Part 5
Alex walked desolately down the street, not knowing where to
go. Then she saw them. They were standing in front of a huge truck outside of a
garage. They were talking with a mechanic. She moved in closer and waited for
her chance to speak to them.
Not much later, they shook hands with the man and walked
away both grinning.
“The truck will be fixed by tomorrow, thank God. Now all we
have to do is find out if Joey and Lance are going to be recovered enough to
get on the road by tomorrow,” Charlie said to the other man.
“Yeah, but we still have that guitarist problem.”
“Yes, that’s going to be a little tricky.”
As Alex trailed behind them, listening to the conversation
she smiled slightly. Maybe she would be the answer to their problem.
“Excuse me!” she said loudly.
The two men turned swiftly to see a teenage boy walking
towards them.
Charlie addressed the boy. “Yeah? Can we help you?”
“Well, I uh…couldn’t help overhearing you guys back at the
restaurant. And umm….well I heard you talking about needing a guitarist. I can
play,” Alex stuttered, suddenly unsure of herself.
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Look kid. A lot of people
can play but not many can play well.”
Both men were about to turn around and walk away when she
stopped them.
“Look, just give me a chance. What’s a couple minutes of
your time?” she asked.
“In our world a couple minutes is a lot.” Charlie looked at
the kid’s face. He looked so earnest that Charlie decided to give him a break.
“Fine we’ll hear you out. By the way how old are you? We don’t hire kids.”
“I’m nineteen.”
Charlie nodded. “All right, amaze us,” he said a little
cynically not believing that this kid could really play.
Alex brushed her fingers slightly over the guitar, lightly
caressing the softwood. She decided on a song that she had written a month ago.
She began playing letting the music wash over; she forgot the presence of the
two men watching her as her fingers cascaded over the strings.
Charlie looked over at the other man. They looked at each
other incredulously. The kid was good. Very good.
When Alex finally came to the end of the song, the two men
stared at her in admiration.
“You’ve got a gift,” Charlie finally said.
His friend nodded in agreement.
Alex was surprised at their praise. She had never played in
front of anyone since her mother died not even Kat or Becca. Was she really
that good?
She looked up at them. “You really think I’m good?”
Charlie smiled and nodded. “So…how fast can you learn a
song?” He asked.
“Pretty fast, I guess. I can learn a lot of songs in a day.”
Charlie grinned. He wanted to hire the kid. He was
incredibly good. There was just one other thing… “Do you know who Nsync is?”
Alex looked at him oddly. Well yeah, she knew who Nsync was.
In fact they had helped her in a time that she had really needed someone.
The year her mother died, Alex had been a wreck. She had
stopped playing guitar, not seeing the point now that her mother was gone. And
for the next few years she refused to even look at it. But one day, years after
she had given up on playing, Alex was feeling really depressed. She had been
fighting with her father and he had hit her for the first time. Shocked and
hurt she had fled to her room. Trying to forget her father she had switched on
her radio.
And as she sat silently, the most beautiful song came on.
“When the visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surrounds you
Are secrets and lies
I’ll be your friend…”
And as she sat, that song etched itself into her heart. As
soon as the song ended she had picked up her guitar and began to strum what she
could remember of the song.
She practised until she could do it to perfection. Needless
to say, she never gave up on the guitar again. She realized that if one song
could have such a huge affect on her, then she had no right to give up on
music.
She had learned a little later that a group called Nsync had
sung the song and although she didn’t know much about them barely even knew
their names, whenever she heard a song by them, she made an effort to learn it.
So yes she knew who Nsync was, but what did that have to do
with anything? Charlie saw the recognition in Alex’s eyes and the confusion.
Charlie hoped that Alex wasn’t one of those guys who hated pop music and groups
like Nsync.
“So do you know who they are?” he asked.
Alex nodded. “I know a couple of their songs but I don’t
really know that much about them. I couldn’t give you names or faces or
anything.”
Charlie smiled. That was to be expected. Not many guys
could. “Good, good. All right kid you’re almost in. You’re coming with us;
you’ve got one or two more performances to give.”
“Performances?”
Both of the men laughed. “What did you think we were the only
people you had to impress?” the other man asked.
Alex looked away sheepishly. Well yeah, she did.
The men chuckled at the expression on her face.
“Don’t worry. If you impress them like you impressed us,
you’ll be in for sure,” Charlie said as he began to move down the street,
heading to the hotel they were staying in.
As they were about to cross the street, Charlie stopped
abruptly. He put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Wait a minute. There’s one last
thing.”
Alex looked at him bewildered. There was more?
Charlie smiled. “We didn’t get your name.”
Alex sighed with relief. She smiled and stuck out her hand.
“Alexan…umm Alex Greene. Alex,” she said with a lopsided grin, trying to cover
up her near-blunder.
The two men didn’t seem to notice and just smiled at her.
“Well I’m Charlie and this guy here is Richard. Prepare
yourself Alex, this is going to be a long ride.”
And with that said both men turned around. Leaving Alex to wonder what she was
getting herself into.