Published: April 15, 2020

Track 4: Things Change

Raven had been very, very busy for the past few weeks. As soon as she parted ways with the Titans after signing, she went up to her condo unit and got straight to work. Now that she had official clients contracted to her, the businesswoman felt the pressure to perform weigh heavily on her shoulders. There was a lot to get done and she was ready to shift into high gear. The first task was to make photocopies of the contracts and send them off to the band members. Once the documents were filed away in large brown envelopes, Raven set them aside to address and stamp later on.

Next, she moved on to reading their contact information sheets in greater detail. During the meeting, she had only briefly glanced over them to avoid looking like a snoop. But now, she was alone in the comfort of her home with no one to comment on her curiosity. She made herself a cup of chai and brought it back to her desk so that she could drink while reading. She perused the forms slowly, paying special attention to their current employment statuses.

As Richard had mentioned earlier that day, his document confirmed that he had been working at the District Attorney's office for the past 18 months. Kory was engaged with Little Sprouts Center for Growing Minds, a private day care. When Raven read that Victor's employer was S.T.A.R. Laboratories, she raised her brows. The corporation was known for their cutting edge technology and she imagined that anyone who worked there would be very career-oriented. She highly doubted that an engineer in a workaholic environment could ever seriously pursue music on the side.

The last page listed Garfield's job history. Within the last year, he had been a cleaner, dog walker, line cook, delivery man, and finally, waiter/barista at a French bistro. Raven shook her head in disbelief. The man either had the attention span of a goldfish, or even worse, he was a terrible employee. With the exception of Garfield, it looked like everyone worked regular 9 to 5 hours from Monday to Friday. This meant that they would have to do the bulk of recording during the weekends.

Someone more sociable might have been disappointed with this situation, but Raven was unbothered. She had never been one for going out on the weekends anyway. Her business school acquaintances, few and far between, had made fun of her for being an old lady stuck in a 25-year old's body. Raven didn't give a rat's ass about people's opinion of her. She just shrugged off their comments and continued doing her own thing. There were no qualms about staying in almost every night, enjoying a good book and cuddling with her cat. In a nutshell, being around others drained her energy. And speaking of people who threatened to suck the life out of her...

She was not a fan of Garfield Logan. Her first impression had deteriorated rapidly, and the longer she spent in his presence, the more her dislike grew. She couldn't stand men who chased skirts without any regard for the people wearing them. His man-child persona grated on her nerves and she dreaded having to work with him. Hopefully, she would be able to avoid his advances with the buffer of his band mates. And if he didn't toe the line, Raven had no issues with putting him in his place.

Raven spent the next few hours doing a deep dive Internet search of the Titans. The first search result was the page for the Jump City High varsity program. She wondered if the band had appropriated their name from their alma mater's sports team. She also made the mental note that they would really need to improve their online presence. They had no Facebook page or Instagram account, let alone a promotional website.

She scrolled down the list of search results until she finally found a link that led to the band's Soundcloud profile. The page mostly contained covers of other artists' music, but after weeding through the chaff, she found a dozen original songs. They had significantly less plays than their covers, but the comments below were very positive. She downloaded the music files to her computer and transferred them onto her phone. Grabbing a pair of earbuds, she plugged them into her ears and pressed "Play". It was time to do some research.

Other than listening to their music, Raven's first week as the Titans' manager consisted mainly of two things. The first was exchanging semi-regular messages with Richard, the band's appointed front man. They had agreed that it would be easier for her to interact with just one person instead of CCing everyone in her emails. Richard was in charge of relaying the information to the rest of the group. She felt like he could trust him; he seemed like the dependable, no-nonsense type.

The second endeavour was listening to the Titans' material on repeat. Raven had little to no knowledge of music theory and couldn't be considered as musical by any means. But somehow, she had always been able to tell whether or not a song would do well on the charts. She couldn't really explain it in words. One could say that she "felt" the vibe of a song and accurately predict how the market would react to it too. Obviously, it wasn't a scientific method for projecting chart success, but her intuition was right more often than it was wrong. This "sixth sense" made her a very popular intern during her final work-study semester. The CEO had even said that she had "the magic touch" and wanted her to stay on past the internship. But her goal had always been to own her own company independently, so she turned down the offer.

