Shadows (A Sara Bareilles fanfic)

More of Each Other

I walked through the rainy New York streets to my record label's office.  I had just begun work on my latest album, and I had a little recording to do today. I ran on the muddy sidewalk to the entrance, taking in the big logo and bright designs I hadn't seen for a while. Epic Records was a godsend.
I threw open the heavy door and let out a huge breath and a laugh. I was totally soaked, but hey, I'd recorded in worse conditions. There was that one time...
No.
I smiled at the man at the front desk, who greeted me with a "Hey, Sara" and a look of amusement.
"I know," I said. "I look so hot."
He laughed. "We're all a mess."
I smiled, thinking of how the people here felt like family. It had almost been ten years since I signed my contract, and I was glad nothing had changed.
I rounded the corner, passing a bathroom, into a bright-colored room. There were some other people already there, and I realized I was late. I smiled an innocent, joking smile and batted my eyelashes.
"Hi," I said, trying, and failing, to hide my laughter.
A man with a bright blue, short haircut laughed. I barely knew anyone in the room except for my manager. The blue hair guy raised his eyebrows. "You're soaked."
"More like stoked?" I asked, laughing at my own joke. My manager grinned and rolled his eyes. They were all used to my "dad jokes" by now.
I grabbed a cup from a small table nearby and filled it up with coffee, spilling it on my arm. I winced, then laughed again.
One of the sound guys raised his eyebrows. "What is with you today? You're usually not this giggly. Wait, I know- you're drunk."
"Yes, totally, I'd come into the studio drunk. I don't know, I'm in a really good mood I guess."
It felt so damn good to say that... Considering most of the time in the past few months, I had felt like shit.
A few of us walked into the recording room and listened to the instrumental track for one of the songs off the upcoming album, "Brave." It was a heavy drum beat, and a lot different than anything else I'd done before.
Join the club, I thought to myself.
My thoughts were interrupted by someone sitting down in the chair next to me. We were in front of all the fancy buttons and other pieces of recording equipment, and I jumped, accidentally bumping into one and causing a weird beeping noise to go off for a few seconds.
"Damn!" I said. "Give a bitch a warning."
The sound guy, Derek, smiled. He was new, and pretty cute, with dark, almost black hair and eyes that were a deep shade of green. "There's your warning," he replied, referring to the beeping sound. I smiled and sighed, thinking of all the crazy work I had to do. We had just started working a week or so ago, but it felt like I was drowning in work. Maybe because I'm such a perfectionist.
"I'm so stressed about this song," I told Derek while waiting for people to get all the equipment up and running. "It's so high."
"Why'd you make it so high if you're scared to sing it? Change the key or something."
I shook my head. "I don't know. I like the melody. And it's a challenge, which I've been trying to do more of."
Derek laughed, and I noticed little dimples in his cheeks. "Well, I'm still trying to figure everything out, but you'll do great. You have an incredible voice."
I smiled. "Thanks."
I was motioned to come into the sound booth, and I let out a shaky breath as I stepped in. I knew I needed to chill, but the song was fucking high.
The opening beats boomed into my ears, and I sang the first verse. That part was easy. I took a deep breath and sang the chorus. It was okay. I glanced over at Derek, who gave me a smile and a thumbs-up. I smiled back in satisfaction and went over a few other things for the album. At least I knew what I was doing there.

I walked towards the door an hour later when someone fell into step beside me. I turned to see Derek and my manager walking beside me. I greeted them and my manager cleared his throat, in the annoying way we always joked about.
"Sara," he asked. "Have you met the new guy?"
I laughed. "The new guy has a name, and yes, I have."
Derek grinned and looked down, obviously feeling awkward being in the middle of banter between two people he'd literally just met today.
My manager nodded. "Good. I gotta run, I'm throwing a party for my daughter. See you guys later." I waved goodbye and tried to think of something to say to Derek.
"You'll like it here," was all I could come up with. "It's an incredible label."
He nodded. "Seems like it. I've been dying to work here."
I smiled. "Looks like you got what you wanted."
"Yep."
A shock of cold rain hit our faces as we stepped out of the building. The wind was blowing insanely hard, and a small tree had even fallen over. I squinted, trying to see through the storm. "What the hell happened while we were in there?"
"I know, right?"
We picked up the pace and suddenly I felt Derek's hand on my arm. "Let's go in here," he said, motioning toward a Starbucks on the corner of the street. I nodded and laughed as we ran inside. I let out the breath I'd been holding. "Well then."
"Yeah," he said. "This should cover us for a while. Want a drink? I'll pay."
I smiled. "I'm good." I handed him a ten dollar bill and he took it, walking up to the line. He returned with our drinks and I realized just how cute he really was. Like, incredibly.
He handed me my latte and I took a sip, feeling the warmth flood through me.
"Nothing better than coffee in the middle of September," Derek said.
"More like anytime. I have a problem," I replied.
He laughed. "Amen."
"So why are you here?" I asked. "Like, what made you wanna work at Epic?"
Derek shrugged. "I love music and I needed a job. I'm new to the city."
"Me too. So you're a musician?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Nah. I'm more into the behind-the-scenes stuff than actually performing."
"Ohhh. I know so much more about performing. You'll have to show me some stuff."
Derek laughed, and I felt my heart flutter the slightest bit.
No, I told myself. You can't do this.
"I got you covered," he said. "Though I'm surprised you're like this."
"Like what?"
"A regular girl. I kind of imagined you as being all, like, 'I know everything.' I don't know. This industry has so many surprises."
I looked at him curiously, and he blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. I sound super dumb."
"No you don't," I said. "I like hearing that kind of stuff."
"Okay then. So what brings you here?" he asked.
This time, it was my turn to shrug, not wanting to go into details at the moment. "It's just really high-energy here and I felt like that would be good for my music."
Derek nodded. "And were you right?"
"As far as I know, yeah. Everything's going pretty well."
Please don't ask too many questions, I prayed. Thankfully, I could tell he didn't want to, and he just smiled and took a sip of his coffee. "Women are usually right," he said.
I almost spit out my coffee. "Oh my God, I already like you," I laughed.
Derek grinned and we walked out of Starbucks, the storm now rapidly calming down. "Good, because I hope we'll be seeing more of each other."
I smiled, not knowing what to say or how I felt. "We definitely will. I'm a total workaholic." I searched for something else to say. "This was fun. Thanks. I'll be coming to you whenever I don't wanna be rained on."
Derek laughed. "Okay. I'll see you around."
I walked away with a very weird feeling, and realized I didn't get his number.