Chapter Two

The next morning was eventful, as you woke up to your phone buzzing at the sound of a call. Feeling the nightstand blindly for your phone, you quickly disconnected it, and answered, bringing the phone to your ear.

"Hello?" your voice cracked, since you've just woken up.

"Y/n? Where are you?" Ryan, your producer said, as you slowly sat up, the phone still pressed to your ear, as you looked at the clock: 6:30am.

"I was asleep? Why? I'm supposed to come in to the studio in an hour." you said, a yawn escaping your lips as you finished your sentence.

"Well, we need you in a half hour. We have an artist willing to collaborate. Remember when we talked about this a couple months ago?"

"Mhm. So he's willing to come in as well? So we can record today before I have rehearsals for my upcoming project?" you asked, slowly getting out of bed, and heading to the kitchen.

"Yeah, he'll be here at the recording studio in a half hour. Can you be here?" you listened, as you made your coffee, and headed back to your room, mug in hand.

"I can be there. How long will this take?"

"Well, we're hoping we can record at least two to three songs today before your rehearsals, so from seven to nine thirty would be ideal, but we'll see. Depends on what we might have come up, if we can get the band in, and if our collaborator comes in on time as well. I'll see you here in a half hour. Drive safely, I know you when you're half asleep." he laughed, as you chuckled, before smiling, setting your mug down on the nightstand.

"I will. I'll see you." hanging up, you headed to the closet, grabbing a change of clothes before heading to the shower and warming up the water while you stripped.

Taking a quick 8 minute shower, you turned off the water, before grabbing your towel, drying yourself off and slipping on your clothes. You opened the cabinet, grabbing your hair products and applying them before turning off the light in the bathroom and heading out. Slipping on your black vans, you grabbed your mug, backpack, and your phone from the nightstand before walking out of your room and finishing your coffee. Passing the kitchen, you placed the empty mug in the sink, grabbing your car keys from the kitchen island and heading out the door. Locking it behind you, the sun kissed your skin as you walked to your car, the warmth of the LA weather bringing you a sense of comfort and peace that had been absent during the rainy days. Unlocking the car, you stepped in, placing your backpack on the seat and closing the door, before turning on the ignition and driving out of your driveway and towards the recording studio.

The parking lot was half full, spot closest to the entrance was free, and you parked your car there, before stepping out, and heading inside. Ryan met you at the door, giving you a hug before leading you straight into the recording booth. Walking inside, the artist who was collaborating with you had their back to the door, as you recognized their hair and smiled. Upon hearing footsteps coming inside the booth, everyone turned, small cheers coming from your friends and people you'd talked to during your time as an artist.

"Hey, look who's here!" your manager called out as she came up to hug you, a smile on your face as the artist turned.

"Y/n, so nice to finally meet you. Niall Horan, at your service." he held out his hand, shaking yours as you smiled.

"Nice to finally meet you. I've been a fan for a long time. Thanks for agreeing to collaborate!"

He shrugged, a smile on his face. "Couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with a great singer and guitar player." he turned to your manager, before turning back to you. "Ready to start?"

You nodded, smile on your face as you put your backpack down in the booth, taking out the lyrics you had printed out the night before, wanting to have them ready as you gave Niall his copy.

"Here's yours. It's the newest updated version." you said as he nodded, scanning the lyrics, and mumbling the beat to himself. Turning back to you, he followed you inside the booth, slipping on his own headphones and standing behind his own mic as you did the same, behind another glass door, headphones over your own ears and standing behind the other microphone.

With a final nod from you manager behind the glass, the music started, as both you and Niall began to sing the first lyrics to the song.

-

The cast had arrived at the studio a half hour before you were due to meet with them, as they walked inside and met with the receptionist.

"We're here for rehearsals with Y/n. 10am." she nodded, before picking up her phone and dialing. She hung up and turned to them.

"She's still recording. Would you like to go see her?" they nodded, as she motioned for them to follow her. She led them to a room, much like a recording booth, as she knocked before opening the door and letting them in.

Your manager smiled at them, motioning for them to look over at the far right, as they turned, noticing you, headphones on and eyes closed. The music stopped, as the manager went over to the microphone in the booth. "Y/n?"

You opened your eyes, looking up, and noticing the cast. Smiling, you waved at them. "Yeah?"

"Try it again. Cut off that last verse, and bring it in a 180 when you do your falsettos." you nodded once more before putting a thumbs up and the music started once more.

Your voice rung through the booth, as the music followed your beat, before you cut it short and made the casts' eyes widen, your falsettos bouncing through the speakers. Your manager did a thumbs up, as they heard another voice come in through the speakers and looked to your left, noticing another famous singer following your lead on the bridge of the song.

