In the following days, Jeff and Sia worked out the flight schedule and transportation to the recording studio in Jamaica. Sia's flight was to leave Sunday morning and there would be a car waiting for her to drive her to where everyone was to be staying for the two month duration of the project. Sia knew the whole album wouldn't be completed in two months—it sometimes took at least half a year to get an album done, start to finish—but the goal was to get all the vocals recorded as well as most of the instrumentation before the two months was up. Of course, there'd be tweaks and changes that would happen afterward, probably pretty much up until the release date of the album, but that was to be expected.
When Sia wasn't in the studio with Jeff and other artists, she was getting things squared away for her trip. She packed everything and made sure she had all her essentials. Since she was going to be gone for two whole months, she went to the unit across from her to ask her neighbor, Heidi, if she would be so kind as to collect her mail and make sure her plants were watered while she was away. Heidi was a woman in her early forties who lived in the flat with her husband and two cats. She was a special education middle school teacher, and she had been the first person to befriend Sia when she'd first moved to LA. Sia helped her out by watching her cats whenever Heidi and her husband were away for more than a day at a time. Back in June, the couple had gone on a three week long cruise around Europe, so Sia had their pets the entire time. Heidi had no problem returning the favour by picking up her post and watering her few plants every couple days.
In what seemed like no time at all, Sia was on her way to the airport, being driven by a service the studio had arranged for her. The drive to LAX was crazier than she remembered it being when she arrived in the states all those months ago, and she was glad she wasn't the one driving. She could legally drive in America, but she didn't think she'd be able to handle this level of chaos. Even London never got this bad, and she thought that traffic was a bit mental. She had no idea how Californians did this day in and day out.
By the time Sia got checked in, through security, and to her terminal, there were only a few minutes to when her flight was supposed to start boarding. She took a few minutes to sit down and get her carry-on and purse off her shoulders. She had two other bags that she was glad to have checked and out of her possession for a few hours, because they were a hassle getting through the airport, even though they took them off of her at check-in. She couldn't imagine lugging anything else around. She had no idea how she was going to do it when she landed in Jamaica.
Within fifteen minutes of arriving at her gate, Sia was already sat in her seat, carry-on stowed away, and laptop open on some last minute work she was to get to Jeff once she got connected back to wifi as soon as she got to the studio on the island. She was technically finished with it, she just felt like it was missing a certain something, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She just knew it was bugging her.
Sia spent the first hour of the flight working on the piece until she finally found the exact part that was bugging her. The sixteenth notes that were originally in the bridge didn't flow well, so she dropped it to eighths, and all was right in her music world. She was able to nap happily for the following hour knowing she'd be able to send the completed file to her boss once she landed.
Landing in Jamaica in the middle of the summer wasn't much different than leaving it in Southern California. The air was a touch muggier, but the overall weather was pretty much the same. She was glad she had opted to keep on her shorts and tank top when she got on her flight earlier. Usually she changed into a pair of sweats while she was on a plane, since the cabin was usually kept pretty chilly, but she knew it'd be hot when she landed. She plopped a baseball cap on her head and slid her sunnies on to keep the harsh sun out of her eyes. There was a driver waiting for her after she grabbed her luggage and made her way outside the airport. She greeted him kindly and thanked him for helping her with her bags.
The drive to the house/studio she'd be staying in for the next two months was a fairly long one, the home being tucked up in the jungle, just on the edge of the beach. It was a beautiful place, Sia had to admit. The structure was old but it looked like it had been well-maintained over the years. Legendary records had been recorded and produced up here; she couldn't imagine any of the natives or people who revered music would allow the building to go to shambles with a history like it had.
The surrounding land was gorgeous too, with the natural foliage and the stream that wrapped the property. The beach was just a few yards off, far enough to keep the house on stable land, but close enough that the water was only a stone's throw away. There were no other buildings in sight, either. They'd been outside of the city for a good ten minutes. She could see why artists liked to come out here to do their work. It was remote and quiet and there wasn't much of a chance for interruptions outside of whoever you were working with. It was the perfect space, really. Sia couldn't wait to spend her time here.
"Thank you, sir," Sia told him as the driver helped her unload her bags from the boot of the car. He nodded at her with a kind smile as he departed, leaving her alone on this great property.
As far as Sia knew, there was no one else in the house. She was supposed to be the first to arrive, and if that were to have changed, she figured Jeff would have told her about it.
Speaking of Jeff, the first thing Sia did as she entered the home—aside from put her things down—was check for the wifi connection. Jeff told her there would be, since there was no way the record label was gonna shell out the extra cash it would require for them to get cell service on the island. Everyone would be able to send messages and make calls while connected to wifi, though, so no one saw the need for other service.
