WELCOME TO THEJUNGLE
1
Lucky
"Is Lucky your real name?"the deep voice on the phoneasked.
After spending the afternoon doing phone interviews, the different voices melded into one. She was so tired she couldn't even remember the voice's name. All she remembered was that it started withanH.
Harry? Henry? Humbert?He doesn't even know my real name, why should I care about his?she thought.I'll stick withHarry.
Olivia "Lucky" Saldano stifled a yawn before answering. She knew her answer didn't matter much. No matter what she said, she'd always be called Lucky whether she liked itornot.
"No, it's Olivia, Lucky came from my parents," she said. "When I was born, the doctor said I was lucky to be alive. My father started calling me Lucky and the nicknamestuck."
Lucky sighed with annoyance. She didn't know why she gave the interviewer so much information, but she couldn't help herself. Whenever her nerves got the best of her, she babbled. She had hoped she would get used to it, but it never happened. She didn't know how many interviews she had done that afternoon, but each time the phone rang the butterflies in her stomach kicked intohighgear.
She wished she didn't have to do any interviews, but that wasn't what the record label wanted. She had only been signed a month, but she already knew there was only one way things happened--thelabel'sway.
Lucky wondered if it should bother her more. She thought about the interviews and articles she had read with artists talking about being owned by their label like a form of slavery. But it really didn't bother her much. She was living herdream.
"You're getting ready for your first tour now," Harry said. "Have there been any concerts that made an impressiononyou?"
"Well, I've only been to one concert, Silverlight, but it was amazing. I'll never forget it. I begged my parents to let me see them threeyearsago."
"Their final tour?" heasked.
"Yeah, that one, but at that time no one knew it was their last tour. Everyone thought Silverlight would continue forever. Jude Morrison played this drum solo that was out of this world. It had so much feeling and finesse to it. There we were in an arena, but he made that moment so intimate. I knew right then what I wanted to do with my life," she said as the smile on her face widened. "I swear every time I write a song, I imagine himplayingit."
Lucky bit her tongue before she said how much she had always loved Jude Morrison. While her friends had posters of Silverlight's lead singer on their wall and in their lockers, she had Jude's. He was the only reason she wanted to seeSilverlight.
Sitting in a wood-paneled office, musty from decades of use, Lucky couldn't be happier to talk about her rock star crush. She imagined some of her heroes sitting there decades before her, fielding stupid interview questions over the phone too. It wassurreal.
"So is it clichéd to call this your lucky break?" the interviewerasked.
She rolled her eyes and sighed, this time forgetting to cover it up. For as long as she could remember, people came up with ways to use the word 'lucky' to describe a situation with her. She knew landing a record deal was amazing, but to her the real lucky break was being able to get away from her parents for thefirsttime.
"I've heard things like that my entire life. You'd be surprised at what people come up with. But no, I wouldn't call this my lucky break. I've worked hard to get to where I am. I deserve this,"shesaid.
"I'm sure you do. A Berklee degree is nothing to sneeze at. Especially when you graduate early like you did. Would you mind telling us some other ways people have used your name? I think our readers would be interestedinthat."
"Off the top of my head, there was this guy who declared it my lucky day before he askedmeout."
"And did you go outwithhim?"
Lucky's laughter filled the room. "No, but not just because of that. I didn't have time for a social life. I’ve not been out withanyone."
"You've never been on a date??" he asked, soundingshocked.
Dammit! She knew she'd end up saying something she would regret. She chewed her bottom lip as she wondered what to say next, but she knew the truth was the best route. "Umm…no. I uhh…didn't get out that much," shestammered.
"But while you were in college, surely you did some partying. What about high school?" heasked.
The intrusive questions were blasted at her at top speed, but she didn't know how to stop it. She wanted to hang up the phone and pretend they lost their connection, but she knew she'd feel bad about doing that. Too nervous to think of a witty way to end the interview, she decided toanswer.
"My parents were very strict. They still are. I think it scared a lot of friends away because they had much more freedom than I ever did." She paused for a moment, wishing the interview would end. Unfortunately, she wasn'tthatlucky. "I lived at home in college. I didn't grow up very far from Boston, so it was an easy commute. Plus I spent as much time as I could in the rehearsal rooms practicing and writing. Sometimes I could only get in at 3 in the morning, but the time didn't matter, it's what I love. Music was the one thing my parents never restrictedmewith."
Lucky looked up from the old desk chair as Chuck Russo, her album producer, opened the door and signaled time was almost up. Nodding at him, his jet-black hair gleaming under the fluorescent lights, she was grateful for the excuse to end theinterrogation.
