ADDICTION | BMLA

two.

Arabella Easton

I placed both my hands on the mic as I heard the pianist whisper, "1,2,3..."

"I keep on fallin' in and outta love with you. Sometimes I love ya, sometimes you make me feel blue. Sometimes I feel good, at times I feel used. Lovin' you, darlin', makes me so confused..." I sang. My body felt the rhythm of the piano and my hands flowed to the beat. As soon as I was done with my song, the crowd clapped. I smiled at the audience and blew kisses all around me, since the stage was surrounded by people. I took a bow, then motioned at the pianist, who also stood up and took a bow.

"Thank you all for listening to me sing tonight. I hope you enjoy the rest of your dinner and your evening. If you want to find out more about me just feel free to ask me any questions. Thank you and goodnight," I announced. The crowd gave one more round of applause, and went back to their meals. I turned off my mic and hugged my sister, who was just to the side of the mini stage.

"Bub you killed that shit," my sister squealed.

"Thank you Audrey. Now please  help me take all this crap back into your car," I smiled as she rolled her eyes. I put my mic back into my box and gave it to my sister. She went outside the restaurant door to unlock her car and to prepare loading all the equipment. As soon as she left I began to unplug all the cords that were plugged into the speaker. I noticed a few people drop by the piano to give tips. I continued to wrap the cords until I turned around to see one of the five guys, who entered from earlier, standing right in front of me.

"Hi I'm Edwin. Edwin Honoret," he said. He was the one with the bright green hair. He flashed a quick smile at me, and I smiled back.

"I'm Arabella Easton," i said as I put my hand out for him to shake. He gladly took mine into his and grinned.

"So how long have you been singing?" Edwin asked.

"Very long, ever since the start" I said packing the cords.

"Have you ever written any songs or published anything?" Edwin said taking a glance at my equipment.

"I've written tons of songs, and I usually just sing bits and pieces for my instagram."

"Hey people should start to consider signing you up for record deals. You have a beautiful voice." I smiled at Edwin for a quick moment, taking in what he just said.

"Aw thank you very much, that means a lot," I beamed. I set the wrapped cords to the side and collected all the tips in my blue beanie.

"Would you maybe wanna hang out with me  and the band tomorrow? We'd love to get to know you," Edwin asked.

"The band?"

"Yeah I'm in a band uh prettymuch? If you've ever heard of them."

"I actually haven't."

"Well tomorrow is going to be a great day for you to get to know us and our music. You got a piece of paper?" I took a napkin and a crappy pen out of my duffle and handed it to him. He quickly scribbled, and handed it back to me. "Great, I'll see you tomorrow Arabella," he smiled and walked off. I looked down at the paper to reveal an address and a smiley face. I smiled up from the napkin and noticed that there was no one else in the restaurant anymore.

"Ara why the fuck are you taking so long for?" Audrey groaned.

"I'll explain it in the car. But PLEASE help me get this crap back into your car," I begged. I basically felt my sisters strong eye roll once more, and she began to take the mic stand and the cords back to the car. I took one more glance back down at the napkin.

insta: @prettymuch
pull up @12 pm :-)

I put the napkin into my duffle bag and headed out the restaurant door. I quickly shoved myself into the front seat as my sister took the driver's seat.

"Thanks for helping me clean all that shit up," I sighed.

"Yeah yeah now tell me about why you took so fucking long," Audrey said. I took my duffle from under me and scrambled to find the napkin. I gave it to my sister and explained what had happened. "So you're telling me you're gunna pull up to some random dude's house just because they want to get to know you?" my sister asked putting little finger quotes around the words know you.

"Well they make music apparently and Edwin seemed interested in my music background, so maybe they want to help me... ya know get a lil bit more to the top," I suggested.

"Okay Ara, don't spend too long at this place and text me if something happens," my sister said and she began to start the car.

"Hand me the aux," I smiled.

"Why?" Audrey questioned as she put her hand in a little compartment, grabbing the aux cord.

"Let's listen to this so called band prettymuch," I suggested as I opened the Spotify app on my phone. I searched up "prettymuch " and clicked on their profile. They had quite the number of singles, and one EP. I clicked on the EP and rested my phone on my lap. I turned up the volume button on the radio as the songs began to play. I nodded my head to the beat as I analyzed the lyrics of the songs.

"Damn this shit slaps," Audrey grinned and she began to sway her head to the songs. As soon as we got home, I grabbed my duffle bag and ran into my room. My sister and I have been living in a one story house ever since our parents passed. My sister is an extremely talented dancer, so she dances for studios, singers, and music videos. She pays most of the house's rent, but I try to help as much as possible by performing at restaurants and with my little growing instagram account. "ARA YOU FORGOT THE NAPKIN!" my sister exclaimed from outside. I sprinted outside to grab the napkin that my sister held with her two fingers. I ran back inside and typed the address into my phone. The house was thirty minutes away in a richer area of LA. I exited the app and got on Instagram. I scanned Edwin's neat handwriting on the napkin and typed their @ in the search bar.

you started following Prettymuch

I looked at their feed for a few minutes and locked my phone. I shuffled around for my glasses and looked inside my dresser for some clothes to change into. I unpacked all my crap from my bag and wiped my makeup off. 

DING!

Prettymuch started following you
You got a message from Prettymuch

what am I getting myself into?