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Dear Sister, Here's Some Advice

Hey, I'm Busy Right Now, Call Me Later

I took a deep breath and a large gulp of cold water as I tried to shake off my nerves. I already got anxious meeting people I would get introduced to through a mutual friend, but now I was actually going to go into a conference with complete strangers. Somehow I had taken the initiative to set up a meeting with people on the other side of the continent through skype. I had no idea what I was doing. What was I even going to say? What if they were going to ask me questions I couldn’t answer? What if I got choked up and couldn't get a word out of my mouth?

This was almost just as important as contacting all those record labels!

I let the cursor hover over the call button for a while, waiting for the clock to strike six pm, and finally clicked. My heart was thumping inside my chest as I secretly hoped they had forgotten or wouldn’t pick up. But then again, it meant I was going to have to do retry it later again, and I would rather have it over and done with.

After a few dial tones, the sound suddenly stopped and the video chat popped up. I was staring right at four guys and a woman in the middle and a mirror imaged video of myself in a smaller box at the bottom of the screen.

“Hi,” I greeted happily, not sure how I was supposed to start a conversation like this. I was great at formal things if I was not suddenly faced with them. This, unfortunately, was a very sudden moment.

The woman returned the greeting first, having been the one I had been emailing back and forth with for quite a while now, and then the guys said their hellos as well. Luckily for me, they decided to break the ice first, because I honestly didn’t know how to start up what I wanted to say without it getting awkward straight away.

“I sort of expected a guy to pop up with the name ‘John’ calling us,” one of the guys (more specifically the one that looked like the only one that used hair gel every day to get it to stick upright) joked.

“Yeah,” I laughed along with a nod, “this isn’t my account since I don’t have one, so I’m using somebody else’s. The bass player’s in case you were wondering…”

“Oh, yeah, I remember now.” The one I recognized as the lead singer snapped his fingers as a light bulb went off.

So, let me clarify a little. Remember that Cameron had the whole year planned with tours? Well, it started off with Pierce The Veil in February. Obviously, something kind of got in the way of everything. But now with me taking Cam’s place, I needed to make sure if it was still going to happen if they knew about that or if they’d rather find somebody else. So that was for the PTV tour, Warped Tour, and the ATL tour. Honestly, I hoped we didn’t have to play the All Time Low tour even though it was a great opportunity to tour Europe, because that probably wasn’t going to be a possibility if we wanted to do it ourselves. Maybe I’d go through the pain of being around Jack (and Alex of course, but I was less worried about that) just to help out the band. But was the whole point of going on a tour with somebody you didn’t like? All Time Low themselves said they didn’t do that.

Anyway, back to the whole conversation.

The Pierce The Veil guys joked around a little more to make the whole thing a little less uncomfortable. It was probably a thing they did often with the interviews they gave. I, however, had no experience whatsoever, so I was super grateful for how nice they were being. It was like they somehow already knew beforehand that I didn’t know how to deal with things like this, but it was probably just what they were like.

Eventually, their manager, who was the woman with them, put them back on track by ‘asking’ me about the whole touring situation. In the end, the band had to make the choice to tour with us or not, which was why I was calling them in the first place.

“Oh, yeah, right. So, you guys probably know what happened,” I started and they all nodded their heads in unison. “Ok, then I don’t need to go over it all again. Anyway, although the label dropped the band and we no longer have a manager, which is why I’m here, the band isn’t breaking up. I’m going to be taking my brother’s place--”

“Wait, you’re his sister?!” The lead singer, Vic, interrupted, not meaning to be rude.

“Yep, twin sister,” I confirmed with a half smile. Something in me was surprised that they didn’t know, but then again the only way they could have known was through my surname and Knight was pretty common. Social media could have been a way to find out, but that wasn’t all that reliable.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He frowned and the whole lighthearted mood switched, which was exactly the mood I had been afraid of in the beginning.

I shrugged. “I can talk about his death and have a really somber conversation with you, or I could talk about how I’m continuing the dream he wasn’t able to finish.”

I really tried turning it into a ‘positive’ thing although my awkward wording probably gave away that I just really didn’t want to talk about it. Every time I remotely thought about it in depth again, I’d start having flashbacks to the scene again, and I didn’t want to risk that happening in front of practically strangers.

“Right, continue on then.” The manager smiled, probably realizing this would otherwise end up being uncomfortable for both sides.

I nodded and continued on with my proposition. “Ok, so, I completely understand if you’d rather find another band to support you on this tour. It probably makes a lot more sense, because you have no idea what it’s going to be like with me singing instead of Cam. It’s the same problem we have with record labels. Well, you could technically hear me on the track 'Around the World and Back'. What I’m doing right now is trying to learn all the songs then wanted to play on guitar, and remember all the lyrics. We also have a couple of songs that are close to being able to be recorded, so we’re trying to finish off one pretty soon. So, I don’t know if you’d like to give that a chance or do whatever feels better and safer to you.”

