He's Giving Me a Reason, an Emblem3 Fan Fic (Sequel to Riptide)

Chapter 60

It was finally X Factor night. Tyler, Adrianna, Owen and I were all crammed onto the couch in Rick's living room, a little too close for comfort. Brianna and Jase should be arriving soon, getting here just in time for the show to start. I was feeling good about the show tonight, but that didn't mean the nerves weren't getting to me. Because they were. They definitely were.

"Aves, when did Wesley say they were going on?" Owen asked me, pulling on a twizzler with his front teeth. My eyes flickered as the piece of licorice stretched, and then finally snapped in half.

"Uh, he didn't." I cleared my throat, not really having much more to say about it. Wes and I haven't really had much time to talk these last few days. In fact, I hadn't seen him since since last week. We've talked on the phone, of course; but each time I called him he would be busy, or something would come up. I watched Owen wrinkle his nose at me in confusion, and I immediately averted my eyes.

Adrianna seemed to catch my drift because she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Ah, Tyler said they're going on third I'm pretty sure." She said.

"Uh what?" Tyler turned around to look a Adrianna with a confused grin.

"Not you, other Tyler." She clarified.

"Ohhhh." He nodded and flicked a few locks of dark brown hair out of his eyes, finally getting on the same page.

"Wait, who's other Tyler?" I turned to face Owen who looked lost out of his mind.

"Seriously? You've met him." Adrianna rolled her eyes at her brother before shooting me a look that said somehting along the lines of boys are stupid. Biting back a laugh, I shot the boy one of my best sympathetic glances. Owen was a borderline genius when it came to stuff like science and math, but he was incredibly forgetful when it came to birthdays and meeting new people.

"He's Keaton's friend." I reminded him. "Remember, we drove the two of them back to the Stomberg's house after picking them up from the Starbucks."

"Oh, oh okay. Yes, I know who you're talking about now." Owen's eyes seemed to flash with understanding now and I shook my head. That boy was a real piece of work. "We should really call you by your last names or something so I don't get confused. "Is that cool with you, Rodriguez?"

"Absolutely not." Ty laughed as he slung his arm across the back of the couch.

"Ok fine. You can be Tyler and he can be T. Case or something." Owen shrugged.

"As long as you're not calling me Rodriguez." Tyler said with a small smile on his face. But I was the only one who watched it fade.

About two years ago when Rick brought Tyler into the family, he had just lost his mom. His dad had been out of the picture since he was a little boy, and so now he didn't have any parents. Rick adopted Tyler, but he didn't force him to take his last name. Instead, Tyler kept Rodriguez because it was a part of him. It was a reminder of his past self; a sliver of a memory that he could hold on to just a bit longer to remember his life before he was orphaned.

As if knowing what he was going through, I placed my hand on his knee to let him know he wasn't alone. And that's when he picked his head up to give me a small smile in thanks.

"Shhh! Hey shut up it's on!" Adrianna started hitting Owen with the back of her hand, which got him to stop talking and start whining.

"Owwwwwwww! Adrianna!"

"Both of you cut it out." I laughed, locking my eyes to the screen as Mario Lopez strutted to center stage. Everyone was facing the TV screen now, listening to the judges introduce the remaining acts. The cameras moved around the arena, capturing the people from every angle; and I couldn't help but remember that the arena was much larger in person.

"Let's all give a warm welcome to Tate Stevens with Bonfire!" Mario Lopez smiled out at the audience with Khloe Kardashian standing at his side.

"I don't really get the appeal of Country music." Tyler said as Tate began singing on the screen.

"What do you mean you don't get it? Country music is just good, that's all there is to it." Owen said, still watching the performance. Ty laughed and shook his head.

"I'm with Ty on this one." I nodded in agreement. Growing up in north Jersey, country music was never really my thing. It wasn't that I didn't like it or anything, but it just didn't have strong roots where I lived. I guess it was the same thing for Tyler too. "Didn't really have too much Blake Shelton down in New Mexico?" I chuckled.

"Bingo." He replied. Owen, on the other hand was still surprised by the fact that the two of us didn't really like country music.

"Okay: it's official, once we get back to New York I'm taking you two to a concert out on Roosevelt Island. Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert. Your minds will be blown." Owen looked a little too excited.

"Eh, sure. Why not." I shrugged, nodding slowly. "I'll try anything once."

"And now, give it up for Carly Rose Sonenclar!"

"Ugh, I love her voice." Adrianna gushed, and I couldn't help but agree.

"Right?! She's what, like thirteen? And she's so talented." I watched as Carly's fingers ran across the keys of her piano to the tune of the Elton John song. She seemed to sing so effortlessly, and it was equally magestic and terrifying. Terrifying, because I was starting to get worried about the boys. Because Carly was damn good, and she had the power to captivate an audience.

Right when she ended her first song, I was finally able to breathe easily again. Wes and the guys were coming up next, and I was sure that they were going to blow everyone away.

Shadows grow so long before my eyes
And they're moving across the page
Suddenly the day turns into night
Far away from the city
But don't hesitate 'cuz your love won't wait

I hadn't really been a fan of Peter Frampton before, but at this moment I had a deeper appreciation for him. But that might have been Wes;ey's voice doing the talking. He could make any song sound good.

"That was incredible." Tyler said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Agreed. There's no way they're getting voted off." Adrianna nodded, confident in Emblem3. Although I completely agreed with the two of them, I didn't have the courage to say anything out loud. Didn't want to jinx anything, you know?

* * * * *

"Okay, not gonna lie: Fifth Harmony was pretty good tonight. I loved their song." I admitted.

"Yeah, I love Ellie Goulding." Adrianna nodded as she muted the television. The ending credits began rolling across the screen as the the camera panned around the arena, capturing little snippets of the contestants. For a moment the screen zoomed in on Wes, and I couldn't help the small grin that took over my face. But it faded just as quickly.

There were dark circles under his eyes from a lack of sleep, and even from here I could see that he was practically buzzing from all the adrenaline coursing through his veins from the performance. He must have been exhausted.

"Alright, you guys know what to do." Owen said, whipping out his cell phone. The three of us did the same while I also grabbed the home phone to call in and vote for the boys.

We were going to win this thing.

Hey guys :) Long time, no update haha

Sorry it's been a while, I've just been pretty busy updating my other story, Miss Cleopatra. So if you guys get tired of waiting for me to update this story, check out my Drew Fanfic :) It'll give you the E3 fix that you need until this story is updated haha :)

So, what were your thoughts on this chapter? Let me know in the comments below!