The It Factor

Chapter 32

I sniffed again, hiccuping.  This whole crying thing needed to stop and fast, we were almost back to the hotel.

"Not right now, but maybe later.  Yeah, okay, see ya, man." After Kyle hung up he put my phone in his pocket, lifting my face to meet his. "It's okay, Ren." He whispered, softly kissing my forehead.

"How..How can you say that?" I stuttered, wiping my cheeks.  When I pulled my hands away, black streaks were left on my fingers.  Great, now I looked like a raccoon.

"Because, it's true.  Sure, we might not be continuing in the completion, but we have each other.  We're alive and well, that's all we can ask for." He whispered back with a smile, wiping a few of my stray tears away with his thumbs.

Remind me how I got so lucky.

The cab stopped, so I wiped away my tears quickly.  We couldn't have people seeing me look like a freak, now could we?  Kyle paid the cab driver, and we headed inside, hand in hand.  Physco was nowhere to be found, so we were able to make it up to our room peacefully.  The other boys must've been caught in traffic or something.

"I think I'm going to be depressed for months," I admitted, flopping down on the bed.  I covered my eyes with my hands, taking a deep breath.  Kyle laid down next to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling my close.

"If I'm being honest, me too," He admitted, nuzzling his head in my neck.  "When do you think we should start packing?"

"I don't know," I sighed, pushing my hair from my face. "Probably soon, but I don't want to leave."  We sat in silence for a few minutes, not moving a muscle.  I'm guessing our plane would probably leave tomorrow, so we only had one more day in LA.

"Why don't we go for a swim to get our minds off everything?"  Kyle asked, giving me a hopeful smile. "I mean, we have to call my mom eventually, but why don't we try for a few hours of peace before we drop the big bomb."

"That sounds great,"  I forced a smile, pecking him on the lips.  Really, we probably should've called Hope right away, but the idea of forgetting everything for a few hours was way to welcoming, so I quickly agreed.  I got off the bed and walked into the bathroom, grabbing a bikini on the way.

After pulling my hair into a messy bun, putting on my bikini and pulling on some jean shorts, I decided I was ready.  Not bothering with a shirt I walked back into my hotel room.

"Are you ready?"  I asked, grabbing my sunglasses from the dresser.  Kyle was just wearing a pair of swim trunks, which meant his chest was bare.  Yum. 

"Yeah," He nodded, bending down and picking my phone from the bedside table.  I jumped when he tossed it, barely catching it before it hit the ground.

"If that had broken, I would've killed you," I threatened, giving him a playful glare. He smirked at me, shaking his head.

"You know you love me way to much for that!" He exclaimed, making a heart with his hands.  I burst out into giggles.  I swear, this boy is too much.  Kyle grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the hall way where we were met by the other guys.

"You going swimming?" Scott asked, still looking depressed.  Heck, we all looked depressed.  I had a feeling we would look like that for a while, though.

"Yup," I said, "Want to come with?"  They exchanged glances, shrugging.

"Maybe we'll be there in a few," Tristan answered, heading into his hotel room.  If this is what our attitudes were going to be like, I really wished we had gotten through.  I mean of course I wanted to get through, but I wanted my playful, silly, and stupid best friends back.

"Suit yourself," Kyle shrugged, pulling me down the hall way.  We walked hand in hand all the way down to the pool, where we quickly grabbed some towels so they wouldn't run out.  It was getting later in the day, which is when they tended to get more people at the pools.  After a minute of searching we found an empty table and set our stuff down.  "Want to get some ice cream?"

"Sure," I deadpanned, pulling my sunglasses onto my face.  Maybe I was being a bit of a buzz kill, but I wasn't exactly in a happy mood.  I shoved my phone into my back pocket, taking Kyle's hand again as he led me over to the little restaurant they had outside.

"I'd like a chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cone, please," Kyle said, flashing the worker a smile.  The lady nodded, looking at me with lazy eyes.

"Mint chocolate chip," I said, not even looking at her.  She told Kyle the price, and went to get our ice cream.

"Ren, look at me," Kyle sighed, so I did.  He looked a little upset. "Please, try not to be to sad about this.  We got this amazing opportunity, and sure, it didn't go as far as we wanted, but we still had it.  Plus, we have right here, right now, which is more important then anything.  You can't beat yourself up over this."

"I know," I frowned, looking at the ground. "I just can't help it..."  Just then, the lady came back and shoved my ice cream into my hand.  Someone wasn't in a happy mood. "I'll meet you back at the table." I told Kyle as he paid for our sweets.  Taking a huge bite of my ice cream, I started to walk back to our table.  Of course just as I had a mouth full of my sweet treat my phone started to vibrate in my ack pocket.

"Hello?" I answered, trying to force my words passed the cold ice cream.

"Um, is this Serenity Davis?" Someone asked.  Huh, that voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"It is, may I ask who's calling?"  I sat down, licking my ice cream again.  Why couldn't I figure out who it was?  Usually I was pretty good at that kind of thing.

"This is Leah Cole from The It Factor," When she said that, I think I stopped breathing.  Why would see call me?!  Had there been a mistake? We're we back in?  Or maybe we just needed to come in for an interview..."I have some good news.  This year, we've decided to add an extra round to the show."

"Yes?" I breathed, urging her to continue.  Kyle came back, so I quickly motioned for him to come over, making him press his ear against mine so he could hear.

"Well, We'd like to give some other people a chance to continue in the show.  As you know, fifty people were eliminated today.  For this extra round we are bringing back twenty people eliminated in the Battle Field round and letting them preform a live show.  They're going to have two weeks to prepare a song and routine before preforming for an audience.  The show will also air on TV.  When the show is over, America will vote, and the top three will continue in the show."

Was she about to say what I think she was about to say?  Oh please God, let it be true!

"We'd like to invite Silent City back to participate."

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Woo, I have to be at the airport at 3 in the morning tonight! :/

It's because I'm flying to Ireland to visit family.  I live in America, so it's thanksgiving here.  Obviously they don't celebrate thanksgiving in Ireland, but it's an excuse to see family, so we're going anyway.  I'll try to update regularly while I'm there.

Have a nice thanksgiving, everyone! (well, everyone who celebrates it.) Love you all!