Tremble (Jacob Whitesides)

Interlude

Interlude

Saturday

"Guess what's tomorrow?" I held my phone between my ear and shoulder as I browsed through my keyboard music.

"Hm... blowout sale at Wet Seal?" Jacob laughed.

"No, I'll give you a hint," I transitioned the phone to my left hand. "It only comes one a year, and on this day, I get a little bit older and get to blow out some fire with my breath."

"Oh, your birthday! You're finally turning 4! Well, I'll plan something very special for you," Jacob snickered.

"Yeah, I just learned how to read See Spot Run yesterday. The teacher gave me a gold star," I giggled. "Don't go too overboard now."

"No promises," Jacob teased before hanging up.

A few minutes later, my phone dinged with a new text from Jacob.

Jacob :* : my house, tomorrow @ 2pm <3

* * * * *

Sunday

At exactly 2 o'clock, I stepped up to Jacob's front door and knocked. He quickly answered and grinned when he saw me.

"Hey, come on in!" He held the door open for me as I entered his house.

"So, what's your big plan?" I asked, slipping off my shoes.

"Nope, not telling. Just follow me," Jacob took my hand in his and led me through the house.

"Wait," he stopped. "Close your eyes."

Reluctantly, I shut my eyes and led Jacob guide me. Soon, he brought me to a stop.

"OK, open them," I could hear the excitement in his voice and my eyelids fluttered open.

We were in a windowed room, containing a piano, a guitar, a video camera on a tripod, two microphones on stands, and a stack of music books and scores.

"Are we gonna..." I trailed off.

"Record a cover?" Jacob finished for me, "and it's not just for our YouTube channels."

"Wha?"

"I pulled a few strings, and this'll also be available on iTunes."

My mouth fell open.

"You're joking," I gasped, giving Jacob a look of disbelief.

"Not this time," Jacob shook his head. I laughed out of pure joy and pulled him into a huge hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I gushed, my head buried in Jacob's chest.

"You're welcome, princess. Anything to make you happy," Jacob said softly as he held me tighter.

"Let's get started, hm?" I gazed up at him, and he nodded and gave me quick kiss before leading me over to the piles of music.

* * * * *

"15 minutes!"

Jacob pulled me onto his lap as I refreshed Twitter on my phone.

"I think the fans'll love this," Jacob grinned as he typed on the MacBook Pro on the bed beside him.

Two weeks after my birthday, an Apple representative had sent Jacob the OK-Go email for releasing our single on iTunes. So now, here we were, a week later, about to launch our first collab.

"10 minutes, I glanced at the time on my phone.

"OK, I can't wait any longer," Jacob burst out, and he pressed 'upload' on the iTunes tab. My stomach jumped inside me.

"I-I'll tweet the link," I stuttered, my hands trembling with excitement as I opened Twitter on my phone.

"@MadsCarter: my new single ft. @JacobWhitesides is available on iTunes now! itunes.com/problem-jacobw-maddyc"

Jacob retweeted it and smiled at me.

"This is... unreal," I breathed as my Twitter blew up with notifications. Jacob checked the statistics on iTunes. 573 copies sold in the past 30 seconds.

"Maddy, I have some other news for you," Jacob said slowly, shutting his laptop.

"Oh shit. Good or bad?"

"I'm going on tour," Jacob continued, ignoring my question. "I'm the headlining performer. It's international," Jacob's grin made it hard for him to get the words out.

"Wow..." I whispered. "That's great. Oh, my god, that's AMAZING!"

Jacob laughed a little, and I squeezed his hand in mine.

"I have to ask: how long will you be gone?"

He paused and licked his lips before answering.

"Two to three months," he muttered.

"Oh."

"But you're coming with me."