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daisyjonesgf · 12 days ago

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crossover of the century

Gateway Drug (chapter one of djats au series)

Natalie Scatorccio x reader ⋆ Yellowjackets x reader ⋆ Misty Quigley x reader (platonic)

Warnings !: cursing, mentions of loss of virginity, drinking, smoking, mentions of religion (??), let me know if i missed anything !!

Words !: 7k

(side note: sorry if this is such a intro chapter because technically it is lol, alsoi tried doing the color scheme of this text like suki's last deluxe album because of the title but idk if it looks good)

All you could remember since you were a little girl was music. Sure you could remember other things like the terror of finding out that your dad was cheating on your mom, or the happy memory of having your first crush on a boy. But no, what always stuck with you was the first time you snuck into a gig because you tried your best to flirt with a random guy who had a pass in which surprisingly worked. That was the night everything changed.

Not because that was the night you first smoked, not because that night a relatively attractive guy flirted with you and bought you a drink that you didn't remember the name of, no. It was because that night, it felt like you were reborn. It felt like it was the first night you had actually experienced life, and that night you didn't do your regular routine of thanking god for coming home safe and going to bed, instead, you went straight upstairs to your room to write, using the excuse of being tired so your parents wouldn't question anything or so they wouldn't catch the slight smell of weed clinging to your jacket.

That night, you stayed up till your eyes were bloodshot, writing down lyrics, ripping them up and throwing them in the trash if they weren't good enough, but it felt freeing really, being able to write stuff that you a year ago wouldn't even dare if even thinking because it would be ‘sinful’ or ‘fear inducing’ as your extremely religious parents would say.

That was also the night you had decided that you weren't going to follow whatever picture perfect image your parents built for you, and as corny as it sounds, it felt like that weight had been taken off your shoulders.

The process of breaking that image was painfully slow, it started small, taking out the records you had hidden at the top of your closet and placing them in various places around your room, that night your dad had come into your room to say goodnight and he asked why those records were there and who they belonged to. You wanted to admit it, you wanted to say something along the lines of "they're mine, why should you care?” But you didn't, you couldn't, because as stupid as it sounds, even something that small like hiding records, made you terrified of the possibility of your parents disowning you.

So, you made up a lie, a small one, by excusing it and just saying that your best friend misty had given them to you because they were just sitting in her basement, just a little white lie. He had given your forehead a kiss goodnight, glancing at the Fleetwood Mac record on your nightstand before saying “careful with what you listen to honey, ive heard that Stevie chick is a witch, we don't need that ‘round here.” god was he a fucking moron?

You just nodded before he finally walked out of your room, right when he was out of your sight you stood up and grabbed the notebook you'd been hiding in your closet, sitting down in your bed. That night, you wrote a song about how religion was shit and how it wouldn't change anything. When you read it back, it was like reading something your parents would show you to give you examples of songs you could never listen to, it was perfect.

Those little white lies turned into huge ones, you said you were gonna visit one of your church friends? You were going to a bar to get free passes to gigs. You said you were gonna go to the mall with misty? You two were going to smoke and meet people who were way too grown to even bat an eye at both you. Slowly, misty became more than just your best friend, she became your ��partner in crime’ if you will. If someone said that you weren't where you said you were, she would be right there to prove them wrong, if someone even tried to make fun of misty at school, you were there to scare off the fucker.

You started secretly wearing short skirts and shorts under your long dresses and jeans, taking it off when you got to school and putting it back on when you were leaving, you started smoking and drinking, and one night, after secretly going to a gig, you were sitting in the back of the lead singer's car, smoking a joint together, when he reached over and pulled you in, kissing you with all teeth and rush to get in your pants, which you unfortunately let him. That was the night you lost your virginity, it was horrendous. He wasn't bad or anything, it felt… okay, but it didn't feel like when you went to that first gig where it felt freeing, this felt… filthy, it felt like this time you actually did something wrong. You were sixteen, you were practically a baby.

