The Road to L.A. (19 page)

Jake spun around and followed the sound of his band mate's exuberant exclamations. He finally found him in the oversized garage, inspecting a brand new Maserati.  Jake’s attention was caught by the red Ferrari parked next to it.  The gleam of the red paint mirrored the sparkle in Jake’s eyes. 

              “All yours,” Mr. Coulter said. 

Jake just shook his head.

              “This is so unreal!”

Jake soon found himself sitting in the driver’s seat running his hands around the steering wheel and examining the various buttons and devices.  Mr. Coulter leaned against the car.   

              “Are we happy?”

Jake nodded emphatically.  He was smiling uncontrollably.

              “Good,” Mr. Coulter stated.  He then added, “It’ll only get better from here.” 

              “I don't see how much better it can get,” Jake said almost to himself as he tried to absorb everything. 

              “Oh yeah,” Mr. Coulter confirmed.  “Once StoneLief starts producing more and more hits and you guys really take off, you are going to realize soon enough that you can have anything you want." 

Jake scoffed.

Mr. Coulter continued.  “It's true.  You want more cars, you got it.  You want the hottest girls, you got it.  Entrance to the best nightclubs, no problem.  Parties with the biggest fucking names in Hollywood, your names will be on the guest list.” 

Jake walked back into the house with Mr. Coulter following close behind. Hayden remained in the garage to tinker with a Porsche.  Jake plopped down on the leather sectional next to Mac and Danny.  Aiden had made himself comfortable on the sofa in the outdoor living area and was on the phone chatting excitedly.   

              “Now, let’s talk about StoneLief,” Mr. Coulter said. 

Jake turned to look at the music mogul, his mind still reeling from all the opulent gadgets and gifts so neatly tucked under the roof of this Hollywood Hills estate.  He had to re-focus his mind in order to talk business with Mr. Coulter. 

              “This new album you’ll be working on at the studio, we’ve already got some songs we want you guys to look at.  They’d be killer on the album.  No doubt, every song on StoneLief’s first album is going to be a chart topper.  We’re talking Grammy nominations for sure.”

Jake nodded and said, “I’m sure.  I also have some songs I’ve written that I wanna include on the album.”

Mr. Coulter nodded and replied, “We’ll take a look at them tomorrow.  We’ve got the best people working behind the scenes with us to produce this album.  These are some of the best people in the industry.  Not to mention, we’ll get you guys in the best cities to promote the album once you start touring.”

              “Oh, yeah?” Jake asked, sitting up in his seat.

              “And television appearances,” Mr. Coulter added.

              “Wow,” Jake mused, “sounds like we’ll be pretty busy.  This is all happening so fast.”

Mr. Coulter laughed and said reassuringly, “Trust me, in this business you’ll want to stay busy.”  

              “By the way, you haven’t even finished checking out the house.  You’ve neglected the upstairs.”

Jake rose from his seat and walked to the staircase. 

              “I’m coming, too,” Mac said.  Danny followed suit.  They all climbed the stairs to the second floor.   

              “Wow!” Danny exclaimed as he peered down the long hallway lined with multiple doors on both sides. 

They took everything in with naïve bewilderment so reflective of their youthful inexperience.  Just as promised, a room to their right was filled with a pool table, a couple of pinball machines, an arcade video game, and a fully stocked bar taking up the entire left wall.  Jake also noticed a 70" television mounted to the wall.   

              “Look at all these fucking rooms,” Mac marveled.  He glanced at each door in turn as they continued their exploration.

              “This place has gotta have like six or seven bedrooms,” Jake marveled. 

              “Shit, this is like ten times bigger than my parent's house,” Danny replied.

Mr. Coulter urged Jake to open one of the doors.  As he did, a large bathroom with black marble washbasins, black Italian marble flooring, and a large Jacuzzi tub with gold fixtures came into view.  His eyes were quickly drawn to a more enticing sight, though, and behind him both Mac and Danny smiled mischievously.  Inside the Jacuzzi tub were two beautiful young women.  And they were smiling, beckoning the young men to join them.

              “You gotta be kidding me,” Mac said, chuckling. 

              “I told you guys.  Anything you want,” Mr. Coulter responded with a smug grin. 

Jake could feel a stirring inside of him as he watched one of the girls rub foam on her chest in an overtly seductive display.

              “And this is just the beginning.  Once StoneLief really gets big, there’s nothing you can’t have.” 

Mr. Coulter patted Jake on the shoulder and said, "Now go have some fun." 

              “You don't have to tell me again,” Mac said. Both Danny and he began hastily removing their clothes to join the two beautiful women.   

Jake just stood there awhile and contemplated how life had so distinctly changed since leaving Clanton.  Living there, he had been a nobody.  Life had been so simple and so obscure.  L.A. was proving to be much more interesting.  He resolved to do everything he could to make a name for himself.  He wanted everyone to know him.  And he was certain that in time he'd be the center of everyone's attention, sought after by fans, music executives, producers, magazines, music venues...girls.  He'd never be alone.  He smiled.   

Chapter Fifteen

              For the first six months that Jake was in L.A., he called her with predictable regularity.  It became a ritual for him to call around the eight o’clock hour, and they would converse for hours about their day.  He spoke with such vigor as he described to her his long hours spent at the recording studio and about how great their album was coming along.  To Carly, Jake sounded extremely happy, and that made her happy as well.  She could just imagine that handsome smile lighting his face, and at that moment she wished she could have been in L.A. with him to witness his joy.  Several months later, however, the calls became less and less frequent.  At first she felt a bit hurt as she sat at the kitchen table trying to concentrate on the crossword puzzle in front of her while simultaneously waiting for the telephone to ring.  Eight o’clock came quickly, and she threw nervous glances at the receiver as the minutes ticked away excruciatingly.  Finally, at eight-thirty she gave up on her crossword puzzle and decided to retire to the living room to begin reading her
Introduction to Psychology
textbook.  She figured it was probably for the best that Jake hadn’t called that night, considering she had an exam that next morning.  As the weeks passed, however, the lack of contact with her best friend became routine and she slowly acclimated to it.  She no longer looked at the clock to see if it was time to wait by the phone.  She attributed the silence to his working hard on the album.  After several months with barely any contact at all, Carly decided it was best to throw herself completely into community college life and her part-time job.  The distraction definitely proved helpful.

She was in the throes of a last-minute cramming session for a British literature test when, suddenly, she was startled by a procession of loud honks in her driveway.  Carly darted down the stairs with a stack of books under her arm and opened the front door.  Amanda was waiting in her car, purposely pointing to her watch.  Carly moved as fast as her legs would allow, but she felt like a pack mule as she stumbled along with those heavy books in her arms. 

              “It’s about time, Carlita,” Amanda said impatiently.

              “Sorry,” Carly groaned.  As soon as she had slid into the seat, she allowed the textbooks to tumble to the floorboard. 

              “You know Professor Taylor is not gonna let us in the classroom to take that exam if we’re even a couple minutes late,” Amanda reminded her friend.

              "I know, I know," Carly replied.  She then took out a notebook from her tote and attempted another brief cramming session.

After a brief silence, Amanda blurted out curiously, “Have you talked to Jake?”

Carly shook her head somberly and then said, "I’m sure he’s just busy.  Besides, I have other things I gotta worry about, like British Lit tests." 

The silence soon returned as both girls' minds became heavily engrossed on remembering the specific topics that would be covered on the exam.  Carly was getting more and more frustrated as she tried, unsuccessfully, to remember all of the characters in
The Canterbury Tales.
Her concentration was soon broken by a shrilly squeal that escaped Amanda's wide-open mouth. 

              “What?” 

Carly peered out the front and passenger-side windows to discern what had caused this sudden and unexpected reaction from the otherwise collected twin girl. 

              “Not out there, dummy!” Amanda said excitedly.  "The radio!" 

Carly listened and didn’t quite understand what all the fuss was about.  She was lost in a mental fog.  Thankfully, it didn't last long and soon dissipated.  It revealed a new sense of clarity, and her eyes widened as if she had seen an apparition. 

              “Oh my God!” was all she could express. 

The voice on the radio, the voice singing the catchy rock song, sounded all too familiar.  It was a voice she had longed to hear over the telephone for weeks now.  A joyful exhilaration swept through her and she turned to look at Amanda.  Both girls screamed so loud that Carly could have sworn the people in the neighboring cars thought both girls had gone absolutely mad.  When the song ended, the animated voice of the radio announcer stated, “That was by the band StoneLief with their new hit single
Revelation
, which has topped the billboard charts for two weeks in a row!  And not much longer to wait for their album,
The Road to L.A.
, which will be released by mid-July!  And if you didn’t already know, the lead guitarist was raised right here in Clanton, Ohio.”

Carly and Amanda squealed once more, their minds reeling with incredulous excitement.

              “I can’t believe it!” Amanda cried.  “We have to call him tonight!  I can’t believe he wouldn’t have told us about this!”

Carly concurred.  She was feeling a bit hurt, but she reminded herself that she should just be happy for him right now. 

After finding a parking spot and gathering their materials for class, both girls agreed to head over to the music store after class to see if they could find the single.  Carly darted to British Lit class with Amanda following close behind.  Books bouncing in their arms, their minds were still reeling over what had just happened.  Carly wanted to pinch herself.  Jake was officially famous! 

And was his song really number one on the billboard charts?  They burst through the double doors of the English building and raced down the stairs.  When they took their seats, the teacher's assistant was already handing out copies of the test. 

An hour later, Carly was still taking the test.  Amanda had finished early and was waiting impatiently outside the classroom.  She was eager to head to the store and find Jake's single. 

              “It’s about time,” Amanda groaned when Carly finally appeared.

              “Hey, I don’t like rushing through tests.  Plus, I had a freaking hard time picking out multiple choice answers with thoughts of Jake running through my head.”

Amanda scoffed. 

              “You’re just a slow test-taker.  Now let's go!”

Shortly thereafter, they pulled into the parking lot of the store.  Before making it to the aisle filled with alternative rock CDs, the twin's phone began to ring.  She answered it with a hasty “hello” and instantly began chatting in an uncharacteristically animated voice that carried over into the other few aisles. 

              “I know!  Can you believe it?” she squealed to the person on the other end.  Carly looked at her quizzically, and Amanda mouthed the name “Aaron.”  Carly nodded.  Not wanting to waste any more time, she sifted through the selection of CDs under the “S” category.  She soon found the CD and carefully picked it up as though it were a revered idol she had finally uncovered after a long and arduous journey.  She couldn’t help but stare at Jake's image on the cover, marveling at how handsome he appeared.   

              “It’s almost unbelievable, huh?”  A voice next to her said. 

Carly glanced up and saw Chad reaching for the same music CD she now held in her hand. 

              “I never thought I’d be friends with someone who was gonna be famous,” Chad said. 

              “Yeah,” Carly concurred.

              “How’ve you been?  I haven’t seen you in a while,” Carly asked, trying her best to be sociable, even though Jake’s picture kept drawing her attention.

              “Pretty good.  Still attending the university in Columbus. I actually just got into town.  My old man wants me to spend the weekend at home.  They’re having this big birthday party for my mom.”