R.E.M

twenty one

GREYSON'S POV

"Someone's up," I heard, my head turning at Izaak's voice, who came in with two glasses of orange juice and a granola bar since he knew I preferred to eat light when I was stressed. The man had a smile resting on his face, seemingly in a good mood, per usual. We had been attached to the hip for the past few days since he was the only one I could confide in. "Are you sure you don't want me to ask everyone to come down and help?" I was busy organizing some awards that just came in.

I shrugged, going over to him to grab a glass from his hands and taking a sip, before leaving the juice on my desk and going over to more boxes "What are they saying now?" I asked, choosing to ignore his question, instead of admitting that I did in fact need help.

Izaak a seat on one of the chairs, putting one of his legs over the other as he sat comfortably. "The internet's a mess, Everett made a pretty shady statement about you last night." He sighed, just as stressed. "He's such a bitch, I wish you'd let me kill him."

I laughed, rolling my eyes, although I knew that Izaak was serious about being pissed at him. "Of course, he would, he'll do anything for publicity."

Izaak chuckled, knowing I was right. Everett had to be one of the most dramatic people we knew, he was gonna drag this story out for as long as he could.

"Things aren't all bad though, a lot of people are coming to your defense, way more than Everett I would say. Obviously your sisters, Bella, Gigi, Liam, Jonas, that radio host Caleb, and a ton of others, they even got Madelaine to comment." He explained, leaning further back in the chair as he spoke. "I saw like a clip of what she said, it was something like how she's known you for years and she's disappointed in the lack of professionalism Everett has."

"He should've thought this one out," I smirked, knowing he was in fact getting what he deserved.

"True, because your fans are on his ass right now. Even got his IG temporarily disabled." Izaak laughed, shaking his head, before grabbing a box himself and starting to unpack it. "So what are you gonna do about this manager situation? I'm sure you're not planning on becoming your own."

"Fuck no, I'd be pulling my hair out by the end of the day," I said, to which he laughed. "As of right now, I'm not sure. Obviously, he was my sisters' manager too, so we're all trying to navigate this as best as we can. Everyone's on the lookout for someone better though."

"You know, your boy's always down for a promotion," Izaak smirked, shrugging as I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Being a manager is hard and I'm sure you want to keep your hair,"

"Eh, buzz cuts are in right now,"

I smiled, letting out a small laugh as he only laughed loudly, the room being full of joy once again since he had been doing well at keeping me occupied.

"So G, about Saf," He began, both of us stopping our current tasks as my smile dropped, "She told me this morning that she's sorry, that it was a misunderstanding."

"Sorry for what?" I asked, even though I knew what this was about.

"I don't know. She didn't tell me much, just something about you two and Ariana,"

"I'm not mad at her, I mean, Saf's personal life has nothing to do with me."

"Are you sure because it kinda feels like it," He replied. "Ever since Aspen, you've been closed off and distant. Once you fired Everett, I knew something was up, but now you're not even talking to Ariana and avoiding her and Safiya. I know you're my boss and all, but we're all more than that, we've been here for years, G, like you said, we're like family. So you're wrong when you said that her personal life has nothing to do with you when you're a part of it. And she cares about you too, so imagine how she feels now that you're not speaking to her and she has no idea how to fix it."