TAYLOR POV
"Seriously? A second time..... No, I had no clue about all this!" I told the person at the other end of the line, "They are all just locked away in that studio doing goodness knows what, I guessing not work though, until all hours of the morning.... Yeah, I think the whole 'letting boys be boys' philosophy needs to stopped. I can promise you that they will get something done by the end of the week." I told the person, looking at the calendar and thinking. It was Wednesday today, so they had 3 days.
I had answered the phone that was ringing off the hook in Adam's kitchen when I got back from lunch with friends thinking it was probably noting too important. I knew he was probably in the studio, as he was most days, and wouldn't hear the landline phone or his cell phone, which was always on silent or vibrate only and ignore on a table or in a pocket all day to my annoyance some days.
Turns out it was very important. Adam, and his 'boys', had missed not one but two deadlines for getting approval on new singles to be released soon. Adam owned his record label, Fly Eye records, but still had contracts with Columbia records and Sony/ATV publishing for his music. A representative from Columbia had been the one to call. The message was quite clear: either they start getting the promised tracks sent over or there would be a serious conversation about the future of the contract.
The first deadline had been a few weeks ago, and they had missed that one because of travel logistics for getting vocals done and a winter illness that had plague the group briefly, the second deadline was 2 days ago....and to all intents and purposes they should have been able to meet that one based on the time they all spent in that dark little room. I hadn't even known about the second deadline, or that they had missed it. I thought it was all on track.... Well, until last week when I had found out that there was more play and less work going on down there. But Adam, and the rest of them too, had promised that actual work was going to happen from then on. I really shouldn't have trusted them.
Time to take matters into my own hands. If they couldn't act like adults and get their work done, then they would have to be treated like misbehaving children who won't do their homework. I would have to sit right next to them until it's done.
ADAM POV
"Okay, one more game!" I relented as the guys begged to continue playing air hockey on the new games table we had bought for the entry hall to the studios.
"Not so fast!" I heard Taylor say sternly from behind me as I watched all the guys' faces drop. I hadn't even heard her come in, damn soundproofing and soft close doors!
"Umm... Hi babe! What are you doing here?" I asked, turning towards her slowly and smiling.
"What am I doing here? Well.... Let's see..... Apparently you have all been slacking and missed yet another deadline. So I'm here to make sure you actually work." She said, pointing towards the main studio door.
"But.." I started.
"No buts... in there right now. All of you." She said, raising her eyebrows as some of the guys started to complain, silencing them immediately.
I had barely ever seen this side of Taylor, only when the cats were misbehaving or someone messed something obvious up for a show or event..... It had never really been directed towards me.
"Ho-....um....how did you know about the deadlines?" I asked sheepishly as she followed me into the studio.
"Someone called from Columbia and we got talking and she told me.... And gave me a very serious warning to pass on to you... basically it was get the music sorted or you're out, so you better sit your behind down on that chair and get to work." She said, pointing to my chair, "And anyone who is not necessary should leave right now...if I see you just sitting around dong nothing there will be consequences."
Everyone looked at Charlie, he smiled shyly and pulled out his phone, leaving the room. He was, in theory, partly responsible for the whole contract and communication stuff for Fly Eye. Left in the studio we had Emil, who was working on music video treatments, Conor, who was taking photos for the day, Theo, who was doing vocals, and Burns, who was helping with some of the production stuff on this song.
"You don't have to stay here, babe, it's probably going to be boring." I told Taylor, tugging on her hand slightly so she stood right next to me.
She smiled at me sweetly then shook her head.
"No way José! I'm sitting right there...." She said, pointing to the sofa, "...right up until the song is sent over for approval. Not letting you guys get away with messing around anymore. Now, get to work!"
Taylor went over to the sofa and sat down, curling her legs underneath herself and opening her book on her lap, starting to read it straight away.
After about 45 minutes Theo wanted to take a break and I took a peak at Taylor, who rolled her eye at me and closed her book.
"Okay, if you guys can manage 10 minutes more, I will go and get some drinks and snacks sorted and you can take a 10 minute break.....deal?" She said, standing up and looking at us all.
We all look at one another, silently coming to an agreement that we had to agree or else we wold never get a break again. It was like school.... like detention or something. We all nodded to Taylor.
"Good. See you soon boys!" She said, smirking as she left the studio, with us all waving at her politely.
As soon as she was out of earshot the guys turned to stare at me.
