Chapter 4

The next day Jon walked into the studio bleary eyed, not having had his first cup of coffee that morning and suffering from a hangover from hell that he was blaming Tico for. He had intended to go straight to bed when they arrived back at his apartment on Mercer but Tico had other ideas. Jon finally found his bed at 3am, 2 bottles of wine poorer and a distinct notion that he was going to pay for it in the morning. He had been right and cursed Tico as he walked over to where the coffee machine was and poured himself a cup of the stuff that claimed to be Colombian roasted but he had his doubts.  He took one sip and spat it back out,

“I can’t take this shit anymore, Colombian roasted my ass.  I am in need of real coffee,” he said turning around to face a combination of tired, hungover and wistful faces staring back at him. “Does anyone know where we can get some decent fucking coffee around here?”

Jasmine replied, “Yes, there is a great place right down the street; I can go if you like.”

Jon sighed and smiled in relief. At that moment Jasmine’s voice sounded like a gift from the gods. 

“That would be great, thank you.” He said, squeezing her shoulder.

“Ok, I’m going out to get some good coffee, does anyone else want any?” she asked the others. Her reply was an ‘I do’ from all around.  Richie, seeing how many people wanted coffee, volunteered to go with her, knowing this was another good opportunity to get to know her.

They walked out of the building and headed down the street to the coffee shop.  Jasmine asked what was up with Jon and Richie explained the delicate relationship he had with coffee, how it was Jon’s life line and if it tasted wrong then all was wrong with the world.

“Add to that the hangover of the century and voila! Pissy Jonny for us all to enjoy.”

“A regular occurrence then?”

“Not for a long time actually. He’s never been good the morning after a heavy night, and from what Teek tells me, he polished off another 2 bottles when they got home last night. You watch, I bet he gives Teek the stink eye at least once today.” Richie laughed, shaking his head at the thought.

Jasmine chuckled alongside him but made a mental note not to do anything that could annoy Jon for the rest of the day. For the rest of the walk they talked about anything and everything. Jasmine pointed out some of the places she had tried out since she had begun working at Island and Richie told her of other places he liked to eat at and suggested she try them too.

They entered the shop and gave their order to a young man who didn’t look old enough to be able to spell mochaccino let alone being left in charge of hot water; Richie nudged Jasmine and whispered as much into her ear, eliciting a snigger from her. Richie looked at the small breakfast menu while they waited, his stomach rumbling at the prospect of being fed, despite the fact he hadn’t long eaten a large breakfast before picking Jasmine up on his way to the studio.

“This stuff sounds so nice, have you eaten here before?” 

Jasmine nodded, eyeing up the Danish pastries that were just calling out to be eaten.

“What do you say to grabbing breakfast here in the morning before we go to the studio?”

“That sounds great but I’m not normally in work early enough to do that, I’m not much of a morning person, a bit like you, so I tend to get the latest train I can that gets me here a minute before late.”

“That’s not a problem Jas darlin’, you’re riding with Richie now. We can make sure we’re here in time.”

Jasmine snorted at the thought of riding with Richie and how bad, in oh such a good way, it sounded. She had enjoyed that trip into the city earlier that day, having Richie to herself and just getting to know more about him and what makes him tick. What hadn’t occurred to her was that the morning ride in with Richie would be a more permanent fixture.

“It was kind of you to pick me up this morning Richie, but honestly you don’t need to do it again. I’m used to the train journey now.”

“What’s the point when I come right past your street on my way here? Or is it that you’d rather be sitting next to a complete stranger, who probably smells, on an uncomfortable seat, than sit in comfort with me in the Porsche?” Richie asked, smirking at the obvious discomfort his tirade had caused.

“Nothing of the sort. Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound like that. It’s just that, I mean, you don’t have to go out of your way to come get me. It was a nice change though to be sitting chatting to you rather than staring into space, sitting next to a smelly stranger.”

“I’m not going out of my way. So, that’s settled then, I’ll come get you in the morning and we’ll come here for breakfast.” He stated, not asking a question but telling her that’s what was going to happen. Jasmine nodded in agreement and smiled back at him.

Once they got the coffee, and Jasmine had succumbed to the lure of the pastries, they headed back to the studio to find a very impatient Jon,

“What took you guys so long?” he said a little irritated, pacing the room and fiddling with his wedding ring.

“Relax Jon we weren’t even gone twenty minutes,” Jasmine replied as she handed him his coffee and squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. “We got you something else too,” she said gesturing to Richie to hand over a Danish.

“It seemed like you were gone for hours,” Jon whined, “and you could’ve…”

“Just drink the damn coffee bro,” Richie said, frustrated at how cranky Jon was acting. He tossed the Danish in Jon’s direction seconds before everyone else pounced on him to claim their own piece of sticky heaven.

Jon took a sip of coffee and was quite pleased with what he tasted,

“Jasmine, thank you for going out to get this, it is some of the best coffee I have had.  I might get you to get me a cup every day.”

“It was no problem, it’s better than working with you cranky all day,” Jasmine said jokingly.

“Working with an asshole is more like it,” Richie chose that moment to speak up.

“Fuck you man,” Jon said as he gave Richie the finger.

“Nah man, you’re too fucking ugly.” Richie replied with a grin on his face and a guitar in his hand.

The rest of the day was full on with work and not much chance for the light hearted banter that Jasmine was quickly getting used to having as background noise. She had been listening to what had already been recorded and began to mix one of the tracks that Obie hadn’t quite managed to finish yet. She lost herself in her work until there was a knock on the door of her little booth and in walked her boss. He stayed only for a few minutes, just to check that everything was going well for both Jasmine and the band, then made his excuses and left to ‘leave you all to make the magic happen.’

