That Girl

Two~Recording

A/N: This is probably late but here it is. Sorry. I was distracted!

SOTC: Nothing Even Matters by Big Time Rush

QOTC: A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song. ~Maya Angelou

xSam🙈💭💚

~Drew~

We all walked out of the venue together and toward the parking lot. There were still quite a few cars in the lot. Two stood out, however: our van and a bright red, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. It was beautiful. And I'm not one for cars that aren't convertibles. When the shiny red vehicle came into view a beaming grin spread on Sam's face. It was obvious that she loved that car. "So where's this 'baby' of yours?" TC asked. She raised her hand and pointed at the Camaro. Jayk, TC, and Blake's mouths dropped open, eyes widening in shock. "That's your car?" Was Jayk's response which received a proud nod. We made our way to the beautiful machine. "Where did you get this?" Blake asked once we were within reach of the car. "Built it." was her only response. We all turned to her in surprise. "You what?!" I couldn't stop myself from asking. Shrugging, she nonchalantly said, "I built it. With my own two hands. Piece by piece. It took forever but I never gave up. All the parts are original, just a little more modern. The only thing I didn't do was the interior. I was a wreck the whole time it was getting done. Took a week to complete." As she talked she popped the hood, trunk and opened all the doors to show the inside. Under the hood, everything was shiny and new with red accents. The inside was scarlet and grey. A small Ohio State Buckeyes logo hung from the rearview mirror. Even the seatbelts were red. A fancy stereo system sat in the dashboard. The only thing in the car that wasn't red or grey was a blue and yellow tassel hanging on the rearview mirror. The numbers '2015' glistened gold in the light from the sun. "This. Is. Amazing." was the first thing any of us were able to say, and the words were spoken by TC. "If you think that's cool wait until you hear it." Alex bragged, nodding for Sam to start it up. She slid, gracefully behind the wheel, entering the key into the ignition and firing it up. The sound it made would put a choir of angels to shame. The car roared like a lion, loud and proud-king of the jungle. Then she turned the stereo on, which blasted a rock song in high-definition, studio quality sound. The bass booming like thunder in the parking lot. With every hit of the drum, a vibration was felt in the ground. I was amazed. After she turned the car and stereo off, I couldn't help but ask, "How did you get a sound system like that?" And she laughed at me. "My dad built it for me," was her simple reply. I was about to lose my mind! Her dad can build a sound system like that? She can build a car like that?! I couldn't do anything but stare at her in total shock. "Close your mouth, babe. You'll catch flies." She smirked at me.

When the shock and awe of her car wound down, the girls piled into the beast, while we crawled into the van. Blake drove us to the studio, with Sam and the girls following close behind drawing attention with every mile we drove. But I'm sure she's used to that by now. We pulled into the lot of the studio about twenty minutes late. We all stepped out of our vehicles and moved toward the studio's doors. The studio we were recording in was on the third floor. TC lead us to the elevators. When we got there, however, Sam wasn't having any part of it. "No. NO! I'm not stepping foot in that death trap. Do you know how easy it is for those cables to snap? Or for the whole thing to just stop working halfway between floors? Have you ever seen a horror movie? That's how we all die! No! This is not happening! Not to mention the fact that there's gonna be eight of us on that thing! No, I won't do it. Do you want to give me a mental breakdown?! Do you want to kill me?! If you keep this up, that's the path we're headed. I'll take the stairs I don't care. I did it in Florida carrying three bags full of clothes and shoes. I'm not asking any of you to take the stairs with me, I'll do it myself. I'm capable. Levi would understand." Alex sighed, rolling her eyes at her best friend's dramatics. "Oh get over it! Vi's not even here! You can be in an elevator for like 5 minutes without exploding. I've seen you do it before. It's three floors. We're not gonna die. Relax. Find your chill." Sam was not happy about this at all. It was all over her face. "Don't you tell me to find my chill! You know how I am with elevators! But if you're so sure it's safe, I'll go. But if I die, the blood's on your hands." Shelby shook her head. "Stop being so dramatic! I swear sometimes, you're so stubborn. SAMANTHA JO, get in the elevator before I slap you!" Alex exclaimed when Sam tried to run for it.

Once we'd all stepped into the elevator, Sam seemed to be missing. "Where's Sam?" Blake questioned. Alex shook her head pointing to the back corner of the elevator. And there Sam sat, curled up in the corner, face hidden in her knees. Jayk was always the empathetic one out of all of us, so of course, he went to comfort her. He sat on the floor next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder that made her jump and look up with pure terror in her eyes. When she saw who it was, she climbed into his lap and buried her face in his shoulder, shaking the whole time. When the compartment jolted to a stop she let out a squeak. The doors slowly rolled open and she was rushing from the lift before anyone could even take a step toward the door. When we left the elevator we found her around the corner staring wide-eyed at the lobby from behind the glass barrier. Shaking her head, Alex walked over and turned her around, so that her back was to the drop. Sam's brown eyes shifted between all of us before settling on Alex, who apologized for forcing her to take the lift. This didn't seem to be helping her calm down so we went into the studio. After which Alex took Sam's phone and attached it to one of the monitors with a magic cord that was in Sam's bag. Alex then played 'Handmade' again which caught all of her best friend's attention. The brunette stared at the large screen eyes and head turning with the change in camera angles. A bright smile stuck on her face until the camera zoomed in on Blake. Only then did her smile dim a little. It returned, however, once the camera showed us all again. It was then that I noticed she smiled wider when the Drew on the screen did, well, anything. Shelby and Kate's attention was also taken by the video. Shelby kept her eyes on Blake and Kate's stayed on Jayk. Alex was just smiling at her best friend's joy.

After the video ended, Sam played 'Where The People Go' from the same session. The three girls watching the screen had their eyes glued to either Jayk, Blake or myself. When that video ended, Alex had to unhook the device from the monitor to keep the other three from playing any more videos. And then I had an amazing idea. "Hey would either, or all, of you girls like to record a cover for fun?" They looked at each other and then back to me. Alex then pushed Sam closer to me. "What? Why me? Why me alone? What is your deal today?" she asked Alex. "Half off, giving a crap." Came Alex's snarky reply that made us all laugh. When the laughter died down, Alex continued, "One, you're a better singer than all of us. And Kate's in a band, Shelby, does musicals and I'm majoring in vocal performance. Two, it's just for fun! And three, why not? You might get to-" Sam covered Alex's mouth before she could say more.

"Okay, I think that's enough reasons. Um, sure, I guess. But what song?" The three girls started throwing out song titles, artists, and genres. When Kate threw out All Time Low, Sam stopped it there. Song titles were thrown out then as well as album names. Kate said 'Stay Awake'. Sam thought that was the best idea ever. Once the song was decided, we had to find the instrumental track. She found it on YouTube in about three seconds. The engineer and I set it up. I then directed her to the recording booth. She looked around shocked and confused. "Uhm, how exactly do I do this? Or what do I do? I'm honestly so inept with this. I'm usually pretty good with technology when it doesn't decide that it hates me." I laughed. "Hey, it's okay. This stuff takes some getting used to. Here, I'll help you." I set her all up where she would need to be. I explained to her what was gonna happen and what she'd need to do. And then as I was leaving, she said, "Hey, could you maybe stay? I've just never done anything like this before and I could use some moral support that isn't behind a glass wall." As she spoke she directed a glare at her friends in the other room. So I stayed.