Keely swiped her card through the slot so that the alarm wouldn't go off when she opened up the doors for the studio.

It was seven in the morning so no one was here yet, she was going to be here all day with Seth because Marco had booked the studio until midnight. It was good thing that this was UAE's studio or else the studio would cost them a fortune, she still didn't know how they were going to get the money to record on the road for the album.

And what's with the seven in the morning thing? She wondered vaguely, pushing the door open with her hip to accommodate her filled hands. Keely couldn't understand why Marco would book the whole studio for the whole bloody day.

Still, she liked the studio like this, quiet and peaceful. There was no one else around, not even a secretary. It was very much unlike the bustling place she'd grown accostumed to. Although it was obvious Seth had beat her there for the morning, there were still lights guiding her way all the way down to their habitual studio C.

Yet, even though she liked the studio more when it was empty, Keely knew she liked it all the time. If she was being a fanciful person, this would feel like a home, more than her hotel room at least, plus here, unlike in Bellingham, she got to be who she truly was and who she wanted to be, it was a rare gift and she meant to savour it. So it appeared she not only had her heaven in New York, but a home as well.

Finding the door with the white C painted on it, Keely shoved it open with her hip. Automatically she found Seth already inside the studio. He had his back to her, doing something over the sound panel. He was wearing a plain pair of dark jeans and an open blue flannel shirt.

"Hi..." she said quietly, letting the door close behind her

"White flag of truce for the day?" he asked without turning around and waving a white napkin.

Resisiting the urge to roll her eyes, she stepped forward, and said, "Read my mind."

He turned around, and now she had the chance to see he was wearing a grey v-neck underneath the open shirt. Keely offered him a coffee she had picked up on the way from the tray she was holding. "Here's my temporary peace offering," she proclaimed.

Nodding, he took the cup of coffee and after a deep sip from the mug he turned to the control panel to set up for the song. "You want to go set up the mike out there," he said, nodding towards the sound booth and not looking up.

Without a word, Keely nodded, knowing that any remarks on her part might cause their little truce to become void. And she was not really in the mood to have a grumpy ass of a producer in the studio with her all day. So she just walked silently into the sound booth.

Coming back, she found Seth still tinkering around with the sound board, her curiousity was peaked, she wanted to know everything about it, but Marco and Colton hadn't bothered to tell her yet.

But she only said, in a quiet voice, "Am I going to be doing the guitar track or vocals right now?"

"You play the guitar?" he asked, swivelling the chair.

Seeing as ten minutes before he had been waving a napkin in the air as a truce of truce for the day, Keely was really making an effort to honour the cup of coffee peace offering. But - though there was this blockage with him, she assumed to was from the fact he was the personified image of everything she hated in music - oddly, it wasn't proving to be too hard.

Maybe it was because she had learnt one of her favourite places in the world was the studio, it was odd how she had just spent a month here and she knew where her place was. In some part of her mind, Keely was already making plans if her album flopped that maybe she could become a producer.

"Yeah," she answered, giving him an absent minded smile. "Marco promises that I can play it in the duet."

It seemed to take him a second before he remembered, and Keely's eyes narrowed at him. "Oh, yeah, that... the duet. Have you recorded anything for that yet?"

"No, I kind of need you here for that," she pointed out.

"Actually, you don't," he corrected reasonably. "But it would be better if I was here."

Without saying those scathing words that burned her tongue immediately, Keely swung around to grab her guitar case. But Seth confusingly spoke, causing her to pause in her step. "Are you any good on the guitar?"

This time Keely couldn't hold in the words due to his disbelieving tone, "What does it matter to you, pop star?"

"It matters," he answered unperturbed and fiddling with something on the board. There he was fiddling with something on the sound board again, and Keely had to bite her lip to stop herself from asking the question. "Because," his next word pulled her from the thoughtful break caused by his pause. "If you suck at playing the guitar and I put it on the album, crappy music is going to be put out with my name as a co-producer."

Her eyebrows shot up, feeling annoyance bubble in her stomach. "You've never even heard one of my songs, pop star, so don't tell me it's crappy. And, I guess you're going to figure out if my playing is good or not, aren't you?"

When she was in the sound room, Seth pressed a finger on the intercom, "Have you done any vocal exercises this morning?"

"Yeah," she answered, fixing the height for her mic and kicking the chord out of the way so she wouldn't trip.

"Let's start with putting down the vocals to your song, A Familiar Sound, Marco told me that we only need to put down the guitar and vocals for that song."

*

Seth didn't look up when she walked back into the room almost three hours later, her voice feeling pleasently used. He'd made her sing the song over and over again, apparently she never got it quite right. But, oddly, Keely didn't mind as long as it meant it would be perfect for her album.

"I'll give you props, Staub," he told her, without looking up. His hand pushed through his hair, causing the front to stand on end as he looked over the studio equipment. "You can really sing."

"And I can play the guitar, not that you would know it," she leaned back into the chair.

"Yeah, but I think we need to change something about this song," Seth said copying her posture while he turned around to face her.

