Rayne walks into the studio 1 hr 25 mins after Tyler calls.
She was always late, to everything, but everyone always seemed to need her all the time.
She felt pulled into different directions most of her life.
Not necessarily because she felt compelled, she just cared too much.
Too damn much.
She wouldn't admit it, but she had a soft spot for Tyler, and he worried her... A lot.
He was so eccentric and on edge, he was constantly working, and she feared one day he'd just kill over from his own... "muchness".
Upon entering the studio, she is horrified to see it's a complete jumble of cans of empty energy drink, take-out cartons, and empty tissue boxes, all carelessly tossed about.
It also smells, weird... Gross, she dared say.
She felt a growing concern, as she doesn't hear Tyler yapping, pacing, or doing his thing.
Instead, she finds Tyler is sleeping in his chair behind the equipment, two of the band members are sleeping on the couch behind him, and one sleeping on the floor.
While one band member is in the vocal booth on a barstool with a notepad and pen.
Paper wads surrounded him, he appeared to be working on a song
Rayne cautiously walks in, not sure if she's ready to take this project on.
She momentarily thinks about walking back out before Tyler wakes up.
When the guy in the vocal booth looks up and notices her.
" Oh, hi! You must be the infamous Rayne."
She pushes tendrils of purple hair behind her ear nodding, taken back by how beautiful the man in the booth is.
"Oh, I'm Cedric, I'm the drummer for the band Subliminal Coastline."
He shouts from inside the vocal booth.
She grimaces, hoping nobody wakes up just yet.
She walks into the vocal booth, astonished, at how much better looking he is, the closer she gets to him.
How is a man like this even real? she thinks.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Rayne."
He smiles and shakes her hand.
"I know."
He smiles again and she melts.
"Right, uh yeah."
Rayne is trying to come up with something intellectually stimulating or impressive to fill in the silence when she hears Tyler shouting.
He woke up.
"Hey! There is my bitch! Man, I'm glad to see you, we got a lot of work to do, here come with me... Oh yeah that Cedric, come on I'll introduce you to the rest of them. These guys slap so hard it will spin your head around."
Rayne begrudgingly breaks away from flirting... Or more like awkwardly talking with the wickedly handsome drummer...
She always had a thing for drummers.
Tyler formally introduces everyone to her.
"Yo, yo, yo, this my homegirl Rayne, she's one of the best songwriters I got! Don't look into her eyes she can read minds.
Also, don't tell her your favorite somg she'll tell you your future."
Rayne smiles at the band then whacks Tyler's arm. "Don't tell them that."
Tyler's smile drops and he looks at her mouth unintentionally,
"Oh my bad, so yeah, yeah, ok. This is Subliminal coastline, that's Camille, lead vocals, Cedric drummer, Lazlo, guitar...fucking lit guitarist I might add, and the enchanting Matcha, bass player, and keyboardist, clearly the triple threat.
So... They came from Norway.
So we got to make them erupt into the music world."
Rayne takes them in and they take her in, exchanging polite smiles.
Rayne gave them a thoughtful look over, Tyler probably gave them trauma, they looked rough, like they have been at it for a while.
"Ok! Let's get it! Let me hear what you got."
Cedric moves towards his drum set, to have Tyler keep him from playing.
"You- you don't need to do that, she can listen to what we got recorded so far.
It's clean and raw, I didn't tweak it.
Here."
He hands her noise-canceling headphones and starts with them playing separately, then together.
Rayne presses the headphones closer to her ears as if she wanted the music in her head.
The bandmates look expectantly at her, Tyler gave the impression that she was important and her opinion mattered.
They wanted her to be impressed...
The band's nerves were showing outwardly on all of them.
Matcha started taking on Tyler's habit of pacing and Lazlo was flicking his fingers nervously, Cedric tapped his foot, and Camille was biting her lip.
The studio was circulating with nerves and anxious vibes.
Rayne could feel it, fucking Tyler fueling the nerves.
She took the headphones off slowly and pulled Tyler close to her to whisper in his ear, " This. This is level 10 good. That's the raw talent that has been missing, and it's right here in your studio... The fuck Tyler, why do you go around trying to traumatize them?" Then she playful shoves his arm.
Tyler beams and smiles felinely, like the Cheshire Cat.
"I know!" He mouths.
"Uh um, so, we all agree that the song is not ready yet, because it's missing something, and we are not sure about the lyrics yet, it's like some things aren't matching up."
Rayne nods while listening to Tyler, then spins around in his chair.
She nods slowly while playing back certain parts again.
"Right, ok, so what are the lyrics about? What's the story?"
Camille stands up and speaks up, which surprises everyone since she has been the quiet one of them all.
"It's about putting someone on a pedestal, and then they disappoint you and you lose hope and love in people so you look too made-up angels and Apollo the God of music. And he bestows the gift of music on to you."
Tyler and Rayne gape at her with admiration and respect and the rest of the band looks at her with satisfaction.
