A Million Faces in a Crowd
Chapter 5.
Carly sat at the sound board in the small studio, fiddling with the knobs and trying to find the right beat. Having arrived two days prior, she was hard at work on making the second track for what was suppose to be a huge up and coming movie soundtrack. Trying to keep her cool, she repeated once again to the singer in the sound booth to bring her pitch up about three notches. Bringing her hand to her head, she rubbed soothing circles to the skin she found there. Carly had been working non-stop from the second she got off the plane and stepped foot in LA.
With deadlines, Max had whisked her away and they’d been writing, producing and making music for the past 48 hours. It seemed today was when it started to get the worst of her.
“Carly, you know you can take a break!” Max told her from the chair across the room.
“I’m fine Max! We need to finish this!”
“We will finish it! Right now works for me!”
“You haven’t slept in forever girl! You need to rest. You won’t be any good doing this if you get sick!”
Carly shook her head and laughed. “I don’t get sick, Max.”
“Okay, if you say so. Be stubborn. Finish this track and you will take a break! Get something to drink at least. There’s a vending machine down the hall.”
“Yea yea, Max! Whatever you say. Just let me finish this track!”
Carly looked to the girl in the sound booth. “Scarlet, could you please repeat the second verse one more time and give me a lighter “ohhhh” sound at the end?”
The girl nodded and Carly tweaked the sound board as she sang to bring it to the right pitch. “Much better! Thank you.”
The girl smiled and continued to read the verses off the hand written page in front of her. Finally, they were rolling.
****
An hour and a half later, thanks to Max’s constant nagging, Carly sat on one of the couches in the studio sipping on a lemon lime Gatorade and munching on a small bag of cheese-its. Even she had to admit, it felt good to eat a little something. Carly had the tendencies to work until she couldn’t anymore. Stubborn in her own right and as hard headed as all get out.
“You’ve got a song I was giving a double listen to that I’d love to start with next!” Max said from his seat in the corner.
“Great! Who’s going to be singing it?” Carly asked, while sipping her drink.
“I’d like Scarlet to do it but I want your voice to be in the background of most of the track.”
Carly almost choked on her drink and begin to cough profusely. “Me? Are you kidding me, Max? I don’t sing! No, no and did I mention NO?”
“Carly, your voice would mix perfectly with Scarlet’s! I know you can do this! Stop worrying so much! It will take an hour tops to get your voice in it. I’ve even got another producer coming in here to help us get it just right. Don’t even sweat it! But listen, I’ve got to get going. I think you can handle whatever glitches you’re going to fixing on this CD while I’m gone! I’ll be back!” Max said as he walked towards the door to leave.
Dumbfounded, Carly sat there looking around the room. Placing the lid on her drink and dusting off her salty hands on her jeans, she stood up and stretched. Alone in the studio! She made her way over to the leather chair in front of the computer and brought up her tracks she needed to edit and began working.
****
Watching her from the window of the door, he noticed her sense of calmness first and foremost. Dressed in what he pictured her, jeans and a tight t-shirt, Carly tapped her hand on her lap as she sang along to whatever song she was working on, twisting the knobs and pushing buttons randomly to make it just right. Her hair shook gently as she moved around with ease. Every once in a while, she’d lean her head back and close her eyes. He could see her shoulders move with a sigh and watched as she’d place her hands on her face, rubbing the bridge of her nose in what could only be an act of exhaustion. He’d not only seen her but four days prior, thinking his chances were slim to see her again and here she sat, in all her talented, beautiful glory before him. His heart skipped a small beat. For what reason, he didn’t know.
Deciding he’d been staring for too long, he took this moment to enter the studio. Opening the door slowly, he walked softly into the room and stood their for a moment and watched her move around and sing along with the music before clearing his throat.
“Well if it isn’t Carly Piper.” he said with a smile.
Carly swung around in her chair startled by the familiar voice she’d just heard. “JC!” she gasped.
“In the flesh.” he said walked towards her. Dare he try to hug her? “How are you honey?” he asked cautiously.
“I um, I’m fine. Max sent you to work with me?” she asked. He eyes wide and questioning.