You went home and immediately went to shower, scrubbing until your skin was red and raw, brushing your teeth like you had just eaten dirt and checking to see if he left any mark of that night, thankfully, he had been to caught up in pleasing his own needs to even think of giving you a hickey, so besides the horrible memory of that night, you had no trace of it, thank fuck, if you’re parents even so much as saw a peek of it, you would probably be dead.

After that incident, you had mentally promised yourself to not let it happen again, to choose wiser, to not let just anyone see you past flirty eyes and fake promises. So you did, if a guy asked to take you back to his place or bus, you'd just tell them that you had to go to the restroom before going, then make your escape from the back, walking back home in those high heeled boots that made your feet ache in pain.

A a couple months passed of this routine, slowly you started wearing the clothes you wanted in front of your parents, started to stay out a little later than you were supposed to without sneaking out or lying, they called it a ‘phase’ your mom had even told you the story about how when she was your age, she had a rebellious phase where she thought she was a lesbian, she said that she knew that wasn't true once she met your dad, you knew that was bullshit.

One day about a year later, you came downstairs in the morning, already ready for school as you sat down across from your dad at the table. Besides the side glances your mother would give to your choice of clothing, everything was peaceful, everything felt normal. Well, that was until you blurted out “im moving out after graduation” before continuing to eat your scrambled eggs.

Your dad sighed like he knew it was coming, your moms eyes went wide in shock as her fork dropped onto the table like you had just said you committed murder.

“What?!” your mother nearly shouted, standing up suddenly. You looked up at her and took a sip of your water, shrugging as you spoke again.

“I said I'm moving out after graduation, is there a problem?” She looked at you like you had grown two heads.

“Graduation is in two days! You cannot possibly be serious.” she crossed her arms, glancing at your dad, silently pleading for him to say something, anything about this. He looked at her and sighed again, leaning back in his chair.

“Now honey, where are you even planning on moving? You already have a roof here, food, two parents who love you deeply” he asked with that tone that clearly indicated that he thought this was some stupid joke.

“Im moving to LA, with misty” you avoided eye contact with him, looking down at your food as you said it. Your mother's eyes got even wider if that was possible as she put a hand on her heart as if she was having a heart attack, she paused for a second before saying in a hushed tone- “are… are you together?” -you slightly snort at that and roll your eyes.

“No, we aren't, but I'm sure you'd know a lot about that, right?” You crossed your arms while standing up, mirroring her pose. Your dad's hands came down onto the table with a slam as he also stood up.

“Do not fucking dare to speak to your mother that way!” He shouted at you, face going red from anger and irritation. You slightly raised a brow, deciding to not back down you sarcastically said- “thats not in ‘gods language’ dad” -before sitting back down.

“Are you pregnant?!” Your mom panicked, you scoffed and looked back up at her.

“Jesus fucking christ mom, first im a lesbian and now im pregnant? Choose a fucking sid-” but before you could finish your bitter remark, your mom cut you off.

“We know what you've been doing these past year.” She said firmly, your heart dropped to your ass as you tried thinking how they would find out. Fuck, had you not been sneaky enough? Had they smelled the weed on you when you came back home? Or worse, did misty tell them what you two had been doing?

“H-how…?” You didn't even manage to get the question out before your mother spoke again.

“That Allie girl told us, the one who's on your school's soccer team? She said her older sister had been seeing you around bars, with men, drinking, smoking, doing god knows what other stuff you've been daring to do while you think we don't know.” fucking allie. You only knew her because of the soccer team since misty was the equipment manager for them, and also slightly friends with most of them.

“You don't have to worry about moving out with our permission anymore, after you come back from school today, pack your things up and leave.” Your dad spoke up, not looking at you. Your eyes slightly pricked with tears but you quickly blinked them away once you had realized you'd never cried in front of your parents, and that wasn't gonna change now. You stood up suddenly, nodding slightly.

