Page 483 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

parking the chair right next to Ace.

Andrew sinks into the leather,

stretching out his long legs.

I step up behind him. “Rules are simple: smile if you love it, lie to me if you hate it.”

He tips his head back, eyes finding mine upside down, head slowly rolling against the chair as his gaze follows me.

“Relax,” he says, knees wide, mouth slanted cocky. “I been lyin’ to pretty girls my whole life.”

I shake my head and open the door to the sound-lock, a tiny closet-sized hallway connecting the control room to the tracking room.

Before the door closes, I hear Ace snort.

“Nah, man. She’ll get you. Now that she’s behind that glass, you’ll be fallin’ in love in two seconds flat.”

“Yeeeaaah,” Andrew mutters,

still smiling.

“I ain’t makin’ it outta this room alive.”

The A&R team sits buried in the back shadows, faces lit by their phone screens.

Callie’s perched beside Ace on a stool, stalking to Jenkins, while Ace rubs his palms together over the board.

And then there’s Andrew—elbow on the chair, hand over his mouth, rocking slightly.

The only person in the room who’s looking at me.

“Alright,” I say, slipping into songwriter mode. “First run-through’s me and the piano—stripped down, no production.” I point at Ace. “After you hit record, hands off the board. Then, we’ll play it back so I can show you what I got goin’ on in my head.”

Ace jerks his chin toward Andrew.

“Bossy little thing.”

Andrew laughs, short and polite,

as if he knows all about it.

But I catch the way he shifts in the chair,

the way he rubs his hand over his jaw.

He’s nervous. For me.

Trying to bury it so I won’t be.

I slide onto the bench, exhaling.

“Alright, let’s roll.”

Ace clicks the last button,

then drops back,

lifting his hands dramatically.