Episode II: The Force
Episode II
"Go, Gel!", Yelena yelled knowing full well Angelica couldn't hear her through the sound proof glass. Mark laughed and adjusted his headphones. "She sounds great today." Mark, Tom, and Yelena were all sitting in on Angelica's recording session. She was currently recording her debut CD and could use all the support she could get. "How'd that sound, Guy?", Angelica asked the technician turning to face them. "Great, Gel. You can come out and take a break. Then we're back in the studio for a couple more hours, k? I wanna get all the background vocals recorded tonight," replied the tall, middle aged man. "That was awesome, Gel," Yelena said, rising to give her friend a hug. "Definitely," chimed in Tom. "Thanks, guys. Come on, I need some water." The four friends headed down the hall to the room housing the vending machine. They sat chatting when suddenly Yelena jumped up. "I totally forgot! We're supposed to be at the club by 10 tonight!" "We can be a little late," Tom replied. "You know he only DJ's from 10-11. I can't miss him!", she stated giving the group a pathetic look. "Fine...Gel, you comin'?", asked Mark. "Sorry, guys. I gotta hang around here for a couple more hours. Tell me how it goes, alright? Have fun," Angelica replied as her three friends walked away. Sighing, she stood up and walked back down the hall to the studio.
“Let’s get back to work, little lady,” Guy said, ushering Angelica back into the studio. “Take it from the second verse.”
As the music came through her headphones, Angelica began bobbing her head to the beat. She closed her eyes and sang. Scott paused as he noticed a striking young woman in the studio as he passed. His eyes grew large as he watched her; she was incredibly beautiful. Even though he couldn’t hear what she was singing, he assumed she had an equally beautiful voice. He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow as he gazed through the window at her. His heart started to beat faster and he could feel himself turning red as heat rushed all over his body. He watched intently the dramatic movements of her lips and the twists of her neck. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a man beckoning to him. Scott walked toward the door and opened it. He stepped into the control room of the studio, still unable to force his eyes from the girl. The man that had waved him in spoke, “I’m Guy Patterson, Angelica’s producer. Who might you be?” “Oh,” Scott reached out and took the producer’s proffered hand. “I’m Scott Robinson, I was recording down the hall. I was on my way out, and I noticed her.” He turned to face Angelica. “She’s excellent, if you’d like to listen,” Guy said, holding out a pair of headphones to Scott. Scott grabbed them eagerly. He slipped them on, and immediately a surprised expression crossed his face. The voice he heard was unbelievable. He hadn’t imagined this powerful voice could come from the slender girl he was observing. Shortly, the song drew to an end and the girl opened her eyes. Time seemed to have decelerated into slow motion. Scott watched fixedly as her eyelids slowly rose and her gaze connected with his. His heart palpitated rapidly and his jaw gradually dropped. The girl’s eyes widened and then a smile spread across her lovely face. Scott couldn’t control the smile that sprang to his. It seemed, too, that the irrepressible grin only grew larger as the stunning girl gracefully removed her headphones and entered the control room.
