It had been a week since Aiden had found out about his nomination, and the award ceremony was finally going to begin in two hours.
Wade and Aiden reached LA in the morning to attend the award ceremony. They had spent most of the day styling Aiden, and now, they were on the way to the ceremony, sitting in a rented Bentley.
“Don’t worry about awards. Think of it as a night out, with overly good-looking strangers, surrounded by journalists and reporters trying to take your picture.”
Wade said, leaning against the seat of the car.
“That’s really reassuring,” Aiden resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “Uncle Sam also told me something similar.”
“What did that guy say?” Wade asked, a bit curious.
“Focus on food. Awards come and go. Food in these awards is delicious, but people rarely focus on that, so you can eat as much as you want.”
Aiden tried to speak that in his uncle’s voice, and Wade couldn’t help but laugh. His old friend was always like this.
“Well, it seems like we will be on time even though our entry time is in the early slot.” Wade suddenly said, looking at his watch.
In these award shows, the organisers gave artists a set time to appear on the red carpet so everyone could get a time. So if a relatively small singer came simultaneously as a popular one, no one would even focus on him.
Though, famous singers often didn’t care and just came as they wished.
“Are you nervous?”
Wade looked up at Aiden, who was glancing outside the window. Then, turning to him, Aiden shook his head.
“Not really. You said to not care about the awards. I’m hopeful, but I don’t think I will be a lot disappointed if I don’t win.”
He smiled as he said that. In the first place, Aiden had read many articles published on Indie Music awards, and most of them were not predicting him to win.
Moreover, for many people, Aiden was more or less a one-time wonder who had suddenly gotten famous but won’t be in the news next year..
As he knew a lot of factors more or less influenced awards shows, he had tried hard not to have a lot of expectations.
‘The more the expectations, the worse it would feel. On the other hand, though, I do want to win.’
Aiden thought, but it seemed like only time would tell if he would be the winner.
***
The Indie Music awards were being held at Kodak Theatre in LA. It was a place which could hold over 4000 people, making it a perfect venue for the award shows.
Outside the theatre, every spot was filled with the white light of the camera as reporters and journalists furiously tried to take photos of the people walking the red carpet.
The crowd beside the point where the reporters were standing was filled with fans of various bands and singers that would perform on the stage today. At the same time, a lot of people were also waiting to see their favourite singer walk the red carpet.
Indie Music awards had called a lot of famous singers to attract attention, and they could clearly see that they had achieved their goal by seeing the crowd.
“When will someone famous come?”
Standing among the reporters, a rather young guy muttered. He had been waiting for an hour, but no famous person had come.
His name was Julian, and he was a young paparazzi.
He could only take some photos of mediocre celebs who were still living in their past glory and some indie musicians who were lucky enough to get the pass of this event.
Then, the reporters around him suddenly buzzed with excitement as a woman wearing a low-cut dress came out of a Mercedes.
“That’s Jessa Anderson!”
“Oh my god! She’s so pretty.”
“She’s not here with anyone. I guess the rumours of her having a new boyfriend are all fake.”
“Quickly take a photo!”
Many people started excitedly talking about her as she walked the red carpet and posed for the cameras.
The crowd of people shouted her name and asked for autographs, as she was one of the famous singers in America at the moment.
Julian did the same as the rest of the reporters. The better the photos, the better his paycheck.
Besides him, two reporters who were also clicking photos suddenly started to talk.
“I’m getting good photos. But, sadly, I won’t get a lot because she came alone. If only she had come with a guy.” A bald reporter who looked like he would be better off making cultural stuff muttered.
“She’s pretty careful about all that as those magazines literally portray her as a playgirl who throws away boys all the time. That’s the curse of being so famous in the age where she should have been in college.”
Another reporter muttered, and the bald guy nodded.
“That’s true, but who cares? She makes craploads of money. Her last two albums are all platinum.”
Julian didn’t comment on that conversation. That was just regular gossip he would hear as a paparazzi.
He just wanted to get some good pics.
‘I hope some other big celeb—’
As Julian was thinking of something, his eyes suddenly landed on a guy who came out of a car wearing a black suit with waxed hair.
He looked a bit nervous due to the cameras but walked with confidence after a while.
None of the reporters focused on him, and only some occasionally took a few shots. Over 90 percent of reporters just focused on Jessa Anderson.
But it was different with Julian.
As soon as he saw the guy, he could not help but divert all his attention to him, and at the same time, he was shouting his name.
“Aiden! Aiden, look here!”
When Julian shouted that, Aiden quickly moved toward him and gave a smile. White light flashed as Julian took a few photos.
“Who’s that guy?” The bald reporter suddenly asked.
“Aiden Silvereye,” Julian replied, too busy taking photos.
“I never heard of him.”
“He’s nominated in two categories tonight. It seems like you came here without even researching anything.”
At Julian’s jibe, the bald reporter couldn’t say anything. The guy beside him laughed, and rather than fighting, they started clicking Aiden’s photos.
If he was nominated, it would be useful.
“I feel like he’s one of those who just got a nomination because he’s lucky.”
A reporter who came out of nowhere and stood beside Julian muttered. He was wearing the badge of ‘The Hollywood muse’, a famous magazine.
Hearing that, the young paparazzi couldn’t help but retort.
“You don’t know that. His music is pretty good.”
“Oh? You look like a fan?”
The report asked, and even the bald guy looked over. Julian cleared his throat before replying.
“Kind of. I got my first big money due to taking his photos.”
Julian just replied that. Actually, he was the paparazzi who was outside the Chinese theatre during the premiere of [Shadows of War].
As he was the only one who had clicked Aiden’s photos, he had earned a lot after the release because Aiden was in the buzz because of the movie.
It was his first big bucket of gold after becoming a paparazzi, so Aiden had instantly become a lucky charm for him.
Thinking this, he followed Aiden on social media and even listened to his songs, becoming a fan in the end.
‘I really hope he wins today.’
Julian thought as he realised that more and more reporters were now focusing on Aiden. They had realised that he had nominations today and if accidentally he won, the photos would earn a lot of money.
***
‘I felt my eyes would get worse if I stayed there any longer.’
Aiden thought as he found a seat in the mid-row with his name written on it. He had just escaped the swarm of reporters.
Though most of them focused on Jessa Anderson, who was now sitting in the front row, a lot of people also clicked his photos.
For the first time in his life, he felt like he was a true celebrity walking the red carpet. But, at the same time, he could also imagine Uncle Sam and people in The Rabbit hole cheering while watching the broadcast in New York.
‘The show should start soon.’
He thought as people started to fill in the theatre. He was able to see many popular singers and musicians talking among themselves. At the same time, there were some comedians and news broadcasters too.
‘It seems like I can get some famous people’s autographs today.’
Seeing them, he couldn’t help but think.
He wasn’t really thinking of making friends with them as he would probably get rejected. After all, famous celebs get a lot of people daily who are trying to make connections.
Not like they would even remember every single face.
Just as he thought that a guy approached an old musician who was very respected, but the singer just politely smiled and didn’t give him any time, leaving the guy very disappointed.
Stuff like this was prevalent, so Aiden wasn’t rushing.
Wade had also advised him the same.
He knew that he didn’t have a lot of substance to approach them. But, maybe if he won the award today? Then, he would be able to.
For now, Aiden wanted to just enjoy the award show.
…
//DreamNote//
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