Always There

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Four:

Bryce's POV

"All right, Bryce. That should be good for now. Nice work."

I can only hear Robert's voice through my headphones as I'm in the recording booth and he's on the other side of the glass wall from me.

I turn to face him and nod before slipping off the headphones, then resting them on the music stand in front of me. Turning on my heel, I head out of the booth and into the rest of the studio. I leave the glass door open behind me as I move to the back of the room to sit down next to Lydia on the leather sectional sofa against the back wall.

As soon as I sit, leaning back against the cushions, she rests her hand on my thigh. "My turn?" she asks me, her emerald green eyes meeting mine when she turns to face me.

"Yep," I respond, reaching up to brush a stray piece of her fiery red hair back behind her ear.

At this, she squeezes my thigh and then stands up from her seat on the couch. She kisses me on the cheek and then turns to kiss Theodore on the cheek before giving us both a small wave and heading over to where Robert is sitting, right in front of the recording booth with everybody that's working on mixing sound.

Lydia, Theodore, and I have been in the studio for a few hours already today. We've been recording a couple of demos of songs by songwriters that frequently work with Robert and his label, and at the moment, we're working on a track that Lydia and I are on.

We just came back into the studio after taking a lunch break in one of the meeting rooms. Even though Theodore has nothing to do with this song, he's still hanging around to support Lydia as I'm fairly certain that something is going on between them.

I highly doubt that any of these songs will ever be finished and polished to the point where they'll be released, but since today is Lydia, Theodore, and I's first day off university for the summer, Robert had us all come into the studio for the first time just to practice being in the studio environment.

I really do enjoy being in the studio, and it feels like something that I've been working towards for a very long time is finally becoming a reality, yet at the same time, I really fucking miss Lexi right now.

I just think she would be so proud of me. She was so excited when I initially told her that I was going to be recording music, and I know that she would love to hear that it's finally happening.

I also just wish that after all of this, I could go home to her tonight. I wish that I would still be able to open the door to the apartment and hear her hurried footsteps straight away, running towards me so that she could jump right up into my arms.

That was my favourite part of the days where she got home before me.

But now, I'm just desperate to be able to go home and tell her about my day. I somehow managed to forget how fucking dreadful it is to go back to an empty apartment every night during the time that Lexi and I lived together, but now that I live alone again, it really is terrible to be surrounded by nothing but your own thoughts when at home.

I remember the night where I truly felt the loneliest very distinctly. It was exactly two weeks after Lexi and I broke up, and when I got home that day, I didn't bother making dinner.

I just dropped all of my things at the door and went straight into my bathroom. I took off all my clothes and then turned on the shower, making the water run so hot that it was painful to touch.

Nonetheless, I stepped into the shower and let the steaming hot water pour down on me. I liked the fact that it burned my skin and I found the feeling sort of soothing.