“Hello,” she said. And her speaking voice was just as superb as her singing voice. Scott held out his hand and stuttered. “Hi, I’m Scott. I was on my way out, and I…I…I saw you, and your producer offered me a listen. And I must say, you’re quite…quite talented.” Scott flushed as he finished his sentence and her hand gripped his. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I’m very flattered…were you recording here, too?” Scott fought to tear his eyes from her’s, so penetrating and deep. He arduously transferred his gaze to examine the rest of her extraordinary face. She had mysterious almond shaped eyes that seemed to be able to see right into his soul. He was almost afraid she knew all his thoughts, specifically the dirty ones he was having at the moment, as his gaze traveled southward. Suddenly, as she spoke, Scott blinked and made eye contact again. She was inviting him to stay for the duration of her recording if he wanted, and maybe afterwards they could talk some more and he could tell her about what he was recording, and of course he was no inconvenience whatsoever, actually having an audience was a real pleasure. Angelica silently pantomimed a scream as she reentered the recording chamber. She was pretty sure she’d never seen a guy quite as attractive as Scott. Actually, she was positively sure. She was also pretty sure she’d seen him somewhere before, perhaps on TV or something. While she donned her headphones and commenced singing she pondered where she could’ve seen him before…he was recording, so he must be some sort of musician…then she remembered, and hit her note way off key. She’d seen him in a music video…Scott was in that band 5ive! All whilst recording Angelica tried to keep her eyes shut, but she just couldn’t. They kept forcing themselves open of their own accord. It was like her body was telling her to look at Scott. As if somehow, that’s what her eyes were crafted for; to look upon this person she’d only just met, but for some inexplicable reason felt the deepest connection with. So halfway through recording, she stopped fighting against her body’s impulses and gave in to stare at Scott. She realized it wasn’t all that bad either, because he returned her stare, with the most adorable smile she’d ever seen. Angelica made a variety of different faces and gesticulations to go with her songs, and to amuse Scott. She was remarkably successful at the latter, having Scott with either a rakish grin on his face, or flat out laughing hysterically.
Angelica attempted to listen attentively as Guy discussed their progress with her and laid out their plans for the next day, but she couldn’t ignore Scott’s mockery of her producer as he stood behind Guy tacitly mimicking his words and gestures. She finally let out a chortle, which forced Scott to hastily halt his mocking of Guy and make like he was doing nothing as Guy turned to see what was sooo funny. He looked quizzically at both Scott and Angelica , rolled his eyes, shook his head as if to say, “Kids….”, and then told Angelica she was free to leave. She and Scott both hurriedly exited the room. “You’re quite the comedienne I see,” Angelica said and smiled coyly up at Scott. Scott readily returned the playful smile and rejoined, “You’re rather amusing, yourself.” He added, suddenly concerned, “I hope I didn’t ruin your recording or anything…” “Oh, of course not, on the contraire, I think you might actually have improved it. So, what were you recording?” “I just had to redo a few tracks…nothing big. You really are very talented.” Angelica smiled up at Scott again. “Thanks…” They stopped as they reached the exit. Scott opened the door, motioning Angelica to proceed him, which awarded him another arresting smile. As they began to cross the parking lot, Angelica halted and turned to Scott wearing a bemused expression on her pretty face. “I seem to have forgotten that I have no ride. I have to go back inside and call my friend to come pick me up. It’s really been a pleasure.” “Wait, where do you live, I’ll drive you home,” he replied, grabbing her elbow as she turned to go back inside. “Oh, no really, you don’t have to, I’m sure I’m out of the way.” “No, it’s no problem, I’d be happy to.” He grinned the dashing grin Angelica had suddenly come to adore. “OK, thank you so much. But y’know you really don’t have to…” “Come on, my car’s parked over here.” Scott steered Angelica by her elbow in the direction of his vehicle.
As Scott turned the ignition the radio came on. “You can change it if you want,” he said to his passenger. “Oh, this is fine.” Angelica turned up the volume as a new song started. “Oh my god! I love this song!”, Scott cried as they pulled out of the parking lot. The two began singing in unison, which caused them to look at each other demurely and cease. Shortly, they began again. When the song ended and a commercial came on Scott turned down the volume and asked Angelica where she lived. She gave him some simple directions, and luckily Scott knew the area well. Suddenly, another song came on and Angelica practically leaped toward the volume dial at the same time as Scott. “Richard Marx!”, they both yelled simultaneously. They regarded each other again, laughing. “You like Richard Marx?”, Scott asked incredulously. “Oh my god, yes! This has been one of my favorite songs for like EVER!”, Angelica answered. She started singing again, as did Scott. “Where ever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you, whatever it takes or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you…”, they sang together, occasionally glancing over at each other to smile.
"Here it is," said Angelica, leading Scott into the cozy apartment. As they walked into the living room, they noticed the dim flickering of the TV screen with Yelena lying on the couch across the room. She was all wrapped up in her favorite Ninja Turtles blanket with a box of tissues next to her. The two looked at the TV screen noticing the movie she was watching. "I've seen this movie...It's not sad...Why's she crying?", Scott whispered into Angelica's ear. "Is she okay?" "I don't know, but she hardly ever cries. Maybe this isn't the best time. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?", Angelica replied looking at her best friend with worry. Suddenly, Yelena looked up and noticed the two standing there. "Who's that?" she asked between sniffles. "This is Scott," Angelica stated as Scott waved cautiously at the sobbing figure. "He was just leaving." "Bye, Gel. Uhh...nice to meet you," he said before walking towards the door. Angelica looked longingly at him as he walked out, then turned to her friend. "Now, what's wrong?" "Well, we went to the club you know...", Yelena started. "Yeah, I know...", Angelica replied sitting down beside Yelena. "The D.J. guy was there as usual and I watched him for his whole set before I finally got up the courage to try and talk to him. He looked so great tonight. He was wearing this crazy outfit with these goggle thingies and this hat and stuff. I was about 10 feet away from him when I show this girl approach him...and..." She paused reaching over to grab a tissue. "Gel, you shoulda seen this girl...She was all over him. She this had black tube top that just let it all hang out and this short, tight skirt...if you can even call it that. She was being all flirty and trying to sit on his lap and stuff...", she continued. "Well, that doesn't mean that he actually liked her...", Angelica said, trying to comfort her. "Well, that's not the end," Yelena proceeded as tears started to fall down her mascara-streaked face once again. "He kissed her Gel...on the lips...these voluptuous lips...It's a total sign. We're not meant to be." "Oh come on, Lena...It is not a sign. Things like this happen all the time at clubs. I'm sure she meant nothing to him," Angelica offered comfortingly. She hugged her friend and continued trying to cheer her up. Between sniffles Yelena asked, “But what about you, who’s ‘Scott’?” Angelica smiled and said ecstatically, “Oh wow! He is sooo great! And have you ever seen anyone soooo gorgeous?!” She giggled and kinda jumped around on the couch giddily. “That’s awesome, but where’d you meet him?”, Yelena inquired, trying to grab her friend and seat her back down on the sofa. “He’s in that band, 5ive! He was recording in the studio and he stopped in on his way out. So we introduced ourselves and he stayed ‘till I was done and then gave me a ride home!” “He is really hot….any sparks?” Yelena had ceased crying by now and was rather intrigued. “Oh my god, yes! Like as soon as I saw him I got this warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach. And y’know what, it’s not gone. It’s like, somehow, meeting him made me…..whole….does that make any sense?” “Yeah, it definitely does….even though it’s kinda weird, but I know what you mean.” “But I don’t know if I’d call that sparks…he’s really nice, but I don’t think he likes me all that much.” “Why not? He did give you a ride home.” “Yeah, but that’s just cuz he’s soo nice, that doesn’t mean he’s interested in me. And it definitely doesn’t mean sparks!” “Whatever, Gel, I think trading digits means sparks…” “Whatever, Lena, he could just wanna be friends, we did hit it off rather well.” “See, sparks! Face it, sparks were flying and you know it…you just wait ‘till I see the two of you together, then I’ll prove the spark factor to you.” “OK, OK, whatever….let’s just watch the movie ok?” Yelena laughed and said, “Oh my god! You know you love talking about this! Just look at that huge stupid smile on your face!” Angelica threw a pillow at her amid bursts of laughter. “Fine, we’ll watch the movie….but I need details later, girl.”
The two girls sat on the couch until very early in the morning watching funny movies, talking about Scott, and telling jokes. By the time they went to sleep, Yelena had almost forgotten about the club, and Angelica had already been deep in dreams about Scott.
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