Chapter Twenty-Six
landon
May 14
In my estimation, the beginning of the end started just four days after “Fallen Star” dropped. On Friday, we released the single. By Tuesday, the video and audio of us creating it were everywhere. Success should’ve felt like a victory. Instead, it sounded like a ticking clock.
The guys and I were in the studio working hard on our album when Brian shouted, “The fuck?”
I looked up from my guitar. “What?”
“Janae is being hammered by fans. She and the ladies are at Junior’s in Brooklyn. Jeri is doing a Live right now. This is unbelievable.”
Everyone else pulled their phones out, and I looked over Brian’s shoulder, searching for Janae in the crowd and praying she was okay.
Jeri shouted, “Janae and The Hollow Bones just went number one with no publicity. They just dropped it the other day, and boom!” She laughed. “I see you, Brian, Ced. Y’all need to do a Live right now.”
The guys started shouting, and all I wanted to do was find Janae.
“Do you see her?” I asked Brian.
He pointed. “She’s standing on the table.”
The crowd started chanting her name, and I could hear “Fallen Star” faintly playing in the background. Janae started singing to the restaurant, and I watched, mesmerized.
“Yeah, Del, we just heard. I knew it would be a hit… Am I dreaming?” Cedrick kept shaking his head, completely stunned.
Tears ran down Brian’s face. Santiago and Charles were hugging each other.
Cedrick passed me the phone. “Del wants to speak to you.”
I eased out of the booth while they alternated between celebrating and singing along with Janae.
“Hey, Del.”
“I tried to call you on your phone. You should be smiling. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if Janae could handle all of this.”
I nodded numbly. I was the one who wasn’t sure I could handle what was about to happen, and I had no idea what exactly that was.
“Listen, I’m sending you a couple of suggestions for the cover we should go with for the single. The temporary cover circulating won’t do. The photos of you and Janae were the chef’s kiss.”
“Why send the photos to just me?”
“Listen, I know you love the guys, but people are asking for you.”
I looked back at my smiling brothers. “Del, we are a band. All equal.”
“You’ve always been more than them. You could go solo right now, and the labels would offer you crazy money. No one has heard the guitar as you play it since Hendrix.”
“I’m not leaving them.”
“I don’t want you to. Just making you aware of your power.”
I looked at the two pics, and my heart sank.
The first one was simply two hats. My trademark porkpie hat and the fedora she’d been wearing to hide her identity, which she’d worn most recently on stage. I couldn’t deny the appeal of its simplicity. The other one was a shirtless pic of me, though all I could see was the top of my chest and shoulders. Janae’s hand was visible as she twirled the locs of my hair that peeked from underneath my hat around her finger. I was in the bed on my side, gazing at her, though it appeared I was looking directly at the camera. The photographer had changed the pic to black-and-white, which made my eyes pop more. I looked like a certifiable star.
“Landon, are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I weakly responded, holding on to the control desk.
“What do you think?”
“We can’t use either one. I can’t exclude them.”
“They love you. They’ll listen to you.”
“Can’t we make it a celestial scene or something to represent the title? Anything but what you just sent.”
“I’ll to send it to them, too. Decide as a group.”
“No.” I gripped the desk harder.
“If I don’t, then you’re making a decision without them.”
“Fuck you, Del,” I barked, and looked back at the band. From what I could tell, they were now doing a Live. The booth was soundproof, so we couldn’t hear each other.
Del calmly said, “I’m not trying to hurt you or the band. This is business. If the group says no, I’ll send more examples.”
“Then not now. They’re enjoying finding out we have an instant-hit record.”
“You don’t understand. You’re making history. You went number one on an independent song, not backed by any major label. We can’t wait for an undeniable cover. I thought we had time. Thought we would get buzz. Not this… not this.”
I closed my eyes, trying to slow my beating heart and push breath through my constricted lungs.
“It’s going to be okay, Landon. Decide as a group and tell me what you want to do with the cover, okay?”
“And the photos?”
“Regardless of if we use them for the cover or not, the pics will start circulating tomorrow.”
“Shit.”
“They’re amazing, Landon.”
I hung up. Del would never understand why I’d responded with the exact opposite of what he’d probably expected.
I sat at the desk and watched as each saw the text after finishing the Live. All except Cedrick jumped up and down and hugged. He met my concerned gaze. Their loud celebration broke the quiet when they piled out of the booth.
Brian pulled me up to hug me.
Charles teased, “When did you get hot?”
Cedrick stopped at the door and folded his arms. “Now what?”
“I say go with the sexy pic. The women want to see Landon like this.” Santiago grinned wide.
“I actually like the hats,” Brian said as he flopped in the chair behind me.
I stared at Cedrick. “I don’t want any covers to imply I’m separate from The Hollow Bones.”
“This single won’t go on her album or ours. I’m good with either one,” Brian said.
“I like that it looks like you’re coming out of your shell,” Charles added, choosing the sofa across from the engineering board.
“I don’t want any cover that separates me from The Hollow Bones,” I repeated.
Cedrick looked at his phone again. “Do you feel that way because you’re afraid, or is this a business decision?”
I frowned. “What do you mean? Since when do we make decisions that are purely business?”
His head snapped up. “Since we agreed to work with Janae. We did it because it was a good move for The Hollow Bones, and right now, she’s the best decision we’ve ever made. If you’re afraid of the attention, that’s not enough reason. What have we been doing for the last fifteen years if we’re not going to see how far we can go? Huh? We created a song that we all agreed was a hit. And based on the response from the world, we were right.”
“All that cover will do is lead to the public seeing me as the leader of The Hollow Bones,” I countered.
He hit his fist. “Which you are. You’re the only one who refuses to see what we all see. We don’t do anything without you. That’s why we were lost when we had to practice without you. You are The Hollow Bones. You came up with our sound and our name.” Cedrick stepped closer to me. “Why did you want to call us The Hollow Bones?”
“Birds soar high because of their hollow bones,” I dully stated.
“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now? We have the number one record in the country, and we don’t have to share the money with anybody but Janae. You’re my brother, and I will walk through a fire for you, but we can’t walk in fear anymore.” He picked up his cell and started talking. “We decided we’re going with the shirtless pic… Yep, we’re all on board, even Landon.” He chuckled. “Yep, best decision. Thank you for having the vision for putting us with Janae.”
The guys stared at me, clearly waiting for my response.
I rose from my chair and went back into the booth. I picked up my guitar and placed the strap over my head.
Through the intercom, Brian asked, “What are you doing?”
“Trying to avoid our being Icarus.”
Brian frowned.
Cedrick responded, “In Greek mythology, Icarus had man-made wings to escape from his captor. He started believing he was invincible and ignored his father’s warnings not to fly too high because the wax used to create the wings would melt. He soared too close to the sun, and the wax melted, and he tumbled into the sea.” He shook his head. “The lesson in that story was to be humble while you take risks and not start believing your own hype.”
Charles jumped up. “That man all deep and profound, and doesn’t think he’s the leader.”
Santiago followed Charles into the booth.
“Wait, so we’re not going to celebrate?” Brian held his hands out.
“We still have an album to work on,” Cedrick said. “We’ll celebrate after we work, like we always do.”
Brian rolled his eyes to the ceiling as he stomped into the booth.
“Run it,” I commanded, finally feeling my feet again.