“Was that right?” Aaron asked as the band was rehearsing a song in the studio. The older guy in the room, probably their manager, was taking notes as they rehearsed. The guy smiled and nodded and gave some tips for Aaron and the rest of the band.
I sat on a chair next to Aaron’s stuff, feeling a bit uncomfortable just sitting in a band rehearsal. I thought maybe he and his bandmates do this type of thing; they bring their friends or girlfriends to rehearsals and all know each other or hang out–
Girlfriend.
It’s hard to know what Aaron and I are; sometimes I really think he and I are a couple, but then Aaron will talk to me like I was just one of his friends. It’s like the kiss at his showcase never happened; we never even talked about it after it happened, and sometimes it makes me feel bad. Did I ruin what was a good friendship assuming Aaron wanted to be more than friends?
I look at the guys playing their next song from beginning to end; they sound insanely good like they’ve been doing this type of thing together for years. The older man stands up from his seat.
“Alright guys, 10-minute break, and then we will rehearse the last two songs,” the guys said. The band took off their guitars from their backs and placed their drumsticks on top of the drums. I looked at Aaron, who began to walk in my direction.
“You’re okay, Mols?” Aaron asked. I nodded before I said anything else.
“You guys are super talented,” I began to say. “I didn’t know you guys had a manager and everything.”
“Yeah, Willis gets us the gigs,” Aaron explained. “He’s been with us since the beginning.” I nodded my head once again, taking in what Aaron was saying. He looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“What?” I genuinely asked. Aaron was always unreadable; you could never tell what was going through his mind and what he was deciding to say out loud.
“Come,” Aaron said as he grabbed my hand to get me out of the chair. He walked me toward the band equipment and I was getting nervous. I was afraid of getting too close to the instruments like God forbid I bump into something and make it fall and break it? It’s bad enough that I don’t think his bandmates liked me being around as much as I am.
Aaron placed me in front of the microphone, in which I looked back at him.
“What are you doing?” I asked him in a panic. Aaron puts his guitar around his neck and faces me before saying anything.
“Sing something,” Aaron demanded. “What’s your favorite song to sing?”
“I don’t know,” I said in a hurry. “What if the band comes back and sees me near their stuff?” Aaron walks to me without breaking eye contact with me. Gosh, he looks so hot with his guitar in his hands looking at me.
“Well good thing you’re standing where I normally stand,” Aaron answered back. He was right; Aaron was the lead singer in his band, and the microphone is technically his spot so I’m not touching anything that doesn’t belong to him. Aaron starts to play the chords of a song that he’s been practicing for the last couple of weeks; I only know of the music because he is constantly practicing it. He looks at me and smiles as he plays the song.
“I’m not singing, Aaron,” I stated. As I was about to walk away from the microphone, Aaron steps in front of me.
“Can’t seem to get my mind off of you,” Aaron began to sing as he played the guitar. I looked at him, not budging. He wasn’t going to get me to sing in a studio where any one of his members can walk in at any moment. “Back here at home, there’s nothing to do,” he continued to sing. “Now that I’m away, I wish I’d stayed,” The temptation is killing me, and I’m just talking about his angelic voice and charismatic smile.
“Tomorrow’s a day of mine that you won’t be in,” I started to sing. Aaron looked like he had just won the grand prize lottery or something. The song was just too good to not sing, and I mean, everyone is on a break, why not just play around before they come back? I grabbed the microphone off of the stand and started to bounce around in place. Aaron completely stopped singing and continued to play the song on the guitar; I was the one singing the lyrics. I looked at him as he looked at me, enjoying just playing around and singing along to songs like it was just us in a rehearsal room back at Waverly.
Aaron always made me feel the most comfortable when it came to singing. I mean, sure, I sing in front of my friends and family, but Aaron always makes me feel like he’s listening to me when I sing; plus, it’s nice to have Aaron playing the guitar as I sing. Aaron continues to look at me as I sing the lyrics to the song. It’s like the world is our stage.
I immediately stop singing once I see the door to the studio room open. Aaron’s smile fades and turns around to face the door. The rest of his bandmates stand at the door, looking at Aaron and me. I run away from the microphone stand and back to the seat I was sitting at. Aaron looks at me before looking back at his bandmates.
“Sorry, we were just joking around,” Aaron said as he adjusted the strings on his guitar. His bandmates don’t say anything back, but they continue to look at me with weird expressions on their face. I would do anything to hide under a rock right now.
“Yo, you sing?” one of the guys finally said; I believe it was Xavier that did. I look at Aaron, who is looking at me to answer or something.
“Uhm… yeah,” I answered softly.
“You got some crazy vocals,” Xavier responded. He turns his head to talk to Aaron. “You guys go to school together?”
“Yeah,” Aaron finally spoke. “We’re both in the vocal program at Waverly.” The other bandmates look at each other, clearly shocked to learn this new information. Shortly after, the band’s manager walks into the studio space.
“Alright guys, let’s get to work,” the guy says, going back to where he was sitting. The band members go up and walk to their manager.
“Aaron’s girl got pipes, bro,” Xavier started to say. Aaron’s girl. Does he talk about me as his girlfriend to his bandmates? “Like insane pipes.” I looked at Aaron; he was looking at the manager as he let his bandmates speak. The manager looks in my direction and I can feel my face get really hot, so that must mean that it’s tomato red.
“That’s Mollie,” Aaron finally said as he looked in my direction. I waved nervously. I saw Aaron smile. “She knows the songs better than I do at this point.” Their manager nodded his head as he was listening to the guys speak.
“That song you were singing,” the manager begins to say. “Would you mind if you sang it with the band one time?” Me? Sing with Aaron’s band? I looked at Aaron before answering the manager back; I didn’t know how to feel about randomly singing for a group of people I didn’t know. But, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do and want? I mean, I am a vocalist at Waverly High; the choirs perform in from of dozens of strangers for each performance and do it without any nerves showing. Besides, this is just for fun; and Aaron looks like he doesn’t mind me joining in on a song in a rehearsal for fun anyway.
“Of course,” I answered back.
“Alright then,” the manager began to rearrange the rehearsal formation and took another mic stand to place up front. “Xavier and Thomas on the right, Jordan in the back, Aaron on the left. Mollie, front and center.” The band got into their places, which made my stomach turn into knots; like this was actually happening right here, right now. I walked slowly to the microphone; my heart kept pounding the closer I got to it. I don’t look up from the ground or else I would run out of here as fast as I can.
“Hey,” I felt Aaron whisper next to me as he touched my shoulder. “You can do this. Pretend it’s just you and me in the room rehearsing.” I looked at him as he walked back to where he was standing. I faced forward and looked at the mirror in front of us. It was crazy to see myself front and center in front of a band as a lead singer. It felt almost natural to be standing there like I belonged in the band or something. I looked at Aaron through the mirror one more time before looking at the manager and smiling.
“I’m ready,” I finally said.
Letters From Liz. 