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tempesrature · 4 years

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IDOL | Chapter 2

Platinum x Ride or Die (AU) Crossover

Pairings: (Major) Ride or Die | Logan x Ellie (Minor) Platinum | M!Raleigh x Cadence Warnings: PG13+ A/N: To people who actually know something about music and the discipline...please forgive me if I got anything wrong lol.

@troublemakerinspace @raleiighcarrera @harrys-wheezys @choicesarehard

Ellie nervously taps her feet on the car, earphones plugged into her ear as she hums out a melody she’s trying to work out into a song. She glances at Mona driving the car before she looks back at the time on her phone.

Ten more minutes and they’ll arrive at the recording studio to record the new single with Logan. Ten more minutes until she meets the man she—according to Raleigh—hit it and quitted it.

Is she nervous? Definitely. But she tries to withdraw to herself and focus on what she’s supposed to be doing—her job as a singer and being professional. Plus, she made ground rules for herself. Don’t talk about that night and focus on recording the song. Depending on the song waiting for her to sing, they should be done in two to three hours. Short enough for her to avoid any real conversation about anything that went on between them. So in theory, nothing wrong should happen.

“Ellie.”

Ellie looks to Mona and pulls out one earbud from her ear. “What’s up?”

“You need to pose for pictures after recording,” Mona turns the wheel and turns a corner. “We need to post it on Pictagram as a teaser.”

Ellie blinks, her heart rate shooting up.

So…maybe something wrong might just be happening.

“And…that’s a good idea?” Ellie starts hesitatingly. “I mean with what happened after the party you’d think that would be a bad idea right?”

“This is a good way for people to start talking about the song,” Mona says as she pulls into the studio’s parking lot. “Good press, hashtags trending, stans speculating, etc.”

“Yeah for him,” Ellie huffs as she pulls open the car door open and puts on her sunglasses. “I’ll be crucified by the stake!”

Mona pauses mid-open of the front door and looks at Ellie amusingly. “You realize that’s not how it goes, right?”

“Whatever Mona!” Ellie complains as they make their way down the purple neon-lit hallways towards the recording booth. “You know what I meant. This won’t end well for me. Why am I being put on—Micah hey!”

“El!” Micah shoots out of his chair and excitedly pulls Ellie into a tight hug. “Ready to record this song with Mr. Flavor of the Month?”

Ellie groans as she flops to the couch. “Not you too Micah. I thought you’d be on my side on this.”

“Hey, I am El!” Micah cackles as he slides back into his seat and swivels it to face her. “But you gotta admit, the pictures weren’t great. I like the Colt pics more, better lighting.”

“Micah. I’m leaving her with you,” Mona says and Micah replies with a mock salute just as she presses the phone to her ear and walks out of recording booth.

Ellie sighs as she takes off her sunglasses and throws it on the table in front of her, her demeanor changing and her mind fully focusing on her task. She already told herself that she wouldn’t let what happened between her and Logan affect her work. Although she isn't really a fan of his work, she doesn’t want to be accused of purposely bombing the song or act aloof and unprofessional when he arrives. That’s how ‘diva’ rumors start.

“Do you have the instrumental and parts for me?”

Ellie reaches over to Micah who hands her the lyric sheet for the song. Her eyes flick to the title of the song ‘Candy’ before she scans the lyrics of the song. The storyline is simple enough. It’s a guy who’s crushing on a girl that’s picky with the guys she dates. The guy compares himself to candy and how the different flavors compliments her perfectly. There’s a push and pull to the lyrics, as if the girl already knows that she likes the guy but she’s hesitant to fall for his charms. Ellie’s lips quirk in a small smile at how…playful the lyrics seem to be. Completely different from Logan’s discography of heartbreak pining that makes her cringe sometimes (although she’d never admit it to him personally).

The soft start of the synth fills the room and Ellie’s ears immediately pick up the sound and her eyes light up.

“Woah, wait. Is that the song?” Ellis listens carefully as she rhythmically taps her feet on the on the carpeted floor. “No way. The song’s an R&B pop?”

Micah grins as he adjusts the volume of the song. “Yeah, surprised me too. I thought I’d have to mix another whiny pop song.”

Ellie grins as she continues to sway to the music and silently hum the lyrics she’s partially memorized now. She likes the song more than she thought she would. When Mona first brought up the collab idea, she was really hesitant. Ellie didn’t really know if their musical tastes and genres could fit each other well enough to work together. But just as Cadence and Raleigh had been mentors to her, she vowed to help the newer artists make their way into the entertainment industry as best as she could. Now, she’s actually glad that she took up the project. She can already tell that the song will be a total hit.

