Do You Ship Us?

Chapter 1“Hey, Jasper! Come out.” Down the short hallway of the shared apartment the bathroom door opens. Through a haze of steam, out steps the man everyone has been warning Ryan about this morning. His boss warned that he’s rude and immature. His friends described him as “highly opinionated” and “exhaustingly performative.” But Ryan wants to make up his own mind, and give Jasper the opportunity to be in control of his own first impression. Jasper strides down the hall in a bathrobe, showing no interest in why he’s been summoned, too busy combing his still damp, blond hair to even notice Ryan standing in the living room. When he stops before his bandmates, he pauses, tilting his head with a curious frown. Ryan’s breath hitches, and he’s flooded with nerves the moment Jasper’s dark blue eyes set on him. “Oh, you guys.” Jasper’s instant flirty tone and playful smirk is a surprise, though a very welcome one, compared to what Ryan had been told to expect. “My birthday isn’t until the end of the month. You shouldn’t have.” He combs his fringe then uses a finger to sweep it into place above his eyes. Ryan looks away, unable to hold the confident eye contact Jasper has fixed on him. His mind is racing to put a response together, but he’s so taken aback that words are failing him. “What, not my birthday present?” Jasper directs his question to Blake, the tan and bulky built bandmate beside him with jet black hair, dressed only in ripped black jeans. Blake mouths, “No.” “This is Ryan. As of this morning, he’s part of the band.” Simon, the man beside Ryan, narrows his thick eyebrows and gives a stern warning glare, as if ordering Jasper to behave. Jasper’s smile widens, a glint of cheekiness in his eyes. “Yeah, okay, Simon, who is he really?” “No, really.” Simon places a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Christopher dropped by to introduce him while you were in the shower.” Everyone is silent for a few moments while Jasper’s attention lingers on Ryan again, like he’s trying to decide whether to believe this. Ryan gives him a kind smile and shifts on the spot, still mentally stumbling over what he should say. He’d planned his introductions in the shower, practiced in front of the mirror, rehearsed in his head during the car trip here and all the way up the steps to the door of the apartment. None of it prepared him for being met with a suggestive remark and a flirty smile on a face so gorgeous Photoshop would be jealous. But here he is, and he’s speechless. Jasper turns again to Blake, asking, “Is he serious?” with a tone somewhere between surprise and annoyance. Blake gives an amused laugh. “Why are you asking me? If anyone’s gonna lie to you, it’s gonna be me.” “Oh, s**t. Okay.” Jasper covers his mouth to suppress a laugh, though the way his cheeks lift gives him away. When Jasper’s gaze meets Ryan’s again, he tries his best to fake confidence in return, though his throat goes dry as he says a simple, “Hi.” “Hello. I’m so sorry about my comment. Welcome to the band,” Jasper says, then gives a dramatic exhale. “Okay, I’m going to go drown myself. But, luckily, we have a member to step up and take my place. At least the new guy can learn my parts straight away.” He turns, hand covering his mouth again as he disappears back up the hallway. Ryan fiddles with the cuff buttons on his suit, and glances at Simon. Simon rubs his forehead before running his hand through his short wavy black hair. “Blake, go get a shirt on and make sure Jasper doesn’t drown himself, please.” Blake doesn’t go to check; instead, he shouts, “Hey fuckhead! You alive?” down the hallway. “Unfortunately!” comes Jasper’s reply. Luke, who’d been staying out of this, walks over to Ryan and pats his shoulder. “Told you. He’s like that, pretty much all the time. If you’re not comfortable, just say so and he’ll respect that,” he says in his fading Irish accent. “Yeah. He spends a little too much time reading fanfiction about himself and it shows.” Blake winks at Ryan, who can’t help but smile at the comment. Simon sighs like he’s already exhausted by the day. “Can you please go get dressed? I’m sure Ryan wants to see the musical side of this disaster we call a band.” With that, the members scatter to get ready, leaving Ryan to take in his surroundings. He’d been told the group live together in a company owned apartment in East Los Angeles. At no point had he pictured they would all be in a place so small and crowded that it doesn’t even have a full kitchen. He’s not sure where exactly they will squeeze him in, as he’s supposedly moving in, too. According to their manager, Christopher, there’s a spare bedroom. Judging by the clutter of the