[IC] Star Struck

[Emmabee]

The bar was rather lively at the moment. It was karaoke night and many costumers had come to both participate and watch; however, many were too reserved to be the first one to take the stage which lead to an awkward silence as the crowd awaited a performance. The owner of the bar seemed rather anxious at this predicament. With no one taking the stage, people would likely start leaving early. He gulped and fixed his collar as he nervously looked around for a solution which he soon found as he spotted one of his waitresses.

Penelope was busy working and taking out drinks to people. While doing so, she heard soft mumbles of disappointment and reluctance with karaoke night but the waitress kept to herself and went to clean up one of the empty tables. She set down her tray and began to place all the empty drinks on it before wiping down the table with a rag. Just then the owner came running up to her. He looked excited and hopeful as her approached her. "Penelope! I need you to get up there." he told her pointing to the stage. Penelope looked at him as if her were crazy and quickly shook her head. "What? No. You'll have someone acting drunk get up there soon enough don't drag me into it." she retorted. The man shook his head. "The crowd is already getting bored. At this rate I'll be loosing money! Come on you'll be fine! Good or bad it doesn't make a difference!" he said in a rushed voice and didn't give her time to argue any further as he grabbed her arm and began to drag her towards the stage. "I'll give you a small bonus if this actually works out too!" he added trying to bribe her into participating. Penelope still looked very against the idea since it was simply something she had never done before. Sure she sung in private all the time but to sing with an audience felt a tad overwhelming.

The owner let her go just as they reached the bottom of the stage so he could jump up an grab ahold of the mic. "Alright folks it looks like we've got our first singer tonight!" he announced with a grin. "Let's kick things off right!" He clapped along with the crowd and quickly gestured for Penelope to come up onto the stage as he began to exit. Penelope felt rather trapped and slowly stepped up to the mic. She gulped as she looked out over the audience but tried not to focus on how all eyes were on her. She turned her head to look over to the dj. "Ah... Can I get Something to Talk About by Bonnie Raitt?" she asked her voice sounding shaky. The DJ gave her a thumbs up and before long the familiar tune began to play.

Penelope wiggled her fingers a bit as if trying to shake off any embarrassment and worry she had about singing in this moment. It didn't quite work though as her feeling remained unchanging but she at least put on a brave face as she took the mic in her hands.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh,
People are talkin', talkin' 'bout people,
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it.
They think we're lovers kept under cover,"

She began to sing. Her voice was wobbly at first due to her nerves but as the song went on she became more lively with her singing. Turns out she was rather good at it too. Her voice had a sort of elegant yet sharp tone that complimented each other rather well.

"Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
How about love?"

As she hit the chorus for the second time, Penelope was clearly becoming more comfortable with being on stage. Her eyes looked out into the crowd as she gave a smile as she sung. Her hips swayed to the rhythm of the song as well.

"How about they talk about it? uh huh
Talk about love........"

She reached the end of the song and was rewarded with clapping from the audience. Her face was a bit red as she looked out at the crowd. She gave a small nod of appreciation and then quickly hurried off the stage.

[EasilyAmused]

It was a long day for poor Jasper Collins. After sitting at his desk for nearly 9 hours listening to multiple people telling him why they should be considered to become one of his clients, he was feeling the headache. Shaking his head he ran his fingers through his hair before throwing himself back against the chair. “Oh god…” He said aloud as he looked up at the ceiling of his office. The high rise building of Los Angeles overlooked the city but he couldn’t help but enjoy the look of the ceiling. Why was his job so hard… okay maybe it wasn’t ‘hard’; the hardest part was listening to talentless people who thought they were talented.

The large chair spun and the brunette pulled his hands from his hair and allowed them to fall to the sides of the chair as he stared out the window overlooking the city. He needed to get out, he needed to do something but he needed to go undercover. The paparazzi loved to follow him even though he wasn’t the one who was ‘famous’ compared to his friends/clients. Then again when you’re the highest paying publicist in LA and commonly known as a star maker or ‘Mister Hollywood’, you do get a lot of unwanted attention.

Climbing out of his chair in his blue dress shirt and black slacks, the 37 year old threw his jacket over his shoulder and left his office shutting the door with a purpose, the purpose being to do something other than be in his office. A small sigh left him as he parked his car at his flat and went out for a walk, it was just a little past 7PM and the sun was setting on LA giving the beautiful city a welcoming glow to the night life before Jasper ducked into a nearby bar.

After about two beers and some French fries he was finally feeling at ease and settling down in his own form. A sigh left the man as he sat back in his corner and watched the crowd. People-watching was always interesting because very few people realize that people were actually watching them. Sometimes he would laugh; sometimes he would shake his head and others he would cringe. It wasn’t until the owner of the small bar announced that someone would be kicking off the karaoke night. His body shifted slightly in his seat as he watched the young woman get up on the stage.

He was nearly out of his seat in shock and stumbled over the chairs at were partnered with his table as she finally finished the song. Holy hell she was good; finally some talent after a talentless day. “Excuse me.” He said nearly stumbling over another set of chairs. “Hi,” This was new, normally people came to him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of glasses and slipped them onto his face. “Sorry to bother you, you are a really good singer. Do you sing often?”

