Adam's POV

"Next!" I shouted, signaling for our secretary to send in the next person to audition. I tapped my fingers on the desk impatiently. I swear, no one in this town can play the fucking bass! I've sat through hundreds of bassists' auditions who all sucked! Needless to say, I was getting pissy and bitchy.

"Seriously, if this guy doesn't know how to play the bass either, I'm gonna slug someone," I complained to my friend and guitar player Monte. He was helping me out with the auditions and so far we already had our drummer, Isaac, and keyboardist, Cam. All we needed was a freaking bass player.

"Dude, calm yourself. It's not over yet, there are still a couple more guys," Monte said, trying to calm me down. He knows I can turn into a real bitch sometimes. But trust me, you would be a bitch too if you were in my position.

I looked down at my clipboard not really reading anything and tapped my black painted fingers on the desk. I'm not going to flip out, I'm not going to flip out, I told myself.

I heard the door open and someone walk in but I didn't look up. My fingers were still tapping and I knew I probably looked like a real diva but I didn't really give a shit. Monte saw that I wasn't about to do this again so he decided to take over.

"So what's your name?" he asked.

"Um, Tommy. Tommy Joe Ratliff"

My fingers stopped tapping. Tommy Joe Ratliff? No way, it couldn't be. I looked up slowly to meet a guy in his twenties with blond hair that hung over one side of his face. My eyes wandered down, to his creeper boots, to his black skinny jeans and black button up shirt, his black painted nails like my own. All the way up to his eyes. His brown eyes that were framed with a thick coat of black eyeliner.

Our eyes met for a moment and then I knew. The name, the face, the body, the badass look, the eyes. I remembered back about ten years ago. When I met a punk kid named Tommy who changed my life forever. I hadn't seen or heard from Tommy Ratliff in almost ten years, and now he was standing here in front of me to audition for my band?

Yup, that's what it looks like to me.

"Ok, show us what you've got." Monte spoke causing both me and Tommy to come back to reality.

Tommy looked down at his guitar, and started to play. He played all the chords imaginable, even going from the highest note to the lowest in one stroke of the neck. I felt my mouth drop open slightly and I looked over to Monte who also had a look of awe on his face.

Tommy finished playing and looked up at us, smiling slightly.

"You're in!" I blurted. Monte turned to me wide eyed. Probably because we weren't supposed to tell anyone that they were in until we had gone through everyone. But come on! I was willing to bet my life savings that there was no one else in this building that was as good on the bass as Tommy.

Tommy's face lit up. "Oh my god, really? That's awesome!" Tommy's face was plastered with a smile that could out shine the sun.

I wanted to go over and hug him or something, but I needed to be business-like right now.

"Yup, congrats! We're going on the AMAs in about a month and I have a schedule for you. If you don't mind waiting in the lobby for a couple minutes, I can bring it down as soon as we're finished up here." I said, smiling at him.

His eyes opened wide. "The AMAs? Are you serious? I can't believe this! Sure, I'll wait."

I smiled again. "Okay, great! Just go right through that door and down the flight of stairs and the lobby will be right there. We're just gonna finish up here, shouldn't be too long."

He smiled and nodded. "Ok, great! Thanks so much!" he practically skipped out the door and I had to hold back a laugh.

Monte turned to me once Tommy left. "Ok, what the hell man? We agreed that we wouldn't make anyone official until we got through everyone."

"Oh come on," I said laughing. "You can't honestly believe that there's someone out there as good as Tommy."

He sighed. "OK, I'll admit it. You're probably right, but we still have to be fair."

I sighed too. "Ok, let's finish this thing."

We got through the last three people, but like I predicted, we stuck with Tommy. The last three were good but nowhere as good as Tommy.

"See, told you." I said, jokingly, to Monte as we were collecting our paperwork and everyone's schedules.

He rolled his eyes. "OK, I'll give you this one."

I laughed. "Hey, why don't you finish up here and I'll take this down to Tommy." I said, holding up the schedule.

He nodded. "Ok, sounds good."

I headed downstairs and entered the lobby where Tommy was sitting on the couch playing with his phone, not realizing that I had come into the room.

"Tommy?"

He looked up and smiled and stood up. "Adam."

I didn't really know what to say. Did he remember me too? "Um, here's the schedule for our rehearsals. We're gonna be performing For Your Entertainment, here's the music for that," I said handing him the schedule and music.

