I placed my hand on the cold steel door handle and slowly pushed it down. It opened a little faster than I expected, giving me no choice back to walk through into the boardroom.
I looked up and saw four people sitting, including DJ. He stood up and walked over to me.
“Sarah, please. Come in” He enthused, outstretching his hand. I placed my hand in his and shook it, a nervous smiled printed firmly on my face. I walked deeper in to the board room until I reached the table where the other three people sat. Dj walked back to his own seat and sat down, motioning for me to do the same.
“So, Sarah these are my colleagues. Darren, Joseph and Carly” DJ exclaimed, pointing to the other three people.
I waved like a complete dork, rather than speaking, because I was worried that if I managed to say anything it might be followed by a stream of vomit. Looking around the room I knew I should relax though. It wasn’t what I assumed would be a typical looking boardroom. The walls were emblazoned with graffiti, not the kinds that were just aimless scribble, but the real true street art.
DJ wore the same kind of thing I’d seen him in on Skype the previous night, except today he word a trendy looking black suit jacket. Darren who probably had the best smoothest olive complexion I’d seen on anyone ever. He, like Joseph wore jeans and a t-shirt, while Carly was dressed slightly more corporate, but still nothing like how everyone at booked up had dressed.
“Sarah, Dj tells us you’re with Nick Jackson” Carly said with a smile, she opened a file in front of her.
My stomach dropped, what did she mean by “with” him, how much did DJ know about me and Nick? I sat there, doe eyed for a few seconds.
“She was originally a filer Carly, Nick only put her on the books yesterday” Dj explained, pointing halfway down the page of the file Carly was reading.
Carly nodded and I gulped back the ball of fear in my throat. She’d meant how long had I been with Nick as my agent.
“Dj’s said that he’s heard you sing Creep. We trust Dj’s judgement when it comes to yes or no answers on signing talent. However, Dj has suggested putting a whole lot extra into your development and we want to make sure that as a label, we get a return on our investment. We have a free studio downstairs, booked for an hour. If you’re ready we’d like to take all this paper work and our meeting down there. Lay down a track and go from there alright?” Carly explained, as calmly as she could. I nodded dumbly in response.
Like they were going to sign me, I was acting like a mute. How the hell would they market a mute singer?
The five of us left the boardroom a few minutes later after everyone gathered up their things. I tried not to focus on the fact that soon I would open my soul in front of four virtual strangers, but the only other thought occupying the space in my mind was the same one I’d not managed to get rid of since the previous night.
Being with Nick had always felt right, even when it seemed so wrong.
Being without him seemed wrong, even though until almost two weeks ago it was all I’d ever known. Two weeks ago I had no idea where my life was heading.
Then suddenly, at the speed of light I was in a recording studio, broken hearted, but ready to start my life.
“You all right Sarah?” I heard Dj say beside me.
I looked beside me; DJ had slowed right down and was walking alongside me.
“OH yeah, fantastic, thanks” I lied outright, I had no choice. I couldn’t exactly turn around to a record executive and say ‘hey yeah, I’m shit actually. Thanks for asking’
“Sarah, you don’t have to bull shit with me. I’m not going to scold you for being down. If anything, your emotions are good fuel for singing, embrace it”
“I’ll try” I agreed.
Finally after what seemed like forever we walked in to a small black room with hundreds of buttons and knobs. Behind the desks there was a wall of glass, the room on the other side had a layout of instruments, and a variety of microphones. Both rooms were state of the art, with modern décor adorning them. I sighed softly as I let my fingers run over the top of one of the plush leather seats.
“This is the control room Sarah, we’ll be in here. It’s funny that you’re wearing a guns and roses t-shirt. We’ve laid down a track for don’t cry” Darren exclaimed sitting down on another of the seats.
DJ ushered me in to the booth and walked me over to the microphones.
“Just breath and sing like you did last night alright” he whispered, placing a set of headphones over my ears. I nodded and took a long deep breath. I heard the studio door click shut and I closed my eyes. When the music started I felt something inside me come alive, like a switch had been turned. When my cue came, I let my mouth open and began to sing. I felt every word I sung like they were written for me and while I was singing for myself, and for this record label. I was also singing for him.
As the song ended, a surprise lone tear escaped from my eyes and I finally looked up and out at the control room. I was met by four wide eyed faces. Carly leant forward and pressed a button.
“That was perfect” she said, her voice erupting through the headphones “Come back through to the control room Sarah”
I lifted the headphones from my head and hung them up, then walked out of the live room and back in to the control room.
“I must say, we’re really surprised at how well that went. We sprung a song on you, recorded it and you sung it perfectly, with a degree of emotion that is so rare in someone so young. Sarah, we need you here at Emperor” Joseph exclaimed edging forward on his seat.
I laughed, and sat down on the black leather couch that was against the wall at the back of the control room
“You need me” I scoffed
Joseph’s eyes narrowed and he nodded then looked over at DJ “I see what you mean.”
Confused, I frowned and looked over at DJ myself.