lounge area, Ryan figures they probably need that spare room themselves, though. This place looks more like a dormitory than what Ryan expected of a band being professionally managed. Much less of one that had released an album and have a huge following of loyal fans building up. Blake strolls back down the hall, pulling on a My Chemical Romance shirt. “You seem nervous. Make yourself at home,” he says as he gets comfortable lying across and taking up most of the couch. Jasper walks into the room after Blake, wearing black skinny jeans and a white T-shirt with The Obsolete written across it in cursive gold font, the silhouettes of four members stand beneath the words. Ryan tries not to overthink how much that feels like a more than subtle hint that he doesn’t belong here. As the members congregate again in the lounge room, Ryan can’t help regretting how overdressed he is compared to the rest of the group. This morning, wearing a professional business suit and tie had seemed like a good choice. He’d wanted to make the best impression possible. But jeans and T-shirts appear to be the dress code here. Jasper glances up at Ryan with a curious smile on his face. Again, their eyes meet, but this time it’s Jasper that diverts his attention, scrolling through his phone. An insecure thought invades Ryan’s mind, wondering if Jasper is looking him up online the way Ryan had been looking them all up on the drive over here. Simon swings a set of car keys around on his finger, heading over to the front door. “Are we ready to go?” he asks, holding the door open. After the blunder of his and Jasper’s introduction, Ryan’s pretty sure he won’t be able to talk to him and Blake, so he follows Luke out and downstairs to the carport while Jasper and Blake hang back talking and laughing between themselves. Simon gets in the driver’s seat with Luke riding shotgun in the old, grey sedan. Again, not at all what Ryan expected a band, with the worldwide recognition their first album received, to be driving. He reminds himself to be grateful for the opportunity and not question why they seem to have very little to show from their debut’s success. “You’re in the middle, scrawny.” Blake holds the back passenger door open for Jasper, who slides in without a word. Blake gets in behind him and closes the door, leaving Ryan to walk around the car and reluctantly sit next to the one person he feels the most nervous with. “Hi.” Jasper fakes a smile as he fumbles with the seat belt buckle right against Ryan’s hip. “Sorry.” Ryan moves over as much as he can, so Jasper can do up his seatbelt without having to touch him. The silence becomes even more excruciating once Simon starts the car. The radio is on playing the hits for the day but despite being musically inclined, none of them comment on or sing along to any of the songs. Other than the occasional whispering and laughing that continues between Jasper and Blake, it’s an agonizingly quiet drive. Ryan stares out the window most of the trip, painfully aware of how loud he is breathing and over-conscious of the secretive muttering happening right beside him. He’s fairly sure he’s imagined his name being said a dozen times, but he doesn’t dare respond. It’s only a fifteen minute drive from their apartment to their work building, though it seems like this car trip will never end. When they finally arrive in the parking lot, Jasper and Ryan’s hands touch as they reach to unbuckle their seat belts at the same time. Jasper recoils back and cringes, turning to Blake and laughing while Ryan gets out, wondering how much it’ll take to disintegrate from discomfort. “So, this is where we work.” Luke gestures to the underwhelming building before them. They are the only ones in the parking lot of this oddly middle of nowhere studio, which resembles a small shopping mall. It’s a single floor with a plain cement exterior. Nothing to be amazed by and, again, not indicative of their take off success. Ryan nods. “I came here this morning to sign the contract.” Just like that, Jasper’s attitude is back. “Seriously? Not sure what would’ve been worse. Chris driving you all the way to our place, only to drop you off knowing we’d be back here in less than an hour, or us coming here and finding out.” Simon gives him the look again before he leads the way towards the double glass front doors with nothing but a sticker to identify this as a music studio. The group meanders down to the back of the building, passing a lot of vacant indoor space. The office part way down where Ryan had been this morning has a wooden interior, one of those fancy curved screen computers, and an ergonomic office chair behind the mahogany desk. From that, he had