"alright everybody! how are we on time?" willow, the bands assistant, asks their stylist/manager anastasia.

"we've got about fifteen minutes before we have to hit the road." staci informs the brunette. "i've got everyone ready but tommy, because he won't stay. still." she says, sticking tommy with one of her fabric pins, making him yelp.

his pants weren't fitting quite well, so staci had to do a last minute stitch up, but tommy was making it very difficult with his constant movement.

"staci! that hurt." he exclaims, looking down at her crouching figure. "then stay still, thomas, it would help." she snaps, shutting tommy up.

it was officially the first day of their press tour for bands first single, and chaos erupted as soon as anastasia bradshaw walked through the door.

her only mission was to get everyone interview ready, as quickly as she could. being their manager and stylist could be a little stressful at times because of how stubborn the kids were, but over time she learned that the best way to get them under control was for her to establish her authority, so that they could get things done.

she usually wasn't as uptight and authorative unless she was on the job. outside of her work, she was probably one of the shyest people you would ever meet, but the band often tried to help bring her out of her shell.

"do my curls look okay?" cierra asks evangeline, as they walk down the stairs of dylan's house. "perfect." she reassures her.

"what about mine?" cierra quickly inspects the shorter girls hair, giving her a quick thumbs up.

"dylan! move out of the mirror, you've been there for like ten minutes." leilani complains to the brown haired boy.

"looking this handsome takes time, lani. give me a second." he says back to her, turning back to the full body mirror in the living room.

she scoffs, pushing him out of the way. "don't be an ass, cole." karly rolls her eyes as she walks by him.

he raises his hands in surrender, his jaw dropping. "all i needed was a few more minutes!" he exclaims.

"we don't have a few more minutes, get stuff loaded into the van. let's go people, let's go!" willow instructs them.

everyone grabs their belongings, while staci and willow grab extra things like, their schedule, makeup bags, and other back up things in case of any wardrobe malfunctions.

as they headed off to their very first interview, they documented their ride there on their instagrams for their supporters to see.

"alright guys, our first stop is food, then the first interview is iheartradio." willow informs the group.

"wherever we're going, just make sure i get fries." evangeline shrugs, throwing her legs over dylan's lap.

"fat ass." tommy mutters from his seat in front of her. he earns a hit to the back of his head, making him whip his head around.

"i heard that, smart ass." she rolls her eyes at him.

"sorry." he mutters, turning back around as the rest of the band laughs at the altercation.

"oh tommy boy, my sweet, but dumb tommy boy." karly sighs, pulling thomas's head onto her shoulder. 

"someone's hangry." dylan teases eva, squeezing her leg slightly to get her attention. "yeah, i woke up and didn't get my daily dose of lucky charms, that's all." she waves off, leaning her head against the window.

"you sure that's all?" he asks suspiciously. eva hesitates to look dylan in the eyes, knowing he'd be able to read her the second she did. "angel, cmon, you know you can't lie to me." he says, knowing he was right.

"i'm not lying!" she exclaims, shrugging her shoulders. dylan rolls his eyes at his best friends stubbornness. "but you're not telling me the full truth either."

evangeline sighs, finally looking over at the boy. he had his eyebrows slightly raised, waiting for her to open up to him about what was really going on.

"it's just— i'm a little nervous." she states, but when dylan gives her a look, she backtracks. "i'm a lot nervous." she sighs. "i just want everything to go well."

"it will. we've got this. we've been through all the media training in the world, we won't mess up." he reassures her. "i know, i'm not really nervous about that, i'm just nervous for the feedback we get. and i know i shouldn't care what others think, but right now that's all we've got. and if people hate us, or one of us, or me, then i feel like we've got nothing."

overthinking was evangeline's normal behavior, and dylan knew this. it didn't help that she was a perfectionist. if she didn't think something was perfect, she wanted to do it until it was. she had the toxic trait of needing validation a lot, but she couldn't really help that.

the band knew this, so whenever she got overly nit-picky about certain things, they tried their best to bring her back down to earth, because she was always the one making sure everyone else stayed grounded, and she often forgot to do it for herself, so the band was there to do it for her.

although her over analyzing got a little annoying at times, the group appreciated. it showed that she was dedicated, and that she cared deeply about the band and their success, and they loved her for it.