“Yeah he did. Is that a problem?”
“No. I guess not.” she said quietly.
He smiled and took a seat beside her. Carly cursed to herself. She could already smell him, that dang intoxicating cologne he wore that made her think things that should be illegal. Glancing up and down, she took in his casual look of loose fitting jeans and pink polo shirt. His feet were adorn with leather flip flops she noted as her eyes moved upward and she took in the days growth of facial hair that he’d added to his chiseled face. Glancing even further up she noted he was wearing glasses. Had her heart skipped a beat? Shit, this was going to be a long day. Professional, Carly. Be professional.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.” she spoke softly.
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Carly. But yes, I do wear glasses. Mostly when reading, but their helpful when I’m in the studio too.”
“They look nice. Make you look smart and kind of professor like.” she smiled shyly.
He chuckled. “Thanks. How’s the ankle doing?”
“Fine. Bruised but not broken.” He looked down and found himself starting at the fact she was barefoot. Shaking his head, he looked back at her and continued.
“So we meet again. Has to be fate since I couldn’t get a phone number out of the lovely Carly Piper.” he said.
She laughed at that. “Or it could be that this is LA and your everywhere. And maybe slipped my name in somewhere.”
“I had nothing to do with this Carly, honestly. Max called me and told me he needed an extra producer to get this soundtrack done fast. I simply agreed. I didn’t know I’d be working with you till I walked through the door.”
“It’s okay JC. I’ll believe you. Just, this is business okay? This could make or break me and I can’t put my job on the line.”
He nodded a little taken aback by her business demeanor. He could tell Carly Piper held back so much more than she let people see in the short amount of time he’d been around her. Slapping on his best business attitude, he got down to just that.
“Ok Carly. Where do we begin?”
Carly handed JC a folder that held song lyrics, melodies, and intricate instructions of what to do with the song. Along with it was a CD with Carly’s name on it that he guessed was her demo of the song.
“Max sprung it on me today that he wants me to do harmonies on the song with MY VOICE! Clearly, I’m not a singer but I want to keep my job so here we are.”
“You have a lovely voice, Carly.”
“I have no desire to be a singer though. I just want to write songs and tweak around with them so they sound good. They must be desperate for musicians or something.”
JC turned to Carly and looked her square in the eye. “Carly, Max is one of the top producers anywhere you go. If he’s heard something and thought you’d be good for it, he’s taking a pretty good hunch and running with it. I’d trust his opinion. He knows you can do this, as do I.”
“I- um, wow, thanks JC.”
“Your welcome. Now who’s doing lead vocals?”
“I think Scarlet, something. I don’t remember her last name but I’ve been working with her for the past two days.”
“Well is she planning on coming back today?”
“I honestly don’t even know. Max told me to start from scratch until she got back in here. Whatever that means.” Carly shrugged.
“Okay Miss Piper-”. Carly interrupted. “How you know I’m a Miss Piper?” she laughed.
He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles quickly. “I see no ring lady! Oh and I know my dirt.” he winked flirtatiously.
“You think you’re pretty slick, Chasez? I could have a husband and three kids back in Chicago.”
He looked at her seriously and a little hurt shown over his chiseled features. Taking this in, he slid back a little in the swivel chair. “Are you?” he questioned softly.
Carly took a second to study him. She could see the wheels turning in his head and almost feel his heart breaking for whatever reason he’d cooked up in his head. Still, she didn’t feel like being a bitch. Looking into his eyes earnestly and sliding her chair to fill the space he’d pulled away from, she grabbed his hand and laughed softly. “No, JC. I’m not.”
He let out a silent whoosh of relief, looking down at her delicate hand on his. “You seem to have left your broomstick back in Chicago. What’s the occasion?”
She scoffed but couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Excuse me? It’s called PMS and if you knew a thing or two about women, you’d know my broomstick isn’t the half of it.”
He threw his head back and laughed whole heartedly. “You’re too much Carly. But yea, about the broomstick, please keep it in Chicago. I like this side of you.”
“Well duh, everyone does JC.”
