"Hey Shane, open up man." "Hey Cal, I'm coming." Shane opened up the door to his trailer to see his buddy Calvin. Calvin was an average guy, not really well known, him and Shane had met awhile back at a club. Calvin walked in with his guitar and his bag. Head phones around his neck from his cd player and a melancholy grin, Shane knew something was up. Cal was the kinda guy who always smiled and made you smile just being around him. They always joked how he could give one of his better grins and send any girl weak in the knees. Calvin never saw it, but Shane did. But he also knew that that was just how Cal was, he didn't act like hot stuff, even though girls thought he was. Shane always teased that he should have been around for the 50s, that he would have fit in better because of his manners and morals. Gentlemen to the core, just like his Granda, you'd never see him doing anything questionable anywhere. Shane had invited him to come stay on the set of Walk while he was filming. He always laughed when he saw Calvin. Cal dressed normal, acted normal, and lived normal, considering his profession, he was the lead guitarist and back-up vocals for Britney Spears. I know what your thinking, crazy bubble gum pop singer without a clue and why in the world would he work for her? Well Cal's modest and the thing he loves most about his job is that know one knows who he is. He sits on a stole towards the back of the stage in the dark. No one sees him or cares who's blaring on the guitar or who's singing in the background, they're all concentrating on Ms. Spears. Him and Shane had been jamming together for fun ever since they met. He was even asked to come be apart of Jonny Was. but that's not his thing. He'd rather play the guitar that he loves in the dark, then be anywhere near the spotlight. When he stepped in, Shane noticed how tell he'd gotten. Calvin about 6 or 7 years younger then Shane, so it freaked him out that he was, well, taller then him. As Calvin got settled, Shane asked, "So, man, how was the tour?" "Oh, it's going good I guess, you know me man, I don't exactly pay attention to all that." "Well what about Brit-Brit?" Shane said it in the tone most anyone would use, sarcasm and general uncaring, but all the same, Cal was his friend, and he was one of the only ones who really knew what was going on there. Calvin had told him all about it right after his first few shows on the tour. Now as Shane remembers it, Cal was there doing what he does best, wailing it out in the middle of the song "Crazy," and Britney out of no where pulls him to the front of the stage with her and starts dancing with him, or better said, on him. It was right in the middle of his little solo, and right after he went back to his spot, but after that, he really started paying attention to her while they were on stage. Then back at the hotel, he heard a knock on the joining door between his room and the next. He'd been there just practicing some of his songs that he was considering giving to Shane's band, like he does every night before he sleeps, and got up to answer the door. There she was, his boss so to say, he didn't even know that was her room. All he told Shane was that the next thing he knew, they were kinda having a fling. He said he never really understood, because he knew she was supposed to be seeing Justin Timberlake, but he didn't know what to do. Like I said, he's a modest guy, so when someone like her starts corning him during practice and starts kissing him, well, needless to say, he just went with it. He'd confided in Shane long ago about it because, well, he was hurting. He knew he liked her, especially when she would sing "I don't know how to live without your love," he knew every time she sang it and gave him that look that he melted, he'd do anything she asked. He kinda figured she liked him by the way she was towards him. But every time they got a break, no concert to perform, no practice to work, he completely ignored him, he would even see her with Justin. But when show time came around, his room was always right next to hers with a joining door, and when he played before bed, she'd come. When he asked her about it, she always said it was just for publicity, and act like it was nothing. So he decided he needed a break, no more secret midnight meetings, no more tour, and definitely no more Britney. So he called old reliable, Shane, his friend, and the next flight out, here he was in Wilmington, North Carolina, and it felt great. All he could answer to Shane's question was, "On tour, big shot boyfriend, and a yo-yo like me to play around with, how would you be?" "Well I don't know about the 'big shot boyfriend' part, but who wouldn't want a guy like you around, and hey, being on tour is cool too," said Shane jokingly, he knew he needed to get Cal to lighten up, especially for what he had in-store for him. Calvin laughed, Shane always knew how to get him out of his own slump. He pulled his headphones off from around his neck and Shane asked with a knowing tone, "What were you listening to?" "Give you two guess, but I know you'll only need one," he laughed. "Mandy Moore, cd..," Shane said right off then slowed on the last trying to figure which one, the first or the second. "The first, if you must know, am I that obvious?" Calvin said nervously. "No man, I just no you too well, that's all you listen to anymore, yeah, you do listen to that rock mix you made, and play your own rock, but when it comes to you, I know she's all you can think about. Hell man, you don't even have any of Britney's cds, and you can deny it all you want, but you know that I know how much your obsessing over Mandy, no matter who your kissing." "Low blow, bro. But your right, I won't deny it," he looked down at the floor, "what does it matter if I'm obsessing about her, I'll never meet her so.." Shane cut him off, "Oh I wouldn't say that." "What are you talking about." Shane got a mischievous look on his face, "Oh, nothing man, hey, why don't we jam for awhile to get your mind off all that stuff, it always clears my head. Are you game?" "Mine too, yeah I'm game, let's do it." They both pulled out their guitar and started playing. Calvin handed Shane some of the stuff he'd been working on and them played it to show him what it was all about. They'd been going nuts for about an hour and a half when they stopped to go over a riff and heard a knock. "Shane?" Said a very familiar girls voice. "Yeah, who is it?" Shane yelled through the door, even though he knew who it was. "It's Mandy, I heard you playing and I wanted to come by and listen for awhile is that okay?" Shane got the biggest smile on his face when he saw the shock on Calvin's. He said kinda quietly to Cal, "Oh I'm sorry, I guess I forgot to mention who my co-star is, I hope you don't mind.." He didn't get a chance to finish. "Shane I'm gonna kill you!" Calvin lunged at him guitar and all. Just then, "Shane? What's going on? Can I come in?" Cal backed up abruptly and stared at the door from where came, to him, the most beautiful voice in the world. Shane looked at him and said, "Get yourself together, okay, she's coming in here and guess what, your gonna meet her, you never know what'll happen, maybe you'll hit it off." "Oh, come on, honestly Shane, like she would ever go for me, she, she's beautiful, talented, confident, and, and..she's.." "Calm down boy, geez, you haven't even met her yet and your already stumbling all over yourself."
