Not Just A Fan

Chapter 5

The next day, Ester did her shift at the shop, letting her mind go somewhere else, thinking about one of his songs on how to turn it into a piano Ballard. On the shop floor, using the Piano turned off, pretending to hear the keys. It also crossed her mind about the suggestion she said yesterday, and it was working for what Drew is looking for his tour.

'Careful, if Jason catches you he might chop your fingers off.' a deep voice creeps behind her ear, it made her jump slightly.

'I won't get caught.' She turns around to tell him, the dark blue graphic t-shirt worked well with his skin amazingly. Brad smirks back, taking in everything he sees of her and how much he wanted Ester.

'So, you still free for our date?' she reached onto her tiptoes and whispers in his ear.

'I wouldn't miss it for the world.'

Strolling her way to the studio after work, she became excited about her date tomorrow by surprising her what there going to do, at least she can prepare a decent outfit. With less than 5 minutes of reaching the studio, she gets a text message from Eric saying not meeting her there and will be fine on her own from now on. She found that acceptable and will talk in a few days.

Walking in and saying hello to Myles, the guitarist, Jake and the bass player, Andy, they always seem happy to see her, and all Drew does is nod and a little smile. Ester heard the door behind her go and saw another male walking in.

'Hey, I'm Sam. I'm here for the guitar job?'

'Good everyone's here.' Drew stated. 'Right, since Sam has joined us, we're going to run through what we have done for the last few days.' They all nodded, 'I'm given you all tomorrow off, but I would like everyone to be here at 9 am till 4.30 pm on Sunday. You all ok with that?' They nodded again, and the shop is closed on Sundays for Ester. 'Good, I'm writing some music, and I need you guys to practice it with me as I am thinking of adding it to the tour.' Ester raised one eyebrow at him.

'How many songs are we going to be doing?' She asks, from the list, they worked on, it's enough for the 2 hour slot time.

'I might change it and realise a small ep before the tour starts.' Drew sounded agitated. 'Got a problem with that?' Ester taken back of the aggression in his voice.

'No. I'm just checking if-'

'Good, don't ask questions like it. You're here to do what I say. The doors there if you don't want to stay.' He says and reminds them who's in charge, and she found it a bit rude.

During practice, Sam picked up the tracks well and gave them a short break, and they sit around the sofa to think about moving songs around, it completely ruins the suggestion Ester inputted in yesterday.

'This track can be scrapped.' Drew crosses out the song "Heartache".

'What? You can't get rid of that one!' Drew looks at her, annoyed. 'That made into the top 5 instantly once released and is still one of the best tracks of this decade. Throwing that away is insane!'

'I think you need to start being quiet.' Drew saw Ester like a child and treated her like one. 'It's my tour and I make the shots.' she sighed and decided to let it go. 'I want this slot to take a new song that I want to realise and want it to combine into the next new track afterwards. We'll discuss it further on Sunday.'

Drew explained more about the setlist which changed everything they worked on the last few days, practically going back to square one.

They went back into the recording studio and stood by their instruments, while Ester waited for her cue to come in and she improvised her intro slot.

'Don't do that.' Drew tenses, 'I want to hear the verse of the song that we are leading up to.'

'I thought it might entice the crowd while they wait for you to come on and make them guess what song you might start with-'

'I don't want any more of your input, just do as your told.' He raised his voice at her, that was the last straw, Ester needed to talk to him after this session. There was one point in his career he trusted their suggestions, but stated to put a guard up now, and he lost belief in himself.

Waiting for everyone to leave, Ester pretends to sort some settings on the keyboard, so it looks like she wasn't standing still waiting to talk to him. As she is waiting, she can see the deep thoughts he is processing while staring at the setlist. It made her think whether it was worth telling him off now. Drew caught her,

'Are you going to leave or what?' He tells her.

'You know what,' Ester retracted the thought and decided to vent it out. 'I maybe 23, but you have no right to speak to me like that in front of everyone. I don't know what your problem is, but all I want to do is help you and give you the best tour that your fans will remember you by.' She walks past ready to make her dramatic exit, 'So forgive me for caring.' At this point, it may have lost her place for the tour, but she at least wanted to walk out with her head held high. It won't stop her listen to his music.

'Wait.' Drew caught her attention, and she spins around, 'You don't think I want to give the best tour too?' He got up to tower over her, he did think a little and her youthful look never intimidated him, given he's only 32 years old. Also, she has talent, something he admires not the fact she had beautiful ocean blue eyes that made his breathing bearable. 'This is the only thing I have left to prove to myself and what I don't want is you telling me otherwise.' Ester saw his metallic eyes almost turning bloodshot, with the frustration of everything that happened in the last three years, her heart rate paced fast.

'Instead of pushing people away, why don't you let them in? People may hurt you, but there are other people out there who care for you....' Her voice risen but started to go back to normal, '...and that's what I'm trying to do, with you.' Drew shoulders relaxed, this change of feeling for Ester didn't feel right to him, seeing the determination when he watched her on the TV show. But he can also see care and kindness, which he was left to believe not to exist in people, and it's just an act. He looked down to the floor and back to Ester.

'Listen, I don't know what you are trying to imply but, if you can just let me do this at my own pace - you'll understand.' Her eyebrows drew in together given him a confused look. 'Just watch, and you'll see.' The tone in his voice got her biting of the bottom of her lip and found him attractive. 'I'll see you on Sunday.' Drew holds the door open for her to leave and she made her cue.

He slammed the door shut and put his hand on his chest, scared of how it tighten his breathing became. Finding the nearest stool to sit, he starts counting to 10 while he closes his eyes, these attacks are happening again and too often. They should be over, and should not be having these any more. The anxiety beast invents these evil thoughts from time to time, telling him he needs to take an easy way out, believing it is the only way. Clenching onto his chest tighter waiting for him to recover and let this pass by.

'Lucy..' He whispers out loud, and a tear falls from his face.

Drew wipes off the wet mark of his left cheek and takes a sip of water, his heart rate finally went back to normal, but it made him emotionally drained and tired. Ester had no intention to bring this on he told himself, it must have been the way he raised his voice and how angry he got quickly. Also, how she responded about helping him and how her goal is the same as Drews. All the mixed emotions in his head, it felt so right but wrong. How she wanted to help him more than ever, her big sea-blue grey eyes and her small dimple he saw when she smiled a few times, her skin not too pale for a girl like her in Brooklyn but just right and glowed, and how she works with her fingers when she touches the keys. What made her so captivating? He couldn't figure it out and hopes it will end soon.