THE GUITAR CASE CLATTERED AGAINST THE METAL DOORFRAME as Corey stumbled in through the studio doors, struggling to shuffle inside. She was running late, her glasses still secure over the bridge of her nose. She was aware of the articles depicting her sudden reappearance on bourbon street. She'd seen the paparazzi, the flash of their cameras never truly secret no matter how far away they were. She'd always been overly aware of their presence when she was alone. She looked down at her phone, her twitter feed pinging with numerous notifications flooding her screen.
Corey Luna Seen Alone for the First Time in Months.
COULD THERE BE A NEW ALBUM IN THE WORKS? COREY LUNA REEMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS.
Era of Silence Over; Corey Luna Spotted Wandering Alone.
SONGBIRD SEEN FLEEING THE COOP. TROUBLE IN PARADISE?
Musical Legacy Returns to the Studio!
Her guitar case teetered against the floor as she turned to close the door behind her. Her producer, Jack, sat with his headphones resting over his ears. Corey sighed as she pulled her hood from the crown of her head, her focus still on the phone in her hands.
If they're already posting pictures online then they better at least look good, she thought. She opened one article after another as her curiosity got the better of her. She checked her social media mentions as she plopped down on the futon in the corner of the dimly lit office space.
[stan twitter always loses their collective minds whenever looneytoon is seen outside, i swear.]
[can looneytoon give a sneak peek of what she's been working on? we're starving over here.]
[ looneytoon out without mmmontgomery? Don't tell me it's the end of my brotp!]
[ looneytoon. that's it. that's the tweet.]
"The prophecy returneth!" Jack called out from across the room, causing Corey to jump slightly. She rolled her eyes as she locked her phone, shoving it into her back pocket.
"Calm down, Jackie-boy, I had one day off." Corey laughed. Her head shook slightly as she turned her attention to the man sitting across from her. He was positioned with his shoulders slumped forward, the large square frames of his glasses taking up most of his face. His oversized headphones hung around his neck, partially crushing the collar of his Hawaiian shirt. He put his hands up in surrender with a laugh.
"Sure, sure," he chuckled. His hands clasped together as he placed his elbows back against his lap. "Whatever you say!" Corey's hand traveled towards her face to scratch at her bottom lip with the back of her thumb anxiously. She wasn't sure why she was on edge, but something hadn't felt right to her while she prepared to leave the academy.
"So whaddia got for me today, Luna," Jack looked at her with one brow raised, his head cocked to the side slightly. Corey's tongue darted out to wet her lips before she spoke.
"I was hoping you had that track ready. The one I sent you the rough recording of?" Jack's eyes lit up, his excitement immediately evident.
"Oh boy, do I," his brows flew upward, taking up the only real estate of his forehead that hadn't been occupied by the frames of his glasses. He spun his chair around, playing the demo of the backing track for Corey to hear. She listened intently as she removed her hooded cape from her shoulders, tossing it across the futon behind her. She bopped her head as the trill of the saxophone flowed over the slow R&B style beat. The track was exactly what she'd asked for during their last meeting.
"Fuck, dude, this is perfect," she continued to sway back and forth as she prepped her recording area, pulling the mic stand near her so that they could start the session.
"You've just gotta get, like, all the personality and character—" Jack craned his neck to look at the redhead, his grin taking up a large portion of his face as he spoke. The witch cut off his words, her voice void of emotion.
"I don't have either of those things." Corey spoke with a straight face, her shoulders squared. "You know that." Though it was a joke, she forced herself to remain stone-like. The sarcasm threatened to seep through her pores like the hiss of an overly agitated bottle of coke.
"I wouldn't tell that to Madison if I were you, though it is what everyone says." It was Jack's comment that caused Corey to let out a brief snort, turning away from the microphone in front of her. He always knew how to cause both girls to burst out into a laughing fit, no matter how hard they fought it.
"Oh, the people of the internet," she sighed. "They say the darnedest things." She made sure that the microphone stand and pop filter were in the right position before pulling her phone out of her back pocket and setting it up against the workspace across from her. She pressed record and stepped back slightly, looking between Jack and the phone that faced them.
"Look, I've got a corner of you in frame. I can see one half of your comically large pair of glasses. And I'm in frame as well. Except there's some sunlight issues." She paused for a moment, lost in thought. "Do you think—" Corey stepped forward slightly. She moved closer to the microphone by her side in an attempt to keep the glaring beams out of her line of sight.
"Ope! Not when I step here! Hell yeah." She looked between the phone and Jack as her face scrunched in thought. "Do you think Maddie would like this shot?" She laughed. Her head shook as she once again moved the microphone stand over, trying to stay out of the direction the sunlight would move in as time progressed.
