Free Taught: A City's Secrets Novella by B. B. Hamel Page B

to decide whether or not I wanted to follow that same route with Emma, or else wind up in the same pathetic position as before.
    Before I could get too deep into the introspection spiral, George’s phone started to ring. He lazily looked at the caller ID, and then suddenly sat straight up.
    “I think it’s them,” he said.
    “Who, the label?”
    “Yeah man, Sub Pop. I think.”
    “Answer it!”
    He swiped and put the phone up to his ear.
    “Hello?”
    I was on the edge of my seat, literally. I tried getting as close as I could, and maybe catch the other side of the conversation.
    “Yeah, it was good meeting you, too.”
    George looked serious, which was rare for George.
    “Okay, that’d be great. What time?”
    “What are they saying,” I whispered. He gave me a look.
    “Sure, we can do ten in the morning on Wednesday. That’d be great.”
    I stared at him. Was he setting up a meeting? Why wasn’t it on speaker?
    “Yeah, sure. I’ll pass that along. Thanks so much. Yeah, you too. Looking forward to it. Bye.” He put the phone down in his lap, his expression shocked.
    “What the fuck man?” I said.
    He looked at me. “They want to meet with us.”
    “What for?”
    “They want to sign us.”
    “Holy shit.” I didn’t know how else to respond. That was huge. Sub Pop wasn’t a major label, but they were one of the biggest independents. It would be an enormous boost to the band to get a record deal with them. Actually, it would make us legit. We’d be able to tour and make actual music in a real studio. No more basement tracks and awful local gigs, we’d have a label behind us. I was in shock.
    “Yeah man, holy fucking shit,” George said.
    “What else did they say?” 
    He shrugged. “Not much. We have a meeting on Wednesday at ten. We’ll go over the contracts and the details then. But he said they’re interested in a two album deal.”
    I stood up. I could feel my joy bubbling over. “George!” I yelled.
    “I know dude.” He looked like he was about to explode. I started to pace around the apartment, nervous energy flowing out of me. I couldn’t believe it, everything we had done, the struggle and the hard work, was finally starting to pay off.
    “We made it,” I said.
    “I know man. I know.”
    “George!” I said, and then jumped on him. We hugged, laughing, not caring how weird it was, not caring about anything but the incredible news we had just gotten. Finally, I climbed off him, and started pacing again.
    “We have to call the others,” I said.
    “Yeah man, I’m on it.”
    “And we have to make sure Tom doesn’t fuck this up.”
    “Absolutely we do. But I don’t think he will, not something like this.”
    “Yeah, you’re probably right. Holy shit man.”
    “I know, I know. Let me call the others.” George stood and walked into my bedroom. I kept pacing back and forth, imagining the future. We’d tour the world, become real rock stars with actual fans and records. Our music would be everywhere, on the radio and in record stores. We’d play all the talk shows! I couldn’t sit still let alone calm myself down. It was probably the happiest moment of my life, or at least in the top three.
    I pulled out my phone and wrote a text.
    11:51am Me: Just heard from the label. We have a meeting on Wednesday.
    11:55am Emma: wow, what does that mean? Are you getting signed?
    11:56am Me: I don’t know! I don’t know. I think so.
    11:57am Emma: Jim! That’s amazing! Congrats!!!!
    11:58am Me: I’m in shock honestly.
    11:59am Emma: I would be too. I’m so happy for you!
    12:00pm Me: Thanks. You’re the first person I’ve told.
    12:02pm Emma: hah I’m honored.
    I had no clue why she was the first person I told, but I couldn’t help myself. All thoughts about the job had suddenly vanished from my mind. The only thing I cared about was the meeting, and what would happen after that. If we really got signed to Sub Pop, my life was about to change in a serious way.
    12:03pm Me: