Studio B

euphoria & edifice

Nightshade had been working maniacally the past ten days and nights. Rehearsing in Black Oak Entertainment’s recording studios in downtown Nashville. They were set up in Studio B. The realization of what lay ahead hung over their heads with unspoken heaviness. In a few days they’d be in Dallas. Where they would begin a North American tour as the opening act for Saints & Outlaws.

The words still sounded surreal when spoken amongst each other. They seemed like words borrowed from someone else’s life. Matias Monroe stood in front of his amp, guitar slung low while he played. He was using every showman trick he had in his bag while they played their set. Pulling off guitar flips and frenetic riffs. Grinning wildly from ear to ear.

Drew Layton hovered over his drum kit, hitting the snare on the twos and fours like a man possessed, sweating through his shirt. Tyler Brady stood in front of his bass amp with an air of subdued, studied calm. Plucking his bass guitar’s strings, his head nodding to the beat. Eyes half open taking in everything around him. Absorbing it all and committing it to memory.

Jace Barnes scribbled notes on a clipboard between songs and when runs through the set ended. Like a general he directed and surveyed everyone in the room throughout these days of practice. Set after set. He was timing them on his cellphone timer. Directing and instructing with the mild severity of someone who loved them all enough to be exacting. And direct.

And then there was Lila Hart, standing at a microphone stand. Her fingers wrapped around the mic as if it were the only fixed thing in a room full of craziness. Her smile came easily when they played. They were working hard. No doubt. They had been for a week and a half. Every song was treated like a favour that might be called in at any moment. They played with big smiles and bigger energy, chasing that elusive feeling. That incredible euphoria when everything locked together and was perfectly synced. When time briefly stood still.

“Okay,” Jace said after one particularly blistering run through, his guitar strings still humming under his fingers. “We gotta decide. What do we open with?” Drew clacked his sticks together, thinking. “You open too hot, you risk burning out the crowd,” he offered. “Or,” Jace countered, “you open hot and let ’em know exactly who the hell you are.”

Matias shrugged, and opined, “closer matters more. You want them to remember you. You want them talking about what they just saw when they go to the can or to grab a beer.” Jace made a note. Then Tyler spoke up and asked, “what do we play for the encore?” Jace looked up, expression mild, but factual. “There won’t be any encore.” The news landed with a dull, deflating thud.

“We play forty-five minutes,” Jace stated. “That’s it.” He looked around the room and finished by saying “that’s the deal.” Drew frowned, saying, “that’s brutal.” Jace turned to face Drew and countered, “it’s professional.” Then added. “It’s what the contract states. Now, let’s go again, from the top.” He started the timer on his cellphone, not giving them time to question him.

Drew counted them in and they were back to work. Muscles remembering what minds didn’t have time to query. They ran the set again, tighter now. Edges sharpening by repetition. By the time they finished, Drew’s arms burned. Tyler’s fingers throbbed, and Lila’s voice carried the faint rasp that came from pushing past comfort.

Jace let the room breathe a few moments, then said. “I’ve got something to tell y’all.” They all turned toward him, instinctively quiet. “I made some calls,” he continued. “We’re going to play at The Front Room Wine Bar in Smithville, on our way to Dallas.” Drew’s face split into a grin so wide it bordered on reckless. “Smithville? You’re kidding.”

Jace stood up straight and said, “nope. Paying gig.” Tyler smiled at Drew and exclaimed, “that’s our hometown!” He was already there in his mind. Jace addressed the group, “it means tomorrow is our last day in Nashville, then we hit the road for Texas.” He then added, “this gives us a test run in front of a live audience before we hit Dallas.” He paused, gauging the room.

Tyler, having done some math looking at a map on his cellphone, groaned softly. “Fourteen hour run to Smithville, Texas on the bus man. That’s too damn long.” Drew laughed at him. “You better get used to it.” Matias spoke up. “I don’t care where it is. I just want to play in front of people again.” Jace turned his attention to Lila. She hadn’t said anything. Her smile had faded. Like a dimmer switch had turned a light down, but not off. Her eyes didn’t look up from the floor.

She adjusted the microphone stand as if it had suddenly become important. Jace approached her. “What’s wrong?” He asked gently. She didn’t answer. Instead, she turned and walked out of the studio and down the carpeted hallway. She continued on through a metal and glass door and out to the parking lot. The sound of her boots was soft but decisive, Jace followed her.

Outside, the Tennessee late afternoon was warm and wide. Lila stood still near the edge of the parking lot. Her arms were crossed, and her eyes scanned the sward. “What’s up?” Jace asked, stopping a few feet away from her. Lila took a breath. Then another. “This Smithville thing… is this something we get to vote on?” she asked. “Or is it set in stone?” Jace frowned slightly and asked, “why?”

Lila hesitated, then said it as plainly as she could. “I used to work at that bar. I didn’t leave on the best terms, Jace.” Her eyes looked concerned as she looked directly into Jace’s and continued. “And… Caleb Higgins will probably be there. I didn’t leave him on the best terms either.” The name Caleb weighed between them heavily. Jace exhaled. “Lila…” She was staring Jace right in the eye and wasn’t done speaking.

“I don’t want to make this difficult,” she said. “I just… going back there feels like stepping back into an old dysfunctional life I thought I left behind.” Jace stepped closer, and spoke softly but firmly. “I promise you, everything will be fine, I’ll make sure of it.” She looked at him, with worried eyes that were searching to trust. “I never stopped to think how tough this would be for you, and I’m sorry.” Jace continued. “But I won’t let anyone make you feel uncomfortable. Not there. Not anywhere.”

Moments later something in her shifted. Before Jace knew what was happening, Lila stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him into a hug that was full of relief and gratitude. And something else that was dangerously close to need. Jace was startled at first, and then? And then he returned the hug. His hands started to settle around her back as naturally as if they had always known where to go. She fit him perfectly, he thought.

They held each other longer than necessary. Who was keeping time anyways? When they began to pull apart, they didn’t move away. They held on to each other. Eyes locked on each other’s. The world narrowed to the small, charged space between them. Lila’s lips parted. “I’m trusting you.” She whispered. Their faces moved closer. Drawn by a gravity neither of them had named aloud. They were both falling and lost in the moment. Their faces drew closer to each other at long last.

“Hey!” Drew said as he burst through the door. “Are we still rehearsing? Or can we order food? Because I’m starving and…” He stopped cold. “Oh,” he muttered. Suddenly aware that he had stepped into something on the verge of happening and had interrupted it. “Uh. Sorry.” He said standing there unsure of what his next move should be.

The intimate moment though, had shattered like thin glass. Jace stepped back and cleared his throat. “One more run through,” he said. “Then we’ll break for supper.” Drew nodded. “Right,” he said. “Yeah. Cool.” He retreated back into the studio, the door swiftly swung to a close behind him. Lila folded her arms again. Not defensively, exactly, but carefully.

“We should get back in there.” She said, Jace replied, “yeah, I guess so.” They walked back into the studio. Matias was playing scales. Everyone took their positions and looked at Jace. He started the timer on his cellphone and nodded to Drew, who counted them in. The music started up again and filled the room as if nothing had happened. But something had happened. And Lila and Jace both knew it.

Now Drew knew it too. Soon enough Tyler and Matias would know as well. Even though the three of them had been speculating and wondering about it to each other for weeks now. Nightshade played on, playing their set once again in Studio B.

The old edifice that houses Black Oak Entertainment’s recording studios had quietly observed a reality heading towards an explosive crescendo. Something that would keep accreting all the way to Smithville. Then to Dallas. Through the whole Saints & Outlaws tour. And beyond.