"Okay then," I said as I got comfortable (or as comfortable as I could in that dinky stool), "let's get down to business."
Alex stared at me with an joyful expectancy. "To defeat the—?"
"Buns," I interjected rudely, not wanting this story to get copyright struck for a harmless gag.
Useless matters aside, here's where the nitty gritty happens. Alexis and I were hooked up to the same audio port with well tuned headphones, so every sound and note reached my ears with perfect accuracy. That being the case, I could also offer pitch perfection with my advice and guidance.
Alexis, who was much more tech savvy than me, was able to maneuver her software expertly and make changes at a moment's notice. That, and she was more than capable of laying down a solid melody and subtly adjusting the frequencies of certain sounds to better fit the overall mix. That art was completely and totally lost on me, but it was second nature to Alexis.
"So, what do you think of this so far?"
Alexis sets the cursor to the beginning of the track, clicks the play button, and sits back as she observes my reactions. I try to ignore her and focus on the sounds.
A standard four by four club beat at 128 beats per minute. This is pretty run of the mill so far. I find myself nodding my head to the rhythm, slowly but surely getting a feel for the vibe of the track. With Alex's expert mixing, none of the drums or hi-hats are too loud, too quiet, too bright or too dampened. Balanced, as is usually required when it comes to this process.
Then the instruments come in. Or, since they're not real instruments in the classical sense, Virtual Studio Technology (VST), an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizer and effects in digital audio workstations. The technology involved uses digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio software, which explains why the piano notes that are playing along with the beat sound so realistic.
I nod, making a noise that must have sounded like approval because Alexis' face lights up like a christmas tree as she stares at me. Catching myself, I cough and resume listening with refreshed intent.
The rest of the track is pretty standard Electronic Dance Music, but it has Alex's flavor dispersed throughout. I know this well from being her assistant producer for so long. She just.. does this differently. I'm sure you would expect something in more detail from a classically trained musician, but the fact is that artists in different genres operate on different rules. There's only so much I can do to help with my expertise, so Alexis covers the rest of the process. What I'm here to comment on is...
As the play marker indicated that it's reached the end of the track, I set my headphones down on the table. Alexis scoots closer to me, her face nearly touching mine.
"So, so, so? What'd ya think?"
I make no attempt to resist her advances, knowing fully well it would just make her even more antsy. I sigh, letting a bit of happiness escape, as I respond.
"Where to start..."
I clear my throat. "Firstly, good work on the mixing. It's sounding really clean. You've gotten good enough at it that I doubt I'll ever need to help you with that part."
The blue-haired girl nods excitedly, "Mhm?"
"The chord progression is pretty appealing," I continued, "and with the way it's structured, the radio cut should be more than a done deal."
"Mhm?"
"But..." I stare at her, frowning. "This melody is no good."
Alexis stares back at me with a blank look on her face, trying to process my words as if I spoke them in a different language.
"No... good?"
"No good." I repeat firmly.
Alexis leaned back in her seat, her brow furrowed.
"Explain," she commanded with a dead serious look on her face.
I take the liberty of moving the mouse over one of the individual sections of the song.
"Right here, where the track starts to pick up? Especially this part here— the progression is totally unsuited for a stringed instrument VST."
I turn to look at her, confused. "Why don't you just use the same pluck you always do? It'll sound miles better than a virtual violin."
"...llo."
Huh?
Alexis is talking to her knees right now, which she's pulled up to her chest. Her muffled words make me double-take.
"Uh, what?"
"I said," she looked up, annoyed, "It's a cello. Not a violin."
I stare at her. "I see?"
I completely and totally fail to see how that's relevant. The timbre of the stringed instrument just isn't doing the track justice, whatever the case.
"What made you switch out your usual VST's like this? You know there are ways to change up your usual sound without completely changing gears, right?"
Alexis doesn't reply at first, instead pouting while pointedly looking away from me.
"I know," she finally responded. "I was just trying out something new. Can't blame me, can you?"
I sigh. "No, Alex, I can't. Still, this isn't really like you..."
It really wasn't. There's a way to mix classical instruments with electronic music, god knows it's been done before, but that completely was out of Alexis territory. She excelled in making beats that topped charts and even had it down to what I could comfortably call a science. This type of venture was... pretty unprecedented.
Still, I really couldn't blame her at all. I imagine trying to imagine various ways to reinvent the same genre gets a little tedious after so much repetition. No doubt some experimentation could lead to new revelations, but this was such a leap in imagination that I couldn't take it seriously.
"Here," I gestured to one of the VST plugins in the sidebar. "Try this one out. I think if you tighten up the decay on this square wave, you can probably get a pretty solid pluck."
She nodded begrudgingly, as if I were her parent forcing her to finish her plate of veggies. Alexis was usually a lot more pumped when it came to this, which left me somewhat bewildered...
"Hey, are you alright?" I tentatively reached out and felt her forehead to check for high temperature.
That was my first mistake.
Upon the first contact of my fingers with her skin, Alexis violently blushed and flinched.
