Page 1 of Too Little Too Soon
Prologue
Rock MeMagazine
The Year in Rock, Demigoddess Revival Style
by Oliver Croll
December 31
The sensual, steamy rock ballad “Desire” is still sitting at number one on the Billboard Top 100 charts today, the last day of what has arguably been a pretty sensational year for new-on-the-scene rock band, Demigoddess Revival.
Was it really only eleven months ago when vocalist Lacey Stokes and bassist Parker Henley showed up in LA and convinced guitarist Oz Garcia to stop wasting his talent playing weddings and quinceañeras and join them in their quest to become the biggest rock band of the century? All they needed was to snag unknown (yet wildly talented) keyboardist, Cash Torrence and everybody’s once-favorite drummer, Travis Clutcher, and the deal with giant recording studio Silver Lining Productions was practically foretold in the tea leaves.
That’s right, folks. For those of you who have been living under a rock since May, a surprise double wedding (Holly McGregor and Sam Stokes from Panic Station as well as Lacey Stokes and Parker Henley from Demigoddess Revival—God, what we all wouldn’t have given to be on that super-secret guest list!) propelled Demigoddess Revival into Silver Lining Production’s orbit. And that’s when we learned Travis Clutcher was back on the scene.
Let me say it again: he’s back, baby!
Travis’s first band, Dog Daze, was one of this reporter’s firsts, too. As a brand-new reporter forRock Memagazine, I got to cover the Rock the Summer festival. And while I interviewed a dozen bands (including Panic Station, who were also just beginning their path toward becoming one of the biggest rock bands in the world), Dog Daze stood out to me. Most notably, their drummer, Travis, shined as ultra-talented and—dare I admit it now?—potentially too good for what he’d settled for as bandmates.
Looks like this reporter was right, eh? What can I say; I call ’em like I see ’em, and Travis Clutcher definitely fits better with Demigoddess Revival than he ever did with Dog Daze.
ChapterOne
Getting firedon New Year’s Eve had to be some seriously bad juju. Deciding to walk the six blocks to her New York City apartment, carrying a surprisingly small box containing a decade’s worth of personal effects because she didn’t want to stand in front of the building and wait for a cab while the person who ended her career watched out the window?
Honestly, that was just pride talking.
Unfortunately, Ava Hearsy had pride in spades.
Shifting the box full of crap she was probably going to throw away anyway to one arm, she dug her key out of her purse and shoved it into the lock on her fifth-floor apartment, giving it a little shimmy so the door would actually open.
Maybe, now that she had time, she’d follow up with the super and have that lock replaced instead of just dealing with it like she had for ten years now.
She refused to dwell on the fact that she’d lived in the city for nearly a decade and a half, had earned an impressive salary at a prestigious graphic design firm for thirteen years, and still lived in a nondescript, shoebox-sized rental in a building with a single camera at the entrance as security.
One existential crisis at a time,thankyouverymmuch.
As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she kicked off those stupid four-inch stilettos and sighed blissfully when the pads of her feet touched smooth, cool porcelain tile. She was never wearing those shoes again, which wouldn’t be difficult to do, since walking through dirty slush left over from the last snowfall had ruined them anyway.
Maybe it was time to reevaluate her life. Okay, okay, it was past time. But honestly, she’d been happy.
Or she’d been working really, really hard to convince herself she was happy. And she’d been successful at it.
Mostly.
Dropping the box unceremoniously on the tile next to the ruined shoes, Ava shed her coat, hung it in the closet not even large enough to accommodate enough variety of outerwear to get one through all the seasons in this state, and then made her way to the kitchen.
Ava came from money, which had helped get her into a fancy art school here in the city. All she’d needed was the in; after that, her talent had rolled out the red carpet. She hadn’t even graduated before she’d been offered the high-profile graphic design job at Demetri’s firm. Even though she ran away from her roots, she still had a bone-deep belief that accumulating a lot of money would make all the pain go away.
News flash: it hadn’t.
Neither had distancing herself from her family. To make matters worse, after her grandmother passed away two summers ago, her sisters both had revelations that fighting their upbringing wasn’t doing them any favors, and now they were both happy and loving life.
And hanging out together on the regular.
Maria had finally divorced that wet blanket she’d married straight out of college and was now dating what she insisted was a super-sweet guy who would walk over hot coals if he thought it would bring a smile to her lips.
How freaking romantic.
