Hollywood Nights//Jake Kiszka

Twelve

Your label audition is tomorrow and you should be sleeping, but you can't stop thinking about Jake leaving earlier today. It was a week-long relationship. He was supposed to mean nothing to you. You didn't even know his last name. There's no reason for you to be replaying your last kiss over and over in your head right now.

  But of course, that's all you're doing, instead of preparing for your audition tomorrow.

  After Jake told you his last name you've been resisting the urge to go look him up. It will ruin the magic of what we had, you tell yourself. But at the same time you need to know. It was clearly important to him, and you feel like you need to know who he is, because you might be falling in love with him.

  Hell no. There's no way that's happening.

  You stare at your blank phone screen. There's no harm in finding out a little, is there? You sigh and type his name into Google. The page takes a moment to load, but your jaw drops when it does.

  You can't believe what you're seeing as you scroll through the headlines. No wonder he seemed so rich, it's because he 's a fucking celebrity. This guy's won a Grammy. A Grammy! He's the lead guitar player in a band you've heard of but never paid any attention to. You click on their music video and wow, this shit is good. Really good. Like industry-altering good. Why did he need an escape from all of this? This is everything you've ever wanted. He's more confusing to you now than ever. You want to call him but you know you shouldn't. He clearly wanted a clean break from you. So you lay down and sigh, and try to focus on tomorrow, which could be the most important day of your life.

***

Your legs shake as you walk onto the stage in the space that the label had picked out to audition the band. You try to sturdy yourself as you grab the mic stand. Becca looks over at you and nods reassuringly, which makes you feel a little better. It's not even the audition that's making you shake, even though that's definitely part of it. You can't stop thinking about what you read about Jake last night. You wonder if he had to do an audition like this when he got discovered. There's so much you need to ask him, and you might never get the chance.

  "Hello, Wasted Summer," the label executive addresses us by our band name.

  "Hello," you respond, with as much confidence as you can muster. You open your mouth to introduce the song you're going to play. It was supposed to be the first song that you all wrote together, but you get a sudden feeling that it wouldn't be right to play that song. When you start to introduce the song you find yourself introducing the song that you guys had only played once, the song you wrote about a man that you hadn't known long but had left a mark on you forever. The band looks at you confused but you nod and them, and  Becca plays the opening chords. You take a deep breath and begin to sing.

You caught my eye like sunshine in the rain
Next thing I know I'm going insane
Babe you cast a spell on me
Now I'll never be the same

You sigh and close your eyes as you finish the song. The whole room is silent for a moment, then you hear the applause of the label execs sitting in front of you. "Amazing job," the man sitting in the middle says. You're caught off guard and it takes you a moment to respond. "Oh, thank you," you smile and nod.

  "We'll definitely be in touch," he walks over and shakes your hand.

  You thank him again and you walk off the stage with the rest of the band.

  "Holy shit, I think we got it," Chris exclaims once you're all outside.

  "You really think so?" You reply. It's been so long now, you know better than to get your hopes up.

  "Come on, Y/N, they loved us." Becca rubs your shoulder and smiles. "And that song was perfect."

  "I thought you guys would be mad about that," you laugh a little, thinking about how you switched up the song on them like that.

  "No, it was amazing, that's an amazing song, Y/N," Cal says.

  "Wow, thank you," you smile at him. Thinking about that song makes you think of Jake again, and your heart dips a little as you remember all the things you want to ask him.

  "I think we deserve a night of celebration," Chris shouts, snapping you out of your trance.
  Everyone cheers and you laugh. You forget about Jake. Tonight is about you, and how all your work might just be worth it now.