Chapter Eight
Lila (Wednesday)
Oh, my God! I bolted upright in bed, excitement tearing through my body. I’d been that way ever since the phone call with Xander. I could barely contain myself. The fact that Kyle and I were going to go into a real recording studio to sing our song was incredible. It was the sort of thing that I never dared dream would happen to us.
Yet tomorrow, it would. Tomorrow could be the biggest day of our lives.
I jumped up and paced my bedroom, my mind spinning over everything. We had our one song, the one we’d done at the fundraiser, and we’d been spending time over the last few days working out some lyrics for Kyle’s other pieces, but I still didn’t totally feel ready. What I wanted was something nice to wear.
I bounded into my brother’s room and shook him awake, not caring about the early hour. My head was all over the place, I was barely even aware of time anymore. The closer it got to Thursday, the more freaked out I became.
“What?” Kyle murmured angrily, rubbing his eyes hard. “What’s going on?”
“I’m freaked out,” I admitted. “I need to do something today.”
“Well, we can work on our songs a bit more,” he tried, but that wasn’t enough for me.
“No, I know we still need to do that, but I want to go out. I want to buy some new clothes. I want to look good for tomorrow. I feel like it’s going to be the most important day of our lives, and I don’t want to go in it looking like homeless people.”
“They won’t care what we look like!” He finally managed to force himself into a sitting position. “They are only interested in how we sound, and I think we’ve got it nailed down.”
“They will; don’t be so naive!” I practically screamed. “The music industry is all about looks... or a lot about looks. We need to look professional. This is a huge deal.”
He shook his head, not seeing my point of view at all. “We can’t afford anything new, you know that. We’re barely keeping our heads above water as it is.”
“I got paid last night after my shift at the diner.” As if I hadn’t already thought this through, who did he think I was? I dealt with all our financial stuff; of course I knew where we stood with money.
“Plus, we got that tip from the fundraiser. We might not be doing great, but we’re doing better than we have been in a very long time. Come on.” I pulled at his t-shirt, needing him to just get on board already. “We’ll shop somewhere cheap. I just need to feel confident for this tomorrow. I don’t want to mess it up because I feel underdressed.”
Kyle rolled his eyes at me, but thankfully, he stood up regardless, ready to go along with me however much he didn’t like the idea. If he knew it’d help me, I had the feeling he’d let me do anything. He was trying his best to disguise it, but this was a huge deal to him, too. This was everything he’d ever wanted, and I knew for a fact that he didn’t want to mess it up, either. I wanted to get this right for him as much as me. If not more.
“Okay, let me have a shower, then we’ll get going. But we can’t be out all day; we still need to rehearse. And we can’t spend too much money. I don’t want to end up with nowhere to live just so you can have a new top.”
“You’re getting new stuff, too!” I insisted. “You cannot go looking like you normally do. I mean, it’s all right to look like you’ve just rolled out of bed when you’re at home with me, but for this you need a good shirt. You need new pants; you need to look nice. They’re going to want as much from you as me.”
“Ugh, fine, whatever.” But as he walked off toward the bathroom, I could see there was a bounce in his step that had never been there before.
I raced into my own room and threw a t-shirt and some leggings on, optimism creeping through my veins. I hadn’t been clothes shopping in so long, it felt like forever. And this was even more exciting because it wasn’t just essential stuff. This would be something I wanted to get, something for my future. Sure, I would have to be careful with how much I spent, so would Kyle, but I wasn’t going to allow that to dampen my spirits today.
“Come on!” Kyle called from the other room, managing to be ready before me. “Let’s go and get this over with.”
“Get this over with? This is going to be the best day ever,” I called back as I went to join him. I had a big beaming smile on my face that wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what happened. “Well, except maybe tomorrow when we actually begin our careers. That day might be a little better.”
Kyle rolled his eyes at me in a very over-the-top fashion, but he was grinning, too. He couldn’t hide how happy his was from me. I could read him like a book. “All right, whatever, let’s go.”
***
“Look at the price tag before you like anything,” Kyle reminded me once more, panic lacing his tone. I wasn’t sure why he was so worried. I’d managed to be restrained so far. I’d seen a pair of shoes that I’d adored, and it’d ripped my heart out to put them back, but they were just too expensive and I didn’t want to be silly.
