Carmine found a good space in the house and used a spell to soundproof the room so he wouldn't wake Caroline or the baby. He set up the camera and held his guitar. He used the Force to hit record and got ready to film.
"H-Hi. I'm... uh..." Carmine stammered, nearly dropping his guitar. "I'm... Carmine. This is my first music... video. And... I'll be singing a song about... uh..."
Carmine started breathing heavily and made the camera stop recording.
"Okay, I wasn't ready that time." Carmine looked at Fluffy, his rabbit and tried seeing if that would help him.
So, take two. Carmine got ready.
"Hi, I'm Carmine, I'm gonna song a sing about- I mean sing about a song! Urgh!"
Take three...
"Hi, I'm singing a Carmine. AGH! Amateur!"
Take four...
"Hi, I'm Taylor Drift." Carmine groaned. "Where did that even come from?!"
Every time Carmine tried to record himself, he got freaked out by the thought of singing in front of so many people. The holo-net would stream a video of him singing to literally millions of people. The number of people he'd given a valedictorian speech to wasn't even an eighth of that!
If he wasn't messing up his introductory speech, he kept missing a note or forgetting the words to sing.
Carmine sighed. "Maybe I should take a break."
Carmine decided to sit back and watch something on tv for a bit. But since he and Caroline couldn't afford to get a lot of channels, there weren't many options. So, Carmine decided to sit back and watch the first thing he stopped on. And what came up was this show about a girl who was a famous singer, except no one knew who she really was because she wore a disguise.
"Wow... that must be great, having an alter ego. If you're embarrassed in one way or another, all you gotta do is switch identities, and... no one... knows... who you really... are."
Carmine's mind suddenly filled with realization, and then he had an idea. He looked into one of the baby bags, and found a small purple blanket big enough for him to wear over his head and cover his face.
This time, Carmine felt a little more confident when he turned on the camera.
"Hi," said Carmine, altering his voice a little so no one would recognize him. "I'm... ShyGuy. And, I'm gonna sing a song that's very special to me. This is gonna be called Listen to your Heart."
Carmine strummed a sweet tune to begin his song, and then he began to sing in his natural singing voice.
I know there's something in the wake of your smile
I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yeah
You've built a love but that love falls apart
Your little piece of Heaven turns too dark
Carmine dug deep and put passion into his song like his grandmother and his teachers always told him.
Listen to your heart when he's calling for you
Listen to your heart, there's nothing else you can do
I don't know where you're going and I don't know why
But listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye
Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile
The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yeah
They're swept away and nothing is what is seems
The feeling of belonging to your dreams
Listen to your heart when he's calling for you
Listen to your heart, there's nothing else you can do
I don't know where you're going and I don't know why
But listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye
Once Carmine finished singing, he thanked his future audience for listening and then went over the video. After some editing, he went on the computer and created a StarScreen account for himself with the screen name ShyGuy29. Carmine watched the finished video once more and looked at the digital button that said UPLOAD. He hesitated for a bit. Back in school, he recalled all the holo-net safety lectures they did every year, and one thing they always reminded the students of with high emphasis was "Once you post something, you lose control of it forever." As in, once you post something, it's out there. Even if you delete it from your page, someone else likely downloaded it or copied it and shared to another website where other users shared it with even more people.
But, Carmine covered his face in the video and didn't use his real name, so no one would recognize him if they ran into him in real life after watching his video.
"Okay. Okay. I can do this." Carmine said nervously.
If he didn't put himself out there, how was he ever gonna be a great performer like he always dreamed?
And Carmine dragged the mouse to where it said 'UPLOAD.' Click.
It was uploaded. Now, all Carmine had to do was wait.
Carmine logged out, turned off the computer, then yawning, he put his equipment away and went back to bed.
Carmine fed Lamenta her bottle of milk the next morning before rushing to get to his job at On-Key Center. He kissed Caroline and wished her good luck with her test today.
"I'll see you after work, Honey." Carmine said, kissing his wife. "Things are gonna get better soon."
