We're Not Sleeping, We're Just Dreaming {Geoff Wigington/Waterparks}

33{you're wrong! wait, ha you're right}33

Awsten

"Awsten," Josh started, looking down at his phone. "Courtney just texted me, he needs you." I sighed and plopped my phone down on the couch. I stood up from the couch that I was sharing with Otto.

"Where is he?" I asked, straightening out my sweater. I picked my phone up off of the couch as I waited for a response. 

"In the control room." Josh mumbled. I walked out of the room which was kind of like a dressing room but not at the same time. It had two couches, a TV, and a fridge and stove.

I walked down the hall and into the control room. "Hey, bud. Come here." Courtney said, fixing his beanie and patting a rolling chair next to him. I walked up to the chair and sat down, setting my phone on the desk in front of us. "So, in Gloom Boys, instead of putting 'the boys are back, the boys are sad' in the pre-chorus, how about we move it to the bridge." I thought about it. 

"I don't know, it sounds somewhat okay the way it is." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Well, try it out. I think it'll sound better." He said, reassuringly. 

Cause birthdays and Christmas, are not-not on my wishlist, I sang in my head. The boys are back, the boys are sad. You're so cold. Or, cause birthdays and Christmas are not-not on my wishlist, I like hap-

"Whataya think?" Courtney cut off the voice in my head. 

I nodded, unsure though. "But what about the bridge?" I asked, referring to the ' i like happy songs with titles, that don't match at all so spin the bottle in your brain and match your weakness with a name' part. 

"Well, we'll switch them. Sing it and see how it works." Courtney said, handing me that paper that I wrote the lyrics down on. I took it from his hands and read off of it. 

"Birthdays and Christmas are not-not on my wishlist, I like happy songs with titles that don't match at all so spin the bottle in your brain and match your weakness with a name." I sang and took a breath. "You're so cold" I sang, making my voice go high and low as I sang 'cold'.

Courtney smiled at me as I sang. "Yeah, that sounds dope. How do you feel about it."

"Yeah, you were right. Heh." I let out a breathy, awkward laugh. 

"Here, take this and hop on in there." He said, handing me the lyric sheet with one hand and pointing to the recording box with the other hand. 

I gently took the paper with scribbled writing and walked into the recording box. I watched through the glass window as Courtney put on a head set and pressed a button on the big recording mixer.

I put the headphones over my ears and Courtney's voice was filling up every part of my hearing. "You played Geoff's part as a demo, right?" I nodded. "What track is it?" 

"P2." I said into the microphone so he could hear me. He looked down at the mixer for a few seconds, then looked back up at me. He gave me a thumbs up and almost immediately after, the instruments started playing. 

When it was my time to start singing, I did. I looked down at the piece of paper, reading off of it in a singsong voice. When I finished singing, I looked through the window to see Courtney looking down at the mixer, then over to his laptop.

"That was good!" He said, his voice echoing through my headset. "Lets get a few more takes and go through to see which is the best." He said. 

I nodded once more. It was kind of tough singing the song switched around, seeing as I have been singing it the way it was before for a while, but after the first take, the new version was implanted into my brain. Courtney gave me a thumbs up and I sang once it was my turn. We did this about three more times before he called me out of the room.

I took the headset off and walked out of the recording box, sitting down in the same rolling chair I was sitting in earlier. "There are four takes, we will listen to them fully, and you can choose which sounds best?" Courtney explained, pulling his laptop off of the desk and holding it in his lap. "Alright, this is track one." He clicked on the mouse pad and my voice started playing. 

"Now remember, this is without the harmonies." He said and I nodded. "We will either go in tomorrow or later and work on those." 

We sat and listened to my voice coming through the Mac Book Pro for about twenty minutes and I went with the fourth recording. "Now," he looked up at the clock on the wall. "We'll work on harmonies and Geoff's guitar tomorrow, when he gets back from school." 

"Okay, we have two more songs to work on after this, right?" I asked, pulling my phone out and looking at the time. 

"Yes, I believe its Stupid and Little Violence. But we will work on those two later this week. Just, when you go home, please don't strain your voice. We cant have you record this album without a voice." He laughed, I laughed with him. "Go home, stupid." Courtney lifted his leg and kicked my butt.

"Fuck you." I laughed, flipping him off as I walked out of the control room. I walked to the living room dressing room type thing and kicked Otto's leg. "Come on, lets go." I said to Otto. He stood up off of the couch and Josh stood up. 

"See ya guys tomorrow." He smiled, fist bumping me and bro-hugging Otto. 

Otto and I walked out of the studio and got in my car. "How'd it go?" Otto asked, buckling himself up into the passenger's seat. 

"Well, in Gloom Boys, we switched out the pre-chorus and the bridge. It sounds pretty good. Tomorrow, Geoff has to record and I have to record my harmonies." I explained, buckling up and backing out of my parking spot. 

"So, the album is almost finished?" Otto asked, looking out the window, watching as everything flew by. 

I turned the A/C on. "Yeah. We have to record Stupid For You and Little Violence, then the album is done. But we have to figure out what song we want to put out first, to tease everyone." I said, turning a corner.

"Okay." Otto said. He turned the radio on and we listened to that on the rest of the car ride home.