Better go Solo

Chapter 3

Nearly at the end of the lesson Josy showed up at the doorframe and listened. The girl on the piano learned very fast and Josy was as impressed as I was.

»Mommy!« the girl shouted as she realized her entering the corridor to pick up her daughter.

»Look Mom, I can play very well« the girl boasted and played the melody I taught her in that lesson.

As she finished, she took her Jacket.

»Your daughter is very talented« I told the mother standing next to me and watching her daughter.

»Do you think so?« She asked surprised. I nodded.

»She is making rapid progress. Is she practicing much at home?« I replied. She seemed to be very proud of her daughter.

»She barely does something else than playing the piano. She looks forward to every lesson« She explained before her daughter interrupted her.

We said goodbye to each other before Josy and I left the building. She drove here with her elderly car and would take me to the studio we would do some recordings for our new album at today.

While driving we sang along the songs in our shared playlist very loud. The studio was at the other side of the city so the ride would take some time we used to mentally prepare für the time with Heather.

»There you are, finally« Heather said tensed and tugged me on my sweater down the corridor.

»Let me go or you will buy me a new sweater« I snorted. She ignored my words and went ahead. Meanwhile, Josy laughed her ass off.

»Aren't you Owen's little girl?« a stranger asked as he saw me.

»You sound like he's my sugar daddy. But yes, I'm Owens daughter« I replied amused and shook the hand he held out to me. Heather gritted her teeth. Obviously she was not amused about the fact that he knew who I was. I was not that surprised, in that business everyone knew anyone even though there were not very few in that area.

Heather was slowly driving me insane since we constantly had to repeat something because she was not satisfied even though we did not make any mistake. Luckily she could not say much against me. She barely had any idea of percussion at all. Anyways, my part was never that difficult, I could do almost nothing wrong. I was already happy when she could hold that rhythm and hit her notes. Her voice sounded good, not gonna lie, but she lagged feeling. That was something nobody taught her in her ridiculously expensive singing lessons.

Sometimes I wished I could go back to the old days when we all sang while playing our instruments. We covered some Little Mix songs because it was more authentic when not just one person sang. Although Heather got the biggest parts I had no problem with that.

During School we hat much more fun making music but today it was all about having the possibility to make any kind of music. I thought about doing something alone but without any talent in songwriting it would be nearly impossible to be successful.

»Now play a little calmer!« Heather screamed at me so that I watched her quite irritated.

»What do you mean with 'calmer'? When I play any more 'calmer' I don't have to play anymore« I replied tensed and twirled my right drumstick between my fingers. Heather rolled her eyes while the man on the mixing desk looked at me pitifully. He obviously understood my misunderstanding about her problems.

»Then from the beginning« She murmured before I started to play my part again. Marla was still in a good mood, while Josy, in contrast, seemed to be very annoyed.

After all, we played our part alone and Heather would sing her part individually. Because of her perfectionism we would sit here tomorrow still at the same song instead.

Finally we got a break. I sat down next to Josy and plugged one headphone into my left ear.

»Did you ask your Dad for the tickets?« She asked excitedly and smiled at me.

»He said that he would try his best but we should try too at presale« I answered disappointedly.

I was a huge fan of that band Corentine Josy also listened to sometimes. They had a concert in LA soon which was not that far away. After all, we all came from Santa Ana and grew up here and that was just some more than 30 miles from Los Angeles. Dad tried to get tickets through his contacts since the concerts always were sold out very fast but that contacts were not almighty too.

I opened the website the presale would take place at on my phone, Josy did too. Even now, some Minutes before presale the website was extremely slow. We were completely focussed on refreshing the website and hanging in the queue as Heather startet screaming at us and took away my phone.

»Heather!« I screamed back and jumped up from the bench. She just had a nasty grin on her face.

»We want to go on« She snapped at us and locked my phone.

»We're trying to get concert tickets« I replied and tried to grab my phone.

»Sold out« Josy said disappointedly. My mood instantly sank to the ground.

»That's just your fault!« I accused Heather but she was still grinning nastily.

»We are a band you don't need to see any other bands« She just said and raised her chin before heading back to the recording room.

»Bitch« I hissed.

I followed her. Now I had to rely on Dad. To this day I could never get any ticket for any of their concerts and it was one of my biggest dreams to finally see them one day on stage. After all, Corentine was my favorite Band for quite a couple of years now.

My mood was actually in the basement, which is why I was only glad when I could finally leave the studio for today. I sat down on the passenger seat in Josy's car. She would bring me home.

»At that point I really want to build up something myself, but that's so difficult. You can see it even on our band. The market is simply overloaded now« I told her, she just nodded knowingly.

»I would like to play something more challenging. Something faster, more energetic or dynamic« She added while concentrating on driving through the rush hour traffic.

»We could do something together« I joked around what made her laugh too.