Now that she had lost her train of thought she watched the band working in the studio in front of her; Richie was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, a guitar resting on his knees. He was absent mindedly picking out a tune and humming along to it, unaware that Jasmine was watching him. She watched with an intense curiosity; she noticed his eyes were squeezed tightly and his head fell slightly to his left as he gently stroked the strings and caressed the neck of the guitar as he played. Her mind wandered to that place she had tried to avoid and she found herself wondering what it would feel like to have his fingers caress her skin as they did the guitar. Giving herself a mental shake she looked around the room and saw Jon talking animatedly on the phone, Hugh was nowhere to be seen and David and Tico were deep in conversation with Obie, huddled over the piano. Her gaze returned to Richie, who at that moment woke from his reverie and as he looked up his eyes met hers and he smiled a wide smile that stretched right through to the irises of his eyes. Jasmine smiled back and was shocked to feel a tingling, stirring feeling in her stomach and her whole body gave an involuntary jolt as if his eyes were burning into her soul.

Jasmine tore her gaze from his and turned back to her work. She managed to finish the track as far as she could before the band needed to listen to it and put some more work in, and was just about to pack up for the day when Obie popped his head around the door of her adopted office;

“Hey, looks like you had the same idea as the rest of us. We’re going to get some food. Are you coming with us?”

Jasmine would have loved to have said yes but truthfully she needed to do some of the boring things that living on your own entailed. There was a pile of ironing to do and dishes that hadn’t been washed in a few days.

“Sorry Obie, I can’t tonight. Housework beckons, but definitely another night.” She said, smiling and picking up her bag.

Richie was behind Obie and heard the exchange between Jasmine and his friend. His heart sank when she declined Obie’s invitation and his own enthusiasm for the gathering waned. In a split second he decided not to go with the guys but to go straight home to Jersey, hoping that Jasmine would accept his offer of a lift home.

“That makes two of us Miss Moore,” Richie said with a twinkle in his eye. Obie looked at his friend and gave him a knowing look that was refuted by Richie rolling his eyes at him.

“Really? You’re not going out for dinner with this lot?”

“Nope. Ma has requested my attendance for dinner this evening, she’s cooking lasagne and I can’t pass up her cooking for anyone.”

“So you’re being the dutiful son tonight?”

“Damn right, my ma raised no fool. Do you want a ride home?”

“I’m leaving in the next 5 minutes so if you can be ready by then it would be lovely. If not don’t worry, I can get the train.”

“I’ll be four minutes. Don’t leave without me.” He said, turning to gather up his things and find his car keys.

Obie looked at Jasmine then back at the retreating Richie, and again at Jasmine, who had a huge grin that was fighting to spread across her face. He wasn’t sure what he was seeing, or if he was actually seeing anything, but Obie was sure that something was developing between the two of them; only time would tell if it was a friendship or something more.

“It seems like we didn’t see much of each other today even though we were in the same room. How was your day?” Richie asked her.

“It was good. Obie is great to work with and I was really productive today. I feel like I achieved something because I finished mixing the track you already did.”

“Already? Man that’s quick. Seems to me Obie wanted help so we’d be out of the studio earlier than planned.”

“Maybe. So how was your day?”

“Same shit different day really. I do like being in the studio but I wasn’t feeling it today.”

“You did seem a little distracted when I looked out of my window, like you were in a different place, just you and the guitar.”

Richie laughed, “Yeah I do have a tendency to float away when I’m playing. There are just loads of things that need writing down and playing. My brain can’t turn off!”

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

“Good because at least I’m full of ideas, bad because I’m too busy to do anything about it.”

“You’ll find a way. Maybe you could do a solo album?”

“Maybe. I will one of these days.”

The conversation flipped between subjects, sometimes going back to a previous one and too soon they pulled up at Jasmine’s place.

“Thanks for the ride Richie.”

“My pleasure. Same time tomorrow morning. We have a breakfast date remember?”

“How could I forget? See you tomorrow.”

Over the next two weeks Jasmine forgot what the train station looked like; Richie had given her no choice about her mode of transport to and from work, not that she would have protested much anyway. He would pick her up in the morning and they’d either grab breakfast in the café down the street from the studio or they would stop for muffins and coffee on the drive into the city.  The beginning and end of the day had fast become Richie’s favorite time of day, a time of calm but also of being able to talk through the events of the day with someone who understood and listened while he talked. He enjoyed talking to Jasmine and found himself divulging more than he would normally do. Jasmine had also fallen into a routine of being picked up and dropped off by Richie and was secretly worried that she was becoming more invested in their friendship than Richie was. She hankered for time with him alone and when at work couldn’t wait for the end of the day where she would get him to herself for that precious half hour drive. 

They flirted innocently with each other and neither of them could deny that there was a spark between them, but neither had attempted to act on it and instead, they had let their friendship grow and both were happier than they had been in so long. 

As the third week of the album came to a close Jasmine had found her place in the team. She had long lost her nerves and was now fully in work mode, bossing the guys around and making suggestions to them. Some nights she would eat with them then make the journey home with Richie, sometimes accompanied by David, and other times she would go home straight from work. What did make her wonder though was how and why Richie always managed to find a reason to go home straight away on the same nights as she was doing the same. She kept meaning to ask him but somehow in the course of the journey she got side tracked every single time.