In Another Life

Four

It was Monday afternoon and Mitch was spending it in relative peace; studying and listening to music by himself in the comfort of his own bed. After being hungover and dealing with an even more hungover Scott yesterday, it was a welcome break.

Unfortunately it didn't last for long. He was soon interrupted by the sound of someone very loudly bursting into the room.

Mitch looked up from the textbook laying in front of him. It was Scott, obviously – no one else other than the two of them had a key to their room, after all. He was already talking animatedly and waving around some paper he had in his hand.

Mitch slowly removed his headphones. "I literally didn't hear a single thing you just said."

Scott scoffed. "I said," he restarted, "that CalTones are holding auditions for new members this Friday. And you're going to audition."

Scott handed over the paper that he had been waving around moments ago; a flyer advertising said auditions. Mitch read it over quickly, taking in all of the details Scott hadn't mentioned.

After a moment, he looked back up at him again. "Do I have any say in the matter?"

Scott gave him a disapproving glare. "Um, no," he answered. "But even if you did, it wouldn't matter because you'd want to audition, right?"

Mitch glanced back down at the paper, biting his lip.

CalTones were the a cappella group Scott had joined last year. Mitch had watched some older performances that had been uploaded of them on Youtube, and they were good.

Intimidatingly good.

He obviously came to college to have new experiences, and he was majoring in music, so if he turned down the opportunity to be a part of USC's biggest and extremely successful a cappella group he'd probably be kind of an idiot.

Plus he liked a cappella music. A lot.

It was really only his own fear of rejection making him slightly afraid to agree.

"Would I even have any chance of getting in? The bar is set really high."

"Of course you would!" Scott answered.

A little too quickly for Mitch's liking. He narrowed his eyes at him, trying to figure out if Scott was lying or not.

Clearly Scott had noticed. "Seriously. I'd be shocked if you didn't get in, Mitch. I got in, and it's not like I'm way more talented than you or anything."

Mitch begged to differ. But as far as he could tell, Scott was being genuine. "Well... I guess I'll audition, then," he agreed with a shrug.

Even though Mitch was still hesitant, his answer was immediately worth it when he saw the way Scott's face lit up at his agreement.

"I can't wait. They're so great, Mitch. You're going to have so much fun," Scott gushed.

Scott was so enthusiastic that Mitch couldn't help but believe him.

—

As it turned out, Mitch's fear of being rejected had been a pretty reasonable one.

He hadn't actually auditioned yet, so he still had no way of knowing if he was going to be rejected or not. But considering the fact that he was currently waiting in the famed CalTones house with almost one hundred other auditionees, his chances didn't seem very high.

He was always on edge before auditions and big performances, but this was really something else.

Mitch had been so caught up in his current anxiety and his growing desire to leave without auditioning that he neglected to notice that someone had sat down in the empty chair next to his.