Five days later, Amelia found herself staring at the wooden door to Sebastian Colfax's penthouse apartment. Taking a deep breath, she knocked and waited. The door opened to reveal Chuck.
"Ms. Dawson, I'm so glad you could make it. Please come in," he said, stepping back.
"Thanks, I'm happy to be here," Amelia said.
She stepped into a spacious penthouse apartment. A wide kitchen stretched out on her left. A living room lay just beyond with a wall of glass that displayed Central Park.
"If you'll just follow me," Chuck said.
He guided her past the kitchen and living room to a hallway. Laughter and chattering voices greeted them as they entered a room crowded with people. Beyond the array of couches and arms chairs, the room held a piano, a wall covered in guitars and a drum set.
Amelia was overwhelmed by the large group of people. She moved to an open spot and sat. The girl next to her, with a blonde pixie cut wearing large oval framed glasses, turned to her.
"Hi, I'm Jules Edwards," she said, offering her hand.
"Amelia Dawson."
"So Amelia, how did you come to be part of this particular meeting?" Jules asked.
Amelia forced herself to swallow, her mouth suddenly feeling dry.
"I played the drums for Sebastian's final concert last Saturday. After hearing my solo interlude, he invited me here."
"You play the drums?"
Amelia nodded. Jules eyes stared at Amelia, as if trying to put together two unrelated pictures.
"How did you come to work with Sebastian?" Amelia asked.
She didn't want to go into the details of how she started playing the drums, which was always everyone's first question.
"It's kind of an interesting story," Jules said. "I actual went to high school with Bash. We had an English class together senior year and I presented a song. It must have made an impact on him because two years later I get a call asking if I want to help write his second album."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I've been helping him ever since. But Dodger over here is the real veteran," Jules said.
She pointed to a guy sitting across the way from them.
"He helped Sebastian on his first album. Dodge!" Jules called out.
A dark skinned guy with classic features looked over at them. Jules waved to him.
"Dodger Gentry, this is Amelia Dawson, the drummer that played for Sebastian last Saturday," Jules said.
Dodger's neutral expression shifted to curiosity as he looked over at Amelia.
"It nice to meet you," he said, his voice husky.
"Same here," Amelia said.
"Dodge, I was just telling Amelia here how you're the veteran of the group," Jules said.
Dodger nodded in agreement, but didn't expand on the subject, so Jules kept talking.
"Dodger's been working with artists since he was sixteen. His parents are in the music industry as well," Jules explained.
Jules fell silent when Chuck stood up and the room quieted.
"Sebastian just texted he is on his way," Chuck announced. "He shouldn't be too late. Once he is here, we'll get the meeting started."
Everyone nodded in understanding and smoothly went back to their conversations. Amelia nodded along, she hadn't expected much different. She hadn't met a musician yet that arrived on time.
Jules took their extended time as an opportunity to fill Amelia in on who was who in the group. She went around pointing out which people were lyricists and which were the composers. Sebastian arrived a few minutes later, stepping to the head of the room, a pink box in hand. All conversations stopped.
"Hello everyone. Sorry I'm late," he said. "Let me quickly introduce Amelia Dawson to you. She played the drums for me last Saturday to replace Keith. I brought her in for a new take on beats. Amelia I would introduce everyone, but you're sitting next to Jules, so I'm guessing she's already done the honors."
Jules shrugged and gave a guilty laugh.
"Also I brought donuts," Sebastian said. "We'll order lunch later."
As everyone grabbed a donut, Sebastian settled himself on the arm rest of a chair. When the room settled, he spoke.
"The last album failed," he said, his tone blunt.
"It hit platinum and is nominated for a Grammy," Jules said.
"No. The single got nominated. The album wasn't even mentioned," he said. "That's why I've decided to start work on the next album now."
"We thought you would still be asleep, Bash," Melody said, a red head Jules had pointed out to Amelia.
"I'll sleep later," he said. "This album needs to be different. I wrote a few songs in Europe and it made me realize that the last album sounded too much like the one before it. We can't do that again."
"What are you thinking? Total sound overhaul?" Dodger asked.
"Possibly. That's what I want to work out here, today," Sebastian said.
"What about going completely synthetic?" a curly haired guy named Weston suggested. "We had some of that in one of the songs from the last album, so it wouldn't be so far fetched?"
"Or what if we add in more banjo and mandolin, go for more of a country sound," a lanky guy named Dennie said.
Everyone booed this idea quickly. Sebastian's mouth twitched into a smile.
"What about going truly rock and roll, bringing in a lot more electric guitar," Luke, the tall blonde said.
"You'd have to do it just right to still keep some of the fan base," Dodger countered. "I'm not sure teenage girls go for that sound.
"Maybe we change fan base then," Naomi said, a girl with olive skin and dark brown eyes.
"No, you're going into difficult territory there," Sebastian said.
"What about doing more percussion?" Jules said.
"What about more orchestral sounds? Adding a couple violins, a cello and maybe a bass?" Weston said.
"What about jazz? Bring in a sax, trumpet. Completely jazz up the whole album," Melody put in.
Amelia was overwhelmed as the ideas flew back n forth. The room buzzing with excited energy. She racked her brain for something she could add to the discussion, but found nothing.
After every different genre and sound had been listed off, Dodger brought the meeting to a halt.
