Keely felt her lip quivering upwards in distaste, her nose wrinkling as well. “You cannot be serious.”

“One hundred percent,” Seth answered, looking smug.

The distaste in her face left as she chewed on her lip thoughtfully, looking across the little space between them. “It works?”

“Better than anything else, Staub.”

“But-but it's just so strange!”

He smirked, “Don't you trust me?”

That got a snort out of her as she rolled her eyes at him, saying, “Not in the slightest.”

“You're going to hurt my feelings.”

Sending him a pointedly unamused look, Keely pushed back slightly on the stool, tipping her head to the side so it wouldn't smack the microphone. “And how on earth would I be able to stand on my head for that long?”

“I'll hold your feet.”

Keely narrowed her eyes at him, trying to detect a lie. “You seriously want me to sing standing on my head?”

“Have I ever joked with you when it comes to recording?” he returned, draining his black coffee mug. “I'm not kidding you, I swear. It'll loosen your throat up and give a whole different tone for the song.”

“Won't all the blood just rush to my head?”

“I know what I'm talking about,” he returned, groaning slightly. “We're going to try it, whether you like it or not. After I get more coffee, but we're doing it.”

Slapping away the finger he pointed at her face as he spoke, Keely rolled her eyes, leaning back further to a precarious position on her stool. Seth in turn stood up from his stool about a foot away from hers, barely missing the microphone as he stood, and strolled out of the sound booth, into the studio and out the door.

Unable to sit still, Keely stood up, wandering around the room, running her fingers over the microphones set up. She was feeling oddly well rested, which was becoming a very rare thing since she'd moved to New York. Yes, she had once again fallen in love with sleep, it was a fine friend. Yet if Keely had to choose between music and sleep, the answer would be the same any day. Nothing could compare with music for her, she loved it more than anything else in the world, and sincerely doubted that would ever change.

"Sit down, you're giving me a headache."

"Oh, I thought the headache was from your hangover!" she snapped back at Seth's voice, not even thinking of her words.

Swinging around, with her hand gripping the microphone, she found him leaning against the doorjamb between the control room and the studio. He was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, and his legs crossed casually in the front of him.

"Its an even half and half."

Sending him a glare, Keely turned away from him.

But his voice had her turning her around again. "Here," he told her simply.

Now it was her turn for her eyebrow to raise at him, seeing the coffee mug he was holding out to her in his left hand, in his right he was holding his mug to his lips.

Feeling her nose crinkle slightly, Keely reached out to take it, quickly retreating farther away from him so there were a few yards spacing out between them. She made a face, realizing she was acting like a wild animal, taking the offering and running away before eating it. Yet she still sniffed at it, what would have Seth done to a coffee that he would give to her?

"I didn't poison it, Staub," he pointed out, as if reading her thoughts. Her eyes snapping up to him, she saw that the mug up to his lips couldn't hide the large smirk he was wearing. "There were too many witnesses."

"Ha ha," she answered dryly, but took a sip all the same.

While sipping her coffee, Keely looked to the window that lead into the control room. But it was getting quite hard to ignore the stare that was on the side of her face, she could almost feel the gaze burning a whole into her cheek. Finally she turned her head back to Seth, his expression unreadable as he continued to stare at her.

"What?" she blurted eventually, frowning at him.

Seth blinked in response, before running his palm over his face. "Nothing," he answered, shaking his head slightly, "I was serious about recording while you stand on your head, by the way."

Before she could respond, Seth was shoved from his spot next on the door frame.

With wides eyes she saw Marissa, smiling proudly while Seth let out a string of curses that could make anyone blush as his coffee had almost spilled on a pedal. "Oh give me a break, Seth," Marissa said carelessly, waving a hand at him.

"You almost made me spill coffee on my pedal!"

She rolled her eyes, "Like you couldn't get a new one."

"It was signed by Muddy Waters! He died twenty eight years ago, I can't exactly get a new one."

"And you let Keely use it? Dude, you're seriously brave."

