My Heart CH.28

My Heart: A Joshayley Story
chapter 28

JOSH'S POV:

We had already gone three days into our Florida retreat, performing two shows at local gigs. This was honestly the most fun I've ever had, especially with Hayley by my side. But by the third show, an unexpected event had hit us all with surprise.

Hayley and I stood backstage as the guys devoured what was left of the catering.
This show in particular was ridiculously exciting. The crowd left a thrum of energy that pulsed in arms to my thumbs, incredible beyond belief. Although my fingers were numb from holding the rugged strings on guitars, I didn't dare protest, instead I let them stroke Hayley's sweat-drenched hair. They left a cool sensation on my fingertips.

She drank from a water bottle as a rather official looking man in a black suit approached us.

This black suit was rather official, one that told any spectator that he meant business. And although his face was warm, the suit contradicted with it.

"Hi, are you the lead singer of Paramore?"

Hayley swallowed a gulp of her water before nodding. "That would be me."

"Hello, my name is John Janick," he began, holding a hand out for her to shake. "I was wondering if your band could come in to record a demo CD? I'm the CEO of the label Fueled By Ramen and we'd love to have you signed."

I nearly choked on my spit.

"What?" Hayley asked, a louder voice than her usual tone. "You're kidding me right?"

"No jokes here. We'll fly you into Los Angeles and maybe we can book a contract. Give me a call." From his suit lapel he pulled out a very official looking card, and I could tell how much she was trying to hide her excitement, but it was simply escaping her. Hayley snatched the card up like it was gold.

"I definitely will, Mr. Janick. Thank you so much!"

In moments time she had called. And we found ourselves flying into Los Angeles to record an official demo CD. This took rigorous amounts of writing and back to back bickering about which songs to use. But John Janick himself gave positive feedback after listening through the final thing, and was ready to turn it in to the rest of the label to check out.

It was only moments later that we were negotiating with our parents about the entire ordeal. With points being thrown back and forth and a conversation that was inching upon an arguement, we managed to convince them the light in the situation and they had agreed to everything. We took early tests in high school, worked long and hard to achieve enough high school credits in a short amount of time with private tutoring. The entire thing had taken tedious work and extra focus--and with our band put on hold, we finished high school and graduated, dealing with the pressure of having a record deal just sitting there and waiting for us. But we got in touch with John Janick once more, and with a contract and record deal signed, it was official.

Paramore was signed.

A week later..

"Today's the day!" Zac hollered from across the hotel hallway. Jeremy opened the door and looked back at him with surprise. "I know!" He called, the two jumping up and down in no attempt to downplay their excitement. I pushed my hotel door open to hush the two. There were other people sleeping, considering it was still 6 AM in the morning. It was unbelievable to me how two guys (who got, at most, 4 hours of sleep) could carry so much hyper energy this early.

Two days into recording what would be our first album, Jeremy had begun displaying some strange, albeit worrying, behavior. He wasn't working as hard, and he didn't seem to be enjoying anything we did. A continued air of grimness had circled around him days into the studio, his bass skills barely showing through that our own producer had to ask whether he was in this or not.
Soon enough, Hayley had noticed, and decided to call a band meeting to ask him about everything.

"I just don't feel ready, I need to sort things out..." Jeremy mumbled, as we all circled around him in intent attentiveness, my head beginning to jump to conclusions that I didn't dare think before. "I need to know if this is for me."

"What do you mean, Jeremy? This is for you, you've been doing great!" Hayley encouraged. And although that tone and her smile would have helped me any day, Jeremy didn't seem to lighten up.

"I don't know, I'm unsure, and I don't want to ruin any of this for you guys," Jeremy replied.

"You aren't ruining this for us Jeremy," Hayley shot back immediately, a walking contradiction.

"Truth is, I am, Hayles. I can't concentrate on playing, I'm just trying to sort it out. If I keep playing at this state, the album will be ruined. I don't want to do that."

Hayley sighed with a hum of impatience. "So what are you saying?"

"I don't want to do this. Not with you guys...I can't. I guess all I'm saying is I need a break from this."

"Dude, we just started recording," I reminded him.

"I know! That's why I'm leaving before it's too late..."

"Jeremy, you're ditching us, man?" Zac asked, and I didn't question the almost terrified sound in his tone. I was feeling the same way.

"I'm not, I'm just sorting things out," Jeremy replied, looking as if he was doing his best effort to calm himself down that calm the rest of us. Getting up from his place in the chair, he began his descent towards the door, his head wasn't held high, nor was there any hint of pride in his stance. His hand curled around the doorknob hesitantly--I could read the fear in his composure. There was one last, final glance towards us before he pulled the recording studio's door open and stepped outside.

We were all speechless.

One month later..

Paramore was doing well, and having John Hembree as our bassist wasn't as great as having Jeremy, but he was a cool dude. I was just glad we were able to release our first album ever. Hayley based it all on Jeremy's leave. I secretly hoped Jeremy would find our album and realize it was all for him. Maybe he'd come back. But now, we were in Warped Tour and having fun.

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This has an absolute lack of length but I felt like I had to leave it there. For those of you who want to read a more updated story of mine, go to my BuzzNet and check out my fic, Shattered. That story gets updated more than My Heart, haha.

http://www.joemqi.buzznet.com/user/journal

Please be patient for My Heart updates! :D I won't forget about it, I promise!