Surrender Your Heart

Kylie Abbott walked out of her Los Angeles, California apartment in a pair of well worn jeans that had rips everywhere and a black and white striped tank top and yawned. She pulled her blonde hair up into a messy bun so the few pieces of black underneath were showing. It was still too early for any sane human being to be awake, she thought, but she didn’t have a choice. She had to get to the recording studio that she worked at before her boss has a heart attack. They were getting a new band in to start recording or at least see what the studio was like today, so she was told to make a good impression. Impression my ass, Kylie thought bitterly as she climbed into her tan Jeep liberty, starting the car and rolling down the windows to let out some of the California heat. She turned her iPod on and turned it up loud, trying to keep her awake long enough to get to the studio.

Before she knew it, Kylie was pulling into the deserted parking lot of the Red Bull Studio. She parked her car while grumbling to herself that the band she was told to make a good impression on better not be late or she was going to kick some serious ass.

Kylie grabbed her iPod and phone, put her headphones in and made her way to the studio door, the sound of her black flip flops hitting the pavement echoing behind her the whole way. She pulled open the front door and let the air conditioning wash over her for a minute before she continued inside, looking around for anyone who might be there. She found a man with dark curly-ish hair who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He was just sitting in a seat in the lobby type thing outside of the recording room. “Hi,” Kylie said tentatively. She loved her job, but she was still semi-shy around new bands and producers or bands and producers she hadn’t seen in awhile.

The man turned and looked at Kylie with a smile. “Hi, Ky. How you been?” He stood and walked over to her and Kylie smiled. She realized who was now standing in front of her.

“Squire!” She hugged the man who had virtually given her her start in the music business. If it hadn’t been for him, Kylie might not be here now. “What are you doing here?” she asked dumbly.

Squire laughed. “I’m here to produce the guys’ new record they’re going to be recording.”

Kylie cocked her head to the side. She didn’t have a clue who “the guys” were. “Who?” she asked dumbly again. Kylie knew Matt Squire was a good producer who had produced quite a few bands’ records, but she didn’t have the slightest clue who was coming into the studio for the next however long they needed it.

“All Time Low,” Squire told her. “They’re coming into Cali for awhile to record their new record and I’m producing it. I don’t think you’ve ever met them, and I think you were just starting out helping me when I produced their first record.”

Kylie nodded slowly. That would be why she didn’t know who they were. She had heard of them, she just never met them. She shrugged it off because she had been doing this long enough that the shyness of meeting new bands went away pretty quickly. “So when are they coming in?” she asked Squire.

He shrugged. “Should be here any minute. Alex, the singer, and Matt, the tour manager, are coming in so we can get up to speed and whatever else we need to do before the rest of the band comes in. They should be here any minute.”

Kylie nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she told the producer. She walked into the “break room” as she called it and put her stuff in a little cubbyhole that was in there for all the workers. She walked back out and when she did, she saw two guys walking into the studio. One had dark brown hair and had on a black beanie. He was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a red and tan flannel shirt. When he spotted Kylie, he placed a flirtatious grin on his face. The other one had shorter, darker hair and was wearing a plain black t-shirt and a pair of jeans like the first boys, only they weren’t as tight. He had gauges in his ears and a lip ring on the left side of his mouth. She put on her best customer smile and waved, making her way towards the boys along with Matt.

“Hi,” she said to the boys, holding out her right hand for them to shake. The boy with gauges shook it first and the other boy just looked at her. He eventually shook her hand. “I’m Kylie. I work here and partially own this studio.”

The boys didn’t do anything for a second. She assumed it was because they were surprised at how young she was and that she owned a studio. And when the boy with the lip ring asked her how old she was, she knew her assumptions were correct.

“I’m 23, but I’ve been working with and in recording studios for a very long time.”

Lip ring boy nodded. “Ok, I guess. I’m Matt, and this is Alex. The rest of the band’s coming tomorrow, so you can meet them then.”

Kylie nodded. “I’m just here to help out with whatever Squire needs, so it’s kind of going to be like I’m not even here most of the time.”

Alex nodded. “Well, it’ll be nice having some estrogen in the room instead of all that testosterone,” he told Kylie with a grin.

She smiled back, trying to be polite. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, so she excused herself and answered it, hoping it was a client.

Matt looked at the guys’ producer and cocked his head to the side. “She’s old enough to be producing stuff and owning a recording studio? She’s as old as I am!”

Squire nodded. “Yeah; she’s very talented. Only she doesn’t really own this place. Her uncle’s friend owns it but he doesn’t want anything to do with it much anymore so she basically takes over. She calls it her job but whenever she doesn’t have to be here, she’s with me.”

Matt nodded. That made him feel better. “I mean, I don’t mean to sound like a hypocrite I just wanted to make sure.”

Squire nodded too and told him he understood. “It happens all the time; don’t worry about it. I’m going to go see what's up with that phone call. Take a look around.”

Matt and Alex nodded and started walking around the studio. Alex peaked into the recording room and noticed a fridge full of Red Bull. “It’s really nice,” the singer told his friend and manager.

Matt nodded. “Yeah, it is. Good place to record?”

Alex nodded. “I think, don’t you?”

Matt shrugged. He was a little skeptical of Kylie. She just seemed so… young. “What do you think of Kylie?”

Alex shrugged. “I mean, I said two words to her. She seems cool. And if Squire thinks she’s qualified, she’s qualified, don’t you think?”

Matt shrugged. He guessed. But he also knew that once Alex made up his mind, it was hard to diverge it away from what he thought was right. “Alright, just checking.”

Alex nodded and the two continued to look through the studio.

Back in the lobby, Kylie was on the phone with her boss. “Yeah, the guys arrived and Squire’s here too.” Kylie paused to listen to her strict boss. “No, everything’s fine. Yes, I made a good impression.” Kylie rolled her eyes. She was really getting sick of her boss. “Okay, I gotta go Josh. Bye,” she said, hanging up her cell phone and groaning. She looked at Squire and said, “He’s the definition of most annoying boss on the earth.”

Squire chuckled. “Probably not true, but that’s ok. Come on, let’s go see what the guys think.”

Kylie and Squire walked out to see what the two guys thought of the place. “Well?” she asked the two.

Alex nodded along with Matt. “It’s really nice,” Matt told her, and Alex agreed.

“Yeah, I think it’s the perfect place for at least pre-production and all that jazz.”

Kylie smiled. She barely had to do anything to get these two to agree to record here. “Awesome!” she told them with a bright smile. “When do you guys want to come in?” From there, they set up the schedule for when the band would come in, when Alex would just come in with Squire, and so on. When they finished, the two guys said goodbye to Kylie and Squire and left. Kylie smiled at Squire. “I think I just found a new client, and it barely took any work at all.”

He laughed. “Don’t get too cocky. You’re a heartbreaker. With our luck, you’ll break one of their hearts and they’ll be out of here before you can say 'new record'.”

Kylie laughed and shrugged off Squire’s statement, because he was joking. She wasn’t a heartbreaker—she was the heartbreakee. And she wasn’t going to go for the band type, not again. Because last time, Kylie was foolish. Last time, she thought she wasn’t another one night stand. Last time, she was naïve and believed the boy she was with. This time, it wasn’t even an option because Kylie was not going to get her heart broken unintentionally (at least on her part) again.