It was a few days later and Aston had left on his first long weekend of the JLS Summer Tour. At first it was really hard to say goodbye, but I was relieved by the knowledge that he would be home soon. It was different than before when he’d go away for X Factor things. Those days there was uncertainty about what was next. Today however, I knew that at the end of all of this, Aston would be home and I’d still be with him.
I’d set up an appointment to see the studio on a Friday afternoon. I was nervous about this, it was scary making such a huge investment, effectively deciding to go it on my own in regard to the career thing.
I dressed in my one work outfit, hoping to make a bit of an impression if discussions of money started to come up. Aston had pretty much relinquished control of his Audi TT to me, after only a little bit of persuasion, so I was able to drive into town no problem. I couldn't resist trying to steal one of his sports cars from him.
I pulled up at the studio fifteen minutes before my appointment. I wanted to get a first impression of it from the outside before meeting the seller. I got out of my car and wandered up and down the street, taking in the neighborhood a bit. It was just off a busy road, one that had all of the common shops and restaurants typical of a high street.
The studio itself was on the ground floor of a newer looking office and apartment building. It had nice pictures windows on the front, facing out to the street, and there was a small hanging sign that gave the whole place a very homey feel.
I walked up to the door and let myself in, as I had been told to do on the phone. Immediately, the studio’s current owner, Kenny, came bustling out to the front room to meet me.
“Hey there, Jessica right?” he asked, shaking my hand.
“Yup, how’re you?” I smiled politely.
“Great, let me show you around,” he said.
First he showed me the front room. It felt almost like a living room, it had pictures hanging up all over the walls and there was a nice big couch along one wall with a table in front of it. The other half of the room had a decent sized table with a collection of chairs around it.
“So I’m selling the place with the furniture if you want it,” he smiled as I grazed my hand across the table.
“Ok,” I replied, taking it all in.
After the front room he took me down a hall. There were three doors. First room was a small bathroom, which would obviously be nice to have. The second door was to a decent sized office. There was a large desk and a small kitchenette in the corner.
“This place was meant to be a small flat,” Kenny told me. “At one point it had a full on kitchen and everything, but we took down some of the walls and reconfigured it a bit.”
“That explains the shower in the bathroom,” I said, putting the pieces together.
“Sure does,” he said. I liked the office well enough. I could find myself doing work here.
“And now the piece de resistance,” said Kenny, leading me into the studio. I felt my jaw hit the floor a bit as I walked in. I was expecting to see a small little corner booth and a tiny set of controls, but this room was a full on proper studio. The booth could hold a whole rock band if I needed it to, and the switchboard of controls was massive. It was way nicer than anything I’d worked with in LA. Only question was, did it work properly?
“Do you mind if I play with it for a little bit?” I asked, running my hands across the controls.
“I’ll do you one better,” said Kenny, “I’ll pop into the booth and you can record me for a bit.”
I smiled at this as he let himself into the booth. I messed with the controls for a bit, and when I was happy with them I had him start singing random nursery rhymes. In my head I was trying to convince myself that the equipment wasn’t good enough, but as I started playing with it I couldn’t get over how nice it was.
After we were finished I thanked Kenny for the tour and told him I’d call him back as soon as I’d made a decision. As a good seller strategy he warned me not to take too long, as there were other potential buyers out there. I wasn’t sure if I should believe this.
I sighed as I went out to Aston’s TT, and I couldn’t help but turn my head and have another look at the studio. It was perfect.
As I sat down in the car I noticed that I had a text, [Give me a call once you’ve seen the studio, want to hear how it looks. A xx]. I smiled at the text before ringing him back, placing the phone to my ear.
“Anndddd?” asked the voice on the other end, instead of a salutation.
I sighed deeply.
“Babe? Tell me! How was it!” he said, excited.
“I really want it,” I replied after a minute.
“YES!!!” he shouted. I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a minute.
“Why you so excited?” I asked, curious as to why he was the one doing the yelling.
“I just have a really really good feeling about this,” he said.
We sat and chatted for a bit, as Aston urged me to get out of his car and walk in and make an offer for the studio on the spot. I protested this, saying I wasn’t prepared to put down any money yet.
"Ast!!! I can't afford it," I whined for the tenth time. "Stop trying to be an enabler."
"But babe, if this is what you want, I don't want anything to stop you."
"But babe...."
“Listen Jess, I left a blank cheque for you in the glove box… Just take it and go pay for the studio” he said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
“You idiot!” I laughed. “What if the car had been stolen or something?”
“It wasn’t going to get stolen,” he sighed. “Now go, march into that studio, and pay for it with that cheque. We’ll work out our business arrangement when I get home.”
“But…”
“GO!!” he said, and then the line went dead.
I sat and stared at my phone for a second, surprised at how cheeky he’d been to hang up on me. After a moment had passed I leaned over and opened the glove box, sure enough finding an envelope with a signed blank cheque from Aston. I stared at it, contemplating the gesture for a minute. I really didn't want to take his money, but I really wanted the studio. Sighing, I quickly slipped it into my purse and then got out of the car, striding back to the studio.
I hesitantly opened the front door, shouting out for Kenny. Quickly he came out of the office and back down the hall.
“Everything ok?” he asked, clearly surprised to see me so soon.
“I’ll take it,” I said confidently, brandishing the blank cheque.
