Big Time Assistant | James Diamond

4.01; invasion

***

Despite her clearly stated rules for the week, Gustavo decided to use his one emergency call forcing her to come into the office for the day. 

"I hope you used this wisely," she hummed, strolling into his office, seeing the entire band already gathered. The boys turned, surprised to see their friend break out of her home. 

"Why are you here?" Logan wondered. 

"We used our "One Time Emergency No Questions Asked Card,'" Kelly told them, punching a hole into the homemade coupon Emily had given them when she told Gustavo she needed a break for herself. 

"Why didn't we get one of those?" Kendall whined, offended. 

"Because you would waste my time," Emily shortly told him. "Now what's happening?" She asked, pushing through to see what they had been staring at on the desk. 

There was a large map of the country with little blocks of each boy band off to the side, some with arrows trailing behind them. 

"Oh no," she mumbled, disappointedly staring at elaborate display to exaggerate the boy band rivalry. 

"As One D and The Wanted launch their summer tours in Boston and Atlanta," Gustavo announced, playing the respected blocks on the map, "We launch ours in DC, thus protecting the capital!" 

Kelly placed BTR's block on the capital. Emily grimaced, her face hiding in her hands, wondering if taking a week off was the best idea considering she was the only sane one in the group. 

"But the next night they advance to Richmond and Baltimore," Kelly said, her and Gustavo sliding the blocks. 

"So we fall back to Kansas City."

"You just jumped over like five states," Emily pointed out, noticing a bunch of cities they missed on tour. 

"But that's when Hair 3, Colorful Pants, and-" James said.

"SCNBB start their tours," Logan finished. 

 Kendall frowned, "then all the bands move into the interior cities, which means..." 

As the people around Emily slid the other blocks around the map, she shook her head, slowly blinking her eyes. "Just head for the west coast."

"You're surrounded!" 

The group jumped, turning to see Griffin entering the office with Abdul. 

"Are you here to help us or making us feel bad?" Gustavo retorted. 

"Yes," He replied, not answering the question directly. "And the American-British music rivalry is nothing new." 

Emily nodded, "Exactly," she agreed, giving Kendall a pointed 'told ya so' glance beside her. 

"When the Beatles invaded in the 60's, they wiped out Elvis and the American rock scene. So we retaliated with the dance songs of disco. Then they launched a new wave of offensive that washed away our dance rebellion and rendered all my white suits useless. But grunge brought America back and although their angst filled lyrics made me sad, it made me money."

"Thanks for that history lesson," Emily groaned. 

"Emily. Welcome back," Griffin chirped. 

"I'm not really back."

Kelly grinned, "So you want us to fight off the invasion with everything we've got?" She beamed. 

"Close." Griffin responded. "I want you to surrender. It's time to ditch boy bands and find music's next big thing."