A few days later and the studio was all mine, the keys in my hand. After passing over the check Aston had left me, all of the paperwork moved so quickly over the course of the weekend that I hardly had a minute to think about what I’d just done. Kenny really wanted to get the studio off his hands so he could move abroad, and that was reflected by how quickly things moved.
Aston returned home from tour on Monday morning and insisted that I take him to see the studio that he’d just invested in. At first I protested this, knowing that he was probably exhausted from getting hardly any sleep on the weekend, but he was so insistent to the point that he more or less carried me down to his car.
“Guide the way babe,” he said as he pulled out of the drive and switched the radio on.
The second I heard the song on the radio I freaked out.
“What?” asked Aston, nervous about my reaction, not knowing what was going on.
“Listen!!” I said, turning the radio up even louder.
The electronic rhythm of a Tinie Tempah track was pumping through the speakers and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
“OH MY GOD!” shouted Aston as he caught on to what I was buzzing about. “It’s your track. On the radio. In my car. Baaabe!!” I was so excited that I leant across the shifter and gave him a big kiss on the cheek as he continued to drive towards my new studio.
That was one of those moments that I would never forget in my life. The first time I heard one of my songs on a major radio station, being released as a single. Sure I’d had a few of my tracks get some airplay here and there, but mostly on little local stations in LA, and none of them were Top 40 type singles. This was a whole new arena for me, and I was so excited.
“Awww babe, I’m so proud of you,” said Aston, placing his hand on my knee and squeezing it gently. “Celebration is definitely in order later.”
“Ok,” I smiled.
At this point we pulled up in the back lot of the studio and climbed out of the car. I pulled out the keys to the studio from my handbag, and let us in. Instead of giving Aston the grand tour like Kenny had given me, I let him wander around and explore a bit.
“This is great babe,” he said, smiling and coming into the front room where I was sat on the couch. With a contented sigh he fell back onto the couch next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and giving me a kiss on the head. “I’m glad you decided to do this,” he added sincerely.
“Thanks for helping me Aston,” I smiled. “Now let’s sort out this business arrangement.”
“Not today,” he said. “Let’s talk about how we can spruce this place up a bit first.”
“But Ast…” I warned. “If we don’t sort this out soon its going to get forgotten.” I looked over at him to see him picking at a loose thread on his jumper. “That’s your plan isn’t it?” I asked, incredulous.
“What no!” he laughed nervously.
“Tell me the truth,” I warned.
“Ok, so it might have crossed my mind…” he started. But I wouldn’t let him finish as I smacked him hard on the arm.
“You idiot!” I shouted.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me get away with it though,” he smirked. “You are far too stubborn, which is part of the reason I love you babe,” he added as he let his hand trail down my thigh.
“Quit trying to use your cheekiness to make me forget that I’m annoyed with you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” husked Aston as he leant forward and pressed his lips against my own. The kiss was so sultry and seductive that at first I couldn’t help but forget that he was being troublesome, but soon enough I got wise and pushed him away.
“You are trouble,” I laughed. We sat on the couch and chatted for a bit longer about things, and I finally managed to nail down an agreement with Aston on paying him back for the studio. We’d decided that he’d get a quarter of my earnings on any work I did until I’d paid him back in full, and he got to help name the studio.
“Let’s go find a late lunch,” he said after awhile, pulling me up off the couch. “I do owe you a bit of a celebration.”
“Sure, we can pick something up and head home,” I smiled.
“No, I want to take you out for a nice sit down meal,” he said.
“But, what about the paps?” I asked. We hadn’t been out together outside of the quiet neighborhood he lived in since I’d moved to London. Back home I knew that no paps would be around, in my small town, but this city was a whole other story. I was nervous about being snapped and put into the paper, especially because I was with Aston.
“So what?” asked Aston. “If they see us they see us, if they don’t, then we got lucky.”
“But…”
“Who cares what they think?” he added. “It’s not like we’re going to be doing anything illegal or scandalous or anything. It’s just lunch.”
“Fine,” I sighed, grabbing my things and following him out the front door, locking up behind me. We walked down to the high street, and found a little café that was serving a special three-course lunch. Aston and I sat down in the back of the restaurant, enjoying a long luxurious meal. The food was exquisite, and we spent the entire time talking about names for the production house, not agreeing on anything in the end. We knew it would come to us.
When we were finished we headed back to Aston’s car and went towards home. Aston was doing a few late afternoon interviews and a late night TV appearance, so he had to get himself together and get headed.
The rest of the week was busy. I was working hard on getting my studio cleaned up so that I could look towards trying to get some bookings. Aston was busy with promo, sometimes leaving very early in the morning and other days staying out till very late at night. I was looking forward to Thursday night, when we’d actually have a chance to spend sometime together…