“Did I do something wrong?” I fretted, my stomach began churning and I darted my eyes around the room for a suitable place to throw up.
Dj smiled reassuringly then shook his head
“Sarah, we love you. We want to sign you. We just want to make sure you’re ready for this and I want to work with you in seclusion for 6 months”
“Seclusion?” I replied without thinking first. The word seclusion punched at me like a dagger, I’d only just freed myself from seclusion, and the thought of trapping myself again seemed preposterous.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds Sarah. Basically it means we’ll record like we would with a normal artist, but rather than begin any promotional stuff to try and put you out there, we’re going to hold off and work on your confidence issues.”
“Oh” I frowned, embarrassed my low confidence issues were that evident.
“We’ve printed a contract; you’ll want to have an attorney look at it. It states all the clauses, the advance we’ve set aside for you and what we will do for you as your record company.” Dj handed me the contract and I let the heavy stack of paper sit idly on my thighs. The real world was sneaking up on me, and I had to make a real world decision.
“Let me just say, that we think you’re going to be something amazing Sarah, and we’re willing to do anything to have you.” Carly added
I sat there, waiting to wake up from this dream. It didn’t happen though. This was real.
I flicked open the contract and began reading over it. The seclusion clause was slightly bigger than DJ had mentioned. I’d need to move in to one of the record labels apartments for the entire seclusion period. I frowned at the realisation, that if I took this opportunity I’d be saying goodbye to the friends I’d only just made. They planned to pay me a $2,000,000 advance if I signed. More money than I’d ever know what to do with, without any guarantees that they’d get it back.
After the meeting finished I somehow made it home in a complete daze. It was later than I expected because when the bus stopped outside, Marc’s car was already back in the driveway. I walked along the path, up the driveway and in to the house. Janie and Marc sat at the table giggling and holding hands.
“Sarah! You’re home!” She leapt up and skipped across the floor to me. Like an over excited puppy she jumped up and down as she noted the exceptionally large envelope that I held snug to my chest.
“Is that a…?” She asked without asking.
“Yes. It’s a contract. I need to find a lawyer to look over it.” I groaned
“Can I look?”
I nodded and handed the heavy envelope over. Exhausted, I trudged in to the lounge and threw myself at the couch. It took less than a minute for Janie to find the advance amount. She almost screamed so high pitched and loud that I was surprised the windows didn’t smash from the pressure.
“2 mil! They’re going to pay you 2 freaking mil!”
“Wow, that’s amazing” Marc added, excitedly.
“Read the rest” I urged, still unsure about the whole seclusion thing. I was already cut off from Nick, the idea of being cut off from my new friends made me feel a little down.
It didn’t take her long to mention the seclusion thing sucking, but she also mentioned that it was only 6 months and the whole opportunity was once in a life time type of stuff.
“I guess I need to find a lawyer” I grumbled relaxing my head against a couch cushion.
“Nick knows a few. Call him?” Janie suggested walked over to the couch, placing the contract in front of me on the coffee table.
I didn’t want to speak to Nick, besides; I’d deleted his number from my phone.
At that moment, my phone rung and without thinking I answered it. Of course, given that minimal people had my new number I should have realised it was Nick. His uncanny timing yet again reared its ugly head.
“I heard the meeting went well.”
“Why are you calling?”
“DJ mentioned you need a lawyer for the contract. He feels you’re a little overwhelmed and asked me to find someone to take a look over it for you. I’ve arranged for one of my attorneys to visit with you tomorrow”
“Oh, thank you. Honestly I really appreciate it” I replied
“It’s no big thing.”
For a minute there was silence, I didn’t want to speak for fear that I would say something wrong, that I would plead for him to just be with me. After all was said and done, now really wasn’t the best time.
“Sarah, I wanted to apologise for how I acted last night.”
“You were speaking out about how you felt. I don’t think you should ever apologise for being honest, unless of course you’re being a moron”
“I was being a little bit of a moron Sarah, I was telling you how you feel, not just how I feel.”
I frowned and stood up, what I had to say next I had to say alone, without ears listening. I walked down the hallway to my bedroom and gently closed the door behind me.
“I can’t keep going around this roller coaster with you Nick. I don’t know what way is up and what way is down anymore. What you said last night wasn’t that far off the truth. You and me were just not ready for each other.”
“I know. I’ll talk to you sometime alright.” Nick mumbled, his voice pained.
“Goodbye nick”
I disconnected the call, and cleared the call log. Then closed my eyes and ignored the lyrics of the song I’d sung only a few hours ago and cried.
*****************
There we go, not completely happy with this, but I promised an update. I am tired now, so off to bed before I have to go to work tomorrow morning.
I will start doing more Nick POV's now that they are "seperated" and will be for a little while. ****spoiler alert***** oops lol
Anyway, thanks for reading, I am truly amazed by all you lovely people commenting and voting and just being so kind. Sorry if I don't reply to everyone, I am just super busy all the time and when I get a chance to sit down I want to write while I have the chance and while my eyes still managed to stay open. :)
Until next update.
Bex.