Twiddling her thumbs, Savannah sat and watched as Skid Row excitedly chatted at her, all at once, and all indistinguishably. Rachel was gesturing wildly with his hands, and Snake was jumping up and down like a child.

   Their chatter all died down at the same time, and Savannah, completely lost with what the hell was being told to her, decided to congratulate them on whatever exciting thing they had done with the brilliant question of: "Huh?"

   Rachel rolled his eyes and snatched a paper that she hadn't even realized was present from Rob. He handed it to her. "Read these lyrics. They're killer!"

   It had been two weeks since her meetup with Rachel, and Savannah had slowly began visiting the Skids for reasons other than work. If they needed song opinions, they'd call her. If they wanted to have a movie day, they'd call her. It was obvious that they had all taken a liking to her.

   Especially Sebastian.

   Rachel could see it, plain as day. The way he looked at her was not like he had looked at anyone before. He'd always perk up when her name was mentioned, and he'd always be the first to greet her at the door when she came over. He'd talk her ear off, babbling in a way that Rachel knew Savannah saw through, and he'd always sit down next to her.

   It was clear that Rachel wasn't doing his job of preventing feelings. Again, he couldn't awkwardly third-wheel it; that'd look too obvious. But, still, he hadn't been minimizing interactions the way he could have. So, he would start.

   And now, the band had invited her over to witness the recording of the song the new album was named after:

   Slave to the Grind.

   Savannah's brown eyes skimmed over the lyrics, and she nodded in approval once she was done. "Those are good, guys." She handed the paper back to Rachel. "Can't believe you guys are already done with it. I feel like you wrote it so fast."

   "Right?" Sebastian said enthusiastically. "It was so cool how quick we were able to get it done. We fought a lot, but it was worth it!"

   He grinned in the cheesy way only he could, and Rachel felt the urge to scoff.

   Had it really been worth it?

   After all, the lyrics were good. But, the amount of drunken bickering between the band and Sebastian was getting ridiculous. You'd think that someone who was getting refused by four people would take one for the team, but that was not Sebastian. He wouldn't back down without a fight.

   And, that fight had almost gotten physical. He had almost thrown a punch at Scotti in anger, but swiftly sat on his hand in order to stop himself. He was no fool; he knew that the band was getting increasingly mad at him, and throwing a punch would not help things. In fact, it would probably get him fired.

   "Well, let's stop standing here with our hands down our pants!" Snake laughed, gesturing to the stairs. "Let's go fucking record!"

   Everyone cheered, and they began to ascend the stairs that led to the recording studio.

   From next to Savannah, Sebastian started to make extremely weird noises. Almost like a very pained, drawn-out laugh. The pitch would fluctuate up and down, and there seemed to be no rhythm to the madness.

   Savannah slowly turned to look at him, speculating about what the fuck he had snorted this time.

   At her bewildered expression, he halted his noises and laughed. "Vocal warmups," he clarified. "They sound super crazy, I know."

   "Those are your vocal warmups?" she asked incredulously.

   "Yep. But, they do help! They get the pipes nice and ready."

   "You know, I can understand why the guys are so annoyed by you," she joked, patting his shoulder.

   "Rude! I'm just perfecting the craft!" He swatted at her hand, giggling childishly.

   The six musicians had reached the recording room by that point, and Savannah took a moment to appreciate the studio once more. It was so high-quality, and she yearned for it.

   She saw that music technologists were seated at the outside of the studio, in front of all the complicated buttons, and Sebastian greeted them with a friendly wave.

   "Hey, guys," Rachel said to them. "We're ready to start now, if that's okay with you."

   "We're ready too," one of the music techs replied. He was balding just a little, and had glasses seated on the tip of his nose. As a glasses wearer, Savannah wondered how that was comfortable. "Get on in there."

   The band obeyed, and Savannah took a seat at the solitary fold-up chair that was in the room. She suspected that it was for Doc, who could usually tell when one specific person was off on something. But, this was only a demo, so his tweaks weren't needed at that time. Which, Savannah had to admit, she was thankful for. Ever since she had discovered his indifferent attitude toward pretty much everything, she felt a little bitter in his presence.

   She watched as Sebastian's hands immediately found the mic. He squared his shoulders, and his eyes were filled with concentration. The type of concentration that only musicians can adopt or understand.

   He looked so natural, she thought. So at home in front of a mic. He had a slightly giddy smile on his face, and that made her lips twitch upward in return. She loved how much enjoyment music could bring him, among other things. Simple things. Which a lot of people took for granted.

