Dolce Dissonance // 'Sweet Dissonance'

Chapter 5

To: ANGEL.DOArecords@email.co

From: HR.DOArecords@email.co

Subject: RE;Conflict of Interest

Hi Reyna,

We wish to inform you that your conflict of interest has been declined and Nico di Angelo is expected to continue working with client William Solace. Failure to do so will be reported to higher management. Attached is a formal rejection of form 2A for your files.

Kind Regards,

Pete Palikos

HR Department - DOA Records

_________________________________

Friday morning rolled around far too quickly for Nico's liking and he found himself outside Hedge's door once more. Cursing out HR for predictably denying his request to drop Will Solace as a client, he pushed the door open with his elbow, both hands too full, and stepped inside.

"Nico, you're back!" Will smiled that ridiculously blinding smile, hint of surprise in his voice.

"Not for lack of trying" Nico muttered into his coffee cup - his third cup of the morning because he'd stayed up writing and didn't think he could handle Solace on anything less than that amount of caffeine.

Will impressively didn't outwardly react to his obvious distaste. Nico let himself into the room, standing awkwardly with the guitar case he was holding and another slung on his back; Hedge had passed on Will had decided to rebrand to a more electric sound so Nico had brought options.

"Di Angelo, go in and set up and I'll send Solace in in a few minutes." Hedge instructed, to which Nico nodded, happy to avoid conversation for a few more minutes.

Once inside Nico let out a breath, it was so too fucking early in the morning for this. At least Will had decided to go the electric route, it would suit his vocals and if you asked Nico, his latest release felt repetitive - the same instruments again and again. Mixing it up would be refreshing for his song writing and his audience. Unfortunately, that meant Nico would have to up his game - not that he'd been slacking off. He'd practically filled a whole notebook over the past few days with lyrics, sheet music and musings about his current situation. If working with Will Solace was good for anything, it was song writing fuel; a good emotional outlet since Nico still didn't know if he wanted to punch the blonde or kiss him. He was leaning towards punching, but that was to be expected given his predisposition of a short temper.

Still, his cover artists probably had the time of their lives photographing him. Tall, blonde and blue eyed: he would have made the perfect model if he couldn't sing. Well, it wasn't too late for him and Nico had seen him in a few music orientated magazines, headlining 'promising up-and-coming artist' or 'Grammy-winning Debut'.

The aforementioned could-be model entered the studio space, no acoustic in sight much to Nico's pleasure. He stood awkwardly as Nico continued to flit about the space setting up the pedals, switching on the equipment and resetting all the sliders on the production panel.

"You can get the music out, you know, instead of just standing there." Nico called over a shoulder, moving to his own table where he unpacked both his guitars.

"Okay so Hedge tells me you're looking to feature electric guitar in your new album?" At Will's nod, Nico continued, "So, I brought two options, if you don't like either of them, we can try out some others from instrument storage or I can grab some others of mine. I've got a semi-acoustic which is what I used the other day - you're welcome for that by the way - given you're used to acoustic guitar I thought it might better suit your overall sound. But I did bring a solid-bodied electric, a Fender Stratocaster so it'll play 'most anything..."