-BOOK 1 OF 3- Something On The Side (FOB/Smosh FanFic)

[Chapter 21] I Quit

-Carter's POV-

Cassidy and I were at the studio, not listening to what our producer, Chad Gilbert, had to say. I was watching his mouth move, but I wasn't registering anything coming out of it. I was just thinking over and over again, I'm going to choke this guy sooner or later if he doesn't shut his mouth. I looked over at Cassidy, who was sitting next to me on the couch, and saw her on her phone, texting Anthony. I pulled out my phone and checked for any messages - none.

I sighed and put my phone back in my pocket.

"...if you just try this..." Chad continued, making hand gestures to try and help us better understand what he was trying to get across to us. I stuck my index finger up, indicating I had something to say, but he just continued rambling on about what else we should do to make the song "better". I cleared my throat in another attempt to grab his attention. Still rambled on.

"Excuse me!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. He shut his trap almost instantaneously. Cassidy looked up from her phone. "I'd like to say something, Chad." I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged my shoulders, "How come we can't have the song the way we played it for you the first time? Why do we have to change it? Was it not good?"

I watched his Adam's apple rise up and down as he tried to come up with an answer. He was speechless.

I shook my head in disappointment, "Exactly. See, you don't even know why you're trying to change it! It was perfectly fine the way it was! The way we played it back in Chicago! Everyone loved it!"

"Well-" He tried to say.

"No!" I snapped, cutting him off. Chad jumped and I'm sure I was scaring Cassidy because she was just looking at me with wide eyes. I almost never broke out like I was right then. "No. We're doing the song the way it was done in Chicago or...or we're not doing the song at all." I nodded my head and crossed my arms over my chest, "Yeah."

"Carter!" Cassidy yelled underneath her breath, rising to her feet. She leaned in and whispered into my ear, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I'm tired of Chad telling us our song isn't good the way it's intended to be!" I shouted, shooting my hand in his direction, "Our song was great! The crowd went wild! They loved it!"

"That doesn't mean other people are going to love it!" Chad dared to retort. I shot a disgusted look at him. He was supposed to tell us that people are going to love it. Not that they weren't going to love it.

"OH THAT'S IT!" I screamed, "WE'RE DONE, CHAD! I QUIT!"

And with that, I brushed past him and right out of the studio. I hopped in the passenger's side of the car Cassidy drove us here in and sat there for a little, my foot tapping rapidly and incessantly. My heart pounded against my chest. My breathing was uneven. And I was holding back the tears of anger that wanted to stream down my face as I waited for Cassidy to come rushing out after me.

Sure enough, two minutes later, she ran out the studio doors and up to the car door. She knocked on the window and I looked up at her. She opened the door and inquired, "Carter, what were you thinking back there!?! And more importantly, what do you mean you quit?"

"I don't want to be told our music isn't good enough the way it is," I told her, my voice trembling due to the adrenaline running through my body, "Our music deserves to be heard the way we want people to hear it. Not the way Chad thinks people want to hear it."

"I get where you're coming from, Carter, but..." She squatted down and rested her elbows on her thighs, "...Chad's been there for us from the beginning and-"

"Well it doesn't feel like he's there for us now," I crossed my arms and averted my gaze away from her, towards the road where cars were whizzing by probably ten miles per hour over the speed limit. "In the beginning, he believed in us. Yeah. He thought we would become stars. But now...it feels like he doesn't...care anymore."

"Well what do you want to do? We can't just...up and leave him."

The tears that had been holding back started to stream down my cheeks. "Sure we can," I croaked, keeping my head turned away from Cassidy. I didn't want her to see me crying. Because when I cry, she cries. And when she cries, I cry. That's how it's always been. "You said it yourself, Cass. You know someone who can help us out. Someone who won't make us change this song, or any song for that matter. So why don't we just call him up and tell him about our situation?"

"But don't you think it'd be a little awkward having Pete as our producer?" She questioned, "You know, seeing as you have a...thing for him?"

"We just kissed, Cass," I reminded her.

"A kiss that equaled, like, a thousand kisses!" She exclaimed.

I sighed, "I don't know, Cass." I grabbed a napkin from the glove compartment and dabbed under my eyes, hoping to dry the tears and wipe away any run-down mascara. I looked over at her and said, "Right now, Pete as our record producer, and even if it's not him, it's just his record label, sounds better than doing one more recording with Chad."

She bit her lip and looked up at me, "Are you sure this is what you want, Carter?"

"If it gets our song out there the way we played it at our old high school, then yes."

*****

Cassidy and I walked through the apartment building to our apartment around midnight. After Cassidy's and my talk, Cassidy walked back in and told Chad we no longer wanted to be part of his label. From what Cass told me (because I refused to go in there again), Chad didn't take it too well. To celebrate our turn of a new leaf, Cassidy took me to the bar owned by Connor's dad. Since she and Connor had a "falling out" (as she put it), it wasn't as easy as it used to be to get in. So we had to wait in line like any other person. And that's why we returned home so late.

"I'll call Pete tomorrow," Cassidy informed me as she leaned against the wall. I pulled my keys out of my purse and unlocked the door.

"That'd be great," I retorted, pulling the key out and turning the door knob to push open the door. The two of us walked in when we saw Anthony sitting on the couch with someone I thought I would never see again. I dropped the keys I was holding in my hands.

"Hey, Carter," That someone greeted, a smile growing on their face.

To be continued in -BOOK 2 OF 3- I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Book Written About Me (FOB/Smosh FanFic)...

Author's Note: Well thanks for reading, guys! I hope you liked this book as much as I liked writing it =) I'll work on the second book as soon as I can. I'll probably upload the link to the next book in this book once I post the first chapter. Fair warning, the actual book name will probably be shortened because of the limit of characters for a title. Anyways, thank you so so much for reading and I hope you'll check out the second book when it comes out! -rac06h10ael