The Masked Truth

Chapter Sixteen

"Problem?" comes over the speaker.

"I hate it." I shake my head.

"Try it without the line, I guess we'll never get past this. And I want more emotion in hello and goodbye," he replies.

James restarts the recording and I take his advisements into consideration as I try singing the lines again. I try to slip back into the emotional state I was in when I first wrote the song. It's hard, digging that all back up. Before I know it, I'm belting out those lyrics with tears streaming down my face.

"How was that?" I brush the tear steaks off my face.

"You blew me away," he honestly replies.

"Good, that's what I was aiming for."

James and I muck around in the booth for a little longer. When I have enough vocals laid down, I walk out of the booth with a dire thirst for some cold water to sooth the burning ache assembling in my throat.

"You're going to knock them dead." He pats my shoulder with encouragement.

"Hopefully, I don't to be torn to shreds by the critic's." I shiver at the thought.

"How is the music for Sienna coming along?" he asks.

"Really good, have some more material to put into the album after the last couple of weeks I've been having." I sigh.

"I'm excited to hear it."

"I will show you it soon, hopefully. I want a more punk rock vibe in some of the tracks, and I'm not sure how to get there."

"You're talking to the master." James compliments himself.

"Next time I come through, I'll bring you the new work!" I promise.

"Have you considered a different name for the album?" James suddenly asks.

I take a seat on the desk and mull over his question. After writing a lot about my emotional turmoil, it just seemed fitting to have Sienna as the title of the record. And with my face printed alongside it to – the iconic side of me, I figured it would help brand and advertise my new work rather than starting from scratch again. Now that Sienna is facing the chopping block, it makes me worried about what'll happen when the pillow hits the fan.

Hopefully it'll bust into a storm of fluffy feathers instead of having the cushion boomeranged back and punch me in the face.

"Just seemed obvious," I answer.

"If the album is about the two of you, why not have a cross name?" he suggests.

Just as I was about to dismiss his thought, I'm incredibly grateful for the suggestion because James sure did have a good point. Sienna might have been bigger than me, but Sienna couldn't be her without the likes of Riley.

"I like your idea."

I open my book to a blank page and write both Sienna and Riley next to each other so that I can look at name plays. The first thing I write down is Sienley and it instantly just clicks. It reminds me of serenity, which brings a warm tingle to my heart.

James hovers above me as he looks down at the page. I hear him mutter something, and then the words, "Sienley," come from his mouth.

"Do you like it?" I ask.

"Love it." He swiftly nods his head, "Nobody else is going to have an album name like this, ever."

"I love the idea, it's amazing."

"You could have half of Sienna's face and the other half Riley to assist the title. It would be a good album concept to submit to the world." That's one thing I like about James, he had solid ideas to help benefit me – he'd never taken what I'd showed or expressed to the media, another artist or made fun of me. He loved music on the same level as I did, which made talking to him so easy.