Penny For Your Thoughts | A Bruno Mars Story

Chapter 2: Introduce Yourself

I got in the van straight away and through the back seats for my parents were already sitting at the front. Once I buckled on my seatbelts, I let out a huff of stress and said, "Guys, what's with the delay?"

My mother, who was sitting on the passenger seat, twisted half of her body around so she could face me properly. She seemed really sorry with their late arrival, but she remained to give me a reassuring smile regardless. "I'm sorry honey for being late, we were dealing with some competition with a rival's single release today, but we will make it up to you next time, okay?"

In case you have no clue with what they do for work, both of my parents were music producers. That meant they constantly work with the world's biggest artists. Although it was a low-key job, I still considered it as something cool.

I could remember when I was in kindergarten, around three or four years old, we did a show-and-tell where we introduce our class to our parents and we explain to them on what they do for work. Four-year-old me went up to the front of the class one day with my parents holding on to my hands, one on each side, and I remembered how much I was proud of my parents for being music producers.

Even my teacher at the time, Ms Young, was impressed with what my parents could do in work. She asked them if any of her favourite artists worked with them in the past. I couldn't remember exactly what my parents told Ms Young then, but whatever she was told before, definitely got her really happy and excited.

I rolled my eyes at my mom's lame excuse once she faced back to the front. My parents have recently been working with a number of artists with their upcoming albums. Every time they were late for a family occassion, similar to today, their reliable excuse was always the same. "A client held us up", "Our client wanted to work on this track a bit longer", "The client has this problem, that problem", blah blah blah. I internally scoffed at the fact that they were barely available anymore for me. If there was a next time.

I guess this was where I found my own comfort in music as I've always found the music industry an inspiring place to work in. Although I wasn't much of a musician myself like my parents, I could only hope that I will be able to help an artist with their success.

My father was able to bring me back to the present reality as I wasn't ready for his heavy foot to press on the accelerator, causing it to run quickly with minimum control of the vehicle. I clutched onto the seat in front of me as tightly as I could while my dad cruised through the narrow streets of San Francisco.

Throughout the whole ride, I've been holding my breath from the unexpected and reckless driving that my dad suddenly possessed, and the hardcore rock music in the background wasn't helping it either.

Ohhhhhh, we're halfway there. Ohhhh ohh! Livin' on a prayer!

Bon Jovi boomed in the speakers loudly as we came across a speed bump, which caused my head to hit the ceiling. "Ow!" I exclaimed loudly once my head and the ceiling made contact. My dad switched his centre of attention over at the rear view mirror for a short moment, only to find my eyebrows being scrunched together while my right hand massaged my scalp from the aching pain.

"Sorry Curly!" My dad cried out the nickname he came up for me since I was a little baby, which mockingly emphasised my uncontrollable bunch of brown curls, thanks to Mom for handing me down the gene when I was still a developing foetus.

"Seriously Dad?" I groaned at his carelessness while simultaneously worrying about the time, even though I was already more than late for the damn interview.

However, Dad's speeding in a residential area benefited me to at least be at the cafe a bit earlier than what it would've been if we were to run within the speed limit. It was a good thing Dad didn't receive a speeding ticket today or came across a cop in patrol.