Meet Your Future

[Addison Sloane]

Addison woke up that morning feeling slightly detached. Yesterday had been a rough day. She remembered the session but she didn't remember what was taken away. Whatever it was, it didn't make her cry in the morning as she looked down at the tattoo on her wrist.

She received a call from Jake telling her about the band that was coming in. Jake Copeland had been her manager for the past six years and she knew he had a soft spot for her, which was why the band that was coming in was even called in. The band was missing a crucial part of what made them a band and Addison knew exactly how to fill that gap.

Which was why after a short text to Alexandra Lawson, she got into her car and drove over to Dyer Records. She met with the band first to listen to them play one more time before deciding that Alex was definitely going to fit in like a glove with these people.

She called the redhead up one more time as she waited at the front desk. "Hey, where are you?"

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex really didn't want to go outside today. For one, it was way too damn cold for her tastes. Even after having spent nearly ten years in Montana she still couldn't get used to the winters. At least she'd gotten through her annual misjudging of the temperature and gone outside in far too little clothing for how frigid it was and now was firmly in the mode that kept her bundled up beneath so many layers she almost looked like a bright pink sphere, rather than a petite, young woman.

As her phone went off, Alex grumbled. She didn't have the fancy placards on her car that allowed her to park close to the large office building and she'd been sitting, looking at the frosted landscape around her for longer than she'd care to admit in an attempt to gather up the will to venture out and away from the precious heat her car vents were spewing. She reached over and scooped her phone out of the center console and tapped out a text message, rather than answer the call.

I'm in the parking lot debating whether I should go home and go back to bed.

Alex knew damn well the text was a load of garbage and the moment it was sent off she took a deep breath and tucked her phone away into her heavy coat and set about tugging on her gloves, a balaclava and a bright, pink beanie complete with a little, fluffy ball on the top. There was a moment's hesitation before she finally turned the car off, pocketed the keys and dared to venture out.

Tiny legs scampered as fast as they dared moved across the icy pavement, heading for the sweet, sweet relief that would come with the climate controlled lobby of the record label office. The front door swung wildly open and Alex came recklessly hurtling in. She stumbled just inside and pitched forward, landing on her stomach and sliding across the well waxed office floors, arms and legs splayed outward like she was flying. After coming to a halt, her limbs dropped to the tile floor with a short series of clunks and she dropped her head as well. "May a thousand demons rise of the depths of hell and claim your wicked soul for dragging me out of bed this early, Addison Sloane." She said, her words muffled by her winter layers.

[Addison Sloane]

Snorting at Alex's response to what she thought would have been a phone call, Addison pocketed her phone and crossed her arm in front of her chest and waited. She saw Alex emerge from her car and couldn't help the big huff of laughter that escaped her at Alex's appearance. And as she slid in through the door on her stomach, Addison smacked a hand on her face and shook her head. Twenty-two years old and still a clumsy little dork.

"Not a good morning for you, was it?" Addison smirked before reaching a hand down to grab at Alex's to pull her up. "Dani, hot chocolate for our guest, please?" The tall, sleek looking brunette at the front desk nodded and pressed a button on her phone to get someone to bring out two mugs of hot chocolate.

[Alexandra Lawson]

"Are they ever?" Alex asked from behind her balaclava. Even with the thick fabric around her face, Alex's large, brown eyes said everything anyone needed to know about the redhead's current mood. She would have been cranky and reluctant to venture out into the cold for any reason, let alone for something like this. At Addie's behest Alex had already spoken with the executives at the record label and they had told her, years ago, their plans for her. And Alex would be damned if she, a die hard fan of such artists as the Foo Fighters and The Offspring would ever be a cinder-block heel wearing, makeup slathered, top 40 pop whore. It didn't hurt that the entire idea of stepping out of her comfort zone terrified Alex to no end.

With some doing, Alex managed to free her head from the layers of winter clothing. She looked around for some sort of coat rack or something similar and opted to just start peeling off layers and resting them on the nearest chair in the waiting area of the lobby. "I'm telling you, Addie." Alex said as she hooped around while attempting to remove her heavy boots. "If they want me to to Mariah Carey covers, I'm leaving." With a squeak she stumbled into a large planter box with a fake palm tree in it and toppled over, falling between the plastic plant and the wall. A hand jutted up from behind the plant, triumphantly holding the boot that had finally been removed. "And I'm gonna be hella mad if I gotta put all this back on." She proclaimed as she carefully started extricating herself from the plastic plant.

