Chapter 13
Boys will be boys.
ALEX.
"What does he look like?"
"How tall is he?"
"Is he smart?"
"Can he sing?"
"What color did he wear?"
"What's his name?"
"Can he beat Nathan in terms of height, looks and talent?"
"HEY!"
"Just asking."
"OKAY GUYS STOP." I cried out, face-palming myself.
I regarded the five faces trying to get on the small iPhone screen at once, bombarding me with questions about... guess who.
Riley.
I sighed. "Logan Lerman, I don't know, Maybe, I don't know and I don't intend to find out, I don't know because I don't care, Riley, and No, because to me, Nath is perfection itself. Are you all happy now?"
They all sat there, stunned, before bursting into hoots and whistles. Nathan's face flushed.
"So... Am I done here?" I said, after a minute of watching them squeal like teenage girls.
Jay grabbed the phone. "No, why are you so keen on leaving us?"
"I'm not, it's just because I'm getting carsick watching you jump around like a kangaroo on steroids, and I don't want to soil my baby."
"Gimme it-" Nathan said as he plucked the phone from his hands. "Yeah, sorry bout that-"
"Don't worry, I'm used to it."
He smiled at me wanly, then ran a hand through his hair. "We miss you a lot."
It was my turn to blush. "Same here. The house feels eerily quiet without you guys popping out of my closet."
"We're coming in soon, no worries."
"And soon is..?"
"Two more months."
I sighed. "Go figure."
"Naw, it's fine. I wish you were here though. The fans are great, the locations..."
"Except I'm not. I'm stuck with hundred-year old professors and a color-coded schedule."
He chuckled. "You'll be fine."
"I'm not so sure about that. I have a short attention span."
"Good luck then."
I chuckled.
Then Tom and Max popped in. "Yo Alex, we'd hate to cut the date, but soundcheck's starting in 5 minutes, and we need to get out there."
Nathan scowled. "Right. Get out, I'll follow soon."
He jerked the phone away from them.
"Bye, Lex. See ya."
"Bye, have a great show guys!"
And with that, the phone screen returned to normal.
~
Thirty minutes after their FaceTime call, I was jolted awake when my phone rang loudly. Hardly awake, I blinked at the screen and tried to see who was calling.
It was an unregistered number.
I turned to Kaylee. "Do you know whose number this is?" I mumbled sleepily, hoping she understood.
If I still wasn't hallucinating, I swear she had an uneasy look on her face.
"I... I dunno," She said, keeping her eyes on the road. "Answer it."
Reluctantly, I hit 'answer' and pressed the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Alex!"
"Who's this?"
"It's Riley."
I was jolted awake when he said his name.
How did this happen?
How did he get my number?
Was I drunk or something? I surely don't remember giving my number to him.
Then it clicked.
"Okay, Riley, hold on a sec," I said, cupping my hand over the speaker.
I turned to the nervous girl handling the wheel beside me. "Care to explain?"
Beads of cold sweat formed on her forehead. "Well, he-he was charming... a-and his c-charisma g-got me, I'm sorry-"
I glowered at her. "You gave him my number without my permission?"
Her voice turned into a high-pitched squeal. "I'm sorry, Alex! I really didn't mean to, his eyes made me do it!"
"Kaylee. You dragged me into this. I never wanted any part of him!"
"I told you, I'm sorry! I'll be the one to tell him to fuck off-"
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll deal with you later."
I pressed loudspeaker so Kaylee knows what's going on. "Yeah, hi, Riley. What's up?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to say hi," his voice sounded sullen.
"Riley? What's wrong?"
"It's just..." He sighed. "Nothing."
I frowned. "Don't hide it. Come on, you can tell me."
His voice turned cold. "I heard what you were saying to Kaylee. That was pretty harsh, Alex. I really thought you were... different."
My jaw hung ajar. I looked at Kaylee, and her expression said the same.
"Riley... I didn't mean any of those things! I was pissed 'cos-"
"Nah, don't try any excuse with me, Alex."
"Riley! I'm sorry, I swear, that spilled out of my mouth! I was just ticked off because she gave you my number without my permission. Please, I'm not like that."
"Right."
"Yes! You should've just asked me."
"Well hello? You were keen on avoiding me! I would've grabbed the chance!"
"Riley, I'm sorry. Okay?"
"Whatever. Bye."
He hung up without waiting for my answer. I slammed my head against the backrest, letting out a frustrated groan.
"Uh-oh."
"Yeah 'uh-oh.' I might've made an enemy even before school starts!"
"Seriously?" Kaylee said incredulously, arching an eyebrow at me. "You probably just broke his heart-"
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah," she replied, her gray eyes narrowing. I saw a tinge of pain in them. "You were all he could talk about! He was asking me for more information about you! Hell, he even asked about Nathan!"
Her outburst took me by surprise. Him? asking about ME? Seriously?
"But why would he-?"
"Well, for one, I think he likes you, and would like to know more about you, since you blew him off at the auditorium."
"Oh shut up, I'm not-"
"Yes, you are. You managed to get Nathan for God's sake, isn't that a hint enough?"
"Well I-"
"Just.. You know, try to fix things up. He really does. Beats me how you can be so oblivious."
"I'll try." I said in a small voice. I didn't even get to know him, now he probably hates me. I feel terrible.
