Giovanni worked two jobs to support himself, the main one was driving taxi's at Bellic Enterprises, his father's business. The other was a gig at the infamous Maisonette 9. Every Friday and Saturday night Giovanni worked as a pianist and/or vocalist. He'd gotten the Job through a mutual friend of the family who had been working there for the best part of twenty or so years. he'd introduced him to Tony Prince, a man who was now very old, but also very rich. He owned two nightclubs in Algonquin, both of which were insanely popular. Giovanni got an opportunity to show off his talent on the piano and his vocal range as well. Prince had been very impressed.
"Maybe I lost weight, I'm playing hooky, with the best of the best. Put my heart on my chest, so that you can see it too."
Tony had told Giovanni that as soon as he was legal, he could work in Maisonnette 9 as the front man or pianist in their already critically acclaimed live band who played at every open night. Now, at the ripe old age of twenty-one, Giovanni could now work in clubs, and could now entertain the party-goers of Liberty City.
"I'm walking the long road, watching the sky fall. The lace in your dress tingles my neck, how do I live?"
Giovanni's love for music started early on, for it was a way to escape the relentless bullying he went through in school. In elementary school it was more innocent, just ignorant questions like "Why does your skin look like that?" or "Why do you talk funny?" Or "How do I say say your name?" Things like that, but in High school that's when the racial slurs came. Giovanni honestly got sick of responding to people telling him to 'go back where he came from' given that he was born in Broker. He grew up around only his family and didn't interact much with other people, this made his accent a little ambiguous.
"The death of a bachelor. Oh. Letting the water fall. The death of a bachelor. Oh. Seems so fitting for ."
Giovanni gripped the microphone in its stand as he began to sing the chorus. It was a song he'd heard again very recently, for he did remember it from his childhood. It was Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco, the song was almost fifteen years old now. It was older than Giovanni's sister. When he was performing, Giovanni felt untouchable. Nobody could make fun of the way he sounded from up there. Because every sound that came from his mouth was a hint of euphoria, and it didn't matter when he came from.
"Happily ever after. How could I ask for more? A lifetime of laughter. At the expense of the death of a bachelor."
Race relations had been really bad when Giovanni was around eight years old. they had a president whose views on immigration were more than a little controversial. His main focus was looking after REAL Americans, this meant that for a while it was perfectly legal for a business to hire white people or people of American origin over anyone else. In fact, in some place, it was almost encouraged. The president at the time thought this would solve the problem of American's not being able to get jobs due to the fact that immigrants were taking them.
This bias was also present in other areas. The president made sure that no Americans would be homeless, even if that meant evicting immigrant families so the real Americans could have a place to live. This meant tighter borders, this meant unfair deportation, this meant living in America was harder than ever. Thankfully, when Giovanni was twelve the president was replaced and everything started to go back to normal, but the discrimination against immigrant families still remained. For there was a generation of kids who were raised on the idea that people like Giovanni were bad.
"I'm cutting my mind off, it feels like my heart is going to burst. Alone at a table for two and I just wanna be served."
Giovanni was dressed in a black tuxedo which fit his frame perfectly, his black hair was combed and slicked back and he looked like a douchey boy band member, but the people loved it. He jumped off the stage and onto the dance floor, where he weaved between people as he sang. Sometimes taking the hand of a pretty girl and kissing it or caressing the cheek of another. His charm radiated through the dancefloor.
"And when you think of me am I the best you've ever had? Share one more drink with me, smile even though you're sad."
Maisonette 9 was arguably just as popular now as it was in the early 2000s. And it attracted a similar crowd too. Party girls, annoying guys trying to pick up those girls, and mobsters who would sit and drink while watching the girls dance and get hit on by the weird guys. It had been that way since the early days. The mutual friend who has introduced Giovanni to Tony had informed him that his father used to come here quite often back before he was born.
"He was usually with this, bald, tough looking Jewish man." The friend had tried to explain to him one time.
"Oh yeah, I know who that is." Giovanni had said.
"Whatever happened to him?" The friend asked as they squeezed through crowds of people, back on Giovanni's first day.
"I think he wrote a few self-help books. Had a line of supplements and diet pills, and now runs a few luxury men's only gyms." Giovanni had remarked.
"Ugh, that sounds about right." The friend had said in response.
"A lifetime of laughter. At the expense of the death of a bachelor."
Giovanni ended the song there as he climbed back onto the stage. the crowd cheered and clapped as he and the rest of the band started to pack away.
"Thank you, everyone, we'll see you tomorrow night," Giovanni said into the microphone before unplugging it. The music went back to generic club beats at the band started to pack away. They all filed out of the back entrance of the club, this was where a large van was parked. The band started to load their gear into the back of it. Whilst they were doing this, the mutual friend of Giovanni's came up to him.
"Another successful night?" He proclaimed coming closer to the truck.
"Yeah man, it was pretty good," Giovanni said pushing a keyboard into the truck.
"Hey," said the friend reaching into his pocket. "You boys work hard. The boss wants to show his appreciation." The man handed a one hundred dollar bill to the three other band members they all thanked him as they took the money.
Giovanni also received a hundred dollar bonus but his cut came in the form of five twenty dollar notes. The man came closer to Giovanni as he handed him his money. "I know you might need to share this around, I want you to look after that family of yours okay?" he said in Giovanni's ear. He took the money and put it in his jacket pocket.
"Yeah," he replied. "Thanks for looking out for me," He said while getting into the truck.
"Not a problem, my man." Said the friend waving. "Keep that father of yours under control too."
"I'll try my best!" Giovanni cheered back as the truck started off down the road.