[Addison Sloane]

As Alex went on her little tirade, Addison just watched quietly, not really having the same problems with the weather or gravity as the girl was apparently having. She knew Alex probably didn't want to hear anything the executives wanted to hear, which was why none of them were present. This meeting was going to just be Alex and the band.

If Alex could get out of that plastic plant.

Addison signalled for Dani to help with Alex's layers before she moved to help Alex out of her situation. "We don't want you hella mad." Addison teased her friend before perking up when she saw the intern with two mugs of steaming hot chocolate. "Thank you Soren." Addison nodded at the intern who flustered a little before running off.

"Here," she handed one mug over to Alex before gesturing for her to follow. "Nobody wants Mariah Carey to come back." She shook her head.

[Alexandra Lawson]

"Blasphemy." Alex muttered as she peered up to Addie. The extra hands had been undeniably helpful in assisting in the shedding of the far too many layers she had bound herself into. She arranged the two sets of sweat pants, two sweaters, two scarves, beanie, snow boots and snow pants and coat on the chair, even going so far as to drape the beanie over the back, making it look like there was some sort of weird, goofy looking snow-scarecrow sitting in the lobby before smoothing out the blue t-shirt that proudly proclaimed the Golden State Warriors as 2015 NBA Finals champions she'd worn beneath everything and looked back to Addie. "Oh!" She let out a little sound of happy and gladly accepted the steaming mug.

"Alright then." Alex clung to the mug with both hands and now took a moment to look around the office. It had been three years since she'd stepped foot into the lobby and things didn't look... as they did back then. "Hey. Wait." Her eyes narrowed as she took in the room around her. Everything looked so new and shiny, like the entire place had undergone a massive renovation to bring it into the modern era. "What happened to this place?" She asked, looking back to Addie curiously. "It's like... All new and stuff."

[Addison Sloane]

Once Alex was armed with her beverage, Addison started walking towards the recording rooms that peppered the second floor of the building. She smirked slightly when Alex asked about the aesthetics of the place.

"Drew Conner happened. He decided that the old place was dumpy." She answered. "Either he didn't know or even cared that the last place had been my designs, he decided everything had to go and this place came about." She gestured to the whole place.

"I did tell you about that, didn't I? Drew's company took over the label."

[Alexandra Lawson]

"Drew? That Drew? From college?" A lone brow quirked upward almost comically so as Alex glanced to Addie as the two walked through the halls. Alex was painfully out of touch with everything. Shortly after mutants had become public she'd opted to hide away in her little hole where she felt the turmoil and chaos wouldn't reach her. It was an ignorant stance, to be sure, but one Alex had inadvertently taken nonetheless. "Does that mean he's your boss?" Alex added before carefully bringing the mug of hot chocolate up to her lips.

Alex's eyes moved about the not-so-newly renovated building before giving a bit of a frown and looking back to Addie. Something about all this didn't really sit right with the tiny redhead. Addie hadn't bothered her about the whole music thing for a while and it didn't make sense that all of a sudden she would want Alex to 'see something'. Addie was up to no good, Alex could feel it. "You still haven't told me why I'm here." She said, pursing her lips as a faint hint of uncomfortable awkward began to sink in.

[Addison Sloane]

Addison hid the smirk emerging and nodded when Alex confirmed which Drew she could be talking about. Her question made the smirk emerge and she shook her head. "In a manner of speaking. But I would hardly call him my boss." The taller brunette responded, the hot chocolate in her hand barely given a thought.

When Alex brought up her query about being here, Addison simply gestured for her to follow. She had a schedule to keep up with and Jake was already texting her, asking what was keeping them.

She pocketed her phone and turned a corner to where the recording rooms were. They passed the window where four men were soundlessly playing their instruments before opening the door which led to a dimly lit room where two more guys were occupying a large soundboard.

Jake, a middle aged blonde in a printed tee under a dark blue blazer, turned to Addison and smiled warmly at both the women who walked in. "Hey Addie. And you must be Alex. It's so good to finally meet you." He walked over to Alex and held his hand out to her for a shake before turning to Addison. "Have you told her about them?"

Addison shook her head with a smile before walking past him to pat the other man on the back. Jake's attention was on Alex as he ushered her in. "I'm Jake. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Addie's manager. Back there is Lance. He's the producer of the guys in there. But they're missing something that Addie's told me you might make up for. Care to prove her right?"

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex reaaaalllllly didn't like the way Addie was responding. She would have preferred if her friend had simply come clean from the beginning though Alex doubted she'd even be here if that had been the case. She'd done this little game, ran around in circles with the suits that thought she had moderate potential as some sort of tween appealing pop act. While she supposed she should have been grateful that someone prominence within the music industry thought she could amount to something it hadn't sat well with her. Part of it may have been had to do with the fact she was still in college and taking that next step into the real world scared the living hell out of her, but that was neither here nor there. The fact remained she had turned down a contract with a record label and regretted it every day since.

