The House Guest pt. 9

It was one o’clock at Eric’s, Phil’s friend, house. It was finally Saturday, the band auditions. Phil had been waiting for this moment since him and Eric had decided on it. Phil anxiously looked out the window. He was relived that there were a fair few people lined up. Phil sighed, and looked at Eric.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” replied Eric with a grin.

He proceeded to open the front door. Immediately the line of people game him there utmost attention. Having everyone staring at him at once seemed to knock Eric off his guard slightly.

“OK, you’ll be performing one song each, and we’ll decide between me and Phil who we think is he best, and then we’ll get back to you. So will the first person please come through?”
Phil felt like a judge from Sim Idol sat behind the table with Eric, watching as the first person came into the room and picked up the bass.
“Name?” asked Phil.
“Hi I’m Carter. I’m playing the bass of California, by Phantom Planet.”

And so the auditions began. Though at first Phil and Eric were confident they’d find a bassist, they realised how terrible some of the people were. Phil wasn’t the type of person to call someone terrible at something, but some of the people had blatantly thought that it would be an easy audition.



There were only two people left, and Phil’s face fell when he saw the second to last person. He looked like, some sort of reject goth.

And when he started playing, Phil couldn’t help but cover his ears.


He had to think of something to stop him, but didn’t want him to go into some rage which he looked perfectly capable of pulling. Fortunately, Eric thought of something first.

“Woah, woah, woah! Wow, that’s awesome dude! I’ll errr, be calling you ASAP.”
Eric grinned at the man as he walked out of his house.

“Oh my God that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard!” said Phil.

“Yeah, I think I might ‘accidentally’ lose his number…” replied Eric.
“Well, one guy left,” said Phil, dreading what might the final audition might sound like.

“Hi I’m Kirk and I’m playing the bass of Exo-Politics, by Muse.”

“A tough one,” muttered Eric to Phil, who silently agreed.



Three minutes and fifty-five seconds later, Phil and Eric were staring at Kirk, their eyes wide.
“So I did good?” he asked, grinning slightly at the faces of the two judges.

“Oh you did good,” replied Phil.
“Dude that was freakin’ awesome. You should hear some of the people that have been in hear today!”
The three men laughed.
“Well, welcome to the band then! You gotta come sit here and help us judge the singers.”
It took a little while for this to sink in for Kirk. Then he covered his mouth in shock as though he had just won the lottery, and cheered loudly. His happy spirit seemed to infect Phil and Eric too, who had begun to laugh again.


“Dudes, lets just hope we have an easier time finding a singer…” said Eric.
“Yeah these may hurt our ears even more than the bass ones,” replied Phil.
Eric stood up to walk towards the door to tell the singers that it was their time now.
“So what do you play?” asked Kirk.
“Guitar,” replied Phil. “I have for 10 years, and loved every minute of it, except when my dad was telling me to shut up,” he said, finishing bitterly.

Eric returned with a morbid look on his face, and took his seat.
“There is a lot less singers than bassists.”
“Well, we just gotta hope I guess,” said Kirk uneasily.

“Hi, this is Scotty Kenta. I’m either away or can’t hear the phone right now, so ring back later.”
Jenny sighed and hung up.

This was the second day in a row that she had not been able to get in contact with Scotty. She didn’t expect to see him every day, but still he normally rang her a lot. Jenny switched on the TV, although soon turned it off, seeing as there were no good programmes on. Jenny didn’t mind work, but it was a rare occasion that she would wish to go to it on a day off, especially with the demanding hours that she’d been having lately. Suddenly an idea struck Jenny.

She opened a drawer and groped around. Eventually she found what she was looking for. Walking over to the phone once more, Jenny read the number and dialled it.
“Hello?” said the voice.
“Hi Anthony? This is Jennifer Calaway.”

“Oh hi Jennifer. Is something wrong with the guitar? I thought your brother’s birthday wasn’t until Monday?”
“Oh no there isn’t anything wrong with the guitar, it’s fine as far as I can tell. I was just wondering if you wanted to come around and hang out. You have an interesting personality,” said Jenny. “You aren’t doing anything are you?
“Sitting at home eating a pizza,” he replied. “Sure I’ll come round. Give me five minutes!”

Sure enough five minutes later Anthony arrived on Jenny’s door step.
“Hi Jennifer,” he said.
“Hi, and please, call me Jenny.”

They stepped into the house, Anthony and Jenny both feeling slightly uneasy.
“Sooo…” said Anthony.

“Do you want to just, sit and talk?” she asked.
“Sure!” said Anthony.
“I’ll make some sandwiches first,” said Jenny.

After scraping some butter and ham together onto some bread, Jenny sat down on the table in the kitchen and gave Anthony his plate.
“It won’t taste that good. I’m not much of a chef you know…”
But after one bite Anthony’s eyes widened. Jenny feared he was going to be sick,
“Not much of a chef? These are delicious!” said Anthony.

Jenny raised her eyebrows.
“I’m not kidding,” he said.

“Thanks,” said a now smiling Jenny.

