SOUL SWAPPED

CHAPTER THREE

HAILEY

It's been one hour. One hour that I have had a soulmate.

Let's just say this was the craziest hour of my life.

The boys have been doing great on filling me in about Eli. I still don't know everything about him, but after the past hour of learning, I must be quite close. Plus, they have been helping me understand their daily-life and what all they go through in the average day. It sounds insanely stressful, but if it's for my soulmate, I can do it.

The only thing that bugs me is that I'm leaving my family without anyone to help out. Without me being there, all of my normal responsibilities will not be filled. Of course, Eli could try and handle everything, but I would never want him to carry my burdens for me. He shouldn't have to be responsible for the things I help with; he doesn't know what my family has to go through.

God, I wish I could call my Mom right now. I wish I could reassure her that everything would be alright, and ask her to take especially good care of Dad until I can get back. I would even tell her to give a hug to my brother, because I know he's been struggling since dad's diagnosis. Stage Three Lung Cancer. The doctors gave him fifteen months to live, at most.

The hardest thing in this world is watching someone you love hurt, and not being able to help them. I have learned this lesson the hard way.

"Okay, I just got off the phone with Clara," Asher walks back into the room, placing his phone into his pocket. He props himself on Colt's chair, before continuing, "I was planning on explaining everything to her now, but she is fuming at us for being late to our recording session. Apparently, everyone has been there since eight this morning, and if we don't leave now, 'our asses are toast.'"

There was a small bit of fear within the boys' eyes, and before they ran out of the bedroom, they announce to be downstairs and ready in ten minutes. I didn't move for a few seconds, letting everything that just happened sink in. Clara must be very important, whoever she is...important and scary.

I finally force myself to stand, walking over to a door that I prayed would be the closet. Thankfully, my intuition is right, and I walk into one of the nicest walk-in closets I have ever seen. It is so organized, and I swear I have never seen this many shoes in one place other than a shoe store. Part of me wishes I had more time to look around, but I finally just grabbed the first items I saw that matched before heading inside Eli's bathroom. I quickly brush my teeth and get dressed—and try my best not to get embarrassed as I did so. Before I went to meet with the others, I tried to figure out what to do with the mop of blonde hair atop my head, but I got distracted as I caught another glimpse of the boy staring back.

Eli has a complete surfer-vibe about him, and it's something I find intriguing. With his tanned skin and shaggy, wavy blonde hair, he was almost the exact definition of what a beach-boy looks like in my mind. I smile a bit, thinking back to the pictures Lia and Riley would show me of the Fifth Wave members; something about Eli has always stuck out to me, and now I can finally understand why. I can't believe the boy I see in every single magazine, is my soulmate.

The knock of the bedroom door brings me out of my thoughts, and I walk out of the bathroom to see Asher standing in the doorway, waiting. "Sorry if I was interrupting something," he says, "I was just coming to get you so we can start heading to the studio. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get our ass-chewing out of the way." Asher explains, and I nodded along to what he was saying.

I step out the door behind him, following him down to where everyone is waiting. Though, along the way I say to Asher, "I have no idea who Clara is, but I'm terrified to meet her. You guys make it sound like she's the devil in disguise..."

Asher laughs at my words, smiling softly as he replies, "Clara Houston, our manager and probably the best manager in all Los Angeles. She isn't the devil, per se; sometimes she acts like it, but she is only tough on us because she loves us. She just wants us to be the best we can be, and she works super hard to help us succeed. If it wasn't for her, we probably wouldn't be here right now."

I nod along to what he was saying, but the words slowly started leaving my head as I looked around the boys' house. It was beautiful; I have never seen something this...nice. Skylar notices my astonishment and laughs, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. All the boys have big smiles on their faces, and they each look much less scared than they were ten minutes ago. I thought that I might could get a tour of the house, but my plans were changed as Asher says, "Guys, we should probably get going before we are even later. Who's driving?"

"I'll drive us!" Colt exclaimed happily, sliding a bandana over his brown locks, "It's been a while since I took Tiffany the Tesla out for a spin, and I miss driving around in my baby." He finishes his words dramatically, and Jaden gently shoves his shoulder with a laugh. I felt myself smiling, and I let Skylar lead me to what I was guessing would be the garage of the house.

The garage wasn't very special, but it was huge. The room could have easily been the size of my whole house, if not bigger. But, then again, it had to be rather big to contain the five cars owned by the five boys. We walk passed three very nice cars, until we stop at what I guess is Tiffany the Tesla. The boys pile inside the car, and as I take a seat in-between Skylar and Jaden, I try to hide the way my eyes widened at everything.

I wanted to linger on the thought a little longer, but the boys begin to speak, which draws me out of my thoughts. Colt is the first person to start, and he says as he drives out of the house, "Hailey, I feel like we haven't gotten to know you at all! This whole time we have been discussing Eli, and we haven't spoken at all about you! Tell us about yourself."

I am stunned for a second, because not many people have genuinely wanted to learn things about me. The thought makes me feel warm inside, and hiding the smile that's trying to grow on my face, I say, "Well, there really isn't much to say. I live with my parents and my twin brother, and I have two best friends named Riley and Lia." I finish, and judging by the looks on the boys' faces, they wanted to know more.

Skylar sighs, "Those are just the basics! What about something more fun? Like, if Eli wasn't your soulmate, who from the band would you want it to be?" he finishes with a cheeky grin, and sends a wink flying my way.

"Dude, can you not flirt with Eli's soulmate?" Jaden asks, and I can't tell if he's being serious of not. He and Skylar stare at each other for a few seconds, and in the moment, everything is silent. Then, the boys all burst out in laughter, and I know my confusion is evident on my face.

Though, the moment ends faster than expected when Jaden yells in pain. All our eyes dart to him to see what's wrong, and before anyone could ask, he exclaims, "Ouch! Oh my god, shit." Everyone gave him a moment, and Jaden began rubbing the back of his head with a sigh. I look away and lock eyes with Asher, and he just shakes his head.

It gets quiet once again, and after a few awkward moments go by, Jaden finally speaks. "Sorry, soulmate thing. 'Think someone hit her in the back of the head, hard. God, I hope she's okay." He mutters the last few words, and he lays his head against the window of the car with a frown against his lips. I watch as he puts AirPods into his ears, clicks a button on his phone, and goes into his own little world.

"Don't worry about him," Skylar says, grabbing my attention, "We've learned to leave him alone when something happens to his soulmate. He's really worried about her—we all are, honestly. I just wish he was able to find her already..." Skylar's begin to fade away, and I gulp down all the feelings that just jumped into my chest.

Asher notices the bad vibe inside the car, and he forcefully clears his throat. "Colt, play some music, it's too quiet in here." he speaks, turning in his seat to face everyone. Suddenly, his eyes widen, and he's quickly grabbing the phone away from Colt's hands, "Hailey, I have just the thing for you to hear. This is something we have been working on for the new album, which hopefully will be done soon!" he finishes with a bright smile, before clicking play.

A voice is sounding through the speakers, and judging by the way my heart begins to tingle, I know that is must be Eli singing. I can't help but smile to myself, admiring how great he sounds...I wonder how great he's going to sound in person. I pause, quickly shaking the thought from my head and leaning back against the headrest.

God, this is going to be a long day.