Nightfall came and Riley had no hopes of going to sleep, not after what happened earlier. She sat on her bed, in the still of the night, thinking about Jessica.
"There's so much going on. Kimberly is obviously of Steven blood, which makes things even more complicated. Jessica is back, she looked really pissed and sad. Oh jeez, help me," Riley said to herself as she reached for a pillow and held it in her arms. Thoughts were running through her head, faster than she could comprehend each one's meaning.
"Do I still love you? One year of no communication and I decided to try and move on, but you come back and my heart calls for you...what will I do?" Riley asked herself, longing for an answer only to come up with more questions. A tear rolled down her cheek, as she tried to figure out her feelings. Slowly, her eyes closed, letting her drift to sleep.
The next morning, Riley woke up to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing. She groaned and smacked the small clock, turning it off, but slapping it onto the floor. Feeling her face wet, Riley sat up and felt her pillow and face covered in tears.
"Come on, as if I cried in my sleep," Riley thought as she wiped her eyes and slowly got out of bed, heading to the bathroom.
She quickly showered, and pulled on a tank top, and cargo pants. Her cellphone began to ring and she reached for it from the sidetable, seeing it was Willow.
"Hey Will," Riley answered groggily, waiting for Willow to answer.
"Riley, hurry up we're supposed to be at the studio by now," Willow stated, hearing a silence on the other end.
"Good morning to you too Riley, how are you? I'm good thanks," Riley sarcastically remarked.
"Riiight, but come on, we're late," Willow quickly said, hearing Riley groan.
"Alright, bye," Riley said, hanging up after Willow responded back. She pulled on a black sweater, black military hat and a pair of runners before heading out the door with her guitar. Once Riley was out the door, there was Willow sitting in her car bobbing her head to a tune that was blaring out of the speakers.
*I'm bringing sexyback,
Them other boys don't know how to act
I think it's special what's behind
So turn around and I'll pick up the slack*
Riley twitched her nose before knocking on the passenger door window for Willow to unlock. Willow looked over at Riley and unlocked the door, letting her get in after placing her guitar in the back seat. The two drove off to the studio, late.
The two arrived at the studio and the band was all there, but Will and Kenn.
"Tut tut tut, they're late for once," Parker stated, watching the two women walk in 5 minutes after scheduled time. Riley glared at him, making him turn away in fear.
"Right, I slept in my bad. So let's get this started, pull out a demo and become rich and famous," Riley explained, as she set her guitar case down, taking the electric acoustic guitar out. The producer came in the studio, ready to record until someone knocked on the door. Everyone turned at the door and saw the president of the record label DFX Records walk in.
"Riley, what a surprise, what brings you here?" Willow asked, looking over at the corporately attired woman. Riley smiled and nodded her head.
"Last week, Riley suggested that another singer should be added because she thought something was missing," Riley explained, looking over at Riley who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, did you find someone?" Riley asked, watching as the woman turned around, waving for someone to come in from outside. Once the person walked in, Willow and Riley fell silent.
"Rhythmic Confessions, meet your new singer, Jessica Steven," Riley introduced, seeing that Riley and Willow as well as Jessica were staring at each other. The blonde raised and eyebrow and looked between the trio.
"Have you three---" Riley started.
"Met? Yes we have, er Kenn and Jessica know each other, Kenn just talked about her to me," Willow explained, watching Riley nod in understanding.
"Well, best be off, I hope you get your new demo recorded," Riley smiled, waving goodbye to everyone before leaving. Silence had overtaken the studio, creeping out Parker, Cory, Heather, and Daniel.
"Righteo, I'm Daniel," Daniel greeted, extending his hand to Jessica who partially ignored him before landing back to reality and shaking his hand.
"Lovely, what a nightmare," Riley thought to herself, watching each of her bandmates introduce themselves to Jessica.
"Okay you guys, let's get started," The man said, breaking up what conversations were getting started.
"Here's a copy of the lyrics, just hang out here until you get familiar with the song," Riley explained, handing Jessica sheets of lyrics and notes. Jessica reluctantly took the sheets, before sitting down with the producer. The band went into the other side of the studio, getting ready.
"Soundcheck, Riley," The man said. Riley strummed her guitar and spoke into the mic. The man did this to everyone else, setting them up.
"Alright, whenever you're ready," The man said, letting the band know when to start. Willow began to play a few notes, before fading letting Riley and Heather play. The band started to record the song 'Sweet Little Lie' so that they could do a release of their album at Twilight's Water in roughly a month. Jessica watched them perform the song and there was a look on Riley's face that saddened her.
"Of course I can't stay mad at you forever," Jessica thought to herself.
The band finished recording that version of the song without Jessica, but soon enough she was singing. Her middle melodic voice balanced out Heather's rather higher harmonic voice, and Riley's rather deep melodic voice. Riley was exceptionally surprised at how great Jessica could sing, then again it has been a year since they last talked. Recording ended successfully, and the demo could be mastered. The whole band and Jessica sat with the producer and listened to the song in playback. Everyone liked what they heard, especially Riley because Jessica's voice filled in the empty void of the music.
"Nice, let's take ten before we record the next song," The producer said, and with that Riley walked out of the studio to the back parking lot. Jessica was the only one to take notice while the others headed to the washroom or what not. She saw Willow walk out of the room and over to a vending machine to buy a bottle of water, so she walked over to her.
"Um, hi, you said Riley talked about me," Jessica said, looking at the redhead who raised and eyebrow, then smiled and nodded.
"Yes, yes. I've heard a lot about you," Willow replied back, taking a sip of the water. The two began to talk, conversing about Riley and what their relationship was and how it 'ended'.
Finally, recording ended and they all dispersed to different directions. Riley declined a car ride with Willow because she wanted to walk and clear her head.
"Now she's in my band, I mean really now," Riley said to herself as she kicked a pebble across the sidewalk.
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