At that point Keely decided it was a good moment to jump in, because Seth was sending Marissa a murderous glare at that second. And as much as it would bring her great pleasure to see most days, having Seth in jail for murder would seriously hinder his ability to produce her album.

"What are you doing here, Marissa?" she asked hastily, sparing a glance in Seth's direction where he had squatted down and was examining the pedal from every angle.

"I'm stealing you away," proclaimed Marissa.

"Huh?" said Seth and Keely in unison.

Chuckling she pointed fingers at both of them, fixing them with a mock stern glare. "I've been back in town for a week and a half, and I keep getting blown off by both of you because you're always in here. It's time to get out of the studio, I doubt you two even know what the sunlight looks like anymore."

"But-" Keely began.

"Nope," Marissa interrupted immediately. "You have no say in this, I don't care. How you've been in New York for like a month and a half and you haven't even experienced the city properly, that's like blasphemy!"

Not knowing what else she could, Keely sent a helpless look, how could you fight with someone like Marissa? But he just returned the look.

"We're meeting everyone for dinner."

"Who's everyone?" inquired Keely.

"Colton, Marco, me and Rachael," answered she promptly.

Oh, lovely Rachael, thought Keely dryly in her head, but she didn't have any time to make a comment or an excuse because Marissa was already grabbing her arm. "C'mon, you're coming with me. Seth, text Marco for the address, we'll see you there."

And with that she was dragged out of the studio, quite unceremoniously, barely allowing her to snag her guitar and jacket before they left.

"Marissa," Keely whined loudly, "Where are we going?"

"Dinner," she answered simply, dragging her out the doors of UAE Records. "Then we'll show you a bit of New York, you need to see it before we all go on tour."

Keely rolled her eye tossing her guitar in the back of the nondescript black car, driver in the front, that was waiting for them. "Could you have given me some sort of notice or something?" she asked, slipping the plain jean jacket over black v-neck tee shirt, and buttoning it up against the damp New York night.

Marissa gave a loud snort. "Yeah, if I'd done that you and Seth would have just found a way to get out of it."

Sighing she climbed into the back of the car with her friend, asking, "Are we going straight to the dinner then?"

"Yeah, no need to change or anything."

Glancing down, Keely looked at her black skinny jeans, plain black belt and boots that lead to the faded jean jacket on her shoulders. She'd just have to trust her friend when she said that, Keely didn't exactly believe she was dressed up enough, but she could shrug it off.

"Did you brush your hair today?" enquired Marissa thoughtfully.

Groaning Keely buried her head in her hands.

Half an hour later they'd finally reached the restaurant, traffic giving Keely a headache. When Marissa's bubbly chatter had finally run out, Keely leaned her head on the chilly window, not being able to think about anything but what Seth had said. He couldn't honestly be serious about having her sing the song on her head... right?

“C'mon, we're here!” exclaimed Marissa brightly when they finally came to a full halt.

Almost in a blur, Keely found herself being dragged from the car, barely able to grab her bag before she was out, giving a sad look to her guitar case. She'd very much have liked to take the guitar with her, but she had a feeling that would be frowned upon.

Thankfully they were shown to their seats quickly, Marissa almost being treated like royalty by the host, although he was sending Keely rather strange looks. Keely couldn't decide if it was simply because he didn't recognize her, or because she was wearing a jeans into his restaurant, either one was plausible, she was sure. But she quickly lost interest in the man when they were shown to the table.

“Hey guys,” she said smiling warmly and let Colton embrace her in a warm hug, the same for Marco.

Rachael gave her a small smile, kissing her cheek lightly as Keely once again realized she was really under dressed compared to the other girl in her high heels and blue patterned dress. She sent the girl a smile that didn't even show her teeth, thinking back to the incident in the recording studio the week before. She might not know exactly what had happened but she could clearly remember the girl's voice cracking over her words as she said 'It's not as if anyone expects her album to be good or anything'.

It appeared the girl had no true interest in either Marissa or Keely's entrance, because her blue eyes swept over them disinterestedly and to behind them. “Where's Seth?” she asked after a moment of careful searching.

