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

Chapter 50

"Stop it!" I laughed, swatting his hand away from my thigh. "Adrianna's going to walk through that door any minute now." Wes made a pouty face at me and resorted to tickling me instead. I was in a full on cackle that was so loud I didn't hear the door open.

"Well don't you two look cozy." Adrianna raised her eyebrow at the sheets tangled between Wes and me. She had a small smile on her face, but she didn't look overly happy. I needed to find out how her date with Drew went.

"Okay." I announced to Wes. "Out, it's girl time." I swatted him playfully on the arm for extra measure. His eyes flickered to mine, giving me a look that said he was going to head back to check on Drew.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He grinned down at me before giving me a quick kiss.

"I love you boyfriend." I laughed as he walked out the door.

"Right back at you, girlfriend." He winked. I giggled slightly and turned my focus to my best friend.

"Well, it's pretty late. I'm just gonna go take a shower if that's cool-"

"Oh no you don't! Adrianna Fisher get back here!" I ordered. About halfway to the bathroom Adrianna turned around to face me. "So? How was it? I need the details right now!" I couldn't contain the smile that was breaking out on my face. They were back together, I just knew it!

"Well, it was fine." She sat down on her bed. When she didn't elaborate I shot her a suspicious look saying that she needed to explain. "We went to Times Square and bought a shitload of chocolate," she held up the bag of M&Ms as evidence. She raised a suggestive eyebrow at me and I nodded. She threw the bag to me and I caught it instantly. Chocolate was the food of the gods. "Then we went and got some dinner around the corner from school, we decided to break up, I stopped by the record store on the way back to the dorm- did you know they have the new Green Day?" My mind didn't comprehend much.

"Woah, woah, woah, back up. You and Drew broke up?" To say that I was shocked was an understatement. I can't believe Dadrianna was over, I thought the two of them were headed in a positive direction, not a negative one.

"Yeah." She nodded slowly. "It was kind of a mutual decision." She wiped a hand under her eyes, drying up her tears. It may have been a mutual break up, but that didn't make it easy.

"What happened?" I asked suddenly. "I thought that you guys were finally on the right track."

"I just couldn't do it anymore. All the secrets, the lies- it was driving me insane. You know it's all or nothing with me. It always has been. And I couldn't ask Drew to take a stand against the X Factor. This is their big break, I don't want to be the one to screw it all up." She muttered.

I didn't know what to say, so the only thing I could do was hug her, and just be a good friend.

* * * * *

"Hey, do you guys wanna join us? We're gonna watch some TV." Julia, one of the girls from our hall popped into our room and dragged us into the lounge. Everyone was hanging out: Wes, Drew, Keaton, Adrianna, Owen and me. Everyone heard what went down between Drew and Adrianna, so it was pretty awkward. A change of scenery wouldn't hurt anyone. And watching TV meant that no one had to talk. Perfect.

"Just in time, we were about to watch- oh! Who's this?" Another girl, Bethany gestured around to everyone except for Adrianna and I. I grinned to myself, I was super excited to introduce everyone.

"Well, first of all this is Wesley." I wrapped my arm around said boy's waist.

"Ooooh, the illusive boyfriend we've heard so much about. Nice to finally meet you." Bethany and Julia all greeted him accordingly.

"And this is his little bro, Keaton." I introduced them as well. "And this is Drew." I looked over at Adrianna to see how I should introduce him, but she looked away from me. "He's uh, Wes and Keaton's best friend."

"And last but certainly not least, I'm Owen. I'm Adrianna's brother and I actually go here." Owen said sticking his hand out for the girls to shake.

"Good to know." Bethany's eyes twinkled with excitement.

"Oh my god, I can't take you anywhere." Adrianna smacked her brother for hitting on our friends. I laughed and also gave him a good smack.

"Come on! We're gonna catch the X Factor auditions. Come join!" Julia waved us into the lounge where about fifteen other people- guys and girls combined, were sitting. The six of us made eye contact, but it was the three boys who finally decided what to do.

"Sure, let's do it." Keaton grinned. I quirked an eyebrow at the other guys: I had completely forgotten that their audition was going to air tonight. And from the looks of it, they wanted to have a little fun with the other people in my hall.

"Oooh, she was good." Jackson said after Lauren Jauregui left the stage. The rest of us nodded in agreement, she was super talented. And I know for a fact that she was also moving on to the live shows.

Next thing I knew, the TV was switching gears, cutting to a scene of a group of guys surfing. I automatically recognized the beach and the pier, and so I squeezed Wesley's hand excitedly. This was their audition. They've aired bits and pieces of the boys at their audition, but so far, no one's heard the full song. Until now.

"My name is Wesley, I'm 18."

"My name is Drew, I'm 19."

"And my name is Keaton and I'm 15." The crowd of pre-teen girls absolutely died when Keaton introduced himself. When their performance started, I just leaned back and closed my eyes; attempting to remember each part of that day. I remember all of it: what the boys were wearing, meeting some of the other contestants while waiting on line, the happiness on each of their faces after they bounded off the stage when they made it through.

After the track finished playing and the judges made their comments, the show cut to commercial. And as expected, every single head in the room snapped in our direction. Every pair of eyes was fixed on Wes, Drew, and Keaton. Well and me I guess. Because I was currently snuggling with someone who was on TV just a few seconds ago.

"You guys..." Bethany started.

"X Factor... you... sing... X Factor." Julia muttered to them breathlessly.

"Damn, that song was pretty awesome. You guys were amazing." Jackson spoke up next, the only one who could seem to form real sentences.

"Thanks man." Drew laughed. he was sitting the closest to Jackson, so he reached over to give the boy a hi-five.

"So did you guys make it through? What are you doing here?" The girls asked.

"We recorded that audition a few months ago. After that comes Bootcamp, and Judge's Houses." Drew explained. "But... we're not really supposed to tell anyone if we made it through to the Judge's round."

"Aw come on dude! Tell us what happened." Kevin nudged Wes.

"Alright, alright... off the record..." Wes paused for dramatic effect and just nodded.

"Awww yeah! Awesome!" Jackson got up and clapped everyone on the back. After a few more minutes of celebrating Kevin got up from the couch and clapped his hands together.

"Aight, this calls for a celebration. Who wants buffalo wings, we're buying." He pointed between himself and Jackson.

I looked around to find myself surrounded by all my friends: old and new. And in this moment, I couldn't be happier.

Wheee :D new chapterrrrrrr! :)

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