"What is going on?" Charlie asked.
"I feel that I should be asking you the same thing.... Contract issues?" I asked him.
"Nothing to worry about. The rep who called got it wrong. They just meant that if you don't get something over soon they would be limiting it from 5 singles to 2 released this year." Charlie said flippantly, making me roll my eyes.
"Well then we better get to work.... Maybe having Taylor here is a good thing." I mused, turning back towards the recording booth, "Let's run that last part again!" I told Theo.
TAYLOR POV
I stood in the kitchen chopping carrots into sticks and apples into wedges. I thought they could do with some snacks, and since Adam was always on a health kick and I didn't want them crashing after eating lots of sugary foods, I decided fruit was the best option. I had celery sticks, grapes, apples, carrots, a small tub of peanut butter, and a bowl of raisins to eat. There was a drinks fridge in the studio with bottles of water, but I decided to treat them a little and took a bottle of chocolate milk, that I had bought for little visitors but that hadn't been used yet, and some cups in a bag to carry over.
As I left the kitchen I couldn't help but laugh a little. Without fully realizing it I had basically made them the same snacks I would make for James and Dixie when they came over. They were all grown men, I could've just taken some whole apples or something over without chopping everything up. I shrugged and kept going.
"Snack time boys!" I said, poking my head around the door and getting cheers in response. I didn't want the food to go into the studio because, even though it wasn't smelly or particularly sticky, it could get messy and that would delay the aim of the day even further.
"OOOH Did you bring the peanut butter?" Charlie asked excitedly as he spotted the celery sticks.
A couple of months ago I had introduced Charlie to the concept of 'ants on logs', with peanut butter filled celery sticks and raisins on top as the ants. He was little a little kid on Christmas morning, and ever since had been obsessed with it.
"Did you think I'd forget?! Knock youselves out!" I said, trying not to laugh as they all dove in.
"AND chocolate milk!" Conor said, spotting the drink, "Heaven!"
"Thanks mommy Taylor!" Emil said, smirking at me and making me stick my tongue out at him as all the guys laughed. Except Adam. He just looked at me and smiled. I smiled back, trying to decipher his look.
"You are welcome boys! Now I have to go out for a few hours this afternoon... will you promise to get work done? And then I will make you all dinner when I get back." I told them.
"By the time you get back we will have at least one sing ready to be sent." Theo said, tossing grapes in the air and catching them in his mouth, "Promise."
"Okay...well.... Finish your snacks and get yourselves back in there before I go." I told them skeptically. I only had to go out to a fitting, which shouldn't take too long especially as it wasn't too far away from Adam's house. Then I would pick up food on my way home and cook for them all as a treat.
Surprisingly, that evening I found the boys sitting in the backyard when I got home. They had completed one song and sent it off, with a promise of finishing the second one tomorrow. They just needed a little mothering to get it done. Maybe one day Adam would learn how to get them all to work and would stop getting distracted.... One day he might even have to be the disciplinarian to our own kids.
A FEW YEARS DOWN THE ROAD
ADAM POV
"If you do your homework before mummy gets home, we can watch TV after dinner." I told my sassy 8-year-old daughter who was sitting and pouting at the kitchen table, her school bag left untouched by the front door.
Taylor was at meetings this afternoon so it was just me and the two kids until dinner time. Our son was easy, he was only 5 and was more than happy to play with his cars in the playroom, just off the kitchen, for hours on end. It was our daughter who I struggled with. She reminded me of myself, always taking opportunities for distraction from her tasks, but also of Taylor, with her fierce determination and no-nonsense nature, making her my ultimate adversary when it came to discipline and homework. Taylor could always get her to do it, literally just with one look. A look which I had at times been very familiar with when I was procrastinating or avoiding a situation.
Over the last 8 or so years I had gotten very good at the whole parent thing, something Taylor seemed to have in heaps naturally. I was a pro at snack making, and fort building, and princess tea partying, and toy car racing, and 'ouchie fixing'.... but homework was another thing all together.
"But..." She started to say.
"No buts, you've had your snack... so it's homework now." I told her, pointing towards her bag as she got up and walked as slowly as possible towards her bag.
"You sound like mom." She said through gritted teeth as she passed me.
"I take that as a compliment." I told her, making her roll her eyes. If I reminded either of the kids of Taylor, just a tiny bit, it was a great achievement to me, "Be sure to tell her that when she comes home".