The cast watched with smiles on their faces and impressed looks, as your voices combined together, mixing with the music and creating a beautiful harmony. The song was stopped, as you both removed your headphones and headed out of the recording booth. Both of you took a listen to the song, before you shook your head, wanting to record the guitar solo once more.

"Hey, Gwilym, you know how to play guitar, right?" you turned to him, as he nodded, a smile on his own face. "Would you mind playing it for the song?"

He nodded, before being directed inside the recording booth, handing him your guitar as he sat down, looking at the sheet of paper with the chords and speed. "At what beat should I play at?" you tapped her foot to the beat as he memorized it, and with a final nod, you walked out of the booth, closing the door and starting the music. He positioned his fingers over the fret board, before strumming the chords, his face twisting in concentration as his lips pulled into a smile. You pushed on a button, as the guitar solo was amplified, the chords ringing through the speakers and into everyones ears. As soon as it began, he finished the solo, as you stopped the track, nodding at him with a smile.

He placed the guitar down before walking out with a smile on his face. "That was incredible." he said, as you smiled, wrapping him in a hug and thanking him.

"You did perfectly! Definitely made the song a lot better than I could've made it. Thank you!" you said, as he only nodded, joining the rest of the cast as your manager finished jotting down some notes for herself later, before nodding at you. "Alright, we're done here now. We can head over for rehearsal."

They all nodded and walked with you, heading into another room with various instruments. "Alright boys, choose your pick."

Gwilym and Joe headed immediately to the bass and electric guitars, choosing their favorites as Rami walked to the piano and Ben to the drums. They each grabbed a different instrument, as you headed to the corner of the room, grabbing your own guitar and tuning it.

"Alright, everyone sit at your instrument and I'll be there in a bit. I'll start with Joe, then Rami, Ben and finally Gwilym. Just, give me 10 minutes, and I'll be there for you guys." they all nodded, as Joe smiled, his bass guitar in his arms. Sitting in front of him, you grabbed a nearby bass guitar, tuning the strings, before looking up. "You ready?"

He nodded, as you positioned your hands on the D string and 12th fret, before strumming 6 times, and then moving to the A string and strumming once. Joe's face lit up, as he recognized the song. You shrugged, "Well, you gotta start somewhere."

He mimicked your fingers on the fret board of his guitar, as he played. His tempo was a little slow, as you started tapping your foot to the beat, as he matched it, slowly getting the hang of it. You moved your fingers back to the D string, then to the A string. Strumming, you matched his tempo, as he strummed alongside you, a smile on his face at seeing his natural ability to play the bass guitar.

You kept this up, showing him the basics, how to read tabs and chords, as he followed along. "If you need my help, let me know. I'm starting you with something fairly easy, but we'll switch in a while." He nodded, as you propped your guitar, before walking over to the grand piano in the corner of the room. Rami was sitting on the bench, scrolling through his phone as he smiled upon noticing you, slipping his phone into his pocket and making room for you on the bench.

"Alright," you rubbed your hands, turning to look at Rami, "There are 88 keys in total, 52 white keys and 33 black keys. The white keys on the piano are named after seven letters of the alphabet and they're pretty simple to memorize: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The only thing to remember is that in the musical alphabet, it always starts with the letter C because it's the most basic note. All the black keys are major or sharp notes. If you look on the sheet," you grabbed the music sheet and showed it to him, pointing out certain notes, "You will see that some notes have a number sign over it, kind of like an exponent. That means that note is a sharp, which means you'll play the black key instead of the white."

Rami nodded along, taking pointers in his head as you kept explaining, before showing him how to play.

"We're going to do a pretty simple song to start with. It's called 'Chopsticks'." you placed your hands on the keys, playing slowly as he followed along. Stopping, you placed your hands on the same keys as you started. "Now, place your hands exactly where mine are."

He did as you said, as you pressed your fingers over his, showing him the rhythm. "As you keep playing and get the hang of it, you start using the pedals on the bottom to either soften your sound or mute it. As you go, you get the hang of it and it comes naturally. So don't stress too much about it." He slowly got the hang of the song, as you removed your hands. "Try it by yourself."

You did a couple different songs with him, as he reassured you that he would keep practicing. Nodding, you got up from the bench, before heading to Ben, who waited patiently by the drums. He spun in a chair, a smile on his face, as he stopped, facing you. "Ready?"

He nodded, and you sat at the drums. Grabbing the sticks, you twirled them between your fingers. Turning, you turned on the metronome behind you, pointing to it and looking at Ben. "This, is a metronome. You probably already heard of this, but since you're starting, we're going to use this to match a beat. I'm gonna drum a pretty simple beat, and I want you to replicate it. It's gonna take a couple times to get it, so don't get frustrated, okay?" he only smiled, as you twirled the drumsticks between your fingers once more before starting the simple beat. You hit the hi-hat on beats 1 through 4, counting out loud. Then, you used the kick drum on beats 1 and 3, as well as the hi-hats at the same time. After a couple beats, you added the snare drum in, hitting them at beats 2 and 4 in addition to both the kick drum and the hi-hats. Ben watched, eyes wide, as he noticed your multitasking ability before you stopped.

