After two weeks of convincing, my parents decided to let me go to Los Angeles and meet up with Pete…with one condition: Thomas had to come with me. Of course, my parents would do that since they were worried that I might not make it on my own or someone might take advantage of me. I agreed with their condition and now Thomas and I were going to California.
The anxiety of being in a plane, overlooking my hometown from the window made me excited and nervous all at the same time. This was my chance of living my dream. I couldn't believe this was happening.
"So…if you were to get signed on Wentz's label, are you going to use an alias or your real name?" Thomas asked out of the blue.
"I never really thought of that," I replied. "Should I use an alias?"
He shrugged. "A lot of solo acts are doing that like Jack's Mannequin, NeverShoutNever, and that one dude…the Ready Set."
"What's up with you and the Ready Set? Do you have a man crush on him or something?"
"He just looks so damn familiar," he mentioned.
I shook my head. "I swear there's something going on between you and that Ready Set guy. You always talk about him."
"Because he looks so damn familiar," Thomas repeated.
"May I look at him, then?" I asked.
He handed me the magazine that he read a while back. Apparently this Ready Set guy was a huge deal according to my brother. I flipped the page to the new artist section. This weird feeling came over me when I saw him. His crazy brown hair, his piercing blue eyes…could it be? It can't be. I knew that he was off in Indiana somewhere, possibly in college studying whatever he was studying. Thomas was right, though. He did look familiar.
"He does not look familiar," I handed him the magazine back. "You just like him." I needed to lie about this because I didn't want Thomas to remember him.
Thomas rolled his eyes and he glanced out the airplane window. "We're here," he said casually. "One step closer to your dream."
I smiled as I saw the city of Los Angeles right in front of my eyes. This was all surreal.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Pete waited for me by the board room. He grinned when he saw us coming up to him.
"Welcome, Tiffany," he shook my hand. "Welcome to Decaydance family that you will soon be a part of." He looked over at Thomas. "You must be her…brother?"
Thomas nodded. "Yeah," he shook his hand. "I'm Thomas. Nice meeting you."
Pete gestured me to come in the board room. Thomas sat down on the chairs that were placed outside. I gave Thomas one last look before coming in.
"I'm proud of you," he whispered before giving me a smile.
"Thank you," I worded out before following Pete.
The board room was quite big, very open with all of the windows that overlooked the busy city. Another person was in the room that sat down next to Pete. As I got closer, I recognized who it was. My eyes widened.
He looked up at me and gave me this weird look. I guessed I was giving him a weird look, too. We were exchanging weird looks, which made Pete very confused.
"Do you guys know each other?" he asked the both of us.
I shook my head. "No, um, he just looks familiar," I glanced over at him again. He was still giving me a weird look. "You're from the Ready Set, right?"
"Oh, uh," he blinked his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm from the Ready Set. Wait…I mean I'm the Ready Set. I'm a, uh, one man band." He coughed before receding into silence again.
"What's your real name?" I asked kindly.
He glanced up at me again. "Jordan…Jordan Witzigrueter. What's yours?"
I couldn't even speak. "Tiffany Massena," I forced out. "Nice meeting you?"
Pete laughed at our actions. "It's like you guys are long life best friends that haven't seen each other in years."
"Yeah," I forced out a laugh.
"I know," Jordan quietly chuckled.
"Anyway, we need to go back in business." Pete took out two sheets of paper. "This will be your contract. When you sign this contract, you will record your first EP so you can promote your music on tour."
I gazed up at him. "I'm going on tour?"
Pete nodded. "Yes, you and your friend here," he said, pointing at Jordan. "Will be opening for All Time Low on their upcoming tour."
"We'll be touring together?" Jordan asked. "We'll be sharing the same tour bus?" he asked the last question with a little bit of excitement in his voice.
Pete laughed. "Yes…unfortunately for Tiffany," he joked.
I laughed. "This is awesome."
Pete handed us two pens. "Let the awesome begin."
We signed our contracts and officially we were both members of the Decaydance family. We took pictures and such, but afterwards we were able to get out of the board room.
"8 o'clock at the studio! Don't forget!" Pete hollered before we left the board room.
Jordan gave him a thumb up at him before turning to me. "So…are you…"
Thomas gave me a big hug as I got out of the board room. "I'm so proud of you, little sis." He pulled away from me and glanced at Jordan, who raised an eyebrow.
"You must be Tiffany's brother," he shook Thomas' hand. "I'm Jordan, her new label mate and tour mate," he grinned.
"I'm Thomas," he replied back. "So…you will be touring with my sister?"
"On the same tour bus," Jordan finished as he winked at me.
Thomas looked at me. "Am I able to come on this tour?"
I laughed and nodded. "You will be my tour manager and possibly be my backup guitarist if you accept?"
"Yes, I'll do both," Thomas hugged me again. He does this a lot when he was proud about something I've done. My brother does in fact have a good side to him. I just have to make him proud.
Jordan watched us. I turned to him. "Did you come here alone?"
He nodded. "Since I don't have any siblings and the fact that my mom is doing some business work back in Indiana, I came here alone."
"You're from Indiana?"
He nodded once more. "Yeah…where are you guys from?"
"Portland, Oregon," I answered quietly.
He cocked his head and grinned. "You know, you look like someone I knew there. I used to live in Portland when I was a kid," he paused. "I miss that girl…and Portland, too."
I chuckled. "That must be one special girl."
"She was," he assured with a smile on his face.
We walked to the elevator. I glanced over at Jordan. What if he was the Jordan I liked back when I was a kid? I mean, all of the things he said about his mom and his childhood…he could be him.
Jordan noticed me staring at him. "Is there something wrong, Tiff?"
That sparked up the memories. I shook my head. "That's weird. I've never been called 'Tiff' ever since I was in grade school. This one boy I liked always called me that."
Thomas gazed at the both of us before we entered the elevator. He gave this odd look to me. He probably knew what I was trying to figure out.
This was going to be interesting.
