"What do you think about me tweaking this section a little bit? You said you wanted to emphasize the car horns, so I tried to find some trumpet sounds in my kit to imitate the sound you wanted and spliced in that bass riff like you suggested. You are really good at picking out sounds, you know that? I didn't think it would work."
Jamie clicked some buttons on his laptop, and the unmistakable sound of a trumpet playing 'tararara' sounded out before mellowing out to a steady bass line and guitar strumming where Ari planned on putting his lyrics.
As the song continued playing, Ari closed his eyes while mouthing the lyrics to himself.
'His ears said it was good.'
'His mind said it was good.'
'It felt good all around.'
He opened his eyes and smiled slightly, the horns on his snail face mask bobbing as he squirmed around.
He was enjoying the music. Truly, it was just that…he really needed to pee.
But he was so close to completing the instrumental with Jamie that he had been delaying using the bathroom for hours as they kept tweaking things.
And now he felt like he was about to burst.
"Ari? Thoughts?" Jamie asked him with an expectant yet confident look, as if he were sure Ari would never say he hated it.
After all, Jamie had been putting in back-to-back 12-hour days to work on Ari's song, tweaking every little bit according to Ari's thoughts and even giving feedback of his own. it had been a true collaborative effort between the two of them.
"I like that better than the last version. Do you think I can learn to play the trumpet in a couple of days to perform that part live? I feel like it would get the crowd going."
"Absolutely not." Jamie's expression was one of complete certainty as he expertly clicked around and saved the new version of the song tentatively called 'Traffic Really Sucks-ver26'.
"No? I'm a fast learner. It's only 6 notes."
"Trust me. No. It's much harder than you think to play a trumpet, even just 6 notes."
"Tsk."
At the definitive answer, Ari sulked for a moment before sighing, "Then I'll stick to the kazoo. But that looks way less cool."
"You can only be cool when you have the skill. I know you wanted to try to record some vocals to practice, right? Go use the bathroom before you take a leak on yourself, and I'll set it up for you."
"Yes, genius country music producer Jamie, sir. As you wish, sir."
Ari pretended to salute Jamie before quickly running out of the studio.
He really, really needed to pee.
As Ari dashed through the hallway, he passed an older man with long brown hair who was wearing flared jeans, a cow-print leather jacket, and a cowboy hat.
The man seemed very angry as he marched down the hall, but thinking the man might be related to Jamie, Ari waved but was completely ignored.
Well….whatever. He probably thought he was a weirdo because of his snail mask.
Ari quickly used the restroom, washed his hands, and headed back to Jamie's studio.
And as he opened the studio door, he could hear the sound of somebody shouting over the backdrop of the song he and Jamie had been making.
It was the man with the cow-print leather jacket yelling at Jamie with a heavy country accent.
"I've told you to stop dilly-dallying with the fake music and focus on the real stuff! You're out here wasting your god given talent on this bullsh*t music, and it doesn't even sound good!! It just sounds like fake country music because deep inside you know that's what truly good music is! You can't escape it! It's in your blood, son!"
"Pops-"
"James Jones Jr! Don't you dare interrupt me when I'm talking to you! Not only are you continuing to make this bullsh*t music in a studio that I pay for while I was travelling, but I also find out that you went behind my back to sign up for some pansy show where you're gonna sing and dance to soulless music? To be, what are you darn kids callin' it these days, an idol? Huh!"
As the older man yelled, shoving his face into Jamie's, Jamie was completely silent.
"You're out here bringing this trash into a place that I pay for with equipment I bought with my own money?"
THUD!
The older man grabbed one of the books labeled, 'Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop to the Top with These Catchy Lyric Ideas', and flung it against the walls of the studio, causing part of the book to crumple and tear from the force.
"Pops! Stop! Please! Stop it!" The withdrawn expression was back on Jamie's face as he rushed to try to pick up the book.
"Stop? I'm sick of your distracted nonsense, James! You keep wasting time on this garbage when you have the talent for greatness! You think your uncle and I, your grandfather, or your great-grandfather became Grammy-nominated by making rubbish music the way you want to? I've had it with you!"
Thud!
Thwack!
The older man continued throwing the books spread out on the table against the wall, not stopping until the table was clear and the wall was filled with dents.
Then, in a sudden burst of anger, the man rushed forward, snatched Jamie's laptop, and began aggressively mashing the keys!
The music immediately stopped.
"Pops! No! Stop! It's not mine!"
Jamie ran up to his father and kept trying to pull him back, but his father was taller than him and more muscular.
It was like trying to pull back a wall!
"You think I'm falling for that nonsense again! I'm deleting this garbage! All of it! Traffic really sucks? This is what you're making in the studio that I'm paying for? This kind of garbage is what you're wasting your time making?"
"Pops! Stop it!"
Jamie continued yelling while trying to pull his father back from the laptop.
He could hear files being deleted from his computer every second, and his heart constantly dropped.
He didn't care about his things since they were backed up in the cloud, but this was his new friend's work!
They spent hours collaborating and fine-tuning everything, and it was the most fun Jamie had had making music in a while!
He couldn't let his father ruin it!
As Jamie heaved with all of his strength, fully intent on stopping his father by any means necessary
Bam-
His father's fist swung backward and hit Jamie in the face!
"Ughh!" Jamie immediately reeled back and clutched his throbbing cheek
"There! That trash has all been deleted. You getting hit is your fault, James! If you hadn't tried to hit me, you wouldn't have gotten hit!"
"I told you it's not mine!"
"You shut up and stop making excuses! Don't talk back to me! I'm not done scolding you!"
As Jamie stared at his dad in an angry silence-
A calm voice interrupted the tense situation.
"Knock knock." Ari knocked on the wall to get the attention of both people and shut the door calmly behind him.
When they turned to face him, Jamie looked a bit embarrassed, and the older man was red with anger.
"Who the hell are you? Strangers should read the room and not get involved! This is family business," the older man angrily yelled.
Ari smiled faintly in return, although internally, he was boiling with anger as he saw the red mark on Jamie's cheek.
"I do apologize. I don't normally cut in on a family discussion, but it was getting a bit heated, so I decided to help break it up."
"You-"
As the older man tried to yell, Ari held his hand up to stop him, "As for not getting involved, I think I should be very involved. After all, those are my very expensive books you just wrecked, and that's my song you deleted."
Seeing the man's lips sputtering, Ari continued in a cold voice.
"How do you plan on paying me back?"