A/N: This is the very first story that I have ever posted so I am a little bit nervous. I have a lot of ideas for this story as well as others, so I hope that you all like it. I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, even criticisms, as long as they are constructive. Reviews will inspire to me write! Also, I am looking for a beta if anyone is interested, please let me know!
Disclaimer: Do not own Glee.
Will Schuester stepped out of his hotel room and entered into the awaiting elevator without looking up from his blackberry. His assistant who had been holding the elevator pressed the lobby button and handed Will his large black coffee. After finishing his email Will took the coffee and nodded his thanks. Just as Will finished taking his first sip the elevator dinged, signally that they had reached the lobby.
Quickly exiting the elevator Will strode across the lobby towards the conference room, his assistant shuffling behind him trying to keep up. In his perfectly tailored suit and Italian loafers, coffee and blackberry in hand, it was clear to everyone in the lobby that Will was a powerful man and they quickly got out of his way.
Today Will was a man on a mission. Just under three years ago he had found Noah 'Puck' Puckerman playing in a small dive bar in LA. From the moment he had heard Puck's voice and seen the careless confidence he performed with Will knew he had just found his newest star.
It had been easy to convince Puck to sign on with Will's label New Directions and after finding a few guys to back him up on instruments Will had formed Needless Addiction. After three years of hard work the band had both of their albums reach number one and were gearing up to start their second world tour in just under a month.
Everything was set for tour rehearsals to begin, everything other than the opening act. On the last world tour Will had used a small unknown band, but their sound just wasn't anything the caught on, so this time Will wanted to try something different. He wanted a female singer as the opening act.
When he had first shared this idea with the band Puck and all the other guys refused. They were a rock band and thought that having a girl open for them would make them look like "pussies" as they had so colourfully stated. However, Will was set in his decision and had reminded the band that ultimately the final decision up to him and he wanted a female opening act.
Will knew that if he could just find the right female voice that everyone would understand his vision and the opening act would no longer be something the audience had to sit through, but something they could enjoy before the main event. However, finding the right female was proving to be a bit of an issue.
There was less than a month until the tour would start, which meant that the band would start having on stage rehearsals within the next few days, and Will still hadn't found his perfect female voice. He was starting to panic that they wouldn't find an act in time, but he refused to settle. Will had developed a reputation of being the best in the business and he was not going to risk that reputation with another unimpressive opening act.
This determination is what brought him to this hotel in New York City. After not finding anyone in LA after months of searching Will decided that maybe they just weren't looking in the right place. LA was filled with wannabe pop stars and Will didn't want a pop star, he wanted a woman with a voice that was powerful and strong, but sultry and feminine at the same time. It was a tall order, he knew that, but Will figured his best chance of finding what he was looking for would be to move the auditions to New York. So here he was starting his third day of auditions in New York and so far nothing.
After waiting for his lagging assistant to catch up and open the door for him Will entered the conference room. Upon entering Will paused to take in the scene in front of him. Two members of his team were seated at one end of the long table, on the other side of the room, looking over notes and quietly talking. Puck was in the corner shamelessly flirting with a hotel employee who was blushing and giggling. Sam, Mike, and Finn, the other band members, were sprawled out on chairs at the table, texting and listening to music.
Everyone but Puck looked up when they heard Will enter the room and stopped what they were doing. When it was clear that Puck's attention was still on the busty blonde, Will cleared his throat, calling everyone's eyes, including Puck's, to him.
"Good morning everyone," Will greeted as he walked further into the room, "I trust that you are all prepared for another day of auditions."
"I don't understand why we had to fly cross country to hear girls suck just as bad as they did back in LA," responded Puck.
"There are so many better, hotter things I could be doing right now," he continued, shooting the blonde a quick wink before turning and taking a seat at the middle of the table.
As the now severely blushing hotel clerk hurried past Will on her way out of the conference room, Will replied, "You don't have to be here Puck. We've already discussed this – multiple times."
