That's All She Wrote || James Diamond

What Dreams Are Made Of (1.1)

"What do you mean you won't sing? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! When I tell you to sing, you sing. Now, sing or get off the stage!"

The large man in front of Roxanne Somerset was screaming at her from in front of the stage she stood upon. Understandably so, seeing as this was a pop star audition, not a songwriting contest; And she had just submitted a 15-song portfolio.

Roxy was trembling; the man yelling at her was Gustavo Rocque, one of the most influential music producers in the country, who was known for getting what he wanted whenever he wanted it. However, after weeks of no sleep and balancing her songwriting with her schoolwork, she was not going to let Gustavo have his way. She wasn't leaving with 'no' for an answer.

After seeing the commercial on TV for Rocque Records' new talent search coming to Duluth, Minnesota, the young writer knew that this was her best shot at getting to Los Angeles and breaking into the music industry. Though Rocque was notorious for his sour and unpersonable demeanor, he was one of the best songwriters of the last decade. Writing and producing songs for the biggest boy bands of the '90s couldn't have been easy, so she decided to spend the coming weeks grueling in her room to present 15 radio-ready pop songs in hopes that he might need a songwriting partner. The portfolio she had created was complete with lyric and music sheets, a cover letter, a resume, and letters of recommendation from her coworkers at the local radio station, Project Pop.

Carefully choosing the next words could make or break this audition, though it was hard for Roxy to think over the pounding of her heart ringing in her ears.

In front of the stage, the man's eyes were sunken in and lifeless, waiting for a response as his talent scout, Kelly Wainwright, ran the back of her hand over her forehead to remove the obvious beads of sweat as they trickled down. On the desk in front of them lay a copy of the girl's portfolio, full of her best works, and a heaping pile of junk food wrappers so high she couldn't discern if there was even room to take notes about the contestants. The longer the audition went on, the longer it was worrying her as the two fidgeted in their seats waiting - probably not a good sign for the writer.

"I know, Mr. Rocque, but if you could just look at the songs in front of you, they're all ones I wrote with your new pop star in mind! I'm the last tryout of the day in the 'Land of Nowhere', Minnesota, and you need to go back to Los Angeles with someone, right? There are millions of people there, one of them has gotta be your star." Roxanne choked out, watching Gustavo's face grow redder by the second as Kelly quickly got up from her seat and ran towards the lobby of the venue. Compared to her boss, the busy woman was dressed in a far more formal manner as her long, brown hair bounced up and down with each step. Roxy could only assume that the next few minutes alone with the '90s megastar would be less than stellar.

Turning her attention forward, she looked Gustavo dead in the eye while he took his yellow-tinted glasses off. He was shaking and sputtering, trying to get a word out. Hopefully, Kelly would come back before the man ripped her to shreds.

"Look, if you want me to sing some of them, I will, but you're an excellent songwriter who knows a great hit when he sees it. I would be an incredible asset to your team, so please just take a look at the folder I gave you." At this, he furrowed his eyebrows, but she continued, "I'm not in it for the money or the fame, I'm in it for the love of songwriting, and that will never change."

From what she could tell, this seemed to calm Gustavo down. He took the portfolio of songs Roxy had set in front of him and flipped through it silently. There wasn't any change on his face so she wasn't able to determine his feelings towards her songs, but he did take out his phone to check something. Roxy spied the time, 5:57, from a clock on the back wall knowing full well the auditions ended at 6 o'clock sharp. She looked back at Gustavo, silently pleading with whatever forces may be to let him whisk her away to California.