“Fine. You know what? I have thirty minutes until school, I'll pack and leave right now, count the fucking minutes if you want to!” You yelled before running upstairs, going to your room and slamming the door before rushing to your closet, taking out most of your clothes and some shoes, only leaving the ones you had to wear for ‘image’ and the rest you folded and out in your duffel bag, most of them just ending up thrown randomly in the bag. You grabbed a couple records and stuffed them into the bag as well, the last thing you grabbed was your notebook, putting it in and also grabbing your school backpack before leaving the room.

You had rushed downstairs, going immediately to the front door to leave but your mother stopped you before your hand could reach for the doorknob. You looked back at her, she looked calmer, but she still looked as irritated as ever.

“Honey, I've read those things you've written in your notebook… don't dream too much” she said in a condescending tone.

“Go fuck yourself.” You spit out before opening the door and stepping out, rushing to get into your car, away from this, away from them.

You had driven to Misty's house, telling her everything right when she asked, you had asked her if you could stay there until you two moved away together, thankfully, she said yes.. Either way you two would be living together for a while so it made sense.

Graduation rolled around quickly, seeing everyone else having the time of their lives didn't exactly make you feel the greatest, misty was off with the soccer team, laughing with that girl named Lottie and the other one who had bleached hair and messy eyeliner, Natalie, but for Christ's sake you couldn't remember her last name, you watched everyone else go off with their friends, bidding goodbyes, planning going away parties as you sat there lost in thought. It should've felt nice, it should've felt freeing like always, but it felt so… official. You didn't have the excuse of going to who you once were, you didn't have the fall back plan just in case what you had planned didn't work out, so, you knew you had to work your ass off, and work your ass off you did.

When you and Misty moved to LA, you searched day and night for a job that would at least pay enough of the bills. Misty had been working to become a nurse so most of the day you spent searching for your own job or writing songs in your room.

You guys had gotten a relatively normal sized apartment, two rooms, one bathroom, enough space to not completely go insane. Once you had finally landed a small job as a waitress at a diner your worries about not getting enough money slightly eased a bit.

All of the money and job problems were taking over your brain, you didn't even realize you hadn't worked on a song in weeks, so, you started up again, writing and scrapping constantly when every time that you read it back it didn't feel… real. It felt so rehearsed, like you weren't being honest at all. So, you ripped a page from one of your old songs and showed it to misty, she looked up from whatever food she was cooking and she glanced at the page at paused stirring whatever was in the pot before grabbing the page, reading it while leaning on the counter as you took over stirring.

“This is good, are you gonna make it more than just some pencil on paper?” she asked, putting the page back in your back pocket for you, you sighed, slightly turning to face her.

“Thats the thing, I mean, we're in LA where we don't know anyone or even our way around here, this isn't like back home where we could go to those bars and our spots blind if we had to, this is completely new, I don't know where to start, I don't even know if this is gonna work-” Misty cut you off with a lifted hand before you could finish your ramblings.

“There's a small club having an open night tonight about twenty minutes away. I saw it when I was walking home, you should go.” You slightly raised a brow as you took the paper out of your pocket again to read it over once more. You sighed in resignation, well, at least if you embarrassed the fuck out of yourself tonight you would have a story to tell in the future, right?

“god misty how is it that you have a solution every fucking time?” She took that as the sign of agreement so a small smile appeared on her lips, she tucked a stray hair behind your ear.

“We're leaving in an hour.” she said softly before quickly heading to her room, you turned with your eyes slightly widened. “An hour?! Misty did you plan this-” your words were cut off by the sound of the door of Misty's room closing. You just sighed and turned off the stove, fuck dinner for tonight I guess.