"Fuck man. I know. And trust me there a million fucking other things that I would rather be doing right now, but if we're not here then we get absolutely no say in which whiny little priss you choose to be our opening act," Puck said.
"While your faith in me is truly astounding, let's not go there this morning. I haven't had enough coffee to deal with that and we have a full day auditions ahead of us. Just please try to be nice to the girls Puck. All the other guys have been able to keep their opinions quiet at least until the girl has left the room. I would appreciate it if you could also do so, I don't want any more tears," retorted an unpleased Will.
"Fine, fine. I'll keep my mouth shut, but could you at least try to find a few girls who don't sound like you put a cat in a blender," requested Puck rolling his eyes.
Not bothering to dignify Puck's request with a response, Will continued on, "We have about five minutes before the first audition so let's all just sit and try to conjure up a positive attitude. I have a feeling today may be the day we find our opening act."
…
It had been over six grueling hours of auditions. They had written down a few girls to possibly call back, but Will knew that none of them were right. They had good voices, but they were always missing something. Either their voice wasn't powerful enough or it was too nasally or they didn't have a believable performance.
Will knew that his colleagues didn't understand why he was making such a big deal about finding the right opening act, but he was a perfectionist and the opening act on the last tour had been sub par and was no where near his usual standards. He hadn't even bothered to try and make an album with the band, knowing it would just be a waste of time and money.
This time though, Will was determined to find a strong female performer so that after gaining buzz from the tour he could put her into the recording studio to start making an album. Will was really trying to broaden New Directions' musical talent and adding a female that wasn't a highly auto-tuned pop star would do just that. Plus this tour would be like free marketing. He just had to find the girl.
After Puck had threatened to start throwing things if they didn't take a break, the team had decided it would be a good time for a dinner break. They had all gone out together and while Will didn't usually like to say bad things about people, unless it was constructive criticism, even he couldn't help but laugh at Puck's impressions of some of the girls.
They had had to sit through some pretty awful auditions, so Will was glad that the mood at the dinner table had been uplifted by Puck's impressions, even if they were a little cruel. After dinner they returned back to hotel and to the conference room for a few more hours of auditions.
However, before the auditions could start Will realized that he had left his phone in his jacket, which he had dropped off in his hotel room before coming back to the conference room. There was still a few more minutes before the last session of auditions started so Will excused himself from the conference room and quickly grabbed the elevator to his floor.
When Will reached the door to his room he saw that it was propped open by a cleaning cart. He stepped quickly into the room, just wanting to grab his phone and get back down to the conference room so that they could finish the auditions for the day. As he reached into his jacket pocket, feeling for his phone, he heard a soft humming coming from the adjoining bathroom. Will figured that that must be where the maid was.
Finally pulling his phone out of the pocket Will placed his jacket back on the chair where it was resting and was about to turn around and exit the room, when he heard it.
Stop right there
Holy shit! thought Will! This is it. THIS is the voice he had been waiting for.
I gotta know right now
Before we go any further
Do you love me
Will you love me forever
Do you need me
Will you never leave me
Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life
Will you take me away and will you make me your wife
Do you love me
Will you love me forever
Do you need me
Will you never leave me
Will you make me happy for the rest of my life
Will you take me away and will you make me your wife
I gotta know right now
Before we go any further
Do you love me
Will you love me forever
As the voice finished belting out the powerful verse, it continued to lowly sing along to the song. Will stood there with his mouth agape. He had found it. He had finally found the voice he had been tirelessly searching for. Now he was anxious to see whom this amazing voice belonged to.
No sooner did he will for the powerhouse to reveal herself than did a small figure exit the bathroom still humming along with the song. When the petite woman saw she had an audience she froze, her eyes wide and her cheeks quickly colouring a deep shade of red.
Will stood there staring at the small woman with wonder. How such a large and powerful voice could come out of someone so small was astounding. The petite brunette standing in front of him was going to be Needless Addictions opening act and his next star. He knew it, now he just needed to get this incredible woman to agree.
