I'm Not Famous

Chapter 2-Ryan

A/N: Before you read this part I just want to apologize about the last part and how there were no quotation marks with dialogue. That really bothered me but it probably happened because I just copy pasted everything from a shared google doc that I write this with my sister on. Anyway, this part and all parts from now on will have quotation marks. If there are any other concerns you guys have while reading, please feel free to leave a comment but for now enjoy :)

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2013-

"You think itll go viral?", Ryan asked immediately after he published I'm Ready on YouTube. "Nope", Jack said unenthusiastically, staring at the computer screen. Little did the brothers know that I'm Ready literally never went viral. It only got 3 views...one for each member of the band. Adam, Jack, and Ryan Metzger (formally known as AJR) has been street performing since 2005 and were pretty successful. Now in 2013, they made a song called I'm Ready and it wasn't successful.

Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old Ryan thought of ways to make it better and try to succeed in the music industry. As the middle child, he was always different and set apart from the rest. He had a creative mind of his own and actually enjoyed making music with his brothers. He knew this wasn't the end of his journey. It's just the beginning Ryan thought, you knew this was going to happen, so keep on going. He and his brothers spent their whole life in their bedroom that they shared in their tiny apartment in New York working on making music. Therefore, Ryan felt like his life's been wasted.

Just like Jack, when Ryan went back to his college (Columbia University) the next day he got tormented. The good thing was that only Ryan's friends listened to it because he promoted it the day before it came out. But even they thought it was horrible. Unlike Jack, Ryan ignored the hate comments.

"Hey Ryan, that song you put out on YouTube a few days ago was pretty bad, I thought you were legit with this whole music thing". Joe, Ryan's frenemy, said. Joe was the kind of person that wants to be pleased by other people's work. He was sort of the class clown and jerk all in one. "Yeah, thanks Joe. Guess Ill have to do better next time." Ryan replied sarcastically. He honestly didn't know how Joe of all people heard his song. Without worrying about anyone else's thoughts and opinions, Ryan went straight back to thinking of new music. Often distracted during the lectures that day, he was humming random tunes out loud and writing new lyrics on his notes.

"Okay Jack, what do you think of this? Where my haters, Where my haters I dont got 'em. I'm not famous, no." Ryan said when he came back home feeling very motivated. Jack was in his corner of their room and was laying down feeling hopeless. "Ugh, I dont know! Go ask Adam! Clearly I'm not ready to make more songs!!!" Jack said while screaming into his pillow. So that's exactly what Ryan did. He went to Adam's room and knocked but there was no answer so he invited himself in. He found Adam doing yoga to take his mind off of the failure. At first he didn't hear Ryan come in so when he turned his head around they both screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??" Adam shouted at the top of his lungs. "YOU KNOW THIS IS MY THERAPY TIME!! GET THE F*** OUT OF MY ROOM!" So Ryan obediently left to go ask the only person left that he knew would give him the best opinion...Dad (aka Gary).

"Hey dad", Ryan called out as he entered the living room. "Hey son, what's up" Gary said cheerfully. Ryan took a deep breath, "I just wanted to show you my latest song I came up with!" Ryan said with hope in his eyes. "Sure, go right ahead. You know I love to listen to your music!" Ryan felt relieved at that saying. He knew someone still cared about him and his career! So he sang him the same lyrics he presented to Jack and after a few seconds Gary said, "well, I like how you motivated yourself to make more music after the flop..." there was a long pause after that. "But..." Ryan anticipated. "But it sounds kinda depressing. Like who the **** would wanna listen to a song about not being famous." Gary replied. "Well that's how I'm feeling at the moment, and besides we'll make it sound happy and AJR-ish." Ryan said. "So, your brothers are in this too?" Gary asked. "Well, I tried to talk to them and..." Ryan just stood there and thought about his response for a while and how unhappy his dad would be if he knew they weren't ready so he decided to say, "of course they said yes" and then he left the room.

A few years later, Ryan had already produced the song on his own and signed with a record company and it became a success. Since then he wrote other songs like "Come Hang Out" which was based on his college life, "Weak" on how he frequently gives in to things and likes to have a good cry and others. Because of this, he realized he didn't need his brothers to succeed in the music industry, that if anything, he was better solo.

Jack and Adam were unaware of Ryan's success. They never saw him anymore and felt like he was too busy for them. He was always tucked in his room working on a new song. So one day when Adam had to drive Jack to work because he lost his keys, they heard one of his songs on the radio. "Hey is that Ryan singing?" Jack asked Adam confused and a little sad at why Ryan would be on the radio without them. Adam listened closer and said "huh, yeah I think so." The car was quiet for a while as they kept listening... I'm not narcissistic, I'm just high off the music the lyrics said. "WHAT!!" Jack yelled, almost causing Adam to swerve off the road. "Holy S***, Jack you almost gave me a heart attack! Do you want to get ourselves killed?!" Adam shot back at him. "Sorry, it was just I was listening to the song and what he wrote definitely doesn't explain him at all." Jack said back to Adam. "What do you mean?" Adam asked. "Not narcissistic? Clearly he d*** sure is if he decided to f***ing make songs without us and didn't even tell us! Doesnt that make you mad?" Jack fumed. "Um, not really" Adam replied "I'm fine where I am and I'm happy for Ryan, at least hes doing something he loves." They reached McDonalds and Adam dropped Jack off at the entrance. "Ugh whatever." Jack groaned as he stumbled out of the car. "Thanks for taking me"

Ryan, now with enough money from his music to move out of the living room to a real recording studio, sat there contemplating his life up to this point. He was happy with his success but felt lonely without his brothers and felt bad for not including them. After all, he wouldn't have gotten this far without them in the first place.