give a little get a little (a hosie music au)

Part 4 "Where's the talent?"

A/n: It's been a hot minute.
P.S. I do not condone rescheduling therapy appointments for work engagements or pretty people! please do not do the problematic things Hope does :))
***

"Hope! There you are." Sebastian had just walked into the printer room, a mug of coffee clutched in has grasp. "I was wondering if you're busy on Saturday."

It was three weeks later, a humid day as summer arrived guns blazing. Hope had already met with the songwriters for Josie's EP, they were finalizing the last two songs. No doubt there could be rewrites throughout the recording process, so Hope was fine with what they had so far even though it needed tweaking.

"This Saturday?" Hope asked, punching the printer in just the right spot as it sputtered to resume printing.

"Yeah. Josie Saltzman's first session is Saturday morning and the higher ups... have a few concerns."

"Oh?" Hope asked needlessly. She already knew where this conversation would end.

"I would go myself, but my aunt is sick. I have to visit her, you know how it is."

Hope hummed in response, debating on what to say. She had therapy Saturday morning, but this was really important. If she didn't go and help, who knew what could go wrong! If there were concerns about Josie and her EP, it was Hope's duty to do anything she could. Plus Sebastian was actually asking her to fill in for something she would enjoy doing. Being helpful to Josie Saltzman meant seeing her, talking with her, two good things that Hope totally hadn't been obsessing over. Her therapist was used to this, by now it was probably an expectation she had that Hope would reschedule. It was fine. She was fine. Ms. Tig did also encourage her to do more things for herself. Hope ignored the nagging thought in the back of her brain that reminded her of other things her therapist had said, like workplace boundaries. She would work on those later.

"Alright, sure." She said finally as she scooped up the papers from the printer.

"Great! I'll forward you the details."

Hope brought her bundle of printouts to their owners and hurried back to her office. Alyssa was on the phone with someone, saying goodbye as soon as Hope sat down at her desk.

"Good news." Alyssa said as she scribbled something onto a sticky note and stuck it on the calendar on her wall. "I just spoke with Penelope's rep. She has an opening in her schedule and would love to work with Josie."

Hope swiveled around in her chair with a huge grin on her face. "That's awesome!"

She had reached out to Penelope herself a few days ago, sending a link to a cover Josie did to see if she was interested in working with her. Since Penelope has eyes and ears she was definitely interested, and now it was official.

"But she has a few condition."

*

Hope is late. Later than she wanted to be and emotionally charged. She sneaks into the studio with big sunglasses and a reusable water bottle swinging from her bag. Alyssa Chang is on the couch in the farthest corner, a crinkle between her brows as she texts furiously. Landon is slouched in his office chair by the soundboard on his phone, probably playing some dumb game. There's a few notebooks scattered on the other couch, but other than that the room is tidy and contains no one else. Hope peers into the small recording room, frowning as she realizes it's empty. She checks her watch.

"Where's the talent?" She exclaims, Landon jumps a little as he looks up and finally notices her arrival.

"She's taking a break." Is his response. Then after a few moments he cringes. "It's not going too well."

"Why?" Hope asks as she sits in the chair beside Landon, placing her bag on the floor at her feet.

"She's having trouble with the words and keeps freezing up."

Hope nods to herself, her frown increasing.

"She may or may not have gotten upset and started crying." Landon adds, as if that shouldn't have been the first thing he said.

"What?" Hope whisper yells, leaning forward in her chair as if she misheard him. "And she's alone right now?"

"Well, her manager went with her." He replied nonchalantly. "And anyway, she's wasting our time. I'm not sure why you sound so worried for her when our asses will be on the line for this."

Hope inhaled deeply, holding her breath for three seconds before exhaling.

"Alright. What are we working on right now?"

Landon sits up straighter and drags his laptop closer.

"We started on "I Promise", which I thought would be easier given that it's more chill, she could use it to get more comfortable. But then I figured we could get her out of her shell with "Get a Life". So that's where we're at."

Landon played the demo for Hope to jog her memory. "Get a Life" was an upbeat pop punk break up song, with the lyrics focusing on calling out an ex for still holding onto them after all this time. After listening to it again Hope wondered why this one had made the singer get upset, but before she could analyze it any further the studio doors opened.

Josie Saltzman looked timidly around the room from behind her manager, who was walking forward as if nothing happened.

"You remember Lizzie." Landon directed his statement at Hope, sweeping his hand in the direction of the blonde. Hope did in fact not remember, but she put a smile on her face as she stuck out her hand.

"Nice to see you again." She said, trying very hard to keep her smile in place when the blonde barely glances at her.

"What does she do?" Lizzie asked Landon, her arms crossed in front of her as she tapped her foot. Hope's smile fell, as did her hand. Her eyes flickered over to where Josie sat with a notebook, scribbling something as she paid no mind to what was happening.

"Well, uh, she does a lot of things." Landon's answer doesn't seem to satisfy the manager, but he continues before she can say another thing. "She's just here to help out, make sure everything goes smoothly."

"That's—"

"Great." Josie interrupts quickly, springing up beside her manager and giving her a warning glare. She then turns to look down at Hope, and it is a low angle given how tall she is. It's not like it would be any better if Hope was standing though, given the fact that the other girl is much taller than her.

"I'm ready to try again, so we can start whenever you're ready." Josie says.

***
A/n: none of these songs exist, I've decided to make life harder for myself by making them up.