Once you two had gotten to the place, nervousness bubbling inside of you as misty lead you somewhere backstage, some guy she had apparently already talked to handing you a guitar, William? Wayne? Walter? One of those were his name but you didn't bother to remember it, so set on trying to ease your nerves that you just held the guitar, watching the gorgeous woman who was on stage sing a slower almost rnb like song, god you wish that was you, and then you realized, that was gonna be you in about five fucking minutes.

Once the woman ended the last note of her song, she thanked everyone and stepped off stage, passing by you and wishing you good luck even though you didn't know her. You mustered up all the confidence you could, glancing at Misty once more before walking on stage, introducing yourself before starting to strum the guitar.

You sounded surprisingly good, you at least didn't sound as nervous as you actually were, as you sang into the mic, you looked out to the small crowd, looking at everybody's heads nodding along to what you were singing, but someone caught your eye, a man in the middle of the crowd, slightly done hair with gel, shaved face, brown eyes, looking at you intently like he was studying you, and then you caught it, the smallest nod to misty who was barely visible backstage. So this was planned, sneaky girl.

After you had finished your song, you went over to the bar area where misty was chatting with the man. You stood next to her seat, blowing the smoke from your cigarette away from her face as you nudged her. She looked at you with a small smirk that you knew meant this was exactly what she wanted to happen.

“Meet Ben Scott, I think you two should talk.” She said before winking and walking away, leaving you with Ben. You sighed and turned your head back to look at him, he reached for his pant pocket and pulled out a little white business card, handing it to you.

“So, are you interested?” He asked, leaning against the bar, you looked back up at him and slightly raised a brow.

“Interested in what?” You questioned, slightly skeptical. He sat down on the stool, one hand holding whatever alcohol he had in his glass and the other resting on his leg. “Making some music together.” He said simply. You tilted your head and took a drag of your cigarette before speaking.

“Tell me, what would I need you for, Ben?” You glanced back down at the business card, it was a great opportunity, it would really help you out, but there was something in the back of your mind…

“You're good kid, and I think that if you let me help you, you could go to the next level.” You looked at him, really looked at him, trying to see any type of other intentions behind his words.

“Listen Ben, I've heard stuff like that from multiple other producers, but they usually don't care about the music, they're seeking for other things” you told him, you didn't want this to be like other times, where they promised false things just to get into your pants. He slightly chuckled, shaking his head softly.

“no, no, ask around, I'm not that type of guy. Plus, I don't necessarily go for… people, like you” he said vaguely, trying to make sure no one heard him.

Your mouth slightly parted when it clicked, oh. “Oh, um, sorry, I just thought you were-” you stammered before he cut you off.

“Trying to weasel my way into your bed? Yeah, thanks but no thanks” you chuckle at that, taking another drag of your cigarette before looking back at him. You paused for a second, thinking it over. On one hand, you were skeptical, what if this doesn't work out, what if your parents were right? But on the other hand, your mother's words rang in your head "don't dream too big.” And that's when you decided, you were gonna do everything in your power to prove her wrong.

“Okay, fine, I'm in. Um… now what?” You asked awkwardly. He slightly smiled before downing the rest of his drink, setting the glass down and putting a hand on your shoulder.

“Now, you write me a good song, location is on the card, meet with me when you're ready” he slightly squeezed your shoulder before walking away.

You glanced back at misty from across the room, you saw her knowing smile and you knew it, it was finally fucking happening.For those next few weeks, you didn't do your usual routine of writing ten songs at once, no, you focused purely on the one that felt true.You showed every single stage to misty, from the first word that came to mind to the finished product, you were glad you had her, if she wasn't there to help you, you wouldnt have known what the fuck to do.

Eventually, she helped you record the song on a cassette for Ben, and as the impatient person you were, that night, you went to his house with the cassette and rang his doorbell, nervous but weirdly excited. Once he had opened the door, he didn't even say hi, he saw what was in your hand and moved to let you in.

You two sat on a small table in his house as you played the song, your voice filling the space like air. When the song ended, you looked at him nervously, his expression was completely monotone which didn't help your nervousness.

