Five Years of Fame [COMPLETE]

24. Olivia Meets Gage

As Olivia hit the sidewalk, gulping down large lungfuls of fresh air, breathing out the stale office environment, all she could think about was Jayden. She hadn't seen him in months. He had stopped by after her LA show but that was at the beginning of tour. She hadn't reached out to him but the silence was a two-way street.

Olivia pressed a button on her car keys and the vaguely familiar car parked down the street replied. Just like the new apartment, the car was new. Olivia was thankful at least for the familiarity of LA streets as she headed west out of downtown.

Only half of her conscious brain was paying attention to the road. The other half was swirling in a whirlpool of stuff to do, things to think about, ideas to digest. Slowly her brain returned to normal operating speeds, returning with each mile Olivia put between herself and the board room she had just left.

She opened the windows to let the air rush in when her mind flew back to the large calendar, each day with something new, a scant few weeks of freedom next summer, and then nothing else until Christmas. The Christmas of next year. It was only October.

Olivia could feel herself breathe easier the second she grabbed her guitar case from the back seat. Every day since returning from tour, Olivia had had a monster list of details to attend to for the upcoming tour. If it wasn't costume fittings, it was hair touch-ups or trying on a million different shoes to find the one that would become HER shoe for the tour.

Gone were the days where she wore on stage what she had for the rest of the day. This was her tour, her show. There would be costumes and lights and guitar changes and a grand piano. The costumes would resemble a nicer version of what she usually wore and the guitar would mostly be acoustic but ones that she had had to pick out. And the piano was next level. Things were stepping up for Olivia Keller.

Her lights had to adjust as she entered the building she had just parked in front of, the rehearsal space was dark, with black curtains hanging down over all four walls to cover up the soundproof padding. There was a low stage a single step up from the carpeted floor that took up half the room. The second half was filled with an array of old couches that looked like they had gotten lost on their way to a thrift store and ended up here.

The equipment was already set up. The microphones in place. But Olivia was the first of the band to arrive. She dropped her bag and her guitar case of the furthest couch and pulled her hair up out of her face. She started vocal warm-ups waiting for the nerves to set in.

But they never did. In fact, Olivia found herself excited to meet her new band. She had seen them on paper, watched videos of their auditions, and picked them out herself but in-person was a whole different ball game. But Olivia's soul was yearning for fellow musicians, people as obsessed with music and performing as she was. People the complete opposite from those she had just spent the day with.

Bradley entered and brought a train of people with him. Olivia greeted her friendly tour manager with a hug and extended her hand to each band member that entered.

She felt like she was meeting celebrities. She had done her research thoroughly, spending hours online while the tour bus rolled her from one city to another. She had to do it while pretending to be asleep in her bunk so her other band wasn't aware that she was in the process of replacing them.

"Olivia, this is Yvette and Troy Whitfield."

The married couple that had been working as a duo act all over LA was prettier in person than they had been in their photos. Troy grabbed Olivia's hand with a firm shake but Yvette wrapped Olivia up in a warm hug, her long black hair falling over Olivia's shoulder.

"It's so nice to meet you."

She held onto Olivia's shoulders, keeping eye contact to solidify their connection.