Author's Note: So there's a texting scene in this and I'm the kind of person that texts without acronyms so that's how I wrote it out. I'm open to any reviews (good or bad). I cut it off/made a cliff-hanger because I'm still thinking of where I want it to go and I think I'm almost there (if you have suggestions feel free to coment). Enjoy!
"Do I really need to go through it again?" Musa moaned and leaned her forehead on the cool, white, wall.
"Do you want the album to sound good?" her manager, Jason asked as he crossed him arms in front of his chest.
"At this point I don't care," Musa backed away from the wall and threw her hands up in exasperation.
"You should care," Jason chided.
"Well I'm too tired to," Musa shot back. She had been singing for a straight two hours and it was beginning to upset her vocal cords, not to mention the fact that she had taken a red-eye flight to LA which, in hindsight, probably was not the best decision she could have made.
"That wasn't my fault," Jason replied. They were standing inside the recording booth, he had come in after she was finished singing the second to last song on the track. It wasn't that he was displeased with the way she sang it, there just wasn't enough emotion that was characteristic of her other songs.
"Ugh," Musa groaned and rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself.
"Come on," he gestured with his head towards the door. He walked over and opened the heavy door and kept it open so that she could enter the other part of the recording booth where the sound system was.
Musa walked through the door and stepped to the side to allow him to enter as well.
"Sit," he ordered and pointed to an empty plush, leather, swivel chair.
"Fine," she conceded as she let herself sink into one of the chairs. As she sat down she let out an overdue sigh.
"Here," Jason went over to the mini fridge in the back of the room and got out an ice cold water.
"Thanks," Musa replied as she took the bottle from her hand.
"So why is there no emotion in that last song?" he leaned his back against the wall, opposite of where she sat.
"What do you mean?"
"You're missing the emotion your songs usually have," Jason shrugged as he uncapped his own water.
"It had emotion," Musa insisted.
"It was devoid of emotion," Jason rolled his eyes.
"The song was the only one that I didn't write," Musa crossed her arms and contorted her face into a child-like pout.
"All of the other ones were about lost loves, liking your bestfriend's guy, and wanting someone who doesn't want you, it got kind of depressing," he analyzed her recent album.
"Thank you for calling my life depressing. I wrote them about my life for a reason, I can connect to it and show emotion. This song talks about being in love and having a love forever. That hasn't happened to me yet," she explained to him. It was true; the recent album was all about how nothing has gone in her favor in her love life.
"Well imagine that it has. Picture that you are with someone and sing about how you would feel," he suggested. He wasn't sure how to go about this, it wasn't like he could keep the song off the album, and without it the album was pretty depressing.
"That's easier said than done," Musa huffed.
"Work with me here," he pleaded. It had been a long day and he could tell that he wasn't going to get much more out of her.
"Fine, I'll try it again," Musa rolled her eyes and took a last swig of her water before heading back into the recording booth.
"Okay, give me a second," Jason said through the microphone. Musa adjusted her weight on her right hip and gave him an annoyed look.
"Okay, it's starting," Jason cued the music.
Musa tried her best to picture herself in a relationship. Without her mind really concentrating on it, her imagination pictured her on a beach. She could hear the waves crashing along the shore as she sang the first verse about the song. It was about someone finally getting the love they deserved. Musa closed her eyes to hone in on the scene that was playing out in her head. As she sang into the next verse she could vaguely make out a figure coming up to sit beside her on the beach. In her imagination she saw a tall man with magenta hair. He was built well and you could tell her was in shape because of the well defined abs that he was sporting on his bare chest. Musa took a deep breath as she sang out the chorus. The man with the magenta hair reached over and moved a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face to the side and then behind her ear.
Musa smiled with her eyes still closed as her imagination and daydream went forward. She got to the verse about being in love and her dream switched to a different setting, this time in front of the Eiffel Tower. A man, this time with black hair, bent down on one knee and lifted up a small blue velvet box and opened it in front of her face. Inside was a diamond ring.
Once Musa got back to the chorus she opened her eyes and smiled at her dreams. She didn't have love now, but at least she could dream about it. She swayed to the beat of the song and put in crescendos and decrescendos when necessary. Her imagination had done its work and had given her some inspiration to insert emotion into the song.
Musa took a step back from the microphone when the song finished with the final notes and looked expectantly at the door.
Sure enough, Jason walked through the door, only this time he was clapping rather than giving her a disappointed look.
"That was perfect," Jason enthusiastically said.
"Great," Musa said, her mind crashing back to the reality that she didn't have the love that she had sung about.
"What were you thinking of?" he raised his eyebrows up at her.
