Hey, just a heads-up, Brendan:
If I don't update this story for a while in-between chapters, maybe, just maybe, you should consider the fact that I might be busy with my life and that I'll update in my own time. There's a reason I haven't approved many of your reviews you keep sending me; they're nothing but "dude where are u". Contrary to what you might think, they're NOT encouraging or helpful, they're bloody annoying. I'm not playing around. So if I get one more review from you like that, I swear I'll block anonymous reviews altogether.
So JUST. BE. PATIENT. Got it?
I do not own the movie Sing. I only own my OC, Jason.
Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! :)
A couple hours later (and after the power had been restored), a bored-looking Jason finally pushed open his door.
He'd spent the last few hours scanning through the song titles on his sheet one by one and simultaneously listening the CD with their instrumental tracks. However, rather than singing them aloud, the porcupine had stuck with simply murmuring the lyrics under his breath.
It wasn't as if he didn't know them; he actually knew a handful of them very well, having either caught them on the radio or listened to them multiple times when in a peppy mood. Had they been any other songs on the planet, he would gladly have sung them aloud. These particular ones, though, were a complete turn-off. Normally when confronted with a task either at work or home, he'd jump straight to it and complete it with no reluctance. But the task of performing songs with higher pitches than he liked? That was a different story.
Thus he'd come to the conclusion that perhaps a quick break would take his mind off these aggravations.
He was just stepping out of his rehearsal room when something large immediately trod in front of him. The collision sent the porcupine sprawling to the floor. Sitting up, Jason rubbed his sore nose before glancing up to see a large elephant with a blue hoodie and tiny pigtails turning around in shock, clutching a refreshment tray in her trunk.
"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't see you there." She apologised frantically as Jason picked himself up.
"It's fine, don't worry about it, really." He replied, visibly wincing at the pain from falling on his rear. "Hey, I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you a new contestant?" The elephant's ears flattened against her head slightly, as if in disappointment.
"Uh, no, I-I'm just a stagehand. Recently appointed actually." She responded rather quietly, before offering out her large hand with a shy smile, "I'm Meena, by the way." The porcupine kindly returned the handshake with a smile of his own.
"Well nice to meet you, Meena. My name's Jason."
"I, uh, I was going around with the refreshments, seeing how Miss Crawley's busy helping Johnny on the piano." The elephant carried on, presenting Jason the tray of cookies and water-filled cups grasped in her trunk. "And I was wondering if you maybe wanted one?"
Jason looked down and held a paw to his stomach, softly growling right on cue.
"Well you came just in the nick of time, Meena, 'cause I am pretty hungry." He joked, gaining a small giggle in return. With that, Jason reached out a paw for the cookie on top of the pile.
Until it came into contact with a familiar chestnut-brown paw reaching for the same one.
Blushing profusely beneath his fur, Jason turned to look directly at Ash for the first time that day. And their eyes met for the first time all morning. Jason once again felt his heart flutter at the sight of her stunning blue irises, like two vast oceans of glistening jewels surrounding the window to her soul. True, that sounded corny as hell but he didn't care.
Blinking rapidly, both porcupines tore their paws away from the cookie.
"Sorry about that." Jason said, quickly grabbing a different one from the tray while Ash awkwardly took the one they'd both had their eye on.
"Uh, it's alright."
"Umm, thanks, Meena. Keep up the good work." Nodding at Jason's speedy response, Meena quickly moved onto the next rehearsal space with the refreshments, leaving the two porcupines by themselves. Neither moved nor spoke for the longest time. Only the faint sound of the others practicing in the other rooms filled the corridor.
"Y'know, we were never properly introduced yesterday." Ash's voice shattered the silence like glass. Taking a deep soothing breath through his nostrils, Jason nodded and put on his best casual smile.
"Huh. We weren't, were we?" he replied, twirling his cookie around through his fingers. "Well, uh, by all means, ladies first."
"The name's Ash. Glad to meet you."
"I'm Jason. The feeling's mutual."
"Hey, I just wanted to thank you." Jason cocked an eyebrow.
"For what?"
