The Music We Make

The drive back to Huntington was depressing; as soon as I got back in the car I missed him. I knew it wouldn’t be for long, and that I had to go back to take care of things, but I hated having to leave him again. I was just glad that he understood why I had to do this.

The night after I saw their show had been amazing. We watched other bands, partied with them, and retired back to our hotel, where Brian and I wrapped ourselves within each other as many times as we could. We woke up naked, sticking to each other, but not caring about it at all. It was amazing just to wake up in his arms again.

The group was leaving that day to head to their next tour destination in Wheatland, California, which was in the northern part of the the state. The plan was for me to fly to their destination whenever I was ready to go back. So I was hoping to finish quickly to have the quick flight there, instead of their next destination in Salt Lake City. Regardless, I needed to take care of business.

I got home late and crashed, letting myself sleep of the stress of the long drive. When I woke up the next morning I felt strange, knowing that I was at home but I was still expecting to wake up with Brian next to me. Having him away from me, even for this short amount of time, was motivation for me to get the ball rolling.

I called Mudrock as soon as I was awake enough to talk on the phone, explaining my situation to him. He understood, said he would have done the same thing, and told me who to call next. I figured I owed my boss an explanation, and that I should do it in person, so I got dressed and headed to the headquarters of the recording business.

When I got there, I spoke to the receptionist, who instructed me to wait until he was ready to see me. It had been a long time since I had even seen my boss, so I felt nervous waiting for him there. He was kind of an odd man, who often made me feel uncomfortable with passive aggressive, sexist comments. He told me at the beginning he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hire me because he had never had a female producer before. Ever since then, I avoided the guy. I didn’t know how long he would take, but within a few minutes, he called me back to his office.

“Rosie,” he said, motioning for me to sit in the chair across from his desk. “What brings you here today?”

“Well, sir,” I said nervously, biting my lip. “You know that I had recently worked with Avenged Sevenfold for their latest record.”

He nodded. “Yes. You don’t have to call me sir, you know.”

“Right, sorry, David,” I said, shifting in my chair. “Well, anyways, I had become friends with the band through this process. And they want me to join them on tour to work with them.” I knew I was fibbing, but I didn’t want him to make comments about me quitting because of my boyfriend.

“So you’re quitting?” he asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“Not exactly,” I said softly. “I would like to stay with the company. I really love working here. I just want to take some time to go on tour with the band, then work again when I am back. I guess I would be part time, or freelance. I just didn’t know if that would work for you and the company.”

He furrowed his brows for a moment, thinking about my proposal. He cleared his throat and said, “Well, Rosie, this does come as a surprise. I didn’t think a girl like you would want to drop her career for some guys in a mediocre rock band.”

I bit my lip, forcing myself not to say anything rude back to him. I needed to play nice to get what I wanted.

“But I don’t want to lose you as a producer. You are actually one of the best I’ve got, which I didn’t think would happen when I hired you,” he said laughing. I felt my gut clench in anger. “So we can make this work. You’ll work for me when you’re in town. As long as you don’t work for any other producing company while you’re away. If I find out that you are, I will fire you immediately.”

I nodded. “Thank you, David. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”

“Of course you do. I do have one condition though,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“What’s that?” I asked, ignoring the fact that this would actually be a second condition.

“If I do this favor for you, you’re going to have to do a favor for me,” he said in almost a whisper. He got out of his chair and moved over to sit next to me. Slowly, and somewhat unsure of himself, he placed a hand on my knee. “Do you understand?”

Unfortunately I did understand. I felt disgusted, appalled by the audacity of this man to even suggest something so awful. So I said, “And if I deny this condition.”

“Then consider yourself fired. I cannot have someone working for me who does not do what I ask,” he said, moving his hand up my leg.

I jumped out of the chair before his hand could reach any hire. “Fire me, then. You cannot seriously expect me to have sex with you to keep my job. You’re disgusting.”

“Get out of my office. I’ll mail your last check tomorrow.”

I walked out, slamming the door behind me. My whole body shook as I walked out of the building and tears ran down my face. I was afraid something like this would happen, which was one of the reasons why I didn’t go with Brian the first time around. But I knew that it wasn’t right to work for a man like that. I did the right thing, it just felt so shitty.

Once I calmed down, I called Joel Madden to ask if he and the rest of Good Charlotte could meet me down at the studio. I still had my key; David was too pissed off to follow through with his firing, so I still had access to the place. Joel agreed and offered to meet me right away.

