Chapter Five
Neil stood outside the doors to Foxhole Records for a good five minutes before he got up the nerve to go inside. He’d messaged Laila the night before telling her what was happening today, so he’d woken up to a number of messages from her, Cat, Jeremy, and even Jean wishing him luck in one form another that he’d read quickly before getting into his car.
The only thing that got him through the front doors was the fact that Allison would be there. At least one familiar face.
Turns out, there were two. As he walked into the lobby, he saw Thea standing with her back to him, deep in conversation with Kevin Day. He froze. Objectively, he knew he’d be interacting with some pretty serious stars here, but it was still a lot to take in.
Kevin glanced at him, frowning when he saw Neil standing by the doors. Seeing his attention stray, Thea turned around to face him. She gave him a smile, beckoning him forward. He winced internally, and made his way over.
“Hey Thea.”
“Hey, how’s it going?” She kissed him on the cheek. “What’re you doing here? Cat send you?”
He shook his head. “No actually, I think I’m heading the same way as him.” He gestured vaguely at Kevin, who nodded sharply.
“Allison was supposed to come down to get you, but I thought I’d wait while I was down here.”
Neil swallowed thickly. “Okay. By the way, why are you here Thea?”
She laughed slightly, putting a hand on Kevin’s arm. “Neil, I don't think I’ve introduced you. This is my boyfriend Kevin.”
Neil blinked. “Oh, seriously? That Kevin is...this Kevin?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”
He hastily shook his head. “No, not at all.” He smiled, looking slightly sheepish. “Just getting some weird context for some of the shit you’ve told Cat.”
She thwacked him lightly on the arm for that particular comment. “Alright, enough from you. I’ve got to go, I have rehearsal in twenty minutes.”
It made sense, in a way. She was one of the greatest concert cellists in the country, and Kevin was a prodigy in his own genre, so they sort of fit. Neil had first met Thea when Jean had been sampling her playing for a song he was working on, and she’d hit it off with Cat right away. She, Cat, and Allison were a fairly powerful trio, and Neil knew after witnessing them in action, that it was better not to get on their bad sides, let alone garner their collective ire.
Completely unaware, or uncaring, about the waves of anxiety rolling off of Neil, Thea kissed Kevin before waving over her shoulder and walking briskly out. “Bye, boys.”
That just left Kevin and Neil standing there, staring at each other awkwardly. It seemed like Kevin was trying to size him up and failing at it spectacularly. He completely missed the mark on either intimidating or casual and ended up somewhere weird in the middle, appearing to be essentially ogling Neil in the lobby. Neil shifted uncomfortably.
Finally, he gave a brief nod, and turned on his heel. “Follow me. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
How he could be behind at a job he hadn’t even started yet, Neil had no idea, but he followed Kevin up to the elevators nevertheless, stepping out on the ninth floor. The elevator bank led to a spacious looking room full of couches and a giant tv, with a hallway in the back Neil guessed probably led towards recording or practice spaces.
Sprawled across the couches in front of him were the Foxes, as the press called them, all engaged in various chatter, which was silenced by Neil’s entrance.
Allison was the first one up, throwing an arm around Neil’s shoulders and leading him quickly to the loveseat she’d been sitting on, planting him firmly in the spot next to her and throwing her legs across his lap.
“Hey babe, how’s it going?” She smirked, and Neil felt himself tense under the gaze of the room. He glared slightly at her.
“What? I’m not allowed to be happy you’re here?” She was pouting. Or at least pretending to. Luckily it never really worked on Neil.
He shifted, trying to release some anxious energy. “You're always happy I’m here. I’m examining it for ulterior motives.”
She sighed. “What do you want me to say? I’m sorry for tricking you into landing your dream job.”
That got a raised eyebrow. “How about you’re sorry for blatantly manipulating me and putting me in a situation I was clearly uncomfortable with to gain an outcome you wanted without consulting me at all?”
She heaved a sigh. “Okay. Not my finest moment, I’ll admit it. But you’re here, right?”
“Yeah. I’m here.” Given how quickly she went back to looking pleased with herself, she’d probably missed the heavy subtext of that comment.
Renee piped up softly from her spot on the couch, doing what she always did and softening Allison somewhat. “It’s good to see you again Neil.”
“Good to see you too.” He was trying to be friendly. He might not like her, but he didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot here.
A young woman with close cropped black hair and dark skin leaned over from the couch, reaching a hand out in his direction.
“Hi, I’m Dan. Neil, right?”
“Yeah. Neil.” He shook her proffered hand.
“Great to meet you,” she said with a grin.
The man next to her was grinning from his seat.
“Did you seriously write the songs they’re saying you did? Because holy shit dude.”
Dan rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Matt. Couldn’t have given him, like, two minutes?”
The man, Matt, grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. But he’s written for fucking Rihanna. Rihanna!” He let out a dreamy sigh, leaning back on the couch. “I mean, god damn that’s cool.” He turned his full attention back to Neil. “Seriously dude, I’m like, thrilled you’re here.”
“Thanks,” Neil responded, slightly unsure what to say. “And I didn’t write for her technically, I wrote something that she picked up.”
Matt shrugged. “Same difference. Plus man, I love that song of Allison’s you wrote with her. It’s my all time favorite of hers.”
Dan slapped his arm lightly. “Hey, what about the ones I’m featured on?”
“Sorry babe. I meant, like, lyrically.”
She nodded, somewhat appeased.
They kept up their bickering in the background, but Neil quickly tuned them out. He shifted uncomfortably, sure he could feel eyes on him from the other side of the room.
