friends in low places

Chapter Two

As the three friends were walking back to the car, Lucy took in her surroundings a little more than she did when they had first pulled in. The scenery was actually quite beautiful; it was a very forested area, with huge mountains that made for a beautiful skyline as the sun slowly started to set. Lucy was semi-familiar with this area, not so much this town, but this part of Pennsylvania. She lived in Philadelphia while back, before getting into the music industry, and she had taken weekend vacations to different areas of Pennsylvania. Lucy loved to explore, and if she had the resources and time, she would do it as often as she could. 

When Phoebe had expressed her disdain for living in LA during a small session at Julien's home studio in Tennessee, Lucy had an idea she was almost scared to share. They were just getting started with recording their second album, and decided to go on a hiatus until they were finished with it. They were all gaining a lot of traction, and before it got to be too much, too personal too quick, they decided to shut themselves out and have one last thing to themselves before it was shared with the entire world.

They weren't international superstars, but they were getting to be one of the most well known bands in the indie music scene. It was everything they were wanting, but they also knew that with this new territory, there would be a lot of things that they couldn't do anymore. Their fans were already beginning to expect more and more of them. They were beyond thankful for their die hard fans, but sometimes, it can be too much. 

When Lucy brought the idea up of moving to a secluded area in Pennsylvania to write to second album, the other two were hesitant at first. Phoebe's main argument was relevancy. If they were going to stay on the charts, or stay in people's heads, then shouldn't they be doing interviews, and press and such to get people excited for the album?

Julien argued that the mysteriousness we were going to create could only help them. One of the biggest indie bands disappears for 2 years, and then drops an album with a tour? That would get them to the top faster than anything else would.

Phoebe didn't take much to be convinced. 

"Well honestly, I think we could all use some time away from the spotlight. Especially to write some devastating songs." Phoebe said, suddenly completely on board with Lucy's idea. Phoebe had recently gone through a breakup, and Lucy could tell that this would be a way for Phoebe to heal from it. Lucy was glad that they would be able to be there for her through it. 

"Yeah I'm completely down, but then again I would follow either of you off a cliff, so.." Julien had said, earning a huge hug from both Lucy and Phoebe. 

Ever since recording their first EP together, the trio had been inseparable. They weren't sure why the connection was as strong as it was, but they never bothered to question it. They took it as it was, thankful to have each other to move through life with. 

"Well, Charlie seems pretty cool, doesn't he?" Julien said, breaking the comfortable silence in the car on their way back to their house. 

"Yeah, and he's pretty hot." Phoebe said, passively. "I actually do want to hang out with him and see what he's all about though. Maybe we found an open for our next tour, haha." 

Lucy scoffed at Phoebe calling Charlie hot, but secretly agreed. 

"Yeah maybe, I do want to see this abandoned house too. That is so Pennsylvania; a bunch of 20 somethings sitting in a house decorated with spray paint, playing music and drinking. You can tell it's a small town by that alone." Julien mused.

"Honestly it sounds fun, and just like, chill. I was actually kind of surprised he didn't recognize us," Lucy said, "Or maybe he did and just wanted to act like he didn't so he didn't scare us off." She had finished her wine slushy from earlier and was playing with the styrofoam it came in. 

"Yeah I was surprised at that too. Or maybe we aren't as big as we think we are," Phoebe says, jokingly. They all laugh at their possible swollen egos, and continue their drive in silence. Lucy isn't exactly sure how they ended up at that wine shed in the first place, but she settles on the possibility of the universe aligning things just the way they needed to be. They had only been here a week, and knew no one, and they were going to be here for at least two years, so it was a relief to have maybe found someone they can bounce ideas of off, get new inspiration, and just a new soul to intertwine with. 

Lucy let her mind wander back to Charlie. She was very intrigued by him. He was tall and muscular, which usually isn't Lucy's type, but there was something about him that stuck out to her, although she wasn't sure what it was. He had dark and curly hair, crooked teeth but such a warm smile, and he was funny. He listened so intently to all of them when they spoke, genuinely interested in what they each had to say. It was rare to find genuine people in their line of work, so when they did they savored it and cherished it. 

They eventually pulled into their driveway, and made their way inside their house. It was a medium sized farm house, with a wraparound porch decked out with rocking chairs and a porch swing. When they were choosing the house they wanted to make sure it was big enough to hold them and their equipment comfortably, but wasn't so huge that it was overwhelming. They came and saw it once before they moved it, and it was the only house they looked at. They fell in love immediately, and moved in a month afterwards. 

Once inside their house, they all took the usual spots. Lucy on her chair to read and drink tea, Julien to her desk to catch up on podcast episodes, and Phoebe on the couch, watching Fleabag for the 10,000th time. It was a very relaxing and comforting evening routine, and they dared not stray too far from it. There would be variations here and there, but they pretty much stuck to this layout. They were creatures of habit. 

In the car ride home they had decided that they would start brainstorming ideas tomorrow and share lyrics and basically try to map out their album. They knew that it would be easy to just enjoy this time off and only work on the album a closer to when they wanted to release it, but this was their passion. They gave themselves plenty of time; they could be experimental, mess around with anything they wanted to and really make this album something that would blow people's minds. They were excited to get started, and to hopefully be able to have some outside opinions, if they did end up hanging out with Charlie and his friends. It was way too soon to tell, but they all hoped that there was a strong friendship brewing.