“If you make me sing that chorus one more time I'm going to kick you in the balls,” Keely proclaimed simply, glaring at Seth through the clear glass.

“Not the chorus,” he said distractedly, fiddling with something on the panel again, “Second verse.”

Groaning verbosely, Keely slipped the headphones back over her ears.

She doubted she'd sang so much in her life, and was very much certain they'd broken a record of how many takes a singer had ever done on one song before. In fact, her voice was beginning to feel more than the usual pleasantly used, it was getting just slightly raspy when she spoke. Thankfully she was still managing to get her usual tone while singing.

Another many takes later, and much swearing on her point, Keely found herself finally out of the vocal booth.

With the exception of her song pulsating through the room, it had gotten silent. There was a definite lack of speaking, and therefore the bickering between them had taken a break as well. Keely was leaning back in her chair, a careful space away from Seth, her feet propped on the desk as her head dropped against the back of the chair, her eyes closed as she simply listened.

It was strange, hearing her voice all about herself. But it wasn't bad. Almost an out of body experience.

The song playing was one she'd recorded with Marco, but Seth had decided it wasn't good enough, and after working on the vocals, they'd settled into starting from scratch as they mixed the track. And although she'd never admit it,the song was almost breathtakingly better than it had been before. When they'd recorded it, she'd known there was something missing, but she couldn't put her finger on it and Marco and Colton hadn't heard it. But Seth had. And they'd fixed it, she didn't know how he'd done it, but he had.

So despite all the arguments and annoyance the boy created when he was around, Keely wouldn't take the day back for anything. Plus if she took back every time the jerk had made her scowl that day, she wouldn't have the song they'd written at the abandoned club.

Her inward musings were interrupted by a cold touch on her cheek, causing her to start until she saw what had caused it.

Glaring pointedly at him, she slapped the mug away, continuing to lean back. But he just nudged her in the shoulder with it, not even looking in her direction anymore.

For a moment she pondered the possibilities open to her. She could shove the mug back at him, making Seth get his own coffee. That would work, except for the fact that she'd be left alone in the studio and would probably end up snapping the master in half.

Anyways she figured the truce flag he'd waved that morning was still in effect, even if it had been raised so long before. Rolling her eyes, Keely snatched the cup from his hands and flung herself from her seat. She still had to deal with the boy for however much time they had in the studio, so she might as well make it bearable. She glanced back to him as she picked up her own empty mug, only to find him with the same intent look she'd seen as he played the piano, but now he was sliding a switch upwards testingly.

Deciding to keep any comments about her being some kind of slave to herself, Keely pushed open the studio door only to freeze in her spot.

That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

Since there were no windows or clocks in the studio, and neither of them had taken out their cell phones, Keely had no idea what time it was. But she hadn't expected the door she swung to open to pitch blackness, nothing moving in the depths. How had they not noticed the whole studio emptying? People surely would have told them, right? They hadn't been that focused, had they?

She still found it odd to see UAE Records not bustling with activity. A few of her idols even recorded here, and she'd been able to meet them. She hadn't been able to get over the fact that they were just normal people, people who hung out and joked around over coffee in their record studio. That's when she came to realise, she was now part of that group, or she would soon be. Would anyone ever be excited to meet her, would they ever want to listen to her music like she longed for the radio to play those artists music?

Coming out of her stupor, Keely shook her head slightly.

“Uh... Seth?” she spoke over the music without turning back to him, finding her voice finally even if it was a bit more hoarse than normal. “Do you happen to maybe know where there's a light switch?”

Abruptly an arm, with the plaid sleeve rolled up to the elbow, darted in front of her, though it was careful to not so much as brush her. Still, Keely found herself jolting into the doorjamb away from it. With the sound of a click, the hall was showered in light.

Refusing to so much as look his way, Keely hurried forward to the little kitchen.

Yet when she turned around after filling his mug, she wasn't surprised to find him with his elbows propped on the island on the opposite side as her.

Wordlessly, she slid the mug across the island to him, pouring herself a cup after.

When she turned around, she found him chucking sugar and cream into his mug. After a quick glance at her, Seth conversationally said, “Sleep does wonders, you know. You should try it sometime. You look like hell.”

“Why thank you,” she snapped, leaning her flat hips against the counter. “Take your own advice,” she countered, for the first time noticing the shadows beneath his hazel eyes.

