SOS

Fifty-Three

"The boys are back!" Ashton grins as he enters the studio, the last of the band to arrive.

"Ashton's back, the rest of us have been back in town for a while." Calum laughs.

"Luke only came home last weekend." Ashton rolls his eyes.

"Ya, but I was back in the studio Monday to work on the album's final touches." Luke chuckles.

"I thought we were good to go?"

"I tweaked Bleach a bit, and we did the female vocal recording for Older, which is almost done, I just need you guys to hear it and sign off on it." Michael spins in his chair to face the other three finally.

"You got it recorded?" Ashton perks up at the news.

"We did that on Monday, and Michael's been working his ass off to get it mixed so it would be ready today." Luke nods.

"And from the way they were both going on and on about it on Wednesday at dinner I can only assume it's going to be great." Calum laughs.

"It is." Luke and Michael say in unison.

"Then play it for us so we can decide if we agree." Ashton pushes, settling back into the couch.

"Agreed." Calum nods.

"I want to hear it all mixed too, so if you've got it ready please play it." Luke grins.

"It's pretty much ready, here." Michael spins back to the computer, hitting a few buttons before Luke's voice fills the room.

Luke can't help but grin when Elodie's voice joins his. Hearing her voice over the speakers is a new level of amazing, knowing that the only reason it happened was because of how much she loves him. He was right, her voice is perfect for the song, and he can feel his chest tightening with emotion as he listens through their harmonized vocals. It's exactly what he envisioned for the song, it's perfect. Each line brings different memories with Elodie back into his mind. The first night he showed her the song, the first time it had crossed his mind that he would like to kiss her. Singing it over and over with her as they drove around St. Louis and she let him into her world. Every time they had practiced the song with intention, focusing on parts and where would be best to add in her voice and how to sing each part correctly. She sounds better than he ever imagined on the record, no surprise there really, she outdoes herself on everything she does.

"Wow." He comes back from his thoughts of Elodie suddenly, realizing the song is over, Ashton's jaw hanging open slightly.

"Good, right?" Michael laughs.

"It's great." Calum nods, "You two were right, whoever that is on the song really elevated it."

"And you're sure Cal and I can't know who it is?" Ashton chuckles, "Because holy fuck, I want to know who that is and I want to thank them for offering their voice to our song."

"She stated very clearly that she only wanted Luke and I to know. I'm pretty sure Luke only knows because he was the one who reached out to her. And I only know because I had to be here to do the production."

"Well, one of you tell her thank you for me." Ashton shrugs.

"For us." Calum speaks quickly.

"We can do that." Luke laughs.

"Can we make it a single?" Ashton suddenly looks extremely serious.

"I mean, it's our album so probably, but why?"

"Because that song deserves its own release day." Ashton shrugs, "The fans are going to eat it up."

"Bad Omens video got pushed back too, so we could switch it out. Release Older early in the month and Bad Omens with the video when the album drops." Calum shrugs.