Keeping It Together • Sebastian Bach

Chapter 16: Voice Of An Angel (Part 1)

   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."