American Girls

Prologue, part one

Karlie plops down onto a red leather seat and kicks her feet up on the coffee table. Derek stares at her for a moment before shaking his head and gently sitting down.

"You look really fucked up." Derek acknowledges.

Karlie stares at him hard before shrugging and relaxing again. "I'm over it."

"And would it kill you to just wear regular clothes?"

Karlie looks down at her outfit with a confused pout. Her black heels shine and her ripped black skinny jeans fit her perfectly. Plus she's in love with the black lace body suit she's wearing as a shirt and definitely a fan of her leather jacket.

"All black everything." She mumbles as she pulls a hair off her pant leg. "And I am wearing clothes." She adds, waiting for Derek to try and challenge her with that.

He doesn't.

"So, who the fuck is in my studio?" She asks as she picks up a magazine and uninterestedly begins to flip through.

Derek clears his throat nervously which absolutely catches Karlie's full attention. She loves seeing people squirm and gets off on knowing that she scares the hell out of people.

"Well, we need to talk." Derek states nervously, "The label wants you to do a collaboration and kind of a small contract with someone they've set up.."

"Sounds easy." Karlie yawns.

"Yeah except that they also want you to hangout with this artist for a while. You need to shake up your image a little bit and I'm telling you this, Karlie. It isn't optional. You're going to go in there, not cause issues, work on the song and then you're going to hangout with this person in the public for a while. You need it. Got it?"

Derek is trying to be stern and act like a boss that Karlie absolutely knows he isn't. It would make her laugh if she hadn't noticed how uncomfortable he seems to be.

In their entire friendship she's never need him so nervous.

And so something inside her softens. She tosses the magazine back where it was and sits up straight. She's tired and would actually rather be anywhere else except here.

"And how long do I have to do this for?" She asks in a rough voice. Derek was probably right, she felt as fucked up as she probably looked. She went out last night and never went to bed when she got home. So her energies are low right now.

"A few months." Derek responds, starring at the girl for a few moments before standing without another word and walking back towards the studio they just walked away from. "Come on, Karlie. Time to meet your new best friend."

Karlie shrugs and stands, sluggish feeling inside but confident and cool on the outside. All she thinks is how this could be kind of cool, she's remained friends with all the artists she's worked with so she's hoping this isn't any different.

"As long as they're cool." Karlie mumbles to herself, heading into the studio door.

*****

"You've got to be kidding me."

Karlie stands in the doorway with a blank expression when she sees the artist that she's going to be attached to the hip to.

In a light pink crop top with matching bottom skirt, the artist is bubbly and makes their way over to Karlie. And instead of taking the awkward handshake that Karlie robotically extends, she finds herself crashed in a tight and very unexpected hug.