“I know the song 'Around the World and Back', it’s pretty good,” Vic nodded, twirling a pencil between his fingers, “so when do you think you’d have this song finished?”

“Umm, we have the lyrics and--” I was cut off by my phone buzzing on the table right beside the laptop. I picked it up to quickly silence it, only to see it was Jack. Rather than declining it immediately or just letting it ring, I decided to send him an auto-response text stating ‘Hey, I’m busy right now, call me later’. To me, it seemed to be the most fitting one and the one that would hurt the most in the long run.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized while putting my phone back down and it immediately started buzzing with text messages, “So, we have the lyrics and some basic ideas for the music, now we just need to do it all properly and then record it. I believe the songwriting will be the easy part, but finding a space to record will be difficult."

“So it might be a bit far-fetched if I asked if you could give us something to listen to by the end of this week?” He asked next.

“Oh… umm… I mean, we could always try… I’m uncertain if it would be anywhere near professional producing quality, but we might be able to deliver--”

Jack started calling me again. I sighed and sent him the same exact message again, hoping he’d get the message. All he was going to get from me was an automated message, nothing more nothing less. Declining the call showed that I still cared enough not to want to talk to him, but now I seemed more preoccupied and disinterested.

I threw my phone on the bed as soon as I was done, knowing the buzzing wouldn’t be as loud. “Once again, sorry. Now it won’t interrupt me again. Anyway, we could maybe make a demo-like track especially since it will be difficult to find a good recording space at this short notice.”

“I think we can deal with that.”

“Ok, then I’ll get working immediately. If you change your mind, just send me an email. I’ll probably reply in no time.”

After that, we finished off the final details, like how I had to send the song to them and other stuff like that. To me, I didn’t feel like they were trying to make us write a song in such a short time because they wanted to hear it, but because they wanted to see how committed we actually were. Plus, it might also have been that final push for us to make that demo record companies really wanted to get from us.

As soon as the call ended officially, I picked up my phone from my bed (only to have to send another message) and ran down the stairs. I nearly tripped over a couple of toys Emily had left lying around, but managed to balance myself out as I rushed to the living room where I knew John was sitting and waiting for me to tell him some news.

However, as soon as I skidded down the hardwood floor and into the room, I was not just met with John and Trisha, but also another couple of guests. They all stared at me in shock, looking at me expectantly. With all the eyes on me, I wasn’t sure whether to feel happy or sad. Was I here to bring good news or bad? Well, it depended on who was hearing it.

“Thank god you guys are all here,” I chuckled completely out of breath as I looked at the guys that were now for sure my three fellow band members. There was no getting out of this. “We get to go on tour if we manage to write a song by the end of the week, record a demo version, and send it to them.”

“Wait, really?!” Charlie’s mouth went wide open as he stared at me before standing up, “Fu-- Can’t say that word here! I actually thought they were going to let us down.”

“You can thank me later,” I smirked and bowed in front of them. “But we have to get to work straight away.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Carter shot up off the couch as well and gave me a salute.

As we all rushed out to get our gear (John and me inside the house, and Carter--he brought a simple cajun, not a full drum set of course--and Charlie out of their cars), I had to decline another one of Jack’s calls, making him receive the same message again:

Hey, I’m busy right now, call me later.

Notes


Really awkward chapter, but I need some fillers so things don't go too fast here.

Comments

@settle for me.
I usually just post a chapter a day or every other day. Sometimes less, sometimes more frequently. No need to force it in a short amount of time.
Well, two stories are close to finishing, so a new one will arise. It's based on an idea I got years ago, but I made it a bit more sophisticated. If a story about an age gap intrigues you, keep your eye out for it.

@aweirdkindofyellow
I remember you saying and I did say I was going to do the same but I just honestly never got around to it.
I have been told nothing about any of your new ones, just that you have lots on the go.

@settle for me.
I've been transferring everything to Wattpad and AO3 for quite a while now. Given up on Mibba though. Never liked that interface and layout, so couldn't be bothered.
I'm going to start another story soon (after I finish some that I am currently writing). And I'll still post it here, but you'll just have to actively search for it yourself if you want to read it. I don't know if you've been told anything about it yet, but you might like it or hate it.

@aweirdkindofyellow
Same! No one else updates anymore and I need to start on another site but I just... don't have the energy?
I'm going to be absolutely lost when you finish the ones I'm subscribed to. I honestly won't have anything to do.

@settle for me.
I've also really been missing reading other people's new stories. Seriously, the only story I still read right now is yours. I just can't find anything else.
I've actually been trying to figure out a way how to change the sequel to this story so it's not as long and officially ends there as well.