𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀, shawn mendes

chapter twelve

halley finn
los angeles, california
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        hailey and i walked out of our workout class and jumped into my car. i turned on the radio and zoomed back to hailey's house.

"do you have somewhere to be?" she asked me, obviously sending my rush. i wasn't gonna tell her where i was going because she'd literally freak out.

"yeah, i'm meeting up with iris," i lied, making a mental note to tell iris that if hailey asked i was with her.

i was really going to the studio to see shawn. he told me he'd play me 'in my blood' on the good speakers and even show me the rest of that song he sang to me in toronto.

i told him that i could only come for a couple hours because i needed to drive down to the distillery for the final checks of 818 before it hit the market. my prized possession tequila was finally being sold in a couple of weeks. my stylist hannah said that i'd also get to see some merchandise that could be sold.

i dropped hailey off and drove down the street to my house to quickly get changed. i was sweating buckets after that class. after about twenty minutes, i threw on some tight blue wash jeans and a large beige dress shirt and ran out the door.

i hopped back in my car and drove to the studio, stopping to get myself a coffee first. i drank half of it so that it would look like i'd gotten it a while ago, as i didn't know how many people would be at the studio and not buying coffee for everyone was kinda rude.

i pulled into a parking spot, grabbed my purse and walked into the building. i stopped at the front when i saw a receptionist sitting behind a large dark wood desk. "hello, how may i help you?" she asked sweetly.

"hi, i'm here to see shawn? he knows i'm coming...my names halley." i replied, looking around. she looked down at her notebook for a quick second, but quickly popped her head back up. "oh, yes! halley! he told me that you were stopping by earlier, go on in...they're in studio 4."

i thanked the woman and walked down the long hallway before i reached studio 4. before i could open the door, i heard harmonies inside and just wanted to stand and listen.

a familiar voice was singing the base vocals while shawn used his falsetto to add some twang and high notes to the chorus. "to be honest, i don't want it, no...pain, but i won't let it turn into, hate, no i don't let it change me," the first voice sang, shawn coming in and repeating it in a higher key.

"okay, and then we'll go back into the chorus at a slower and richer pace," i heard a woman say, "you wanna get in the booth first?"

at that point i had been standing outside for a couple minutes and i started feeling really creepy. i slowly swung open the door and the four people in the room all shot their heads towards me.

shawn stood up at my sight and walked over to me, pulling the door open. "halley! i'm so glad you came," he said as i walked in, "this is scott, teddy, and khalid."

i said hi to the three people, but i already knew khalid. shawn filled me in that they were recording a song today called 'youth' for his next album.

he told me to sit down on the couch as they were in the middle of recording and needed to finish the song in this session. i happily complied as i had always been fascinated with music and wanted to watch someone record music for as long as i can remember.

khalid stepped into the booth first and sang the entire song, shawn then walking in and recording his parts. this process went on for about thirty or forty minutes and then scott declared that they had all the vocals they needed.