“Did… did you like it?” You asked hesitantly, he met your gaze and paused for a second before the corner of his lips tugged into a small smile. “I loved it.” He said, making your eyes go wide and your lips slightly parted.

“Actually? You're not fucking with me?” You asked excitedly, he shook his head slightly and without thinking, you got up and hugged him, he froze for a second before his hand slightly patted your back. Once you pulled away and sat back down, a smile still plastered on your face, he finally asked.

“So kid, what can I do for you?” You thought for a moment, you couldn't just tell him you wanted to prove your parents wrong, because that's not what you want, that's not all that you want at least. So, you told him the first thing that came to mind.

“I wanna make a record, and I want people to listen to it over and over again until they can't anymore, and then I wanna make another one, and I want people to feel something when they listen to it, I want them to connect with it so they don't ever feel alone in anything.” You said honestly, because it's what music did to you back at home, so you wanted to do the same for others.

He nodded slightly “alright then. Meet me when you're ready, when you have something that feels right. See you then. A small smile appeared on your lips as you nodded as well.

“Thank you… for everything, really” his face softened before he gave you a small hug, he led you back to the front door and bid goodbye before you left, ecstatic and filled with hope.

For those next few months, you tried, you really tried, constantly met up with Ben but you both always agreed that every song you came with was missing truth, you surprisingly weren't stressing, because you knew that that meant the song wasn't ready yet. And you would wait a million years just for it to finally be ready.

One day, you both were sitting on the couch in his house, drinking a beer while you talked about how you couldn't get any of the songs to sound right. “I don't know Ben, I mean, I can't just rush it, it just… comes when it comes, you know?” he sighed, nodding slightly as he took a swig of his now lukewarm beer.

“I know, I know…” he said, a hint of frustration in his voice. He leaned back his head on the couch, listening to the song that softly played in the background. You listened, the song was… good, a rock song with a nice melody and a damn good vocalist, the voice coming through slightly raspy and deep but also flowed effortlessly.You listened intently for a moment before looking at Ben. “What song is this?” he sighed again, shrugging a bit.

“Well, I thought it was something but… I guess not.” You focused on the song again, after a moment you sang along as best as you could to lyrics you had never heard before, harmonizing with the woman singing, once you stopped, you looked at Ben, both of you having that look on your faces.

“What would you do with it?” He asked, cocking his head to the side slightly. A small smile tugged on your lips as you both realized. You were what they needed to make this song something.

It went by so quick, the writing, the improvising, the coming up with newer melodies. And before you knew it, you were walking up to the studio to meet the band who had made the song, you didn't know them, they didn't know you, when you had told Ben you had the final product to your fixing of the song, all he had said was that he would take care of it and now next thing you knew, you were here.

Unlucky for you, you had woken up late because misty wanted to give you time to get ‘beauty sleep’ so you had to work with about ten minutes to do anything before going, and again, unlucky for you, of course what you were wearing the night prior was a slip dress, so you had to work with it, putting on shoes and a jacket before leaving with misty, she called it emotional support but you really didn't want to go alone, what if they didn't like you? Or worse, what if you didn't like them?

You pushed the thoughts away and just focused on the soft sound of the radio, looking out the window, trying your best to not worry.When both of you had gotten there, you went into the building, looking around for Ben, no sign of him, eventually you finally found where everyone was, hearing a woman say “this isn't a duet, we don't need another singer-” she said before you walked in, her eyes immediately going to you and the sound of your shoes against the floor. She was gorgeous. Dark brown shaggy hair, black rimmed blue eyes, ripped clothing, a collection of different rings on her fingers, and necklaces hanging from her neck. If your mother had been here, she would've thought you were meeting the devil herself. But why is it that she looked so familiar?

Her eyes roamed over you, making you nervous under her gaze before Ben spoke up. “Hey, meet Natalie Scatorccio, lead singer of The Yellowjackets" the name seemed similar, you looked at her, at her eyes, until it clicked, Natalie.

