Riley James and the Boys Next Door.

Chapter Three

ATTACHED IS THE SONG THAT RILEY WROTE.

***

I tried to wipe the embarrassed look off my face and hope that he didn’t remember me. But, I’m a singer not an actress for a reason. I am the worst at faking it. To keep myself out of view of the booth, I looked around and spotted two other boys sitting on a black leather in the couch and walked over.

“Hey, I’m Riley.” I said sitting down next to the one with messy black hair.

“Archer Cate. Nice to meet you.” He said smiling. “This is Parker.” He motioned to the boy sitting next to him with dirty blond hair that was cut close to his head.

“Hey. You’re who we are touring with right?” Parker asked.

“Yep. Hope you don’t mind.” I said smiling.

“Oh no don’t worry about it! I’ve seen some of your stuff before. You play at Java lounge sometimes, right?” He asked and I nodded.

“Normally. So what part of the band are you guys?” I replied.

Archer smiled. “Not a fan?”

“Oh no sorry! I’ve heard your stuff before and it’s quite good! I’m just not sure who’s who!” I blurted, not trying to offend anyone.

Archer started laughing really hard as I apologized. “It’s not a big deal R. Calm down.” He said in between laughing fits.

“Oh shush.” I said and playfully shoved him lightly. “So who’s who?”

“I play drums and sing backup, Archer is a bass player and sings, and Nathan, but we call him Nate,” Parker motioned to the guy inside to booth, “Is as you guessed, the main singer but he also plays guitar.”

“That’s cool.” I replied as Nate AKA parking lot guy exited the recording booth and plopped down next to me on the couch.

“I recognize you from somewhere.” He said turning to face me.

My face turned bright red and I quickly introduced myself, “Riley James, I’m your new opening act.”

“Ahh, Nathan Westbrook at your service, Call me Nate though.” He said. I giggled and let my body relax into the couch as the boys started to debate over which is better, McDonalds or In-n-out.

***

“But McDonald’s fries are so much better and they sell chicken nuggets!” Archer argued, trying to convince Nate.

“Uhm, no! In-n-out is a million times better. Animal fries are like a dream. Case closed.” I butted in, arguing on Nates side. What? In-n-out is so much better!

“See. Even Riley agrees with me.” Nate said slinging his arm over me, making a blush appear on my cheeks. I just smiled and went back to texting Emma. Adam called me over and I pushed myself off the couch and walked over.

“Yes?”

“Okay, you are free to leave now we just need to tell you that we need those four songs by the end of this week.” Adam said before walking off with Juliette and my jaw dropped. How the hell was I going to write four songs in 6 days! That’s crazy.

I walked back to the boy’s and picked up my bag from the floor.

“Bye guys! See you soon.” I said giving them each a quick hug. Nate’s hug being the longest because he smells amazing.

“Why are you leaving?” Parker questioned.

“Gotta go write four songs! They’re due at the end of the week.” I said pouting.

“Oh goodness, That’s why we have Nate write our songs and we just kind of fool around and give out crap suggestions.” Archer called out from the couch.

Nate walked with me out of the studio and as I was about to leave, he blurted out “I could you know, help you if you wanted..” Scratching the back of his neck in that way guys do showing off his toned biceps.

“Really?” I said blushing.

“Mhm. Let me go grab my stuff.” He said and slipped back into the studio, later emerging with a hoodie and a guitar case. “Okay, I’ll follow you in my car if that’s okay?” He asked.

“Yea sure that’s fine.” I said nodding and we walked over to our cars, me pulling out and him right behind me.

***

“Em, are you home?” I called out as I pushed open the door and walked in with Nate.

“Yep, I’m in my room.” She called.

“Okay, Me and Nate are going to be working on some new songs, so sorry if your head hurts!” I called back as we walked to the living room.

“Mkay…”She mumbled and most likely fell back asleep.

“You can set up here, I’m just going to grab my guitar and a notebook.” I said and popped into my room. I also quickly changed into a flowy tanktop and some yoga pants to be more comfortable. Picking up my worn out guitar and some paper, I returned to the living room and plopped down on the floor.

“Where do you want to start?” He asked from where he was sitting on the couch, his guitar on his lap.

“Usually I just start by stringing some chords together and singing out random lyrics.” I responded and grabbed my guitar before playing a random chord progression before singing the first thing that came to my mind,

“See you distract me. But I’m distracted without you..” I sang, and I really like how it ended up sounding. I jotted it down and looked up at Nate, eyebrows raised.

“I like that, how about this next..” He said and started strumming the same chord progression before adding, “I don’t know how to focus, baby teach me how to..” His silky sexy voice flooding the room. I quickly jotted that down and sang the verse, really enjoying how it came out so far.

“Cause I'm standing still again, But if you love me, just like the way that I love you, I wouldn't

mind a little comforting from you.” I sang softly.

“Why do I let you in my head..” Nate ended and I nodded before writing that down and testing out the entire chorus. It was perfect.

“Now I'm running late

And I'm not a coffee drinker,

But I lost sleep just thinking of you.

So pour me a cup,

I need to wake up,

I need me some love.

Now give it to me.” I sang before writing it down again.

“I’m really liking this song.” Nate said as he played what we had so far.

“Me too.”

***

That’s how the whole evening and most of the night went. We ended up with one song written and let me tell you it is probably the best song I have ever written. All thanks to Nate.

***

Yay! Early Update!

The song is called Helplessly by Tatiana Manaois and it is probably one of my all time favorites so you should really go and listen to it!

VOTE AND COMMENT! xx