Simon's Daughter

Chapter 29

It was time for the gig. It had been a week since the blowout at Simon’s house and I’d managed to avoid the boys, my father, and Emily as much as possible since then. Whenever we were in the same room, things were tense and snippy. Emily and I didn’t hold back our feelings for each other anymore, yet I knew that the boys saw things through tinted lenses. Every time an argument broke out, Niall, Zayn, and Liam fell without fail on Emily’s side, regardless of what it was about. We could argue about what two plus two equals, and even if she said 8.3, they would probably argue that she was right. Harry also sided with Emily, although he made less of a big ordeal about it. Louis stayed silent, not saying a single word to me. What I wouldn’t give to know what he was thinking. I desperately wanted to apologize for hitting him, but I also wanted him to apologize for being so horrible to me.

“Right, so, you’ll never believe what Zayn just asked me!” Riley exclaimed, bursting into the studio where I was recording.

“What?” I asked, stopping and gesturing to the recording guy that he could leave. He nodded and left the room.

“He just asked me how I could stand to be around you and your lies. He actually asked me if I knew what you had done to Emily and proceeded to spit out some lies about you hurting her.”

“What did you say?” I asked, intrigued.

“I laughed and left. I didn’t really have anything to say,” she chuckled. “Anyone could see he was being stupid and that he was brainwashed.”

“I just can’t believe she managed to turn them all against me,” I mused. “Just like she said she would. It sounded ridiculous when she laid out her plan for me, but now that it’s happened… I just can’t believe it.”

Riley sighed, “Bri, I’m sure eventually she’ll slip up. What song is this?”

“Better Than Revenge. Definitely not about Emily,” I laughed sarcastically.

“Oh, I love this song! Well, since I helped you write it. I should have known, duh,” she lightly hit her forehead with her palm. “Since the band recorded the track yesterday. Who’s dumb? Me!”

“You’re not dumb. Go get the tech guy so I can finish and he can put this together.”

She jogged over to the door of the studio and opened it up to peek out in the hallway. I watched her brows knit together and she leaned out further. “Hello? Techie dude? Where aaare you?” she called. “He’s gone!”

I hit my face against the glass barrier. She bounced back to the sound bar. “Never fear! Riley Shea is here! I took classes at the Uni last quarter on being a sound technician, I though that’s what I might want to do then I got the gig as your drummer which is a million times better, but this soundboard is exactly like the one I used for class! I can totally record your song and put it together, I promise!”

“Alright, whatever,” I shrugged. “Just make sure to save all the recordings separately in case you screw up and they want to redo it. So I don’t have to sing much more. In theory.”

“Yay!” she squealed, causing me to immediately rethink my decision. She yanked a scrunchie out of her pocket and tied back her unruly hair, and a look of focus came over her face as she flipped a few switches. “Go,” she said into the microphone leading to my headphones.