Pain of Discovery (BoyxBoy) [The Pain series Book 1]

Jealousy

[A/N - back now to the first whole day on foreign soil, and the battles with yet another inner demon. I loved Dubai when I visited there a little over 5 years ago, and I'd definitely love to go back one day. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please don't forget to vote, comment and fan if you're digging Jason & Zak's adventure. I never expected this to take over my life as much as it has, but since I'm away all this weekend I'm not sure when the next update will be. I'll try not to make it too long though ;) xxx]

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"Hey, Sleeping Beauty! We're here!"

The pillow hit my head before I could even tease my eyes open in response.

"Mmmhhmuh?" I groaned, turning to my right and just about making out the wisps of brown hair hovering not far above my head. The now familiar scent of his cologne filled my nostrils awakening my senses from my slumber and installing an instant smile on my face. Best alarm ever, I thought.

"Dubai baby!!" Zak yelled in his best Joey Tribbiani accent before bouncing back into his seat across the aisle from me.

I shot up from the sumptuous business class seat. "You serious? We're here already?"

I stared out of the oval window to my left and was greeted by the wondrous sight of a gleaming futuristic metropolis rising out of the golden desert. Sand islands shaped like massive exotic leaves lay just off the shore and as we approached the ground, I could see thousands upon thousands of vehicles whizzing along an intricate web of concrete highways. Having always been a city kid, I could tell straight away that I was going to feel right at home in Dubai.

"What do you mean already? It's been over seven hours, Jase!" Zak said, the bubbling excitement that was making his voice rise and fall reminding me of a child going on his first school trip. I'd never seen him look so youthful, in navy sweatpants and a close-fitting grey ribbed sweater. His hair was characteristically tangled in messy waves and the flush of anticipation on his rose-tinged cheeks made the few freckles on his otherwise pale face stand out like stars in the night sky. He clearly hadn't slept a wink since we left London, and a croaky voice behind me immediately confirmed this.

"Yeah, seven... loooooong hours!" Laura moaned, grabbing the back of my reclined seat and smothering her head into the soft pillow attached to the headrest. I gazed upwards in her direction with a chuckle and ruffled her flame red hair playfully. She still looked like she'd just stepped off a magazine shoot despite her fraught mood, which I assumed was from lack of sleep and the strain of entertaining our own little bundle of endless energy through the flight.

"Don't ever leave me to deal with that alone again," I heard her mumbling through the pillow, before landing a playful yet very real slap on my forehead.

"Ow, do you mind?" I complained, before catching her I could do far worse in my state glare. I decided that it was probably best to let it slide on this occasion.

We both turned towards Zak, who was now sprawled on his stomach across two empty seats staring in wonder at the new world coming up to meet him out of the jet's window. The occasional gasp and gentle giggle of delight simply endeared me more to him as I felt a sense of great pride swell up inside me.

In fact, I was proud of all three of us - we had become almost like siblings over the past few weeks of gruelling rehearsals; our strong bond made easier to build thanks to the swanky 3-bed flat we'd been given by the management team. I smiled at the memories of nights of popcorn fights when the DVDs failed to hold our attention, hiding in Laura's wardrobe waiting to pounce on her as she exited from the shower and greeting Zak's return from the supermarket with a water bomb from the top-floor window on to his perfectly-styled hair. Of course, I had had my fair share of revenge attacks to deal with - my left eyebrow still hasn't quite grown back to the same density as the right after I stupidly passed out after one game of truth or dare too many with jelly shots. At least Zak was quite precise with a razor - every cloud as they say!