Page 46 of See Her

Mayzie

“Wait, what?”

Jack’s just come over and told me about Turn it Up’s meeting with Ron; how he had listened to the demo, loved it, and had decided to buy See Her and put it out as a single.He told me how the news had gotten even better, that ECHO was going to do a video to put out with the song. I’d gotten so excited and high fived him. And then he told me the rest…

“Me? In the video? I don’t…”

“The song is about a girl –you,” he gestures towards me, “and the listeners can’t get a feel for the song if they’re just watching four guys standing there singing about a girl. Not without some kind of visual.”

I blow out a breath as I consider this. It’s crazy. It’s sort of exciting, while at the same time it’s kind of… frightening. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

“I know it’s really sudden, but you said when we met that you liked the idea of dancing for a living.This could get you noticed,” he says, giving me a one shoulder shrug.

“I just don’t know if I’m music video caliber. I mean, I haven’t performed since I was in high school.”

“Who cares? You’ve got the skill. You’ve worked hard to keep it at the top.”

I run my hands through my hair, trying to take a minute to process all this. It’s overwhelming.“Do you want me to call it off?” he asks.

“No,” I say, turning to him, surprised at how quickly I said that. “This is just scary. Surreal, even.”

“Look,” he says, leaning into the kitchen counter. “It’s not just your dancing. It’syouand thewayyou dance.I just can’t see the video with some random chick in it, doing whatever, especially when we can have the person the song is actually about be a part of it and making it real.” I draw in another deep breath and let it out slowly.

“What do you think?” Jack continues. “Will you let him see you dance tomorrow morning?”

I can’t believe this is happening. I always liked the idea of dancing for a job, but I never thought an opportunity would fall in my lap like this.The realization that I have to prove myself hits me. Gathering up all the courage I can in one second, I look up into Jack’s eyes.

“Yeah,” I finally say. “What time is he coming?”

“Nine… thirty, Jack says, almost hesitantly. “Can you get there early? You know, just so you’re all warmed up and have a chance to practice a little?”

“Yeah…” I say, still shaken up.“I think so.” I turn to look for my phone so I can call the studio.

23

JACK

The last few days have been some kind of jacked-up blur through an alternate universe. So much happened so fast that I’m not entirely sure it even did happen.

There was the meeting with Ron, followed by him meeting Mayzie the next morning. By the way, I felt like the jackass of all boyfriends fibbing to her about the time so that I could sneak him in a little early to watch her for a few minutes without any pressure on her. Fortunately it paid off, as he liked what he saw through the studio window. She was in her rawest form, hitting her moves hard – literally dancing like no one was watching.

He saw what I already knew; that she was the epitome of the song and would bring the whole video together.

Thankfully, she was quick to forgive me for my sneaky stunt, and she’s in. I actually found myself looking more forward to shooting the video with my beautiful dancer than recording the song and getting it on the airwaves – and that’s saying something, as I don’t like cameras much.

The day after that, it was time to go to the label’s recording studio in NYC. That was one hell of an experience I never thought I’d have. The guys and I flew out the Sunday night after our meeting with Ron, so that we’d be at the studio on Monday morning.

There is a small recording studio in Detroit that we often go to when we want to add some songs to the demo, but this… this was the real thing. The big leagues, as they say. It was big and spacious, comfortable, and don’t get me started on the equipment we had access to.We were in there all day, working with producers and trying out different sounds and effects to add to the song, until we reached the sound we were looking for.

It was almost three in the morning when See Her was perfect.Winding down was impossible, and sleep did not happen between then and our morning meeting with Ron on Tuesday. He basically just went over how we’d be shooting the video back in Detroit on Friday, and we went over contracts for the song release. We then boarded a plane back home, where I got about an hour of seriously uncomfortable sleep.

It was a relief to come back home, and it makes me wonder if I could really handle doing all this fulltime, being a working musician. All that was just to record one song and see how it goes. I was away from Maze for only two days, roughly, and that part sucked. With the way the producers had us balls-to-the-wall recording there was barely any time to speak to her, and I had to settle for texting whenever I had thirty free seconds.

I feel like most girls would’ve been insecure or put-off, but Mayzie was unyieldingly patient and understanding. She’s wanted nothing but the best for me since we met, and I just can’t get over it.

Upon landing, I bypassed my own house and came straight to hers. Trooper was here with her anyway while I was gone, and when I got in, she wanted to hear everything. She excitedly listened to every component I told her, amusing or not, and I was elated to hear that she’d been working on some choreography to the song in preparation for the video, which we start shooting in just three more days.

Now, she’s lying in bed, back against the pillows with me drapedacross her. She’s unwinding with a dance show, and I watch along with her as she runs her nails gently across the bare skin of my back.As my eyes drift shut, I’m thinking of two things. One: In the morning, the first thing I’m doing is showing her how much I missed her, two days or not. Two: I want more nights like this. I want every night to be like this.

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