Stars, War and Love

“Michael! Wake the fuck up, we have to get to the music studio in like, 20 minutes.” I said hitting my roommate in the face with a pillow. He was startled by my polite gesture and arose from his deep slumber.
“Alright, I’m up!” he answered and I decided to hit him one more time for good measure and ran out of his room laughing and plopped down on the couch awaiting my lazy roommate to get ready.
Living with Michael was like living back at home all over again. Well, as far as how I would treat my siblings anyway. I grew up in an abusive household and little mercy was put on us kids but, my brothers, sister and I always tried to make the best out of the shitty situation. We were the kind of kids who were very inventive not only because we had to be but, we had the capacity as well. As I broke away from a flashback of my childhood, I noticed Michael standing in front of me sporting a Rush tee and a pair of black skinny jeans. Typical Mike.
“Are you ready to go now, fuck face?” I said playfully.
“Slipknot, really? Who likes those assholes anyway?” He stated pointing to my shirt as we walked out of the apartment.
“Hey now, don’t you dare say anything. You’re actually supporting Rush.” I challenged.
“Rush is fanfuckingtastic, you’re just a Debbie-downer.” We both laughed and continued down the street to my car. We got in and buckled up and started our day blasting Thank You For the Venom by My Chemical Romance. We both sang along and enjoyed the ride to our new job at Rise Records. For a girl with an obsession with music this is a huge thing for me and I never expected I would be working with such legends. And today we’ve been told to get ready for a band that just signed over. On the outside of course I’m acting calm and collected but, on the inside, well, that’s a completely different story.
We pulled up to the studio and both of us practically jumped out of the car. We were more than excited to start, even if it meant we would just be running around doing whatever the producer asked. We didn’t care as long as we had money in our pockets and we were connected to something we both loved.
“Rayne Morin and Michael Brant! We’ve been expecting you!” the gorgeous receptionist said. “I’m Mara, by the way.” We both greeted her with a smile and a simple ‘hello’ anticipating getting to work. She could tell we were getting anxious and then stated, “Alex, the producer, is right through there he’ll tell you what you’ll be doing.” We both nodded vigorously and continued through the doors. It was like walking into fucking Narnia, let me tell you. There were several rooms marked ‘Recording Room’, the walls were covered in posters of all the signed bands on AP magazine covers and signed merchandise. You name it and it was there. We continued looking around in a silent awe until Alex appeared in front of us
“Hey there! Glad to see you guys,” he smiled and shook both of our hand and then continued, “What I really need you both to do as of right now is get Recording Room 1 set up. We have Attack! Attack! coming in within the hour. When they get here make sure they have everything they need but, that’s it for the time being.” Michael and I looked at each other and mouthed ‘Attack! Attack!’, this is fucking crazy. I didn’t really know their music all too well but, Michael had shown me an EP they did earlier this year and it wasn’t half bad.
“Can you fuckin’ believe it Ray? We’re going to experience this shit all the time. Who the fuck knew two kids from Western Mass would end up here,” he grinned as he was fooling around with a mic stand. I giggled in agreement and continued putting things in their place.
We finished in record time and then we grabbed some coffee and went out for a cigarette as we waited for the band to arrive. Mike and I stood in silence savoring our Marlboro Reds and suddenly guitars were being put in front of us. We stamped out our cigarettes and proceeded to bring them in and that’s when I saw him.
“Hey, I’m Austin,” he smiled. That’s all he did and I was instantly in love.