[Emmabee]

"Well I never knew you could sing like that." He manager said with amusement as she headed off the stage. "Good job! You may get some extra tips if you keep it up." With that said, he headed up and began to encourage the crowd again for another volunteer which eventually appeared. Penelope let out a breath and was about to head back to her normal work until a man came over to her in a clear hurry. "Uh hello..." she said with a raised eyebrow. Penelope was one of the very few people who wouldn't recognize him or even recall his name right off the bat. She may live close to Hollywood but she never dreamed of becoming apart of the celebrity life it was known for.

As he brought up the singing, she seemed a bit embarrassed again and lowered her gaze. "Ah thanks.. and no. Not in public at least. My boss forced me up there right now just to get things started." She explained with a shrug. She began to walk past him. "Excuse me. I've got to get back to work." Penelope thought of him as a bit strange in the way her approached her and the questions he asked. Not like he was from some talent agency, right? She nearly laughed at the thought.

Penelope walked over to where she had left off in her work and began to pick up the tray with the empty glasses on it. She didn't linger on the whole karaoke thing. There were more important things to do and work would end for her in about an hour, something she was greatly looking forward to as she wanted to go home to check on both her mother and her daughter. Her mother wasn't a very vigilant person and her daughter, Bayleah, was known to cause trouble. One time she had come home to find that Bayleah had decorated the walls with any kind of marker or crayon she could get her hands on. It had taken her a good hour to get everything clean again.

[EasilyAmused]

It took a minute for Jasper to realize that he probably looked like a fool as he stumbled over to her. But in his line of work, finding talent was hard and it was even harder to hang onto said talent. She seemed a bit timid so pressuring her probably wouldn’t be the best route to take and that wasn’t him or his style to begin with. “For all it’s worth I think you did a wonderful job.” He said with a nod as she excused herself to get back to work.

Picking up clients at random locations is like trying to pick up women, sometimes you fail horrible and sometimes you take home a piece of gold. This time Jasper walked to the bar and took a seat staring ahead through the glasses and into the mirror. She was good, really good and with a vocal couch she could be great. The man sat in the chair staring at first into the mirror in front of him then back down into his beer mug. If he kept drinking he’d look like a drunk who’s blabbering some nonsense or trying to get into her pants because she had a beautiful voice. Flagging down the bartender he asked for an order of French fries and some barbeque sauce along with a soda.

After giving it about a half an hour and paying his tab he approached the girl once again, “Hi, me again.” He said innocently as he pulled his glasses from his face and slipped them back into his pocket. “This is probably going to come across as some horrible pick up line but I’m a talent agent and I’d like to learn a bit more about you. Here.” With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. In doing so he pulled out a sleek looking business card and placed it on the table. “Here’s my card. You can come by at your earliest convenience and see me at the office or schedule an appointment for us to meet somewhere with my secretary. You name the time and the place and I’ll be there. With a little bit of practice you could easily go far and I want to help. Have a good night… Penelope.” He said reading a name tag before giving her a small wave and heading out the door.

The morning rolled around and like clockwork the man was back in his office at 9am in a pair of black slacks with a brown dress shirt and jacket. He stood the large window overlooking LA, it was a beautiful sight to see and growing up in the city he could appreciate the beauty of the city that some hated so much. His mind traveled back to the girl from the bar, hopefully she’d call or show up but who knows…

[Emmabee]

Penelope went about her job normally, quickly burying herself in work as she tried to make it pass the time faster. About a half hour later the same man from before approached her once more. She eyed him with a bit more judgement this time, thinking perhaps he was attempting some sort of hook up with her until he began to explain himself. "Uh alright... Thank you.. You too." she said politely as she picked up the card from the table with a skeptic look. It was needless to say she was very unsure about the whole thing and if he was perhaps pulling some sort of scam or not. The last thing she needed was a scam.

Once work was finally over, Penelope headed home with much relief and with the card in her back pocket. She discussed the encounter with her mother who automatically rejoiced calling a grand opportunity. Unlike Penelope, her mother was usually watching tv and was more aware of celebrities and other famous people alike. It only happened that she recognized the name Jasper Collins and quickly tried to talk Penelope into going by his office the next day. Penelope was hesitant but finally agreed. If this was truly a great of an opportunity as her mother claimed it to be, then it could potentially get her out of the hard times her family was facing which was just enough motive to make Penelope take a leap of faith as she took a day off from her day job the next day.

Driving up to the building, she quickly felt intimidated. She was in the richer and more high class part of LA, a place she might have occasionally drove past but never stopped. The tall building seemed to loom over her like something that was completely out of reach. Penelope might have even turned around and left if it was for her company who urged her inside. Today, she had the pleasure of taking not only her mother but her daughter as well as both of them refused to let her go without them so there would be no turning back.

Penelope walked reluctantly into the building after strugglingly to find a place to park. She wore a nice blouse and a tight, long skirt. She wanted to look professional but she probably just looked like someone applying for a secretary position. "Good luck." Her mother whispered before she began to lead Bayleah over to the waiting area while Penelope headed up to the front desk. "Uh... Hello... Sorry I didn't make an appointment or call or anything but uh Mr. Collins said I could stop by to talk to him. I hope I didn't come at a bad time?" she said to the secretary. She felt a tad embarrassed for having not thought to make a call first. It seemed things had happened so suddenly and randomly that Penelope didn't have the chance to think clearly.