On a warm night, in Baxley, Georgia, Max sat out on the roof of his parents house. His guitar rested carefully against the outer window pane. In his hand was a pen, scribbling endlessly on a notepad. His mind racing with lyrics that he couldn't figure out.
Write.
Scribble.
It was a continuous circle. His frustration grew as the words he was looking for fled his mind.
"Damn it," he hissed. He sat the lyrics down and picked up his guitar. Strumming a few chords while looking at the lyrics, he shook his head. "... having to say goodbye...," he sang the lyrics out loud a few times before picking up his pen and scribbling yet again. This process continued for a while until his mom interrupted his train of thought.
"Maxi, don't forget you have that interview early. Make sure not to stay up too late," she sounded excited on the other side of the window. His mom always supported his dreams of becoming a singer/song writer. But his dad was less supportive. His dad always told him he was wasting his time chasing childish dreams.
Ever since he and his best friends created a band in high school, he's dreamed of nothing else. Music became a huge part of his life. It spoke to him and understood him. But that was something his dad didn't understand. So for the last 6 years he and his friends were trying to prove his father wrong. They practiced day in and day out and even started doing gigs at local bars. Their old high school even hired them to play live at a few of their dances.
One night, at a bar, they just finished their set and were met backstage by a manager of a music label in Atlanta. How they beamed upon the realization that all their dreams were finally coming true. The manager asked them to come to the studio and play for the producer of the company. They eagerly agreed and traded information. But the manager had one request. He wanted a new song before they came to the studio.
It had been 3 days since then. They had an idea on the music but Max was in charge of the lyrics since he was the singer of the group. Unfortunately, he was struggling greatly. He wanted to write something different from what they usually sang. He wanted a song with more feeling and emotion. Something everyone could relate too. What better than heart break? He knew what he wanted to write but the words got lost every time he started writing.
"Thanks, mom. I'll head to bed shortly. I just want to finish this," he smiled at his mom and she blew a kiss as she left his room. Max decided the song was as good as it was going to get. You can blow a blade of grass that's rooted to the ground, but it will not grow any faster. Or so he's been told. He liked that saying.
He'd spent days-on-end trying to create the perfect song. The band sounded good as they practiced non-stop over the last few days. The lyrics were good, but not perfect. But that's nothing. The whole point of this was to see what they could do and he was pretty ecstatic to prove to everyone what they had. All their cards were right there on display. All that was left to do; perform it correctly. That wasn't too hard.
Max laid on the roof for a while, watching as the sun disappeared behind the tree line. The sky had changed from a bright blue to a fantastic combination of oranges, pinks and purples. The wind blew through his luxurious blond hair. He smiled to himself as he relaxed for the first time in, what seemed like, ages. When the sky finally turned dark, Max climbed inside the widow and headed towards the bathroom to enjoy a shower before bed.
He took a deep breath as the hot water poured over his tense shoulders. The lathered-on bubbles were carefully washed down the drain as he stood under the spray for a while. After a while, the silence was killing him, so he shouted at Alexa to play his favorite country song, as he dried off and slipped on a pair of boxers.
The song floated through the house and his mom smiled as his angelic voice wafted downstairs too. She knew what this song meant to him. He had his heart shattered by his childhood sweetheart recently and the song he was singing along with is the one that helped him through it. His mom thought that woman had something to do with him wanting so badly to sign with the label tomorrow. Maybe this was his way to prove to her that he was more than she said he was. His mom placed a hand to her heart and hummed along as her husband wrapped his arms around her waist and swayed with her. Even though he didn't approve of Max's dreams, he still loved hearing his son sing.
Max continued belting out country heart break songs for a while before finally telling Alexa to stop casting and climbing into bed.
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Jayde just finished up some paperwork at the office and was on her way out the door when her manager, Mr. Oniko, stopped her and asked her to stay a little longer.
"But... Okay. What do you need me to do," she asked reluctantly. Her job had managed to take over most of her life. She was able to see her friends and family on her days off, if she wasn't called in. But she had no love life. She'd tried dating, but due to her crazy hours, Jon got sick of it and left her after 4 years. Her heart ached thinking about him even though she knew she was better without him.
