Like A Bird

Little Bird

I'm so so sorry for taking so long with this update I was just busy and my phone got dropped in the sea so I've had to clear stuff off my iPad to get storage space and whatever. More updates on the way now it's summer.

apologies

Martijn

Jonathan and Pedro had gone to 'an important lunch' and left the building and now it was time for studio. I thought Sarah would be better without them here anyway, she looked nervous.

"You okay? You can still change your mind if you want," I whispered to her. She shook her head.

"No I'm fine. Just a bit nervous. Can you open my water my hands are shaking," she said. She handed me the bottle, her hands causing mini tsunamis in the water. I held her shaking hands in mine.

"I know you're gonna hear this a lot soon, but there is no one I would rather have on this track than you. You wanna sing? You sing little bird. You prove them all wrong," I said to her. She looked up at me through her eyelashes.

"And you're sure I can do this?" she asked.

"Yes I'm sure. And if you're not then you can pull out at any point. No pressure," I said. She pecked my lips.

"Thank you. But I'm not turning back now." she said before opening the studio door and placing the large headphones over her ears. I walked into the mixing room.

"Okay so do you wanna like sing a little so I can check the sound?" I asked her. She nodded and took a deep breath.

'so if I kiss you will your mouth read this truth darling how I miss you strawberries taste like lips do'

I was half tempted to play just that simple bit back to her, show her how beautiful her voice was, but I didn't, I needed her to be focused.

"You're so good. You know that right? I'm just going to stream the track through to you. You know it well enough by now. Don't worry if you get it wrong, when I recorded with this girl once it took her a few hours and her part was way smaller than yours," I explained. She raised an eyebrow at me behind the glass.

"Some girl?" she joked. I made a face at her.

"Very funny. Ready?" I said. She took a deep breath.

"Ready," she replied and I hit play. There was a few bars of intro and then her. She bopped around a tiny bit to keep in time with the music but then missed her cue.

"Fuck! Sorry. I knew it was then as well," she said. I laughed.

"Come on, you weren't expecting it to be done first time were you?" I said. She raised an eyebrow.

"So I'm doing okay?"

"You're doing fine. Now go," I said. I played the track again and she hit her cue, singing the verse perfectly.

"Did I do it?" she asked. I shrugged but felt myself smile.

"Yeah you're alright," I joked. She gave me evil eyes but grinned back.

"You're saying this now but the chorus is the tricky part," she said.

"So? You did fine in rehearsals. Deep breath and you'll be fine. Just sing from the core and push the sound out," I didn't really know how good this advice was but I'd heard it from vocalists when recording with them. She took a deep breath, but when the cue came she completely missed it. And again. When she hit the cue she was flat on the hardest bit. When she sang that flat part her whole face turned red and she hid her head in her hands.

"Can I have a minute?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah sure get some water and come back when you're ready," said one of the studio people. I followed her out.

"I can't do it. I can't. They were right you need a proper singer," she said. She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry." I tilted her chin so she was looking at me.

"Hey stop this talk. I've worked with proper singers and you're by far the easiest to work with. You're so far in so quickly. And you've smashed this part so many times. Just look at me okay? Sing it to me like you've done so many times, make the rest disappear. You can do it, I know you can. You're a little bird okay, my little bird. So sing," I said. She kissed me quickly.

"One last try," she said. I followed her back into the studio. She slipped the headphones on and breathed deep.

"Focus on me," I said. She nodded and shut her eyes, opening them to look at me. The music started and she sang like no one I've ever heard, strong powerful and beautiful. The people from the studio stood spellbound, and when she was finished and I killed the music she bit her lip nervously.

"Was that alright?" she asked. I didn't take my eyes off her, but I felt myself smiling.

"That was incredible! You're amazing you know that!" I said. The studio people nodded and murmured in agreement. She grinned.

"Well that's the vocals done. I just need to mix them before the song is done. Tell Jonathan and Pedro that I'll send them the mix when it's done," I said.

"They told us that you should stay until they get back," said the assistant.

"Yes but now I have to take my super talented girlfriend out for lunch to celebrate how amazing she is. I'm sure they'll understand," I said. Sarah came through from the recording room and I interlinked our fingers. We left the studio together amid the worried glances of the workers.