"Shane?" Mandy spoke again, wondering what was going on still.
"Yeah, sorry Mandy, come on in." She opened the door and got caught off by the guy standing there with Shane. She had never seen him before, of that she was sure, she knew she would have remembered. He was tall, dark hair, not long, but not short. He was dressed casual with an unbuttoned baseball shirt over a grey undershirt, loose fitting jeans, and street shoes. He had his guitar slung over his shoulder by it's strap and his eyes, those penetrating eyes, were fixed right on hers. She couldn't tell what color they were from that distance, but she knew she was going to check the second she was close enough to see. "Mandy come on in. This is Cal." Shane was instantly cut off. "Calvin, hi, I'm Calvin." He said it quick at first, but then calmed and said it normally, his eyes never leaving hers. "Hi, I'm Mandy." "I.I know. I a, listen to your music. I think your unbelievably talented. But I bet everyone tells you that. It's just, sorry, I'm rambling, I'm just going to shut up now." "Oh, no, it's okay," she came in the trailer, "were you playing?" "Uh, we both were, just a little jam session, working on some riffs and licks." Calvin explained, both of them entirely ignoring Shane, who was just standing there. "Are you in Jonny Was. too? I thought it was just Shane, Ben, and Jerry?" "No, I'm just an hired independent guitarist, you know, all the behind the scene players no one sees, I don't think I could handle being really watched by an audience." "Well, I don't want to stop your session, is it okay if I just sit over here and listen?" She pointed to Shane's couch near by and started to move toward it. "Oh sure, I don't mind, Shane, you don't mind, right man?" Calvin spoke a little anxiously. "Sure, no problem." Shane said with a smile, he knew his plan was slowly coming into motion. He continued as Mandy took her seat. "Okay so lets pick it up from the two, and go just see where it flows from there, alright man?" "Uh, oh yeah sure, sounds beat," Cal stumbled out after finally getting his composure back. "Lets blare it, that is, if you don't mind?" He turned back to Mandy after getting into position with he guitar. It caught her off guard that he was concerned about her and the noise level. "Oh no, not at all, pretend like I'm not here, even if that does sound cliché." Cal laughed and thought, wow, a sense of humor too, no wonder I'm so obsessed, she seems just as perfect as in my dreams. "Okay, ready man?" "Lets do it." They started off their song, something new and fresh, never before heard. Mandy listened to both of them as they played, but her eyes were only on Calvin. His eyes were closed but all she could think was green, he has green eyes, like mine, but different, his are a clear deep emerald, mine shift. She watched as he become completely immersed in his playing. His fingers never failing on a note. After awhile, Shane stopped and both of them were watching him as he played. He was completely lost in the music, he forgot that Mandy was there, and he didn't even notice that Shane had stopped. Everything was lost, the music completely freed up his mind. When he finally let go, time had past considerably. He was sweating and breathing heavily. He took off his guitar without a word and put it in its case. Shane had already taken his guitar off and was just looking at him. Mandy was staring at him too. He looked at them and the asked, "Shane, you got anything to drink?" "Yeah, sure, man, anything, what do you want?" "Dr. Pepper?" "Yeah, heads up." Shane tossed him the drink and asked Mandy if she wanted anything. "Oh, no thanks, I'm going to go and let you guys catch up some more. Thanks again for letting me stay and listen." She stopped and turned towards Calvin as she was getting up to leave. "Your playing was really great, I, I've never heard anyone play like you do...Well, I'm going to go, maybe I'll see you later?" She said the last bit hopefully. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll be around." Shane said as she left. He turned to Calvin and said, "Man, that was some grade A top line playing man, where the hell did that come from?" "I don't know man, I was just playing the song and then I could feel it in me, through me, and it took me away. I don't know what cause it." "I think I do." "What?" "Mandy." "What are you talking about?" "'What am I talking about?' Please, you know what I'm talking about. I've never seen you play the way you just did. From the minute she stepped in here, something in you changed." "Yeah, I was a bumbling idiot." "No, yeah, you were nervous when she first got in here. But then something changed, I don't know what it was, but you stopped thinking like all over the place and just focused. First your focus was on her, but when we played, you became completely in-tuned to the music. You didn't even noticed when I stopped." "I know." "It was her, maybe more then music clears your mind." "Maybe, but you know, when I listen to her music, it calms me, so..I don't know man, it's all a jumble again in my head..I.." "It's because she left," Shane stopped Cal from finishing. "I'm gonna go take a shower." "Good, you need it after that work out." They laughed and Calvin headed off.