“Natalie? Wait, weren't you on the soccer team at Wiskayok High?” She raised a brow at your accuracy. “Yeah, wait, who are you?” She asked with a curious look, her eyes roaming over you yet again. You knew you guys weren't friends in high school, she probably didn't know you past being Misty's best friend.

“Uh, misty quigley's best friend.” You said softly, she let out a breathy chuckle, shaking her head lightly.

“No way, you're Quigley's saint best friend?” She asked jokingly, but for some reason, it hit a nerve. You knew you had a reputation in high school, but you didn't want to be tied to that person, not anymore. Before you could make any remark about how Natalie had a reputation of being a burnout, Misty walked in. Natalie saw her and her face slightly softened as she greeted her, even giving her a side hug. You felt some weird feeling in the pit of your stomach, but it's probably just nerves… right?

A moment passed before Ben introduced you to the rest of the band, a tall girl with brown hair, lottie the bassist, a ginger girl who not so subtlety checked you out while shaking your hand, van, a girl with shorter dirty blonde hair who greeted you with a hug unlike the others, jackie the keyboardist, then, a girl with the most pretty big brown eyes and brown hair, shauna the guitarist. Once you had all been introduced, Ben explained that you would be helping with the song, everyone seemed okay with it, some even looking excited, except for her.

“This song was already made, it's not a duet.” Nat spoke up with crossed arms as she leaned against the wall. Ben sighed and mirrored her pose.

“I know that, but she's got a lot to offer and a damn good voice, so why don't we just check it out, trying to record it and see how it feels?” He offered, glancing at you but your eyes were locked on nat's face, her expression monotone before she finally sighed with a reluctant “fine.” Pushing herself off the wall to go into the booth but before she could, the sound of two pairs of feet coming into the room interrupted everything.

You turned your head at the same time as everyone. A gorgeous girl with long dark brown hair walked in with a case of beer in her hand, behind her was a guy with an unreadable expression, his hair long-ish and his eyes dark brown. “I told mari to not get so much but she didn't listen, so go crazy I guess.” he said walking over to nat and giving her a soft kiss on the lips. Ah, the boyfriend.

“Travis Martinez, Natalie's husband.” Ben whispered close to you. Never mind, the husband.

You just hummed in response, looking at both of them chatting across the room before Jackie walked up to you, nudging you slightly. “You okay? You’re staring like she just kicked your puppy.” She said, making you snap out of it and look at her, god did you have to be that obvious?

You nodded, crossing your arms and sitting down on the small couch she gestured for. “Yeah, I'm good, it's just nerves I think.” She placed a comforting hand on your knee, slightly squeezing before saying hi to the girl with the long dark hair sitting next to you, the girl put out a hand for you to shake with a small smile on her face.

“I’m Mari, nice to meet you," she said, introducing herself. You took her hand and shook it slightly before letting go, but you didn't miss the way her thumb swiped back and forth on your palm before letting go.

“New girl is practically drooling over nat.” Jackie commented with a chuckle, your eyes widened a fraction as you nudged her slightly in the rib.

“Am not, i was just looking at her and her husband” You denied as she kept laughing. “Wow, so you’re going for both then?” she joked, making you roll your eyes with no malintent behind it.

“No, I'm just looking,” she lightly shook her head before a voice behind you spoke up. “Don’t bother, she’s married but she's just trouble either way.” You turned your head to see Shauna, also looking at nat’s direction. You were about to deny it again but Ben spoke up, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Alright, we’re gonna start out with both of you to feel it out, we’re starting from the top” he gestured for you and Natalie to go into the booth. You walked in with her, you stood beside her as Ben indicated for you two to start.

As she sang with her hands shoved in her pockets, you watched in awe, her voice was so smooth, her eyes closed as she got lost in singing, she looked so beautiful like this.