I beat them to the studio and opened it up, glad that no one else was using it currently. I went to the back room while I waited, collecting my favorite guitar. It technically wasn’t mine, but I didn’t care. Once I told Mudrock what happened, he wouldn't care either. He knew I loved that guitar and he hated David too.

The guys came in a few minutes later and I had them sit around the table in the kitchen with me. Taking a deep breath, I began to explain, “I have some bad news.”

“What happened?” Joel interjected immediately.

“I was fired today,” I said with a sigh, trying to keep calm.

“What the fuck? How could that possibly happen?” Benji asked me.

I explained the whole story to them, how I was going to go on tour, and what David did. I did not care if that made the company look bad, I just wanted them to understand.

“What a fucker!” Joel yelled. “I don’t want to give any of my fucking money to that dick.”

“Me neither,” Benji agreed. The others nodded along, also upset.

“Now listen,” I said. “I can’t tell you what to do. Mudrock and Fred are both fabulous producers who would do an amazing job on your record. And being halfway through it would make it a hard transition to leave. You’d be in good hands if you stayed, at least for this album. And you never really have to talk with David until the very end. You think about it, though; it’s your decision. I also have some good news for you, though.”

“Thank God,” Billy, the lead guitarist, said with a laugh.

“I walked with Brian, or uh, Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold,” I said.

“Your boyfriend,” Joel teased.

“Well, yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Anyways, he said he was interested in the collaboration you mentioned. He’s going to talk about it with the rest of the guys. And they all know and love Mudrock and Fred too, so they can help make it happen. There’s a few more tour dates in California next month, so they could possibly work it out then.”

“That’s awesome!” Joel said. “We already started writing a song with them in mind. We’re not sure if we’ll have it on this record or the next one, but either way, we want to do this.”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll make sure to have them contact you.”

We all chatted for a bit longer, but before long we decided to head out. I promised to give Mudrock a call and schedule times for them to work with him, then they left. I stayed there a while, making a phone call to Mudrock to explain what happened and to go over what bands I would be leaving. We worked out a schedule amongst him and Fred, then I make calls to all of the bands I had been working with.

I finished everything I needed to in one day, which felt amazing. I went home exhausted, but excited at the same time, knowing that in a short period of time I would be with Brian again and all of this would be worth it. I couldn’t lie; I was pissed about getting fired. And I felt horrible about it. But I knew I had to do it. Jobs come and go, but I couldn’t sacrifice the love of my life to work for that douche bag any longer.

I spent the next day cleaning the apartment, wanting it to be spotless for whenever I returned. I had to clean out my fridge and the kitchen, knowing the place would reek otherwise. And of course the dreaded call to the landlord, who said I could mail him checks every month instead of paying in person. After that I packed for the trip, which took quite a long time. Another day passed, and I was getting anxious.

Before I went to bed I went online to buy a plane ticket for my trip back, praying I would get lucky enough to be able to go the next day. There was one flight, but it was a little ways away from where they would be staying. I called Brian then to make sure he could pick me up.

“Tomorrow, are you sure? You have everything done?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m sorry I haven’t called before; the last two days have been so busy. And kind of shitty.”

“Because you miss me?” her teased.

“Well of course. Also, I got fired,” I began to explain, biting my lip. I was nervous to tell him what happened, but I did, having to stop here and there to let him curse David for being an ass.

“I’m going to go there and kick his fucking ass,” he said after I told him.

“Brian, stop. It’s over,” I said firmly. “Nothing we can do about it now.”

“We can never work for that asshole ever again,” he said.

“That’s your choice,” I told him, smiling to myself.

“I’m surprised you’re this calm about all of this, baby.”

“I wasn’t when it happened. That’s why I didn’t call you right away; I was too distraught. I wanted to have everything settled when I called.”

“I understand. What time should I be there tomorrow?”

We discussed travel plans then, and came up with a time and place to meet. I was so excited that I would be able to be with him again and put all of this behind me. All of the stress I had felt over the last few weeks would no longer be a part of my life. I would be free and loving life with the love of my life.

Notes

I know this was more of a filler, but I needed to explain what happened to Rosie at home to avoid plot holes or discrepancies. More fun things will come in the next chapters ;)

Again, sorry I'm being slow to update. Life has been so stressful lately.

Thanks for all of the comments!! You're the best!

xoxo JJ