"This is good. It's great. Though, I think she'd enjoy the shot better if it was just your ass." Corey threw her head back in a laugh, her voice ringing throughout the room.
"Fuck off,"her giggle seeped through every syllable that left her lips. She stepped forward once more, adjusting her phone so that she stood in a full frame shot as Jack tested the track's audio levels in her headphones.
"Let me know how this sounds before we start," he handed her the wireless headset that had previously rested against his large computer monitor. Corey secured them over her head with a nod, turning back to her mic stand. She danced in place, causing both herself and Jack to let out sparse giggles over her chipper attitude. He contemplated commenting on the change between the last time she'd been in his studio and now but decided against it, which was probably for the best. Corey gave him the thumbs up, letting him know that the current audio levels were alright with her.
"Ready?" He asked. Corey cleared her throat with a nod. Her hands moved up to adjust how the headphones rested against the top of her head. As she moved them, she adjusted her glasses with her other hand, making sure that their arms wouldn't dig into the sides of her head.
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. Her tongue darted out quickly to wet her lips. "Punch me in at the top and we'll go from there." Jack gave her a quiet nod, leaning forward towards his monitor to give Corey a count through her headphones. Corey listened to the eight second saxophone intro before coming in on the first verse.
"We were crazy to think, crazy to think that this could work; remember how I said I'd die for you?" She leaned away from the pop filter to inhale quietly before stepping forward again. Once her eight-count was over, she came in with the next line. "We were stupid to jump in the ocean separating us, remember how I'd fly to you?"
"And I can't talk to you when you're like this, staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town." Again, Corey took a quick breath. Jack watched the uniform vocal waves as they appeared on his monitor. "I'm New York City, I still do it for you, baby."
"They all warned us about times like this. They say the road gets hard and you get lost when you're led by blind faith, blind faith." Her nose scrunched as her eyes closed slightly; her unintentional facial tic for when she took a vocal step.
"But we might just get away with it. Religion's in your lips, even if it's a false god. We'd still worship." She swayed back and forth to the beat, getting a bit carried away.
"We might just get away with it, the altar is my hips, even if it's a false god." She let a hand run across her chin, her nose scrunching as she thought for a moment.
"Fuck, nope. Can we get that again?" She asked. She stepped away from the microphone. "I feel like the speed is off. Like the tempo should be, like, cut in half. This is just too slow." Jack stopped the track, nodding. Corey looked down at her feet, her bottom lip slipping between her teeth as she tried to come up with a better solution. She really wasn't sure why she suddenly wasn't enjoying the backtrack. It was everything she'd asked for from her producer and more.
"Yeah, let me reset and play around with some stuff real quick and then we'll be good to go." Jack focused on the work in front of him, which worried the redhead. Usually he'd be a bit more playful with her, especially in the workroom. The silence was deafening.
"How do I sound over there, by the way? Everything good?" She looked up, her leg bouncing anxiously as she stood tall.
"Vocally, you're perfect." He fiddled with the track, making sure the tempo was where Corey wanted it. "There," he said with a nod. He spun his chair back around to face the redhead once more. "Now the track should be perfect, too." He gave her a lopsided smile, his head bobbing once in a confident nod.
They ran through the first half of the song again, more energy radiating through the small studio space than before. This time, Corey felt the same ripple through her veins. The excitement and determination she'd felt while writing the song flowed through her once again.
She hadn't noticed the four missed calls on her phone until after they'd wrapped. It was long after the sun had set and Spalding prepared dinner for the coven when it finally caught her eye. She furrowed her brow and lifted her phone from Jack's desk as she scrolled through the notifications.
"Shit," her anger launched from her lips, the panic in her eyes evident. Each call notification caused her chest to tighten. The belt around her lungs skipped notches as she saw the times that each call came through. She let out a shaky breath, trying to collect herself before listening to the voicemail that had beckoned to her.
"Hey baby. I know it's not usual that I call you while you're at work but I just wanted you to know where I was going. Fiona's taking me on one of her dumb fucking field trips. Cordelia's not here to give me an excuse to not go, that bitch. Don't wait up, I'm not sure when I'll be back tonight."
Corey froze, as if the words were in another language that she couldn't understand. Don't wait up. It echoed in her mind. Those three words almost begged for the redhead to run back to the academy as fast as she could.
"I need to go," her feet moved her faster than she thought they would. The panic took over her body as she struggled to gather her things. "I'll give you an update when I can, but I really fucking need to get back home." Before Jack could even respond, Corey was out the door. She pulled her hood over her head with the hand that white knuckled her cellphone as she pushed forward with her guitar case. She wouldn't leave any room for error, not after the conversation she'd had with her mother.