It had been a long week at Joey Drew Studios.
Monday began with a flooded stairwell to the music department. The ink machine had broken over the weekend. Again. No one could go down to work without being swallowed by ink. No music department meant no music could be recorded, so production on the latest cartoon had to be halted.
Tuesday, Wally had been able to fix the ink machine and the draining of the music department began. Once safely cleared away, Sammy and the team went down to survey damage. The projector in the recording booth was ruined, Norman had a fit, and all of the music that Sammy had written was soaked and unreadable. The man never made copies, so he had to rewrite everything out from memory.
Wednesday afternoon the music was ready to go again and the recording studio was clean but Susie's voice was gone. No matter how many remedies she tried, she couldn't get it back. No Alice Angel recording could be done without her.
On Thursday morning the animators arrived at their desks to find that over a dozen of their animation cels were mouse bitten. Ruined.
By Friday, everyone's tempers were high. Everyone was annoyed and frustrated. This week drained everybody and the weekend seemed a million years away. At least the day was going smoothly for each department.
Sammy and the band had gotten into the studio first thing in the morning to record a few numbers. Susie's voice was back, thankfully, and in tip top condition. She and the band members were down in the recording space while Sammy was making a finishing touch up in the loft. Everything should have gone off without a hitch. That is until Joey showed up.
"I want it rewritten!"
"Joey, you can't be serious!" Sammy shot back, pointing right at Joey's chest. He was never intimidated by his boss.
"I want it rewritten, Sammy!"
"Joey, the song is great, it was written just for Susie's voice. She sings it perfectly!"
"Yes, but this is her debut number, and it's not peppy enough! 'I'm Alice Angel' is a perfect title, but it's not a perfect song. Rewrite it!" Joey put his hands up to signify the conversation was over and then left in a hurry.
Sammy threw a pencil cup with a frustrated yell and watched it hit against a wall. He ripped his glasses of his face and ran a hand through his hair.
Susie and the band members sat in the chairs below and looked up at Sammy, bewildered.
Sammy walked downstairs to meet them. "I'm not rewriting the song." His voice was steady, no hint of his anger could be heard. "I've already rewritten it once this week, I'm not doing it again. The only thing I will do is pick up the tempo. That's it. Does that work for you all?"
Murmured agreements sounded from the band.
"Is that okay with you, Susie?"
She nodded her head. "Sure, Sammy, sounds good to me."
Sammy smiled at her. "Okay, let's get one in."
The band grabbed their tuned instruments and Susie took her place at the microphone. She took a sip of water from a glass beside her and trilled her lips. She placed a cheerful smile on her face and was ready to go.
Sammy held up a baton and the team melded together. The recording was going great… until Joey burst in, clearly ignoring the recording light on outside the door.
Everyone stopped, and Susie was the only one who caught the expression the flickered across Sammy's face. Downright murderous. They had been working together for a few weeks now, and she had never seen him that angry.
"What the hell, Joey? You just ruined the recording!"
Joey ignored Sammy's outburst. "See, it sounds great rewritten like that!"
Sammy rolled his eyes. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth, "if you liked it so much why did you interrupt us?"
Joey's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, I didn't even know you were recording. I'll leave you to it, then." He left the musicians, cheerfully, humming as he went.
Sammy blew out a harsh, frustrated breath. Susie walked up to him and rubbed his back gently, trying to help ease away some of his tension.
It worked.
"Thank you, Susie. You know just how to help me." He smiled at her.
"You want to try again?" She asked, sweetly.
"Yes, ma'am. Let's get this done."
/
Several hours, two broken violin strings, an emergency piano tuning, six bleeding fingers, and four glasses of water later, the recording was finally finished. It sounded fantastic, and the band, Susie, and Sammy were done.
The band packed up and left as soon as the recording had Sammy's approval. Sammy and Susie had stayed put, but flopped down in the wooded chairs to relax for a moment.
"I really hope next week is better than this week," Sammy sighed, exasperated.
Susie laughed and took another sip of her water. "I hope so too. At least the song sounds great. Thanks Sammy." She placed a hand over his.
"You will always be most welcome, Susie." Sammy placed his free hand over hers. "Hey, what do you say we get something a little stronger than that water? It's late enough, let's get a drink."
Susie's eyes grew wide. "Together?"
"Yeah, together. Let's go."
/
The bar was dark and quiet except for a lone jazz singer's spotlight in the corner.
"Poor thing," Susie observed, "singing to a practically empty room must be hard."
Sammy took a sip of his brandy, savoring the taste as it slid down his throat. "Don't worry, Susie. It's still pretty early, she'll have more of an audience later. But she'll have nowhere near the audience you will, Miss Angel."
A blush grew over Susie's cheeks and nose. "Thanks Sammy."
"You sounded lovely as always today, my dear. I know you'll have them begging for more. I wouldn't be surprised if Alice ended up as popular as Bendy and Boris one day." Sammy couldn't help but beam as he spoke. He hoped Susie was loved dearly, he wanted her to stick around for good. She was the bright spot in his long days at the studio.
Susie giggled, "I don't know about that, Sammy, but you're sweet."
He held up his glass of brandy, "to Alice Angel."
Susie clinked her glass of wine against it. "To Alice Angel."
The bar started to fill with customers so the pair decided to stay for a few more songs. Sammy held his hand out to Susie and asked her to dance.
After a slow dance they waited outside for both their cabs to show.
"This was an enjoyable evening, Sammy."
"It was," Sammy looked down at the ground, "But every evening with you is enjoyable," he whispered.
Susie heard him. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to or not, but she did. "Thank you. It was a lovely date."
Sammy's head shot up. "Date?"
Susie smiled. "Yeah," she pulled him down by his jacket lapels and raised onto her tip toes to place a kiss on his lips.
Sammy's eyes grew wide at the surprise, but he wrapped his arms around her to pull her close as he kissed back.
They heard a cab pull up and honk its horn. Susie broke the kiss and looked up at Sammy, "date." She pecked his lips again and got into her cab, waving as she closed the door.
Sammy waved back to her. "Yeah. Date."
Just a few romantic snippets and firsts in the lives of Sammy and Susie. This one was fun to write, and I plan on writing a few more. Thanks for reading!