[Collin] Another late night

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia tapped her foot along to the beat of whatever song was on the radio. She stared up at the ceiling. She was exhausted. Non stop on the run Christmas shopping was tiring. New York was crazy all the time, but this time of the year it was ridiculous. It seemed like all the idiots came out around Christmas time. Things were too well at home and she just needed a break from the outside world. The past few nights she had been coming to the studio,, it was her home away from home. She had even decorated it for the holidays. There was a small tree, Christmas lights along the ceiling, a fake fireplace that flickered like a real one when it was plugged in, and of course, mistletoe hanging. It looked very homey and it made her feel like she was at home. The only thing that was missing was the snow. She wanted to play in it and build a snowman and have a snowball fight, but there was just nothing happening. Here she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when she should be wrapped up in sweat pants and one of her dads old sweatshirts. With only the christmas lights on and christmas music playing in the background, Natalia was feeling the spirit.

Natalia slowly sat up and then walked over to the table that had her peppermint hot chocolate and homemade fudge. She picked up her drink and slowly took a sip, she smiled at the taste. Just then her favorite Christmas song came on and Natalia turned the music up louder. Thinking she was the only one around, she began to sing along and dance around the room.

outfit
song

[Collin Scott Reynolds]

Collin shut the door to his office as he held his phone between his ear and his shoulder ‘ Okay, so what I’m TRYING to say is, I am going to be there, I’m just going to be severely late. Don’t be mad at me!”, Scarlet’s voice called out from his phone. He shook his head and smiled as he spoke, “ Come on, I know who I made plans with. I take into account when we say 5 we mean 7, when we say 10 we mean midnight. Don’t worry about it. I’ll just see you and Zach there , alright?” he continued, making his way towards the elevator, when he stopped due to hearing Christmas music. ‘ Ugh, thank you. See you soon!” she said before she hang up, leaving Collin to simply lower his phone and slide it in his jacket pocket as he made his way towards the studio. He looked towards Blake’s studio, almost expecting it to be hers but then took a slight step back. No, she was still at home with Kenzie. For a workaholic, she’d surprised herself and hadn’t left home yet. Even though she vowed she’d be back in the studio within a week. Clearly her priorities changed. He listened for the music before he followed further down the hall and then stopped at Natalia Richmond’s studio, door wide open as she danced around singing to the song.

Collin crossed his arms, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe as he watched the girl he’d only been acquainted with during their music videos. But they were working then, he didn’t really communicate with her too much. It was weird how different his tone was for each artist under the label. The Maine, All Time Low, Cobra Starship, he had drinks on all of their sets. Different combinations of beers and hard alcohol. Foster, he had to make room in the schedule to account for different equipment he broke by goofing around. Blake was all about having it be structured. Natalia he didn’t really have a feel for, so he just sort of played by her rules. She didn’t get chummy with him, he didn’t get chummy with her. Besides, she was dating that Australian guy who had stopped by set a few times. Or, was dating him. He sort of figured that her other friend that seemed to show up everywhere with her would’ve tried to date her by now, but apparently that wasn’t happening yet either. He watched her a little bit longer before he piped up, talking over the music. “ Joel might be a little pissed that you aren’t listening to his version,” he said before he slowly offered a smile in her direction. It was interesting to walk in on her doing something like this, but he kept the smile on his face as he quietly wondered to himself why she was. Who wanted to be in the holiday mood all in their lonesome? Surely there were friends, family. At any rate, it had provided him an opportunity to finally talk to her.

Outfit

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia was so into the singing and dancing along with the song that she didn't even realize anyone was in her door. She got like that when she was singing, it was like she moved to a different place, she was in her own world and nothing could go wrong. She was also oblivious anyways, so that didn't help. Hearing a voice made Natalia jumped. Her heart stopped and she instantly stopped singing and dancing. She turned to see Collin standing there and she turned down the radio and leaned against the wall holding her heart and trying to catch her breath. He really scared her. She took a breath in and then looked at him. "You scared me. Don;t you know its not polite to sneak up on people like that." she smiled and got her breathing back to normal. "He doesn't have to know," she laughed lightly. Natalia grabbed a water out of her fridge," Would you like one?" she asked, holding a bottle up.

It was weird seeing someone else here this late, she was usually the only one, or well it seemed that way. "What are you doing here so late?" she asked as she replaced the cap back on her bottle and leaned against the table. She crossed one of her legs over the other and fluffed her hair. She looked at Collin once more, God he was sexy. She had never really talked to him outside of her video shoots. They basically stayed out of each other's way. She did what she was supposed and he did his job. He seemed like a nice guy. Joel sure talked him up though. She guessed they were pretty close. Joel was close with everyone though, she would be like that one day too. The only people she was really close to like that was Joel, Dani and Blake, ish. Natalia took another sip of water, stood up and walked over to the couch and sat down. She patted the other cushion, "You can sit if you want."

[Collin Scott Reynolds]

Collin narrowed his eyes skeptically as he offered a slight smirk, “ I don’t think it’s sneaking up when you leave the door open and turn your music up like this is some disco night” he said as he leaned away from the doorway. He watched her as he offered her a bottle of water. Might not hurt to have water in your system anyways if you’re going to have a few drinks later. “ Sure, thanks” he said, reaching up to take the bottle of water from her hands. He twisted off the cap, watching her as she leaned against the table and crossed one of her legs over the other. He took a drink of water quickly before he answered her about why he was here so late, “ I’m actually working on music video concepts for Joel. Our meeting got pushed until late because Logan wanted to make sure that he had studied for one of his home exams or something. So I stuck around afterwards working on some layouts after they left..” he said, giving a small nod. It wasn’t unusual to see people working here after hours. Though it sort of seemed like no one ever did it all at once. Nights you saw Ryan , Shane, Blake, Joel, Natalia, Dani, Braison here.. it was never when anyone else was really around. Unless they were working together.

Collin looked down at his watch as she invited him to take a seat. “ I can spare a few minutes before I have to head out,” he said, thankful that Scarlet had decided she was going to be late to their plans tonight. Collin walked over and sat down, looking away from her for a moment as he tried to figure out how he was going to say what he wanted to, to her. “ So, it’s sort of no secret what’s going on in your life right now….” he said directly. There wasn’t any sense in trying to tip toe around things and pretend he didn’t know she was single now. “ I realize this might be fast, or that you might not think you’re ready. But you should go out with me. Friday night” he said, turning to look at her directly in the eye. “ Call it.. a date, call it dinner with a friend. Call it whatever you want to. I’m not going to sit here and tell you how gorgeous and talented you are. You already know those things, you hear it enough. And I’m not going to pretend I’m some guy that can sweep you off your feet or try to fix everything. Cause you don’t need a man to do that, you’re perfectly capable of doing it on your own. And I don’t have any … hidden agenda behind it. Go out with me Friday night. If you never want to talk to me again, then fine. That’s your choice… No pressure,” he said before he smiled slowly as he watched her.