Rayne stands up with a hand on her chest,
"That's beautiful, gripping... I know what you need, this is a story of hope than loss, and a journey to find hope again. So the music needs to carry that message and the lyrics you got here need some work to convey that better....mmm
Matcha, how comfortable are you with the classical piano?"
Matcha looks at her
" Please... That's my first love. "
She says nonchalantly.
"Perfect, ok so I think we need some more depth in the beginning and end, sad depth, like a cello...
Yes, yes a cello, lets's keep this as raw and clean as we can. So Tyler lay off the sampling."
Tyler looks incredulously, "What? I was with you, till the last part, what about a Frank Sinatra sample?"
Rayne gives him a death glare,
"No, Tyler these guys are fucking good, lets's not hide them with anything other than them.
That's what's going to make them stand out. "
Tyler rubs his hands together and bites his lips.
"Ok, tsk ok ok I trust you on this. So what now?"
Rayne got up put her hands on her hips, sighed, and said,
"How do you guys feel about taking a field trip?"
The bandmates all got up at the same time, willing to do anything to get out of the studio, if only for a moment.
"Yeah!"
"Yes"
"Hell yeah"
"Ja Ja!"
They said in unison.
Rayne approached Camille and slapped $400 in her hand.
"Take this, I want you four to go to Venice beach between the beach and the pier, there is going to be a bunch of buskers, I want you to approach the only cellist there, he will be near the fire-breather, and the guy chasing people with a chainsaw... Uh don't worry about him though, it's just an act.
They're all street performers.
Anyway, his name is Walter, bribe him to come to the studio, tell him Rayne sent you."
Camille closed her hand around the wad of cash and nodded, looking to Lazlo for support, or maybe an answer.
They all nodded and smiled eagerly to see more of the city- and to get out of the hostage situation they felt they were under by their music producer.
It was like pulling Tyler's teeth to see them walk out without a complete song.
It killed him inside, and Rayne knew that, but she knew if they were going to get anywhere they had to get a break.
Studio fatigue was a real pain in the ass and squishes any if not all creativity out.
The band still stood in front of them,
" What are you all still doing here? Get... Tyler and I will clean the studio while all of you are gone."
And like that, they were out the door.
Leaving the two alone to clean.
"Why did you send them out, what if they never come back?"
Tyler said irritatingly.
"They'll be back, you said you trust me, so don't worry. Trust yourself too, they knew you were the best, that's why they came to you. It's going to be fine."
Tyler took her word for it, something about her soothed him, like she was a lavender-infused tea.
She went into his closet in his studio and looked for a broom, dustpan, and trash bags.
She yanked a bag out and started to pick up the trash. Then gave Tyler a bag to do the same.
"Jesus Tyler, how do you let it get like this sometimes?... Man, when was the last time you even showered?
No offense dude but you smell like a homeless man."
She continues to chastise him, nag him, and clean, the wreckage.
But...
Tyler just looks at her admiringly, because, in the business, it can get lonely despite being around people constantly.
Most were selfish and only cared if they thought they could get something out of it.
It made him cold-hearted and gave him tunnel vision...
Rayne was like a breath of fresh air.
It wasn't even that he didn't get action, girls came in all the time and practically threw themselves at him...
Gave him blow jobs, hand jobs sent him a constant supply of pictures, let him fuck them right in his studio.
Yet, it was empty... All of it was.
Sometimes it was just easier to focus on the music and nothing but that.
Rayne... Rayne was different, but she wasn't entirely in the business either, she had a foot in and the rest of her out.
Music was her drug, she could see it, taste it, she was in it for the music and nothing else.
And well, Tyler was enamored of her, but she didn't let on that she knew, and if she did know she pretended otherwise.
They were strictly friends and colleagues... business partners.
Because, Tyler knew they were two types of girls in this city, the kind you fuck and the kind of girl that you love.
Rayne was the latter, but he wasn't the kind of guy that could give it to her.
He spent too many hours in the studio to give anyone anything other than music.
Besides, she was still hung up on some guy she use to know. She also had a thing for drummers and almost strictly drummers... She had her reasons.
~~~
Tyler snaps out of his stupor when she hands him a bag,
"This is for you and the band "
Tyler reaches for it.
"Awe a gift? You shouldn't have."
Rayne goes back to picking trash.
"No, you need all the help you can get, your a fucking mess. You should consider hiring a maid or something."
Tyler looks in the bag to see a tin of cashews, eye drops for red eyes, ginger root, a lemon, a bottle of honey, a bottle of multivitamins, and b-12.
"Oh, cashews are my favorite!
What the fuck is this other shit?"
Rayne sighs irritatingly,
"Seriously, have you looked in the mirror? Your eyes are bloodshot, and the rest of that is to keep you from dying. Haha."
They both laugh, because I it was sad what people have to sacrifice to create songs, and it was all they could do to keep from getting down about it.
[[[I'll post the last part soon]].
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