let the good times roll

Keagan had been listening back on the tracks that the band had recently recorded, playing each track multiple times to listen to a different part. This was the fourth time he was listening to a track they titled “The Undies Song” and he was listening to Kylie’s guitar parts. He had to pause the track just before the second verse because she had just blown his mind with her part in the hook. “Kylie, your part in the hook is so dope!” he said, turning in the chair, but she was no longer in the studio with the rest of the band. He asked the other two where she had gone, but they seemed busy doing whatever it was they were doing. He heard strumming from outside the studio door and went to check it out, finding Kylie sitting in the hallway. “Hey what are you playing out here for?”

That’s alright. Raincheck, maybe? And that sounds exciting. Way more exciting that hanging out with a weirdo all night. Recording something?

Yeah at least they kept it semi realistic… even though I’m ninety nine percent sure they both could have fit on that stupid door and survived. But hey, we all find amusement somewhere. 

“Cats do tricks, too. I think they do at least. Hyde isn’t really about that though. He’s boring in that way.” She said and smiled. “He just doesn’t like doing that stuff, but I can get him to sit for a treat sometimes. It depends on the treat. He usually wants a piece of a Ritz cracker. He can have just a little pinch of it. He won’t eat too much of it.” She smiled at her and leaned against the counter. “Yeah, he likes you.” She said and reached over to scratch Hyde’s back. “He’s a little attention whore sometimes.”

Thank you for the advice and when I say it like that I start soundin’ like a dad.

Scarlet knew that Kylie didn’t answer her. She was paying attention, she was waiting for something, but maybe the fact that she didn’t answer told her more than what she’d needed to know. She shrugged when she cleared her throat, didn’t press. “That’s good, I figured you would. It’s we did too.” Scarlet usually did EPs these days. Almost the whole label had done them. “It means you can get music out more regularly when you do shorter albums. It’s good for us too, means we make back costs faster.” Albums could be good, but only if there were people buying them. “You know William will probably take it apart and make you rewrite parts, right?” There was a moment before Scarlet laughed. “He’s taken apart everyone’s music, it’s annoying, you think you’re done and then you’re writing again.”

Kennedy was a little bit surprised when  Kylie turned her down. So far no one had thought anything of her getting coffee. Sure, Kennedy had won Warriors Tour once, but this was her job now. “Are you sure? I’m getting paid for this. Just saying.” Kennedy faked a laugh and rolled her eyes at the thought of it. Maybe today it was just a little much for her. 

Lux smiled at Kylie, she was a nice person. She nodded as the girl offered to come along, her smile still on her face. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of breaks.” She laughed, maybe it was all a break. “I’d like it if you came.” Lux agreed and patted her pockets to make sure her keys were there. “I can drive, it’ll be fast and we won’t have to be cold.” She nodded her head down the hallway as she started down slowly, waited for Kylie. “That’s really fast, actually. I guess they’re pretty edited already though, right? Or are these demos?”

Oliver shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m dumb enough I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Maybe add some alcohol?” He cocked his head to the side, slightly, going from joking to lending a sympathetic ear. “That sucks,” he commented. “Have you written stuff alone before?” he asked. 

“Without a doubt,” he beamed. “Next time you have writer’s block, I’ll do something else stupid,” he offered. “You know, I could trip and fall, I could break some dishes, accidentally post a nude selfie to Twitter. Anything to help out my new label mate.” 

“I’m actually not blocked... There’s just so much going on in there and so much more on my mind, I needed some time out of there...” she admitted, laughing at his offer. “Oh, I’m sure the latter would have everyone writing something, artist or not. Also, how is it that it would happen accidentally...?”

Honestly at one point I stopped watching that part altogether. Right before the boat collides with the iceberg I turn the movie off and pretend everyone ends up surviving in the end. But I still don’t watch it very often. Mainly because I know what actually happens in the end. 

The actual historical event is tragic, definitely! But of course Hollywood had to make it into a love story, which is I guess why I find it entertaining when the ship sinks... There was no cliché happily ever after.