"how could you think that?" dylan questions, furrowing his eyebrows at her. "think what?"

"think that someone could hate you?" he finishes, making evangeline playfully roll her eyes. "i'm being serious. angel, you don't need to worry. if they hate us, so what? we have each other and that's all that matters. plus, nobody could hate you, it's sort of impossible. trust me i've tried." he tells her, laughing at the end, eva joining in.

"angel! do you want a bite of my burger?" leilani asks from the front of the van. "duh, is that even a question?" eva answers, perking up at the mention of food.

"you gotta come and get it, i'm not going all the way back there." leilani responds, holding the burger up to the evangeline. she sighs, giving dylan a look, making him smile softly.

"thanks, d. i really needed the pep talk." evangeline thanks dylan. before moving over to leilani, eva subconsciously leans forward, kissing dylan's cheek, catching him off guard.

she didn't take into account what she had done, but dylan definitely did. he watched her figure move over to leilani, his eyebrows slightly raised.

he didn't expect that from her at all. but maybe he was thinking too much into whatever it was. it was definitely just a thank you for being a good friend. that was all.

<••••>

the interviewer cracked a joke, making the band collectively laugh. "moving on, what was the writing process like when you all wrote fade, or what is the regular every band writing process for you guys as a group." the woman asked.

the interview for iheartradio was going pretty great so far. the band had answered every question the lady asked, carefully and truthfully. they sat on a long white couch, facing their interviewer, who they learned was named diana.

the band was sat (from left to right) with evangeline closest to diana, then tommy, cierra, leilani, dylan, and karly on the opposite end of the couch.

"um, well, when we wrote fade, we were just starting out so we had a lot of help. we were introduced to our amazing producer aspen. he's really amazing in the studio, and we really love it, because he's our age, so he understands our influences and inspirations, and can take it and make it into something we all love." leilani answers.

"exactly, and over the past, almost year maybe, we've gotten to know him and he's gotten to know us all individually and as a band, so our writing is even better now than it was a few months ago." cierra adds.

"that's amazing! now let's talk style. it's very clear that you all have your own unique styles. how do you guys manage to coordinate as a band, but also stay true to yourself?" diana asks, leaning forward.

"i feel like that's just us to be honest. we've learned each other so well, that we're able to take all of our individual styles, and put them together to make something really cool." tommy responds first.

"in all honesty, karly is really the fashion icon out of all of us. i don't know if you've seen her instagram, but her style is amazing, and she helps us out a lot with putting outfits together." evangeline leans over, pointing to karly, who was slightly fidgeting with her hands when her name was mentioned.

karly wasn't the biggest talker. she only really showed her social side with her friends, and obviously the band. she did struggle a lot with anxiety, and the band knew, so they tried their best to help her as much as possible, especially since they all knew most of her signs that showed whenever she was anxious, one of them being fidgeting with her hands, as she was doing this moment.

dylan took notice of this, taking her arm and hooking it through his. without a second thought, she took his hand, holding onto it tight to calm herself. this was a technique that most of the band has used with her when they were trying to help her discreetly, and it usually always worked.

dylan gave her a small smile, getting one back from her. "uh, yeah. i like to think i have a distinct style. it also really fun working with our stylist staci, and making different outfits for everyone, and since i know them so well, it's really easy to know what would look right on them, or what i would want to see on them if i wanted to push them out of their comfort zone." she finally spoke up, her naturally soft voice became more confident the longer she talked.

the band gave her a proud smile, happy that she was able to answer the question as confidently as she could. "i love that. so i think that's all the time we have for today guys, but i hope to see you guys very soon." diana informs them that the interview was ending.

the band was dismissed, and they headed off to their next interview, a busy day ahead of them.

ᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴋ
i love how chaotic they are LMAO they're a bunch of hooligans honestly but we love them for it🤞🏽

but can we talk about how observant dylan is?? like he knows all of them so well. he knew evangeline was lying AND he noticed when karly was having anxiety.

like where can i get a dylan??