That's All She Wrote || James Diamond

If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy) (1.4)

Music flooded through Roxanne's headphones as her band performed their second single "City is Ours" in Studio A, newly written by their producer. Sitting in between Kelly and Gustavo in the room with the soundboard, she felt very different vibes radiating off the pair as they watched the performance.

Earlier in the day, they had come into Rocque Records and were immediately put to work. The band was dragged off into the practice room by Mr. X to teach them new choreography for the song's dance routine, and their assistant had been dragged off and placed in the recording booth in order to track the guitar parts that would be layered into the song after the boys recorded vocals.

Though it had taken her a couple of takes to get the music exactly the way Gustavo had envisioned it, she was happy that she had a chance to use her new electric guitar. The music sounded great and Roxy couldn't wait for every part to come together; she was most looking forward to the prospect of helping mix the new song. No matter how they felt during the writing process, the end result was always rewarding.

Kelly was bobbing her head along to the beat as she watched the boys dance through the glass. Each one of the band members had a bright smile on their face as they performed the dance routine, only stumbling at a few steps in the beginning while they found the tempo. Down the aisle from her, Gustavo had a stern look on his face as he watched, arms crossed. The dark sunglasses on his face were hindering her ability to decipher his feelings towards the performance.

Roxy hadn't made up her mind on whether or not she liked the song. The music was enjoyable to play and she loved the harder rock sound instead of straight pop, yet the lyrics felt slightly cheesy - but every boy band needs party songs. Her favorite part was the pre-chorus; it gave her the pre-concert jitters and she loved the reference to the band name. In a perfect world, she wished Gustavo had consulted her during the songwriting process, but was understanding that this was a new experience for him, too. They would be on that level someday, just not today.

Someday, we will work it out, she thought, absentmindedly writing that down in her notebook as the performance continued.

When the boys finished, they stood in front of their microphones, chests heaving as they attempted to catch their breath while their boss silently stared on. Despite the end of the performance, he still sat deep in thought, arms crossed, as if he were trying to figure something out.

"Woo!" Logan cheered, throwing his hands up in the air - proceeding to smack Carlos right in the face, sending the shorter boy tumbling to the floor.

Rushing into the studio with water and towels, the assistant gave the boys quiet praise for their work while Gustavo entered the studio with them a few seconds later.

Kendall was the first to speak. "Gustavo, this song is great."

His boss looked unamused, "Of course it's great, I wrote it."

At the sheer confidence behind the man's words, Roxy and Kelly rolled their eyes, causing each other to giggle at their similar reactions.

"But the band isn't great. What's missing is the secret rock and roll ingredient," Gustavo continued, walking down the line of boys to look them each in the eye as he spoke.

"Hair mousse!" James replied, very confident.

"Chocolate mousse!" Came from Carlos, even more confident.

Interestingly, Logan had a worried look on his face. "Spandex? Please don't say spandex."

"A bad boy, like Billie Joe Armstrong?" Roxy asked, half joking, half day-dreaming about one of her friends dressed like the famous singer. Very rock and roll.