He shook his head and began to shuffle through the folder. “Ok, business. Since Scarlet no-name isn’t here, I think we should record your harmonies right now, that way we can mix everything when she gets back and does her vocals.”
“You want me to sing now?” Carly asked shyly.
“Yes, stop being shy. Let me pop this in and give it a listen and we’ll get started.”
“Ugh, alright JC”.
Two hours later, Carly stood in the sound proof booth, barefoot and chewing nervously on the inside of her mouth. With headphones around her neck, she looked at JC through the window and waited for the heads up.
“Okay Carly. Let’s give it a try. You know what you’re doing. Just come in at the end of ‘time’ and let it go softly through the first verse. Stop right before ‘You’ve got them on your side’ and we’ll pick it up from there.”
“Alright JC, let’s do this.” she nodded as she placed the head phones on her ears and listened for the track to begin.
Twenty minutes later, Carly took the headphones off and listened for JC’s assurance. “Carly, you got it girl! You ran right through it! Come on out.”
She stepped out of the sound booth and sat down once again by JC as he tweaked with knobs and clicked things on the computer in front of them. “That was seriously the fastest I’ve ever recorded harmonies for anything in my life.”
“Well it was my song so it’s not like it was hard, but thanks I think.” Carly smiled kindly.
“You amaze me girl. This song is really pretty too! You said you wrote this?”
“Yes, I did.”
“They knew talent when they saw it!”
Carly began to blush at that moment. She never took compliments well and she certainly didn’t know how to take them from one of LA’s biggest producers. It’s not like her voice would be used on the actual song. She was pretty much like a back up singer of sorts when it came to this track. They were still her words though and she disserved credit where credit was due.
“Honestly JC, thank you but I don’t take compliments well. I’m just doing what Max told me to do.”
“That’ll change Carly, you’ll see. I’ll show you how talented you are.”
****
-The Next Day-
Carly slammed her hand down on the sound board loudly and stood up with frustration. “No! I said it doesn’t sound right! It’s missing background vocals and music behind it makes it seem like a trashy rap song! This song was strictly written for acoustics behind it. Nothing more.”
The other sound engineers groaned loudly at her outburst. “Carly, we don’t have time to do it that way! Max wants the song now!”
“I don’t care! I didn’t write it to sound like some kind of every-day rap garbage. Either do it with acoustics or don’t use it!”
Max chose that moment to come in a connected room off the studio. “Carly, are you alright? Have you slept at all these passed few days?”
“No Max, I’ve been trying to prefect this soundtrack and that’s not going to happen if they keep up this nonsense with this track.”
“Take the rest of the day off. Go back to the hotel and get some sleep. You’re running on empty. Go recharge yourself, please. We’ll re-work the track tomorrow afternoon. I promise! Now get moving!”
Scoffing, Carly picked up her messenger bag and walked out the door. On an anger rampage, she almost didn’t feel the arm grab hers as someone passed her.
“Carly, where are you going?” JC asked.
“Back to the hotel. Everyone has a stick up their ass and their going to fuck up one of my tracks! I’m sick of it!”
JC’s brows furled in confusion. “I’ll look into it okay. Do you need a ride back to the hotel? I just have to drop this disc off for Max.”
“No thank you JC. The hotel is right around the corner from here. I’m just going to walk. This is a safe part of LA isn’t it?”
“Well yea it is but I’d still feel better driving you.”
“I’ll be fine JC. I’ll see you later.” Carly said as she stormed off.
**
JC walked into the studio and handed Max the disc he’d been waiting for.
“Thank you JC. I appreciate you fixing this on short notice.”
“It’s not a problem, Max. What’s wrong with Carly? She seemed pretty upset a second ago.’’
“The girl has been working for the passed three days on nothing but Coffee and adrenaline. I don’t think she’s sleeping for shit back at the hotel either. She keeps coming back with improved ideas and new ones.”
“So she went to sleep?” JC questioned.
“I hope she’s going to sleep. She nearly crashed and burned today.”
Nodding, JC exited the studio. Why did he feel their was more to the angry Carly he’d bumped into?
***
Carly tossed the pen onto the desk when she heard a knock on the door. “Ugh now who is it?”
