Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 12, the Album

The Album

Prince's POV

Prince was ecstatic that he had just finished the vocals on the last song for his first album. The Title came from the first track, If I Love You. He had worked on it for 10 months and Arista was quite pleased with the outcome. It combined what Arista thought would be a niche for him...Love Ballads and some Rock and of course some works about his Faith. The two tracks that would go out as Singles were If I Love You and I Love You Still which had come about because of something that Bella had said to him shortly after they met in this incarnation. The third single would be a cover of the Artist Prince's When 2 R In Love . This was one of Prince's favorites of his prolific ancestor's works. He found it to be honest and to speak to the universal and timeless truth of human love. The sound engineers were basically in charge now although Prince would drive them crazy if not for the intervention of Carlos and of course Bella. He still had difficulty with surrendering control on any part of his work to others...even those that were being paid to do the technical work of production. Being a perfectionist was his nature when it came to music...but he needed to be reminded of the the importance of collaboration and the value of synergy at times.

Prince had been in the studio all night and frankly needed a shower, some food and some sleep. It was the summer after Bella's Sophomore Year, but good to her promise to herself she had carried double the load of classes than the norm for the last two years and had gone to summer school the summer of her Freshman year to ensure that she would graduate early. She had taken this summer off and was spending it with Prince, Elaine and Carlos in Los Angeles. But even so, she would graduate a year early and complete undergraduate school in the spring of next year.

Prince had been working himself too hard and had several meltdowns which she fortunately was able to help him with mostly by phone but she was concerned about him. To his credit he had not attacked the band, but his stress level was extremely high and it was affecting his mental and physical well being. She had to come to LA on the last one he was so distraught. The more he worked the greater the fallout from the Universe's direction of his music. His mind and physical body was deeply effected by that fallout which became greater the more fatigued he was. He did much better when Bella was around. She was the only one who could get him to leave the studio at a reasonable hour consistently but without her around that just did not happen. Even Carlos could not get through to him on that and if he was going to have the family he hoped for and be around to raise his children and love his wife into old age, he needed to become as disciplined about balancing his life as he was about his music. Bella would help him with this and he would rely upon her guidance in this area for his entire life.

Prince thanked the band and all of the techs and then he and Carlos jumped into the BMW Air Car and headed for home. He enjoyed actually driving the car much of the time, but despite the beautiful weather and the clear sky this morning, he took to the air because he really wanted to get home. It was 4:30 AM when he landed in front of the duplex and maneuvered his way in to the small garage. He fist bumped Carlos and said he would talk to him later. Going into his room, he smiled as he saw Bella's form under the covers in his bed. He went straight into the bathroom and showered and brushed his teeth. He looked at himself in the mirror as he toweled off. He looked exhausted, had dark circles under his eyes and looked thinner than he had 3 weeks ago when he had had increased the hours in the studio to meet the time-line agreed to on the album. He put on his lavender lotion and went into the bedroom and cuddled up behind Bella spooning with her naked. He liked the feel of the silk gown she was wearing and he loved the fragrance she was wearing. It was new to him and he would need to ask her what it was. She turned toward him still sleeping and nuzzled his neck. As she did his member started to harden but he was too tired to even deal with that. He fell asleep with Bella in his arms.