Page 57 of Searching for Sadie
"Lexi told me you used to work for Neon Mountain Records," he said.
"I did. I was an assistant producer there for a couple years."
"Do you want to see the board?" he asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Yeah, I do."
He wagged his eyebrows at her and motioned her over with his head. She followed behind Liam. Liam Fucking James! But she was going to be cool. She could do it, even though she wasn't quite sure exactly how her knees were still holding her up.
As she turned the corner, she saw a room with a full-size keyboard, a couple guitars on the wall, and amps lining the other. But right in front of her was the most beautiful sound board she'd ever seen.
"Oh my god, an AUFX384?" she said as she walked over and examined it more closely. This was the top mixing board on the market right now. She would love to get her hands on it.
While most of her was a songwriter, she loved mixing and producing. She loved the artistic expression of writing, but the technical aspect of making good music and layering it in just the right way to get the emotion of the song and artist into a track was an alchemy that was like none other. She'd learned from the producers at Neon Mountain. They'd let her mix a couple demos and it was amazing.
"Have you used one of these?" he asked.
"Not this model, but I know my way around a sound board."
"Really?" Liam asked as he crossed his arms over his chest with his brow furrows with thoughts. "We should jam sometime."
Her mouth fell open and she looked over at him. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I've been messing around with some stuff. I'd love to jam."
"Ummm—yeah, that'd be amazing. I would love to."
"I'd also love to hear some of your stuff," he said.
The honest curiosity in his face was refreshing. He was the kind of artist she'd hoped he would be. It was always good when you found out the famous people you've admired are actually good people.
Sadly, that wasn't as common as she'd hoped when she started in this industry. Plus, she would be playing music for Liam James, maybe they could collaborate. She took a deep breath trying to reel herself back in. She was getting ahead of herself.
"Yeah," she squeaked out. "That'd be great."
"Good, you'll have to come back."
Just then Lexi came back down the stairs. "Poppy just got here. We're going to start the show whenever you guys are done down here."
Lexi turned to head back up the stairs and Sadie knew she should follow behind her. She knew she'd come here to see the show, but still, she couldn't seem to make her feet move from the spot on the floor.
"Are you okay?" Liam asked.
"Yeah," she said, taking another deep breath even though it didn't seem to fully fill her lungs. She tried again, but still there didn't seem to be enough oxygen in the room.
"Hey," Liam said, resting a hand on her back and guiding her to the chair by the sound board. "Sit down," he said, lowering her into the chair.
"Sorry," she said. Embarrassment reddening her cheeks. She was a fucking mess in front of Liam James. "I'm not sure what came over me."
"I mean. I'd wager it's the show but that's just me," he said, kneeling down before her with his hands on her knees. "I understand the media circus that goes with all that stuff better than anyone. I also know all those women up there, and I adore every last one of them. If you said you don't want to watch the show they'd understand... but on the other hand, they are a safe place to watch."
Sadie closed her eyes and finally seemed to be able to take a deep breath. "No, I can do it. The first episodes dropped won't be bad. I just, well, clearly, I'm single. It wasn't the best experience."
"I get it. If you're sure you can head upstairs, but if you need a break please come down and we can make some music."
A smile finally found her face. "Okay, sounds good."
"I'll shoot you a text later in the week and we can set something up."
