A Melody from the Heart

The first time I ever talked to her, I knew there was something wrong beneath the surface. She was so good at pretending by then that no one ever noticed a thing, but I did. She liked to use the intimidation factor to bend people to her will, but little did she know that I didn’t scare easy…

“I just got off of the phone with the record company,” Matt said as he walked into the living room of the suite they were staying in while in New York. It was the day after they had gone to the record label, and he was honestly surprised that they had called him back so soon. Actually, he took that little detail to be a bad sign.

“Yeah? What did they say?” Zacky asked as he looked up from the television. They all wanted to go sightseeing that day since they had nothing else to do, but Matt wouldn’t let them leave since he didn’t want to miss this call if it came through. If they were somewhere crowded, he didn’t know if he would be able to hear his phone ring or not.

“Apparently, she said no,” Matt answered. They all thought he looked surprisingly happy for just being rejected. “They told me she didn’t even consider it, she just said no. She said a whole bunch of other stuff, too, but I don’t really want to repeat it.”

“Good, that means we can go back home sooner than expected,” Brian said. It was the happiest he had looked since they entered the city. “Like we said before, if you want violins, we can get them at the studio at home. It’s going to sound just as good, no one will know the difference, and we will get to sleep in our own beds instead of in a hotel room.

“No, we’re not going anywhere,” Matt said as he took a seat on a couch, somehow putting the point across that he wasn’t in a rush to get back home. “I found what our record needs, and I’m not leaving here until I get what I want, and I want that girl to play on our album. I don’t care how long it’s going to take, but I’m not stopping until she agrees to an offer.”

“Man, we’re going to be here forever if you wait for that chick to come around,” Brian said, the frustration growing in his voice. “She kind of seems like a bitch anyway, not to be harsh. You saw that guy in the studio yesterday; he was ready to rip his hair out. Working with her is going to be more trouble than it’s worth. I don’t know why you want to work with her so bad, anyway.”

“There’s just something about the way she was playing,” Matt tried to explain. He knew the guys were starting to think he was being ridiculous by wanting to be way too picky, but he didn’t care what they thought. He wanted this album to be the best it could be when he put it out.

“We’re just trying to say you’re being a little unreasonable,” Jimmy said. “We know she’s an amazing player, we all heard the same thing at the studio, but we don’t require that kind of skill. We don’t really have time to pursue someone who doesn’t want to work with us, either. There’s only so many times the label is going to allow us to push back the release date.”

“I know, but all the record label did was ask her,” Matt said with a mischievous grin on his face. “They don’t care whether she wants to work with us or not, so they’re not going to push hard.”

“And you are?” Brian asked. Matt could tell he was starting to get fed up with his obsession with this girl. “I’m sorry, but usually when someone says no, they mean no. There’s no use in pushing her into something she clearly doesn’t want to do. Instead of wasting your time and effort on something that isn’t going to happen, you should be thinking of another way to make this album acceptable for you.”

Brian stood up and left the room, clearly not want to discuss the situation any longer. Matt understood he was frustrated, but when it came to his music, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice anything if it meant he could do it to the best of his abilities.

He was going to have Audrey on his record, no matter what the cost.

Audrey walked out of the door to her building with her best, most expensive violin in hand. She was on her way to a rehearsal for a concert that was coming up. She was in a bad mood because her alarm hadn’t gone off, and she had to rush while getting ready. She still had time to get there, but she had to hurry because she hated being late.

She was too busy putting her keys back into her bag to notice that someone was standing right at the bottom of the stairs. She bumped right into him, and her bad mood instantly got worse. Audrey moved to walk around him, but the man moved so he blocked her path.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked with a sharp tone to her voice. She was not in the mood to play, she had somewhere to be. “I would really prefer if we could skip the games, I’m in a hurry to be somewhere.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t take much of your time up,” the man said.

“Do I know you?” Audrey asked, genuinely confused. She was sure she hadn’t ever met this person before, so she didn’t know what he could possibly want with her.

“No you haven’t,” he said. “My name is Matt Sanders, and I’m in a band called Avenged-“

“Oh, you’re from that band that wanted me to play for them,” she said, realization dawning on her. She had given the record company her answer about that already, so she didn’t need to waste time on this conversation. “I already told them that my answer is no, so if you could kindly move out of the way, you would be doing me a large favor. I’m going to be late, and I hate to be late.”

“I’m not here to ask you the same question again,” Matt replied. She was more difficult to deal with than he originally thought. Audrey started to make her way down the sidewalk, at her usual city pace. Matt had to act quickly to catch up to her, and he had difficulty matching her strides.

