Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Juliet didn’t know if she felt more vindicated or irritated that Darcy-in-person matched perfectly with the image and persona she’d exuded in this last year.
So damn na?ve about how the industry actually worked; she’d believed they’d had lunch yesterday to genuinely become friends?! That it went deeper than their public image?
The outfit she’d worn to C?te they both knew this song inside and out.
At least, that was what Juliet had told herself when she’d come to the studio today.
Now, five hours into their session, she was confronted with the fact that it was very painful.
Unsurprisingly, all Darcy’s fault.
“For the millionth time, you are off-key,” Juliet snapped, breaking unceremoniously from the chorus they were singing.
Rather, the chorus they were supposed to be singing.
With her headphones only over one of her ears to track herself, she could hear Darcy so fucking clearly being off-key. Like, what the hell? This was the phenom whose star was on the rise?! They couldn’t even get through one song together! Not in hours had they gotten a single clean recording.
Juliet was pretty sure she was going to go insane.
Darcy whipped her headphones off, sending Juliet a glare through the glass.
Thank god they weren’t in the same room the way Darcy had wanted, because Juliet was reasonably sure Darcy wanted to knock her on her ass right now. And, she was loath to admit it given the shape she kept herself in, but Darcy was obviously far scrappier than she was.
Then again, maybe if Darcy laid hands on her, Juliet would be able to truly take her down in the media once and for all…
Darcy visibly took in a long, deep breath, flexing her hand that wasn’t holding her headphones, before she jammed them back over her head in order to communicate with Juliet.
“No. I. Am. Not,” she stated, pointedly. “For the millionth time back at you, I am singing in the right key for the changes we should be implementing for the song. The ones that I’ve brought up to you about ten times!”
“We shouldn’t be implementing the changes!” She refused to shout, but she was damn close to it. “We aren’t changing ‘Porchlight’; it’s already a masterpiece.” Why did she have to say this yet again? They were going in circles, the same ones they’d been going around and around in for hours.
“We are re-recording it,” Darcy threw back at her, her clear frustration making her voice shake slightly.
Juliet knew the feeling. The same heat was winding through her, making her blood thrum quicker through her veins.
“We are re-recording,” she mildly agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. Outwardly maintaining her calm. “We aren’t reinventing the wheel.”
Darcy tossed both of her hands into the air.
“Why bother covering this song on the album if we aren’t making any changes?
You’re right. The original song is a masterpiece.
So why even bother putting it on the tribute album and having it redone if we aren’t going to put any twist on it?
Why would anyone bother with our version if they can just listen to Shelby’s? ”
It was the same argument Darcy had been making all afternoon. Stubborn as a mule, clearly.
“Because we aren’t Shelby! We’ve already reworked it into a duet; therefore, it is already different,” she hissed.
“Oh, did we rework it into a duet, Juliet?” Darcy asked, reaching up and tapping her fingers at her jaw in faux-thought. “Because the way I remember it, you spent the first hour we were here shooting down just about all of my ideas and also suggested that I only harmonize with you on the chorus.”
Juliet angled her jaw up; she wasn’t ashamed of anything Darcy had brought up. “And we compromised, didn’t we?”
Darcy snorted in derision. “The only compromise you made was in graciously allowing me to take over the second verse. So sweet of you.”
“Well, you whipped out your notebook and wanted to rewrite the entire damn song. This recording should have been easy, Darcy. We should have been out of the studio over an hour ago.”
Juliet had spent full days in the studio many times. But never for a song that was already complete, needed no alterations, no editing. This recording should have been a blink in time!
“Yes, we should have,” Dustin interjected from the control room.
Juliet ignored him.
“You are the reason we’re still working on this.
” She stressed the you, needing Darcy to at the very least take ownership of it.
“Because you think that you know better than not only me, but Shelby freaking Linwood!” Fired up, she walked closer to the glass window splitting their booths.
Wanting to look Darcy right in the eye as she said, “Do you think you’re the first person with a modicum of talent who bursts onto the scene and thinks you’re the second coming?
Thinks every idea you have is gold? The second you let yourself believe you’re that special is the second you’ve let success get the better of you.
I’m not going to let my name on this project be dragged down because you decided Shelby Linwood’s tribute album is where you have to make yourself shine. ”
She was standing so close to the glass, her breath left a gentle fog on it.
Darcy was just as close, her own breath fogging the same area as Juliet’s, the anger lighting up in her bottle green eyes.
Something about it sparked this feeling in Juliet, this one that made her feel absolutely alive. She found herself holding her breath, waiting for Darcy’s rejoinder. Maybe this was what a boxer felt like before a match?
Instead of responding, though, Darcy worked that sharp line of her jaw back and forth, staring Juliet down.
When she finally spoke, her voice was burning with fury, but was so soft echoing in Juliet’s ears through her headphones as she muttered, “Fine. You know, I’ve spent the last few hours rolling over and giving you almost everything you wanted.
No lyric changes. No reworking the bridge.
I was willing to do it because I really wanted this to work out, even if it meant working with you. ”
Darcy took a firm step backwards, forcing herself away from the energy buzzing through their studio. Away from the glass that Juliet was somewhat shocked hadn’t shattered from being trapped between them.
The lights in the booth glinted off of all of the mixed metal rings on Darcy’s fingers, as she reached up and hurriedly threaded them through her long flaxen hair, momentarily distracting Juliet.
She’d also toyed with them, twisting them around her long fingers so captivatingly, as they’d attempted their many recordings.
She snapped herself back into the moment, annoyed for letting herself get drawn in by such a minor thing, especially right now. “So, what? Are you going to throw some diva tantrum and act like you’re walking out of here to try and get what you want?”
Juliet had seen that behavior before, but god, she really didn’t want to work with it. Wasn’t sure she could. And, frankly, it would be the only thing Darcy did that surprised her so far, something that didn’t seem to fit with her outward persona.