He bent down to examine the damage. It wasn’t too bad - the glass had split neatly in two pieces and there wasn’t any glass on the ground.  He propped it up against the wall, figuring someone else would fix it. He broke out into a smile as she strummed her silly tune.  “I’ll deny it…and then hide it,” he laughed. “That was pretty good, I’m always happy to be someone’s muse,” he joked. 

“Says he’ll deny it, or simply just hide it,” she continued her song. “But that’s not what I witnessed, though it’s none of my business... So back on the wall it goes,” she ended her song abruptly, strumming her last chord and quickly muting the noise. Kylie laughed along with him. “I think we have a platinum single on our hands,” she joked back.

Working with Fallout Records probably would have been more interesting if she spent any of her time actually making music. Instead she listened to demos in the offices most of the time, and played piano on a record if she was having a good day. Usually she didn’t actually get to write anything, and that was mostly okay. Today was a very bad day, and she had a list of drinks to get for everyone, all she had to do was finish asking the other bands what they wanted. She wasn’t expecting Kylie in the hall, and she stopped to listen for a moment before Kennedy pulled her pen from behind her ear. “Hey Kylie, do you want coffee? They’re sending me out.” She asked, her tone flat. It wasn’t something she wanted to be doing, but here she was. 

Kylie turned her head, continuing to pluck her melody, and saw Kennedy ready with pen to paper for her answer, but shook her head. “I’m fine, thanks,” she said with a small smile. She found the thought of someone else doing simple tasks for her ridiculous, she never needed to be tended to before, so why start now. “No need to ask the others,” she said, nudging her head towards the studio door. “We’ll be fine.” If her band wanted coffee, they were going to get it for themselves.

Lux shook her head, but she smiled anyway. She knew that Kylie wanted to help, and that was why she’d said it. It meant well. “Sometimes there’s just a lot of mush in my head and none of it makes enough sense to actually write about.” Lux explained, even if she was pretty sure that it didn’t clarify anything. She shrugged and pursed her lips, it was something she’d spent way too much time thinking about and talking about. “That makes sense.” She said after a moment and smiled. “So you’re going to release the best of what everyone’s heard, and then release more stuff. Seems like a good plan. They’re tested to, so you know what’s best.” She didn’t really know what she was talking about, but that was okay. “Is it sounding good so far?”

“Ah, you definitely deserve a break then,” Kylie nodded. “Weren’t you going out for coffee? I find coffee helps in any and all situations.” She stretched her arms out and stood, unstrapping her guitar and quietly placing it just inside their studio door. “How about I come with? I know I said coffee wouldn’t help, but a raspberry iced tea sounds good right now,” Kylie smiled, hoping it was okay for her to invite herself on Lux’s coffee run. “We actually have just two more songs to record and we’ll be done with the EP. It’s Keagan’s time in the booth right now, they won’t need me for a while.”

Scarlet was usually small compared to everyone, Kylie was no exception to that. Even sitting down she was smaller, and she crossed her legs and sat up straight because it was the most comfortable thing, and the thing that kept it from being obvious. She considered Kylie’s words for a moment before she tilted her head, her face questioned the girl. “Then how come you’re playing it out here and not in there?” It wasn’t like it was overstepping, really. She tapped on her knees lightly with her hands. “How’s the record going anyway?”

“Because I--” Kylie began her answer and realized she really didn’t know why she wasn’t sharing it with her band. Well, she did know, but she didn’t know why it was stopping her. She cleared her throat and picked up her guitar again, playing the tab that had been stuck in her head all day. “It’s going good, we’re almost done recording our tour setlist. We decided to release an EP first,” she said, completely moving on from Scarlet’s previous question.

Kylie’s head snapped towards the crash and she saw Oliver cursing at a broken picture frame. “Oh, no no, it’s okay, I was just... playing, nothing important,” she said, lightly strumming the guitar again as she continued to watch Oliver and see what he would do about the frame. Playing random chords and improvising a stupid song about his situation, “Ollie broke a frame, oh what a shame; what’s he to do, but to buy another brand new?”