Without a word Alex followed along, stepping into the recording studio, eyes wide. A few stuttered sounds escaped her lips as she was introduced to Addie's manager, who was a lot better looking than Addie had described before. There was an almost paranoid look in her eyes as she peered through the glass toward the band that was playing before her gaze dropped to the hundred of nobs, dials and switches on the soundboards. "Nice to meet you." She said meekly, even though she'd already shaken the manager's hand, let it go, and stood for quite a few seconds before replying. "Um. Wait. What?" Her large, brown eyes widened considerably as the producer's words sunk in. "Addie!" She blurted out, turning to her friend. "I can't- What're you thinking?"

[Addison Sloane]

Watching Alex go through her process of linking things together was amusing to say the least. She knew she should have been upfront from the getgo but she also understood that her best friend was a stubborn person and she didn't want to hear another rejection coming from someone she cared about.

"I'm thinking it's been three years since you touched anything music related." She paused and chuckled. "Now I know the last time you were here, I made the mistake of letting the bigwigs handle how you entered the industry. I'm not making the same mistake here. I know these guys. And I know you. Just listen to them." She pressed the button that connected to the room on the opposite side of the glass and smiled at the lead guitarist.

"Whenever you're ready, Julian." She nodded. The guy up front gave a wide smile and held up a thumb before turning to the drummer who started them off.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex immediately went to protest. Her jaw clenched tightly and she was about to let loose a tirade the likes of which Addie had never experienced before. Only two things kept her from doing so. The first being the obvious. Alex wasn't a natural at being militant. It was something that usually left her feel awkward and nowhere near proving the point she had taken up. Secondly, she wasn't really all that angry with Addie. Alex, clumsiness and occasional goofiness aside, wasn't stupid. She suspected there was a reason Addie had brought her here and it probably had something to do with music. After all, why would Addie, of all people, ask Alex, of all people, to meet her here, at a music studio of all places if the intent didn't have anything to do with music?

"Enter the industry?" Alex's head tilted slightly as she looked to Addie curiously. She still wasn't quite grasping just what it was that was being propositioned here, if anything. There was a band in the studio but that didn't mean a damn thing. It had only been a few minutes and already Alex was wishing someone would let her in on what was going one and what it all had to do with her. "Um." Alex did what she usually did in these sort of situations and drew inward, clutching the mug of hot chocolate with both hands and turning to band as they were given the signal to start playing. Sometimes Alex wished she wasn't so clueless when it came to simply things.

[Addison Sloane]

The mug of hot chocolate was placed at the corner of the table behind her and Addison watched as the band played the single that would have been on the radio a few months ago had their singer not abandoned them midway through release. They sounded good as a four man band but it didn't feel complete to Addison. Jake had asked Addison to step in but the brunette knew her sound wouldn't mesh well with them. She knew she would drown in a band.

Her blue eyes traveled over to watch the redhead, wondering what she was thinking right then. Seeing her almost withdraw into herself should have made Addison walk over to her but she stood her ground and waited until the band finished playing before even talking.

"Alex?"

[Alexandra Lawson]

Okay. Alex could dig this. Sort of. She wasn't really sure what she was watching, just a band playing in a studio, nothing ground breaking. She liked their sound and even found herself moving here and there to the beat even if she didn't have the slightest clue why she was standing here listening to it. The sound filtering through the studio speakers did remind Alex how much she missed being around music. It reminded her of better days during school when music held such an important role in her life.

When the song ended and the last notes were fading, Alex turned to Addie at the sound of her name. She looked up to the other girl and shrugged her shoulders. Alex still didn't know why she was there, even if she did appreciate the behind the scenes look at what seemed like a recording session. "Yeah, okay." Alex said, her tone lowering even more to the point where it was drifting into the territory of being timid and almost scared. "They're good but... why am I here again?"

[Addison Sloane]

This would have been about the time when Addison would have jumped Alex and shoved her into the other room with a huge smile on her face. Instead, she looked at Alex with a knowing look. She had to have figured it out by then.

"They're missing a lead singer." She pointed out just before Julian materialised into the room, a huge grin on his face as he ran his fingers through his thick dark hair.

"Is she the one you were talking about, Addie?" He asked, turning his dark brown eyes towards Alex. He reached out a hand and cheerily introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Julian. It's good to meet you. Alex, right?"