An Unsung Melody

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Justin: Brilliant

Ashley: The song?

Justin: You

***

Justin opened the door to the sound studio, wanting to get everything up and going, but he was surprised to see the lights and everything already on. He paused in the door, taking it in and saw Ashley at the control board computer, headphones on as she worked at layering sounds together on the screen.

He watched her work in amazement, she hadn't seen him yet and he just wanted a moment to take it in. Her hair was a chaotic cascade around the headphones and her shoulders, one leg was pulled up on the chair so that her chin could rest on it as she worked. She was entirely focused on the screen in front of her, her lips moving softly to the song only she could hear. She was entirely breathtaking.

He didn't want to scare her, so he tried to approach her from the side so that she could catch a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye. She finally did catch sight of him, her foot slipping to the floor so she could straighten up, but she just held a hand up for him to wait as she continued to work.

He grabbed a second pair of headphones and held them to her in a question, she gave a half smile and nodded her permission as he connected them and slipped them over his ears so that he could hear what she was working on.

The sound sensation was all encompassing and it took him several moments to catch the tone of the music-the sounds she had recorded and layered together. The track had almost a smoky quality to it. She'd even recorded some backup vocals, her usual clear singing voice lower and almost grainy in a way that completely captured him.

She worked a few minutes more and then pulled the headphones off and he did the same. "I couldn't sleep," she said, her dark eyes sparkling and not showing any hint of a sleepless night.

"Did you really do all of this in one night?" Justin had assumed she'd worked on it in the studio, maybe with Logan.

"Yes," she paused and then her words tumbled out in a rush. "I know it will still need some work to clean it up. I didn't know how to add the bass guitar in, and I think maybe I'd like to add some drums. I used the keyboard to get the percussion sounds I did use, but I think the real thing would be better."

She was talking faster than Justin had ever heard, and she suddenly stopped, looking up at him pleading, "Since you're here, will you help me set it up to add my melody vocals? It'll go so much faster with you here.

"Of course," he agreed immediately, her enthusiasm somewhat intoxicating. "You get ready to sing, I'll set this up."

She grabbed the notebook full of her scribbles from in front of her and she was in the sound booth almost before he could blink. What happened to the girl they'd had to beg to record her violin playing? What happened to the girl who didn't think she could write lyrics, much less produce an entire record by herself?

Justin queued the music up and looked up to watch Ashley, leaning forward in anticipation of hearing the unique song again. Ashley tossed her messy hair over one shoulder and pulled on headphones again, settling herself in front of the microphone in a relaxed way. She flashed him a smile and a thumbs up, then closed her eyes and waited. The music started, it wasn't until Ashley took a deep breath in, that Justin realized he'd been holding his breath too and he forced himself to let it out as the lyrics started.

"You say, 'close your eyes, let me show you what I see..."

Again, her voice was lower than usual, but clear and spellbinding all the same. Memphis Nights, she sang and he realized that the sounds she'd captured and layered together had turned her experience with him the night before into a song. The different tones and snipes of Jazz and Blues wove in and out-like what you heard when you walked past the different clubs. He heard the street violin. He even heard the faint sounds of the trolley. All of it. The sound of finger tips tapping a metal light pole. How had she done it?