Synthetic Love

Chapter 1

A/N: Important disclaimer at the end of this chapter that I'd really appreciate y'all reading, thanks!

"This isn't gonna work," Chris sighs.

"What are you talking about? It's working just fine. Tell him, Ryan," Ricky says.

"Well, maybe it could work? But it definitely does need some changes. What if we try changing the key?" Ryan suggests.

"Then we'd have to re-record the whole song," Ricky says.

"It's not like we haven't done that before," Chris says.

Ricky sighs, "I need more coffee."

Ricky stands from the computer and walks into Chris's kitchen where more coffee was brewing. It was early in the afternoon, and Chris, Ricky, and Ryan had all gathered in Chris's apartment to get some ideas brewing for new songs and talk about their upcoming tours. They'd gotten pretty deep into the songwriting process, and Chris was being a usual perfectionist, exhausting both Ricky and Ryan. Ryan and Chris emerge from Chris's spare room where the music equipment was and follow Ricky into the kitchen, deciding some more coffee for themselves wouldn't hurt.

"And where's Vinny? He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago so we could talk about tour," Ricky says.

As if on cue, Vinny walks in through the front door without knocking, "Hey, sorry I'm late," He says, not sounding very sorry at all, "Dude, Chris, you've got an insanely hot European girl moving in across the hall from you."

Chris raises his eyebrows, "Really?"

"Yeah, she's from, like, India or something."

Chris blinks, "Vin, India is in Asia."

Vinny pauses, then furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "Are you sure?"

Ryan facepalms and groans. Chris shakes his head and sighs. Ricky just sips his coffee as if his bandmates muttering something completely and utterly stupid was a regular occurrence - which it probably was.

"Yes, I'm very sure," Chris says, "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Let's get to talking about tour. Someone get Justin on FaceTime."

x

A couple hours later, Chris bids his bandmates goodbye as they all go home for the evening. As Chris holds the door open for everyone, he notices that there was, in fact, someone moving in across the hall from him. Chris hadn't even been aware that the apartment across the hall was vacant. He was gone so often that he hardly knew anyone else that lived in the building anyway.

As they were walking out, Ricky and Ryan couldn't help but glance over to catch a glimpse at this "insanely hot girl" that Vinny had mentioned. They only saw her for a moment as she stepped outside to grab another box from the pile of them outside her door in the hallway.

"See, I told you," Vinny says.

Ricky and Ryan roll their eyes and the three of them walk off. The woman moving into the apartment watches the three of them walk away, then her eyes go to Chris as he stood in the doorway of his apartment.

She had tan, olive skin and silky black hair that went just past her shoulders, tied into a braid behind her. She wore a plain, red T-shirt and ripped skinny jeans that hugged her legs and hips perfectly. Her face had sharp features, and her eyes were a creamy hazelnut color. As she looks to Chris, her naturally mauve pink lips part slightly to reveal her charming and perfect smile.

"You must be the singer," She comments in a thick Hindi accent.

Chris's eyebrows shoot up, "How'd you know that?"