(covid does not exist in this story)
[ chapter 1 ]
december 30, 2018
6:00 a.m
manhattan, new york
- - - - -
"Na, na, na.. na, na, na." I hummed along to the beat I had produced. I started it about 20 minutes ago and already finished. The sun was still rising but a good portion was already up. I've been here before sunrise.
"Don't take much to start me... push up on my body, yeah." I matched the lyrics I wrote before the beat, but I felt as if something was missing.
I sighed, leaning back as I scanned over the written words. The track played on repeat by the loud studio speakers.
"We can just dance to this." I thought out loud. My eyes then widened and I quickly wrote that down. This is when I began to completely reconstruct the lyrics to fit in the new sequence of words.
"Dance To This." I whispered before smiling widely. Song; complete. Title and all.
It was now 7:30 am, and I was sipping on my third cup of coffee this morning. I know it's not very good for you, but it tastes good. And it keeps me up.
I hope.
I was debating recording the song myself but I couldn't come up with a final decision. The reason being someone, well someone(s) barged into the studio. Rather loudly, may I add.
"No! Cou- oh." I turned my head to see 6 girls and 2 guys. They were all fairly attractive, but the one smack dab in the front completely took my breath away. My stomach rumbled with that funny feeling just looking over her.
"Shit, I'm so sorry. Is your session still going?" I glanced at the clock. It was indeed still 7:30 — 7:35 now, which means it's still my time.
"Uh, yeah. Is yours supposed to be right now, too?" She bit her lip, looking me up and down quickly before responding.
"Not quite, but I wanted to come in early anyways. I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll go-" I don't know what I was thinking, but I quickly cut her off.
"No! I mean-" I chuckled, clearing my throat in attempt to ease the embarrassment from my outburst.
"You don't have to. I'm fine with a bit of company — if you're down?" She smiled softly. She glanced at her friends, who shrugged as if they didn't care/mind.
"Sure! We'll be over here. Let us know if we're being too loud." She laughed, as her friends did as well. I stood up as I chuckled along with them. Damn, I just noticed she really is small as fuck.
"Fosho, but before that," I walked over and held my hand out with a small grin.
"I'm Y/n." She took my outstretched hand with her soft one and shook it firmly. "Ariana." She smiled widely. When we separated, she turned to her friends.
The first one to step forward was a beautiful dark skinned girl. She flashed her pearly whites with her hand held out.
"I'm Victoria." I shook it and smiled. "Y/n." I said again. That repeated with the rest of her friends. I learned that their names were Courtney, Njomza, Tayla, Alexa, Doug, and Kiyan.
"Well, it's nice to meet you all. I'm working on a song in the booth right now so I apologize in advance." I made a face which made all of them laugh. Ariana shook her head with a big smile and a chuckle.
"No worries, do yo thang." She winked. I laughed and nodded before walking back to my stuff. The light chatter amongst the friend group that were sitting at the sofas was warm and welcoming. I didn't find it distracting at all; which surprises me as I almost always like working alone.
I played the beat and quickly jumped into the booth with my laptop in hand.
young ambition
say we'll go slow but we never do
premonition
see me spendin' every night with you
I slowly sat down, careful to keep it from impacting my vocals.
oh
under the kitchen lights
you still look like dynamite
and i wanna end up with you
oh
dont need no place to go
just put on the radio
you know what i wanna do
we can just dance to this
don't take much to start me
we can just dance to this
push up on my body, yeah
you know we've
already seen all of the parties
we can just dance to this
we can just
we can just
dance to this
dance to this
we can just
dance to this
I stopped the track and stepped out. When I placed my laptop on the small desk it was sat on before, claps were heard on the right side of the studio.
"You killed that shit! I don't think I've ever heard someone do it so smooth in one take like that." I smiled sheepishly and looked away. I usually don't sing, so to be complimented by thee ARIANA GRANDE is too much for to me to handle.
"It wasn't that good." I chuckled, shaking my head as I played it back.
"Pssh," I laughed even harder at her friends' reactions. "Better than Ariana." Doug commented and the brunette gasped, slapping his shoulder playfully. I couldn't help but laugh again.
"Y'all are stupid." The smile on my face couldn't be bothered to disappear as I fixed a few things and attached my vocals to the track a little better.
"See! That sounds so good." Ariana got all giddy, squirming in her seat with heart eyes. My chest tightened and my stomach swirled in adoration. I've never seen someone get so excited over music.
man, she's breathtaking
"Wanna hop on?" I half-joked, but as soon as I said that her face got serious.
"Don't fuck wimme. You kiddin'?" I shrugged, shaking my head. "Nope. Do you actually? Because, I meann.." I smirked. She giggled, standing up and walking over.
"Show me what you got." She replicated my challenging expression.