“Let me hear the guide, do you have it?” Ellie stands from the couch to stand next to Micah. He pushes some buttons and the Ellie has to bite back the utter awe when she hears Logan’s voice and she’s once again reminded of why Logan shot to fame so quickly. He has a raspy and light lyric tenor voice with a bright and resonant mixed voice that can reach up to a F5 falsetto, the kind of voice that would suite a powerful and pining love song but agile enough that it can transition to more pop and R&B songs.

“Damn. He really does have a great voice.”

“Wow thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

Ellie’s eyes widen as she turns around and faces Logan. He comes in with a big grin, his long brown locks swept back a little, and she can’t help but be reminded of the night and the pictures. It’s difficult not to ogle, to stare at how truly handsome he really is in the dim light, and she kind of understands her drunk self now. Drunk-Ellie might make dumb decisions but she sure does know how to pick out the handsome ones.

“Logan! About time man,” Micah greets as stands from his chair and gives Logan a hug and a fist bump.

Micah’s voice brings her out of her thoughts and she quickly reminds herself that she needs to be professional. Which means no staring, no thinking of that night and definitely no ogling so she plasters on a pleasant smile as she walks towards him and offers her hand.

“Logan, nice to meet you. I’m Ellie,” She internally cringes at herself. Of course he knows who she is. He’s here for a collab after all and they were already well acquainted a week before. She didn’t need to introduce herself and she didn’t need to make it so obvious that she was intentionally setting up a clean slate for them to work on.

But Logan doesn’t take notice of it and takes her hand with smile. “Thanks for taking on this project Ellie. I really appreciate it.”

Micah's eyes bounce between them and he lets out a small snicker before he makes his way back to the mixing console. Ellie internally sends Micah a threat of bodily harm for purposely leaving her with Logan knowing full well that it’s going to be awkward. But the slight flutter of the paper in her hand reminds her that she has a song to record and she can use that as a way to worm herself out of this awkwardness.

“Uh should we practice with our parts?”

Logan blinks, his long lashes almost touching his cheeks, before he breaks out in a wide grin. “Yeah let’s do that. Want to do it in the booth?”

No. Absolutely not. Ellie does not want to do it in the vocal booth. An enclosed space where sound gets muffled and Micah can see everything happening from the other side? A terrible idea for her and her beating heart and crumbling resolve to not ogle at the guy in front of her.

But how else is she going to turn down his offer?

“Sure,” Ellie shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant but her voice comes out a little too squeaky for her own liking.

Logan grins as he moves to the door and pushes it open. “After you then.”

Ellie glares at the double thumbs up Micah sends her in her peripheral view and she quickly replies with an annoyed thumbs down before she enters the solitary and quiet space of the vocal booth. She takes the seat on one of the chairs and Logan drags one to place in front of her. He swings his legs over it and folds his arms on the back of the chair as he perches his chin on top of his arm to look at her.

Ellie immediately curses the musical gods at how they could create a guy so dastardly handsome with a golden voice and drop him in front of her.

“So,” Logan starts with a grin. “Did you get home okay?”

Ellie can’t help the blush that spreads on her cheeks as her lips pull into a frown. “You couldn’t just leave it alone?”

Logan shrugs with an honest smile. “I’m not really a subtle guy and I want to make sure you were okay. I didn’t get your number either so I couldn’t text you,” He lifts his chin off of his arm and he observes her quietly. “We didn’t have sex by the way.”

“We didn’t?!” Ellie practically shouts before she clamps her mouth shut.

Logan raises an amused eyebrow. “Of course. You think I’m the type of guy who’d take advantage of a drunk girl? I said I’d sleep on the couch but you insisted that it was my bed so I should sleep there. Then you started to strip,” He grins. “Luckily, we were able to reach a compromise on the underwear staying on.”

Ellie can’t keep the grimace away from her face as the mental image comes to her. It pains her to admit that Drunk-Ellie would definitely do those things in those exact same sequence of events.

She drops her head in her hands and groans. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m not usually like that, I swear.”

Logan chuckles, his voice light and teasing. “So you’ve said last night. You’re a really nice drunk though. Kept on insisting that you would make this song a guaranteed hit. That’s why you wanted to come home with me actually, “so we can practice” you said.”

