The Assistant | Scavi

Listening

The next morning, Scott got up on time, ready to sit down and listen to Avi's music. He smiled at Mitch who was standing in the kitchen with his coffee. "Good morning."

"Morning" Mitch said tired. "You are already up? I thought that you would sleep in, after all you don't have to go to work today..."

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have to be there physically, but I still have to do some work, remember?" He grinned at his best friend, because he rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, I remember... the new songs you don't want me to listen..." Mitch said.

Scott sighed. "It is not that I don't want you to listen, I cannot let anyone listen to them or I will risk my non existent career and have to pay a hefty fine. More than you make with a whole collection."

Mitch giggled. "I know... I am not supposed to show designs to anyone. I cannot take them home with me either. The studio is always like a high security vault when we work on new designs..." 

"I got an old school MP3 player" Scott joked.

"Yeah, but that does the job. You cannot accidentally send the songs off to anyone, if you share them it is your own fault. So yeah..." Mitch sighed and emptied his mug. "I need to run, meeting with the boss at 8.30. I already hate this day. At least he is flying over to Europe on Monday so I can finish my work in peace." 

Scott commiserated with his best friend. Even though Avi was moody and not always pleasant to be around, Mitch's boss really was a huge asshole. Nothing Mitch did was good enough, even if he worked his ass off. "You'll make it through the day, Sweetie" he said softly. "Text me when you're on the way back home, I can take care of dinner."

Mitch smiled. "Would be lovely. Wine?"

"Will be there" Scott replied. "Now off you go, I don't want you to be late."

"Me neither, bye." Mitch rushed off and left Scott alone. 

The blonde started his day with a fresh cup of coffee and some cereals before he sat down in the living room with the MP3 player, his headphones and a notebook. "Here we go..." he said and decided to just listen to the whole EP once and then go through it song by song. 

The first listen took almost half an hour. He knew four out of the seven songs, Change on the Rise was already out and Scott had heard it on the radio already. Then I'll get by, Born in California and Full Moon the songs they had recorded with him present. The other two songs he didn't know, yet."

He started his in depth work on I'll get by and found a few things he thought might need some looking into. Then he did the same for Born in California and Full Moon, because he thought that these were the easiest songs. Afterwards he decided to take a break. Three hours had passed since he had sat down and he didn't know how that happened. But he was satisfied with his work and skimmed through the countless pages of note he already had. Scott went into the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. He sighed after a moment and turned it back off. Somehow he wasn't in the mood for coffee.

Scott sighed and took out his phone, searched for a moment and then got dressed to head out to the nearest mall. He walked by all the clothes stores he would usually shop in and went straight towards a shop he had never been before. A tea shop.

"Hi" he said when the vendor approached him. "I am searching for a some tea..." he said. 

The middle aged woman grinned. "That's why people come here, right..." she said friendly. "Which kind of tea are you after?"

"Errrrm..." Scott scratched the back of his head. "I had some Earl Grey and some tea with blood orange?" 

"You are new to this, right?" The woman asked. 

Scott nodded. "Yeah, a... friend convinced me that tea is better than coffee and I had to agree at least partly..." he explained. 

"Okay, well why don't you try a few different teas and we'll see what you like. Sounds like a plan?" 

"Yes, wonderful thank you!" 

~

Two hours later, Scott was back in the apartment and had just prepared a cup of jasmine tea to drink while he listened to the last three songs of the album. He started with Get Down, which he deemed almost perfect, he only found one or two little irregularities, which he wanted to talk through with Avi and Kevin and then turned to Chains. 

He listened to the song once and then once more and was gobsmacked. The song created a dark atmosphere and Avi's deep voice resonated in his ear, singing about chains holding him down. The whole song sounded so dark and hopeless that Scott had to wipe a few stray tears from his cheeks. These words must have come from a place of deep hurt, Scott was sure of it. He wondered what had happened for Avi to feel this way. He listened to the song once more and tried to come up with anything he didn't like, anything that didn't sound good. 

But there wasn't anything. The song was rough, dark and heavy and just the way it should be. He took a break from listening and finished his tea, before he listened to the next and last song, It Knows Me. There was one major mistake in the recording, but still, Scott couldn't help but notice how beautiful the text was, too. He really started to like Avi's music. There was something about his voice and the way he presented his texts that was captivating. 

Scott sighed and got back into the kitchen, prepared another cup of tea and went back into the living room, this time with his laptop, eager to listen to more of Avi's music. He found some older songs from his first EP and listened to them. They were different, but the voice and the feels were there. Time passed and Scott just listened to and watched everything he could find of Avi and he was surprised when he heard the door open and Mitch enter the apartment. "Honey, I am home" he called. "You good?"

"Oh shit." It was already half past six and after 10 hours of work Mitch would probably be dead tired. "I... forgot about dinner, I am sorry..."

"Don't worry, we'll order something" the smaller man said and went into the kitchen. "Coffee?" 

"No, thanks" Scott called back, turned off his laptop and joined his best friend in the kitchen.

"I can see why" Mitch said. "Someone raided a tea shop." He grinned.

Scott blushed. "Errm... I like tea" he said. 

"I get that" Mitch said. "And how was working through the new music?"

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "I... it was so good. He... is such a gifted musician, I cannot explain how good this is..."

Mitch smiled. "I think I will only hear it once it's out?" 

Scott nodded. "Yeah... but you should listen to his older stuff if you've got time, it's different, but so good."

"Well... why don't we order some food and then listen to some music?" Mitch offered. "Indian?"

Scott nodded. "Jep. My usual, please." He turned on the kettle and opened a box of tea. "Want some?"

Mitch chuckled, but he shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll stay with coffee. You should take some of it to the studio tomorrow, maybe Avi will be in a good mood then..."

Scott smiled slightly. "I was planning on it. And I hope so, too. Tea always makes him smile..." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~