Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Twenty-Two

    When Drake said that the tour would be long, Mia figured that he probably meant about half an hour. That was a gross underestimation on her part. The house itself was huge and beyond huge. There were rooms upon rooms, bathrooms upon bathrooms. Multiple living room and lounging areas on the main floor. There was also an office. The house boasted a wine celler on the lowest level. There was a recreation room with a pool table, foosball table, and air hockey table.

    Mia ran her fingertips along the smoothness of the air hockey table surface. "I'm going to kick your ass at this game," she told him.

    He grinned. "I don't know about that. I'm the champ in this house."

    "We'll see about that," she said as he led them out of the room.

    Next on the agenda was the library, stacked to the ceiling with books. "I can't take the credit for a lot of the features in this place. A lot of it was here when I got here," he explained as he led them down the hall and into a large movie theater with comfortable looking cream-colored recliners. "I did make a great deal of my own additions, though. Put my own taste into it, you know." He brushed off the collar of his black polo shirt.

    Bri peered into the theater room. "This would be Mia's room, if she lived here."

    Drake lifted an eyebrow. "Would it?" He turned to Mia. "You like movies?"

    "She loves em," Bri answered readily. "She's a movie fanatic. I barely watch em, but this one..."

    Mia shrugged. "Some movies are amazing pieces of art. A group of people who put on a film production can create something that makes people feel. Whether it's happy, or sad, or whether it makes you think, it's a huge accomplishment to be able to pull those emotions out of someone. That is my goal with music. I just want to make people feel."

    "I know what you mean," Drake said, staring at her thoughtfully with narrowed eyes. He led them out of the theater room and showed them the rest of the main floor. "You'll see the upper level when I show you your rooms. I want to show you the studio where we'll be working most of the time. 40 is probably in there right now. He practically lives in there."

    The studio was a force to be reckoned with. The technology in it was top of the line, state of the art. And Drake had been right. 40 was hard at work, playing and replaying a certain part of a song. He adjusted some of the controls and cursed under his breath. Drake grinned and greeted him with a handshake. "You okay, man? What is it?"

    "I'm so fucking close," Noah said, scratching his head. "It's almost there, but not quite. It's missing something." He noticed that there were two women in the room. His eyebrows shot up and he removed his headphones from around his neck so he could greet them.

    "This is Bri," Drake introduced, gesturing towards Bri. "And this is Mia."

    Noah's glance darted between his friend and Mia. He extended his hand. "Hello," he greeted, the tone of his voice cordial.

    Mia accepted his handshake. "The music you were playing sounded amazing," she told him.

    "You think so?" he asked, his forehead creasing as his brows drew together. "I've been working on it for awhile, but there's just this one part I can't figure out. It's like...it's like I have a puzzle and I keep trying to figure out how it fits together, but a piece is missing."

    "Can I hear it again?" she asked him.

    He looked to Drake.

    Drake nodded. "Sure, man."

    Noah gestured for them to follow him. Mia trailed behind him and watched as he lowered himself into the chair behind a panorama of engineering controls. He flexed his fingers over the controls and queued up the track he was playing, starting from the beginning.