Yours Truly. | [au.]

chapter one.

Chapter One.
The News. Paramore.

    "Hey jackass," Carolynn made her presence known as soon as she got the hotel room door unlocked. She stopped by the side of the bed Finn was laying in, holding up her phone with an article about how he was drunk in a hotel lobby last night. "Maybe you should check your fucking phone."

    Finley groaned, turning over to face the window, away from his manager. "What time is it?" He mumbled.

    "Lunch time. Do you even know what's going on right now?" Carolynn started to raise her voice. "You know the majority of your fanbase is young girls, and them seeing you fucking drunk off your ass in a hotel lobby practically naked is not setting a good example."

    "I'm literally in a band called Suicide Saints..." Finn spoke up, still half asleep as the woman scolded him for something any other twenty-one-year-old would do on a Wednesday night.

    "Don't give me any attitude mister, or your career is gone. All of it." She ripped the covers off of him, revealing him in just boxer briefs and Nike socks. She jumped slightly, then turned away to give him privacy. "Why the hell were you drunk off wine in a robe last night?"

    The platinum blonde groaned with an eye roll. "Because I'm stressed the fuck out, Carolynn!" He was fully awake now, sitting up out of the bed and walking to the bathroom. He tried to shut the door to get away from her, but she pushed it back open with one hand, shielding her eyes with the other. "Can I not put some clothes on in privacy?! Jesus Christ."

    "You need to clean up this little act before you get any more bad publicity. You've suffered from enough scandals this year already." Carolynn sounded more serious now. "If your bandmates can do it, so can you."

    "They don't have the same amount of publicity as me though, I'm the face of the damn band." Finn was starting to get pissed off now. He tugged on some gray sweatpants and then looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't want to sound like a douche, but it was true. He was the face of the band, and whether he liked it or not, he got a lot more publicity than his band members did.

    "You sound like a brat when you say that." Carolynn uncovered her eyes now. He rolled his eyes, lathering toothpaste on his toothbrush, running it under the water, then sticking it in his mouth.  "You know what happens when you screw up like this? I have to clean it up. I'm supposed to set up meetings, handle tour dates and manage social media, not fix your little fuck ups."

    "Look, Carolynn, I'm sorry okay?" Finn said, toothbrush still in his mouth. "I'll handle it."

    "Oh no, I'm not letting you do that."

    Finn scoffed, spitting out the toothpaste now. "You don't think I can fix it?"

    "No, I do not." His manager admitted. "I'll take care of it, again."

    "I don't fucking understand you, man," Finn laughed, rinsing the toothbrush and setting it aside. "I offer to fix it myself because you were complaining about always having to cover up my messes, but you don't want me to do it at all? There's never any winning with you."

    "I said I'll take care of it because I will do a cleaner job than you," Carolynn spoke over Finn at the end of his sentence, causing him to get silent. "I'm going to a local karaoke bar tonight once we get to Boston before your show. I'm scouting for new faces. We need some new voices."

    "There's already enough voices in the band." He shut down her idea right away, shuffling past her as he headed back to the bed. "The bus is getting too crowded anyway."

    "This is your last stop until you go back on the road in October for your Yours Truly tour." She said, "We need more backup vocalists."

    He stopped in his tracks, turning around slowly to face his manager. Pure fury was lit behind his eyes. "What?" He scoffed. "That album isn't finished yet."

    "We know, which is why we hired some songwriters for you," Carolynn explained. "We know you haven't had much time to write, so we got someone else to do it for you. All we need from you is to learn the lyrics, and be in the studio when you're needed."

    Finn felt his heart sink. It wasn't the same if he couldn't write his music. It took out all the meaning, and emotion behind each song. "Why didn't you ask me before making this decision?"

    Carolynn's expression dropped, looking kind of worried. "Because we knew you wouldn't like it."

    Finn felt he couldn't even look at the woman. He felt betrayed. He sat back on the edge of the bed, looking down at his lap. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke. "When do I need to be in the studio?"

    "After you move back into your apartment."

    Finn grew up in Boston. He chose Boston Massachusetts as the last stop on the tour so he could just go back to his apartment and spend some time alone, but he knew he would probably have to go to parties and make an appearance to keep his relevance up.

    "If we don't end up getting them out before the tour starts, we've selected a few songs for you to cover. We want you to review them today." Carolynn explained, but all of her words were going through one of Finn's ears and out the other. As much as he loved going on tour, he wanted to get back to his own bed. He hated sleeping in hotels.

    He took a breath in and blinked a few times before saying, "I'll do it. Just let me get ready, okay?"

    Carolynn said nothing, only nodding before stepping back and inching towards the door. She could tell he was upset. "You're welcome to join me at the Karaoke bar before the show tonight."

    "No, I'd probably only cause you problems." Finn shook his head no, running a hand through his hair.

    "Okay," she whispered. She glanced at him one more time before turning around and exiting his hotel room.

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