Life, Love, & Lies

Four

"Matt, Matt. Matt!" He startles, turning to see Milo looking at him with concern in his eyes.

"Hey Milo, what time is it?" He asks, taking the headphones off his head as he pushes a button on the computer in front of him.

"It's nearly nine, I thought you were sleeping still, how long have you been down here?"

"Um, I came down at about four-thirty I think? I woke up and a song just started pouring out of me." He shrugs.

"We have to be at the studio in an hour, get showered and I'll Postmate coffee for us. Maybe bring the song if it's any good."

"It's great, I think." Matt chuckles, "But it's not done."

"It's been four hours. If it was done I'd be worried it was terrible." Milo laughs.

"The lyrics are done. And I have a basic idea of what the music should sound like..."

"It's a Lyss song." Milo nods, pursing his lips softly before turning and leaving the basement studio space.

Turning back to the computer Matt saves the demo track where he was overlaying guitar, keys, and drums from a program to give the band and team an idea of what he wants in the song. Once it's saved to a USB drive he pops the small device from the side of the computer and heads from the room with his lyric book, guitar, and the drive to show the band.

***

"Are the boys usually late?" LoLo asks as she and Reese sit in the rehearsal rooms alone.

"Milo and Matt aren't usually, but the twins are. Hopefully they show up soon. Did you like them yesterday? The band I mean? They didn't freak you out or scare you off."

"They were great." LoLo nods, "Chaz is funny, I don't get why you didn't click with him. He seems so your type, at least from what I know of you and meeting him yesterday."

"He just isn't." Reese shrugs, "Milo and Matt tease me about it sometimes because they agree with you, but when I met Chaz it really was just platonic. But it also got me in this band, and I am in love with this band."

"Me too, so thanks for making me a part of it, or at least a part adjacent."

"You have to stop thanking me. You earned your spot here, I may have been a connection but you deserve to be here and someone would have picked you up quick if I hadn't. We are lucky you hadn't been discovered yet honestly."

"You're sweet."

"I'm honest. Don't doubt your abilities LoLo, you're going to be up for best tour photographer awards soon, just you wait."

"If your band ever shows up so I can get some photos! We have work to do."

"I love that you are already annoyed with their tardiness, I knew you were the right person to bring on the team." Reese laughs, both of them turning as they finally hear noise from the hallway, Chaz and Zach coming into the room.

"Matt and Milo not here yet?" Zach asks, scanning the room as he asks with a tone of surprise.

"Nope, don't know why either, just aren't. I'm sure we will find out when they show up." Reese shrugs.

"When was the last time they were later than us? Usually it's Milo commenting on how late we are, which if you hadn't noticed is a full twenty-five minutes." Chaz smiles proudly.

"If they are another five minutes I'll start worrying and call them." Reese shrugs, lounging across the couch further as she pulls out her phone.

"So, LoLo." She turns as Zach calls her name, giving him her attention, "You said you were from New York and then moved to Chicago right."

"That I did."

"Do you prefer one to the other? New York or Chicago?"

"I liked New York but Chicago has it's good things too. I don't really know which I would pick, they are two drastically different parts of my life." She shrugs, "I guess I'd say both?"

"Fine, fine, be indecisive." Chaz laughs, "What do you do beside photography? Other hobbies and such?"

"I like to read, and I used to dance but I haven't done that in years." She shrugs, "And I guess before I got this gig I was hanging out with her brother too." She adds motioning to Reese.

"What do you read?" Zach grins, also an avid reader.

"A little bit of everything, fantasy when I want to escape the world, historical fiction when I want something dramatic but more real, biographies when I want to learn from people I see as idols. If someone I trust recommends it I will at least give it a chance, and very few times have I not finished a book I started even if it wasn't my favorite."

"You look a little bit excited over there Zach, someone to be your nerdy book buddy on the tour now." Reese laughs, looking over her phone at the drummer.

"I love to read too. I cannot wait to swap books with you while we tour. No one else reads like I do so I don't often have someone to discuss books with or to recommend them to or get recommendations from."

"You've got me now." LoLo shrugs, all of them turning as Milo and Matt finally come through the door.

"Everything okay with you guys this morning?" Chaz asks with his eyebrow pulled up and a smirk on his face.

"Matt was doing Matt shit in the home studio, took a bit to find him and get him out of the house." Milo shrugs.

"NEW SONG!" Zach turns excitedly, "Give it to me baby! I wanna hear the gold."

"It's not done yet." Matt laughs, his cheeks almost seeming to flush red.

"When you do this, it always means the start of something, the new era, the next batch of songs, or the next album. It's how you and Milo started the band for real, it gave us Berenstein, and Roses. So what's it given us to work on for post tour music? Album two? What direction are we headed?" Reese grins.

"It's um, it's a little bit different." Matt sighs, and I have it perfectly thought out in my head so I'm going to be that guy, the one who freaks until it's right."

"We would expect nothing less from your late night song writing honestly." Chaz laughs, "Can we hear what you have done."

"Ya, okay." Matt sighs.

"Did you hear it already Milo?" Reese asks as he sets up the laptop to plug in the USB drive he put the music on.

"Not yet. Wanted to wait until we were all together." He shrugs, seeming at least to LoLo, to be much less enthusiastic about the prospect of this song than the rest of the band is.

"You okay Mi? You are usually hyped about Matt getting inspired like this, what's up today?"

"Just nervous I guess, not every song can be a hit, and so far all the songs written by Matt in the early hours of the morning have been hits. I don't want to jinx it by all of us being too excited for it."

"Weird idea, but I'm sure it's going to be great. You should have a little faith in the most talented lyricist in the band." Reese rolls her eyes, Milo just shrugs taking a seat on the couch beside LoLo as Matt announces that he has the music ready to play.

"The working title so far is Haunted. I'll play it acoustic and then show you my ideas for the music." Matt comments as he pulls a guitar onto his lap, "also, I've been up since like 4:30 and haven't warmed my vocal chords so sorry if my voice sucks a little bit."

"Stop being nervous and just sing it for us." Reese rolls her eyes, the twins joining her in encouraging him.

"Right. Here goes."

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I saw The Band CAMINO live tonight (with Dan + Shay) and I'm super hyped so here's an extra update! Don't expect them too often.

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I love you guys!!!

~M =)