“I am. Will you stop stressing!” I begged him. “It’s fine. I’m just looking. And you should be, too, so stop hovering over me. I know what I can spend. I know what I’m doing, so will you please just give me a break? Go to the menswear department. And don’t worry, I won’t buy anything without consulting you first.”
As he walked off, finally giving me some much-needed space to breathe, I allowed my imagination to flow. Every single item I picked up, I imagined wearing while I was up on stage belting out songs to a massive crowd.
Now that I’d accepted that I wanted this, that I wanted to become a singer, my dreams were becoming bigger by the second. I wanted the screaming fans, the adoration. I knew it’d be hard for me to come out of my shell after spending so many years as a wallflower, but I was still riding on the coattails of the confidence I’d gotten from the fundraiser.
I could picture myself in the studio, on the stage, performing for people – and it felt awesome. It felt like something I wanted for myself, and it all started tomorrow.
I grabbed a handful of things, not even looking at them now that I didn’t have anyone nagging me, and I took them all into the changing rooms. I just wanted to continue with the dream running free in my mind. I didn’t think I’d end up buying any of this stuff.
When I pulled the navy-blue swing dress on, I imagined myself performing in an arena. When I tried on the white jumpsuit, I saw myself giving a television interview. As I wore the yellow summery dress, I saw myself making a music video. I was getting ahead of myself since I was only supposed to be going in for a test recording, but it felt so cool to have a goal for the first time in my life.
Then I found a stripy black and white long-sleeved dress, one that I hadn’t even looked at as I pulled it off the shelf, and I tried it on without even thinking about it. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and actually blew myself away a little.
I wasn’t wearing any makeup and I hadn’t styled my hair, yet somehow this still managed to make me look cool. It wasn’t too over-the-top or dressy like some of the stuff I’d worn. It just looked casual, but with star quality, too.
It was perfect.
I tugged out the price tag nervously, not wanting to see that it was so far out of my price range to even be considered. Kyle’s words of warning became a little too real for my liking. But as I read the number in front of me, I felt a sense of relief. It was a little more than I’d wanted to spend originally, but it looked good. I had to have it, especially for the first day of the rest of my life. Hopefully, this would be the dress that raised me lots of money in the future anyway, so it’d all pay off.
As I took it off, the star quality went with it, which only confirmed what I already knew. Now that I’d seen this dress, I couldn’t go on without it. I carried it with me like it was made of gold while I went to find Kyle. It seemed like I’d arrived just in time because he was being totally bewildered by a sales assistant who didn’t seem to understand that we didn’t have the kind of money for whatever he was trying to sell.
“Hi, Kyle.” I took his hand and pulled him away. “I’ll find you what you need. You don’t mind too much what you wear, do you?”
“I don’t mind as long as I don’t have to talk to anyone else. They’re all absolutely terrifying, trying to force me into getting things I don’t have the money for. What part of ‘I’m too poor for that’ don’t they understand?
I chuckled loudly and flicked through the shelves, wanting to find Kyle something that complemented my outfit. We were a team, and I needed us to look like one. I needed Xander and his record label to take us seriously.
“Here, go and try these on.”
I shipped my brother off quickly, thoughts of what tomorrow was going to be like still spinning through my mind. I’d never even seen a recording studio before, never mind recorded in one, so I didn’t know what to expect.
All I knew from Kyle was that Xander was a self-made billionaire or something from a previous company, yet he managed to remain grounded. He’d certainly been nice to me every time I spoke to him, however much of a bumbling idiot I became around him.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t have that problem when I saw him again. Hopefully, the dress would have some kind of magic powers, and it’d make me act as cool as I looked in it. Nothing would’ve pleased me more than to be able to go in there and act the way I envisioned myself in my mind.
Still, I’d never been the cool and collected type. There was no reason that should change now. I’d settle for just not making a total fool out of myself. That would be something!
As Kyle joined me once more, looking awesome in his new, inexpensive clothing, I couldn’t help but grin. We had this in the bag; I was sure of it. Now we just needed to get back home and nail the songs.
Kyle was right. We did need to focus on that part, as well, and now that I felt confident in what I was wearing, I could put my all into it. I could sing my damn heart out knowing that we’d look like the professionals I wanted us to be.