Friday, June 10th, 2016
It took Beca twenty seconds to realize Residual Heat's headquarters in Manhattan were nothing like their offices in Atlanta. The building was big and noisy, and there were lots of people carrying large boxes and piles of documents from one side to the other. Everybody seemed to be in a hurry, and Beca could perfectly imagine why: an artist time was like a toddler in a tiara —precious and short. It was her boss' motto, and Beca couldn't agree more with it. When you had someone famous and quite important for the music industry (like Beyoncé, for example) in your recording booth, there was no time to lose. Every second counted, and she had learned it the hard way back in Atlanta.
Beca was sitting in the lobby observing the place's dynamic when she heard a familiar voice.
"Beca, it's so good to see you." She stood up and saw her boss, Frank, coming out of an elevator. "Welcome. How are you?"
"I'm great, thank you for asking. Ready to work."
"I'm glad to hear it. Follow me, I'm gonna show you the place."
Frank gave her a tour around the building. He took her to the offices, the cafeteria, and the recording booths, and even introduced her to some of his colleagues. Beca was thrilled with everything Frank showed her. That place was like Disneyland to her.
"Our recording booths are equipped with only the highest technology available." He said, while showing her one of the mixing consoles. "You won't see this baby anywhere but here. This shit costs a fortune, but it's money well spent."
Beca was dying to get her hands in the mixers, but she knew she'd have to wait a little bit for that.
After finishing the tour, they went to his office.
"Take a seat, please." He said. She sat in one of the chairs that were across Frank's desk. "Now, let's talk business."
"I'm all ears."
"As you already now, people in A&R are in charge of finding new talents. We do everything from assisting with song selection to choosing the people that will produce the album and where it will be recorded."
"Mmm Hmm."
"Your assignment is quite simple: you'll have three other people at your command, whose job will consist in searching for talent in music blogs, fan pages and social media. You will evaluate their findings and whenever you consider something to have potential, you bring it to me right away. You know my time is precious and short, so I'm not interested in hearing the same boring shit a thousand times. That's why I'm gonna trust your criteria, okay?"
"So basically I'll be some sort of… filter?"
"So to speak. You and other four guys —Reggie, Stan, Joe and Mark— will act as filters for me."
"Sounds interesting."
"You will also spend a good amount of time visiting clubs and bars to scout the bands that perform there. Occasionally I will send you to specific places, but most of the times you will pick them."
"Got it."
"Any questions?"
Beca thought about it for a second.
"I think I'm good."
"That's the spirit!" He exclaimed, visibly satisfied. "Now let's go, I'm gonna introduce you to your co-workers."
They took the elevator and went down one floor. They entered an office that had "Scouting" written on the door. The room was big and had lots of cubicles, although not all of them were occupied. Beca counted twenty people working in there.
"All right, listen up!" They stopped doing their stuff and turned to see Frank and Beca. She quickly noticed most of them were young, probably in their mid-to-late twenties. "Guys, I wanna introduce you to Beca Mitchell." She waved at them, and they all waved back. "She worked with me back in Atlanta, and from now on she'll be working with you. Anything you want to show me will have to go through her first, without exception. She'll be like our liaison, understood?"
They nodded.
"Okay, you can go back to work now." He then turned to face Beca. "Now I'll show you your office."
Beca's office was located a few feet away from the cubicles. It had a swiveling chair, a desk with a phone and a computer, two additional chairs for visitors and a couple of drawers, besides a medium-sized window that allowed light to enter the place. It was a small room, but it seemed cozy. Beca instantly loved it.
"Now, I don't want you to worry about anything for today. I want you to explore the building, meet your co-workers, get yourself comfortable. Believe me, you will long for a moment of peace and quiet once the real work begins."
"Your wish is my command."
"Well, that's all there's to it." He handed her the keys of the office. "Only thing left for me to say is: welcome to Residual Heat." They shook hands with enthusiasm. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."
"Thanks, Frank."
After Frank left her office, Beca took a picture of the room with her phone and sent it to Jesse.
Check out this place. It's my new office.
As always, it took her boyfriend less than a minute to answer her message.
Cool. How are you going to decorate it?
She looked around. She didn't know how to infuse her personal touch in the room.
IDK. I'm taking suggestions.
Jesse was very creative and an excellent decorator.
Well, for starters, a "Star Wars" reference would be nice. Like a scale lego Millennium Falcon or something like that.
Beca laughed, but just when she was about to reply his text, she heard a knock. She looked up from her phone and saw a woman standing in the door.
"Hi!" She greeted her with enthusiasm.
"Hi!" Beca greeted her back.