high hopes for the room he’d be working in to be well set up. Past the office is a door marked Recording, and opposite that are two doors. Simon takes the lead on showing Ryan around, since once again Jasper and Blake are chatting among themselves. “This is our practice area. Get used to it. You’ll practically spend your life here now.” Simon opens the door opposite the office that has a plaque on it that reads The Obsolete. It’s a medium-sized room where floor to ceiling mirrors cover one wall, the other three completely bare and colorless. There are no windows to the outside world, either. On a table just inside the door sits dozens of water bottles and a stereo, but otherwise the room is empty, no musical equipment at all, failing once more to meet the expectations Ryan had about what life as a member of a boy band will be like. On the drive over to their apartment, Ryan had stalked through the member’s i********: accounts. Most of the posts on Blake’s account were of him performing guitar solos, messing about and coming up with riffs or playing their songs acoustically. Ryan also read somewhere that Jasper plays piano, though he’d not been able to find any videos of him playing. For a band with members that can play instruments, it’s interesting to him that they don’t have any in their practice room. “We’ll probably spend today going through our songs to work out some parts for you to have,” Luke says with a comforting smile. “That’s the manager’s problem for adding you at the end of our first album.” Jasper grabs a water bottle, frowning at Ryan as he undoes the lid. “So, what exactly is it you’re good at?” Ryan looks at him and licks his lips, opening his mouth to talk, but he doesn’t know what to say. He’d assumed the band was told about him, or at least aware that their manager was looking for someone with his skillset. Jasper smiles. “Not singing, right?” Simon’s dark eyebrows set on him once again in a firm glare. “Jasper, don’t be rude.” “Oh, take a joke, Simon. I mean because we haven’t heard him say much.” Jasper’s attention falls on Ryan again, looking him up and down. “Looks can’t be the only reason Chris picked him, so what is it he’s so good at that we need him in the band? We didn’t choose him. We didn’t think we were missing something we needed a whole other member for. So, what is so special about you?” Jasper shrugs and takes a swig of the water, not waiting for Ryan’s answer before walking over to photo bomb Blake, who is standing in front of the mirror, taking selfies. “Great, you boys are here on time today.” A tall man whose hair is turning grey and face is covered in frown wrinkles though he only looks to be mid-thirties, walks in the practice room door. His plain black polo shirt has Christopher Michaels Records printed in gold below the collar. “Nice of you to join us,” Jasper says under his breath at the sight of him. Jasper’s passive-aggressive comment comes out in an unapologetically bitter tone that makes Ryan cringe as the tension in the room skyrockets. Chris gives Jasper the same warning expression Simon did when introducing Ryan. “Careful with your attitude. As you can see, there are other guys out there with talent.” Jasper crosses his arms. “Yeah, okay. Why didn’t you discuss it with us, though? I mean, it’s our band.” Although their manager has the authority, and from what Ryan had been told, Simon would be the next person in line to speak for the group, Jasper is already proving to be the person with the most to say. Chris steps forward into Jasper’s personal space, as though trying to intimidate him, but Jasper doesn’t budge. “If you’d like to return to singing cover songs for i********:, then I can leave you to make your own decisions. Frankly, I don’t think you’ll get the same coverage and career out of that. You put your trust in me when you signed your contracts. I decided you needed something else, and I found it. I don’t have to run changes by you.” “We’re all eager to learn more about him.” Simon seems to want to bring some positivity to the group. With Jasper and Chris appearing to have a power struggle through a staring contest at each other, it’s no surprise that Simon’s comment makes no impact. Chris is the first to take a step back, giving a bitter scoff as he says, “I hope you treat this new member with more respect than you treat me. I won’t have you causing problems around here. Learn your place, or you will lose it.” Ryan glances at Jasper, only to find he seems very pleased with himself for winning the power struggle, straight away mocking his boss to Blake under his breath. Blake is smiling but has his finger to his lips to shush his friend before he can get into even