Once you two were harmonizing together, you accidentally said slightly different lines, you both ignored it, it probably was just a little mistake. But then, it happened again, making nat stop everything and ask Ben why he gave you the wrong lyrics, but he didn't, he had told you that they knew you were tweaking certain stuff… right?

“Um, no, these are the right lyrics, didn't he tell you about the rewriting?” You showed Natalie your small notebook that you brought, she skimmed over the lyrics you wrote before looking at Ben through the glass.

“No, he didn't. Ben, can I talk to you, alone?” She said it like it wasn't a question. He sighed before nodding slightly. You followed Natalie out of the booth, watching her leave the room with Ben as you sat back down on the couch.

“Don't mind nat, when she really loves a song she doesn't really like people changing it for her” you heard a voice next to you say, you turned your head to the side to meet Travis' gaze, a soft smile playing on his lips as he put down the pencil he was using to draw something you didn't check to see in his notebook.

You slightly mirrored his soft smile, fidgeting with your fingers in your lap. “Oh… yeah, I probably wouldn't want anyone else tweaking my songs either, I just… thought Ben told her, told everyone, actually” He shrugged and put his focus back on whatever he was drawing. “Don't stress about it, either way Ben will convince her to try your version somehow, he always does.” You looked down at your lap before glancing at his concentrated face again.

“Thanks… I just hope I'm not on her bad side is all." You said softly, it was true, you would rather die than have the person who you're working with hate you or vice versa.

“Everyone's on nats bad side when it comes to disagreement about music” he joked lightly, making you slightly smile. He finally looked at you again, that soft smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth, soft brown eyes staring back at your flickering ones.

You slightly bit the inside of your cheek, for some reason you felt nervous under his gaze, not in an uncomfortable way just like… He was studying you, in a way. “Yeah… I guess I get her… In that way, at least.” You said softly, not wanting to exactly explain why. His gaze roamed over your face, over your flickering eyes, your expression like you were trying to figure out what he was thinking of you. Finally, he just gave that subtle smile again before putting his focus back on the notebook in front of him.

A sudden clear of a throat snapped you out of whatever thought you were in, you looked up to see Natalie, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. You didn’t know if it was because you were sitting next to Travis or because she wanted to rip your head off for changing her song.

“We’re trying your version, only because Ben convinced me.” she said, you slightly nodded, not knowing what to say. Under her gaze, it felt different from just moments ago with Travis, under her gaze, you felt on edge, like if she said something you didn’t want to hear it would make you break.

“Told you.” you heard under Travis’ breath, making you almost miss it. Almost. Natalie heard his mutter and just shot him a look he didn’t see, she looked at you once more before grabbing your hand, making your eyes slightly widen and practically dragging you to the booth.

Everyone spent almost the entire day at the studio, by the time it was almost eleven everyone was scattered around, random fast food containers on the table, empty beer bottles scattered around everywhere, and a finished song.

“We should go out, celebrate, you know?” Van broke the silence that had been going on for a while. Your focus went from the beer bottle you'd been staring at for the past half hour like it was the most interesting thing in the world to her clearly half high expression.

“Yeah, actually, that's not a bad idea,” Jackie said, arms half draped over Shauna's shoulders with a lazy grin on her face. Going out wasn't the most appealing thing right now, to be honest, you were exhausted and you wanted to go home and collapse on your bed.

“You in or what new girl?” Van asked you, walking over and sitting down next to you, nudging you leg with her hand.

You sighed and leaned your head back slightly on the couch. “I don't know, I'm tired and I really have to get home-”

“It's fine if she doesn't want to go, either way it's not like she's part of the band or anything.” Natalie said, focused on fidgeting with the rings on her fingers, well wasn't she just a ray of sunshine.

You glanced at her, biting your cheek as she met your gaze, and that's when you knew, it was a challenge, a test to see if you would fall for the bait. And like the amateur you were, you fell for it.

