En Route to Fame

Chapter Five- Counting down the days

A couple weeks after our failed interaction with mysterious guy John Perry, Reya and I received a call from his receptionist. "Hello, sorry we failed to receive your call. How can I help you?"

"Hello, is this the office for John Perry?" I asked hoping for the answer we both desperately desired.

"Yes, Miss. How may I help you?"

"Mr Perry came across me in Brighton a while ago and offered to record some music with me. Do you think I could set something up? He gave me his business card and my friend and I were planning a trip to Los Angeles so we were thinking of popping in." There were a few minutes of mumbling in the background, which I could tell was the plans being discussed with someone more superior to his receptionist.

"When were you thinking of dropping in? We have a tight schedule at Perry Records and we would have to set up a meeting for you with Mr Perry on a day when he is available."

"Well we should arrive at Los Angeles on the first of July is there any day we can come by between then and the following month?" I asked her hoping he wasn't fully booked.

"Mr Perry is available on the following day of your arrival and that will be his only availability for that week I'm afraid." I gave Reya a worried look, regarding the jet lag we would be experiencing.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity Morgan, you can deal with a bit of jet lag if it will help start the beginning of your dream," Reya whispered back to me showing full support.

"That sounds great," I said to the receptionist, hoping Reya was right.

After exchanging details of the time of the meeting, Reya and I began to pack our bags to leave for Los Angeles the week later. "Are you not worried?" Reya asked me, with a concerned look on her face.

"If you're talking about the meeting with Mr Perry, then yes I'm absolutely terrified," I responded, laughing lightly to try and calm my nerves.

"No, I'm not talking about that. We've been counting down the days for this trip for over a month now, and that whole time you haven't properly had a conversation with your mum."

 The room fell silent, I didn't know how to respond to her. It's not that I didn't feel a need to patch things with my mum, it's just that I had no idea how. We had never gotten into an argument of this scale before so I guess I just found it easier to run away from the situation and I guess that's why I continued lying to Reya.

"It's fine," I said, holding my breath, hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions about what happened. "She understands where I'm coming from and she knows I'm right." I knew all the words that were coming out of my mouth were completely false but I didn't want to talk about the situation any longer, I just wanted to escape it and going to Los Angeles for a month was perfect.

The week had gone by and after counting down the days we were finally at the airport awaiting our flight. 

"I don't think I've ever been this excited before," I said to Reya and her parents, trying to break the silence we were experiencing.

"I love you mum, I love you dad. I can't wait to FaceTime you over there." Reya said showing that her nerves were the reason for her silence.

"It's going to be okay, you know that right?" I told her trying to reassure her about the trip. "We are going to have the time of our lives and whenever the time is just perfect to FaceTime your parents, because of the change in time zones, you can call them and tell them everything." I had never seen Reya so frightened before, I knew she was incredibly close with her parents but I never knew she found it so difficult to separate from them.

"Thank you Morgan." She said to me trying to keep a brave face.

"We can't wait to hear the wonderful things you get up to," Reya's dad said trying to make her feel more confident.

Before Reya could continue saying her goodbyes, the information for our flight had been updated and we were able to begin boarding.

"I love you guys so much," Reya said making sure that they both knew she would miss them a lot.

"Let's go Reya." I said to her hoping that she'd feel a bit better being with me. "We will let you know when we land," I said to her parents hoping to reassure her parents that Reya was in good hands. "We've got this remember Reya, we will stay together so don't you worry." I told her soon after leaving her parents, hoping that she'd understand that I had her back.

Once we had boarded our flight we opened the blind to the window of the plane to have a last glimpse of the gloomy weather England had to offer, followed by closing it again to ensure we were ready for the take off.

"I didn't think I'd be so nervous," Reya said expressing her concerns, "I really hope this goes well and is worth the time away from my parents." She followed with showing me her worries.

"Don't worry Reya, I'll be here with you every step of the way and I will not leave your side. So if you feel sad about being away from your parents, let me know and we can sort it out and try and get you to speak to them so that we can focus on both our dreams coming true in Hollywood!" I said to her, chuckling near the end of my sentence to try and cheer her up. "This is a once in a life time opportunity, we have been counting down the days and we are so ready for this." I told her hoping to reassure her.

I'm Morgan Wilson, and this is my life.