An Unsung Melody

Chapter Fifteen

"Damn, Tennman," Justin jumped at the voice behind him, turning to see Timbaland had come in without him noticing, "That little girl of yours can sing."

Justin shook his head, still dazed, "that she can, but she can also write. She produced the whole record you just heard."

"No kidding," he boomed in his low voice, "I like her style. I thought she was just starting out."

Justin chuckled low, "so did I."

Others were coming into the studio then, drawn to the song just as he had been. As the music faded Ashley, opened her eyes, looking surprised at the faces that were now pressed in all around him. "Justin?" she questioned, pushing her hair back. "Was it...?"

"Ashley!" It was JC who hit the button next to Justin that allowed him to speak into the booth, "What the hell? Why've you been hiding this magic?"

She laughed softly, "I don't know JC, I really don't know."

"That was pretty impressive," a new voice chimed in and Justin winced at the sound of it. Nichole, dark, perfectly curled hair swaying as she flipped it over her shoulder, looked around the room. Her darkly lined eyes flashed as she took in the scene around her and then without invitation, she sat down on Justin's lap, with an arm around his shoulders, "It sounded a little raw though, maybe I should try the vocals to see if I could take it up a notch."

***

Ashley, who'd just stepped out of the sound booth to the scene in front of her, blinked in confusion as she took in the Nichol on Justin's lap.

"Oh, uh...no," Ashley said in answer to the question she thought Nichole had asked. The woman shrugged in a way that called all the attention to her figure and Ashley had to blink and force herself to look away. She first met JC's eyes, Mackenzie's beside him and behind her shoulder, Logan. Those familiar faces shook her back to reality.

Logan pushed forward, "Do not let a single person touch that song," he told her forcefully. "That was brilliant!"

"I agree," Justin said forcefully as he stood up to try to get Nichole off of him. "Ashley, can I-"

He was cut off when Timbaland put an arm around Ashley, "Come tell me about your process, honey. I wanna ask about some of the sounds you used to get that quality."

Still confused and trying to shake it off, Ashley let him lead her away from the group and back toward the sound booth where she'd left several miscellaneous items strewn all over the floor during the overnight recording session.

Ashley stumbled a little, suddenly feeling small in the comfortable clothes she'd thrown on the night before, and aware of her hair, which had taken the brunt of her frustration and creative madness throughout the night. "I should probably go get ready or-"

"Nonsense," Tim purred in his smooth voice, "You look comfortable and ready to create. Come work with me over here."

He pulled her to the piano bench, asking her all kinds of questions for the sounds she'd added to her recording. She laughed when she showed him some of the things she had used, but he was more than encouraging. Talking to him, his words could go from a poetic lyric to beatboxing and back again in a matter of seconds. His creative ideas rolled around him in a way that was fun for her to see but exhausting to keep up with. He even helped her come up with a drum beat undertone that she thought would slip seamlessly into what she'd already created.

As their conversation slowed, a mental fog of exhaustion started to settle over Ashley after her sleepless night. She was trying to find a way to excuse herself when Nichole leaned over Tim's shoulder, "Careful Tim," she told him in a low tone that she made sure Ashley should hear, "she's got a reputation to keep up."