"Can I come in?" The girl asked with politeness.
"Of course! Take a seat, please."
The girl sat in one of the chairs that were across Beca's desk. She had light brown hair, olive skin and green eyes. She was a very pretty woman, besides a tall one. Beca guessed she was about six feet tall.
"I'm Allison Jones, but you can call me Allie."
"I'm Beca, nice to meet you."
"I hope you don't have a problem with me coming to introduce myself. I just wanted you to feel welcome."
"No, not at all! I'm honored, actually. And thank you for the visit." Beca wasn't very good at socializing, but the girl seemed friendly and she didn't want to start off with the wrong foot. "What is it that you do here, Allie?"
"I just get coffee and burritos and stuff."
There's something oddly familiar about this.
"Are you an intern?" Beca asked, surprised.
"Well, not exactly. I'm a scout, I search for talent in music blogs, YouTube, and social media. I actually work for you, now that you mention it."
"Oh, right. Frank mentioned something before. There's you and two other guys, right?"
"Yeah, Blaine and Bill, but they aren't here right now. They went for lunch or something."
"I see."
"I can ask them to come back, if you want."
"No, it's okay. There'll be time for that." Beca reassured her, with a smile.
"You seem nice. I hope we become good friends." The girl seemed honest and there was something about her that made Beca feel comfortable. Perhaps it was her friendly nature, which reminded her of Emily and Chloe.
"I hope it, too."
"Well, I better go. If there's anything you need, don't doubt asking for it."
She stood up and Beca did as well.
"Thank you, Allie. I'll see you around."
Once the girl left, Beca took her phone from the desk.
Sorry, a girl came to meet me. And for the record, the scale Lego Millennium Falcon is out of the question.
Jesse answered back almost immediately.
:(
A few minutes after Allie's visit, Beca went to a coffee station she had seen by the scouting office's entrance. Beca loved coffee, and Residual Heat had the best one she had ever tasted.
She breathed in the delicious smell that was emerging from her cup. She stirred her coffee with a small spoon to cool it down a little, but just when she was about to drink it, she caught a man staring at her out of the corner of her eye.
"Can I help you with something?" She asked, without looking at him. Beca's question obviously caught him by surprise. He shifted positions, uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, embarrassed. "It's just your face seems familiar to me but I don't know from where. Do I know you?"
Beca turned to see the stranger and examined him with great detail. He had short, black hair and green eyes. He was wearing a white shirt, black dress pants and shoes the same color. He was tall and had an athletic physique. He seemed a little older than her and was very attractive, which made Beca guess he had lots of admirers in the building.
"I don't think so, no."
"That's odd. I never forget a face, and yours is quite distinctive."
"I never forget a face, either, that's why I don't think we have met before."
"Really?"
His insistence irritated Beca, but she didn't want to be rude.
"Well, unless you grew up in Maine or went to Barden University, I can't help—"
In that moment, his face lightened up.
"That's it!" He exclaimed, visibly excited. "You were a Bella, weren't you?"
"You know us?" She asked, shocked.
"Of course I do, my mom was a Bella!"
Beca looked at him with her eyes wide open.
"You are a legacy?"
"A what?"
He didn't seem to know what the word meant.
"Never mind. You were saying?"
"Oh, right. Like I was telling you, my mom was one of you. When you won the ICCAs for the first time, she made me take her to Lincoln Center to see you guys perform."
"Really?"
"Hmm hmm. I remember because you sang that song from "The Breakfast Club" —which was amazing, by the way—, and when you left the stage, you went straight to that Treble guy and kissed him."
Beca couldn't help but smile at the mention of such an important event in her life.
"Those were good times."
"My mom died a few weeks after that so I lost track of you, girls. Last thing I knew was that you won the Worlds last year."
"Yeah, in Copenhagen."
"I wish she could have seen that, she loved being a Bella with all her heart. She always said they were an institution, a sisterhood."
Just like Emily's mom.
"I'm sorry about your mom. What was her name?"
"Agnes Watson."
Chloe and Aubrey surely know her.
"And what's your name?"
"William, but everybody calls me Bill. And if my memory doesn't fail me, you must be Beca."
"I am." They shook hands. "Wait, are you that Bill?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean with that."
"You work here as a scout, don't you?"
"Yes! Why do you ask?" He said, with curiosity.
"Well, apparently we will be working together. Or that's what that girl Allie said, anyway."
"Oh, so you are the girl from Atlanta!" Beca nodded. "Well, it will be my honor to work with one of my mom's sisters."
"That sounds weird, don't you think?"
"A little." He admitted, with embarrassment.