"I'm so sorry," Wilbur says as soon as I answer his phone call.

I woke up from the call, so I have no idea what he's referring to. "What?"

"I know we were going to do the picnic and arcade thing, but my band's studio rescheduled our recording session for today." Wilbur sounds genuinely upset by this change.

I sit up in my bed, still holding the phone to my ear. "It's fine, Wilbur. I understand."

"Well, I wanted to hang out with you, and I know we can't really hang tomorrow."

I nod even though he can't see me. I was planning on spending all day with my family.

"Unless..." Wilbur sounds like an idea is brewing in his brain. "You wanted to come with us?"

I smile at his offer. "Like a groupie?"

"Not exactly, but if you wish to call it that then-"

"Yes, I would love to go," I interrupt.

_ _ _

The studio LoveJoy uses is actually really homey. That's the first thing I notice when I walked in the door.

There's furniture and little knick knacks sitting around to be comfy, probably because musicians would be here for a long time when recording.

"Maia, this is my band," Wilbur says as three other guys come into view. They all smile at me from their instruments.

I sit on a big chair. It envelops me in the comfortable fabric. I listen as they tune and warm up for their recordings. Another guy joins them to sit behind a big board of buttons. I didn't catch his name.

Joe goes into the booth to play a part for the button-man. Wilbur sits next to me, texting someone.

"Having fun?" he asks with a smile.

I nod. "This is fascinating, I'm not going to lie."

"What? Did you never go to your Dad's big recordings?"

I bury my face in my hands. "Oh gosh, he really went into detail of his band. I bet they played maybe two gigs."

"He's proud." Wilbur glances up when someone calls him again for an opinion. "I respect him for those gigs, too."

"You're just sucking up because he's my dad." I point out.

He shrugs, walking backwards towards the button-man. "I want to impress the man."

I roll my eyes before pulling out my phone again. I only get to scroll for a few minutes before I'm distracted again.

"Maia, come here," Wilbur says without looking at me.

I walk over to the button-man with him. Wilbur smiles when I'm next to him.

"I want you to listen to two things, and tell me which is better." Wilbur reaches an arm around me. My heart speeds up a bit as he brushes past me. He stands partially behind me to place the headphones on my head.

They play two tracks which sound only slightly different.

"Can I hear it again?" I point to my ears. The headphones are pretty noise canceling, so I'm sure I was speaking loudly from the way Wilbur and Mark laughed.

They play them each again before I take the headphones off. "I liked the second one better."

Wilbur nods. "Okay keep that one." He turns to me after messing with something else really quickly.

I look through the glass to see Joe in the booth. He wiggles his eyebrows once before smiling. I giggle as well.

I turn my attention away from Joe when Wilbur starts speaking again, "Want to grab a stool to listen in some more?"

I nod before taking a seat. I get to keep the headphones to listen in on what's going on.

The guys shift in and out of the sound booth. Sometimes there's only one, or they're all in there together. Someone will play something, we wait, then they play it at least two more times.

Music is a game of patience.

The guys choose to take a break around noon. Wilbur and Joe go out to get some more snacks and Ash is attempting a thirty minute power nap on the sofa next to me. I sit quietly in my chair, not wanting to bother anyone.

Mark pokes his head around a corner. "Maia."

I look up quickly, a little startled. "Yes?"

Mark smiles mischievously. "Want to play the drums?"

I bounce once on the chair I'm sitting on. "Oh my gosh, I thought you'd never ask."

Mark shows me a small thing on the drums, which I am absolutely horrible at.

"Okay, that was better than the last time," Mark reassures me after I cringe at my own attempt.

"No it wasn't." I laugh at his kindness. "I'm not very good at this."

"I just think you need some practice. Try it one more time." Mark gestures towards the drums. "Slowly."

I try it slowly. It's a little rough around the edges and it's supposed to be a lot faster, but it sounds better.

"Ready to join the band?" A voice causes me to jump.

