“Come on, let’s go to the studio.”

I gulp. This is it, the moment I’ve been waiting for. I’m going to Infinite Chase’s studio where they do magic. Well, create music. But still. They are the same thing.

I don’t want to hyperventilate, but I’m so excited, and I’m sure it’s showing on my face.

I follow the band as Nate leads the way. They told me a few days ago that the studio is located on the southern part of the house. When we round the last corner, there’s no door in sight.

Frowning, I turn my gaze to the band. “Are you playing a joke on me?” I haven’t been on the studio, but I know that it’s in the basement. But there’s no basement, so how. . .

Zeke grins. “Wait for the trick,” he says amusedly.

The guys watch my expression as I glance around, making sure I already check every corner for the sign of a door.

“Where is it?” I ask Nate.

He pushes a button from a frame hanging on the wall. And then there’s a screeching sound.

“There’s an earthquake!” I panic. In my nervousness, I hold on to Nate’s arm to steady myself.

The guys laugh at me. And that’s when I realize where the screeching sound came from. A hidden door.

I clear my throat. I probably look like an idiot; this is beyond embarrassing.

I ignore my stupidity and their laughter.

I focus my attention on the door in front of me. “Wow,” I breathe.

This is cool. Without knowing the secret button of the door, it won’t open. I wonder why they designed it like this, when in the first place the location of the house is already a mystery to their fans. There’s more to Infinite Chase than meets the eye.

“I didn’t expect this.”

“Come on,” Lance says, “you haven’t seen it yet!”

He pulls a string from inside the room. Light bursts out from the lanterns hanging on the ceiling, lighting the stairs.

A smile makes its way on my face. I can’t believe this. I blink my eyes; surely this is just a dream. I’ve been here a week but I didn’t know that this house has a secret place.

“Go,” Nate says, nudging me forward.

I walk down the stairs while holding on to the banister. When I enter the room at the end of the steps, Nate bows down and says, “Welcome to our secret haven.”

I take it all in. I feel like I’m in an enchanted place. There are Christmas lights on the walls, a couch on the far side of the room, and a plush carpet on the ground. There’s a cool vibe hanging in the air.

“What do you think?” Zeke asks.

“Amazing,” I say in a quiet voice. “Did you do all this?”

“Yes,” he answers. “Kyle wanted the Christmas lights on the walls even though it’s far from Christmas.”

“So you have those lights all year long?” I ask.

Lance nods. “Yves grew up with Christmas lights surrounding him. I think his parents influenced him.”

I blink in surprise. That’s news about KY. I’m about to ask more about his parents when Nate grabs my attention.

“Come on,” he says, tugging at my arm. He looks excited to tour me in their studio room. “This is just our lounge room.” He opens another door from the left wall and says, “This is our studio.”

I finally understand the line, “my jaw hangs open.” Right now, in this moment, I can say that it did drop; if not on the ground. If I was amazed with their lounge room, now, seeing their studio room, I’m wonderstruck.

Tons of guitars are displayed on the eastern wall. On the back corner is Zeke’s drum set. There are cables and other stuffs on the ground. And like in the other room, there are lights here as well.

There’s a Rhode piano, a keyboard, and an organ on the side. There are amplifiers as well as harmonicas. One of the cabinets on the side is full of pedals for the drums, and on top of it, there’s a vase with drum sticks.

There are a lot of other electronic gadgets that have so many buttons. I wonder if the boys memorize their use. Zeke explains everything, and I listen to him attentively. He tells me that there are buttons and equipment for sound effects. Unfortunately, my mind can’t take all the information he says.

It all looks complicated, but I guess everything is important.

When he’s done, they all look at me. I ask the first thing that came to my mind. “Do you record all your songs here?”

“No,” Lance says. “We still need to the recording studio. This is just for our entertainment, and where we practice.”

Makes sense, I think thoughtfully.

“This is where we recorded our EP though,” Zeke asserts.

“Oh,” I murmur.

“Can we begin now?” Nate asks, strapping his guitar.

“Shouldn’t I practice first?” I ask.

“No,” deadpans Lance.

“Why not?” I ask, scowling at him.

“It’ll only give you more reasons to back out. That’s why no way!”

I pout. They already chose a song earlier, when I was talking to my mom. I have to agree that it’s good; I know it by heart. It’s from one of my favorite bands. Well, aside from Infinite Chase, that is.

Nate chuckles and ruffles my hair. “It’s not that hard,” he says, “I thought you knew the song?”

I’m tempted to lie, but before I can utter it, Zeke says, “You know the song! I can see it in your face! Let’s start and play it!”

He goes to his drum set and checks it for. . . I don’t know.

Nate hands me a microphone, and I take it reluctantly.

“Do you need a copy of the song?” Lance asks.

I shake my head.

“That’s good!” He grins at me cheekily.

“Who will play the keyboard part?” I ask, prolonging the moment.

“You.”

“I don’t know how to play the keyboard!” I say furiously.

Nate laughs. “Don’t worry; we’re going to do our own version of the song.”

Glancing back, I see Lance setting the keyboard beside him. “What about your guitar?” I ask him.

He rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry too much, babe. Just sing.”

“Dude,” Nate snaps. “You don’t have the right to call her babe!”

Lance smirks. “Whatever!”

The attention they’re giving me is overwhelming. Why do they have to tease me? Is this the payback for being the only female in the house?