"For the compliment yesterday." Jason couldn't noticing her running her fingers through a couple of her quills, almost in a shy manner. "On my music. It, uh, it really meant a lot."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all. It's just, y'know, I know talent when I hear it."
"Thanks." Ash smiled her sweet smile with a tiny shrug of her shoulders to boot. With that, she took the smallest bite of her cookie.
Don't make it awkward. Keep the conversation flowing.
"Well, that and your, uh, boyfriend didn't seem to be giving you a whole lot of compliments." Jason just managed to not grimace at the memory of Lance's arrogant face. "Just thought you deserved some positive feedback."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Ash waved her paw in a dismissive manner. "It was my fault anyway, I got a little over-excited and I forgot to stick to the plan we had for our performance." Jason wanted to object until his conscience reminded him of his lack of romantic experience.
I guess this is just how some couples work. Don't butt in on a subject you don't know anything about.
"If you say so." He responded at last. An awkward silence fell over the two again. Mercifully, Ash spoke up.
"I'm just sorry I didn't get to hear your audition yesterday."
"Nah, it's okay. I mean, we're in the show together so chances are you'll get to hear me anyways." Remembering Ash's own audition, the corners of Jason's mouth curled upward into an impressed smile. "Besides your audition was amazing. I mean, I've listened to rock my entire life but to actually see it performed first-hand is just... incredible. Huge spectacle." Ash once again brushed her quills at his compliment.
"Thanks." She replied humbly, diverting her eyesight down at the floorboards, "I've been practicing since I was eight."
"I can tell." Jason gave a small chuckle. "I mean, you make it look so easy. Your fingers were just flying over the…" The porcupine awkwardly mimicked playing his own guitar as Ash watched with an amused smile. "Uh… wooden bar… thingie. With the… strings."
"You mean, the neck?" Ash raised a playful eyebrow.
"Uh, yeah, that." Jason grinned awkwardly, resorting to take a bite of his own cookie.
"Something tells me you're not the kind of music lover who plays an instrument."
"It's that obvious, huh?" The female porcupine chuckled in response to Jason's comment. "Well my point still stands about your guitar skills."
"Yeah." Ash's smile contorted into a disappointed scowl as she remembered her assigned performance style. "Shame I won't get to use 'em thanks to a certain oblivious koala."
"Then how come I heard a pretty sweet guitar solo coming from your rehearsal space when I opened my door?" Jason asked, raising his eyebrow jokingly. Ash instantly blushed sheepishly beneath her fur.
"Oh, that." She scratched the space behind her ear with a guilty smile.
She may be a rocker but she's so adorable.
"Well I bought it with me in case Moon did have any rock songs planned for me. And, well, you saw how that turned out." Her face fell at the memory of Moon's orders but perked up again. "But that doesn't mean I can't practice some of my own music while I'm here." Jason then gave a scowl of his own, remembering his song sheet.
"Yeah, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's never interacted with a teenager in his life." Ash laughed slightly before frowning once more.
"I'll say. I mean, you should see my song choices." Although she was now ranting, Jason couldn't help smiling at the sheer adorableness Ash put into her angry gestures. "Carly Rae Jepson? Kesha? This is what my grandma thinks all teenage girls like. It's like he didn't even pay attention to my audition."
"I know the feeling." Jason nodded. "The ones he gave me have higher pitches than I'm used to. At least you can most likely sing yours clearly."
"Ouch, that sucks."
"I know. I tried to get him to change his mind but that failed miserably." Putting his right paw into his jean pocket, Jason breathed a tiny sigh of annoyance before biting into his cookie again. "Guess he has a very specific vision for this show. And my grandpa always says you can't stop a guy with a vision." Jason's chewing suddenly stopped at the feel of a warm paw on his arm. Directing his eyes away from the floor, he found himself gazing at Ash once more, this time much closer and with a reassuring smile on her face.
"Well who knows? We got a few days until the show arrives, I'm sure you can work on it in that time." Giving a small supportive pat on his arm, Ash finally removed her paw just as Jason was beginning to blush under his face fur.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely." He nodded before glancing up at the clock on the wall. He then realised the two of them had been chatting for quite a while now.