"That's a lot." Ben said, as you only laughed.

"It's okay, you'll get used to it. Here, let's switch. Just hit the hi-hats for four beats. Then, we'll keep going." you got up as he sat in the seat you were in. Pointing to the metronome, you turned to him, "Use this as your beat. Listen and follow." He nodded, before mimicking the beat from the metronome you on the hi-hats. Keeping the beat, you asked him to start the kick drum on the first and third beat, letting him get the hang of it. He kept going after a while, before adding in the snare drum. He messed up a couple times, and kept trying, before getting the hang of the simple beat. "Alright, that's good." he stopped, a smile on his face, as you showed him another beat, using the same three drums. "Keep practicing, I'll be back."

Walking over to Gwilym, he looked up, smiling, holding the electric guitar in one hand. "A Gibson Les Paul. Great choice." he shrugged, as you sat in front of him, your own guitar in your arms. "So, you know your basics."

"Been playing for a while. Just need more practice." he said, as you smiled, nodding along.

"Well, Brian's solos in most songs are pretty simple once you get the hang of it and since he doesn't read or write music sheets, we need to play by ear. Any particular song you want to start with?" he shook his head, as you chose a random song off the top of your head. "How about we start with Bohemian Rhapsody? Since it's the main song in the movie." he nodded, "Alright. Follow my lead."

You placed your fingers on the 8th fret on the D string, as Gwilym matched your movements and you strummed, before switching to the G string on the 10th fret and you strummed, bending the string, before switching to the 12th fret and doing the same, then the 10th, 8th, and back to the B string on the 11th fret, 8, 11 with a bend, and 13. You moved quickly, as Gwilym caught up at his pace. Only doing the first couple tabs, you let Gwilym catch up as you strummed at the same time, before you kept playing. The guitar rhythm rung through the entire room as you stopped, and had Gwilym start again from the beginning.

"Nice, nice. That's really good. Here, let's try another song."

The rest of rehearsal was spent equal time with each of the actors, as they practiced their own instruments as well as receiving pointers from you. Three hours later, you asked your manager to order food for all of you. You wanted to make sure the boys were in the correct state for when you had to start filming.

"So, how do you guys feel?" you asked, as you all sat around a table, food on the top and a plate in each of your hands.

"A little sore, but I'm feeling good about where I'm at." Joe said, as you nodded.

"Me too. It's been tough with the drumming, but I'm getting the hang of it." Ben said, the rest only nodding.

"Good, so each of you need to start practicing at home. Listen to the songs, play by ear, look for the music charts and sheets online. If you can't find any, then text me and I'll get them for you. It just takes time and practice." you said, as all of them nodded with a smile. "Alright, who wants to keep going?"

They all nodded, as they finished up eating. Smiling, you headed to the electric guitar, picking yours up and turning on the amp, adjusting the volume from your guitar. "I'll play something for you guys while you finish up." Their eyes were fixed on you as you adjusted the guitar on your lap, before placing your fingers on the B string on the 15th fret, before strumming and releasing, sliding down to the 17th fret and strumming twice then releasing, and moving to 15th, 12th, 15 again with a vibrato. 12th again, moving to the G string on the 15th fret, up to the "e" string on the 12th, G again, 15, 14, 12, 14, 12, D on 14. You placed two fingers on both the G and B string on the 12th fret, strumming with a vibrato on both, then removing one finger and going back to G with 14, 12, up to the A string on the 14th fret, and again with both fingers on G and B on the 12th fret with a vibrato. This kept going on, as they watched, Gwilym and Rami with smiles on their faces as they recognized the song then the others joined in. As you finished the solo of Brighton Rock, you looked up at them, as they clapped for you.

"That was incredible." Joe said, as you shrugged, a smile on your face.

"It was okay, I'm still improving. You guys will be able to play better over the next couple weeks. It just takes practice." you said, as they all headed to their instruments, waiting for you.

"Alright, let's finish up rehearsals. Who's next?" you said with a smile, as they smiled back.

Your eyes scanned the room, choosing Rami to help out first as they rest waited, practicing by themselves.

Yet, a couple minutes ago, while you were playing the guitar, you hadn't noticed their stares. Their lingering eyes, the beating of their hearts, the acceleration of their pulse. The way they watched you with a little something other than a friend's stare, something other than what you had experienced in a while. Something was different about them, change was definitely in the air. But maybe change was a good thing, if it meant that change would include you.

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