Survivor's Guilt (A Jay McGuiness fanfiction)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Without Ebony around, their day of interviews was undoubtedly quieter than usual, and when they all returned to the flat, their excitement was starting to give way to nerves over seeing the new video. Though none of them admitted it, all five of them were more than relieved when they traipsed into the living room to find Ebony on the sofa, talking with her brother, a beam spread happily across her cheeks. She jumped up when she saw them all, and gave each of them another bone-shattering hug now that her initial shock over her brother’s unexpected visit had worn off. She animatedly asked them about their day and listened intently while they described how boring they had been. Watching her, Jay couldn’t help but think that was one of the many things he loved about Ebony-no matter how happy she was with something going on in her life, she always acted like it was nothing compared to someone else’s happiness. He just added it to the ever growing list.

 In what seemed like less time that it took to blink, Martin was buzzing up to be let into the apartment, bringing with him the laptop that, with any luck, would send the new video straight to their Youtube page.

 The eight of them nestled together on the sofas, chatting amiably while they waited for the new video to load. As soon as the opening image showed up they hushed each other silent and watch with an unabashed mixture of nerves and excitement.

Ebony was undeniably amazed at the difference between what she had seen right in front of her on the day the video had been filmed and what she was seeing now, but one thing that had stayed the same was the way her breath hitched when she saw Jay with his hands on her waist, leaning towards her face. She could remember every detail of how his lips had felt against hers, the colour of his eyes only millimetres away from her, the way his hair had brushed against her cheek. Not even the laughs and whistles she was getting from the other boys had changed, only this time she didn’t have the real experience of Jay’s kiss to keep her distracted, and to stop her face from flaring red. Next to her, Max nudged her playfully.

“Look like you were having a good time, Makarov.” He joked “Don’t let us stop you from trying round two.”

“What can I say?” Ebony retorted with a grin “He’s a good kisser. You should give it a try some time.”

When Max glanced across with a smirk on his face, Jay winked suggestively, making Max and Ebony crack up. Ebony let her gaze linger on Jay for just a second longer than was necessary, and she wasn’t exactly disappointed when she saw that he was looking at her too. But then she shook the thought from her head; Jay wasn’t interested in her like that, he’d told her that himself. She snatched her eyes away to keep from thoughts developing in her mind that wouldn’t be reciprocated, and they watched the end of the video. When it was over, the atmosphere in the room crackled with positivity, and in the chaos of everyone talking over each other in the immediate aftermath, Ebony felt Tom’s rough but warm hand find hers.

“Come here, Makarov.” He grinned cheekily, pulling her towards the laptop. Ebony was confused, but she was in too much of a good mood to question it too much.

“You see that button right there?” Tom asked cheerfully, pointing down to the screen, and Ebony nodded. “Click it.” Tom instructed with a casual shrug, and though she was confused, Ebony obeyed all the same.

“Congratulations Makarov” Tom smiled warmly, clapping her encouragingly on the shoulder “You just uploaded the video to the web.”

He held up his hand for a high five, which Ebony happily reciprocated, and with the cheering and well-dones over a video well made that came afterwards, it took them a few minutes to hear Martin trying to get their attention.