A Change of Heart

"I'm Roni, I like Great Danes and a good glass of chocolate milk."

"Y'all I'm so nervous!" I say while bouncing around the studio. "Me too, I hope y'all get signed." Lucy says while also pacing. "I'm sure we can call Matty in here to calm you down." Chase jokes and I choke on my spit. "Fuck off!" I yell and hit him on the shoulder. I feel my neck heat up all the way to my cheeks.

"Is it too late to recant my statement to Randy about picking y'all?" I ask and they groan. "Hey we all hate Chase so don't punish the band for his words." Zach jokes and then Chase punches him. "You guys are horrible." Chase mumbles.

"The list should be posted in the main lobby in about 5 minutes, we should head that way." The boys jumped up quickly after Lucy said it. We all walk out, mostly shook from how backed up it was. "Is it always this crazy?" I ask and Lucy nods. "Let's cut through here." She says and goes inside the break room and comes out of the other side. We wrap around someone's office and figure out it's the closest we can get. "We'll wait here while you guys go, this is your moment. It isn't about is two." Lucy says and they smile, cutting through the crowd quickly.

"Hey babe." Matty says while coming beside me, wrapping his arm around my side. "Hey." I say and lean up to kiss his cheek. "What's up with the people?" He asks and runs his hand through my hair. "We find out who gets signed." I explain, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Well, I'd love to chat babe but I have to get back to copying shit. Also, I won't be home tonight, I'm meeting up with my family at our grandmas house. It's like an hour and a half from here, so I'm leaving work early. I'll see you on Monday." He says and kisses my lips. "Be safe." I tell him and he smiles. "Always." He states and jogs away.

"Hm, that was interesting." Lucy laughs and I roll my eyes. "Hey, I'm lonely after my breakup, like I deserve attention." I confidently say, she gives me a look. "What happened to the strong, independent white bitch I met?" She asks and I shrug. "She's on summer break." I joke and she laughs. "Hey if you're happy then I'm happy." She says and I smile. "Thanks, no strings attached though." I say and she gives me a look. "It never works that way my dear."

"List is going up!" Someone from the front yells and people start to cheer. People start pushing and shoving, the crowd thinning slowly, mostly a lot of disappointed faces. "I'm so nervous, they're not back yet." I mumble.

I see the lead singer of LANY come running through, looking around intensely. "Are you Veronica?" He asks when he comes running up to us. "Uh, yeah?" I awkwardly say before he quite literally sweeps me off my feet. "Thank you so much, I love you!" He shouts and carries me around.

"You're welcome, I love you too." I say unsurely. "We got signed, we got signed!" He yells, jumping up and down with me in his arms still. "Congrats!" Lucy said and hugged the other two guys that came up. "Can you put me down?" I ask and he laughs before putting me down. "Sorry, Randy told me to find Veronica and give her a hug for this opportunity." He explains and I nod. "It's not a problem guys, you're amazing artists." I commend.

"Guys!" Joe yells as he runs to us and picks me up. "Why am I being picked up again, I didn't ask for this!" I shout with a laugh, Joe puts me down quickly. "We got signed!" They all yell consecutively. "Hell yes!" Lucy says and does a little dance. "You know what this calls for? A party. My apartment at 8, I'll send the details." I say and they nod. "We'll supply the drinks considering you're a child." Ryan jokes and I roll my eyes. "Shut the fuck up." I mumble, hitting his arm.

——

"Ah, a makeshift banner." Lucy says as she walks in, she was the first one to arrive. "Yes! I designed it myself." I say as I finish taping it to the ceiling. "I'm really proud of you for your speech that got them signed, this party should also be for yourself." She smiles and I give her a hug.

"Hey, you did most the work with making it sound even better." I reply and she shakes her head. "I mean technically we did all the work." Chase boasts as they walk in. "Y'all are dumb." She says and takes a seat on the couch. "You have beanbags in your living room?" Joe asks as he flops down on one. "You don't?" I rhetorically ask. "Touché."
"Thanks for banner." Zach says and I smile. "My pleasure, when are the guys from LANY getting here?" I ask and they shrug. "Soon though."
——

"Now that the pregnant lady is gone, here's the alcohol." Ryan says and puts different bottles on the counter. "Damn, let me get some glasses." I say and quickly get up from the couch. I bring back red solo cups because a bitch doesn't want to do dishes. We all pour ourselves a cup of vodka, I offer 2-liters of sodas to mix with it.