"Bash, since I don't think we're anywhere close to discovering what sound you want, why don't you play one of the new songs. That might spark some other ideas," Dodger said.
"Okay," Sebastian said.
He walked over to the wall of guitars and picking out a dark cherry wood one. Silence fell. The room felt oddly quiet after having been a tornado of voices moments before.
"This is a very rough version, so-" he said.
"We know it's not perfect, it's fine," Melody said, exasperated.
Sebastian smirked at her and started strumming. As he moved through the song, Amelia's brain started producing beats, a hundred different ways she could add to the song,
"When you're blinded by fear
I'll show you the way
When you're lost in the night
I'll be your day
When you can't carry on
I'll be your feet
Baby give me your heart
And I'll be the beat"
The room erupted into cheers and applause when Sebastian finished.
"It needs a lot of work," he started to say. There were loud shouts of disagreement as everyone cut him off. Everyone started talking again, the song spurring new ideas.
Half an hour later Chuck stood in the doorway.
"Food is already," he announced.
Sebastian stood up and everyone took it as their cue they were dismissed. Amelia rose and moved over to Sebastian.
"Hi," Amelia said, trying to sound natural.
"Nice to know you didn't lose your tongue after all," he said.
Amelia felt her face go warm.
"Do you need something?"Sebastian asked.
"Yes. Do you mind?"
Amelia pointed to the drum set. Sebastian stepped aside and she sat on the stool, pulling out a set of drum sticks.
"Right. I had some ideas about a beat for your song," she said.
"Alright," Sebastian said, sitting down on the arm rest again.
Under his hard scrutinizing gaze, Amelia's clothes began to feel constricting. She shifted and closed her eyes, breathing once. She pulled up the song in her mind and the first beat that had popped into her head. She breathed again and played.
She started off with the snare drum, playing two even beats followed by three rapid beats. The sound was sharp and tinny. After she played the same pattern three times she added bass drum, one solid beat backing up the snare drum. As she progressed she kept shifting drums, keeping the same underling beat through it. She stopped after a minute.
"It doesn't work. Do you have something else?" Sebastian said.
Amelia swallowed hard and nodded. The next time she started off with a quick bass drum and quickly added the snare and hat cymbal. The sound had a lighter feel to it. She looked up to gauge Sebastian's reaction but his face was impassive.
"Start with the bass drum. Give it a quicker tempo?" he suggested.
She started the bass drum on a quicker beat. She then methodically hit separate drums together on the down beat, before transitioning into a back n forth rhythm with the snare drum and cymbal.
Amelia went through four more permutations of the beat, Sebastian stopping her seconds after she had started to tell her to make certain changes. Sweat prickled on Amelia's forehead as she kept shifting and adjusting to his demands.
Sebastian raised his hand and she stopped playing after the eighth permutation. He lifted his guitar to his knee.
"Start that last sequence again," he said.
Amelia started the rhythm all over again. This time, Sebastian played with her, his voice sounding muffled in comparison to the drums. When he finished, he gently set the guitar down.
"Thats not exactly it, but there could be something there," he said.
Amelia let out a shaky breath, forcing her shoulders to relax. Sebastian stood and left without a word, his features screwed into a concentrated scowl. She took another deep breath, calming her rattled nerves; thrown by Sebastian's lack of enthusiasm towards her efforts.
"Where've you been?" Melody called out as Amelia followed Sebastian into the living room.
"Working. It's possible that we have found the right sound," Sebastian said.
"Can we hear this new sound?" Jules asked.
"After lunch," he said.
**************
The sun was casting building shaped shadows over Central Park by the time everyone started leaving Sebastian's apartment. After Sebastian played through the song with Amelia on drums, discussions had broken out and lasted for hours. Amelia's beat gave everyone an idea of the sound Sebastian was searching for. They had spent the next few hours fine-tuning the sound.
As Amelia headed for the door, a hand gently landed on her arm.
"Ms. Dawson-" Sebastian said.
"Amelia is fine," she said.
"Amelia, great work today," Sebastian said. "I would like to bring you on for the whole writing process of this album."
His face and tone were serious. Amelia didn't respond, speechless at what he was offering her.
"I understand if you want to time think about the offer," Sebastian said. "You can let Chuck know your decision and we can draw up a contract."
"No," Amelia blurted out.
Sebastian scowled.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"No, I don't need time to decide," Amelia said, hastily. "I would love to be part of your next album."
"Good. Chuck will get your information and send you over the first draft of your contract."
"Thanks," Amelia said. "I'll have my lawyer look at it and get back to you right away."
Sebastian gave her an amused look. Amelia figured even though Charlie hadn't passed the bar exam just yet, he would at least know what most of the words meant.
"Thank you for coming," Sebastian said.
"Thank you so much for the opportunity," Amelia said.
He gave a small nod as Chuck walked forward.
"I'll have my assistant send the contract over tomorrow," Chuck said. "Once its finalized, you will need to come into Midnight Records to sign the final form."
"Sounds good. Thanks so much," Amelia said.
**********************************************************************
Heyo!
Now I know that this is out of the blue and really terribly random, but I find myself needing to ask you this. What is your all time favorite movie and why? I know a crazy question, but really it's been something I have been longing to know!
Vote, comment, follow! Share your thoughts for the whole world to know. Doesn't even have to be about the chapter.