Turning the door open, she was met with the familiar blue eyes of JC Chasez.
“May I help you, JC?” she asked coldly.
“Can I come in Carly?” Rolling her eyes, she stepped back and let him into her hotel suite. He looked around took in the spacious room.
He followed her to the desk with several papers spread out aimlessly. “Aren’t you suppose to be sleeping?” he asked carefully.
Shrugging, she didn’t even look up as she went back to her task. “I have stuff to do JC. I don’t have time to sleep!”
Coming up behind her, he gently grabbed her chin to look into his eyes. “Carly, you have dark circles under your eyes. Max says you’ve been going non stop since you got here. You need to sleep honey.” he said as he ran a soft finger under her eye gently.
“I can’t sleep JC! Haven’t you ever been so anxious and exhausted at the same time to the point where you just cannot sleep?”
“Yea, I have. You just gotta try harder Carly. Have you tried sleeping?”
“Yes I have! It was pointless.”
Taking in her comfort attire of sweats and a tank top, he took her hand and walked in the general direction of what he thought was the hotel bedroom. Pulling back the covers, he padded the bed and waited for her to crawl in.
Carly looked him as though he was crazy. “Um, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Quit arguing and just get in the bed Carly.” he said sternly.
She stood there, arms crossed and an annoyed look over her face. “I’m not tiered.” she lied.
“You just said you were, now quit being stubborn and get into bed or I’ll call Max.”
Carly let out an annoyed groan of frustration but when she did his bidding, JC walked to the widows and closed the curtains, trying to drown out any light.
He returned to the opposite side of her and toed off his shoes. To Carly’s surprise, he crawled in beside her, fully clad in dark blue wind pants and a gray t-shirt. She looked at him like he was crazy. “JC what do you think you’re doing?” she snapped.
“Roll over.” he instructed. At her wide eyed look he laughed lightly and replied a quick “Just do it Missy.”
Doing as he said, Carly rolled onto he back and bent her head on the pillow to face him. “So bossy Chasez!”
“Yea yea.. Just do it woman!”
When he saw she was situated he began to rub slow, soothing circles on her back. Carly immediately let out a sigh of pleasure that went straight to his groin. “Mmmm, what are you doing?”
“Helping you sleep Carly, relax. Close your eyes!”
Carly closed her eyes and continued to enjoy his comforting touches that seemed to be doing the trick of lulling her to sleep. Silence quickly took over and JC thought she was finally asleep. As his hands stilled, her voice interrupted his thoughts.
“You’re nice JC.”
“I told you I could be, Carly.”
Rolling over so she was half on her back, she glanced up at heavy eyelashes. He looked just about as tired as she was. “I miss this. Sleeping close to someone, having a man beside you. You don’t realize how much you miss it until it’s gone.” she spoke softly.
JC suddenly understood what she meant and his heart sank a little. He’d been craving this for a long time too, just the presence of a woman. Holding an arm out for her to snuggle up to, JC was a little shocked to find Carly doing just that. “This is nice. Thank you.”
Wrapping her snuggly against him, JC softly kissed her forehead. “Anytime honey. Try to sleep. You need it.”
Melting into his touch, Carly found herself on the verge of sleep as his hand rubbed softly up and down her arms. Glancing up at him through soft, tiered eyes, she spoke in a hushed tone. “You keep ending up in my bed JC.”
Laughing quietly, he kissed the corner of her eye before he spoke. “All we’re doing is sleeping honey. For now at least.” The last part was a mere whisper but he knew she’d heard him by the way he felt her tense against him. “I’m messing with you Carly, now sleep.”
Continuing his gentle strokes up and down her arm, he felt her relax once again and knew she’d fallen asleep by the sound of her even breathing. On the verge following her sleep, JC asked himself a question. What did he want with Carly? Was he really joking with what he’d said earlier? Willing his brain to shut off for just a while, JC tried to rid the thoughts that crossed his mind and followed Carly into what he could only hope was a peaceful slumber.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to everyone who's reading/reviewing. I was in a writing mood, hence the quick update :)
Story Tags: love boyfriendjc showersex jc producerjc
