Take Me Home

Chapter One

In the space of three months Indi's life had been flipped on its head, just a few days after the Charity Ball Indi found herself on OneRepublic's tour bus.

After stepping in and saving their skin when the sound technician injured his hand, it was only ever meant to be temporary until Chris was better. But for some reason, Ryan seemed to be hesitant to let her go...

......................................

"How does that sound?" Ryan called as he finished playing his piano piece.

Indi took her headphones off so she could speak to Ryan properly "I still think it would sound better with a stronger beat" Ryan paused for a few moments before rushing off and looking on his laptop. Indi was intrigued by what had seemed to get Ryan so excited.

"How about this?" He double clicked and suddenly a loud fast beat filled the room.

"Better" Indi smiled, it made sense now this beat was perfect "Much better"

Indi leant forwards with her hand leaning against the table. Her gold chain fell from behind her red check shirt, Ryan was curious when he saw the two rings dangling from the chain.

"Is that a wedding ring?" He asked assuming it must have been her mother's.

"Yeah, it's mine. They both are actually" Indi held the rings so Ryan could see them better.

"You're married?" He asked curiously and Indi looked defeated.

"Was" She exhaled deeply and inhaled before speaking again "My husband was killed in a car accident 2 years ago"

"Oh shit, Indi I'm sorry" Ryan instantly regreted his assumption.

"It's fine" Indi smiled weakly "You weren't to know"

"Were you...?" Ryan asked before Indi interupted.

"In the car yeah" She replied "The other driver was drunk, he hit us head on...or that's what the police said. I was asleep" tears fell from Indi's eyes as she remembered the day she woke up in hospital.

"I'm sorry, it must have been hard" Ryan felt terrible for bringing up such a horrible memory.

"Yeah" Indi nodded "I was lucky to have survived"

"Shit" Ryan exhaled, he all of a sudden felt awful for bringing it up.

"Hey don't worry its fine" Indi smiled "It's an obvious question to ask when you see a wedding ring"

"Yeah well I still feel bad for bringing it up" Ryan looked at the ground and Indi laughed.

"You look just like a school boy who has been scolded" She chuckled "Honestly it's fine Ryan, it's not hard to talk about it anymore"

"I can't even begin to imagine..." Ryan hesitated and looked sad again.

"It wasn't an easy time for me, but it's over now" Indi reassured him it was okay to talk about "Anyway we only have another couple of hours studio time before you need to add vocals"

"Shit yeah" Ryan quickly remembered the job in hand, he turned up the volume and paused "I still think it needs something else"

"It's lacking intensity" Indi gave her brutally honest opinion "It's mean this bit here, the piano is great but it needs something a little bit more...ba da da ba da da da, ba da da ba da da da"

"Yeah I get you? How about this?" Ryan added a few more chords to his original melody and Indi listened again, she waited until he had finished.

"Better and I think maybe if we add that first loop..." Indi watched as Ryan's face screwed up, he hadn't been overly keen on the first loop they played "Honestly Ryan, trust me on this okay?"

"Alright" Ryan exhaled and waited, as all the sounds merged together it created something incredible "Oh man, that's insane" Ryan grinned "I love it, it gives it the perfect depth"

After a few last tweeks, Indi and ryan took astep back to listeb to the final track, the music played out until the end and Ryan and Indi shared a playful hi-five. They both paused for a moment and looked into each others eyes, the chemistry between them had always been obvious to everyone round them. Indi swallowed hard as Ryan moved towards her "So" She said quickly trying to divert the situation away from where it was heading "What time did the other guys say they were coming?"

"Oh erm" Ryan backed off awkwardly and an his hand through his hair "In about 40 minutes" he stuttered as he busied himself collecting mugs off the counter and heading towards the kitchen area.

Indi ran her hand through her hair as she tried to shake off what had almost happened, had they almost kissed? It was in her imagination surely, I mean why would someone like Ryan be interested in her? Indi came to the conclusion she had obviously imagined it.

Ryan on the other hand felt terrible for his lapse in judgement, I mean how could he be so insensitive? Indi had just told him about her dead husband and here he was making a move.

In his defense though it wasn't an intentional move, the moment just took him. He had forgotten himself in the excitement of finishing the track that had been troubling him for months. Yeah that's all it was, Ryan thought to himself there wasn't a moment between them, there couldn't have been. I mean why would Indi be interested in him?

................

Ryan wasn't left dwelling on his feelings for long as the studio was soon over run with testosterone, as the rest of the guys arrived to record vocals "I still can't believe how amazing it sounds" Drew was impressed "I thought this was one of the tracks that would go into Ryan's Bermuda archive"

"Bermuda?" Indi wondered and Brent chuckled.

"Yeah Ryan writes a ridiculous amounts of melodies that never get used, I mean for every track on the record Ryan has written five or six melodies and discarded them in the archive...We call it Bermuda because they land in there never to be seen again" Indi can't hide her smile as Ryan's cheeks glow red.

"Is that right?" She asks with an amused smile and Ryan nods.

"What can I say, I'm a perfectionist" he shrugs and Indi giggles.

"Yeah well you never had me working with you before, maybe some of these tracks could return from Bermuda?" Indi suggested and Ryan nodded curiously.

"Yeah maybe" suddenly he felt himself lost in another moment as the pairs eyes met again, a long lingering connection that neither of them we're in a rush to break.

"Do you want me to go first boss?" Zach joked as he moved in front of Ryan, Indi quickly turned and looked at something on the desk as Ryan answered Zach.

After Zach moved away Ryan found himself watching Indi, he was watching the way she arranged the papers neatly on his desk and then he watched as she walked over to the sink and poured herself a juice "Ryan? Ry" Ryan looked at Drew who was stood beside him, he seemed to be waited for Ryan's reply.

"What sorry?" Ryan shook off his thoughts and gave Drew his full attention.

"Zach" Drew looked puzzled "He's ready to start"

"Oh shit Yeah" Ryan glanced up attend noticed Indi was looking at him, he guessed she must have been deep in thought, because as soon attends she saw him watching her she turned and busied herself with something else...

Ryan put his earphones on and flicked the switches...he waited for Zach to start.