Bailey Hall moves out of her mom's house in Maryland to live with her older brother, Bryce, at his content house in LA. There, she meets Josh. Will they fall in love? Will he leave Nessa for her? Will Bryce approve?
Ever the protective big brother, Bryce tweeted in my defense quickly.
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"There. Don't worry about it. We'll always take care of you." I sighed. "Isn't that just going to add fuel to the fire? I'm not you, Bry. I can't just pretend that nothing hurts me." Bryce feigned shock. "You and I aren't the same person? Who would've thought?" Jaden and Blake laughed at that, and we finished up our meal. "Let's go home, guys. We can watch a movie, and I know that there are several different pints of ice cream in the freezer with our names on them," Blake said, standing up.
When we got home, Josh asked if he could speak with me upstairs. I followed him blindly, unsure of what direction this argument would be going in. "Sit," Josh said, motioning to his bed. I watched as he pulled his shirt off with one hand with ease. He turned back to face me. "I talked to Nessa." "Oh, yeah?" I replied. "Bailey, she was right. I want to be with you, but only if you want to be with me, too." I sighed. "I do, Josh, but I meant it before when I said that I wanted to take it slow. I've only been here for a few days, and I've already been on tiktokroom twice. There will probably be another post after tonight." Josh nodded. "I get it. We can take it as slow as you want." "Good," I said. "I like that idea." Josh crossed the room, standing close to me. "You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you," he whispered softly. "Then do it," I whispered back, winking at him.
His lips met mine, and it was different than with Tayler. Sure, his lips were soft, too, but the passion, the desire, it was all different. Butterflies fluttered around my stomach. One hand was in my hair, while the other held himself above me. As he moved from my lips down my neck, I stopped him breathlessly. "As much fun as this is, this doesn't feel very slow." Josh laughed, rolling over and laying on his back next to me on the bed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." I shook my head, rolling over to look at him. "Don't be sorry. I'm just as much at fault as you are. It's probably best if we go downstairs though."
We walked down the stairs together, sitting on opposite sides of the living room with the other boys. "Um, why are you two being weird?" Jaden asked, looking back and forth between us. "Is that a hickey?" Blake asked, laughing. "No," I shook my head quickly. "I have to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." I moved my way through the kitchen quickly to the downstairs bathroom. "Mother fucker," I whispered, moving my hair and looking at the fresh hickey that now adorned my neck. I moved my hair around gently, trying to cover it, while also trying to quickly come up with a cover story.
When I walked back into the living room, Bryce was lecturing Josh. "That's my fucking sister, dude. You can't be putting hickeys all over her." "Woah, you need to calm down, Bry. It's not a big deal," I said, sitting back down. "It's not even a hickey." Bryce chuckled wryly. "I have given and received enough hickeys in my life to know what one looks like from a mile away. Don't fucking lie to me." I flinched as the inflection in his voice changed. "Can you stop that? You know I hate when you yell." His expression softened. "I'm sorry. I just want to protect you."
I sat in between him and Jaden. "Let's watch this movie before I fall asleep." The hickey debacle was forgotten for the time being, but there was a chance it would get brought back up the next morning. About halfway through the movie I stood up. "Goodnight," I said, giving all four boys a quick peck on the cheek. I made my way up the stairs, thinking about the crazy events of the day. Was I on my way to finally being happy in LA? I didn't dwell on it as I lay in my bed and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke to yelling downstairs. "What the hell is going on?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Chase kissed Nessa!" Josh yelled towards me. "Um, you guys broke up, didn't you? Why does it matter?" I asked, completely confused at this point. Josh shook his head. "He did it before we broke up. I'm just now finding out." I looked at him, trying to hide my hurt. "I get that you're upset, but I don't understand why you're yelling at all of us." Josh sank into a chair at the kitchen table. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be taking it out on all of you. I'm just shocked, I guess." I was unsure what to say, so I made my way to the coffee maker silently, secretly excited that someone else had actually made coffee this morning. Bryce walked into the kitchen. "Why don't we just go over to the Hype House and talk to Chase?" I shook my head. "Do not even think about it, you two. Make good decisions."
It truly didn't matter what I said. Josh called up the stairs for Blake and Jaden, with all four of them quickly walking out the door. I shook my head. These boys were always getting themselves in trouble. I sat down at the table with my coffee and opened Twitter. "Oh, shit," I muttered, as I saw the tweet that had probably set Josh off in the first place. I finished my cup of coffee and decided to head up to take a shower. My Twitter mentions were blowing up when I got out. I opened Twitter again. Jesus Christ. They should really try listening to me.
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I called Bryce. "What the hell are you guys doing? Get home! Now!"
When the boys got home, I made them all sit in the living room as I paced in front of them. "What the hell are you guys thinking? What did that solve?" No one spoke. "You know how I even found out about it? Hollywood Fix. You guys look like assholes. I'm very disappointed." The boys avoided eye contact. "I can't even look at you guys right now. Make better choices." I headed up the stairs, shaking my head in disbelief. For someone that preached staying out of trouble to me, Bryce was pretty bad at keeping himself out of trouble.
My phone rang a few hours later. "You're gonna be pissed," Bryce said on the other end of the phone. "Oh my God, what did you do now?" I asked. "Well, Josh and I have some studio time tomorrow," he said. "Studio time? For what?" "See, this is where you're gonna get mad." "Bryce Michael Hall, I swear to God if you don't just tell me." "We're gonna drop a diss track."