“Man, what are we waiting for?” Zeke asks impatiently, banging on the bass drum.

“Is this room soundproof?” I ask. If only to extend this, I can think of many more questions.

“Yes,” Zeke answers. “We can’t let the neighbors know what we are doing.”

Nate sighs. “Let’s start!” He nods at Zeke, signaling him to begin.

The beat of the drums makes my chest throbs. Oh goodness, please, I don’t want to humiliate myself.

Nate strums his guitar, while Lance alternates between his bass and the keyboard. And then Nate starts to sing, and I’m shaking because I don’t have a good voice, I might ruin the song. When it’s my turn, Nate nudges me until I put the microphone in front of my mouth and sing the girl’s part.

 A few hours later, we are all sitting on the lounge room eating the pie I baked.

While I was making the pie earlier, the guys covered more songs from various artists. They couldn’t practice their songs because KY is not here.

“This is delicious,” Lance says approvingly.

“Thank you,” I say, smiling at him.

“Where did you learn how to bake?” inquires Zeke.

I’m about to say that I’m taking Culinary in College when I remember that I was supposedly a Public Relations graduate. Thank God I had the sense to stop myself before I spill my own secret.

“I used to bake in my free time when I was studying,” I say slowly. I hope they won’t notice that I’m lying. “Where do you write your songs?” I ask, trying to change the topic.

“Here,” Zeke answers.

I glance around and nod slowly. This place is filled with music paraphernalia to give them inspiration.

“We usually write anywhere,” Nate says, finishing his second slice of pie. “We even wrote some of our songs while on the tour bus.”

I smile at his enthusiasm. He’s really passionate about his chosen career, and his love for music is obvious.

I don’t understand why the media says that rock bands are unrefined. Being friends with Infinite Chase, I know that it was just rumors.

These people are so friendly and smart; those rude reports about them aren’t true. I wonder if they Google their selves.

“No.”

“Huh?” I ask, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

“You asked if we Google ourselves,” Lance says.

Oh! I didn’t know that I spoke aloud.

“We learned not to trust the internet,” he continues. “We know how to distinguish the truth from the lies.”

Nate taps my hand. “Do you believe everything you see on the internet?” he asks, studying my face.

I shake my head. “The media lost its effect on me a long time ago.”

He grins. “That’s why you’re a perfect band manager! You’re honest!”

I flinch at the sincerity of his words. I hope he’ll not hate me when he finds out that I’m deceiving them. This is getting harder by the minute.

“Tomorrow help us to organize the stuffs in the attic,” Zeke says, snapping me out of my reverie.

“What’s in there?” I ask curiously.

He smiles, a hint of amusement lighting his gray eyes. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Why not—“

“What’s this all about?” KY asks, barging in the room.

My heart leaps in my throat. KY is back. It’s like, every cell in my body recognize his voice. Every part of me knows him. He’s wearing a jacket over a black shirt. Is it legal to call him hot? Gosh, I’m acting like a fan girl.

“We recorded a song with Bri,” Nate answers.

Bri?

“Where did you go?” Zeke asks as Lance says, “How was your date?”

KY shrugs, but doesn’t answer. I study his face to see if there’s an unnecessary facial movement. Unfortunately, he has his poker face on.

So, he’s secretive to the point that he doesn’t want to share about his day with his friends. Or maybe it’s because I’m here, that’s why he doesn’t want to spill the beans.

He’s standing near me. There’s no space anymore, so he has no choice but to sit on the couch next to me. I move so that we’ll have space between us.

“What did you sing?” he asks. He sure knows how to dodge a topic.

Zeke fills him out with what we did, and the songs that they covered.

“Now we’re going to edit it,” Lance says. He, Zeke, and Nate move to the other room, leaving me and KY behind. This is awkward, though I want to be alone with him; this is not the right time.

I want to follow them, but KY might think I’m intimidated with him, so I stay. Besides, I have an intuition that the boys chose to leave us alone in the hope that we’ll patch things up.

I clear my throat inconspicuously. This is getting uncomfortable. How many minutes have passed? I glance at KY from the corner of my eye and find that he’s sleeping.

Oh well, talk about patching things up.

I’m about to get up when he starts speaking. “I’m tired.”

I frown. I face him and ask, “Are you sleep talking?”

A ghost of a smile forms on his mouth. “What do you think?” he asks without opening his eyes.

I purse my lips and ask him the questions that have been nagging me. “What did you do? Where did you go? And if you’re tired, why don’t you rest in your room?”

“So many questions,” he says as he opens his eyes and looks at me for the first time.

I catch my breath. His blue eyes are so dark, they look like purple. I want to take a picture of this moment; him steadily gazing at me.

“Let me rest for a while.” Without preamble, without warning, and without saying anything else, he leans his head on my shoulder.

I freeze, not knowing what to do. I’m tongue-tied, I forgot how to speak. I listen carefully to my heart. Did it stop beating? Butterflies are fluttering in my tummy.

Am I dreaming? Because if so, I never want to wake up.

The leader of Infinite Chase, my crush for years, the person that has a special place in my heart, is sitting beside me, his head on my shoulder. This is what happily ever after must feel like.

*****

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter =)

When I was writing it, I couldn’t stop the gooey smile from my face :D

The song is Kiss Me Again by We Are The In Crowd ft. Alex Gaskarth

Thank you for reading my story <3