Starstruck

Chapter 10*

Chapter 10

-Alyssa Taylor- 

  "Look who's late again," I sing as I slide into the passenger seat of Ryan's sleek car.

  "Shut up, I'm only ten minutes late this time," He retorts as I roll my coffee brown eyes.

  "Only ten?" I scoff as he drives farther away from my apartment.

  We reach a short building with an simple sign in front. Ryan's car pulled into an empty spot and we checked our surroundings before sneaking to our destination. We amble past the reception desk and the dark leather seats to a pair of double doors leading to who knows where.

  "Hey, you! Blondie," A gruff voice calls, "Stop right there." I freeze then turn around slowly to face a tall, buff, black man. 

  "Uche, she's with me," Ryan calls in my defense.

  "Oh," He mutters, "Wait, is she the girl? The one in all those pictures with you?"

  "Yeah," Ryan says running his hand through his hair. "Oh! Alyssa, this is Uche. Uche, this is Alyssa." For some reason, I didn't care about the fact that Ryan told him my name. Uche seemed to be the kind of guy who keeps secrets.

  "Hi," I squeak as I took his outstretched hand.

  "Uche's my bodyguard for all things publicity related; like award shows, touring, concerts. He'll be at the benefit concert this Saturday," Ryan explains.

  "So, um, do you have anybody following you around whenever?" I ask, suddenly aware about how he's never flocked by tons of hormonal teenage girls.

  "Yeah, I have people everywhere," He smirks. Should I be scared? "So, Uche, do you want to tell Alyssa about how wonderful it is to be my bodyguard?"

  "Every night on tour he would sleep with-" Uche begins.

  "Uche! That's not what I mean by telling her how wonderful I am!" Ryan yells in a sort of playful tone. Now I can't help but wonder what Uche was going to say. Uche just give him a smirk and shakes his head. "Come on, Alyssa. I'll show you the studio."

  He pulls me down the hall and into a dark room. I hear the flip of a light switch and the room comes alive. Mixing equipment sits on the desk along with computer screens and speakers. Inside the foam covered recording booth is a state of the art microphone.

  "Holy crap, this is so cool," I gasp as I soak in the studio.

  "I thought you'd like it," Ryan grins and I do, even though I'd never use it. The door opens again and I whip around as a man in a white t-shirt walks in.

  "Who's she? If she's another one of those crazy fans, I'll go get Uche," He says just as fast as Uche told me to stop.

  "Chill out, she's with me," Ryan nods at him. "Alyssa this is Andy, he does all things music. He writes, records, produces, everything." I shake his hand and smile at him.

  "Okay, well you still need to write one more song and record," Andy lists, "Oh, and Shock is swinging by next Wednesday to record with you." 

  "Shock, as in the rapper?" I ask incredulously.

  "Yeah, who else?" Andy grins. Whoa, he's going to sing with Shock. I mean, it shouldn't come as a surprise to me, but it does. "Wait, aren't you that bombshell blonde that everyone's talking about?"

  "I guess," I shrug. 

  "So, you play guitar?" He presses on.

  "Yeah," I reply.