more trouble. Chris ignores them, turning to Ryan. “What have you told them?” he asks. All eyes fall on Ryan. “Uh, he’s barely said anything,” Jasper calls out, earning another glare from Simon that Jasper shrugs off. He may come across as cocky, but he’s right. So far, Ryan has given the band absolutely nothing to go on. “Sorry. I’m quiet around new people,” Ryan says, his tone warm and kind. He can almost see on their faces that they’re all trying to place his vocal range from that sentence alone. Jasper’s voice is melodic and alluring, his playful attitude carries through when he sings. Ryan had been able to identify his voice easily as he often sung the bulk of the lyrics in their pop songs. Luke is the power vocalist. His softly spoken and deeper tone gives him a heartfelt strength when belting out loving or heartbroken lyrics. Simon’s voice is the deepest, which seems like the only reason he’s deemed “in charge” when he has barely any control of the group. His role is reduced to being a backing vocalist behind Jasper, which appears to stem beyond the music. Blake’s part in this group cannot make less sense. The roughness in his voice doesn’t suit the style of music Ryan had listened to so far, his potential completely stunted by being in a pop band when he’d be much more suited to rock or punk. Ryan knows his own voice is far from suitable too, though that’s another problem altogether. “Well, as I’m sure you’re aware, boy bands are forever reinventing themselves,” Chris says, crossing his arms. “If I want to have you selling out shows, you’ll need to do the same. There’s no denying that your fan base is about eighty percent teenage girls, so including a man with some s*x appeal will gain the entire group more attention.” “Ah, so looks are the only reason,” Jasper says, with an offended scoff. “Ryan’s background is in dance. He’ll be helping bring some dance moves into what you do.” Jasper raises an eyebrow and eyes Ryan once again, obviously considering the new context of who’s lumped with them. Ryan, tired of being looked at, fakes a nervous smile. “So, he’s not a singer?” Blake turns to Jasper, and from the corner of his eye Ryan sees him mouthing, “What the f**k?” “Not yet,” Chris answers. “His voice has potential, as you all have potential to do some simple dance moves. It’s about variety and covering more bases. The more we can showcase, the bigger an audience we will get. I’ve got to take this. I’ll be back soon. Be nice.” Chris directs his last command to Jasper, who exaggerates an overly sweet smile back as their manager excuses himself and leaves to answer his phone. Blake again turns to Jasper. “Did he just low-key say we have no s*x appeal? Has he read the thirsty posts our fans are always making about us?” Jasper throws his hands up in the air in a dramatic, confused shrug. “As if he even knows what s*x appeal is; he walked in here dressed like his toddler picked his clothes for him. I’ll let that comment slide and file it under Chris saying things for the sake of undermining our confidence. But this is seriously ridiculous. We’re a band. Showcasing music is the whole point. Our first album went to number one. We have plenty of fans and I can already dance. Beth teaches me all kinds of moves.” Jasper places his water bottle on the table and strides into the middle of the room, as though he’s about to show off his skills. Ryan watches, intrigued to see if Jasper really can dance. “We don’t wanna hear about your imaginary s*x life.” Blake pokes his tongue at Jasper, who sticks out his too and gives him the finger. “I think this is a good thing. We can increase our skill set and our audience, as Christopher said. Just be open-minded, Jasper.” Simon turns on the stereo. “I am very open-minded! But this is our band. It would have been nice if we had a say in deciding what happened with it. I’m annoyed that we had a new member dumped on our doorstep, and Chris’s reason sounds like bullshit.” Blake nods. “I’m with Jasper on that. We should have a say in our own band.” “Ryan isn’t here to replace anyone, so don’t get defensive. This is about extending our potential.” Jasper and Blake look at each other and roll their eyes as Simon speaks. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it’s about,” Jasper says sarcastically. “At least I won’t lose any parts, since he’s not a singer. Better be a damn talented dancer though, or else having him in the band will just ruin it, no offense.” Jasper shrugs at Ryan, almost triggering and interrupting his building panic attack all at once with yet another flirty smile. “So, dance boy, are you going to show us your moves or what?” Jasper gestures for Ryan to have the floor.