As soon as she'd connected, she got a message from Jeff asking if she'd made it okay. She responded back with the affirmative and asked when everyone else was to show up. He let her know that the other sound guy shouldn't be there for a few more days, so she had the house to herself until he showed up. The artist was to be there shortly after that, so they'd get started as soon as he had gotten settled in. This was the first time Jeff had ever let it slip that the artist was male, which got her mind whirring even more. He'd obviously never made an album before, since Jeff had told her this was his first. She rattled her brain for possible men she'd heard of that had a promising career, possibly discovered on YouTube or Vine or the like. She even ran through writers that had never actually made their own music, only ever sold it to other people. She couldn't really pin point who it was, but she supposed it didn't matter; she'd be finding out by the end of the week, anyway.
After Sia had found a room to put her stuff down in, she ventured around the house, taking a peek at everything. She roamed around the kitchen, getting herself acquainted with where everything was at. She took a look in the fridge and saw that it was already fully stocked, all the fruits and veggies looking fresh, which suggested someone had been by to fill it, either earlier in the day or the day before. A pop into the pantry showed the same state, making her very grateful to whoever had ensured they wouldn't be without food when they first arrived.
There were four bedrooms in the house, one being a master with an en suite. She herself had taken one of the smaller bedrooms, figuring she'd leave the master for the artist. Everything was fully furnished, and the fresh scent of everything hinted that the beds had all been recently laundered and made up.
She got to a room just off the laundry that she assumed led to the garage. She hadn't remembered seeing a garage door when they'd driven up, but she figured she hadn't really been looking for one. When she opened the door, however, she was confronted with the most glorious sight she'd ever seen.
A beautiful, state of the art recording studio, with quality sound boards and a large recording room she figured a whole bloody band could fit into. From the looks of things, the microphones were the best that money could buy, and her excitement for the coming two months skyrocketed.
Her flight had been at six in the morning, and it was an eight hour flight, with a two hour time difference, so her body clock wasn't much off, thankfully. If she had made the flight from England, it would be a different story, but that wasn't the case this time around. It was only half past seven, and she hadn't really eaten, so she went to make herself a quick meal before deciding to unpack and settle in for the night. Since she hadn't any really work to do the next day, she planned to find her way into the city and do a bit of exploring. She really didn't want to be cooped up in the house all day everyday for two months, and she figured now was the only time to get out and do some adventuring before she had to get serious.
Since she got herself settled in, a certain silence seemed to settle over the house. She checked the time, and was thankful to see it was just after three in the afternoon. Which meant it was just about the time Ellen would be two glasses of wine in, with her feet kicked up on her coffee table, watching reruns of trash American reality TV in England. Possibly a face mask sitting on way too long, since she couldn't tear herself away from the telly.
So Sia pulled her contact up on FaceTime and settled herself in her claimed bed as she waited for her best friend to answer. It rang twice before Ellen's face appeared on the screen, a pale green mask covering her face, expect for her lips and eyes, and a stemless wine glass pressed to her lips. She grunted by way of greeting.
"This is exactly how I predicted you'd answer," Sia chuckled. "Wasn't disappointed."
El stuck her tongue out at Sia, her cheeks still full of the wine she'd just sipped. She swallowed before saying, "I'd say you're just jealous, but you're the one in sunny Jamaica. Speakin' of, why aren't yeh on the beach or summat?"
"Because I'm gettin' creeped out by the emptiness of this house and the surrounding area. 'S got a private beach, and no one else is here. It was fine when I first got here and was just exploring, but now I'm ready to just sit, and its nearly suffocating."
Ellen rolled her eyes. "Dramatic."
"Oi! I called you for some company, but if you're just gonna be mean, I'll hang up."
El laughed at her. "You're ridiculous. Let's watch some telly together then. Have a cuppa, talk about our days, veg out. I'll be fallin' asleep in a couple hours, but at least it'll take up a little of your time."
"You're the best!" Sia exclaimed, scouring the little basket of remotes that sat in the center of the coffee table. She found the one for the TV and found that it easily turned on all the necessary equipment.
Sia was thankful to find that the TV was a smart TV, and there was already someone signed into the Netflix account. She made herself a cuppa while taking El on the phone with her and settled into the couch to watch way too many episodes of Friends. Way more than El said she was going to watch and more than Sia had probably ever watched in one sitting. It was nearly three in the morning for El by the time they decided to call it a night, and while it was only nine for Sia, she'd had a long day of traveling, and she was exhausted. It was a good night, in all, and she was just tuckered out enough when she settled into the soft sheets of her bed to fall asleep in only a few minutes.
Despite her initial feelings of unease about being in the house by herself for the next couple of days, she had a good feeling about these next couple of months.