Carmine looked nervous as he stepped in his speeder to get to work.
"I hope."
Work went on fine as usual. Ms. Parkens, Carmine's boss, called him for an important job.
"We got a new piano coming in today. Care to perform a little test on it?" said Rodian.
"Can I?" said Carmine like an excited child.
If there was one job Carmine loved, it was testing out the new instruments when they were delivered. On-Key Center took great pride in making sure all their merchandise was on-key. And Carmine played more instruments than anyone else in the store.
Carmine was ecstatic when he saw the beautiful new piano. He warmed up his fingers and got ready to play a song.
"Any requests?"
"Play something romantic." said Callie, one of the older workers.
So, Carmine played the melody to the song Caroline and he danced to when they fell in love.
"This is the song my wife and I fell in love to."
However one of the delivery guys was paying more attention to his phone than to his job.
"Hey Larken, have you seen this guy?" said the human. "He's all over the net."
"Oh yeah, ShyGuy." said the tholothian. "Pretty good voice he got."
Carmine heard them and stopped playing.
"You saw that video?" Carmine asked, sounding hopeful. "Uh... what did you think of his song?"
"Pretty good, actually."
"He was amazing." sighed Callie. "I couldn't see his face, but he sounds so sensitive and passionate at the same time."
"You really thought he was good?" said Carmine.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." Carmine shrugged. "I'm too nervous to perform myself. Nice to see this shy guy can put himself out there."
After work, Carmine rushed home excitedly and turned on the computer.
"Carmine, how was work?" Caroline asked.
"It was great. Now, you gotta see this." Carmine said. He took Lamenta into his lap and showed her and his wife the video he posted.
"You see this, Caroline?" said Carmine.
"You made a video?" Caroline said, a little surprised. "Oh, Carmine. I knew you had it in you to put yourself out there. Even if you're hiding behind a blanket."
Carmine chuckled and looked at the baby girl in his lap.
"What do you think of Daddy's performance, Lamenta?"
Lamenta babbled and cooed, clapping her little hands, making her parents laugh at how cute she was. Caroline looked at the number of views Carmine's video had already. Three million hits, and that video was only posted last night. It was unbelievable, and so many comments too.
IvyG23: No doubt about it, ShyGuy is my kinda guy 3
KnightMare427: I'm listening to my heart and it want to hear another serenade by you ShyGuy
DragonSquire2678: Do another song!
HaterGirl258: I've seen better
"I've got news for you, HaterGirl258," said Carmine. "I've heard worse words from a real person. And another thing. Your comment... blocked. Ha!"
"That one doesn't know what they're talking about, anyway." said Caroline, kissing Carmine's cheek. "This is wonderful, Carmine. And you should do more songs. You've already got a journal full of lyrics. All they need is music and a singer."
Lamenta cooed again and played with her father's nose.
Carmine chuckled at his little girl.
"You think Daddy should do more music too, Sweetie?"
Lamenta just babbled again. She still hadn't said any real words yet. But Carmine and Caroline kept trying to get her to say something.
"Can you say 'Daddy,' Lamenta?" Carmine asked.
Carmine said it over and over again. Lamenta was typically a fairly quiet baby. She cooed and babbled like any baby did. Except, she didn't do it as much as other babies did. Mostly, she looked around and was quiet. The loudest thing she did was cry when she needed something. But other than that, she was quiet.
"Maybe she, like you, just needs a little more time and encouragement to find her voice." Caroline said.
"Maybe." Carmine said, nuzzling his daughter's little nose. "But just you wait, Lammy. One of these days, you'll be talking to us, and maybe someday singing songs too. I just know you'll love music."
"Moo-sic." Lamenta said, making her parents freeze.
"What did you just say, Lamenta?" Caroline said.
Caroline got the video camera ready.
"Come on, Lamenta." Carmine said. "Say it again."
Lamenta looked at the camera.
"Come on, Lamenta. Say the word for Mommy."
But, Lamenta looked at the camera and started to whimper.