Above the mug, he sent her a small turn of the lips that couldn't even count as grin before running a palm over his face. “I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

“Too busy drinking away the nights and getting arrested?” Keely responded scathingly.

Why couldn't she just be civil around him? It seemed like they couldn't even go through one conversation without her snapping at him. She'd never been this rude to anyone, not even Tony the numerous times they'd broken up. What was it with Seth that did this to her?

“What else is being a rock star good for?”

Oh, yeah, that's why.

Ready to hurl some insult in his direction, Keely looked sharply at him over her own mug. But when she found him staring at the wall with a blank expression, she found her mouth shutting and swallowing the words as if on its own accord.

In the end it was she who broke the silence.

“So should I give Marco the sheet music for the song from the club so he can record the bass track?” Keely asked quietly.

“Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about,” he said, straightening slightly.

She found herself smirking. “What? Are you going to tell me that you're a batter bassist and you should lay down the track?”

He just scowled at her. “No, I was going to talk to you about the producer thing.”

“The producer thing?” she questioned sarcastically. But when his scowl deepened, she hurriedly said, “I'm listening.”

“Well... you're-you're good, okay?” You're better than good, hell, you could be probably be great. And I don't need to tell you this, because you already know that and I'm just making your ego bigger now. But you're only ever going to be good with a mediocre producer.”

His last words halted said ego boosting, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “You're calling Marco a mediocre producer?”

“Yes, I am.”

“He's your best friend!”

Seth rolled his eyes, putting down his coffee. “Yes, he, is, and I'll have that guy's back until the end of time. Marco is probably the best bassist of this generation of music, but that doesn't make him a better producer! I am better at this, and we all know it. Have you heard how much better that track is and all we did was redo the vocals? And I've just been working on it for a couple hours while Marco has had weeks!”

That was one hundred percent true, hadn't she just been thinking the same thing? But that didn't mean she was budging an inch. “What are you trying to say, Seth?”

“That with Marco as your producer you're still going to be a good artist, but that's all you'll ever be. But with me? I'll make you a great artist, no doubt.”

Keely stared at him blankly, waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come tell her she'd been punk'd.

“So... you want to produce me?”

“You'll never be better with anybody else.”

And the return of the egotistical pop star. “How are we supposed to work together when we can barely look at each other without killing the other one?”

“We'll make it work,” he answered simply, rolling his eyes at her. “Just because you hate my guts doesn't mean we can't do this. I mean, look at the song we wrote at the club, you'd never have that if it wasn't for me, Staub.”

She continued to stare at him. As much as it grated at her to admit it, he was right, of course he was right.

“Okay,” she decided.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” agreed Keely, sticking her hand across the island, bridging the distance.

His mouth twitched slightly, but he filled in the space and shook her hand all the same. The familiar tingles ran through her hand, but she ignored them, this time she was noticing the guitar callouses on his fingers. She had the same ones on her hand.

“Let's go finish mixing the track,” Seth said, nodding back to the studio, picking up his coffee mug.

Following in suit, Keely trailed behind him down the hall.

“We still need to name the club song, it sounds too 50 cent calling it “the club song”.”

“Oh, just hurry up, Staub.”

- Well here's the next chapter! Nothing really exciting happened in this one, but it needed to be done anyways!

Blah, I went to bed at 5 last night and had to wake up at seven to go ride horses. I'm tired, I have a major headache, and I'm still damn sore from being kicked in the ribs that I chipped a couple weeks ago. So I'm going to go pass out the moment I post this, but I wanted to put this up so SOMEONE could have their Seth and Keely fix XD

Okay, my advice of the day. Do not let your neighbor drag you away from writing at one in the morning so you two can do shots and then think cow tipping is a good idea. Believe me kiddies, cow tipping? BAD IDEA!! As fun as it might sound, cows get majorally pissed off.

Well, I'm going to go nurse my hangover, and the people putting gutters on my house is not helping. Blarg.

Okay, song on the side is just because I was SO shocked J - I'm officially calling you that, it's easier than writing your whole name lol - hadn't heard of Jeff Buckley, and now I'm so happy that she knows who he is!!!

Gorgeous banner on the side made by josequervo, it's beautiful, isn't it?

I think my rant is done now... Yes, yes it is -