After several listens of the Titans' playlist, Raven had a very good idea of which tracks were usable and which ones needed to be scrapped. She compiled a list of her notes, intending to share them with the band at a later date. One of the things that drew her to indie music was the amount of character it held in comparison to the overly-produced fluff that came out of major labels. The majority of their originals dated back to almost five years ago. While earnest and full of passion, the quality was sloppy and obviously homemade. Raven could only imagine how good the band would sound once they were recorded professionally.

Confident that there was enough material to work with, Raven went into the next phase of planning. She drew up a list of local recording studios within a 50-mile radius of Jump City. She hoped to find a place nearby, but it was possible that they would have to venture further out into San Francisco. She sent off several inquiries, asking about pricing and availability. As the replies trickled in, she processed all of the information, taking distance, price, and reputation into consideration. About a week later, she settled on Wicked Scary Studios, a small facility that wasn't too far from her condo.

Instead of typing out an email, Raven opted to make a phone call instead. "Hello, Mr. Grayson, it's me. What are your plans for this upcoming Saturday?"

Gar jumped out of bed at the first ring of his alarm. The day had finally come for the Titans to go to the studio. The night before, he had obsessively set six alarms on his phone and one on his analog clock. But like a child on Christmas Eve, he couldn't fall asleep. All he could think about was the fantasy of standing inside the glass box he had always seen on TV, surrounded by polished microphones and shiny equipment.

Despite his lack of sleep, Gar was uncharacteristically chipper that morning, especially since he had a reputation for being a night owl. Even his roommate took note of this anomaly as they ate breakfast together in the kitchen.

"You good? You're jumping around like the Energizer bunny," Victor commented, shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth.

"I'm great, absolutely fantastic!" Gar exclaimed. He paced around the kitchen, unable to stand still. "Today is a day they will write down in history!"

Victor just chuckled and said, "You are way too hyped up, man. You need to chill out."

"I can't and I won't, buddy boy."

Gar continued walking around the room excitedly with a wide grin plastered on his face. In the meantime, Victor wiped the bacon grease off his chin with a napkin and got up to put his plate in the sink. "We better start loading the car so that we can leave as soon as the power couple get here," he said.

"Already done! I hauled everything down before you woke up."

"Well, well, well. Look who's finally pulling their weight around here? And I didn't even have to ask you seventeen times!" said Victor in mock surprise.

"Don't get used to it though. Today is a special occasion, after all."

The pair laughed together amicably and migrated to the living room to play video games while they waited for the other band members to arrive. While they duked it out over Mega Monkeys: Reloaded, Victor contemplated his friendship with Gar in the back of his mind. He had been worried for his best friend for a long time. The guy was stuck in a funk ever since his messy break-up with "She-who-must-not-be-named". Sure, she had been friends with everyone in the band, but her sudden departure left Gar especially scarred.

Although it happened over a year ago, the guy had yet to recover completely. He still told lame jokes and messed around, but underneath his goofball façade, he wasn't quite the same. His mood swings were unpredictable and sometimes, he would snap aggressively at his closest friends for the smallest thing. The next moment, he'd be docile and cheerful.

To add insult to injury, Gar's current love life was a total dumpster fire. Victor had warned him against diving back into the dating pool prematurely. That way, he could focus on repairing his broken heart and avoid rebounding. Gar interpreted the advice as an excuse to sleep with girls he barely knew. All of a sudden he transformed into a player, throwing himself into shallow hookups that could never last.

It didn't help that while Gar was grieving, Victor had met the love of his life. The drummer was conscious that his relationship with Sarah probably felt like salt being rubbed into a wound, but he didn't know how to protect Gar from getting hurt indirectly. At first, Victor had thought that his roommate was jealous of Sarah because pursuing her meant less "bro time". But after a night of hanging out with the entire friend group, Victor realized that Gar was actually envious of their relationship.

There was one instance when Victor witnessed the brokenhearted man gazing wistfully at Kory and Dick after they kissed each other as a thank you for something trivial. That's when it became clear that Gar craved a real partner, somebody to rely on and trust in. Victor fervently hoped that his friend would pull his head out of his ass soon and move on with his life. Above all, he just wanted Gar to be happy.

