Layla crossed her legs and waited for him to ask her a question.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
She thought it was a rather boring question, but it was necessary to at least now the basic details about each other.
"Los Angeles, California," she looked down and played with her thumbs.
"Beautiful place," he smiled.
"Will we take turns? That how this works?" she looked to him.
He shrugged, "Whatever makes you comfortable."
"As you may guess, I know nothing about you, do you have any limits on my questions?" she asked.
"I don't think so, no point in hiding," he looked into the trees.
"Tell me about your childhood," she laid back.
He was silent for a few moments, this made her look over at him. He had no expression, it just seemed he was lost in thought. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it with the answer.
"I was 5 years old when I started singing. Um..with my brothers. The Jackson 5, I expect you to be familiar with us at least," he got silent again.
She waited a few more moments.
"That's it?" she scratched the side of her head.
"I'll finish the answer later, if that's okay," he sighed.
This confused her, but she complied nonetheless.
"Your turn," she crossed her legs.
"Do you have any crazy ex boyfriends I have to worry about?" he chuckled.
"Thankfully, no. In fact I don't have an ex at all," she smiled.
"Really? I bet none had the proper confidence to tell you they liked you," he poked her side.
"Doubtful. Anyways, how are we going to get me trained to dance like you in a matter of a couple days?" she sat up.
"It's impossible. We can take it step by step, but the important part is the singing. You have any experience in singing?" he inquired.
"Nope," she answered, rubbing her arm.
"Jesus. Do you at least sing in the shower?"
"Who doesn't?"
"Good, come on we have to get you to memorize my lyrics," he stood and started going back to the house.
She got up and followed him, "Do you promise to tell me about your childhood later?"
"Pinky promise," he laughed and opened the back door.
He told her to wait in the kitchen, to get comfortable because obviously they had a lot of work to do. He went into another room, the sound of papers shuffling and footsteps walking around. He finally did come back, all the lyric sheets to the set list of the concerts in his hands. He set them down.
"Can you feel rhythm? Understand it?" he sat next to her.
"I'd like to think so."
He pulled out some recordings of the instrumental beats of the songs.
"The first is called, 'Wanna Be Startin' Something' got it? The song is pretty simple, I'm positive the crowd will help you if you get stuck. I'll demonstrate how the song is supposed to be sang, and you just listen and try to catch the words okay?" he explained, playing the sound.
He had to sing it a few times before he let her try. But Michael was like a drill sergeant with his songs, they had spent hours...on one song.
"No! It's Billie jean is always talkin' When nobody else is talkin' Tellin' lies and rubbin' shoulders, so they called her mouth a motor! Not that gibberish!" he scolded her.
She rolled her eyes and slammed her head on the table.
"Hey that's not your body you're doing that to!" he glared.
"Michael I'm not getting this you yelling at me isn't going to get me anywhere if I have to learn 18 songs in two days. Look, I'll work on this, I need to memorize these on my own!" she crossed her arms.
"How can I guarantee that you'll hit the right notes and cues? I have to help you."
"Then don't scold me, trust me and I'll get it," she sighed and looked back at the lyric sheet.
"What is this 'ma ma se
Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa?" she scratched her head.
"Rhythm," he got up and started pacing.
She look up at him and got up, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"I got it okay? There's no way I'll let myself single handedly destroy your career," she tried to console him.
"I'm going to bed," he ran his fingers through what used to be her hair and went to his bedroom.
She picked up the sheets and the recording before heading to a separate room. This was going to be a lot harder than she first anticipated.
YOU ARE READING
Wrong Body
FanfictionLayla was a single woman. She had the life that most people would consider "Normal". She loved music, her idols were mostly rock stars. But one day, everything would change. Absolutely Everything. When one day she would wake up and find herself in t...