"Thanks." He said taking it.

There was an awkward silence and I couldn't take it anymore. "Look Tommy, I just have to get this out of the way. I feel like I know you…..from a long time ago."

He looked down. "Weird. I feel the same way," he muttered.

I looked at him, not knowing what to say again and he spoke again. "Would this person happen to be a kid you met in high school about ten years ago?"

I swallowed. "That would be him."

He laughed once and then his face turned straight. "Adam? Is that really you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's me." and I pulled out my necklace that was tucked into my shirt. The guitar pick necklace that he had given to me on the last day I saw him.

His eyes opened wider than I thought possible. "No way," he whispered. "You still have that?"

I nodded. "Hardly ever take it off."

He reached out but then hesitated, looking like he wanted to hug me but then decided against it. I rolled my eyes, "Oh come here," I said pulling him into my arms. He hugged me back and I lifted him off the ground. He giggled then pulled away and wiped his eyes. "I can't believe it's really you." He said.

I shook my head. "I know, this is unbelievable. What brings you here anyway? I mean, I'm so glad you came but…."

"Yeah I know! A friend of mine convinced me to come audition for your band. Actually I didn't even know about you until I Googled your name. Speaking of which, I told you you were gonna be on American Idol someday!"

I laughed "I do remember that. I also remember telling you that we were gonna start a band someday."

He blushed and looked down. "Well, we didn't start the band, you did."

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes. "So do you live around here?" I asked him changing the subject.

He shook his head "No, I actually live in Burbank, I came here and got a hotel. But I was thinking about moving out here anyway so being in the band just gives me an extra excuse."

I laughed "Sounds good!"

Then my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID, it said 'Cheeks.' I sighed. "I have to take this," I told Tommy.

He nodded and I answered. "Hello?"

"Adam! How dare you not call me! I've been waiting for like an hour!" Came Brad's quirky voice on the other end.

I laughed because I knew he was just messing with me. "Calm down honey, I was just exchanging info with my new band members."

I heard a squeal on the other end, and then Brad spoke again. "So you got your band? Omg that's so great! I'm so happy for you! So who are they? Any hot guys?"

I laughed "Listen Cheeks, you'll never believe who came to audition."

"Who?" he asked.

I took a deep breath. "Tommy Ratliff."

There was a pause on the other end. "Our Tommy Ratliff? The one we knew in high school?"

"That's him," I said smiling

"You're kidding! That's such a coincidence. We'll all have to hook up sometime…and I don't mean it like that!"

I started laughing. "Cheeks, with you I never know."

He giggled. "Whatever, I know your dirty mind. Listen, changing the subject, are you still coming to the party tonight?"

What? He hadn't told me about any damn party, but it was Brad so I've learned to except things like that. "What party?" I asked.

"Ohh, I forgot to tell you didn't I….? Yeah, I sort of planned a party for you to celebrate you finally getting your band together. It's at that bar downtown. So are you up for it? You better say yes because I did this just for you and it sure as hell wasn't for nothing Mr. Lambert!"

I laughed "Calm your shit, I'll be there."

He squealed again. "Great! See you at 10. Oh and you can bring Tommy too if you want. Bye!"

And with that, he hung up. I laughed and shook my head. Brad was really quite a unique character. I walked back over to Tommy. "Sorry about that," I said.

"No problem," he said and smiled.

"So listen, on the phone, that was my friend Brad, do you remember him?"

Tommy's face lit up. "How could I forget Brad?" he said laughing.

I laughed too. "I don't' think anyone can. So listen, he's having a little party at this club. Do you wanna come?"

He thought for a moment. "Man I would love to but I really have to let everyone know about the band thing and get myself situated since I'm gonna be here for a while."

I nodded. "Ok, no problem. Believe me, Brad has plenty of parties, you won't miss much."

He laughed. "Adam! We need ya up here!" A voice, Monte's, suddenly called from upstairs.

"I better get going," I said to Tommy.

He nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you around." He told me holding up the rehearsal schedule.

"Yeah, definitely. Oh wait, let me give you my number."

We exchanged numbers and I walked away, turning around and waving goodbye. He waved back and when I turned my back to him, my face was plastered with a smile that no one could possibly wipe off. Tommy Ratliff was back in my life. The person who had made my life worth living for the past ten years.