Kory and Dick promptly arrived at the boys' apartment at 11:30 sharp. After loading their instruments into Victor's tightly packed car, the group set off for their appointment. It was a short drive, only twenty minutes away from where they lived. Thankfully, they didn't get delayed by traffic and were walking into the building just before noon. The recording studio was part of a strip mall, wedged between a laundromat and pizza parlour.

A large neon sign that read "Wicked Scary Studios" was mounted onto the weathered brick. It looked kind of dingy from the outside, but the gang was relieved to see that the interior was in significantly better shape. The front door opened into a small waiting room. The walls looked like they had been freshly painted and the linoleum floor shone from a recent waxing. The room split off into two narrow hallways, which presumably led to different parts of the studio.

Raven was already there, waiting for them to arrive. She sat on a chair with her legs crossed, reading a book and sipping from a travel mug. Gar couldn't help but admire their new manager. She was dressed in a power suit that consisted of a charcoal grey blazer and a matching skirt. What caught Gar's attention were her shapely legs, which were wrapped in sheer, dark tights and ended with feet covered in 3-inch heels. He tried not to openly stare at her figure, but damn, he loved a woman who could rock business-wear.

Raven looked up from her reading material and stood up from her seat. After tucking the book into her purse, she gestured to the group to follow her down the hallway to the right. They passed by a pair of washrooms, a janitor's closet and a small kitchenette. They were led through the last door, which turned out to be a small conference room.

"Thank you for your punctuality," she said. "We have a lot to cover today and not a lot of time. We'll start with a short meeting to discuss the game plan for the next several weeks. After that, we can begin the initial planning of the album and finish up by heading into the recording booth. Have you had lunch yet?"

Raven's question was answered by a loud growl that escaped from Gar's stomach. "Sounds like the bottomless pit is ready to be fed," he said with embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"I suppose I'll have to order a pizza. We can talk while we eat."

After hearing everyone's topping preferences, Raven increased her order of a single pizza to three. Garfield was a vegan and refused to eat anything that came into contact with meat or dairy, so she had to order him a personal vegetarian pie with fake cheese. When he promised he could finish it all by himself, Raven rolled her eyes at his gluttony. The second pizza was meat lover's to appease both Victor and Kory, while the third was split 50/50 between Hawaiian and plain cheese for Richard and Raven. Their order was fulfilled soon after and Victor graciously offered to pick it up from the restaurant next door instead of paying for a pointless delivery fee. Once everyone had a slice in hand, Raven felt like it was a good time to start the meeting.

"Alright Titans, let's get down to business."

"To defeeeeeat, the Huns!" Garfield sang, mouth full of pizza.

Raven shot him a glare for the obnoxious behaviour. He merely winked back before taking another bite, munching like a cow chewing on cud. In that moment, Raven decided that she would respond to all future shenanigans with a cold shoulder. Apparently, even looking in his direction gave him the attention he so desperately craved, and she wasn't about to give him what he wanted.

She looked at the rest of the group and concentrated on their focused faces instead. "As I mentioned earlier, we need to settle on a game plan before we can start recording. There's no point in launching into things if the end goal isn't properly thought out."

The Titans all nodded in agreement, giving their manager confirmation to continue.

"The first item on the agenda is the budget. After working out a deal with the studio, I was able to get a reasonable rate for the recording booth. Each session will last 8 hours. Their Saturday evening slot is open for the next two months, so I went ahead and booked them all. If you do the math, this means that we have just over 60 hours to record an entire album. I know that seems like a short amount of time, but it comes out to around 5 hours to work on each song, assuming we aim for 12 tracks. Everyone following so far?"

To Raven's surprise, Garfield was the person out of the entire group who seemed the most engaged. He looked genuinely invested, nodding his head while taking notes on a spare napkin. His pen began to dry out, so he rubbed it back and forth in small circles to get the stubborn ink to flow. Raven noticed his struggle and rolled a pencil in his direction. Then, she drew a blank piece of paper from her purse and slid it over to him. Garfield smiled in thanks and started to transfer his notes onto the fresh page.

