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“Yeah” His fingers glided across the strings as he worked on a melody that had been stuck in his head

“I ondering if maybe—“

“Listen, I’ve got a gig to get to and it’sto need you to leave” He stood frouitar in his case He turned and she stood there with heropen Not the ht was fun, but he knew the kind of wo more

“That’s it?” He hoped she wasn’t going to go psycho on hiht any bad

publicity They were couitar player He’d been warned that this i to stray froht now

“Yeah, that’s it Unless you wanted htened and he gritted his teeth She pulled a sharpie froned her shirt and she practically bounced out of the aparto, he’d be pissed because sohed his ass off Noasn’t exactly funny anymore

This was his last day in the apartether , he wasn’t even sure where’d he’d end up in the co weeks, let alone at the end of the suuitar, off his lap and onto the couch It was his ed to his father The last thing he had fro he disappeared

He hefted his duffle bag onto his shoulder and picked up the case with the other hand This place had been hoer than he’d been in one place since he left ho, juoing away party for a friend andThe duffle had the last of his things he’d left behind before heading out onto the tour

Checking tobehind on his final visit, he locked the door and headed to the lease office to drop off his keys He was opening for one of the biggest bands in the country, Uncharted He’d be on tour for at least the last leg of Uncharted’s tour, which should go on for at least twoa place that he had to pay for when everything he owned could fit in a duffle bag—other than his guitar

Dropping off those keys was the end of a chapter in his life The end of the starving artist, scraping together loose change to buy a burger phase After doing the festival circuit for a couple years, his studio albule that had co sitting so out of the radio or off soave hihtly afraid he was accidentally playing his ownHe always stopped for a second, just to be sure he wasn’t i he’d put into his music it would finally pay off and now he could finally say he’dtime

His phone vibrated in his pocket

Mark: Eric! Thanks for coet to see you before we head to NYC Drinks on the house as usual!

Eric: Always happy to play for free booze, see you when I get there

Mark was a good guy, ran a chill bar with great food and a nice little set up that allowed Eric to pop in whenever he had a chance He always tried to choose one ho out, play soet free booze Granted the free booze and food thing was less of a big deal than it had been before when he was scrounging for cash It beat singing on the street corners trying to scrape together a few dollars to get so to eat

But his debut single hit the airwaves and the record label see hi that ht a srin he couldn’t wipe off his face whenever he thought about it It was one of his proudest moments He wished he could have been there to see the look on her face when she opened it He knew she would squirrel it away for Sean’s college fund, just like every other cent she everhow hard she worked to pay for school had s he’d ever done, but the payoff made those years of heart ache worth it