Tangled Mess (4 page)

Tiffany

“What is your name?” asked the casting director, a forty-something woman with warm brown eyes.

“Tiffany Banks.”

She took off her glasses and began cleaning them with a small green cloth. “Okay, show me what you’ve got, Tiffany Banks.”

I was nervous, so nervous. I open
ed my mouth to begin but then froze up.

“Nervous?” she asked
, with a small smile.

I smiled weakly
. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“
Why don’t you close your eyes and try again.”

I
closed my eyes, inhaled through my nose, and then blew it out.

“Tiffany?”

The song I’d picked out was immediately replaced with the one I couldn’t get out of my head. I only hoped that I could do Pink’s song, justice.
 
 

Made a wrong turn, o
nce or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life

Mistreated
, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss no way, it's all good
It didn’t slow me down.

Mistaken, always second guessing,
Underestimated, look I'm still around,
Pretty, pretty please,
Don’t you ever, ever feel,
Like you're less than, less than
perfect
Pretty, pretty please,
If you ever, ever feel,
Like you're nothing,
You are perfect,

To me.

“Tiffany.”

I opened my eyes a
nd stared at the woman, her expression unreadable. I took a deep breath. “So, it was that bad?”

She smiled. “Congratulations, you’ve made it to the next round.”

The back of my eyes began to burn. “Oh…Oh my God, thank you,” I said, blinking back tears. I wanted to jump up and down and scream with joy, I was so happy.

“
You
have an amazing voice,” she said, handing me back my card. “Now go and show the judges you mean business. One thing though...”

I leaned forward.
“Yes?”

“You’ll need to keep your eyes open with them
, and keep your chin up. You’re exactly the kind of talent we want in the final rounds.”

I smiled so broadly that my cheeks hurt
. “Okay. Thanks.”

She shook my
hand and I walked away, still in shock.

“Oh my God, you sounded wonderful!” squealed Sinclair, throwing her arms around me. “I have tears in my eyes from listening to you!”

“That
was
amazing,” said Jesse. “I’m blown away.”

“Thanks,” I said, the excitement I’d felt seconds ago now replaced by fear and anxiety.

“
Okay, what’s wrong?” asked Sinclair, staring into my eyes. “You look like you’re going to run for the hills.”

“
What’s wrong? I made it.”

“Yeah,” sai
d Jesse. “Wasn’t that the point?”

I bit my lower lip.
“I know, but now I have to sing in front of Ransom.”

Jesse groaned. “God, you’ll be fine. Just do your thing
, and don’t look at him if you’re nervous.”

Easy for
him to say. I’d been infatuated with Ransom, ever since I was eleven years old. The memory of those silvery-blue eyes staring into mine before we kissed still made my knees weak.

“There you go,” said Sinclair.
“Just ignore him. Chances are he may not even remember you.”

“Miss,” said one of the staff, a
muscular looking guy wearing a security uniform, and a name-tag that said “Tim”. “You have to move over to the celebrity judges now.”

“Okay,” I said. “Can my friends come?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Good luck,” said Sinclair, hugging me
one last time.

Jesse kissed my cheek
. “Break a leg, or whatever.”

“Thanks.”

I followed Tim to the other side of the field, getting more nervous by the second. By the time we reached the celebrities and all of cameras, I was shaking.

“Hi,” said a
n older woman with short spiky red hair. She grabbed my card. “I’m Misty; I’m here to prep you. Now, Taylor might do a short interview with you before you’re presented to the judges. In fact, looking at you I’m sure he will.”

I cleared my throat.
“Oh, okay.”

She
smiled and grabbed my hand. “You poor little thing. Don’t be nervous, honey, just do your best and remember, those celebrities wipe their asses the same way everyone else does, so don’t let them intimidate you, especially Tyrone. He can be a little unnerving at times.”

I’d watched the show before
, and knew he was a hard win. In fact, I was quite sure he’d be the first one to vote “no”.

“Now, you und
erstand the rules, you need two-out-of-three judge’s votes to get to the next round. Oh, and here,” she said, handing me her clipboard. “Read the disclosures and sign by all the X’s. You have approximately five, minutes before you will be interviewed by Taylor, and then ushered over to the judges.”

“Okay, thanks Misty.”

She patted me on the back. “Good luck honey.”

I skimmed
through the disclosures, which were basically the rules of the audition, and signed everything as quickly as possible. As I handed Misty back the clipboard, Taylor approached me with a camera man.

“Hello,” he said, holding out his hand. “Congratulations on making it to this round. I’m Taylor Blake
, and you are?”

“Tiffany Banks,” I said, placing my hand in his.

His dark eyes regarded me with interest. He squeezed my hand. “What do you know? We have the same first and last letters in our names. Fate has obviously brought us together, my dear. So, Tiffany, would you mind if I interviewed you before you meet the judges?”

I smiled. “Not at all
.”

“Where are you from?”

“Stanton.”

