chapter six | manager problems

SIX SHOWS INTO the tour and it was going great. Many fans have made posts about their experiences at their shows, Gracie and Mila loved to see every single one of them. There were a couple of late nights where they would sit around in their hotel rooms and show each other the posts they were tagged in on social media.

Now, Gracie had spent the last hour packing her things, getting ready to put everything on the tour bus. It was time to move on to the next location of the tour, Seattle, Washington. With the help of her new friend, Mila, she was able to work a little more on the song she was working on which helped her shape the concept of this new album.

There was another song she had an idea for, a song that needed a featuring artist on it. The more she thought about it, she knew it would be perfect for Mila.

Not only was it great for work experience for Mila, but it was something they could do for fun together.

As she zipped up her suitcase, the door to her room opened and her manager had walked in. "Gracie, we need to talk," Jordan spoke as she shut the door.

Gracie turned to look at her, seeing the serious look on her face. She had an idea as to what this could be about. She let out an annoyed sigh before she spoke. "What could it possibly be this time? Did I miss something during my performances?" She asked, trying to stay as calm as she could.

Jordan shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's nothing to do with the shows, this is about you. Recently, you've been...distracted." She pointed out.

Gracie's face now displayed a confused expression, unsure of what she was talking about. She hasn't been distracted at all, what could she be talking about? "What do you mean distracted? I've shown up to every rehearsal, playing the shows, writing new songs—what more do you want?" She questioned.

By this point, Jordan was getting frustrated. She ran a hand through her hair, letting out a sigh of frustration. "It's not about that, Gracie. Your focus and energy." She pointed out. Before she could continue, she let out a breath to calm down a little bit. "Since Mila had joined us and you had gotten closer, it's seemed like you've only been halfway there to your best like she's more important than this tour that we've put so much time into...that YOU'VE put so much time into." She explained, Gracie slowly growing more defensive by the second. She knew this would happen once it was brought up, but this conversation had to happen for the sake of everyone. "Don't think I haven't noticed you skipping press and meetings because of...whatever you two have going on."

"What's that supposed to mean? She's a core member of this tour—I want to make sure she feels comfortable with us."

"It's not about that! I want her to be comfortable too—no doubt about that, but you're too preoccupied with her. You used to focus on just one thing, now I have to reel you back in."

By this point, Gracie was growing annoyed and angry. She hated when people would throw accusations at her like this. "You make it seem like I've given up on it completely, but I haven't." She argued, her voice gradually getting louder. "Just because I care about Mila doesn't mean I've stopped caring about this tour." She continued.

That's when it hit her, this was the root of the issue. She had to investigate it deeper and see what Gracie meant.

"You care about her, huh? Care to elaborate on that?"

"It's not like that and you know it." She was quick to defend herself.

Jordan smirked at the statement, making her way back to the door. "Just be careful, Gracie. Don't stray too far from this tour, it's far too important to just throw away." She reminded, and then left the room to leave Gracie alone with the heavy silence and leftover tension.

She loved to tour, but she couldn't wait to have a day to herself without Jordan breathing down her neck all the time.

The bus was on the road again, meaning that Gracie and the crew were traveling to the next city. She sat in the hangout area, a guitar resting on her lap and a notepad sitting in front of her on the table. For the last couple of minutes, she had been working on yet another song for her new album.

Not only has she been working on songs for it, she has written down a few ideas for the title. For now, she was calling it "Project Fragments" until she could come up with the perfect title.

She set the guitar down, leaning it against the couch, and letting out a breath. "Have you seen this post?" Gracie heard a voice as someone sat next to her. She looked over to see it was Mila, her phone in her hand and the screen facing her. She looked to see an Instagram post from a fan who seemed to be with their partner, talking about how much fun they had and the amount of tears they had shed. "It turns out that their partner bought them tickets for their birthday." She continued, a smile appearing on her face as she read the post to herself. It wasn't the first time she read something like that, but it warmed her heart every time. "If my partner had done that for me, I would start sobbing on the spot."