“You know, maybe I will go, just for a little while at least.” Van slung her arm around your shoulder, slightly squeezing it in approval. Natalie narrowed her eyes at you, holding your gaze for a second before standing up and grabbing her bag, Travis trailing behind her and then everyone else followed, that was probably your cue.

You grabbed Misty's hand and made your way through the door with everybody else, the only one who stayed behind was Ben who was saying something about going home to Misty before you guys left.

You and Misty followed the rest of them in her car as you leaned your head on the headrest and looked out the window lost in thought.

What game is she playing? Is she even playing a fucking game or is it just all in my head?

Misty snapped her fingers in front of you, making you snap out of it. Only then you realized you guys had made it. Parked in front of a car with people running it and some scattered on the front yard. “Hello? Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?” She asked as you met her gaze.

“No, no, sorry I just… zoned out, I guess.” You said while grabbing your bag from the backseat. She just hummed in response before getting out of the car, you followed swiftly, following her to wherever everyone else was awkwardly.

As you all went into the house, music booming through the place so loud you could feel it in your chest, the smell of weed and cheap alcohol filling the air. Van, Jackie, and mari went off to get drinks, shauna and lottie got practically swallowed by the crowd, and everyone else went on their own way, leaving you alone, leaning against a wall sipping a random drink that misty handed to you before disappearing.

“What do you even want?” You heard next to you, Natalie. You sighed and looked at her, her pupils were slightly dilated and her cheeks were flushed in a rosy pink, you knew what that meant.

“The same thing you want, to make music.” You said simply, she narrowed her eyes at you and took a hit of the joint in her hand before replying.

“The only reason you're gonna be on this song is because Ben convinced me, don't start thinking you're part of this band or anything, we don't need another singer.” Internally you were screaming, you didn't know you were gonna be on the song, you originally thought it would just be backing vocals and helping out with lyrics, but apparently, staying half the day at the studio was completely and totally worth it.

You pushed yourself off the wall, stepping closer to her. “Why are you so worried that I'll join the band? It's your band, I'm just… helping.” She scoffed slightly, blowing the smoke in her mouth almost directly at you.

“I've heard that before. I've said it myself, when Shauna asked me to help her with a band she was making, I told her I was just helping. And look at where we are now, in this incredible band, finally making it. So I know you want something out of this.” She crossed her arms, slightly raising a brow.

“Guess we aren't so different.” You muttered, taking a sip of the horrendous drink in your hand before reaching out and stealing the joint she had in between her fingers, taking a drag while not breaking eye contact.

“Are you sure it was a team effort though, that you didn't just see the opportunity to whisk away the lead title for the band and then everything happened?” You asked tauntingly, you didn't know why Natalie put you on edge so much, you barely knew her, but it felt like every word she said to you had a sharp side, waiting to cut deep into you.

Her expression turned from irritated to downright pissed, she got close to the point where your faces were inches apart, to the point where you could see the faint freckles scattering on her nose. “Listen, I don't know what you want from this, but you're not just going to barge in and change everything about this band, stay out of my way.” She said, her breath fanning over your face before she practically ripped the joint from your fingers and stomped off into the crowd. And for some reason, it felt like tonight would be the gateway to simultaneously the worst and best years of your life.

There were only a couple people on the list of people that you wanted to prove wrong in your life: your parents, for not believing in you and kicking you out at the first opportunity they had like they didn't even care, the lead singer who took your virginity, for telling you that you would just be a groupie because you didn't have the courage to be the one on stage, and now, there was one more person added to the list. Natalie fucking Scatorccio for thinking that you would give up so easily.

Omg first chapter of the djats au series let's fucking gooooo

Chapter two will probably be out next week (🤞) and I really hope you guys liked this chapter ♡

(Also idk if there's spelling errors but sorry if there is♡)

taglist !!: @emmynemm @cr3stawrites @daisyjonesgf (thank you guys for helping with some stuff on this, ily)

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