   She vaguely registered the other band members picking up their instruments. Rachel, Scotti, and Snake made sure their instruments were in tune by strumming the strings a few times, and, once they had found that their various guitars were good to go, Scotti flashed a thumbs up to the music techs. Rob absently flipped one of his sticks as all of this was going on, looking quite at home behind a drum kit as well; badass and skilled, even though he hadn't played a single beat.

   Savannah eyed the open door of the recording studio, an idea striking her. Maybe, once they were done recording, she could hop in there. Mess around with the mic and maybe record a cheap track. She hadn't the foggiest idea of how to do so, but Google was a thing. She'd figure it out. And, maybe, she'd leave the door open, just as they had done, so that she'd be able to be heard. Maybe, just maybe, she'd attract the attention of a certain blond.

   After all, singers have a type for singers.

   The sound techs pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the balding guy held up three fingers. Then, it turned to two. And then, finally, one.

   Everyone within the mini recording studio got the message. The button to start recording was pressed, and Rachel, Rob, Snake, and Scotti got to work.

   Fingers were strumming, toms and symbols were being hit, and Sebastian was bopping his head in anticipation for his entrance.

   The riff was very catchy. Sleazy, almost. Savannah hadn't heard much of the song, except for the little bits that Sebastian would hum, so she was very excited for what she would hear.

Finally, Sebastian started to sing, and her stomach tumbled, flustered. His voice had dropped considerably since songs like I Remember You and 18 And Life, and it was raspier now. Heavier. It made such an impression, and it stood out from other bands. It weighed on the senses in a good way, and it made Savannah realize:

There was nothing that man couldn't do with his voice.

Whether he was screaming, singing a ballad in a nice, soothing voice, or growling like he was now, he could do it all.

And the sound of it made her heart hammer painfully in her chest.

The passion he was singing with was superb, and as his voice escalated into a bit of a louder growl, he began making various hand gestures and closing his eyes to fully absorb him in the music.

"But I ain't at the end of my rope! 'Cause I won't be the one left behind," he sang into the mic. As he opened his eyes, he briefly met Savannah's eyes.

She saw a smile from him before he hardened his expression back to stone. That way, he could really get into the sleazy, hard mood of the song.

"You can't be king of the world if you're—"

Sebastian was cut off sharply by his bandmates, who also had mics in front of them. "Slave to the grind!" they cried. Rob seemed the most into it; he was wildly drumming, his arms almost a blur, and he screamed the words with a proud grin on his face. Almost a "look what we've made" type grin.

Savannah didn't contribute to the song at all, but she felt that same pride. This was the band she was working for. Despite her lack of contribution to anything relating to the music, she was associated with them, and that was awesome. This point has been stated and reiterated, over and over, but that didn't make the feeling any less true, or any less prominent.

As Sebastian continued to growl out the words, a feeling hit Savannah with unimaginable force. It wasn't something she didn't already know, but the very intensity of it nearly made her collapse.

She was so fucking into Sebastian. Again, she had known this, but she never really realized just how into him she was. How much she wanted to taste the pouted lips that were pressed against the microphone. She simply viewed her feelings as a small crush, but no, this was so much different.

She was suddenly aware of how much she had started to think about him. How much she smiled when around him. She had had crushes before, but none of them were like this. None of them were so intense. None of them made her stomach clench so painfully, almost making her dizzy.

She was no idiot. She knew Sebastian was also exhibiting some signs of a crush on her. She wanted to take advantage of that before his attention was drawn elsewhere, but she kept thinking about Rachel's distaste when she had stuck up for him. Sebastian was bordering on being hated by his bandmates, so if she were to engage with him in that way, she'd be hated, too. Possibly even fired. After all, colleagues dating can be seen as unprofessional.

Not only that, but, again, he was far too wild for her. They would never work out.

She watched him bop about, and she began to feel gloomy. Not being able to give it a shot made her unbelievably depressed.

Still, she was determined to showcase her singing voice to him. Impressing him sounded like a favorable course of action, and, maybe this would help him make a move. Because, even though she wouldn't initiate, she definitely would not refuse if he did. She didn't have the strength to deny something that amazing, right in front of her.

Savannah must've been zoning out for a while, because, before she knew it, Sebastian was belting out his final scream, and the guitar began fading out.

Even though she had been fantasizing about Sebastian for most of the song, she came to the conclusion that it was fucking amazing. She had heard enough, and while Skid Row's less heavy era had suited them on their debut album, this new, sleazy vibe definitely suited them, too.

Sebastian's lips broke out into a huge smile after the sound techs motioned that the recording had ended. He immediately began hopping around, arms failing. "OH MY GOD!" he screamed, grabbing Rachel's shoulders and shaking him.

