Thank you so much for the review Majit! I absolutely love your story "I still love you New York")

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"Do, or do not... There is no try."

Staring at the keyboard against the wall in the living room poked at that empty space inside of her. She had just woken up to another day in Tree Hill. She wondered what Chris was doing that morning. She snapped out of it when she realized he had probably forgotten all about her, and was off chasing his dream while she was stuck back in Tree Hill. Was that something she was going to regret forever?

Nathan walked up behind her and put his arms around her. "I love you babe," he whispered in her ear."

She was silent for a second, somewhat lost in thought. "I love you too Nathan," she whispered back. He smiled.

If only she could convince herself she really did love him enough to throw her dreams away…

It was sort of chilly outside as Chris stood next to the building right off Broadway where the Maverick office was located. It was almost 8 am, and he was getting poised to make an impression, or not. He took a drag from the cigarette in his hand. He hadn't smoked in over a year, but between the stress and lack of sleep, he needed something to calm himself down. His hands were visibly shaking, he had no idea if he could even play guitar if they asked him to. He put his cigarette out in the dispenser carefully located next to the building, as smoking in any indoor public place in New York had been illegal for quite sometime. He gripped his guitar and took a deep breath as he stepped into the building. He rode the elevator the twelve floors up to the Maverick office suite. He stepped toward the receptionist desk straight ahead as he got of the elevator.

"Hi, I'm Chris Keller here for to speak with John…" he trailed off. "John, something. I don't think he ever really said his last name."

"Well, Chris Keller, lets see…." she paused. I don't specifically see you down for an appointment. Would you be down under another name? A band name perhaps?" she questioned.

"Uhhh," he stuttered. He knew he had an appointment, the guy had called him, he had even sent him the tickets. What if he put him down under Haley's name? He was supposed to come with Haley after all, it was the duet he had submitted. "Possibly, Haley James," he replied, somewhat hesitantly.

"Well, you don't quite look like a Haley James," the receptionist laughed.

"Yeah, but I submitted a demo, which was a duet with her," he replied, not really feeling the joke.

"Oh you're kidding! I assume you mean the 'When the Stars Go Blue' demo; we've been playing it around the office for a few days. All of the clerks here are fans, you've got a great voice! But where is Ms. James today, it would have been great to hear you two live!"

"Actually she stayed back," he started to feel kind of disappointed again that she had.

She could sense the more timid tone in his voice, and tried to cheer him up a little, "Well the CEO Guy Oseary flew in last week, he has several talent interviews to go through this week. Now that we have the name appointment conflict fixed out, you're the first appointment of the day, I'll walk you down to his office," she stated, leading him down a hallway lined with pictures of musical acts signed under the Maverick label. "Mr Oseary, Chris Keller is here to speak with you about the duet that was submitted just last week," she informed the tall, broad shouldered man at a desk piled with papers and a box full of Cds.

"Thank you Sara. Hi Chris, Come on in and have a seat," Mr. Oseary motioned as the secretary left back down the hallway. Clutching his guitar case even tighter than before, he sat down in a green chair angled towards the large desk, behind which Mr. Oseary sat. "Where's the girl? Ms. James I believe?"

"She stayed behind in North Carolina. I'm working on getting her to come out here," he replied sheepishly. He had tried. He wanted her to come. In fact, he would have felt a lot less nervous if she had been by his side.

"I see," he stated. He clicked a pencil against the desk, and then put it to his lip. "I was quite excited to receive your demo." Chris beamed a little, feeling a little less nervous. "But….I was expecting Ms. James to also be part of the picture if we were to release this duet, or even look into marketing it. Also, I don't even know how it would sound live. Also, it's a cover. We need versatility, no true musicians make a career off of covers." He finished, critically looking at Chris.

Chris was getting antsy, he could tell this wasn't going in the direction he really wanted it to go. "I write my own music, I just felt a duet would kind of liven up the demo. I guess it was kind of a learning experience too," he stated, trying to save himself, and sound like as upstanding a musician as possible.

"I see," Mr. Oseary replied, leaning forward in his chair.

"I'd just figured I needed to do something different, be versatile. That's all. If you don't like the angle, I can just work with song writing," he stated, not in a pleading tone, more of a calm but true attempt at redeeming himself.

"You love her, don't you?" Mr. Oseary said with a straight face, leaning forward, even closer to where Chris was sitting.

"Who?" Chris replied, somewhat confused.

"The girl in the duet, Ms. James," he replied, keeping a straight face.

"What?" Chris asked, with a somewhat shocked look on his face. He never expected his first meeting with a real record label to go like this.

"The music never lies," Mr. Oseary replied, this time leaning back in his chair and resting his arm on a pile of papers. "I want you to bring her back here. This is an all or nothing deal Mr. Keller. I see an image, a possibility, take it or leave it." He laid a contract down on the desk, on top of the one clear spot where the shiny mahogany wood peaked through. "There is a standard commitment contract prepared for every musician that walks in this room with an appointment. 99.999 of these contracts never have a pen reach that little line by the 'x.' You have an appointment with me next week, you can speak with Sara at the door and she will give you the time and date next week. Be prepared to play, both of you. A solo song each and the duet. Everything besides the duet must be original, and acoustic; so we can see if you're both real musicians."

Chris was now leaning back in his chair. Somewhat in shock, somewhat confused. He grabbed his guitar case which he had set down on the floor just minutes before. He picked it up and started to stand up. He went to shake Mr. Oseary's hand, showing his intentions of an attempt to make the next week's deadline.

As he turned around to head to the door, Mr. Oseary added to his earlier statement, "Cancel within 24 hours if you will not be keeping that appointment Mr. Keller."

"That won't be necessary Mr. Oseary," Chris replied, putting on as sure an attitude as he could come up with.

"Good," Mr. Oseary stated as Chris left the room.

Leaning up against the wall for a brief second, Chris caught his breath after ten of the longest minutes of his life. He started to walk back down the hallway to the receptionist. He walked up, hesitantly, still shaken up. "I guess I have to get an appointment…"

Sara cut in, "For next week, alright. Wednesday at 10 am."

Chris gave a confused look as to how she already knew he needed another appointment for next week.

She looked to the left down the hallway making sure Mr. Oseary wasn't beside the door. She leaned in and whispered "In the four and a half year I have worked here, never once has he signed a contract in one meeting. You've made it past the hardest part though, you got the callback." Chris's look became one of more relief at this point. "He expects the conditions filled though," she added. "But don't give up yet."

Chris gave her a nod, as he turned around heading toward the elevator. The revolving door spun as he stepped into the New York streets, even more lost than when he had entered twenty minutes before.