Right Here in My Arms

The conversation with my mother still bounced around in my mind and it kind of bothered me. The fact that she had been trying to get me to come back to California since day one was really getting on my nerves, but my mother was real good at doing that to anyone. She was just a natural. Of course I wanted to go home and be with everything I was used to and everyone I knew, but I just couldn't I needed to be here if I wanted to get anywhere. If my dad was in Finland, then that is where I would be. I needed this.

“So... Guess who call me last night,” I said, glancing at my dad who sat in the grey and whiled striped recliner in the living room.

My father looked over at me and gave me a questioning look, “Hm?”

“Mom,” I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes and sighed, “What’d she say this time?”

“That she wants me to come home,” I told him.

He sighed and nodded, “You know that if you want to go back home, then you are more than welcome to.”

My dad, after the first time my mother called to get me to come back to California, told me that if I wasn’t comfortable here that I could go home. He’s told me this every time she called, but I could tell in his eyes that he hates tell me that. I knew that he wanted me here and also needed me here. I could tell the divorce was taking a lot out of him and it was more than he let on. I could tell that it was pretty heavy of a weight he took and he tried to hide it, but I knew my father too well for him to hide some big emotions.

I sighed and nodded, “I know... But I don’t want to. I want to be here.”

A smiled came across his face, “I like hearing that from you, sweetheart.”

I smiled at him and nodded. I finished the coffee that was in my coffee cup and rinsed it out in the sink. “So, can I go to work with you today?”

“Of course you can,” he mentioned, standing up and looking at me.

I grinned, “Good.”

“Hopefully that client will call today and tell us whether or not he would like to sign with us,” he mentioned.

I shrugged, “He said that he would, but who knows.”

He nodded before walking into the kitchen with me. He kissed my temple and ruffled my hair up, “Go get dressed. I wanna leave in a little bit.”

I nodded and walked into my room. I quickly changed into a nice outfit and slipped into some shoes before walking back out into the living room with my father.

He mentioned that he had called a cab, but it’d take a little while for it to get here so we decided to talk about what we would be doing today. “Today, I’m going to be doing the audition for the bands, so I need you to schedule dates for the studio, alright? Also, I want you to head into the studio with Terry today and see what he does in the studio. I want you to see every aspect of the record label and the process of record the music as well,” he told me.

“Will they be recording while I’m there?” I questioned him.

“Yeah, they’ll be doing a few tracks, I’m sure,” he shrugged.

I pursed my lips and fiddled around with my hands for a little bit, “Wouldn’t I bother them or annoy them if I’m there?”

He laughed and shrugged, “Maybe. If they are bothered or annoyed then I’m sure they’ll kindly ask you to scram. You can just let them know that you’re curious and you wanna learn some stuff when you get there.”

I nodded and smiled, “Yeah, I guess.”

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I had been at work with my father for about three hours now and we just finished having lunch together at a fantastic Finnish restaurant with a co-worker, Eric - who my father was working with today on the auditions. My dad called a cab for me and sent me over to the recording studio where I met Terry.

Terry was a very tall and slender man. He had extremely long wavy brown hair and a young cute face. He was around my age, maybe a year or two older than me. He had a rather high pitched voice – higher than I was expecting – and a British accent. As far as I knew, he seemed like a very sweet and down to earth guy. I talked to him in the front of the studio before the band arrive for a little while so I could get to know someone before I went in and intruded on them.

“I won’t be bothering anyone while I’m here, right?” I questioned, sheepishly, “I mean, I don’t want to be any trouble or anything. I’m just here to observe and take notes.”

Terry shook his head and smiled at me, “Oh no, love. You’re going to be fine. Do not worry about it one bit.”

I nodded and smiled at him, “Good, I’m glad to hear that.” We talk for a little while before the band finally arrived. Terry introduced me to the guys and then we walked into the building. I pulled up a seat next to Terry as they decided to do vocals today and watched the singer for a while, until Terry spoke to me about how to do tracks and such. He taught me about the effects and volumes for everything and even let me try a few things on one of the tracks, which everyone agreed that they liked.

“Your not from Finland, are you?” the drummer, Ensio, asked me as I sat down on the couch next to him.

I shook my head, “Nope. I’m from California.”

“Oh really?” he questioned, slightly surprised.

I nodded my head at him, “Yeah. I moved here a little over a month ago.”

“Why?”

