𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 || 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒

05 - Team Building Exercises

I already know the situation with Vallie is going to be an uphill battle with the band, but Noah is the one I'm dreading the most. I understand his frustration but my god he's acting like a goddamn child. I hope this party will be a way to show them that she's not the overly corporate monster they think she is.

Quickly but quietly, I tip-toe to the kitchen to read the messages and formulate cohesive responses.

Group chat – Me:

"Yeah, I'm good."
I look at the time, it's later than I thought.
"See you at rehearsal."

When I go to reply to Jolly, I pause,
"No, it's fine. I'll explain later. See you at rehearsal."

I scramble around her kitchen til I find a notepad and a pen,

"Off to rehearsal
Thanks for the safety from the rain
Will talk to the guys about this weekend!
-N :)"

-

When I step into our rehearsal studio, the energy immediately shifts. I heard them joking and laughing before I came in but now, they were dead silent. "Hey guys." I say timidly as I make my way over to my guitar. They track me and I can tell they were dissecting me – my demeanor, my disheveled appearance, the day-old outfit. All which doesn't exactly reinforce my innocence. "What's up?" I ask as if nothing happened. Noah burns holes into me with his glare but uttered nothing. To say he was unhappy would be an understatement, he seems furious.

Jolly clears his throat to break up the silence. "Let's just start, shall we?"

-

There's tension throughout the entire session. We were fucking up on the same songs, Jolly and I were missing cords, Nick was missing beats and Noah was forgetting lyrics. We haven't had rehearsals like this in a long time.

Finally, we were wrapping up and they were all busy organizing their areas.

"So, um," I clear my throat nervously, "I suggested to Vallie that we should have a get together or...something, to kinda get to know each other?" I practically wince and prepare for impact.

"Are you fucking serious?" Snaps Noah while the other two fade into the background. "You fuck our manager and now you're all buddy buddy?"

I sigh at the accusation I've anticipated all day, "I didn't sleep with her."

"Then what did you do? Since you never fucking came home." He questions and steps towards me. The space between us feels enclosed, foreign and unnecessarily extreme.

I furrow my brows in offense, "Not that it's any of your fucking business," I shoot back, "It was raining too hard for me to drive, so I just crashed on her couch. That's it. Calm down."

He gets even closer to me, practically in my face. "You're sleeping with the enemy and you want me to calm down?"

"Whoa, first of all, back the fuck up." I step forward matching his intensity. "Second of all, stop being so fucking dramatic. She's not our 'enemy', she's just a fucking manager. She wants to help us." I narrow my eyes at him, "And for the 700th time, I didn't fucking sleep with her."

"Okay so you want to sleep with her." He stated like a fact.

My jaw nearly drops that he would , "No, I don't Noah." I close the gap between us as aggravation flowed through my veins. "Do you?"

I swear I can see fire behind his eyes and steam seep out of his ears. He balls up his fists at his sides, clearly trying to restrain himself. I'm not sure I've ever seen him that angry before, at least not over something so trivial. He says nothing then he turns and storms off, which seems to be becoming a new hobby of his.