The rest of the week flew by. I only have promo for the first week, then my record label called. They wanted me to start working on an album. Ed and I had been writing like crazy, every chance we got. So, I had an albums worth of songs done already. All that needed to be done was the recording process. Ed had just finished his album, he submitted it yesterday, so he would have some down time and be able to come record with me. I was nervous going into the studio for the first time because I was now working with much bigger names. "Love, it will be fine. I'll be by your side the whole time," Ed said, trying to reassure me, as I was about to break down on the way to the studio. "But what if they hate my music? What if none of it's good enough?" I said, nervously. "If they hate it, then fuck them. You are an amazing artist. Your name is now out there, you don't need them. If word gets out that you're unhappy with your label someone else will scoop you up. But that isn't going to happen because it is all going to work out," he replied, rubbing my knee. "I hope so, I can't handle the rejection," I said, resting my head on his shoulder. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. We arrived at the studio. My heart started to race. "I can't do this," I said. He got out of the car, and held his hand out. "Yes, you can, baby. It will be okay." I got out, and took his hand in mine. Paparazzi was swarming the parking lot, I did not need this right now. He shielded me from them, as we walked to the building.
"That was ridiculous," I said, annoyed. "It's hard being fabulous, innit," he said, trying to make a joke. I shot him a look, "not right now." He smirked and kissed my cheek, "relax." We walked down the long hallway, then into a little room, which would be the booth I was recording in today. I was greeted by a warm, smiling face, "Hello, Kelsey, right? I'm Max." The man said, getting up to shake my hand. I smiled back, "Yes, nice to meet you." Ed followed me in, "Hey, Max, what's up man?" Max smiled and shook his hand, "Ed, buddy, it's been a while." I looked at Ed confused. "Max recorded my first album," he replied. "Talented, isn't he?" Max said, nodding at Ed. I smiled, "he is." Ed smiled at me. "Alright, so what are we working with?" Max said, as we all sat down. I took out my notebook and handed it to him, "I have demos recorded of each of these on my laptop." He read through the book silently. After he finished he looked up, my heart dropped, "Well, Kelsey, you have some pretty solid songs." A wave of relief washed over me. Ed squeezed my knee, insinuating that he told me so. "Let me hear the demos." I pulled out my laptop and played them for him. He bobbed his head as they played. "These are great, there's a few tweaks to be made, but we will do that during the recording process. Do you want to start recording today or wait until tomorrow?" I looked at Ed, he smiled. "We can work on one today," I said, smiling. We chose a song then I stepped into the booth.
Ed sat next to Max, and they talked as I laid down the vocals. Ed would periodically smile at me, reassuring me that I was doing fine. If it hadn't been for him, I don't know how I would have made it through this. We spent a good portion of the day at the studio. We finally wrapped up around 7 P.M. "Good first day, be here around noon tomorrow. I'm not an early waker," Max said, as we were about to leave. I smiled, "thanks, I'll see ya then." Ed and I exited the room, hand in hand. I smiled up at him, "thanks for coming with me." He leaned down and kissed my forehead, "anytime, babe."
As we were walking down the hallway to leave, I had my head down texting. Ed nudged my arm and mumbled, "Kels, look up." Nicki Minaj was standing in front of me. My jaw semi-dropped. We were getting close to her, so I decided to stop. "Hey, Nicki, I'm Kelsey. I'm a big fan," I said, with a warm smile. Her face lit up, "aww yes! You just won the voice right?! You are so talented!" She wrapped me in a hug. "We should get in the studio together!" She said. I smiled, "Really? Sure! Whenever you want to!" She glanced through her phone, "I will be back Friday, make some time then? Say 2:30?" I could feel my face light up, "yes! I'll be here." We exchanged phone numbers, then Ed and I departed. It has always been a dream of mine to work with Nicki because of all that she stands for.
"Babe, I'm working with Nicki Minaj on friday," I said, in the car, still shocked. "I know baby! I'm so excited for you," he replied, squeezing my hand that was tangled up in his. I kissed him, the nestled myself in his arm. "I love you, Teddy," I said, looking up at him. He kissed my forehead, "I love you, too, Kels."
When we arrived at home, we decided we wanted to go out for the night. "Pub we went to on our first date?" Teddy asked. I smiled, remembering the night, "Sure." He kissed me before we went our separate ways to get ready, "okay, love. I'll probably be writing by the pool." For a ginger, he sure soaked up the sun enough. I'm surprised he wasn't permanently red and blistered. I touched up my hair and make up, adding some darker colors to my eye shadow to make it more appropriate for the night. I added a nude lip color. I decided to throw on a black sequin dress and some red heels. I grabbed my clutch and walked out to the pool. "You ready?" I said. Ed turned to look at me, a smile spread over his face, "Wow...you look so beautiful." I smiled, "Thanks, now come on, I'm starving. He got up, and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me, "I'm so lucky." I smiled and started walking to the car. He still didn't have his license, so I drove.
It took us about an hour to get to the pub because of traffic. By the time we got there, I couldn't control my hunger. I was starving. We both got beers as we waited for our food. Perks of being "famous" is that our food only took 10 minutes to come out. I'm sure this was just so we didn't cause too much commotion in their pub. I shoveled my food in my mouth so fast. Ed just shook his head and laughed. I was done way before him. "Did you even taste it, love?" He said, jokingly. I laughed, "it was delicious, actually." We spent a couple hours just sitting at the pub, talking over beer. It was perfect. Soon, we wouldn't be able to do this, so I took it all in while I could.
"Ed, what are we going to do when one of us tours?" I asked. He bit his lip, "I wasn't going to tell you yet..." I glared at him, my eyebrow furrowing, "What?" He smirked, "I've been planning my tour and I want you to be one of my openers. Your label thinks it would be a good idea. They have already approved it. I'm not ready to be away from you yet, plus, I want to tour with you." I almost jumped out of my seat with excitement, "Really?!" He smiled, "yes, babe, really." I leaned over the table and kissed him. "Is that a yes?" He asked, with a laugh. "It's a yes!" I said, excitedly.