"Wh- huh?!" A rather unladylike yelp left her mouth as she recoiled so hard it kind of hurt.
"N- no, I was just wondering if you were sick is all," I explained, becoming increasingly concerned. Her face had turned a shade of pink that I wasn't used to seeing on her.
"I— of course I'm fine, idiot!" She sputtered, clutching her chest like her heart would beat out of it at any momnet.
Then I my second mistake.
"No—" I leaned closer to her, "something's clearly off, Alex. Here..."
Since my hand seemed to be no good, I lifted up my bangs and, despite her feeble protest, felt her forehead with mine. As I did so, her speech became a jumbled stuttering mess.
"God, Alex. You're practically burning up!"
I grabbed her by the shoulders. "Are you sure you shouldn't go to the hospital?"
"I said—"
Whoops. Forgot about her monstrous strength.
"I'm FINE!"
In trying to pull away from me, Alexis fell backwards out of her chair, about to hit her head on the side of her desk—
"Watch out!"
Then, finally, I made my last mistake.
I lunged forward to catch her but, in my supreme clumsiness, all I accomplished was falling on top of her. The only good thing to come from my interruption was that she avoided hitting her head on her desk, but rather a random cushion lying on the floor beside her desk. The impact was still a bit rough, no doubt, and we both grunted in pain as we experienced the hardwood floor in two different ways.
"Ouch..."
Thanks to the support of my arms, I managed to not completely smother Alexis. I rubbed the spot where my shoulder seemed to have collided with something, and when I opened my eyes...
There she was. Her face was mere inches away from mine, and all the details of her face became immediately apparent to me. Her startlingly bright eyes, her defined cheekbones, the moistness and curvature of her pink lips (did she put on makeup?), and her still furiously flushed yet now somewhat wistful expression. I practically had her pinned to the floor, but she stared at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"Al... ex?" I spoke with bated breath. I knew I should have unmounted her immediately, but something about her gaze kept me right where I was, frozen in that moment.
"Jamie..."
She spoke my nickname, the same way she always did, ever since we were kids. It started out as a tease, but it grew into an endearing thing that the two of us shared. But it was different this time. Somehow. Something was different. The way she spoke, in a sort of hushed tone, as if we were trading a shameful secret, was strangely alluring.
"I..."
Was she getting closer? Her eyelids slowly fell shut as her arms slowly wrapped around my neck. I could feel her breath, and her scent was sickly sweet and intoxicating. This is wrong. Something about this is off. This shouldn't be happening. Is this just the adrenaline of that fall working on me? Is that why my heart is beating so hard?
Her hands found themselves in my hair, and the sensation sent tingles down my spine. I found myself slowly but surely letting my own eyes fall shut as I leaned in to...
"Heya kiddos! Baked one too many cinnamon rolls, if you—"
The door to Alexis' room creaked open right in that moment, and there stood Andrew Capella with a small plate of pastries.
"Oh."
"Uh."
"Ah."
All three of us made a single syllable noise in unison.
You know how people often write or say in stories that a moment can feel like an eternity? I'm sure I don't need to elaborate here.
Andrew simply nodded once, his face stiff, reached for the handle to the door, and slowly closed it shut as he disappeared from sight. His footsteps, sounding a bit off-kilter, slowly but surely faded in the opposite direction.
And another moment of silence passed. I could practically feel sweat starting to form on my face.
I got up from where I stood to dust myself off, and Alexis did the same. We faced away from each other as we did so, and the only noise in the room was the silent hum of her computer.
"Should we... get back to it?"
I spoke timidly, sitting my stool back on it's feet.
Alexis shook her head. "I... think I need a break. You're right."
She walked slowly over to her bed and took a seat. Her expression was unreadable, and she didn't meet my eyes.
"You can... go home for today. I'll probably be asleep for a while."
I nodded. "Alright. Don't get sick though, okay?"
She gestured at me in a "shoo, shoo" manner. "Don't be silly, Jamie. I'll text you later."
"Okay."
I took the liberty of powering down her computer for her, gathered some of my things, and turned to leave the room.
As I did so—
"Jamie."
I stopped with my hand resting on the doorknob. I turned to face her.
"What is it?"
Another moment of thick, poignant silence filled the air as Alexis' back stared back at me.
"About that recital..."
She looked as though the words were right on the tip of her tongue.
"Actually, it's nothing. Take care on your way back."
...I nodded, hesitantly. "Sure."
As I closed the door to her room, every footstep that led me away from Alexis felt heavy, and my mind had gone numb, my legs moving on autopilot.
As soon as I stepped out of the house and shut the front door behind me, I almost collapsed. My knees buckled, and I nearly tripped down the steps of the front porch.
Seriously...
I started walking away. Then jogged. Then I broke into a full sprint back home, my legs burning with pain but unrelentingly moving one in front of the other as my breath became ragged, my chest heaving, the wind rustling my hair which Alex had not but moments ago been exploring with her fingers...
What. The. Hell. Was. That?!