Rylee watched the young girl behind the glass and she envied the singer’s pipes.  Haley was the lead singer of a punk-pop band out of Franklin, Tennessee, and Rylee was very excited to be a part of their album.  They were sort of a cult classic with their first album, so Rylee was hoping to help them take off with this second. 

With the way Haley was singing, it was completely possible for these guys to take the music business by storm.

“That was awesome, Hales, you can come out of the booth and take a listen if you want.”  The young girl stepped out of the recording booth and took a seat next to Rylee, spinning back and fourth in her chair.  The rest of the band had been in yesterday to lay down the music, so today it was all vocals and the two girls were the only ones in the studio at the moment.

Rylee played back the track so far and watched Haley’s face light up.

“That is awesome.  I can’t wait until the guys get in here so they can hear it too.”  Rylee smiled at the girl, but turned her head when she heard the door open.  Justin came into the room with a couple bottles of water and a bag of food.

“Hey ladies,” He smiled at both and threw a wink at Rylee.  They had both decided that they should attempt to keep their relationship out of the studio (all sex-on-the-counter episodes aside) because they wanted studio time to be about music and putting out the best product possible.

“Hey, are you staying?”  Justin dropped the bags on the counter but shook his head.

“No, I’ve got a meeting with a couple record execs, and then I have a ton of paperwork to do.  But I wanted to stop in and see how things were going and bring you guys some snacks.  I’ll be in tomorrow when the guys are here, though.”

“Thanks, Justin.”  Haley grabbed a water and started to rummage through the grocery bags.  “Sweet! Skittles!” 

“I’ll see you later?”  Rylee asked, knowing that it meant more than just studio time.

“Yes, you will.  I should be done with my meeting and such around 8.”

“Perfect.  See you later.”

Both girls watched him leave the room before Haley leaned over to smack Rylee on the arm.  “So, how long have you and lover boy been together?”

Rylee’s eyebrows raised in shock but she couldn’t hide the smile.  Haley squealed.

“I knew it!  You two are so cute.”  The young singer sat back and chewed on her skittles as she watched Rylee attempt to keep from blushing.

“We’re trying to keep work and our relationship separate.  We don’t want the music to be compromised because of something going on between us.”

Haley smirked.  “Right.  You keep thinking that you can manage that, and you let me know how that ends up.”

“All right…enough talk about me and Justin.  We’ve got more music to work on.”

“One more thing before we change topics…”  Rylee waited but wasn’t sure how much she liked the grin that adorned Haley’s face.  “How good is he in the sack?”

It was Rylee’s turn to smack Haley on the arm.  “I am not going to answer that!”

Both girls had a good laugh, but Rylee reigned Haley back in and they focused on the music once again.

“So…” Rylee started, “I was thinking about a song that would go perfect on this album.  I’ve got a violin riff that would start off the piece, and it basically mimics the guitar lines.  And I have some kick ass lyrics, but they’re not completely finished yet.  You wanna hear it?”

“Sure.  Show me what you’ve got.”

Rylee played the few bars of music she had on the computer, and Haley bobbed her head along with it.

“Catchy, but I’m not sure where it’s going.”

“That’s because you haven’t heard the lyrics yet.”  Rylee produced a sheet of paper out of her bag and set it down in front of the other girl.

“Second chances they don’t ever matter, people never change/ Once a whore you’re nothing more, I’m sorry/ that’ll never change. / And about forgiveness we’re both supposed to have exchanged/ I’m sorry honey but I passed that up/ now look this way…”  Haley read off the paper and when she was finished her eyes lifted to meet Rylee’s.

“This kicks ass!”  Immediately the girl took out her own note book and started to scribble stuff down.  “Can you play that riff again?”  Rylee pressed a few keys and both listened to the music.

“I was thinking that the melody could move a little like this…” Rylee hummed a bar or too and Haley nodded her head in agreement.

“Is this a verse or a chorus?”  Haley asked, already thinking of ideas for adding to the song.

“Well, I was thinking that the chorus would be something like this, ‘It was never my intention to brag or to steal him all away from you now, but God does it feel so good…’  Something like that.” 

“Rylee, I don’t want to know who this song is about,” She grinned over at the producer.  “I think your stuff should be the second verse, and I’ve got an idea for the beginning.  Oh…the guys are going to love this!”

~*~

Justin sat back in his chair and watched Rylee instruct the band on what they were playing.  She and Haley had written some songs together the day before and now they were laying down all the music.  He had yet to hear the lyrics, but Haley assured him that they were ‘kick ass’ and that they were ‘going to be a freakin’ chart topper,’ he couldn’t wait to hear them.

“Ok, I’m gonna play the strings for you one more time, then you all come in.”  Rylee pressed some buttons and started the music as well as recording.  The band played through the song a few times before they had the whole track laid down without the lyrics.

“Is Haley singing over the recorded track?  Or are they doing it all together?”  Justin had let Rylee really take the reins on this one, but he still needed to make sure that things were done in the best way possible.  Since this was a band, he felt that all of the recording should be done together as much as possible.  It just sounded better.

“They’re going to do it all together, I just wanted them to be more comfortable playing before I added Haley into the mix.  She can be a little distracting at times,”  Both producers laughed.  “All right, Hales, get in there and we’ll lay down this track.

The red head bounced into the booth with her band mates and took her place behind the microphone.  Rylee cued them in and the fact, rock-like music filled the studio.

The music ended and Rylee stopped recording as she threw a huge smile to the band.  “That was amazing.  I don’t even know if we need many more takes.  Haley…perfect!” 

Justin leaned over a little so he could speak to Rylee without anyone else really hearing.

“Is this song about who I think it is?”  He grinned as he watched his girlfriend shrug.  “I can’t believe you came up with this.  It’s incredible, Ryles.”

She smiled over at him.  “Haley helped, and I had some great inspiration too.”

“Do you think Christina would ever figure out that this is about her?”  Justin restrained himself from pulling Rylee into his lap when she stood up to press some buttons on the board.

“I don’t know, although, she is pretty vain so I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought every song was about her.”

He laughed.

“I’m proud of you, Rylee.  This album sounds incredible so far.  You’ve done an amazing job, I don’t even think I need to be here to help anymore.”

“Ahh, but you wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to sit there and stare at her ass, would you Justin?”  Haley’s voice came over the speakers and startled both adults.  The band all laughed at their red faces.  “Caught ya!”

“Yeah yeah, you just worry about making music and I’ll worry about whose ass I decide to stare at.”  He leaned over the board and shut off the mic so he and Rylee couldn’t be heard.  “Seriously, Ry, this is amazing.  I am so impressed with what you’ve done here.  If I had known how amazing you were behind the boards I would’ve put you on my payroll a long time ago.”

The group in the booth erupted into cheers and laughter when Justin leaned over to give Rylee a kiss on the cheek.  He blushed a little and waved them all off.

“I’m going to go take care of some other projects in studio 5, you’re all set here?”  He waited for her nod in the affirmative.  “All right then, I’ll see you at my place tonight, right?”

“Yes sir,”  She grinned at him and tried to ignore the group of musicians behind the glass as they made kissy faces at the couple in the other room.

“Good…I think we need to celebrate.”  He lightly tapped her on the ass and gave her a wink before quickly leaving the studio. 

Rylee clicked back on the mic and threw a look at the group in the booth.  “I don’t need any comments from the peanut gallery!  Back to work!”