“Is this about what I said about your band then?” Audrey said with a twinge of annoyance at the sight of this weirdo following her. She really didn’t have time for this.

“What, about you calling us garbage?” Matt said with a laugh. He seemed to take her insults as humorous rather than to heart. “Babe, people have been hating our music since the day we put ourselves out there. We’re not forcing people to like what we do because everyone has their own opinion.”

“Okay, look. I’m sorry for what I said,” Audrey said, not looking or sounding sorry at all, as she stopped at a street corner, waiting to cross the street. “But you still haven’t told me the reason why you showed up on my doorstep, or how you even found out where I live. And, by the way, don’t call me babe.”

Matt laughed again. This girl was interesting, alright.

“I looked you up in a phone book,” he explained. “You have a pretty unique name, so it wasn’t that hard to find your address. And the reason why I came here is just to talk to you. I thought maybe if you got to see some of my charming personality, you might reconsider working with us again.”

Audrey crossed the street at the same fast speed again while Matt struggled to weave through all of the people who were walking in the opposite direction. He had a distinct feeling that she was trying to lose him somehow.

“I already gave them my answer, and that answer is still no,” Audrey said with a sigh when she saw that Matt was still keeping up with her somehow. “Partly trying to be helpful, and partly hoping you might finally leave me alone, I will give you a little advice. Talk to the record label because I’m sure they can get you a studio musician that will get the job you want done. I’m assuming it’s a background part, so I’m sure that it will sound just as good on your album.”

“I think that’s the nicest you’ve been to me since you walked out of your building,” Matt said with a smile. He felt like he was getting somewhere with her. He realized she had this tough outer shell that no one wanted to take the time to wear down, but Matt thought he had the patience to take a shot at it.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” Audrey said as she finally stopped walking. They were standing in front of a stone building that had a good number of steps leading up to the door. Matt assumed this was where she was heading to while they were walking, and he realized that his time for persuading her was now coming to a close. “I trained all of my life to become a concert musician. I don’t do well in studios, and I only make a few exceptions when it comes down to that. I just don’t understand why you want me to play for you.”

“We started recording this album almost five months ago,” Matt explained, talking fast. He was going to talk as much as possible because she was going to decide to cut him off. “I’ve pushed our release date back so many times because there’s something missing that I just couldn’t place. All of my other band members think I’ve lost my mind at this point, but I’m not willing to settle for anything less than the best. When I heard you play the other day, I knew that was the thing I had been missing.”

“Listen to me,” Audrey said as she gave an impatient look to the door of the building. “I’m sure you probably figured this out already, but loud, screaming rock music isn’t my thing. My decision isn’t anything personal against your band in particular because I would say no to any band that would ask me the same thing.”

“Trust me, your kind of music and my kind of music go together much better than you think,” he said at one last attempt to get her to change her mind.

“Look, I have to go now, otherwise I’m going to be late,” Audrey said as she backed up towards the steps. She took in the appearance of his piercings and thought about how she never worked with someone who looked like that before. “I’m sorry that my answer has to be no.”

“You’re not sorry,” Matt said with a smile. He still wasn’t angry with Audrey, no matter how many times she had tried to blow him off within the past five minutes. “Here, take this. It’s my last attempt at persuasion.”

“What is this?” Audrey asked as she turned the plastic case over in her hands.

“It’s the last album we put out about two years ago,” Matt said. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. It was cold outside, but he was trying not to let the temperature get to him. He was used to being in sunny, warm, California. “I just want you to listen to some of the stuff on there. I’m not asking for anything else.”

Audrey shook her head as she started her way up the steps. “You don’t give up easily, do you?” she called over her shoulder.

“I’ll be expecting a phone call from the label any day now, when you change your mind!” he called after her retreating back.

Audrey shook her head and a small smile found a way to her lips. She placed the CD in her bag, where she would forget about it in the next week, and went inside of the building to get warmed up for rehearsal.

Yes, she would forget about the CD, but no matter how much she tried, she could not get the thought of Matt Sanders out of her head. For some reason he stayed with her that week. Maybe it was because he didn’t take her shit, the way everyone else seemed to. Everyone backed down easy when it came to arguing with her, but he didn’t even get angry.

Matt really hadn’t sought out Audrey to get her to change her mind, because he knew she wouldn’t. He wanted to be so persistent that he would be stuck in her head, and little did he know that his plan had actually worked.