The Bad Influence

Party

"Bro, when does the new song drop?" Your best friend, DJ, asks settling into the couch beside you. He has a beer in one hand and joint in the other. The party is at its peak, people dancing and singing along to the music. DJ is having to sit nearly on top of you to talk to you.

"Tomorrow at midnight." You say, then take a hit of his joint as he holds it out to you. You wash it down with your own beer. "I'm pretty pumped about it."

"You should be. It's dope, man. Dope."

Your other friend, Ariana, plops down into your lap. "We have to finish our song, babes. I'm loving it already."

"Ooooh." DJ wiggles his eyebrows. "You guys doing a duet? Can I hear?"

"We've only got the chorus so far, but if you come by my place tomorrow I'll let you hear."

"Dope!"

DJ gets up to mingle and Ariana turns around so she's straddling you, hands coming up to rest on your shoulders. Her eyes are red, so you know she's high. Most people think you and Ari are together, and you would be lying if you said you hadn't fooled around, but you were best friends before anything else. Plus, she is so into DJ it's painful to watch.

"Did Marcus figure out what to do with you yet?" She asks.

You roll your eyes. "Nah. He's not gonna do shit. He never does."

You had gotten in trouble recently for breaking a guys camera after he got up in your face, trying to get a photo. It wasn't the first time you let your violent side flare up in public, and it would not be the last. Marcus was your manager, and he promised this time he was going to figure out how to fix your attitude, and image.

Of course, he had promised that five times already.

The party starts to die down around three, and DJ lets you and Ariana crash on his couch. You wake up to find the boy walking around in just some sweatpants, putting trash into a giant garbage bag.

Ariana is beside you on the couch, and you notice her cheeks turn red when she sits up and sees him.

You lean into her ear. "You're drooling."

She grumbles, "shut up," and shoves you so hard you fall off the couch.

DJ chuckles. "No need to fight over me, ladies. There's enough to go around."

"Ew." You climb to your feet. "Well, I have to get to the studio to meet Marcus. Talk to you guys later!"

You grab your stuff and hurry out the door. Even though you like girls and guys, you would never do anything with DJ. It's weird, but you know he couldn't be casual about it. There are no strings with Ari, but DJ couldn't do that.

You stop by your apartment to change before going to the studio. It's pretty much the same outfit you had on yesterday, ripped jeans, a t shirt, and your leather jacket. LA isn't really a place where you should wear a jacket, but you don't care.

Your assistant, Lily, meets you outside the studio.

She smiles warmly at you, handing over an iced coffee. "Morning, Y/N."

"Good morning."

You're pretty good friends with Lily, even though she's five years older than you and Marcus only hired her because he felt like you needed a babysitter. Not that it really did anything, but you did cause less trouble when she was around.

You were hoping that today you would get to work on some new music in peace, but Marcus was waiting. He did not look happy.

"Y/N."

"Marcus."

"You're going to Nashville."

You blink a few times, making sure you heard him right. "What?"

"There's a girl group there, Cimorelli, you're going to go down there for a while. Do some shows with them, maybe make some music with other artists that are based there. Lily will be with you."

You shake your head, eyebrows pushed together. "This is insane. You can't just make me move."

"I'm not making you move. I'm sending you down there for some concerts, some collaborations, and a detox. As your manager, that's within my right."

"A detox?" You scoff. "What does that mean?"

"It means you need to get out of LA for a while. Be around different types of people. The girls in Cimorelli are really great, and they have the perfect 'good girl' reputation. Your image needs this."

"I don't care about my image. I'm having fun and making music. That's all that matters."

"No it's not. You're going to start losing fans, or end up in the hospital when you throw a punch at the wrong guy. There's no getting out of this, Y/N. It's happening. I've already cleared it with Cimorelli's management team. You leave in two days."

*

"I don't want to do this." Christina says, groaning as she sits on her couch. The other girls filter into the living room.

"We don't have a choice, Chris." Katherine says.

"She's awful! I don't want to be stuck babysitting her for who knows how long!"

Lauren sits in the recliner, pulling out her phone. "Dude, you've never met her. She might not be that bad."

Christina glares at the younger girl. "Really? She broke a guys camera last week. Half of her songs are about getting drunk or high, the other half are about sleeping around. A year ago she vandalized another singer's car! She's not allowed to throw parties in her own apartment because the cops get called every single time! She got in a fist fight with a bouncer at a club three months ago because he didn't believe her fake ID! Also, she has a fake ID! She thinks they're a great idea because 'eighteen should be the legal drinking ago so who cares!' She's the worst!"

Lauren throws her hands up in surrender. "Okay. Geez."

"She's being sent her so she hopefully stops doing that crap." Katherine says.

Amy nods in agreement. "Plus, if we can help her assistant keep her in line we get to go on tour. Tour, Christina. Our manager has been promising us that for over a year and we're going to get it."

"Yeah, after we spend possibly another year babysitting a nineteen year old wild child."

Lisa sighs. "Okay. It's not ideal. But it's fine. And the concerts they've set up are going to be amazing."

"That's right." Dani adds. "Don't forget about the concerts. Our fans will be so excited."

"We also aren't supposed to let her know we were asked to keep an eye on her." Lauren says.

Christina gets up to go to the kitchen. "That won't be a problem, because I'm never talking to her. Not once. I swear."

Lisa looks over at her other sisters. "Would it not be funny if they became like best friends?"

Amy shakes her head and grabs for the TV remote. "Not funny, Lisa. A freaking miracle."

*

DJ and Ariana accompany you to the airport a few days later.

"Don't stress." DJ says. "I have some friends in Nashville, so I'll hook you up."

"Thanks man." You give him a one armed hug and turn to Ari. "We can finish writing the song and maybe you can come down to record it."

"Of course, babes. Maybe we can perform at one of those lame concerts."

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, maybe."

You sigh as your friends leave and pray you don't end up in Nashville for too long.