Ellie chuckles ruefully before she lifts her head to look at him apologetically. Then, the image of him shirtless on the bed suddenly comes to her and she narrows her eyes suspiciously at him.

“If we didn’t…why were you shirtless?”

“Oh that?” Logan laughs a little as he rubs the back of his neck and looks away from her. “Uh, the lipstick was gonna leave a bad stain. Thought I’d put it in the wash first so my stylist wouldn’t kill me.”

“Oh my god,” Ellie covers her mouth with the lyric sheet in her hand in shocked guilt. “I’m so sorry. I’ll pay for it, send me the invoice. Along with the glass that I broke and the carpet I probably ruined.”

“Nah, it’s already taken care for,” Logan grins as he looks back at her. “And you didn’t leave that much of a damage. You’re fine, Ellie.”

She stares at him and a grateful smile tugs at her lips. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she’s already heard a lot about Logan from the staff and from what she picks up from time to time on the internet. Not that she heard anything bad about him other than his secret of hobby of racing cars but she’s still pretty apprehensive with the bad boy image that the company seems to be pushing on him.

She knows that an image of an artist can be fabricated to cater to the fans (and sometimes the general public) but a little of that image usually stems from the artists’ real personality. After all, it’s difficult to always keep up an image and the real person behind the music is bound to slip out. And she’s had enough of her fill of “bad boys”.

“Okay but let me pay for the shirt. I insist.”

Logan grins brilliantly and she has to internally scold her heart for reacting.

“Sure. Can your card handle it though? It was a Valentino.”

She smiles playfully as she leans forward and whispers, “I’ll put it down as a company expense, don’t worry.”

Logan lets out an amused laugh. “You can do that?”

“Oh yeah, Raleigh taught me that little trick,” She says just as she suddenly feels a little shy under his soft and warm gaze. “In fact, I can uhm…teach you a lot of stuff about the industry. Just to help you get by, you know? Have a friend and all that. I mean that’s what Cadence did for me. Raleigh too but he’s an awful teacher.”

She’s fairly aware that she’s rambling but she can’t seem to stop herself around him. Perhaps that’s why Drunk-Ellie was so adamant on kissing him. Even Sober-Ellie wants to do it and there has never been a time in Ellie Wheeler’s life where Drunk-Ellie and Sober-Ellie has made a unanimous decision on anything other than wanting to kiss Logan.

Logan smiles teasingly as bumps his knee against hers. “You’re a troublemaker aren’t you?”

Ellie blinks a little and a smile tugs on her lips. “Only if I have to be.”

They exchange a small laugh as the atmosphere around them starts to mellow out. The awkwardness and apprehension Ellie felt immediately disappears in an instant and she’s surprised at how easy and comfortable it is to be around him.

“Uh anyway,” She says as she raises the lyric sheet in her hand. “Let’s practice?”

“Sure. Think we can share though? I left my sheet with Micah.”

Oh fuck. The close proximity of him to her is not going to do her heart any favors. But it’s not like she can say no to him. What would she even say? ‘Sorry but you’re too hot and any closer I’ll catch fire?’, like hell she’ll say that to him.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” She says as she moves her chair next to him and she can already catch the smell of something floral and woodsy. She tries her best not to comment on how much she loves it.

“Thanks Ellie,” He looks at her with an encouraging smile as he pulls out his phone and waits for her cue so he can start the instrumentals. “Let’s start.”

Ellie nods and she warms up her voice by briefly running through some vocal warmups before she gives him a nod. She keeps in time with the intro of the arpeggio chords before she starts the beginning of the song.

Candy, candy, candy Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah Candy, candy

Honey are you still wondering? Right, you are careful picking out sugar, spice I respect that appetite, yeah

“Shit,” Logan says in awe as he pauses the music. “I knew your voice would be perfect when I wrote this but I didn’t expect it to sound this good.”

Ellie pauses and looks at him in shock. “You wrote this?”

“Yeah, you think I don’t write my own songs?” He tries to laugh it off but Ellie could hear the slight hurt in his voice.

“No I didn’t mean it that way. I just thought…I mean the genre is so different from what you usually release. I thought Ellis might be pushing this on to you or something, sorry.”

Logan chuckles as he places his hand on his heart in mock hurt. “I take it that you aren’t a fan of the heartbroken bad boy pining songs I’m known for?”

Ellie wants to lie but the honest response of his question is probably written on her face.

“Sorry. They’re very sad though, I’ll give you that.”