"Just file these papers. I'm heading home. My kids have been driving the wife crazy all week apparently and she just called me to chew my head off," he huffed as he set the stack in front of her. Jayde watched as he stepped into the elevator, leaving her with a massive heap of papers.
It was 3 AM before she finished. As she grabbed her coat and draped it over her shoulders, she contemplated just staying at the office since she had to be back here in 4 hours anyways. She walked over to the couch and wadded up her coat like a pillow and laid down. Soon after her eyes were too heavy to remain open for a second longer.
Her 7 AM alarm blared in her ear, making her shoot up off the couch. She grabbed the extra dress from behind her office door and rushed to the bathroom before anyone else showed up. Jayde quickly changed and decided since she didn't bring extra panties, she'd just go without for the day. The dress was long enough, no one would notice anyways. She enjoyed the feel of the silk dress brushing against her bare skin. It left little goosebumps across her skin and made her nipples tighten.
She shook her head to relieve the thoughts and walked out of the bathroom and back to her office. Sitting at her desk, she decided to double check appointments for the morning and saw she had a band coming in in less than an hour.
8 o'clock struck and a tall man with blond hair and bright green eyes approached her. "Hi, there! How may I help you," she cheerfully asked as she walked closer to him. The man met her gaze and was taken back for a split second. She watched as he casually looked her up and down.
"Hey, I have an appointment this morning. I'm Max," he held out his hand. She was entranced by his voice briefly before grasping his hand and shaking it.
"Oh, yes! Mr. Oniko said he was expecting you this morning. I'm Jayde. I thought it was a whole band though? Are the other members joining us today," she smiled professionally at him. As he smiled back, her heart thumped loudly against her ribs, which confused her. How could a total stranger have such an affect on her?
"They are running a little late. We took separate vehicles and I think Jason woke up a little later than intended," he chuckled lightly, as if this was a normal occurrence. "Should I sit in the corner and wait, or is Mr. O available now?"
She smiled at him with her eyes slightly squinted which made his body heat up. Her red hair shined brightly in the lighting from above. "If you wouldn't mind taking a seat, I'll go inform him of your arrival. Thank you so much," she said over her shoulder as she walked away. Max stood there staring at Jayde's ass sway in the tight green dress that she wore. He smirked at himself as he thought her tits didn't look too bad either, the way they were pushed together. It looked like they were trying to burst through the fabric. When he couldn't see her ass anymore, he turned and took a seat.
Jayde made it to Mr. Oniko's office in no time and knocked on the door before cracking it open. He was at his desk, with his phone pressed against his ear and he sounded angry. "What the fuck do you mean you want to cancel the tour?! Are you nuts?! We've worked too hard to get where we are and now you just want to throw it all away," he growled in the receiver.
Looking up, he made eye contact with Jayde and raised his eyebrows. "Mr. Jaxson is here but the rest of the band is running late. What should I do," she waited for his response.
Covering the receiver, he whispered, "Get him into studio 7 and set up. He can practice in the meantime." Jayde nodded and closed the door again. As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but think of Max's voice. Deep, yet soothing. It rattled her to the core. She leaned against the wall to compose herself before getting to studio room 7 and unlocking it.
After flipping on the lights and making sure the instruments in the recording room were all properly hooked up and plugged in, she headed to the kitchen to grab a pot of coffee and a few scones. She displayed them in the studio where Mr. Oniko would be listening to the band and verified that everything was good to go one last time before walking back to the lobby where Max waited patiently.
She stood there for a while admiring his gentle face as he focused on an article he'd been reading. The corners of his lips peeled up slightly, making his lips look even more delicious than they previously had. Just then, his eyes lifted, meeting hers and she had to quickly look away. What had she been thinking just now? Max Jaxson was a client. And soon-to-be famous at that. He wouldn't even look at such a plain looking woman such as herself. Picking up a stack of papers, she tried to compose herself before speaking.
"Miss, are you okay? You seem flustered," his voice came from right beside her. Jayde peeked over and saw he was leaning on the counter next to her, his breath brushed against the exposed skin on her neck. She couldn't help but close her eyes and inhale deeply before turning to face him.
"No, Mr. Jaxson. I'm perfectly fine," she smiled. "I was just getting everything for your contract ready. If you'd please follow me to the recording room to go over the paperwork while we wait."