Page 25 of Harrison's Wedding

I can’t speak; I can only nod while she opens a computer file. After a second, the bass guitar of my dreams appears on the screen. The body of it is a bit less curved, exactly as I drew it. My signature is on the fretboard, and the Cruise Control symbol is on the twelfth fret. She’s modeled it in a deep blue, and it takes my breath away.

“Do you have any thoughts, Harrison?” Felicity asks.

I stare at the picture on the screen, unable to speak, with visions of playing this instrument onstage running through my mind.

“Uh oh, you’ve broken him,” Hayden laughs.

I shake my head and blink for a few seconds before saying, “It’s my guitar.”

“What were you expecting?” she laughs.

“No, I mean that I thought of it and you’ve made it real. This is so cool,” I grin at her.

“Well, it’s not exactly made yet. We’ll need to make a prototype, then have you test it out, and we’ll have your custom active pickups that allow you to switch between a live and studio sound depending on how you have the selector. So, we’ll need you to test those out and make sure it’s perfect before we go into production.”

“This is amazing.” I shake my head in amazement. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”

“I can’t lie; I’m jealous,” Hayden says. “I want a signature drum kit now.”

“Like you didn’t want that before,” I laugh at him.

“True,” he concedes with a grin at me.

Felicity moves the guitar around on the screen, showing me every angle of it. She also shows me the 2D technical drawings with every minute measurement listed in detail before she goes back to the original 3D model.

“So, you’re happy with it? Nothing you want to change?” she asks me.

I look at it and consider the question. It’s basically perfect in every way possible, except the color isn’t quite what I envisaged.

“Could the color be a bit more aqua on the edges? I was thinking of the deeper color in the middle and fading out to an aqua blue.”

She writes this down on a piece of paper, then looks up to smile and nod at me. “Of course, we can do that. I’m really excited to get this guitar to you.”

Felicity takes us on a tour of the factory. Hayden and I both sign a few autographs for some of the workers, and we have our photos taken with them. Another camera is recording video footage of us on the tour. Felicity says that it’ll all be used in promotional material for the guitar’s release.

I love the factory. It’s just as exciting and interesting as it looked from upstairs. Walking through the guitar section and seeing racks and racks of guitar bodies and necks ready to be assembled is amazing. I run my hand over the smooth, unvarnished wood of a guitar body, loving the feel of it under my fingertips.

“Can you believe this?” I ask Hayden.

He shakes his head. “I really can’t. I’ve always just taken our instruments for granted. Seeing this place blows me away.”

“I’m glad it’s not just me.”

We finish our tour and head off the factory floor, going back upstairs to the offices. We drop in to see Xavier on our way out, and I can’t help gushing about the guitar.

“It’s the most amazing bass I’ve ever seen. I still can’t believe it’s going to be mine.” I shake my head.

“I’m glad you like it. Felicity has been working really hard on it. She’s one of my best designers.”

“Well, hold onto her if she can design guitars like that,” I grin at him.

He leads us out to the reception area, and I thank him again before we leave. As soon as we’re in the car, Hayden grins at me.

“You’re one lucky son of a bitch, bro.”

We drive back to my apartment and hang out for the afternoon, watching movies. I get a text from Heather halfway through the first movie.

Safe and sound in NYC. Love you.

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