Rachel responded by laughing, playfully pushing him off and removing his bass.

"You seem happy," Snake pointed out, laughing as well as he removed his own instrument.

"HAPPY?! I'M FUCKING ECSTATIC! THAT SOUNDED SO COOL!" Sebastian clapped a hand to his forehead, his chest heaving up and down as he fought to catch his breath. "I MEAN—THAT SOUNDED COOL!"

Savannah laughed a little at his endless enthusiasm as the band walked out of the studio. She stood up and clapped for them. "That did sound cool! You guys were fuckin' awesome!"

Sebastian, so caught up in his own excitement, ran over to Savannah and enveloped her in a huge hug. "Thank you!" he said breathlessly, squeezing her tight.

She hugged back, feeling her face warm up.

What an asshole, she thought. He knows he's cute.

Her slightly irritated thoughts were cut off by her feeling Sebastian tremble slightly in her arms.

She was a little confused until she heard sniffling.

"Baz! Are you crying?" She pushed him off of her and studied his face, and she began to hysterically laugh as she saw that his face was, indeed, tear-streaked.

He pouted, furiously wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand as the band laughed at him. "Yes, I'm crying!" he said back. "I just—" He looked at his band, all in one group, and ran over to them.

He looked down at his comparably short comrades and smiled through the tears. "I'm just so proud of us!"

Everyone rolled their eyes but Rob, who cooed, "Aww!"

The drummer hugged the singer, and slowly, begrudgingly, the rest of the band joined in.

Savannah watched, smiling. The genuine happiness that was detectable from each and every one of the Skids (despite the eye-rolling) made her believe that maybe, just maybe, things would work out all right. They clearly loved each other, despite the grievances they had, and they clearly made kick-ass music.

After a bit of time passed, they broke apart, and they assembled at the control panel to review what they had recorded. That way, they would be able to tell if they needed to do another take, or if the demo was complete.

The sound tech who was not balding played the recording for them. She had bright red hair tied into a ponytail and freckles dotting her face. Savannah noticed that the majority of the band seemed to be eyeballing her curves, and she felt a massive tidal wave of relief when she saw that Sebastian was not one of them. He seemed to be too involved in hearing his work, for he seemed to be getting emotional all over again.

When the playback was over, Sebastian let out his emotions in the form of hopping onto Scotti's back and screaming.

Scotti responded to this by screaming in return, attempting to elbow Sebastian off of him. "BAZ!" he shrieked. "GET OFF!"

"OKAY!" Sebastian hopped off, trembling excitedly. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! IT WAS SO GOOD! WE DON'T EVEN NEED TO TWEAK IT!"

   "I agree," the balding sound tech breathed quietly. He sounded surprised, as if this was something that never happened. "This is quite possibly the most kickass demo we've ever heard."

   The redhead nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you guys. I feel like you guys could even release this and it would pass for an edited single."

   Sebastian was on the verge of jumping out of his skin in excitement. Snake laughed at this, resting a hand on his shoulder to help him calm down. "You know what, guys?" Snake asked.

   "What?" everyone, including Savannah, questioned in return.

   "I think that we should celebrate this kickass demo. Crack open a few beers. Maybe more than that, but you get the idea! Consume alcohol," Snake replied, squeezing Sebastian's shoulder.

   "Sounds good to me!" Sebastian chirped, his bandmates nodding in agreement.

   The blond turned to the sound techs and grinned. "You guys are more than welcome to join us."

   The two of them looked very happy to receive this invite. "We'll take you up on that," the redhead answered with a smile.

   Sebastian looked over at Savannah hopefully. "I'm assuming you'll be joining us too, right?"

   Seeing this as her window to request the studio, she said back, "Yeah, of course! Can I request something first, though?"

   "Of course, anything!"

   "Can I dick around with the studio for a bit? I know that sounds weird to ask, but I just have the urge to sing. You know?"

   Sebastian nodded, understanding. "I get it. I have that urge all the time. So, go ahead! Unless you guys see a reason as to why she can't." He glanced at his bandmates.

   "Nope, no reasons here," Rachel said, the others nodding to signify their concurrence. "Knock yourself out, Sav. Have fun. Just join us when you're done."

   "I'll be sure to," she said with a smile.

   She watched as the band plus the sound techs left the room, Sebastian waving to her before she did. And, before she knew it, she was alone, standing in front of this studio that she had no idea how to operate. She suddenly felt a cloud of dread hang over her; she'd have to figure this out all on her own.

   But, she supposed that finally getting to sing in front of a microphone again was worth the hassle.

   And, she supposed showing Sebastian what she could do was worth the hassle, too.