I laughed as it sound like he asked as if moving here was such a bad thing. “My parents decided to get a divorce, so my dad and I moved out here for a new start. Plus he thought there was a lot of talent out here,” I told him.

“Your dad has great taste in music then,” he winked and nudged me with his elbow.

I smiled and nodded, “He really does.”

“Do you like Finland?” he asked, curiously.

I shrugged. I really didn’t know if I did or not. “Uhm,” I thought for a moment, “I have no idea. I haven’t gotten around yet. I have been around a few restaurants but that’s about it. I want to be more of an adventurer, but I’m too freaked out I’ll get lost here.”

“I can show you around a little... If you want?” he mentioned.

I smiled and nodded, “That’d be cool if you had the time to do that. I’d greatly appreciate it.”

He grinned and nodded, “Hell yeah. I’d totally be down for that. You seem like a rad chick.”

“Thanks,” I grinned at him.

Ensio was about my height - maybe a few inches taller - and had a large build, but was skinny. He had really long light brown hair that went down past the middle of his back that he had pulled back into a ponytail. He also had a full grown black and white beard the covered his neck and went about to where his collarbone was. He was a rather intimidating man, but you could tell that he was a total sweet guy that wouldn't hurt a fly. He had the look of a guy who would totally be tough and "heavy metal" about everything but he really wasn't. He was a pretty cool dude... I could just tell already.

“Rowan,” Terry said, walking over to me with a cell phone in his hand, “It’s your dad.”

I took the phone from him and pressed it to my ear, “Hello?”

“Hey, honey,” he replied, “I just thought I’d call to let you know that client called me just awhile ago.”

“He did?” I asked, getting excited top hear what his answer what.

“Mmmhm,” he replied, “I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up your phone.”

I patted my pockets and realized I had no phone. “Shoot, I let it at home. I’m sorry,” I replied.

“It’s okay. I figured you were still with Terry, so I just called him,” he mentioned.

I smiled and nodded, “Yep. So what did the client say?”

He sighed and there was a long paused, “He declined.”

I frowned, “He said no?”

“Yeah, unfortunately he did,” he stopped, “Oh well. Maybe there was another label that fit them better or something. I’m not totally sure.”

I chewed on my bottom lip and sighed, “Yeah... Well, that sucks but I wish them luck and I hope that the other label gives them what they need.” I was actually slightly disappointed that they turned down our offer, but I figured that he wasn’t all that interested when I had lunch with him.”

“It’s alright, Rowan. I’m sorry we couldn’t convince him to join the label, but its okay. You can win everyone over,” he told me.

“Yeah,” I nodded, knowing he couldn’t see, “It’s okay.”

“Hey, will you come back over here with me? I kind of need your help with something,” he asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, of course.”

“Great. I’ll call you a cab,” he told me, “Do you remember the address?”

“Mhm!”

“Good. Alright, the cab will be there soon,” he mentioned, “I love you. See you soon. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and handed it to Terry and smiled, “Thanks.”

“Everything alright?” Terry asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, the client we were trying to convince to join us just declined. I guess the found something better.”

“Ah, that sucks. I’m sorry. Maybe the next one,” he grinned and set the phone on the table.

“I sure hope so,” I smiled and nodded. I looked over to Ensio and then back to Terry, “I’ve got to leave soon, you guys. My dad called a cab to get me... I guess they need some help over there with the auditions.”

Ensio whined, “No!”

I laughed, “You’ll see me soon. You’re gonna have to take me on an adventure to check out Finland, remember?”

He smiled, “Yes! You should come back here tomorrow and then after recording, I can take you then.”

I smiled and nodded, “I’ll think about it.”

“Give me your number and address,” he nudged me.

“Stalker much?” I giggled. I grabbed the piece of paper off the tables as well as the pen and wrote down my home phone and then address to the house. I handed it to him and smiled, “There you go.”

We all hung around for a little while outside and then the cab arrive. I said goodbye to all of them and climbed in, telling the cab driver the address of where I needed to go. I had a lot of fun watching the recording. I learn a lot about mixing the tapes and what not and it was actually pretty cool. What I heard being recorded so far sounded pretty awesome and I couldn't wait to come back tomorrow, if I decided that I would.

Once the cab driver arrived at the destination, I handed him some money and then got out, closing the door behind me. I walked up to the building and walked through the doors. I then walked into the room where I was earlier with my father and immediately froze.