Battle of the Bands: Full Disclosure {Wattys 2016}

Every Road and One Final Result

Chapter 25

<Hendrix Ramone>

It's Saturday, the final Saturday of the competition; it's the last chance I have to make the proper impression of my band on the music industry. Beckham may think I'm a shoe-in, but I've never felt so far from that in my life. Back in Anaheim, I always felt on top of the world. Everyone wanted to be me or be with me. I was trapped in a bubble and had no plans of escaping. Coming to this competition opened my eyes. It made me realize that there were places beyond Anaheim, people more talented than myself and more that goes into a music career than just music.

"Ready for this?" Maddox asks as he tosses some more dirty clothes into his duffle bag.

"Hell yeah." I reply and set my already packed duffles on one of the hotel beds.

"Can you believe how far we've come in only a few months?" Maddox says dreamily, reminiscing.

"All those sleepless nights in bars we technically couldn't get into." I say, rubbing the back of my neck. "Seems like a million years ago compared to now."

When our band first got together, the only gigs we could get were in sleazy bars downtown and we only got those because the owners figured that by the time we started to play, people would be too drunk to notice who was on stage. It worked pretty well; drunk people were more likely to buy CDs from high school freshman than our sober classmates, so we got exposure and some new fans. By sophomore year, we had more consistent gigs at restaurants and parties and the bars we used to play at would give us earlier set times which meant we no longer had to stay up until three A.M. to play for people who were barely listening.

"Back then we thought that playing in bars at three A.M. was as far as we were going to go." Maddox chuckles at the memory.

"And now, here we are at the finale of Battle of the Bands." I smile softly, looking at the laminated pass around my neck. "Maddox?"

"Yes, pretty boy?" He smirks, zipping up his last duffle bag.

"What's going to happen if we don't win?" I look at him seriously.

"We'll go back to chasing down record producers and performing in bars." Maddox replies immediately. "We're not going to break up, Hendrix, we all go down together."

"That's comforting." I smirk and grab my guitar case.

"As you pointed out, all of us have probably caught the eye of some music producer or another, so were not going anywhere." Maddox shrugs as he follows me out of our hotel room.

We step into the elevator with Levi and Noah trailing a few paces behind. I press the lobby button and lean against the elevator railing, waiting for the doors to open again. When they slide open on the bottom floor of the hotel, I catch sight of Beckham standing by the front door, probably waiting for Delilah's instruction. She catches sight of me and smiles, but nothing can hide the nerves in her expression or the dark circles under her eyes. Not that I'd ever tell her that.

"You look ravishing this morning, Princesa." I grin, snaking my arm around her waist.

"You better not get me eliminated." Beckham smirks, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure those rules don't apply a few hours before the finale." I whisper.

"Hands off each other." Delilah mutters as she passes us. "The rules still apply until the final result is given out tonight."

"Okay, Captain Buzzkill." I laugh, causing Delilah to roll her eyes.

"Watch it, Hendrix, you're skating on thin ice and it'd be a pity if something happened to your pretty face." Delilah gives me a wicked grin before opening up the front door of the hotel. "Everybody onto the bus."