"Oh, no. Don't cry, Sweetie." Caroline said.
"I don't think she likes the camera." Carmine said, comforting his daughter.
"I see that, Carmine."
Caroline put the camera away and took Lamenta into her arms again to comfort her.
"It's okay, Lammy. It's okay."
Carmine picked up a lamb plushie he'd made recently. Lamenta's very favorite toy.
"Look, Lamenta. It's Lammy, the sheep." cooed Carmine. "Lammy doesn't want you to be sad."
Lamenta's crying toned down a little as her father made the lamb dance around a little and he adopted a cuter little voice to make the lamb talk.
"Please stop crying, Lamenta. I'm a happy lamb. Do you wanna cuddle with your little lamb?"
Lamenta started reaching out to the lamb plushie and cuddled it when Carmine placed the sheep into her little hands.
"There we go. Cuddle up with your little lamb... Little Lamb." Carmine kissed his little daughter's head.
After putting Lamenta to bed that night, Carmine decided to look into his song book and pick his next song for a new video.
Carmine started practicing melodies for his songs on his guitar every chance he got, and writing down the melodies in the journal Susy had gotten him when he was younger. And every break at work, he'd spend time writing lyrics for more songs and experimenting with different instruments. Meanwhile, he also saved up some money for a little something, and with his employee discount, managed to buy himself a new keyboard that could change sounds, as well as some sound recording equipment.
Caroline continued her online classes, and using what she learned, she managed to go online and buy a better quality camera using her own savings from a remote job she managed to find in an online bookkeeping internship.
Soon, Carmine was recording a new song every week with help from Caroline as her camera lady and editor.
Together, they uploaded new videos. Carmine kept singing with a blanket over his head for the first few. But, he eventually decided to look into the discarded merchandise at his retail job, and managed to find a veil that hid his face and would make it easier for him to sing without worrying about it falling off.
A few months went by, and Carmine's videos became big hits all across the holo-net.
And then one day, Carmine and Caroline were happily surprised when Carmine was contacted by some companies, offering him sponsorships with big paydays. And because of that, Carmine was able to quit working in retail and as an assistant piano teacher. So, now he only had his job in the music store, and he didn't need to work as many hours.
But now, Carmine dedicated more time to making his music, and more importantly, being at home some more to take care of Lamenta. That gave Caroline time to go out and find a job of her own, which meant Carmine could stay at home with Lamenta and Caroline. But first, while Lamenta was sleeping, the couple decided to celebrate that night with a much needed make out session, as they'd barely had enough time and/or energy for more than a few kisses everyday.
Carmine and Caroline kissed passionately as the big day came for Caroline to start the first day at her new job.
"Good luck on your first day, Beautiful." Carmine said, kissing his wife once more.
"I love you, Carmine." sighed Caroline, bringing her husband's lips deeper into hers.
"I love you too." Carmine moaned happily, passionately kissing his bride like there was no tomorrow.
That was when Lamenta babbled louder than usual, wanting some attention as she held herself up and bounced in her playpen.
"I love you too, Baby." Caroline said, giving her baby a kiss. "Mommy's going to be away for a while. But I'll be back very soon, okay? And Daddy's going to be here while Mommy's away working."
"Mama." Lamenta said.
"That's right, Baby. Mama." Caroline said. "Daddy will be taking care of you for now, though."
"Dada." Lamenta said.
"That's right. You're so smart."
Soon, Caroline was out the door, and headed out to work. But, when Lamenta saw her mother leave and she didn't come back right away...
Lamenta started screaming and crying, not understanding why her mother wasn't there. She was used to her father being away a lot, but not her mom.
Carmine quickly picked Lamenta up and started to comfort her by gently patting her back.
"Shh. It's okay, Little Lamb. Mommy will be back soon." Carmine soothed, only for Lamenta to continue crying. "Oh, no, no. Don't cry. Daddy's here."
But Lamenta still didn't stop crying.
Carmine sighed. It was gonna be a long day.