Page 488 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

The A&R team collect themselves.

They’re impatient,

the energy buzzing between them,

ready to tear it apart,

take out the panties line,

turn it into numbers and marketability.

I snap twice for Ashley’s attention.

“Before we get to critiques,

“let’s run it back, hear my vision, deal?”

She tosses a thumbs-up.

“Then you can pick it apart all you want.”

Ashley laughs, shaking her head.

I still haven’t looked at Andrew.

I can’t. If I look at him now,

I’ll never make it through the playback.

Ace cracks his fingers, then wiggles them over his beloved board. “Hi, baby. DJ Daddy’s here.” He swings a look at Andrew next to him. “This is when the real magic happens.”

“Alright, let’s play it back,” I tell Ace.

Ace hits a few buttons, turns a dial,

and my voice floods the space,

stripped down, untouched.

I can’t sit. My heart’s racing as the song moves, waiting for me to shape it.

I point at Ace. “Just piano. Don’t touch anything. Just breath, that chest ache, and middle fingers. Really want that panties line to shock—a dirty little secret in a ballad…” Then I’m snapping fast as it comes to me.

“Trust me.

“On this pre-chorus, pipe organs.”

Ace flinches. “Pipe organs?”

“Pipe organs,” I clap out the pre-chorus beat. “Pulsing. Short, stabbing chords.”

He mutters but slides them in.

And then his head tips up,

surprised, eyes aflame.

“Okayyy, that’s nasty, Allie.”