"With such a tight window, we need to be extremely efficient," continued Raven. "If you are able to do some of the preliminary work during the week, it would maximize the studio time we're paying for. I know you all have regular jobs, but-"

"-Don't worry," Richard interrupted, "we'll get it done. This project has our full commitment."

Kory reached over and squeezed his arm in support while Victor nodded in agreement. Garfield beamed at his friends' enthusiasm.

"I'm glad to hear it," Raven replied. "Two months from now takes us to the end of October. I thought it would be a good idea to have our launch party on the 31st. Everybody loves an excuse to wear a costume, no?"

The entire team perked up at the idea of a party dedicated to their album launch. Kory clapped her hands together in excitement and exclaimed, "Glorious! I do love to dress up. Will it take place at our most frequent watering trench, Wolfie's?"

"No, not your usual watering hole," Raven replied, subtly correcting the botched expression. "I actually managed to convince the owner of a new nightclub on Main Street to host it at his establishment. Apparently he's been a fan for years. I hope you don't mind, considering that I already posted the event to your new Facebook page. I'll link it to the official website eventually, but it's not published yet. I still need some promotional photos, which reminds me..." She tapered off, pulling out her tablet to write herself a reminder to start looking for a photography studio. Raven was so engrossed in her task that she didn't notice the Titans stare at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. They couldn't believe the amount of work she had gotten done in just three weeks.

"Da-yum, girl! How much are we paying you again?" asked Garfield.

"It's Ms. Roth to you," she answered in a cool tone, not looking up from her tablet. "You're not paying me anything, remember? I only get my cut once the album is sold. So you better deliver and give me everything you've got."

"That's what she said!" Garfield said with a grin, shooting finger guns at her. "Good one, Ms. Roth!" He held out his hand for a high-five. When she ignored it, he offered his outstretched hand to the others.

Kory automatically reached out to give her friend some support, but Victor blocked her. "Nuh-uh, little lady," he chastised, "don't go encouraging him now."

Once Garfield realized that no one was going to congratulate his "comedic genius", Raven launched into the next order of business. "Now, let's talk music. The majority of your originals are good contenders for the album, but unfortunately, there are a handful that don't make the cut. Obviously, this is just my opinion, but I think you'll agree with my assessment." She passed out copies of a document that detailed her thoughts on each of their previously recorded songs. The team read through her notes, making comments here and there.

"Aw man, but I love 'A Tribute to Stankball'! It's hilarious," complained Garfield.

"It's juvenile and derivative," Raven countered, "not to mention disgusting."

Richard entered the conversation before it got too heated. "I only see nine approved songs here, Ms. Roth."

"That's right. They're strong tracks that will be even more solid after they're cleaned up a bit. I was hoping you might have more recent songs that you haven't had the chance to workshop yet. That way, we can fill out the rest of the album with fresher material."

Richard nodded in agreement. "Okay team, let's get started."

The group spent the next four hours hard at work. They began by picking apart each of the tracks that Raven had pre-approved. They talked about potential changes and improvements, analyzing their music with a critical ear. As Richard led the discussion, Raven quietly admired his leadership skills. He listened to each band member's opinions before moving on, but was decisive enough to put his foot down when need be. She also appreciated that he often referred to her notes whenever they would get stuck.

Once they were all on the same page, the band split up into two groups. On one end of the table, Victor and Kory argued back and forth as they tried to map out the album.

"'Only Human' should come before 'Fear Itself'," commented Kory, to which Victor immediately disagreed.

"Nah, it would be better if we put it at the end of the album, just before 'Winner Take All'."

"But they are much too similar! If you put them right next to each other, it will sound repetitive."

"Okay, fair enough. What about 'Date with Destiny'? You think it's too loud?"

"It could work as long as we adjust the dynamics. We could do a slow build in the bridge, cut to just voices and kick drum for the first two lines of the chorus, and then go full blast for the final section."

"I like the way you think," replied Victor, offering the bassist a fist bump.