"None of your business," she chuckled, "do I need to do it again? I don't think I can."
"Nope, you are finished," he reassured her.
"Good," she let out a sigh of relief.
"But you do have one more song," Jason reminded her.
"Yeah, but that will be easy. I wrote that one," Musa emphasized the fact that she penned the last song of the album.
"Well then you won't mind singing it," Jason turned around and went back into the sound booth.
Musa nodded and stepped up to the microphone. The song began to play and she began lacing her words with the music.
"You are done for the day," Jason said to her as she collected her things from the sound booth.
"For the day?"
"For the day. You're sales for the first album have been really good, everyone seems to love you," he mused.
"Well that's good," Musa replied. It had never been about the money for her, she was just happy that people appreciated her realistic songs.
"That means concerts and memorabilia and paraphernalia," he said gleefully.
"Okay Jason," Musa shook her head at his borderline childish and definitely greedy antics.
"I can't help the fact that I'm happy that my client will be raking it in," he said with a smile on his face.
"You know it's not about the money for me," Musa reminded him.
"Sure, sure, but think about it, you're going to be rich," he gave an expression that said he was calculating numbers in his head.
"Whatever Jason. I'll see you later," Musa said as she opened up the sound booth door and walked out into the hallway of the building.
She felt something vibrate in her bag and took out her phone. Sure enough there was a text message from somebody. She gasped in surprise when she saw that the message was from none other than Riven.
Hey
She typed back a simple response. She wasn't even sure what he wanted.
What's up?
Her phone vibrated again and she looked down to read the text.
Not much. Bored. Want to go somewhere?
She couldn't help but be confused. She didn't think that he thought much of her. They were friends, but she didn't think that they were this good of friends, but there had been the day where he willing went with her and she took him to the amusement park. Granted he hadn't been himself that day.
Can't, I'm in LA.
When're you getting back?
Tonight
Musa had flown in on a red-eye and was going to be flying out later that night. It was indeed a long day for her.
When?
Round 10?
Will you be too tired to go to the club?
There was only one club in Gardenia that was worth going to and Musa assumed that that was the club Riven was talking about. It just seemed highly unlike him to be texting her and asking her if she could go somewhere. Even if they did hang out it would be because Darcy hadn't shown up or would be late.
Probably.
What about tomorrow?
Don't know yet
I'll text you.
Okay
Musa slipped her phone back into her purse and walked out into the parking lot of the building. She hadn't been sure of what to say to him and it had just felt weird so she decided that she would just wait until she actually got to Gardenia to question why he had texted her.
Musa stepped off the plane with a really bad headache. It wasn't that the flight was long; it was that the person next to her kept talking and rattling on about unimportant topics. The man that sat behind her bid her adieu and walked towards his right. Musa thanked the heavens that he was going in the direction that she didn't need to go. She pulled on the straps of her backpack and headed off to the left.
When she made it to the spot where people greet their friends and family she couldn't help but be surprised by what she say. Riven was standing by the door, looking rather awkward; he was bouncing from one foot to another.
"What are you doing here?" Musa asked slowly as she approached him with caution.
He held up the six-pack in his hand.
"I brought beer," he said. After his comment he rubbed his face with his palm and made a disgruntled noise.
"I mean, I figured you could you a friend and I need to talk," Riven said.
Musa looked him up and down and let out a laugh.
"You look so out of place," Musa said through a giggle.
"Gee thanks," Riven ran his hand through his hair, but smiled nonetheless.
"So what do you need to talk about?" Musa started walking. Riven turned around to follow her.
"It's not like you to want to talk," Musa said after some thought.
"Yeah I know," Riven replied, but didn't give an explanation.
"So what kind of beer?" Musa asked, peering over to look at what he was holding.
"I don't know. Some craft beer," Riven shrugged.
"Well you're a joy to be around," Musa pulled at the straps on her backpack.
"Sorry, I'm just thinking," he said. He was definitely somewhere else, but Musa just shrugged and continued to walk.
"Did you drive here?" Riven asked.
"No, I got a cab," Musa replied. She was looking down at her feet, making sure they were walking where she wanted them to and to avoid eye contact with the man walking next to her. She had been daydreaming about him anyways. She couldn't figure out who the man with the black hair was though which plagued her mind.
"Can we, uh, hang at my apartment? I just don't want to run into Darcy," Riven stuttered. It was awkward enough asking if she would hang out with them and then he had to mention Darcy.
"Oh, right. Yeah that's fine," Musa said. She didn't ask him what it was exactly that he needed to talk about. She knew he wouldn't answer until they were somewhere private and knew that he wasn't much for talking anyways.