"A fucking diss track? Damn it, Bryce. Can you get your shit together please?"
"Chill, Bails. We haven't even written it yet. We're gonna get it all done tomorrow, and we want your final approval on everything."
"Fine, Bryce. Just make good choices please."
There was a knock on my door a little bit later. "We're headed to McDonald's, do you want anything?" Griffin asked, opening the door.
"Is that even a question?" I said. "Can you get me a ten piece McNuggets with honey mustard and a small Sprite?" I asked, getting up to give him some cash.
"Save it. I got you," he said, closing the door.
By the time the boys got back, I was sitting in the kitchen patiently. "You're home!" I yelled running to them.
"Which one of us?" Jaden asked, laughing.
"Her chicken nuggets," Griffin replied, handing me a bag and laughing.
I opened the bag and sat down at the table to eat my nuggets. "Glad you're in a better mood," Bryce said, sitting down next to me. "Did you take a nap or something?"
I shook my head. "Chicken nuggets are the only way to soften this girl's heart, Bryce. You know this."
"So you're not mad at us for confronting Chase?" Jaden asked.
"I didn't say all that," I replied, causing the entire table to erupt in laughter.
"What time do you guys leave tomorrow morning?" I asked, turning to Bryce.
"We have to be there at nine, so we were gonna leave at eight."
I groaned. "If this diss track isn't fire, I swear to God, I will kill you for waking me up that early."
Bryce laughed again. "We will work at it until you love it, I promise."
We all talked as we ate. When I finished my meal, I excused myself from the table. "I need to go get my beauty sleep. If we have to leave here at eight, that means that I need to be up by seven, and that's in," I paused, checking the time on my phone, "eight hours."
I heard the boys chuckle as I left the room. What was I doing? I should've just told them that they weren't allowed to drop a diss track. Who was I kidding? If this morning was any indication, I knew full well that none of them listened to me.
A million thoughts danced through my hand as I drifted off to sleep.
Someone was shaking me awake. "What?" I groaned.
"You said you wanted to get up at seven, and it's seven-thirty," Josh's voice said.
"Damn it," I groaned, getting out of bed. "This is ridiculous."
"Hey, diss tracks are fun. Come on," he said, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
I quickly dressed in jeans and a hoodie and headed downstairs, disappointed to see that no one had been up to start the coffee yet. Bryce cleared his throat behind me.
"Looking for this?" He was holding a venti coffee, and I had never loved him so much in my life.
"You, my dear, sweet brother, are the best," I said, grabbing the cup from him and taking a long sip.
Bryce chuckled. "Remember that when you're listening to us make a diss track later. Let's go."
Bryce and Josh got in the front seat of the car, leaving me to sit in the back.
We drove in silence, and I tried to take a nap, but Bryce's driving could be a little scary.
"We're here," Josh announced, opening the car door for me. "Let's go, chica."
I sat in the corner, playing on my phone as the spit balled lyrics to their producer. "'Broke bitch, broken ass nose bitch,'" the producer repeated. "Give me more. Give me something to really work with.
I shook my head. I could almost guarantee that this would start more drama than it would solve. Somewhere in between the countless rejected lyrics and the verses that the producer approved of, I drifted back to sleep.
"Bailey, we're getting ready to lay down some of the verses. Come listen," Bryce said as he and Josh went into the booth. The producer motioned for me to sit in a chair next to him.
"Yo, Bryce, this motherfuckin' man's tried to DM my girl, bro."
I groaned internally. This had better get better.
"We ain't doing this for the bands, we doing this just to tell all your fans, you still be fucking with girls, telling people Charli's your world."
Okay, wait, that was kind of fire actually.
"No, ladies, hell of a guy, he's, kind of, one of a kind, just, let them take some time to find out all of his lies."
When they were done, the producer motioned for me to tell them what I thought.
"Well, listen," I began, sighing slightly, "it started out a little rough, I'm not gonna lie, but it got progressively better. I think it's good."
Bryce and Josh high-fived. "You ready to watch us shoot the video?"
"Oh my God. No one said anything about a video," I replied, shaking my head. "Let's go, I guess."
The boys thanked the producer, and we headed back to the house, where they had decided they wanted to shoot the video. They were both spouting off ideas quickly, and I honestly got lost in all of the words.
"What do you think, Bails?" Bryce asked, snapping me back to reality.
"Huh? I wasn't listening, sorry."
Josh chuckled. "She'll probably hate it either way, bro."
"I can hear you, you know?" I said in protest. Bryce and Josh laughed in the front seats, turning to look at my fake pout.
We made it back to the house, and the crew was already there. "Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Bryce, this is Josh, and this is my sister, Bailey," Bryce introduced us to who I assumed was the director.