Wilbur is leaning on the doorframe, listening to my not-so-good drum attempts.

"Not quite there." I shake my head before handing Mark the drumsticks.

"Maybe a guest appearance?" Wilbur raises his brows.

I shake my head again. "That would not sound very good."

Wilbur laughs. He glances at his phone before answering a text. Once he's done, he looks at Mark. "I think we're about to restart. Just a few more things."

I sit back on my little stool. Ash stands next to me, rubbing his eyes.

"Good power nap?" I ask.

"Not powerful enough," he grumbles, taking a big sip out of a coffee cup.

I smile a little.

Wilbur grabs his guitar off of a hook he hung it on earlier. He pulls out a rectangle from his pocket. "Will you hold my phone, Maia?" he asks.

I nod, holding out my hand.

"Can't believe you're letting it go," Joe retorts before going into the booth.

Wilbur just rolls his eyes as he hands me the phone.

I set the phone on the counter, not really worried about it, and I focus on the boys in the booth.

Wilbur furrows his brows in concentration as he plays the guitar before leaning to the microphone. I smile as I listen to the music. I'm glad Wilbur was able to find such a great group of people for music.

Wilbur's phone lights up with a text. I glance down to make sure it's not my phone and am caught off guard at the text. I can see the contact photo. It's a young woman with a wine glass.

I wasn't aware of Wilbur talking or dating anyone, but I also don't recognize the name Alina on his phone.

A pang sounds through my chest, but I'm not sure what it is. Jealousy? No, I can't be jealous of someone I don't know, nor do I know the situation. That's not a good thing to do. It's Wilbur's business.

"Can I hear just the drums?" the button-man asks into the little microphone for the boys to hear.

Wilbur, Ash and Joe walk out of the booth for a quick break. Joe digs into the bag he brought back from the store. He pulls out something with a red packaging.

"Starburst?" he asks me, raising a brow.

"Sure." I turn to face the three boys completely.

"What color?"

"Anything but red," I say and accept the yellow one he hands me.

"You don't like red?" Wilbur asks, picking up his phone.

I shrug. "It just kind of tastes like medicine to me."

Wilbur didn't look up to me when he typed something on his phone. I hate that it made me a little sad.

"That's ridiculous." Ash shakes his head. "Orange is medicine, not red."

I scrunch up my nose. "I'm sorry, but you're wrong."

They all laugh before getting called back into the booth.

We don't leave until eight at night. I never knew musicians had so much pressure on recording days. The pads of Joe's fingers are red from the guitar, and Wilbur's voice is hoarse.

It doesn't stop us from grabbing some food to go for the night. Wilbur orders, and we all stand awkwardly to the right of the counter.

"Wilbur hi!" A feminine voice calls out.

I glance to see who it was, wondering if I should duck out of the way if it's a fan, but my jaw drops in recognition of the girl.

"Alina hi," Wilbur says as he walks over to her.

"How are you doing?" she asks after they hug.

"Good. We just got done with a recording session." Wilbur gestures to our group. "We just wanted some food before going to bed."

Alina turns to us. Her eyes pause on me a little longer than the guys. It makes me uneasy. If this is a girl Wilbur's dating, I hope she understands we're just friends.

She laughs a little. "Well I hope you at least had fun."

They small talk for a few minutes. Our food order gets called, so the conversation gets cut short. I don't know if it's a good thing or a sad thing.

"Who was that?" Joe asks when we walk out.

Wilbur just shrugs. "We went out on a date a week or so ago."

"She nice?"

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun," Wilbur says.

Nobody asks any more questions as we approach a small park. We sit on the grass without a care and eat our food. Wilbur sits next to me.

He nudges me softly after a few minutes of eating. "Hey, we got our picnic. Our plans weren't a total loss"

"I think I had more fun than our original plans to be honest," I say softly, not wanting to interrupt the other guy's conversation.

This makes Wilbur smile. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I liked having you there."

"Good because I liked being there."