“He's not here?” Marissa returned, frowning. “I thought he'd beat us, we left the studio before, but the boy drives like he has a death wish.”

Quickly leaving the conversation to those two, Keely took a seat sandwiched between Colton and Marco. Although she tried to hold it back as she bit on her lip, she couldn't help but ask Marco, “Does it really loosen up your voice if you sing on your head first?”

He chuckled, “Did Seth try to convince you to do that?”

“Yes! He was lying, right?”

Marco just shook his head, “Nope, it really would help.”

She paused a beat, before asking, “Has Seth ever done it for an album?”

Colton, who apparently had been listening to every word of the conversation, cut in with a loud snort. “Do you really think Seth has been standing on his head for our past albums? Figuratively or literally? The guy is just coming out of a three year long drunken stupor.”

“What?” Keely returned quickly, her gaze snapping over to him.

But before Colton could answer, a waiter interrupted them by asking what they'd like for drinks, and his words were quickly forgotten.

Dinner was an enjoyable experience for Keely.

It was almost as if she'd forgotten what it was like to just hang out and laugh with friends having been locked up with Seth for days at a time in the studio. Not that she didn't love recording, but laughing with her friends was nice as well.

Marco and Colton were good at making her laugh, her mouth almost hurt from smiling by the end of the night as they mocked the people in the restaurant. It was also only then did she realise she'd missed Marissa a lot during her time away, even if they'd really hung out for one full day before she left, the girl may have awful music, but Keely missed her terribly. And Rachael, well, Rachael was another story. She just couldn't get the thought of the words she'd heard during Seth and Rachael's fight from her mind.

Seth showed up right before their food, acting casual, still in his dark jeans, white v-neck, plaid shirt and leather jacket; giving Rachael a stiff looking kiss on the cheek before pulling up a seat next to her. Apparently going back to his apartment to change wasn't an option for his reason of being so late, but since he didn't bother to explain even after Rachael's numerous questions.

After dinner it was announced to her that they would be showing Keely Times Square, even though she tried to tell Marissa that she'd already been there, it didn't matter, they were still going apparently. Keely managed to grab her guitar from the car before they left, unable to let herself leave it behind.

Then began the trek around the city to the tourist spots, though most of it was with cabs.

She even began to sing John Mayer's song Who Says lightly under her breath as they walked through a night market. Marissa was dragging Colton with her, to his great protest, to help her chose a purse. Seth was walking with his hands in his pockets beside Rachael who was talking animatedly to him. And Keely had her arm slipped through Marco's casually as they strolled down the street.

Yet as she walked, one of the jewelry stands on the side of the road caught her eye and she saw a plain dog tag hanging down. It brought back a thought she'd long since pushed to the back of her mind.

“... gotta respect the Sedin-”

“Marco?” she said hastily, cutting through his long sports monologue that she'd long since began to tune out. “Does Seth wear dog tags?”

He answered her promptly, not seeming insulted by her obvious lack interest in the words he'd been speaking before, “Yeah. Have you seen them? He wears the bloody things every day since the day I met him.”

Chewing on her lip, she sent a look to Seth's back. He obviously hadn't wanted to tell her before, but she was much too interested. “Are they army dog tags?”

“Yes,” he answered vaguely, his eyes upon Colton who was signing an autograph with Marissa making faces at him from behind the girl's back.

Unable to help herself, Keely blurted, “Who's are they?”

His gaze whipped back to hers, but then he grinned broadly at her, nodding to something behind her. “Hey Keely, there's a record stand.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “You're diverting, Marco.”

He just arched an eyebrow at her, unashamed by hit obviousness.

Groaning she spun around to where he had nodded, finding a record stand just as he said. It really was no competition between the records and Seth's dog tags. Yes, she was curious about what they boys were obviously hiding from her, but she wasn't dying to know about them, she really didn't care about Seth that much. Things from his pasts just couldn't compare with vintage vinyls.

