Look at Me
track #5: hard shake
After I play Niall what I’ve got, he pulls his producers back into the room and introduces us.
Todd is the one with the neck tattoo, and he’s been producing a track that Niall’s been working on. And, he tells me, he has fond memories of watching “Minna and the…” when he was in high school.
“I had a huge crush on you,” he says, making me want to melt into the floor as Niall laughs. “Which was awful, because I was 17 and you were, like, 12.”
“I used to wear blue eyeshadow.” I recall an episode called “Minna and the Goldfish,” where Minna forgot to feed the goldfish that her brother won at the school carnival and then had to enlist her crush to help her find a replacement. The costume designer decided that everything I wore for the episode would be ocean-themed. “I hope you have better taste in women now.”
That makes Niall laugh even harder. Todd pulls out his phone and shows me a photo of his (blue eyeshadow-free) wife.
The other guy’s name is Jorge. He has a baseball cap pulled low on his head and might have a Spanish accent—he only says a few words to me, so it’s hard to tell.
“Jorge doesn’t talk a lot, but he’s a fucking genius,” Niall tells me as we walk out of the building together a few minutes later. “They’re both great guys. It’s hard and a relief to have so much creative control over my music now, ya know? But they’re both really great to work with.”
I nod. “Candice, my producer, she’s also my best friend. I’m really lucky to be working with her.”
Niall grins. “And now you’re really lucky to be working with me too!”
Niall laughs at his joke, which makes me laugh. He laughs carelessly, like he doesn’t care who hears him. I admire that in him, his ability to ignore eyes on him.
“No promises,” Niall says just before we part ways at the corner outside the studio. We’ve decided that we’ll write together in the afternoons for the next few days and see how it goes. “We might actually be terrible together. You never know.”
I have a feeling, though, that we won’t. I could feel it when he sang with me, and afterward, when he took his guitar from me and shook my hand and said, “It’d be a pleasure to work with you, Minna Locke.”
Todd is the one with the neck tattoo, and he’s been producing a track that Niall’s been working on. And, he tells me, he has fond memories of watching “Minna and the…” when he was in high school.
“I had a huge crush on you,” he says, making me want to melt into the floor as Niall laughs. “Which was awful, because I was 17 and you were, like, 12.”
“I used to wear blue eyeshadow.” I recall an episode called “Minna and the Goldfish,” where Minna forgot to feed the goldfish that her brother won at the school carnival and then had to enlist her crush to help her find a replacement. The costume designer decided that everything I wore for the episode would be ocean-themed. “I hope you have better taste in women now.”
That makes Niall laugh even harder. Todd pulls out his phone and shows me a photo of his (blue eyeshadow-free) wife.
The other guy’s name is Jorge. He has a baseball cap pulled low on his head and might have a Spanish accent—he only says a few words to me, so it’s hard to tell.
“Jorge doesn’t talk a lot, but he’s a fucking genius,” Niall tells me as we walk out of the building together a few minutes later. “They’re both great guys. It’s hard and a relief to have so much creative control over my music now, ya know? But they’re both really great to work with.”
I nod. “Candice, my producer, she’s also my best friend. I’m really lucky to be working with her.”
Niall grins. “And now you’re really lucky to be working with me too!”
Niall laughs at his joke, which makes me laugh. He laughs carelessly, like he doesn’t care who hears him. I admire that in him, his ability to ignore eyes on him.
“No promises,” Niall says just before we part ways at the corner outside the studio. We’ve decided that we’ll write together in the afternoons for the next few days and see how it goes. “We might actually be terrible together. You never know.”
I have a feeling, though, that we won’t. I could feel it when he sang with me, and afterward, when he took his guitar from me and shook my hand and said, “It’d be a pleasure to work with you, Minna Locke.”