Chapter 27: Next Project
After driving back to his grandfather’s building and parking the new car in the rear garage, Eric led Emma inside the shop through the back entrance. They headed straight to the locker room and sat down. The exact second Eric’s butt hit the chair, "vwoooong," a holographic screen flashed right in front of his face.
[Quest: compose an instrumental song, collaborate with three other people and formed a band, share on social media and get 500,000 views.]
[Completion Reward: $750,000.00 and Investment Portfolio.]
Eric’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw the reward list, but the task itself looked a bit challenging. He turned to look at Emma, who was sitting comfortably next to him, casually playing on her smartphone.
"Hey Emma, do your friends from yesterday know how to play in a band?" Eric asked, testing the waters.
"Yeah, they do. The only ones who can’t are me and Laura. Priya plays guitar, Chloe does too, Monica does vocals, and Heidi plays keyboard. We’re just missing a drummer, which is why we formed a girl group instead," Emma answered, turning to look at him.
"I see," Eric muttered, lost in thought.
Noticing his expression, Emma shifted closer and leaned in to look directly into his face.
"Why do you ask?" Emma questioned.
"Hmm... nothing, I’ll tell you later," Eric replied.
"Wait, are you thinking about asking them to start a band with you?" Emma asked.
"Something like that, but later," Eric answered. "I need to actually write the song first," Eric thought to himself.
"Alright... by the way, what’s upstairs?" Emma asked.
"Oh... you haven’t seen it yet?" Eric asked, turning to look at her.
Emma shook her head slightly, but her eyes stayed locked on his face, making it completely obvious that she wanted Eric to take her upstairs. Finally, Eric stood up and held out his hand. Emma immediately took it and pulled herself up.
They walked out into the main shop and headed straight up to the second floor, where Emma instantly began looking around. She checked out the piano, the tuba, the saxophone, and everything else with a bright, cheerful look on her face.
After that, they headed up to the third floor. Eric flipped on the lights, and Emma was instantly awestruck by the massive, highly professional recording studio equipped with state-of-the-art gear.
"Whoa... this is incredible," Emma said, her eyes shining as she took in the whole room.
"Yep... though it’s a shame there isn’t a computer up here to mix the tracks or a server to store all the recordings yet," Eric replied.
"You already ordered everything from Priya, right?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, she said she needs about a week. The first thing I actually have to do is catalog all the inventory downstairs, and then go through the items in the basement storage room," Eric answered.
"Alright, alright... you can worry about work later. What’s on the floor above this?" Emma asked.
"My living quarters. Come on," Eric said.
Honestly, Eric usually hated inviting people into his personal space, but for some reason, he didn’t feel that way with Emma at all. It felt like he had known her for years even though it had only been two days, and everything just felt easy with her. When they stepped upstairs, Emma’s eyes went wide as she took in the space, which looked like a neat, vintage studio apartment.
She immediately kicked off her shoes and walked right in, casually making her way around to look at the photos of Eric’s grandfather, browse the books on the shelves, and finally "bum," she dove face-first onto Eric’s bed, rolling around on top of the mattress.
"Hey, easy there," Eric said, standing in front of the fridge as he grabbed two bottles of water.
"Haha... your bed is incredibly comfortable. It feels like it’d be amazing to sleep here," Emma said, tossing her bag aside.
"You’re something else, you know that? Aren’t you even a little worried? I am a guy, after all," Eric pointed out, walking over to her.
"And? If it’s you, I don’t mind. But don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I’ve never acted like this around any other guy. Only you," Emma replied, now lying on her stomach while propping her face up with her arms.
"Yeah, yeah... here," Eric said, handing her a water bottle.
Once Emma took it, Eric turned around and walked over to sit on the sofa just a short distance from his bed. He switched on the television, tuning into a documentary about dismantling old, abandoned houses that looked straight out of a horror movie. Eric took a long swig of his water, set the bottle down on the coffee table, and stretched his arm across the back of the couch.
Then "blugh," Emma suddenly plopped down right next to him. Eric immediately started to pull his extended arm back, but Emma grabbed his hand, wrapped his arm firmly around her shoulders, and leaned heavily against his chest. Eric was naturally a little startled, but for some reason, sitting this close together on the couch felt completely normal and natural, almost giving him a strange sense of déjà vu.
They watched the screen in peaceful silence, and Eric could catch the subtle scent of Emma’s hair and her perfume.
"Even with Vivian, I rarely ever got this close... and here I am with a girl I literally met two days ago. Is this even normal? But for some reason, I actually like being like this... with her," Eric thought to himself.
"Zzz...zzz,"
Hearing a soft, faint snoring sound, Eric glanced down and saw that Emma had drifted off to sleep. She had apparently gotten bored watching the documentary, which had already been playing on the television for twenty minutes. But what truly baffled Eric was how completely Emma had let her guard down around him, feeling so incredibly safe and comfortable that she could just pass out like this.
Eric couldn’t help but smile. He took off his glasses and carefully leaned forward to set them on the coffee table. Settling back into the cushions, he gently began stroking Emma’s hair. A brand-new sensation, unlike anything he had ever felt before, welled up in his chest and spread throughout his entire body. It felt wonderfully peaceful. He kept his eyes fixed on Emma’s sleeping face.
"Unbelievable, this girl completely let her guard down," Eric thought to himself.
After a moment, Eric began brainstorming ideas for the instrumental track he needed to write for his next quest. Without even realizing it, his fingers began tapping out a steady rhythm against the back of the sofa.
"Ding."
A notification popped up on his smartphone. He pulled it out of his pocket to check it, finding an alert from the new social media app he had just set up to share yesterday’s video. Opening the app, he saw a direct message from someone named Felix.
"Good afternoon, I am Felix White from Trinity Studio Records. I would like to invite you for a meeting to discuss the track you released on this platform."
Eric immediately looked up the name of the record label. When the search results flashed on his screen, he was completely stunned. The studio was an absolute titan in the music industry, responsible for launching and managing countless award-winning superstars. Seeing a label of that caliber taking notice of him made Eric’s heart pound wildly against his ribs, leaving him in absolute disbelief.