She had an enormous stack by the time an arm was on hers, pulling her away, everything from Beethoven to Stevie Wonder. As she spun around, her eyes caught sight of Seth a few booths away, pondering over a book stand which seemed rather odd to her, then Marco laughing as he pointed at Colton who had a faux feather scarf wrapped around his neck by Marissa, and finally her gaze landed on the person who had pulled her away; Rachael Gosling.

“Hey,” the girl said smiling, “I wanted to talk to you.”

Attempting not to grit her teeth, Keely returned the smile, but she had no doubt hers was frosty, Keely knew she had no great acting skills. “Oh yeah?” she replied, pretending to be nonchalant as she paid for her records, “What about?”

“About last week in the studio and what you might of heard during our little tiff, I really am sorry about that.”

Sure you are, Keely thought sarcastically in her head as she juggled her guitar and bag around so she could slip the stack of records into her large habitual shoulder bag. “Oh, don't worry about it, we're fine.” What she really wanted to say was that they were far from fine, but the last thing she needed was to make enemies with her producer's girlfriend.

“Okay good,” answered Rachael with a bright smile. The smile was something Keely was beginning to see through, it really was all for the cameras.

Feeling that the little conversation was done, Keely attempted to walk away, but Rachael's voice stopped her.

“It's just he was supposed to meet me for dinner that night,” she continued. “And he just decided not to show up, and he keeps doing that ever since he took over producing your album. I mean, he barely even showed up for dinner tonight!”

This time Keely felt no guilt, but that was because she was really starting to not like the girl.

But before she could speak Rachael was talking again. “I know I have nothing to worry about,” she said, sending a condescending look to Keely's outfit and making Keely scowl. “But it's just getting annoying, you know what I mean?”

“Yes, I do,” retorted Keely through clenched teeth.

Rachael sent her another one of those thousand watt smiles that didn't reach her eyes. “Well, good then!” she exclaimed brightly, pushing past Keely.

Scowling even deeper now, she spun around to see where Rachael was going, only to find Seth standing a few feet behind her, his hands in the pocket of his leather jacket and wearing another one of those unreadable expressions on his face.

The other girl placed her hand lightly on Seth's arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek that he didn't even seem to notice, still wearing that smile that made Keely's teeth grind together. “Well I'm going to leave you all to have... fun now,” said Rachael, wrinkling her nose at their surroundings, “I don't want to get fleas.”

As the girl pranced away from the night market, Keely fixed Seth with an incredulous look.

He just gave her an one shouldered shrug.

Rolling her eyes she brushed past him to go to her friends.

Two hours found them walking on the rail beside the East River, looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was a gorgeous sight, and Keely would have smiled just for the way the lights were stringed along the bridge and the city lights reflected and shimmered in the water. It was true, she loved the city. She liked how no one looked at you twice on the street, well, unless you were with NSR or Marissa James. She loved how easy it was to fit in there. In fact, Keely thought she liked almost every thing about New York City.

Walking down the water, Keely was standing beside Marissa, chatting about her radio tour while the boys walked in a straight line of three in front of them.

Well, that lasted until Marissa thought it would be a good idea to start running, twirling in circles as she sang a Beatles song loudly. Making Keely laugh loudly at her while Marco and Colton chased her down the street, singing along with her. It would make for a really amusing picture in the gossip mags if there were paparazzi around.

For a moment Keely thought about chasing after them, but then a thought occurred to her. So instead of chasing after her friends who really did seem high, she hurried forward a step until she was falling into step beside Seth.

“You told Rachael to apologize to me, didn't you?” she asked without preliminary.

Seth snorted, “Do you really think she'd apologize any other way?”

“True,” Keely answered, chuckling, looking straight ahead to where Colton had grabbed Marissa around the waist, spinning them in circles as she laughed.

“I was talking to Maureen, she told me to tell you that For You will have its radio debut soon.”

The smile bloomed across her face instantly, and she found herself directing it at him. Keely wouldn't have been able to dim the smile had she tried. Her song was going to be on the radio. The whole idea still felt strange to her, as if they were talking about someone else's music still.

“Is that why you were late for dinner?” she asked absentmindedly.