"It is super sweet, have you commented on it yet?"

"No, not yet. I wanted to show it to you first."

Gracie looked at the post one more time, typed the username into the search bar on her phone, and looked for the post. "I'll do that now, and you should too." She spoke as she liked the post, now opening the comment section. She left a little birthday comment with a heart, soon seeing Mila's pop up after hers. "When is your birthday, by the way?" Gracie asked curiously.

Mila looked over at her curiously, wondering why she wanted to know. "September twenty-second. Why do you ask?" She asked her curiously, skeptical of the question.

"I was just wondering, I like to celebrate my friends' birthdays with them and we're friends now, so welcome to the list."

"Right...well, I'll let you get back to this. I'll be lying down for a second to get rid of my headache if you need me for anything."

Gracie nodded as she watched Mila stand up from her seat next to her, making her way toward the beds. The curtains closed behind her, keeping her out of her line of sight. She let out a sigh and looked at her notepad, staring at the lyrics she had written just minutes ago. Suddenly, it all made sense. This was the song that she wanted Mila to feature on. She just had to finish it, that shouldn't be too hard.

As she picked her guitar back up, Jordan walked in, passing through to get to the kitchenette. "Hey, Jordan, can I ask you about something?" Gracie spoke up, getting the attention of her manager.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I've got this song that I'm working on, I think Mila would be the perfect feature on it, but I wanted your opinion." She spoke as Jordan approached her.

She handed her manager the notepad and watched as she scanned the lyrics that she had written so far. The look on her face was hard to read, she couldn't tell what she was thinking. "What did I tell you about putting all your focus and energy on Mila?" Jordan asked as she handed the notepad back to her.

"Can't you just answer the damn question and give me your opinion? This is for work, nothing other than that. This means a new song for me, and work for Mila."

Jordan let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah, it's great. You can ask her." She responded, giving up on the matter. She grabbed her snack of choice, leaving the room before things could escalate.

Gracie wasn't sure why Jordan felt so badly toward Mila, but she was going to shut it down.

The night sky had now replaced the morning one, it was almost midnight. The bus had stopped at a scenic rest stop so the driver could rest for a while before having to drive further. Gracie hadn't been able to sleep for a few hours now, she couldn't get her mind to shut down long enough to fall asleep.

She glanced over at Mila's bed, expecting to see her scrolling on her phone, but it was dark and her back was facing her.

It was clear that she was asleep.

Instead of waking anyone else up, she had gotten out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and headed toward the bus doors. She remained as quiet as she could and slipped outside. The stars above her faintly lightened the path toward a picnic table where she sat in silence, admiring the beauty that was the night sky with the stars and the moon.

After seeing all this, she understood why Mila did it so often. It was truly peaceful and helped clear the mind. It was exactly what she needed.

After being alone for a while, she heard a voice behind her, getting closer with each step. "Hey, what are you doing out here? It's late and a little cold." The voice said, soon taking a seat next to her. Gracie looked over, seeing Mila sitting next to her holding a blanket from the bus. "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Do you ever feel like the people who should support you in whatever decision you make are suddenly against you?"

That was something she never expected to hear from Gracie, yet here she was saying it. Mila wondered what made her feel like that. "All the time, until recently. Do you want to talk about it?" Mila asked curiously.

Gracie shook her head, turning back to the scenery. "I just wanted to know that I wasn't alone." She responded honestly.

Mila could understand that, that's how she was a lot of the time. "We'll just sit here then until you're ready," Mila spoke as she wrapped the blanket around Gracie's shoulders to keep her warm.

From that point, the two friends sat in silence, watching the moon and stars above them.

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AUTHORS NOTE!

wow, two chapters out

so quickly. i'll definitely

be working on more

when i get home from

work! anyway, i hope

you all enjoyed and i hope

there's no mistakes!