Meanwhile, Garfield and Richard were hunched over at the other end of the table, poring over pages and pages of lyrics. It became clear to Raven that the two men were the John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the band. Earlier, Garfield had stepped out to retrieve his acoustic guitar from their car. Now, he tested out different riffs and melodies to the lyrics with Richard giving him feedback. As they workshopped together, Raven peeked over their shoulders to get a subtle glimpse of their notes. Richard noticed this and gave her a few pages from the top of the pile. "Here, Ms. Roth. We could use your opinion on this too."

She thanked him silently with a nod of her head and sat down. She had heard the quality of writing in their older Soundcloud tracks, but the more recent stuff was even more impressive. A page titled "Things Change" caught her eye. The story was told in the first person, with the narrator describing their jaded feelings towards romance. After witnessing failed relationships and having disappointing experiences of their own, they resolve to never fall in love. In the pre-chorus, they meet their soulmate, the only person that seems to understand them. The refrain said:

Things change

When you meet the one you were meant to love

Raven blinked in astonishment. The song as a whole was beautifully written and painfully relatable; the lyrics read like poetry. She passed the page back to the two men. "This song needs to be on the album. People will love it. Who wrote this?"

"Gar did. He writes pretty much all of our songs," replied Richard with a proud look on his face.

Garfield simply shrugged and looked down at the page, scribbling something in the margin with the pencil that Raven had given him earlier. "I want to re-work Verse 3 a bit, but otherwise, I think it's ready," he said with a wide smile that took over his blushing face.

"Good," Raven said, secretly impressed. She didn't know he had it in him. "With 'Things Change', we only need one or two more tracks to bring us up to a good number." She shuffled through the papers again, searching for the lyrics of Victor's proposal song. "What about that 'Sarah' song, the one you perfor-"

"-No."

Raven turned towards Garfield, whose knuckles were white as he clutched the pencil tightly in his hand. His happy demeanour had turned a complete 180 degrees.

"But it's great," she argued back, "and the album could use another slow track to balance out the more upbeat-"

"-I said no."

"But-"

With a loud crack, the pencil snapped in Gar's hand and he tossed the pieces to the floor before storming out of the room. Raven looked at the remaining team members with a shocked expression. Victor got up from his seat and moved towards the door, saying, "I'll go talk to him, you guys sit tight."

Gar seethed as he perched on the ledge of the sidewalk just outside of the studio entrance. He was perfectly motionless, indicating to Victor that he was really pissed. Gar only ever sat still when he was especially angry. Victor crouched to take a seat next to his friend. He opted to stay quiet for a bit, letting Gar calm down before opening the conversation.

"I understand that you're upset, but that was not cool. Ms. Roth put in so much work for us and you repay her by throwing a temper tantrum."

"You just don't get it," Gar replied bitterly. "Why can't we leave that dumb song alone?"

Victor steeled himself before saying what he should have said a long time ago. "Gar, you know I love you, but GROW UP. It's been months that you've been crying over T-"

"Don't say her name," he whispered, shutting his eyes to keep the hot tears from spilling out.

"Tara! Tara, Tara, TARA!" cried Victor, his voice growing in volume as he repeated the offending name. "Get over it. She's gone and it's time for you to move on!"

Sobs escaped out of Gar's mouth as he finally let out his pent up emotions. Victor pulled him in for a tight hug and the two men embraced for several minutes. The larger man could feel the fabric of his shirt moisten as Gar cried into his shoulder. "It just hurts, man. How could she abandon me like that?"

"I know buddy, I know," said Victor sympathetically, pulling away from Gar, "but I meant what I said. You have to move on sooner or later. And in my opinion, it's already much later than it should have been in the first place." Gar mulled over his words with a tight look on his face, hiccuping slightly after his crying session.

Victor continued, "I mean think about it. She left you, but you're still letting her dictate your emotions. Why are you giving her the power to ruin your life even more than she has already? Aren't you sick of being stuck in the past? You're a catch, Gar. Anyone would be lucky to have you. Don't let her control you anymore, it's time you took your life back in your own hands."

Victor's wise words finally sunk in. He had expressed them in the past, but it was the first time that Gar could actually feel them connect with his heart. "You're right," Gar said, heaving a deep sigh. "I'm sorry if I've been a dick to you recently. I can't believe how blind I've been."

