~Chapter EIGHTEEN~

Andrea had never been in a recording studio, nor had she ever planned on being in one.

Not that she hadn’t tried her hand at singing before. In fact, people always seemed to like to shove a microphone in her hand and push her on stage when they find out she danced, because apparently if someone can dance, they can sing. Granted, she didn’t sound bad, but she also wasn’t great.

But thankfully, she wasn’t there for herself. She had been brought in by Jay, so she could watch him as he worked. After meeting (and scaring) her at the auditorium, Jay had invited her to a recording session, and Andrea had accepted without hesitating.

She had missed him; she couldn’t even lie to herself. Before she came to Korea, she had managed to distract herself with dance, but once she got to Korea and saw Jay on TV, she knew how much she missed him. It almost seemed disproportionate. She hadn’t even known him for very long, or talked to him a lot, but she missed him. She had actually been hoping to get a call from him, and for a while, she actually considered calling him herself, but just when she picked up her phone to dial, she realized that he was probably insanely busy. Plus, she was the one that missed him, who was to say that he missed her?

So once they got to the studio, she sat on the couch in the corner, taking up as little space as possible, staying out of everyone’s way. There were people coming in and out; producers, messengers, writers, musicians. All of them were very polite to her, and Jay made it a point to introduce Andrea to everyone that walked in, including the one time a janitor came in to get the trash. Besides that, he would introduce her with her full name, even though he used her nickname when he spoke directly to her when they were alone, and she loved that. Most people would introduce her as “Dre,” which was fine if they were a friend, but whenever someone introduced her using her full name, Andrea would find herself respecting them more.

Even though it was the first time in a studio, and she was definitely more than a little timid, she was enjoying being in Jay’s company. She also loved watching him work. There was something in the atmosphere around him as he went from the studio to the booth and back again, working on his music. He was so focused on it; he wanted to make sure it was perfect, or going where he wanted it to go, but despite the work, the repetition, and the probability of creating a song that doesn’t end up working out, Andrea could see that he loved what he did as much as she loved doing what she did.

“Relax, Dre,” Jay told her, turning around in his chair to face her from where she sat on the couch after everyone had left. “You look really tense.” He smiled at her, trying to get her to relax.

“I’m fine,” Andrea told him quietly with a small smile. “This is really fascinating, actually. Watching you work, I can tell you’re really passionate about it.”

Jay chuckled. “Actually, this is the reason I went to see you dance today,” he told her, motioning around the room. “I can tell you love dancing as much as I love creating music.”

Andrea tried to keep herself from blushing because of his compliment, but based on the heat she could feel radiating from her face, she was failing hard and fast. “Ah, but you dance too,” Andrea pointed out. “And you love it.”

“I do,” Jay agreed. “But there’s something about being here, singing…creating music. It affects me. It started with dance, but now, it’s a lot more than that.”

“You’re so lucky,” Andrea sighed. “Everything in my life seems to never work out. Whenever I want something, it’s ruined somehow, usually by something I could have avoided earlier.”

Jay scoffed. “That’s the story of my life…Looking back at things I’ve done in the past and regretting a few things.” Jay gave Andrea a small smile, attempting to lessen the effect of his words, and to assure Andrea that whatever had happened wasn’t a big deal anymore, but that he didn’t really want to talk about it either.

Trying to change the subject, but keep the conversation going, Andrea reached for her bag. “Um…I have a favor to ask of you…”

“What?” Jay’s face lit up with curiosity, making him look like an excited child.

Giggling at his excitement and her own embarrassment, Andrea pulled something out of her bag and held it out to Jay. “Will you sign this?” she asked.

Jay laughed loudly, seeing what Andrea had. “You actually bought it?” he cried happily, taking the album from Andrea and turning around to look for a marker.

“I did,” Andrea said quietly, happy that he seemed pleased that she had bought it. “You won’t believe the trouble I went through to get it, either.”

“Wait,” Hay gasped, spinning back around, marker and CD in hand. “You actually went to a store and bought this? You didn’t order it online, or anything?”

Andrea sighed. “I did buy it at a store. I thought the trip would only take a few minutes, but between the store manager not being able to speak English, the schoolboy he asked to help only being able to understand written English, and figuring out how much money I actually had to pay, it took a while for me to actually get that album.”

Jay laughed. “You are a brave woman,” he said.

Andrea shrugged. “I don’t know, I kind of knew something was going to happen when I walked in the door and the cashiers on duty all ran to the back to avoid the foreigner.”

Jay laughed again. “Maybe you should work on your tan, or something…”

“Yeah, because a tanned American with French ancestors will help,” Andrea giggled.

Jay, still laughing, handed Andrea the CD back.

Just as the album exchanged hands, the door to the studio opened, and three men walked in, all of them easily recognizable to Andrea. “Crap,” she groaned, quickly shoving the CD in her purse before they could see.

“What’s this?” Jake asked, eyeing the space between Jay and Andrea, which, Andrea suddenly noticed, was a lot smaller than before she and Jay had started talking. “Dre? What are you doing here?”

Jay looked from Andrea to his dancers and back again a few times. “Do you guys know each other…?” he asked pointing between the two groups.

Corey scoffed. “Our old leader, who refused to let us compete?” He nodded at Andrea, finishing his statement.

Andrea scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go,” she told Jay, not meeting his eyes. “Good seeing you.” She stood and headed towards the door. As she passed her former crew members, she stopped. “By the way, the reason we didn’t compete was because some of you,” she ran her eyes over the three men’s faces, “weren’t good enough. And honestly, based on their attitudes, never will be good enough.”

It wasn’t her best line, but she couldn’t take it back after she said it, so she pushed through the group and slipped out the door.

Andrea walked out of the building, and it wasn’t until she was a few blocks away from the studio that she slowed her walk to a more manageable gait. She was angry and embarrassed, and now she really didn’t know where she was.

Stopping herself entirely, Andrea reached into her purse for her phone.

She stopped when she felt her hand hit the CD. It brought the entire situation in the studio back, and a new wave of embarrassment and anger washed over her. She yanked the album out, prepared to throw it out in a nearby store’s trashcan, but the writing on the case caught her attention.

It was very obvious, written in a metallic silver color, which stood out against the dark color of the album cover.

To Andrea “Dre” Moreau,

            Never give up on dancing, and don’t let anything get you down. What would I do if my inspiration gave up on me?

                                    Love, Jay.

With that, Andrea promptly burst into tears.

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I'm really sorry about not updating a lot this summer, and to be quite honest, I really don't have a very good excuse to explain why I haven't.

My apologies.