply.

'The auditions, please be good for them Rye-bread'

'promise not to call me that and fine :)'

'Deal'  She tapped out the word and put her phone down, she began to get ready for bed. She heard the sounds of the night quieting down in the apartment. Liam setting his alarm clock, Tyler strumming a slow and quiet tune, traffic slowing down. She smiled to herself as she went to set up her blankets on the couch. She made sure her cat had food and then laid down. Her eyes drifted close as she sleepily slipped into dreamland. It was calm in the apartment.

Morning couldn't get there soon enough.

All three members of the house were busy getting ready. Making sure they looked good, making sure they ate breakfast, making sure they had everything. They were out the door before the other two members of the band were even awake in their own homes. Jake was the next one on his way to the auditions. He had just enough time to get Beau to school and have a conversation with her teacher before he was able to catch a bus into the city. Ryan woke up and barely even tried to get ready. He brushed his teeth in his car and when he eventually met up with the others his hair wasn't even brushed. Liam laughed at him and brushed his hair for him. They set up a table and chairs and all were handed a notebook. The boys sat down and Natasha got up to explain how the auditions would go to the line waiting for them outside.

Stuck on Strings wasn't a big shot band by any means but they'd be lying if they tried to say they didn't have any fans. Indie bands often had a lot of fans but no label to back them up. Stuck on Strings simply had a fantastic manager who knew how to market them. Tyler looked at his friends and couldn't imagine adding someone to this group. He had high standards and Jake, his best friend, barely fit them when the band first started. He simply didn't know how a complete stranger would fit them.

Once the auditions started Tyler was more doubtful than he had ever been before. Singers came, singers went, singers couldn't carry a tune, singers that just weren't right. The others in the band were feeling the strain on Tyler. Tyler became more and more iratible as time went by. It felt as though they were there for hours when Natasha finally got up to let the last person in.

"And what was your name again?" She asked as she sat back down.

"Uh, Levi Mitchell...ma'am." He mumbled nervously. Tyler looked up at him and squinted.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"Se-seventeen!"

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Jake asked while looking at the time. Ryan snickered.

"Obviously he's skipping for us. C'mon Ty let the kid try, he's been waiting a while" Ryan pointed out. Tyler sighed and looked at the kid.

"Alright, show us what you can do."

Levi took a deep breath, looking at the men in front of him. He felt so small with them looking at him. He fidgeted nervously. He had been 14 when he first started listening to Stuck on Strings. He felt very attached to the band and hearing that they were hosting auditions for a new singer made him feel more excitement than he had ever felt before. But standing in front of them was absolutely terrifying.

"When you're ready." Jake's voice was like a match in the dark, or rather a sound in the silence. Levi nodded at him and steadied himself. He was ready. He was worthy of this. He could do this.

"I wanna be a thought inside your mind. I wanna see the starlight through your eyes. What's it like?" He sang out. The words left his mouth in perfect tune. A melody to soothe jaded hearts. Tyler found himself leaning forward to hear more of this kids voice. As he sang through his song Liam started clapping to the beat. Ryan and Natasha had joined in. Levi couldn't help but smile.

Tyler was listening very intently, trying to find flaws. When the song ended Levi gave a small, shy bow as the others clapped. Natasha smiled at him.

"So Levi," she prompted. "How long have you been singing?"

"Uhm, probably around thirteen years." He explained. "My mom really wanted me to start early when it came to hobbies and stuff."

"I totally understand that." Ryan laughed. "As Soon as I could stand they were like 'Quick! The Piano!'" Levi smiled and laughed quietly.

"So are you like super passionate about music?" Liam asked.

"Uh, yeah." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Tyler cleared his throat. All heads turned to look at him.

"Why should we let you join our band?" He asked, staring the teenager down. Levi was silent, going over his thoughts. He didn't expect to be asked this, should he lie? Should he try and make himself sound older than he is? Imply he's better at technology because he's younger? He didn't know. Tyler looked like he was getting bored so Levi blurted something out.

"Because you all had fun while I sang."

Tyler exchanged a glance at the others. They all wrote something down and Natasha handed Levi a slip of paper.

"Fill this out before you leave, and we'll contact you if you're our first choice." She told him. He did as he was told, thanked them for his time and silently walked out.

The band watched him go and all of them, including Tyler, wrote a check mark by his name. As they began to pack up Tyler's phone beeped. He looked at the name on the screen and the message that came with it.

'Gabe, Terra and I are going to Great Bridge Casino tonight, you in? Big bucks to be made Ty ;)-Victoria'

Tyler stared at the message before tapping a reply.

'See you there.'