Keely closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back of the seat. She was able to get up so early today because she hadn't had to get up. Because she hadn't slept. It was starting to catch up though, the not sleeping, recording, the high heels, the dancing, and more.

Even though she knew that Seth was right, her back automatically came up. Who was he to tell her what to do with her music? Plus, if he hadn't liked the song, why had he made her record that many freaking times? "I really don't want your help," she muttered nastily.

He straightened in his seat, glowering at her. There was no doubt in her mind that their little truce was losing power. "I'm going to be put on as co-producer for this album, so I don't want my name to be put on crap."

"That song isn't crap," she hissed.

He scowled down at her, yes, the truce was definitely gone. "The whole concept of the song is weak."

"How can it be weak?" her voice rose, and she was thankful that it was sound proof in here. "It's about my best friend. And don't tell me that my song is weak, because then you're being a hypocrite. You write the worst songs I've ever heard, so don't tell me you don't want your name on my album."

His eyes narrowed even farther. "Didn't you just agree to do a duet with the band so we could change up or sound?"

Now she felt like a hypocrite, Keely realized. And her voice softened a bit with shame, but not too much. "So why don't you tell me what's wrong with my song, pop star?"

"You're not in the song enough to make it believable! You can't right a song from a different person's point of view, it makes the whole thing impersonal. You have to be one hundred percent in a song to make it a great one, you have to believe everything you're saying. And if you're writing the song from your friend's point of view, well, you're not exactly making a good song then, are you?"

"Then what do you advise?" she asked, glaring up at him.

"C'mon," he muttered pulling her up, out of the chair, by the arm. Her questions of what he was doing were ignored as he pulled her bodily from the studio. Only stopping to pick up her guitar case, and her side bag.

Maureen was talking to her receptionist at the front desk, but she paused in bewilderment when she saw them. "You guys know you have the studio all day, right?"

"Yeah," Seth nodded, still pulling Keely by the elbow. "We'll be back in a couple hours to finish what we need to do."

"Where are you going?"

Seth just continued dragging her, so Keely was the one who looked behind to Maureen. But her explanation was slowed when she tripped over the door.

The only reason she didn't fall flat on her face was that Seth caught her quickly, she had one moment to start to put together the thank you in her head. But the thankfulness disappeared when he gave her a cocky smirk, one side of his mouth curving upwards. Turning her head away from him, Keely looked back at Maureen while trying to slow the constant pulling.

"I'd like to know that too," she pointed out. The only reason she wasn't already out the door was that she digging her heels into the ground. They really were making a scene, the bustling studio had slowed and was looking at them incredulously.

"You'll find out," he hissed in her ear. Surprisingly, he let go of her arm. "You coming?" he asked holding open the door.

Here was one of those moments when you can only stop and blink, Keely realized. However, she came back to herself quickly. Folding her arms in front of her chest against her soft hoodie, she raised an eyebrow. "Why should I come with you, Ryan? I don't even know where you're trying to take me."

"Suit yourself," he grinned taking a backwards step out the door. As the door was closing, he said, "But I have your guitar and songbook."

Groaning, Keely pushed open the door annoyed. "Seth!" she called, but he didn't slow. He was walking through the alley to the road with all her things still in hand. Rolling her eyes, Keely chased him.

By the time he was at the alley's mouth and could see his sports car parked on the side of the road, Keely had caught up. "C'mon, Seth," she complained trying to grab her stuff.

He didn't bother to stop the laugh as Keely jumped up and down, attempting to snatch her things back. Still he didn't give them back to her, holding them just out of her grasp above them. "You have to promise not to run back to the studio after I give them back." Seth raised an eyebrow as she stilled and her eyes narrowed.

"Fine," she hissed. "Now give me back my guitar."

Rolling his eyes, Seth passed her the case, which she immediately cradled against her, though he kept a hold of her bag. He threw it into the back seat of his convertible before turning back to where she was standing holding her guitar tightly. "You coming Staub? Or are you going to punk out?"

"I'm coming," she muttered, stalking around to the passenger's side and pulling open the passengers door.

- Ha, new chapter, kiddies? Happy? I love Seth and Keely interaction, it's fun to write.

Anyways, thanks for all the support again, you lot have been incredible!

Well... here's my advice. When in a stall with a horse who has never been saddled before, make sure you're paying one hundred percent attention to the animal instead of day dreaming about your morning coffee with the sexy neighbor, because when you tighten the girth, the horse might flip and decide to kick you in the ribs. The ribs that were still a little tender from where you were thrown off another horse and hit a fence. And therefor, that means no jumping sexy neighbor because he will flip when he sees the nasty bruise and try to force you into going to the hospital.

Yes, it's a long chain of events that starts with morning coffee. So, I'll say don't have morning coffee with the neighbor when you're both going off to work.

I love the song on the side.

As for the picture that's just more Keely and Seth, it made me smile when I saw it.

By the way, I really hope you've bothered to read this far, but I do intend on writing this book for Seth's point of view afterwards, because seriously, the boy's side needs to be told too. It'll be in first person, I have a prologue done for it and a bit of a first chapter. But I won't be posting it until way farther in the book when things are more clear.

I just had to put that in to torutre somone XD -