"Well, uh, guess break time's over for me. Don't let me stop you from rockin' and rollin', as I think they say." The two porcupines smiled at one another as they each took a step back. It was as if neither wanted to break away from the other's gaze.
"Heh, yeah." Ash gave a shrug followed by a nod of acknowledgement. "Looking forward to hearing your performance."
"Me too. …Your performance, I mean, not mine." He pretended to stumble over his words, giving a jokey smile for emphasis. That earned him a smile from Ash in return.
"I figured."
Neither porcupine looked away until they finally made it back to their practice rooms. Shutting the door behind him, Jason took one last glance through the glass, smiling as Ash picked her guitar up once more and began shredding away. It took him quite a while to finally tear his eyes away and get back to his own rehearsing.
"Hey, Jason! How'd your first day of rehearsal go?"
Closing the door behind him, Jason gave the best smile he could muster over his frown as Stephanie made her way down the stairs, clad in a casual striped shirt and dark jeans.
"Yeah, it went fine." His frown quickly returned as he pulled his crumpled song sheet out of his pocket, "But look at the song suggestions Mr Moon gave me!" Straightening it out, he held it in front of his sister's face. She didn't seem to register his frustrated tone, her smile only growing as her eyes scanned over the listed songs.
"Whoa, nice choices." She stated, clearly impressed.
"Are you kidding? These songs are just… I can't sing these!" With that, Jason unceremoniously let the sheet flutter out of his paw. Before it could even touch the floor, Stephanie leant down and caught it in the blink of an eye before looking up at her brother with a cocked eyebrow.
"What do you mean? Why not?"
"The octaves are too high for my voice!" The porcupine explained, almost ready to tear his quills out as Buster's annoyingly peppy attitude flooded his memories. "What that koala's asking from me is impossible, these songs are well out of my comfort zone! It's just… it's not me!" Wearing a face that screamed scepticism, Stephanie placed a paw on her hip.
"Oh, I thought you 'weren't interested' in this competition."
"Well I-I'm not!" Jason tried to reply as nonchalantly as possible while Stephanie calmly watched with a smug grin. "It's just, well, I know my limits and these songs… I mean, they…" His babbling stopped when his sister held up a silencing paw.
"Well it never hurts to try stepping out of your comfort zone, big brother." Stephanie responded, casually folding the song sheet in her fingers. "You'll never know for certain you can't sing these songs unless you try."
"Stephanie…" She took no notice of Jason's protests as she neatly tucked the folded-up paper into the quills atop his head, followed by a pet on the cheek.
"Now how's about you get upstairs to your room and keep on practicing, huh? You got a busy week ahead of you." Jason's annoyed frown only deepened as his sister smiled sweetly, placing her paws behind her back in an innocent manner. An annoyed sigh escaping his lips, he yanked the paper out of his quills and begrudgingly began making his way upstairs.
"Sometimes I really don't like you." He muttered loud enough for Stephanie to hear him.
"I know that's not true!" She called over her shoulder, still smiling as she went into the kitchen. Groaning in irritation, Jason reached the top before dragging his tired feet into his room and shutting the door.
And just like earlier that day, Jason spent the whole hour just staring at the sheet and quietly humming the lyrics under his breath. He'd been walking around the bedroom so much, there was practically a footprint-patterned circle decorating the floorboards. But just like earlier that day, it wasn't that he didn't know them; he just couldn't sing them, no matter how much he wanted to try. What if he chickened out when he got to a high note? Or what if he attempted a high note and hurt his throat? Maybe Craig or Alex would hear him and subject him to more ridicule. Or maybe…
"Dinner's ready!"
Letting out a long-held breath of relief at his mother's shout, Jason slammed the sheet down on the bed and flung open his bedroom door, making his way downstairs.
Just keep your promise to Grandpa and put up with this until it's all over.
Although he kept repeating that mantra in his head, Jason did manage to take some comfort in the fact that even with a list of difficult-to-sing songs under his belt, his new acquaintance would make these next few days will be somewhat more bearable.
*I do not own the rights of the movie 'Sing'. All rights go to Illumination Entertainment.
Also, Calvin. You think "Jason will go after Meena"? Are you SERIOUS? Why would he and Meena get together when the story tags are clearly Ash and OC?