Emerald Eyes

10 - Music Box

Martijn opened the door and made a gesture for me to enter in front of him. He was a gentleman. "After you.", he said and I walked through the door. The studio was beautiful, it was kept mostly in white, shiny surfaces and had several LED panels, which could be controlled concerning brightness and color. In front of us, there was a white desk with a huge computer screen and two speakers and on the side there was a keyboard and a beautiful acoustic guitar. Martijn plopped down into one of the two comfy chairs and said "Come on, sit down." "Thank you.", I said, "That's a beautiful place." Martijn nodded proudly: "It is. Welcome to my Happy Place." His eyes were beaming when he set up his music program on the computer and started to load his new tracks onto it. One could really see how proud he was and how much he enjoyed what he was doing. "Soooo...", he said, "Let me give you a sneak peek before the others arrive. I basically finished seven tracks the past week, which doesn't mean they're all good, but I'm quite confident that there a few good ones which could be released. So, I'm just gonna play them to you and you let me know how you feel. What about that?" "For sure.", I replied, "That's great! I can't wait to hear what you've been working on." The first track was a melodic piece, quite calm and dreamy, the melody held by a synthy piano sound. The second and third track were both more aggressive, electronic ones. When Martijn started the intro of the fourth track, I was in awe: "Tijn, that one is beautiful. It reminds me of... of those music boxes I had as a child. My mom used to love these, we had a lot of them at home. I really like that track, it's my favorite so far!" "Amazing!", he smirked, "My sister had lots of them too. That's what inspired me. I'm glad you like it." He then continued with two tracks with vocals and the last one was a really upbeat and powerful "Big room" track, as he called it, very suitable for big crowds. He had just finished playing all the songs to me, when the doorbell rang. "Oh, that must be the others!", he said happily and jumped up to open the door.. Unsure of what to do, I got up as well and trailed a little behind him. I mean, I didn't know anybody, right? Somehow I felt a little intimidated by all the new impressions, which usually wasn't my style. But somehow, that guy managed to turn my world upside down. "Yoooo!", I heard him laugh and I saw four men of different ages enter the apartment. One of them was Julian, but I had never seen the others before. Martijn hugged all of them and then realized me standing there, when he started to introduce me to the others. "So everyone, please meet Line. She's a new really good friend of mine and I thought I'd invite her over. An unbiased opinion couldn't be bad, I figured." Julian made a step forward and gave me a hug: "Long time no see, right?" I laughed and hugged him back: "Yep, you're right. Can't send you away this time, I guess." Then a tall, bald man approached me. Tijn said: "So Line, this is Watse. He's my manager and he's amazing. Without him, well I'd probably get nothing done as quickly haha." "Good to meet you, Line.", Watse said and we shook hands. Then, a smaller guy with a button-down shirt came up to me: "Hi Line! I'm Gabe! Good to meet you!" "So Gabe is the genius behind all the show design, so visuals, lights, stage design and all of that stuff.", Martijn explained. "Good to meet you too!", I replied and Gabe gave me a hug. They had all gone up to the studio already, so Martijn and I were left with just one more guest, who had quite the resemblance with Martijn. Martijn gave him another hug and said: "So Pops, please meet Line. She's the amazing girl I have told you about. And Line – please meet my Pops. I'm really happy you made it, Pops." "Hello, Mr. Garritsen", I said politely, "It's a pleasure to meet you." His father stepped up to me with a big smile and said: "Hi Line, it's a pleasure to meet you too! Please, call me Gerard." He then gave me a warm hug and added: "You make my boy really happy, you know that, right?" I smiled: "He does make me happy, too. You've raised an amazing man, he's a great guy." "I know I'm aweeeesome.", Martijn interrupted with a laugh and pushed us towards the stairs up to the studio, "But we need to get to work nooooow!" His father and I climbed up the stairs and found a place to sit in the almost crowded little studio. Martijn hopped back into one of the chairs and started to play the others the music he had shown to me beforehand. We listened to the tracks for a couple more times and then Martijn asked everyone for their opinion, from their different points of view, and he really made every opinion count. It was soon clear that one of the more aggressive electronic tracks, the big room track and the music box one (that I had loved so much) were the tracks preferred by all of us. Martijn worked a little more on the tracks, tweaked a few sounds and made some little improvements here and there. A while later, we all went back down to the living room to chill a little. Martijn offered us a few drinks and we all sat down on the couch. Everyone was chatting, Watse and Martijn's dad, Julian and Martijn, all busy in conversation. I found myself next to Gabe, who was sipping on his drink. I didn't really know what to say, so I decided to just go for the obvious. "So you're the one making all the magic happen for him on stage? The lighting and all that? How do you get into a job like this?", I asked, trying to break the ice. Gabe laughed and said: "I wish I didn't hahaha. No, just kidding, it's the most rewarding thing I've done so far. Basically, I studied light design and then worked with a stage design agency for a few years. And then that guy...", he pointed to Martijn, "Has worked with us a couple of times and I was responsible for his shows... And basically I got stuck with him ever since. What about you? What are you doing for a living?" "That's amazing!", I replied, "Well, I am still studying, I'm majoring in creative media management and I live not too far away on the campus of Amsterdam university, originally I'm from Leiden, you know?" "Nice! Got any plans already on what you're gonna do when you're done studying?", he asked. "Not exactly.", I explained, "But I'd love to work somewhere in the creative industry, so not with a newspaper or something like that. I'm interested in design and photography, I love doing mood boards and my biggest hobby is creative writing and storytelling, so I guess that would be the right sector for me to work in." "That sounds really interesting!", he said, "You have to show me some of your work when we get a chance. I love meeting new creative people! You can always find inspiration, can't you?" "Yes, absolutely!", I agreed. I continued talking to Gabe for a while, until Martijn basically threw out his guests to get home so he could relax. When the others had left, I also looked for my purse, assuming Martijn wanted to be all alone. His head peeked out of the kitchen and when he saw me grabbing all my stuff, he said: "Hey, Line, where are you going?" "Oh, I thought you wanted us all to leave so you could relax a little?", I said back. "No, idiot. Can you please stay?", he begged and once again played out the charm of his blue eyes. "What's it with us calling each other idiot?", I laughed, "And you really want me to stay, Tijn?" "Yes pleeease.", he said with the voice of a little child. "Oh Garrix.", I laughed, "You're seriously messing with me. Alright, I'll stay. But what's in it for me?" "You'll see.", he said and smirked.