"I'm outta luck, outta love"

Photograph

After a few more shows at the Vieux Carre, the girls had officially saved enough money to rent a recording studio. Today was the first day they had the okay to use it, so all the girls had called into work so they could go set up.

Currently Byeol was helping Lily pack up her drum kit, trying to avoid falling over Kaguya's cat Muzu, who was weaving between the two girls and covering their legs in tiny gray hairs. Byeol hummed as she carefully boxed up the cymbals in their case, watching the other girls getting ready to leave.

"You excited about the studio?" Lily asked, placing one of her shells in their case as she looked up at Byeol. "I hope the other renters are friendly..."

"I'm sure they'll be fine, as long as they don't do something to antagonize Kaen," Byeol stated, smirking as she watched Kaen pester Kaguya to do her eyeliner for her.

Lily giggled, picking up one of the cases as Lisa cleared her throat.

"Alright, you guys should start heading out; your hours are from 10 to 2, you're burning daylight!"

"You coming with, Lisa?" Kaguya asked as she slipped on her flipflops.

Lisa shook her head, taking a seat at the kitchen table as the girls lined up with their instruments by the front door. "Nope. I'm gonna look and see if there's any gigs open around here."

"Good luck! See you when we get home!" Kaen called, running out the door as the others trailed behind her.

"Bye-bye, Lisa!'

"Yeah, see you later...!"

"Bye, Lis."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

It was late in the morning when they set out, and traffic was heavy as usual. Kaguya avoided it easily, whipping through lanes as she flipped other drivers off and complained about stoplights.

In the back of Kaguya's car, Byeol shifted uncomfortably. She was crammed in the backseat next to the many boxes containing Lily's drum kit as Kaguya swerved haphazardly through traffic, the other girls sitting in the front. Her guitar case sat safely on the floor between her knees as she frowned.

Figures I'd be on backseat duty...

Up in the front seat, Kaen was almost bursting with excitement as she explained the details of their new studio to the girls.

"It's got full soundproofing and really good sound quality, and the acoustics are really awesome!" She exclaimed, clapping as she bounced in her seat. "And the best part is, we get it at half price!"

She drew out the last word obnoxiously long, her eyes pressed shut as she spoke. Lily leaned away from her, wincing as Kaen squealed directly into her ear.

"Um, did we ever find out which band we're sharing it with...?" Lilliana asked, clutching her drumsticks as she sat back up.

"Dunno! But does it really matter? We've only got to see them once in a while, and the half price makes it even better!"

"It makes sense, I guess." Kaguya said as she backed into the parking lot. "We've got to save money where we can."

Kaen threw her door open as the car shut off, jumping out excitedly. She squealed and ran towards the building as the three other girls unloaded the car.

"Thanks for helping us unpack, Kaen!" Kaguya shouted after her, scowling as she pushed her glasses up. "Dumbass..."

Byeol glanced around as she helped the other girls unload the car, noticing that there was only one other car in the parking lot. She got a sense of deja vu as she looked at it.

She shook the thoughts from her head as she grabbed her guitar case, following Kaguya through the parking lot into the studio. Lily trailed behind them, her arms laden with the cases of shells and cymbals.

Byeol couldn't contain her excitement as they entered the building, her heart thumping pleasantly as she examined the various recording rooms they passed. Just think, now that they had a real studio, they had so many more options! They could write their own songs; they could release an entire album if they wanted to!

Success had never been more within reach.

Byeol smiled as she jogged up the stairs behind Kaguya, her mind so full of thoughts she didn't notice Lily struggling to heft her largest case up the steps.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Lilliana stood at the foot of the stairs, tugging uselessly at the case containing her bass drum. She huffed, straightening up as she wiped her sweaty hands on her shorts. "Piece of-"

"Hey, do you need some help?"

She jumped when she heard a young man's voice beside her. She looked over the edge of the staircase to see a tall young man with a burgundy shag cut smiling up at her as he leaned on the railing. She felt her ears get warm.

"Oh, no, you don't need to do that...!" She said, glancing back down at her drums. "I've got it, don't go out of your way-"

"Nah, don't worry! I help my drummer with stuff like this all the time!" He assured her, moving to the other end of her drums as he helped her left them up the stairs. Lily took the other end with one arm, carrying her other cases under the other arm.

"You here alone or are you with a band?" He asked casually, giving her a bright smile.

"Oh, I'm here with my friends. We're in a band together, but we only just started out," She stated, looking back to examine him a little more. She noticed he had bright, tawny eyes and a nose piercing, a long silver chain connecting it to his earring. She blushed and looked back down at her feet.

"Sick!" The young man cried, grinning at her. "I'm here with my boys, too. We're renting one of these studios. Maybe we'll all see eachother sometime!"

Lilliana giggled softly. They reached the top of the stairs, setting down her drum kit.

"Thank you for the help!" She said, smiling up at him. "I can take it from here."

"Alright. Glad I could help you out," he nodded at her. "I'm Elijah, by the way. You?"