"Babe I'm home." Jos says as she keeps her head down to put her keys in her purse, kicking her shoes off also. "Hey." I say back as I wait for her to see the 7 guys sitting around our living room.

She looks up and obviously sees them, but keeps walking. "Oh, hey guys." She says as she continued to walk, but she stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait, what's this?" She asks, we all point to my makeshift banner. "Oh, uh congrats." She says and looks at me.

"Can I speak to you in the kitchen?" She asks and I nod, taking my drink with me for good measure. "What's up my dude?" I ask and she gives me a look. "You couldn't of texted me to tell me that there would be some attractive men in our living room?" She asks and I laugh. "It was last minute, Lucy was here but she had to leave because the baby was rowdy in there." I explain and she sighs.

"A fair warning would've been nice, who the fuck are they?" She asks, I smile. "Guys from the studio." I laugh at the obvious, I mean who else would be congrats on getting signed; that's what the banner says. "We can hear you guys, you know that right?" Paul asks and we both peak our heads out of the little passthrough. "Pay no mind." She says with a fake smile.

"Go get changed out of those scrubs, come enjoy alcohol and friendship." I say and pat her shoulder. "Where's Matthew?" She asks as she takes a sip of my drink. "Somewhere with his fam." I tell her as I push her towards her room.

"That's my roommate Joselyn, you can call her Jos. She's also my best friend." I say and plop back down on the beanbag chair.

"Hey Jos!" They say as she comes out of her room. "Hey guys!" She says, she signals for me to stand up and I do so. She takes my spot and for a second I was offended, but then she pulls me into her lap. "You guys look like a couple." Jake laughs as Jos hugs my waist. "Probably, we get that a lot." Joselyn says and I nod in agreement.

"Well, tell me about yourselves." She says and before Paul could even start, she stopped him. "Wait, let me guess. You're Joe because Roni always said a cute guy with long hair." She says to Paul and he shakes his head. I blush at her saying that I've referred to him multiply by cute longhaired guy, I pinch her slightly. "Nope, other cute long haired guy, I'm Paul. I'm the lead for LANY and I'm from Oklahoma, there's not much to say." He laughs, she reaches for my cup.

"I used to live in Oklahoma, aye!" She says and high fives him. "You must be Zachary, the cool black haired mustache boy." She points to him and he nods. "I'm Zach, I'm the bassist of COIN. I have a girlfriend named Charlene, a cat named Fluffy, and I just finished college." He says and she nods. "You must be Ryan, brown headed, cute tall boy with a nice smile. I've heard so much about you." She points to Ryan and I pinch her once more. 

"That's me, I'm the drummer of COIN. I'm from Nashville, I like art, and I sell clothes on Insta so check it out." He shamelessly tells her and we all laugh. "I feel like we're in an AA meeting." I admit and we all laugh again. "So true." She whispers. "You must be Chase, the curly headed blonde boy." She points to him correctly, he nods.

"I'm Chase, im the lead for COIN. I'm from Nashville, I have a nothing interesting to say about myself." He says and we nod. "Interesting. So you must be other cute long haired boy." She points to Joe. "I'm Joe, I play guitar for COIN and I like to play with dogs." He says and we all laugh at his awkwardness.

"So you guys are?" She asks while pointing to Les and Jake. "I'm Jake, I play drums in LANY. I'm currently engaged and got this tattoo dedicated to my parents yesterday." He says and points to it. "Oh, okay then." She mumbles, pointing at Les to move on. "I'm Les, I have a girlfriend named Jenna. I actually want to marry her and I have a nice green slugbug." He tells us. "Hey, my first car was a slugbug!" Jos cheers.

"So, tell us about you." Joe says and she sighs. "I'm Joselyn, I am very sarcastic so don't take it wrongly, and I've known this weirdo for 4 years." She states while squeezing me slightly.

"She is really sarcastic, but it's the funny and dry humor type." I add and they nod. "I'm Roni, I like Great Danes and a good glass of chocolate milk." I state and they laugh loudly. "Okay, let's take this away." Jos says as she takes my cup away. "Hey, I'm not even drunk, I just here for a good time." I say and take my cup back.

We all continued talking and it felt like a natural thing. "Can we do this like once a week? Like maybe not alcohol every time, but all of us together? I like it." I suggest and they all nod. "Hell yeah!" They all yell. Hell yes.