“
California girl, nice. What do you do when you’re not auditioning for something like this?”

“I’m a hairstylist at
Tangled
, over in Midway City.”

He touched his perfectly groomed
, blond head, and smiled. “Knowing that
Tangled
has such lovely hair-dressers, I might have to stop in for a cut very soon.”

I blushed. He
was
very good looking, with his puppy-dog eyes, and dimples, but not really my type. He was almost too… perfect looking.

“
Well, it would be my pleasure to cut your hair,” I said.

“
I’ll remember that, Tiffany. Now, I guess we’d better start the interview on camera before I get hollered at by the judges,” he said, turning to his cameraman. “Roll it.”

“Okay,
” replied the guy.

Taylor
moved in closer, and put an arm around my shoulders. “Welcome back to ‘American Icon’, where we have Tiffany Banks waiting to see the judges. Tiffany,” he said turning to me. “Let’s cut to the chase, do you think you have what it takes to be the next ‘American Icon?”

I
forced a smile. “I’m going to give it my best shot.”

“Can you sing?”

“I made it this far, so I guess I can hold a tune.”

He smiled. “
Something tells me you can hold more than a tune. Are you ready to ‘wow’ the judges and show them you’re not just a pretty face?”

“I’ll certainly try
.”

He squeezed my shoulder tightly.
“I have faith in you, Tiffany. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

The next thing I knew, I was ushered towards the judges and Ransom, who appeared to be fiddling with his cell phone. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I waited for him to look up and notice me. It was then that I realized I was still more nervous of facing him then about the audition itself.

Ransom…

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. In fact, I barely recognized him. Stardom had changed Ransom, and I wasn’t sure if it was for the better. His dark hair was long, just past his shoulders, and appeared un-kept, he desperately needed a shave, and there were circles under his eyes. He looked… haggard.

“Hello
, what’s your name, honey?” asked Deidra as they handed me a microphone.

I cleared my throat. “It’s Tiffany.”

Ransom’s eyes shot up, and locked with mine, sending a wave of heat from my cheeks to the pit of my stomach. One thing that hadn’t changed was the affect he still had on me. Ransom had been my first real crush, and even now he could throw my pulse into overdrive by just looking at me.

“What are you going to sing for us today, Tiffany?” asked Tyrone.

I turned to Tyrone. “Hurt, by Christina Aguilera.”

Tyrone
regarded me shrewdly. “Okay, let’s see if you can pull it off.”

I
closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then reopened them, focusing on the cameras behind Deidra.

Seems like it was yesterday

When I saw your face,
You told me how proud you were,

B
ut I walked away,
If only I knew what I know today,

O
oh,

O
oh,

I would hold you in my arms,

I would take the pain away,
Thank you for all you've done,

F
orgive all your mistakes,
There's nothing I wouldn't do

T
o hear your voice again,
Sometimes I wanna call you

B
ut I know you won't be there,

Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
,
For everything I just couldn't do,
And I've hurt myself by hurting you,

Some days I feel broke inside

But I won't admit
Sometimes I just wanna hide

'C
ause it's you I miss,
And it's so hard to say goodbye

W
hen it comes to this,

ooh
,

Would you tell me I was wrong?

Would you help me understand?
Are you looking down upon me?

Are you proud of
who I am?
There's nothing I wouldn't do

T
o have just one more chance,
To look into your eyes

A
nd see you looking back,

Oh, I'm sorry for blaming you
,
For everything I just couldn't do,
And I've hurt myself, oh,

If I had just one more day
,
I would tell you how much that I've missed you,

“Okay, Tiffany,” interru
pted Tyrone. “That’s good enough.”

My palms w
ere sweating as I glanced at Ransom out of the corner of my eye. The look on his face made my stomach clench. He looked… pissed off.

Oh my God, w
as I really that bad?

I’d
actually thought I’d done pretty well, considering how terrified I was.

Deidra cleared her throat.
“Dear, have you had voice lessons?”

“No.
”

“Have you ever sung
in front of strangers?” she asked.

“Um, just my church’s congregation,” I said. “I was in the choir.”

Tyrone smiled and nodded towards the bleachers. “Pardon the pun, but that’s a whole different ballgame. You looked like you were ready to run home, and leave us in your dust.”

I nodded. “
I am definitely nervous.”

“You’ll have to work on that, d
ear,” said Deidra. “A performer needs to appear confident, and ready to take on the world. But fortunately for you, that voice of yours along with your beautiful, angelic face can put a spell on the audience. I am definitely giving you a ‘Yes’. We need you in this contest. What do you think Tyrone?”

Tyrone stared at me
hard and then nodded. “Tell you the truth, Tiffany, yours is the best voice I’ve heard so far. I’m voting ‘Yes’. Definitely.”

I clasped my hands together and squealed.
“Thank you so much!”

“No problem.”

Deidra smiled, and turned to Ransom, who was tapping his fingers on the table rapidly. “What do you think, Ransom?”