Chapter 30: Collaboration Invitation
Three days passed, and Priya showed up at Eric’s shop with a crew of computer technicians from her father’s company to install and set up the servers. While they waited, watching the team set up the first two professional PCs on the third floor, Eric turned to look at Priya.
"Priya, do you know how to play the guitar?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, I can, but I’m nowhere near as good as you. Why do you ask? Want to teach me?" Priya asked enthusiastically.
"Hmm... Emma told me that you, Chloe, and Heidi all play instruments. I was thinking about putting a band together with you guys to do some recording," Eric replied casually.
Priya snapped her head around to look at Eric, her expression a mix of confusion and pure excitement. Seeing her stare at him with her wide, sparkling eyes, Eric shifted closer and looked back at her.
"What do you think? Down for it? We’d be recording right over there," Eric said, pointing toward the soundproof glass booth.
"Me? Are you serious?" Priya asked, her excitement absolutely sky-high.
"Yep... of course I’m serious," Eric replied with a smile.
"Um... should I call Chloe and Heidi?" Priya asked.
"Yeah... the three of you should be enough. One guitar, one bass, one keyboard, and I’ll handle the drums," Eric answered.
"Huh... what about vocals?" Priya asked.
"No vocals. We’re doing instrumental rock," Eric replied.
"Wow... what’s the song?" Priya asked.
"It’s an original track I wrote, but we won’t be using sheet music for practice. I’ll just give you the chords and the tempo, and we’ll jam until we’re locked in. We’ll rehearse first before recording, and then we’ll post it on social media," Eric answered.
"Okay... when? Do you want me to call them both right now?" Priya asked.
"Call who?"
Priya and Eric immediately turned toward the door at the sound of the voice. They saw Emma, who had apparently just arrived and walked right in like she owned the place, without even knocking.
"You came after all. I thought you said earlier you weren’t coming," Eric said, watching Emma walk over to him.
"Of course I came," Emma replied, clearly annoyed.
"I’m the one who called her over, because if I stayed here with you alone, she’d definitely get the wrong idea," Priya said, pointing at Emma right next to her.
"Thud," Emma kicked Priya’s leg, making her hop to the side while laughing. Emma then turned to Eric with a dead serious look on her face.
"Who are you calling over?" Emma asked, burning with curiosity.
"Chloe and Heidi. Didn’t I tell you yesterday that I wanted to collaborate with them?" Eric asked.
"Wait... you were serious? I thought you were just making conversation," Emma answered, genuinely surprised.
"Completely serious. I’ve got a new track, check this out," Eric replied.
Eric pulled up a note app on his phone and showed it to Emma. Scanning the screen, Emma, who could read sheet music thanks to her piano background, could immediately make out the notes and tempo, which were cleanly split into four parts for guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums.
"Hmm... I see. So you’re planning to play with Priya, Chloe, and Heidi?" Emma asked, staring intently at Eric.
"Yep, pretty much," Eric answered casually, completely missing the look on Emma’s face.
"And you’re going to share it online afterward?" Emma asked, stepping up on her toes to bring her face right next to Eric’s, close enough for him to feel her breath, forcing him to look directly into her green eyes.
"Of course it’s getting shared, got to get those views," Eric replied, totally unbothered.
Emma shot a sharp, murderous glare at Priya that looked ready to slice her to pieces, but Priya just stuck her tongue out and shrugged, completely teasing her. But before Emma could do anything about it, Eric spoke up.
"Oh, by the way... come here for a second."
"What’s up?" Emma asked.
"Just want to talk for a minute. Priya, give us a second, okay?" Eric said.
"Sure, I still need to oversee the technicians anyway, I’ll wait right here," Priya replied.
Eric led Emma into the soundproof room. His fingers danced across his phone screen for a moment before he handed the device over to her so she could read it. The screen displayed an email from Caleb with a baby shower invitation attached. After scanning it, Emma looked up at Eric.
"And?" Emma asked, confused.
"Read what Caleb wrote," Eric said, gesturing toward the phone.
Emma closed the attachment and read the short note Caleb had left in the body of the email.
"Don’t forget to bring Emma."
That was all it said. Emma immediately looked up at Eric, her previously grumpy expression melting away into instant cheer. She checked the attachment again, this time paying close attention to the date, time, and location. Once she had the details, she looked back at Eric.
"You’ll go with me, right? I’ll pick you up at your place," Eric said.
"Of course I will! Thanks for the invite, haha," Emma replied happily, instantly stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Eric’s.
"Hey... let go, Priya’s out there," Eric muttered, trying to pull his arm free.
Instead, Emma hugged his arm even tighter, pressing it flat against her chest. Eric felt his heart skip a beat, his pulse suddenly racing. Emma looked up at him, stubborn as ever.
"Let her look, who cares," Emma said with a sharp, pouty tone.
"You really act like a kid sometimes, you know that?" Eric said, doing nothing but shaking his head.
"Whatever," Emma muttered, tightening her grip on his arm.
"Thump... thump."
Eric glanced toward the glass window. Priya had both her palms pressed against the pane, tapping to get their attention. Behind her, the technicians were filtering out of the studio and heading downstairs to set up the PCs on the second floor before moving all the way down to the basement. Priya mouthed the update through the glass, then spun on her heel and followed the crew downstairs.
"Let’s go, I need to oversee the installation," Eric said.
"Ugh... why don’t you just do a collaboration with a piano instead? Or teach me how to play the keyboard," Emma grumbled.
"Hmm... okay, but a piano collab won’t work for this because it’s a full band," Eric replied.
"Then teach me the keyboard," Emma said, looking up at him expectantly.
"Sigh... fine. Let’s get out of here first," Eric gave in.
They finally stepped outside and caught up with Priya on the second floor to watch the setup. Aside from the computers, Eric also asked Priya about security cameras. It turned out her father’s company also handled security systems, so Eric requested cameras to be installed from the basement up to the second floor, along with two outdoor units, one for the front and one for the back, specifically targeting the rear garage.
"Can we get it all done today? Might as well do it in one go," Eric asked.
"Yep... absolutely. Dad already sent over the tech crew for the cameras and alarms," Priya answered.
"Perfect. How do you want it? Cash or Venmo?" Eric asked.
Priya pulled up her phone, displaying the total invoice along with a QR code. Eric immediately tapped his phone against hers to make the transfer. Emma caught a glimpse of the final amount Eric paid.
"Hmm... a grand total of $19,200.00," Emma read aloud.
"You didn’t have to say it out loud," Eric muttered.
"Hey, that’s the friends and family discount, haha," Priya chimed in.
"I know, thank you," Eric said with a smile.
While Priya was distracted supervising her technicians, Emma pulled Eric back a few steps. She pulled out her phone and held the screen up for him to see. It was a digital newspaper article showing that Eric Watts had legally changed his name to Eric Reed. Eric instantly raised a finger to his lips, signaling Emma to keep it a secret. Emma gave him a quiet nod.