"All is forgiven," Victor answered affectionately. "We've all been worried about you, buddy. We just want to see you back to being your happy self."

They sat together with their arms around each other's shoulders and watched the sun set. The sky turned from orange, to red, to purple. Realizing that they had been sitting outside for a while, the pair stood up, brushing the dirt of the sidewalk from the bottom of their jeans.

Victor asked gently, "You gonna be okay?"

Gar nodded his head in reply. "Yeah, I think I will. As they say, 'Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise'."

Victor smiled back warmly at his friend, relieved to see that he was finally taking the first steps to moving on.

Raven stood a few feet from the door, wringing her hands nervously. When she saw the two men re-enter the building, she braced herself with awkward anticipation.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Roth. We lost track of time," said Victor.

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's okay. Clearly, matters needed to be settled. Mr. Grayson and Ms. Anders are still in the conference room, but I'd like to speak to Mr. Logan privately before rejoining them."

Victor nodded and took his cue, leaving Garfield and Raven alone in the lobby. Garfield opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Raven launched into an apology. "I'm sorry if I pushed you too hard. I didn't mean to be forceful like that. It was a lack of my professional judgement on my part and I should have respected your wishes when you first said no."

"S'okay," he replied with a shrug. "You were just trying to do your job. And sorry about your pencil, I'll have to get you a replacement."

"Don't worry about it."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Raven had said her piece, but she wasn't sure how to proceed without addressing the elephant in the room. Thankfully, Garfield spoke up again without being prompted. "That song... it wasn't always about Vic's girl. It was for my ex-girlfriend, Tara. I flipped out because it brought up a lot of bad memories."

Raven raised her eyebrows as the puzzle pieces clicked together in her mind. "Hmm, I see. I suppose it was convenient for Mr. Stone that 'Sarah' rhymes with 'Tara'. Lyrically speaking."

"Yeah, that and the fact that my ex also had blue eyes and blonde hair," he mumbled, grimacing at the coincidence. "I guess the lyrics were kind of generic now that I think about it."

"Songs that are written for the sole purpose of serenading a single person are overrated anyway," she replied dryly.

Garfield laughed out loud at her remark. "Come on, Raven, why so pessimistic?"

She bristled slightly at the use of her first name. "It's Ms. Roth," she said, reminding him of their professional relationship. Thankfully, Garfield took the hint.

"My bad, Ms. Roth," he answered sheepishly. "You know, I owe you an apology too, not just for my outburst today. I haven't been the most respectful to you in the past, and I'm really sorry for that. Do you think we could maybe start over?"

The Titans' guitarist and songwriter was just full of surprises today. Raven thought about dismissing it, but he was right. If they were going to keep working together, things would have to change. "Sure," she said, "let's call it a truce." She raised her hand to offer a handshake, which he quickly accepted.

"Look at you, Ms. Roth," said Garfield with a foolish grin. He held onto her hand for a bit longer and leaned in to say, "Don't go soft on me now."

"That's what she said."

Garfield let go of her hand abruptly to jump back in shock. "Y-you, you just made a joke!" he exclaimed.

Raven turned on her heel to walk back to the room where the others were still waiting, not waiting for him to reply. She smirked to herself, grateful that he couldn't see her smile. She had a "cold bitch" reputation to uphold and it wouldn't do if people knew that she actually had a sense of humour. "Don't get used to it though. Today is a special occasion, after all."

A/N: Don't you just love it when men express their emotions and deal with it through a loving, healthy friendship? Me too.

I thought about keeping Gar's ex a secret for a little bit longer, but it's so obvious that there's no point in withholding that information. I'd like to put it on record that BBTerra is a NOTP for me. If you were hoping for a saucy love triangle, you came to the wrong fanfic.

"Things Change" is heavily inspired by Paramore's "The Only Exception". And "Sarah/Tara" is essentially "Hey There, Delilah" by the Plain White T's.

Till next time, Lily Timbers

Replies to Guest Reviews:

Guest: To the guest who mentioned my portrayal of Starfire, thank you so much for your review! I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person that feels like she deserves better in the world of fanfics. Enjoy the update.