I moved the laptop over for her to see and backed away; holding my hands up in a playful surrender. She took the mouse and scrolled through the lyrics slowly, still hearing my voice and the track in the background.
"I love it! Can I make a couple changes for
my verse?" I immediately nodded. "All you want." I smiled lightly. She returned it and thanked me before clicking on a part and using the backspace.
I watched as she altered some things and then stood straight with a proud smile. "I'm ready." She gave me a grin.
I returned it and nodded, gesturing for her to step into the booth. She gently grabbed my laptop and did as asked. I watched her sit down and get settled. I simply admired her every move. Light makeup, oversized hoodie and some thigh highs and she still looked effortlessly beautiful.
pete's an idiot
I gave her a thumbs up, which she returned. With that, I started the track a couple seconds away from the end of my part.
dear beloved
bring those 501s a bit closer, bit closer
and dear, my lover
do that thing we'd never do sober, sober
oh
under the kitchen lights
you still look like dynamite
and i wanna end up on you (yeah)
oh
we dont need no place to go
just put on the radio
you know what i wanna do
I noticed she changed the girl parts to "dear beloved" and "dear, my lover". I also noticed she didn't put boy instead. I don't know if that was a personal touch or an artistic one, but nonetheless it was great.
"I'm gonna have you keep going into the chorus, try to harmonize with me, okay?" I spoke into the studio mic. She nodded and I smiled before playing a little into the end of her verse.
It surprised me how easy it was for her to do as I asked. Our voices sounded amazing together and it seemed as if she didn't even need to try. When she reached the end, she held her pointer finger up and moved away from the microphone to connect eyes with me.
"Can I redo that? I feel like I could do a little better." My jaw dropped. "A little better? Damn girl, how good can you get?" I thought out loud, chuckling. She blushed and looked away.
"Shut up and start from the top." I laughed but did so.
She did better.
this girl is amazing
I know right.
I nodded along to the playback as she came out of the booth. "Wow, that sounds really good." Victoria said from one of the couches. I nodded, agreeing with her as the rest did.
"It really does. We sound good together." Ariana smiled at me. I looked into her eyes and returned it subconsciously. It felt like I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried.
"Alright," I cleared my throat, looking away and down at my computer. "How about we jump on the bridge but I wanna add a twist to it." I smirked. She nodded and I walked into the booth. I didn't need my computer as I already knew the lyrics.
I gave the shorter girl a thumbs up and she started the track a few seconds before the part like I do.
i don't wanna sleep tonight
night-night-night-night
i just wanna take that ride
Before, and while, I was singing she slid into the booth, sitting down on the other chair and adjusting the microphone.
i don't wanna sleep tonight
night-night-night-night
i just wanna take that ride
We sang together. Our voices mixed perfectly and I couldn't help my growing smile. Obviously, she couldn't either.
The beat "dropped" again and we sang the chorus with different ad-libs and harmonies. Soon enough, we had finished the vocals for it and I was beyond satisfied. Ariana and I, along with her friends, clapped as we both stepped out of the booth.
I had so much fun with it, us just singing along; dancing in our seat. I even made a funny face one time and she had to lean back from the mic to keep her giggle from being recorded. She had playfully pushed and nudged my shoulder a couple times too.
I then fixed up the track, had Ariana and I go into the booth to add even more ad-libs once in a while.
My session was over and it was now Ariana's official studio time by the time the song was completely finished. I played the official track one last time as I began packing my stuff up.
"Wow. I didn't think I'd have a song done this session. Thank you." Ariana smiled genuinely at me. She had seemed a little stressed when she walked through the door at first, but now her smile and demeanor was much more carefree.
I don't know why that affected me so much, but it really did make me genuinely happy.
"Anytime. Like, honestly. I'd love to do another song with you in the near future." I admitted as the song ended.
She smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically. "I'm so down." She giggled as I laughed along.
"Here, can I get your number? And I'll let you know when I release the song?" She nodded, pulling her phone out from her back pocket. I did the same and we exchanged numbers. I saved my contact as 'y/n 🕺'.
I looked down, seeing she put something similar.
'ari 💃'
I chuckled at the same time she giggled. Simulatenously, we both looked up and gave each other sheepish smiles. I grabbed my backpack with my stuff and laptop in it, swinging it around my body and placing my arms through both straps.
"I'll see you around Ariana." I smiled, which she returned as she took me by surprise; enveloping me into a tight hug. I quickly reciprocated.
"See ya, Y/n." I gave her one last smile before saying goodbye to her friends and leaving.
As I was entering my car, my phone binged.
ari 💃 - i had fun, i hope to see you soon 🤍
Read 11:14 AM
I smiled down at my phone like a dumbass.
me - me too 🖤
Read 11:14 AM
__________________
here we goooo , how yall feelin bout it so far ? much love, A
SONG(S) IN CHAPTER;
Dance To This - Troye Sivan feat. Ariana Grande