I sat by as the boys detailed all of the ideas that they had. I couldn't tell them that I was bored, because they had already insisted that I was there because I wanted to be. As they bounced the ideas off of the director and producers, I could sense their excitement growing. It was like a couple of kids in a candy store, or a child that just opened the one gift that they really wanted for Christmas.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Bryce announced. I watched as they started the video. Each scene made me laugh harder than I should've. Their passion for what they were working on made my heart explode. After each take, they watched the footage excitedly, talking about what they would tweak for the next one.
When they finished filming, we sat around a computer that the editor had set up in the living room. The video was clean, and it was truly a work of art for the amount of time they had spent on it in total. I looked at Josh and Bryce, admiring the gleam in their eyes. "Guys, I know that I was kind of against this whole thing to begin with, but I'm really, really proud of you guys. You had a vision, and you made it come to life. It's refreshing to see you guys working so hard on something that is so important to you."
Bryce and Josh each wrapped an arm around me. "Thank you, Bails," Bryce murmured, kissing my cheek.
"We could only do this with your support. It wouldn't feel as good if the person whose opinion we value most in this world didn't approve of what we were doing," Josh said, rubbing my back gently.
"I've got the final cut ready for you right here," the editor said, getting ready to press play.
"Wait!" Josh exclaimed. "I want us to all watch it together."
"It's late," I said. "Why don't we all watch it together tomorrow? You can film a reaction video. I know how much you love those."
Josh and Bryce both laughed. "That sounds like a plan. Let's do it."
I stood in the kitchen doorway, watching as the crew packed up their equipment, and the boys thanked them over and over again. When everyone had left, Josh made his way over to me. "Thank you," he whispered, wrapping me in a hug.
I hugged him back, breathing in the scent of his cologne. "If I didn't have feelings for you, and he wasn't my brother, I wouldn't have dared. If it had been a less funny member of Sway, like Griffin, it would have been a train wreck."
Bryce approached us. "Arms length apart please. Leave room for Jesus."
I laughed, hugging them both good night and heading up to my room.
Josh woke me up again the next morning. "I know it's kind of early, but I want to get this reaction filmed pretty quickly, so I can edit today, get it out tomorrow after the original video releases today."
I groaned. "What time even is it?"
"Nine."
"I guess that's not too bad. I'll be right down." I replied, getting up and throwing on my Still Softish joggers and a white crop top. As I descended the stairs, I could hear Josh directing everyone to sit down.
"Peep the representation. Why didn't we think of that?" Josh asked, nudging Bryce. "You're going to be our shameless merch plug for the video."
Josh filmed his intro, laughing as the other boys made fun of him. "Alright guys, I dropped a diss track with Bryce yesterday, and today, all of the people that live in the Sway house are going to react to it. Their social medias will be linked in the description below."
"We're broke, so cop your merch at shopstillsoftish.com, link in description below. Bailey is wearing them right now," Bryce said, motioning for me to stand up.
"None of us have seen this yet, so reactions are one hundred percent genuine. Let's go ahead and watch it."
The video opened to Bryce and Josh together in bed, and the boys asbolutely lost it. When they finally regained their composure, we went on watching the video, pausing every time the boys couldn't contain their laughter. Josh paused the video about halfway through. "That is so clean, boys! Look at that editing! You guys, we seriously had the best crew working on this, so shoutout to them.
Since I had watched them film the video, I focused more on the boys' reactions. Their reactions each matched their personalities perfectly. As the video ended, Josh filmed his outro, and the boys dispersed quickly, leaving Josh, Bryce, and me in the living room.
"I know that I said it yesterday, but I want to say it again. I am really, really proud of you two. You worked really hard to make this happen, and while I don't agree with the method, I think that you guys solved your problem pretty efficiently. I love you both. I'm gonna go make some lunch. Do you guys want anything?" They both shook their heads, and Bryce headed upstairs while Josh followed me into the kitchen.
"Hey, Bails. You look good in those sweatpants," he said in an unfamiliar flirty tone.
"Oh, yeah?" I asked, turning to dig through the fridge.
"Oh, yeah," he answered, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I turned in his arms to face him. "In the kitchen? That doesn't feel slow, either."
He shook his head. "I know, but I can't help it when I'm around you. Everything about you is intoxicating."
I kissed him slowly, basking in the passion that he pushed forward in his kiss.
There was a gasp behind us. we pulled away quickly, turning to look in the direction that the sound came from. Jaden stood in the doorway. "Hey, Jay," I said, becoming increasingly aware of the fact that Josh's arms were still wrapped around my waist.
"Hey, guys. I'm not gonna say anything to anyone, if that's what you're worried about."
Josh laughed. "We aren't worried about anything. We're just keeping it out of the media right now."
"That's kind of contradictory, Josh. Worrying about the media isn't not worrying about anything," I said, wiggling out of his grasp.
Jaden laughed. "On that note, I'm going to excuse myself from this lover's quarrel."