Soon after finishing the sandwiches, they made their way over to the sofa and sat down talking.
“So how’s life?” asked Anthony.
“Well, it’s OK. The shock of my brother moving in still hasn’t quite worn off, but he’s not as bad as I expected. How about you?”
“I’m doing well. We actually get paid a decent amount. And I won employee of the month!” said Anthony smiling.
“Hey, way to go!” said Jenny.

“Thanks. You know I…”

“Always…”
“Thanks, ummmm, oh yeah Elliot,” said Phil. “We’ll get back to you.”

As he walked out, Phil leaned over to his two fellow band members.
“That wasn’t too bad,” he said.

“Yeah, but I have heard better,” replied Kirk. “Still, he’s definitely the best so far.”
The next participant walked in. Before he could say his name, Eric spoke.
“Hey dude, how many people are left?”

“I’m the last one,” he replied. “I’m Marcus and I’m singing Movin’ On by Steps.”
He stood his ground and prepared to sing, but was interrupted by Eric once more.
“Wait, did you say Steps?” he asked quizzically.

“Yeh, why?” replied Marcus
“These are auditions to join a rock group! Not pop!” said Eric, as though he had said something deeply offensive.
“Oh!” said Marcus.
For a moment he looked as if he was going to say something, but then ran out of the room to escape from his own embarrassment.


“Well that’s it. Elliot is our only hope, and he isn’t top quality.”

“Yeah, and none of us can sing as well,” said Kirk.
It seemed impossible. They had not come this far, found a bassist, got their hopes up, just to be let down at the last second. It couldn’t have happened. And he wouldn’t accept it.
“Well, don’t rule us all out dude,” said Eric, who was now staring at Phil.
It took a few seconds for Phil to catch on, and then he laughed sarcastically.
“Yeah good one, but I’d rather not make an ass of myself,” said Phil.

“Who said I was joking?” replied Eric.
“Come on! You know I can’t sing!” said Phil indignantly.
“Actually I’ve never heard you sing. Who says you suck. Most people think that they do, but that doesn’t make it true. Just have an audition!”
Phil looked from Eric to Kirk, looking for an out. When none came, he finally gave up. Phil walked to the place where everyone had auditioned and all but one seemed to have failed.

“I don’t know what to sing! I haven’t learned any lyrics!” said Phil, in a last desperate attempt to get out of an audition.
“You know plenty of songs off by heart, I’m sure of it. Just pick one you know well.”
Finally Phil settled on Exo-Politics, the song that Kirk had successfully performed.
“Fine, I’m pulling a Kirk,” said Phil, and he began to sing.

“Open the skies over me,
I am waiting patiently,
I’ll wait for a sign.

As conspiracies unwind,
Will you slam shut,
Or free your mind,
Or stay hypnotised.

When the Zetas fill the skies,
Will our leaders tell us why,
Fully loaded satellites,
Will conquer nothing but our minds.

And I’ve waited patiently,
And I wait for the sign.”
Phil suddenly started growing in confidence. Was it him, or did he actually sound good? In any case as his confidence grew, his performance got better and better.
“Carried through the centuries,
Secrets locked up,
And loaded on my back,
And it weighs me down.

When the zetas fill the skies,
It’s just our leaders in disguise,
Fully loaded satellites,
Will conquer nothing but our minds.

And I am waiting patiently,
And I’ll wait for the sign.
And I am waiting patiently,
I’ll wait for the sign”
“Phil…” said Eric. “Why didn’t you tell me you could sing! That was awesome! I’m not kidding dude. You’re miles beyond everyone else!
“I think we’ve got our band!” said Kirk happily. “All we need is a name…”

“Well we want everyone to remember us, so how about…”
“Lasting Impression!” yelled Phil suddenly. “Think about it, we want to leave an impression that’s so good it lasts ages! Good huh?”
“That’s it then. We are Lasting Impression! To seal the deal…”
Eric put his hand over the desk, and Kirk put his hand next to it, followed by Phil.
“One, two, three, LASTING IMPRESSION!”

“-then he realised it was his own grandfather!” concluded Anthony.
Both Anthony and Jenny burst out laughing.

“That’s hilarious! Oh my gosh I’ve may never heard a better joke! Seriously!” said Jenny.
She looked at a clock and suddenly realised how fast the time had gone.
“Oh wow it’s already six o’clock! You better go.” Jenny stood up, and Anthony followed him to the door.

“Thanks a ton for coming over today Anthony. I was bored out of my skull until you showed up,”
“Anytime,” said Anthony.

They had a quick hug, before Anthony set off home.

Jenny sighed. It had been a good day. She had made a new friend in Anthony, one she hoped would keep.

Elizabeth stirred feebly as she woke up from watching Deal or No Deal.

She had fallen asleep, but then again it was almost midnight. She got up slowly, not quite sure what was wrong with her.

She had done late-nighters before, but was never normally this tired. She switched the T.V. off and started to head to her bedroom.

Then it happened. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach area, and fainted.

There she lay, on the living room floor.

~ by l3w1s on July 25, 2007.