FOUR ➳ Mickey is... What the fuck is Mickey even doing?
▬▬▬ ➳ ▬▬▬
Mickey sat on the couch wondering, for whatever reason, if Beth liked his music.
He, thus, elaborated a plan to ask her about it. A needlessly complicated plan, but still, he thought she wouldn't notice anything if he asked her in that specific way.
So, he typed.
[my neighbor won't stop listening to this song on repeat...]
[I had nothing against the song, I thought it was a cool song, but I wish she would dial down on the volume a bit]
The answer came after a few minutes, which he spent looking at the ceiling while picturing Beth listening to his music, like the sucker that he was.
[what song?]
All right, now play it cool, Mickey. He typed carefully, trying not to sound too obvious. Or maybe he should've just have asked her promptly "hey do you listen to Mickey Roscoe?". Too late now.
[I don't know the name, it goes like 'baby I'm undone but I wanna live to see the sun...' something like that]
[oh I think I know that one.]
[but I don't know the name. wait a sec now I'm curious. gonna google it]
Shit. She didn't know him... Mickey let himself sink deeper in the couch. Maybe this way was better.
[it's called 'see the sun' by a mickey roscoe, apparently] she wrote after a few more minutes.
Yep. She really doesn't know me. Somehow, he was a bit hurt.
So what? Stop being a baby. It doesn't matter that she doesn't know who you are. That's what you wanted in the first place, right?
Mickey sat up straight and texted her back.
[now u see what I'm dealing with here? Not that it's too bad...] he wrote quickly, before he could stop himself at the last part.
[hahahah I think it's fine, but I wouldn't wanna listen to it on repeat either]
Ouch. He was not done, though. He just had to keep poking, hadn't he? Mickey wouldn't let it rest.
[do u know another one of his songs? Maybe I could recommend it to my neighbor, see if she changes the track hahaha]
Ok, now he was just fishing. I'm hopeless.
[I dunno... I mean, I think I might've heard some on the radio, but nothing comes to mind right now :/]
It's official. She is not a fan. Just let it go. Why are you doing this to yourself? What do you want out of this conversation? Weren't you tired of just fans anyway? What the fuck are you doing?
[Omg!!! I just found out he's the one who sings 'stillness of remembering' *0*]
Mickey sucked in a breath as he read the next messages, his heart slamming against his chest.
[I really liked this song!!! I knew the words to it]
[If I remember correctly, I might've done the same thing as your neighbor when I heard this one for the 1st time back when I was in college]
Mickey threw his fists up in the air. YES! She liked his music! She really did!
[really?]
[I wouldn't download his album, tho]
And there it was, the other shoe dropping. He sighed and walked up to his bed, crash-landing on it, face first. Her messages kept coming. Mickey dragged his phone once again to his face.
[I guess he's the kinda guy that's only good for one type of song]
[everything else is just more of the same... u know?]
He rolled on his back and rubbed his face with the heels of his hands. Fine, at least she liked one song.
[I guess ur right] and that's what pained him the most.
▬ ➳ ▬
"I need to record something."
"Oh, hello to you too, Mickey. I'm fine, what about you?", Charles replied on the other side of the line.
"I'm serious, Chuck", Mickey pressed his phone over his ear, anxiously.
"Al'right. Have you written the song down, so it won't go away?"
Mickey hated when Charles used his babysitter voice with him. It's not like Mickey was asking too much, this was his fucking job.
"No, because I've already recorded it. I wanna re-record it, but... different, this time."
"Uh, like a remix?", Charles sounded unsure.
"Yeah. I recorded the new arrangement on my phone and I'm sending it to you."
"What's the song?"
"Stillness of Remembering. It's a jazz version."
Charles was silent for a couple of minutes and then, it was like Mickey heard him pressing the bridge of his nose, impatiently. He could almost hear his agent thinking 'what the hell is this kid talking about?'. Deciding to ignore the silence, Mickey continued talking.
"I'm thinking a simple video, just me and a piano, nothing fancy. Some nice lighting, no effects or anything. Maybe we can make it vintage or black and whit-"
"Mickey", Chuck interrupted with a cautious voice, "Are you sure this is a good idea? I know Stillness of Remembering was a hit some years ago, but- I mean, jazz, it's not actually your area of expertise. I don't think you have an audience for that kinda stuff"
And there it was. I'm not good enough for jazz, is that it? Not a real musician. Well, Mickey thought he might as well speak the language of producers, which is to say, the language of money.
"Now you see, that's where you're wrong, Chuck. Cause jazz is sexy. And, as you well know, sexy is pretty much my area of expertise. I guarantee this video will be a total success."
"Al'right, Mickey." The manager sighed, loudly. "I'll see if I can schedule it."
"The sooner the better!", Mickey added before Charles could hang up.
▬ ➳ ▬
[dude]
Beth's text came on a Tuesday night while Mickey was bored watching sports. Or rather, his eyes were watching but his brain had decided to go for a walk and leave him behind. He couldn't even tell which teams were playing.
Beth's name popping up on his phone screen cracked open a big smile on his face - as it frequently did for the past month - jolting him awake.
[u won't guess what happened]
[what]
They haven't talked in a couple of days, which was weird because it had become sort of a habit that they'd speak every day. Yet, Mickey tried not to think much of it, since he had been busy with recording and shooting the music video, and Beth probably had stuff of her own to worry about. So, he tried not to be clingy.
[remember that time when your neighbor was listening to a song on repeat and we started discussing mickey roscoe and i said i didn't think he could do anything much different than what he already did, like he's not much of a musician and stuff?]
She heard it. She heard the song. Mickey could hear his blood pumping in his ears. It was enough for him to look past the "not much of a musician" part.
[i remember]
Mickey tried to not get too hyped by the time her next message came.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch<=MBqw&list=Rj&ststhvr1]
It was the link to his new video, the jazz version of the only song of his that she liked. Mickey was so damn happy that the video made its way across the internet and reached her. Thankyou YouTube algorithms.
Still, he felt nervous. She'd listened to it, but she didn't say what she thought of it. Maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up. She could still think it was bad. She could have laughed... God, I hope she didn't laugh.
He pretended to watch the video for a few minutes before replying, hoping not to sound biased.
[that's... different]
[yeah, right? I was not expecting that!]
[it's crazy! It's like he heard me]
Oh, the irony.
[me and my big mouth talking shit about people I don't know. serves me right to be this wrong]
[what do u think of it?]
Shit, that sounded bad. Please let it not be weird. He just had to know. He had to.
[it's good. It's *actually* good. not like, "oh I like this pop song, I'm gonna listen to it for the next 2 weeks and then totally forget about it" good]
[he can even, like, improvise... I'm stunned]
He couldn't believe his eyes. He'd made it. He'd proven to her he was not just a pretty face. That he was capable of making good art.
[I really like this]
I'm glad. Cause I made it for you.
Too bad he couldn't tell her that.
▬▬▬ ➳ ▬▬▬
A/N: Well, this was a fun chapter to write! I just love getting inside Mickey's head... Vote/commentif you enjoyed it! oh btw, did you get the reference on Mickey's song title "Stillness of Remembering"? ♫ ♬ ♪