Chapter Nine
Marianne felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked into Basscamp studios the following day. Today was the day that she actually had to lay down the backing vocals. She had been practicing the entire night before.
John was already there with the guys. They were all visibly hungover, sipping on coffee. "Hey, Marianne. You ready for the track today?" She nodded and he handed her a lyric sheet. She had to admit, it was pretty good. From the way yesterday went, though,she was pretty much aware that she was going to be working on this track for the better part of the day.
"What kind of beat do you see for this?" Marc asked her. She shrugged.
"I don't see an electric, if that's what you mean. If you're painting this off to be seductive, maybe a little dark, then we should take the route that 'Keep Frontin'" set with minimal electrics and a lot of bass."
"What do you think, Cena?" Chaos asked. John put his coffee cup down and stood to his feet
"I think we should get this bitch rollin'," he told them. "Let's follow her instincts. She's pretty impressive." Marianne smiled, thankful for Cena's faith in her.
John went into the first booth and waited for Marianne to do the instrumentals. Finally, she joined him in a second booth and put her headset on. Chaos gave them the beats.
John stepped towards the microphone and began to rhyme. After the first line, the bass resonated and the beat picked up.
"Yo, I step up to the party, all eyes on me
But I shake my shoulder off, you know they can't see me
I see her at the bar like an angel in a dream
Drinking with her friends on some sweet Dom P
I slide up to the bar, cause my game is tight
I'm here for some love, I ain't looking for fights
Her eyes search me up and down, she likes what she sees
I got her wrapped around my finger, beaten one-two-three
She looks at me, licking her sweet candy lips
Running her hands along those nice curvy hips
So I take her to the dance floor, where we rock the place
I push her up against me, she ain't got nothing to fear
And she up towards me and she whispers into my ear
And she says"
Marianne held onto her earphones and put herself closer to the mic.
"Fever – when you kiss me, even when you hold me tight, you give me fever..."
A few hours later, Torrie Wilson stopped in to check up on her cousin. John had taken Marianne out for lunch and the duo returned to find Torrie waiting in the main room.
"Hey, Marianne. Thought I'd come and see how day two was going, since I missed yesterday."
"Candice and Victoria ain't with you, are they?" John inquired. Torrie laughed.
"No, Cena. I left them at the arena."
"She's doing great," Cena told Torrie. "If you want to come with us into the production booth, you can take a look at a few of the things that she has done. We've got about two or three tracks completed with her, and they are all better than the last."
Torrie nodded, obviously impressed and followed them into the booth. Cena instructed Chaos to bring up the tracks. Despite Chaos' proclamation that the tracks weren't completed yet and the tracks being completely filled with raw talent, he set it all up for Torrie to listen to.
Marianne was nervous. Torrie was her best friend, and if she didn't like the work that she had done, she would have to beg John to withdraw the tracks from the album.
Torrie smiled. "Sounds fantastic so far. I can't wait to hear the rest of the album." She turned her attention to Marianne. "Wasn't I right? This was a wonderful opportunity for you."
"It totally is," Marianne replied with a smile.
"I have to get back to the arena before the women come looking for me," Torrie joked, "we all know Cena doesn't want them here. I'll see you at Raw tonight." Marianne nodded and hugged Torrie before leaving.
Marianne went back to work.
