Chapter 1
~Dane~
Friday nights were my least favourite shifts at my job. Expectedly, that was when it got crowded the most, and I was always the one having to deal with all the orders that came by all at once.
Everyone else working at the movie theatre seemed to have better things to do than to work at the concession stand.
Ever since rush hour at the movie theatre started, I was constantly darting back and forth between all the snacks and drinks, trying to serve the customers on time before they went to the movies.
There was only one other person working at the concession stand, but he was busy taking orders and handing the customers the snacks that were behind the counter. Meanwhile, I had to focus on the popcorn and nachos and slushies and basically everything else.
As I handed an order to one of the customers, she immediately said, "You forgot something. My song."
I had to take a second look at the customer to realize it was Carrie. I didn't even recognize her at first because of the wig she had on. And then I realized exactly why she told me I was forgetting her song.
"I told you I would get it to you after work," I said. "I'm busy."
"So am I," Carrie said. "I told you, I need the song by tonight."
"And I told you that I would get it to you after work," I said, moving onto the next order. I was hoping that Carrie would just leave and wait for me to get the song to her after work, like I told her multiple times.
I should have known better with how stubborn she was.
I handed the next person their order and sure enough, Carrie was still waiting on the other side of the counter. "You know, the snacks at the concession stand are normally for people who are going to see a movie."
"How do you know I'm not going to see one?" Carrie asked.
"Because the only way you'll see a movie in the theatre is if you book it for a private screening," I said. "And considering I work here, I know that we don't have a theatre booked for a private screening."
Once again, I turned around to continue with the numerous orders that was coming this way. However, Carrie still didn't leave. I should have known that she wasn't going to leave until she gets her way.
"Seriously, you have to leave," I said. "You're in the way of people waiting for their orders."
"Fine," Carrie said, surprisingly. But then what she said next was not so surprising. "But I'm not going to leave the theatre until I get my song." She walked off with her snacks, sitting on one of the chairs close by.
What a pain.
I looked at what was on the next order before walking over to the popcorn machine. As I was filling a large container, my co-worker asked, "What was that about? Girlfriend problems?"
"Ew, no," I said. "She's just a family friend." And I really do mean it when I said 'family' friend. Her parents were best friends with my parents, and that was it. I never really got along with Carrie. I mean, we never argued or fought or anything. She just wasn't someone I would become very close with.
"Seemed serious, whatever that was about," Zion said. "And she doesn't look like she's going to leave any time soon. Why don't you go talk to her?"
"Because if you haven't noticed, we're kind of busy here."
"Then I'll handle the concession stand."
"Are you sure you'll be able to?"
Zion shrugged. "Dunno. But if it gets too bad, what are the owners going to do? Fire me? I've been trying to get fired since I started working here. Seriously, go. Just don't take too long."
I was going to question why Zion didn't just quit if he was trying so hard to get fired, but then I remembered that his parents were the owners of the movie theatre. They probably weren't letting him quit or something like that.
And since Zion was promising to cover the concession stand, I took the opportunity to quickly go talk to Carrie so she would leave. I mean, I hope it would be quick. With her, I could never be too sure.
I thanked Zion before grabbing my backpack and leaving the concession stand, walking over to where Carrie was sitting. I opened my backpack, took out the file that had the sheet music in it, and handed it to Carrie. "Here," I said. "Since you're so impatient."
Carrie took the file from me without so much as a thank you. She opened the file, took out the sheet music, and quickly scanned the lyrics written on there. I was thinking she was going to like it. After all, she has liked most, if not all, of my songs in the past. It was why she insisted I be her songwriter.
She soon closed the file. "This is unacceptable."
"What?" I asked. "Are you serious? I thought that was my best one yet."
Carrie snorted. "If you think this is your best one, then I'm afraid to see any other songs you write after. This is horrible. It's not what I stand for."
"And what do you stand for?" I asked.
"Something way different than this," Carrie said, actually having the audacity to throw the song into the closest trash can before walking away.
Unbelievable.
Even if she didn't like the song, she didn't have to thrown it out. I could have kept the melody and just rewritten the song.
Carrie was just taking the joy out of my songwriting. In fact, if I didn't feel obligated to be her songwriter, I would have quit a long time ago. I didn't even know how much longer I could put up with her when she was acting like this.
I walked over to the trash can and fished out the file, which was probably not the best idea. The file ended up getting all sticky, probably because of people throwing their pop and slushies away without fully finishing it.
I was just going to have to find something later to put the sheet music in.
I walked back to the concession stand and placed my bag where it was before. I put the file on top of it before going over to the sink and washing my hands thoroughly after having to dig through the trash.
"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" Zion asked. "Whatever you and Carrie were talking about?"
"You recognized her?" I asked.
"Almost immediately," Zion said. "I didn't know you knew her."
"I kind of wish I didn't," I muttered. I didn't know if Zion heard me or not, but he didn't question my comment about not wanting to know Carrie, thankfully. I didn't want to get into it. I didn't want to have to explain why I wasn't getting credit as Carrie's songwriter.
Even though it was a very quick explanation.
She and my parents were just able to convince me to be a sort of silent partner for Carrie since she had always dreamed about being in the spotlight.
As if people knowing I was her songwriter was going to make any difference to Carrie's fame.
I just wanted to quit so bad, but I felt like I had to have a legitimate excuse as to why I wanted to quit. Carrie and my parents probably wouldn't take me seriously if I told them that songwriting was no longer any fun. They would probably just blame me, saying I need to find inspiration somehow.
It was kind of hard to find inspiration having to work with such a pain.
I just hoped something would come along that would give me a reason to quit because I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up.
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okay, i know i shouldn't start anymore books, but i've had this idea for a while now and i legit dreamt about it last night, so it was a sign i had to get started on it lol.
and bless my dream for giving me the idea where zion was going to work. i had been trying to figure it out, but then in my dream he worked at the theatre with dane, so i had to make dane his coworker ahahaha.
anyway, i hope you enjoy this story!