"Oh, um, I'm Lily," She said, clutching her hands together as she looked away. "Thank you again for the help!"

"Don't mention it!" he gave her a wave as he passed her, walking down the hallway.

She watched him go for a moment before Kaen's pitchy voice snapped her out of her thoughts, shouting at her from inside their studio.

"Lily, would you put some hustle in it?! We don't have all damn day, we're paying by the hour!"

"Oh, sorry Kaen!" She cried, tugging her kit into the room as she felt her ears get hot.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Byeol was in the studio, carefully tuning her guitar when Lilliana came into the room. Her face was a soft pink color as she set up her drums.

She scrunched up her eyebrows, watching the short drummer as she snapped open her cases. "Hey, Lily. You okay? You look kinda red."

The poor girl's face got even redder.

"Oh, I'm okay. It was just a lot of work to drag these drums up the stairs, that's all..." She muttered, pushing a strand of hair out of her blue eyes,

Kaguya looked over at her and frowned apologetically. "Sorry, Lily. I didn't even think to help you out with those, you should've said something."

She shrugged, smiling to herself. "It's okay! It worked out in the end..."

In the corner of the room, Kaen was sitting on the floor plugging in cords. She stood up and clapped. "Well, even though that's a super interesting story, we should probably quit the chitter-chatter and give it a go, huh? C'mon, let's take it from the top, girls!"

She turned to her mic stand and adjusted it as the other girls quickly took up their instruments. She cleared her throat. "Lily, would you count us back?"

The drummer nodded, raising her drumsticks and clacking them together. "One, two, one, two, three, four-!"

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

It was several hours later when the girls finished their rehearsal.

Byeol was feeling good. It felt nice to be actually working with her bandmates again, outside of the few minutes here and there they practiced in the apartment. They were all putting their instruments up when they heard a knock at the door, followed by a raven-haired young man poking his head in.

"Oh good. You guys are done, right? C'mon boys." Ronnie said, stepping inside.

Five boys filed into the room as Kaen huffed, folding her arms angrily.

Byeol noticed that Xander was among the group, and she raised her eyebrows in worry. "Uh-oh..." She mumbled.

Kaen scoffed when she saw the Obsydium boys walk in, tapping her foot as she scowled. "Um, excuse me? What are you doing here?"

The oldest looking among them glanced down at a piece of paper in his hand. "Um, isn't this studio 1213? We're supposed to be sharing this studio with another band, which I assume is you girls." He looked up and flashed them all a pleasant smile. "Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Haittou, and these are my bandmates."

He motioned to the other boys, who all smiled and waved. Byeol grinned as she gave Xander a nod.

"Our band's called Obsydium," Haittou stated, setting down the case containing his bass as he held his hand out to Kaen. "What about you guys?"

Kaen looked ready to explode. She turned to Kaguya, her face beet-red. "Kaguya! Please deal with this!"

The older woman gave her a look, then turned to the boys and smiled. She shook Haittou's hand warmly, her lips curling up into a smirk.

"Nice to meet you! We're SUG4RPOP. We'd be honored to share a studio with you." She gave Kaen a side-eye as she added the last part.

Haittou nodded as he turned to the other boys. "Well, I guess we can start setting up, guys."

Kaen made a scoffing noise as she watched the boys start to set up their instruments, talking amongst themselves as Kaguya started out the door. Kaen reluctantly followed her, Lily and Byeol trailing behind.

Byeol followed the girls out of the room, waving goodbye to Xander as she slung her guitar case over her shoulder.

"They seem nice," Lily stated, smiling as she twirled her drumsticks.

Kaen gave her an evil look, making Lily physically recoil as her smile fell. "Or not..."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

"I knew I recognized that one short girl!" Xander was exclaiming, watching the girls leave as he grinned. "That's the chick I knocked over in the hallway of my apartment the other day."

"Yeah, I helped the purple one lift her drumkit up the stairs earlier," Elijah said, taking a swig from his water bottle. "They seem like they're cool. They left the place in good shape, at least, so they shouldn't be too bad to share a studio with."

Ronnie and Isaac began to set up their mic stands as Haittou squinted out the window over Xander's shoulder.

"They seem kinda weird though," Ronnie mused. "Like that thing with the weird looking one not introducing them? What was that all about?"

"Maybe she's shy," Isaac said.

"She was screaming the whole time we were here, I don't think she's 'shy'." Haittou snapped open his guitar case, pulling his bass out carefully. "Their bassist seems cool though. Either way, it doesn't really matter what we think of them. We're gonna see them, like, once a week at most. We probably won't even learn their names."

"I wouldn't mind learning their guitarist's name and a bit more, if you know what I mean," Xander mumbled, making Elijah give a stifled laugh as they both looked out the window.

"Don't be gross, Xander," Isaac chided, getting to his feet as he finished adjusting his microphone. "Now come one, we don't have all day. We have to get back to the dorms before the stupid curfew..."