Logan laughs. “They better be! The producers of those songs practically told me to cry in the booth if I have to.”

“They did not!”

“Oh they did,” Logan grins at her. “It’s ridiculous right? The things they’ll tell us to do to get the sound they want.”

“It comes with the territory unfortunately,” She laughs as she nudges his shoulder playfully. “When I was recording ‘Easy’ I was supposed to act sad and heartbroken. But I didn’t want the song to be that way. I wanted it to show a side that was playful and strong.”

“Yeah?” Logan grins and he looks at her with awe. “Bet they liked that.”

“Oh they loved it,” She says sarcastically before she giggles. “But when it placed fifth in the top 100’s and had 40 million views in PlayMe, I didn’t hear a peep from them ever again.”

Logan chuckles. “Troublemaker.”

Ellie grins. “Guess it’s just part of my brand now.”

“Funny enough, I didn’t become a fan of you because of Easy.”

Ellie looks at him curiously, their faces close enough that she can see his eyelashes touch his eyelids every time he blinked. After she collaborated with Cadence Dorian, which caused the initial push for her success, everyone was waiting for what type of song and image direction she was going to take. When she dropped ‘Easy’ as her first solo single, a groovy alt R&B single with a music video packed with soft and pastel neon lights, it was a guaranteed hit and so many of her fans credit ‘Easy’ as the reason to why they became her fans in the first place.

“So what made you a hardcore Ellie Wheeler stan then?”

Logan smiles as he plucks the sheet lyrics from her hand. “Flower.”

Ellie’s eyes widen and somewhere in her heart tugs at the mention of that single. She had released it shortly after her mother died as a dedication to the love and life her mother left behind. It’s the one song Ellie absolutely loves and absolutely hates at the same time. She loves it because it’s the most honest and raw she’s ever been as an artist but hates it because so many of her worst critics and haters dragged her through the mud for “capitalizing” on the death of her mother by promoting the song. As if she wasn’t allowed to express and work through her grief on her own terms.

“Thanks,” She replies but she can’t keep the forlorn and melancholy tone out from her voice. “It’s a nice song.”

“It’s more than nice,” Logan refutes. “I mean those runs in G5 falsettos? And I can feel the emotions you were putting into the lyrics. You got me hooked from that song alone.”

Elli goes red at the compliments that flow so easily out of him. No wonder so many people love him. He makes every word that comes out of his mouth sound genuine and honest. Ellie realizes he really wasn’t lying when he said that he wasn’t a subtle guy.

“Yeah, I really love that song,” She confesses honestly as she plays with the edges of her shirt. “My mother...is the one that taught me to sing. I thought it would be nice to honor her memory through a song.”

Logan smiles softly. “That’s why I love you.”

They freeze, the meaning behind his words hanging between them, and Ellie looks at him in disbelief and shock and Logan fumbles through his explanation as he looks at her nervously.

“I mean uhm as an artist to an artist, you know? I mean as a fan too. I’m a huge fan! That’s why I love you—as a fan. Nothing more. Just a fan.”

Ellie searches his nervous and panicky brown eyes as he settles his eyes everywhere but her face. She wants to dig in more to his words but she hardly knows him enough to know if he’s lying or not. And it’s not like they’re close enough for her to actually start asking him questions about it.

“Alright you two! Let’s get to recording!”

Micah’s booming voice in the vocal booth cuts through the awkwardness that settled between them. Ellie quickly stands to her feet and look towards the glass barrier and tries to hide away the blush on her face.

“Right! We’re—I mean I’m ready Micah!” She turns to Logan and holds her hand out. “The uhm lyric sheet. I need to record the song, I mean my parts. Not the whole song. This is a collaboration after all. That’s why I’m here and all that.”

She internally cringes at herself when she realizes that she has the social and conversational grace of a Raleigh Carrera after 4 glasses of tequila.

Logan laughs a little as he stands from the seat and hands the paper to her, his eyes burning in a passion and determination that pulls her in. “Let��s make this a hit Ellie.”

Ellie’s eyes widen as she gives him a reassuring and determined nod before she takes the sheet from his hand. “You can count on me Logan.”

#choices rod #choices platinum #logan x ellie #Choices Logan #raleigh carrera #cadence dorian #male raleigh x cadence #crossover #if anyone is familiar with the song #its candy by baekhyun HAHA #outing myself as a casual kpop fan #but im using the fan edit of wheein and baekhyun singing candy #top tier i need an actual collab

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