On the opposite couch, leaning against the armrest with his legs stretched out on the cushions next to him was one of the Minyards. The other sat on the other end of the couch, arms crossed. Given their heights, even almost entirely laid out on the couch the first twin didn’t take up the entire space. It was likely a passive aggressive move though, given that their cousin was left sitting perched on the other armrest, next to the pissed off looking one.
With a start, Neil realized that it was the first twin who had been staring at him, making eerily direct eye contact. He returned to look, giving a small nod in return. He didn’t want to make any enemies on his first day. The man just tilted his head back, unblinking. Neil looked away first.
Kevin, from where he had been standing behind Neil, made a beeline to the couch.
“Jesus Andrew, move your legs. You’re putting your feet on my spot.”
The man, Andrew, looked up boredly at Kevin, his gaze straying from Neil for the first time since he’d walked in. “Maybe having a place to put my feet is more valuable than your presence at this moment.”
Kevin, clearly used to this by now, just rolled his eyes, but made no move to push him out of the way. Finally, Andrew lifted his legs, never looking away from Kevin, and splayed them out across the floor, leaning his head back in the process like he was preparing for an ill timed nap.
From his place on the armrest, the cousin spoke up. “Hi Neil, I’m Nicky. This is my cousin Aaron,” he said, pointing at the other twin, who didn’t so much as wave or even look up from his phone, “and you already met Kevin. So that’s everybody! We’re so excited you’re here, we watched your video from the other night. You’re totally awesome, how come you haven’t been picked up by anyone yet? Professionally, I mean,” he added, with a wink.
Neil glanced first at Allison, who was meticulously peeling off her manicure next to him like he knew she did when she was bored of the color. She shrugged, seeming to say “What do you have to lose?”
Neil glanced at Kevin quickly, and then back to Nicky. “I was actually. Or almost. I got offered a contract from the Moriyamas, but I turned it down. I pretty much got blacklisted after that.”
Nicky nodded, slightly impressed, as understanding dawned on his face. “Yeah, makes sense. They don’t really like to be told no. But Wymack’s always been a crazy son of a bitch, I guess. What have you been doing since then?” Neil figured he probably knew, given Matt’s comments from earlier, but it seemed like pretty standard small talk so Neil wasn’t too bothered.
He raised a shoulder nervously. “Ghost writing for the most part. That’s how I met Allison. Well, we were co-writing.”
Matt raised an eyebrow at that. “Aren’t they like, almost the same thing?” he piped up from across the coffee table.
Neil shook his head. “No. I actually get together to work with the artists that I co-write with, and we produce something together.. Ghost writing is all me. But I don’t put my real name on either.”
Matt nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, makes sense.” He sat up slightly, clearly getting more invested in the conversation, or maybe just trying to fulfill his curiosity about their newest addition. “Don’t you miss writing for yourself, though? Or is the stuff you do for other artists pretty much the same thing?”
Neil frowned. “Not at all actually. I write what they pay me to write, not what I want to write for me.”
Nicky grinned widely. “Hey, maybe we can change that. Get you back to writing for yourself again.”
Neil swallowed, faking a small smile. “Yeah, maybe.” He didn’t want to talk about how exposed he felt writing any of what he really felt into his music. It could be...too much at times. Too much honesty for him, let alone for the public. His far off expression clearly didn’t go unnoticed by Andrew though, who had turned against to look at him for that comment, and Neil faced him, meeting his gaze evenly.
Allison, seeing his expression, poked him slightly with her nail, drawing his attention by checking in on him in her own way. He gave her a barely perceptible nod in return, just as one of the doors down the hall swung open.
Wymack came lumbering in, looking incredibly underdressed given that this was his day job, and stood by the end of the table top, facing all of them.
“Okay, listen up fuckers.”
Neil blinked.
“We’ve all met Neil, yes? He was hard to get and better than most of you, so nobody scare him off.” He directed a pointed look towards Andrew’s place on the couch, which was firmly ignored. He cleared his throat. “Down to business. Dan’s last song was a pretty big hit, so we’re riding that publicity wave right now, but I’d appreciate it if we could have some follow-up is store. And Andrew, for god’s sake, actually try to record something this month, or else what the fuck am I paying you for.”
Andrew had his head leaned almost all the way over the back of the sofa, and didn’t look up as he responded, “You don’t pay me. I get royalties.”
Wymack sighed heavily. “Yeah, but I can fucking kick you out of my studio any time I want.”
Andrew looked up at that, trying to raise his head with some difficulty, eventually just giving up and rolling it to the side. “And I still get my royalties. It’s in the contract.”
Neil actually already knew that. That was, assuming they’d signed the same contract. Neil’s had laid out pretty explicitly that he got to keep the rights to his music and could leave at any time, taking his songs with him. It was extraordinarily generous, and the exact opposite of the shit the Moriyamas had tried to pull, even insofar as how easy to understand it was. It clearly hadn’t been written to trick him. That clause, however, was one of the main reasons he felt comfortable working with the Foxes. If he decided at any point that he wanted to leave, he could, no problem.
But Wymack just snorted at Andrew, either unbothered by or used to being called out like this. “As if you can read.”
Andrew swiftly went back to ignoring him, seeming bored with the descent into insults. Given the sharp look he’d been giving Neil earlier though, Neil had no doubt he’d win that particular battle should he choose to engage.
“Anyway,” Wymack continued, “I don’t really give a fuck what you do or where you go, as long as all of you are working on your next release. Or even something that never ends up getting released. You know the drill, it all counts, blah blah blah. Just don’t sit on your asses. Go to Neil if you’re stuck, God knows we could use some fresh blood. I’ll be in my office with the door shut pretending none of you exist.”
He didn’t so much as pause for questions as he headed back through the door he came through, leaving them all exactly as he’d left them.
Neil blinked, a little shell-shocked.
Allison grinned sharply next to him. “Welcome to the family, kid.”