"You acted too rashly again, Lex. That's your flaw. You have to try to control it, or it might ruin something more important next time."
~
By the time we reached my house, I was already feeling worn-down and weary. Kaylee dropped herself off, leaving me to drive through the streets of California alone. It was a relief my parents chose a remote-ish location. If I were in Central California, I would've been squished to an Alex-cake. I couldn't focus on the road at all. Riley, Nathan, Kaylee, how I was going to survive college.. There were too much on my mind to handle.
I pulled up to our fully-lit garage. Weird... It was always just me bringing the house to life. Leonora could be here..
My keys had hardly touched the doorknob when the door flung open. Standing there, with his boyish grin and ridiculous good looks was...
..My brother.
"Daniel?" I remarked, my eyes going big as saucers as I stared at him. "What-what are you doing here?!"
I squealed and threw my arms around him. He staggered as he struggled to control the both of us.
"Surprise! Harvard's giving us a month off for Summer and repairs. Which is pretty stupid, since it's the finals when we return." He put me back down, then messed up my hair. "You look crappy, 'lil sis. Stanford already taking its toll on you?"
I slapped his hand away and walked inside. "Sort of. Anyway, what's for dinner?"
He grinned at me. "McDonald's and Cars 2. I've already set up the media room."
~
"So," Daniel said, taking another bite out of his big mac. "Wha's te lodon on te wontod?"
"What?" I chuckled. His mouth was full of burger.
"I said," He replied, swallowing. "What's the lowdown on The Wanted?"
I couldn't hide my smile. "Well..."
"You're dating one of them, aren't you? Which one is it?"
I didn't reply.
"It's Nathan, isn't it?"
"Not yet-"
"Not yet? AHA! Wait til mom and dad find out about this!"
"Daniel," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Can we just watch the movie? Lightning McQueen just lost a race."
"What's wrong?" He asked, concern now in his voice. After living and dealing with me for 19 years, he's memorized every mannerism that I had. Especially when something was wrong. "Did he hurt you or something?"
"No, it's not that," I replied, giving him a dismissive wave of my hand and picking up my Oreo McFlurry. "I can deal with it later, come on, I haven't seen you since last Winter, can we just.. you know, bond in silence and let the problems-"
"Eew. Stop," He replied, pretending to gag. "There's clearly something wrong. Tell me."
I ignored him.
"You clearly need brotherly advice."
I kept ignoring him, so he started poking me.
Poke.
Poke.
Pokepokepokepokepoke.
"OKAY STOP." I cried, slapping his hand away.
"Great. Now what is it that's bothering my lil sistah?"
I sighed. "It's a long story, I don't know where to start."
"Start with what happened first thin in the morning."
"So... Kaylee and I were just chilling back there, in the dining room, watching E! News. Everything was going great, but then, Nathan here, popped up. Paps caught him partying HARD, and he was chilling with Dionne Bromfield, a girl he's had dating rumors with. I was feeling extremely guilty, since I knew it was my fault for showing up waaayyy late in our scheduled Skype call. It was the day I was going to accept his invitation, to be his girlfriend-"
Daniel arched an eyebrow at me.
"But we got lost and came home late. Plus, I hated him partying and getting drunk too much."
He nodded.
"I turned off my phone to avoid contact. Then, at Stanford, I snuck off to the library-"
"God knows how much of a nerd you are." Daniel smirked.
"Shut up. Anyway, this guy, Riley saw me reading his sister's letters. It was hidden in a library book. He was the one who urged me to call Nath and let him explain. During the call, (by then I had walked out on him) I slipped and Nath found out about him. He was being all detective-like and kept asking him questions-"
"It looks like Nath here finds Riley a threat." Daniel mused out loud.
"Maybe. So, now, I was keen on avoiding Riley, since the bastard was ridiculously good-looking and I'm guessing, was smart. You know I'm a sucker for brainiacs. Kaylee's got a thing for him, and he charmed her into giving him my number. You still keeping up?"
He nodded.
"So, he just called me. I tried my best to block out what I was saying to Kaylee, but he heard it. And now he's... um.."
"Ticked off? What did you say?"
"I said that I never wanted any part of him."
"Daaaaang, girl! That stings!"
I clapped my hand to my face. "I knoooow! I dunno what to do!"
"Try to call the guy, explain what was happening. But I gotta admit, that was pretty rude. And ungrateful."
I sighed and pulled out my phone. "Here goes nothing."
It kept ringing. I was hopeful that he would pick up, but apparently, he was still bummed out from what I'd said, so he left me hanging.
"No answer." I said, tossing my phone away from me.
"Then try tomorrow. Now let's watch."
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't focus on the movie. My thoughts kept going back to Nath and Riley. I hated hurting people.
Then, about an hour later, my phone rang loudly. I searched for it amongst the paper bags and carelessly thrown away burger wrappers.
Once I found it, Jay's text read:
Skype. Now.
I sighed. "Right. Dan, you ready to meet The Wanted?"
~
"Hey Ale- Who's this?" Jay asked, as soon as I went on camera. He looked at Daniel with an arched eyebrow.
"Hey man, I'm Daniel. Alex's brother." Daniel said, giving him and the other guys a wave of his hand.
The other guys sat beside him, all in their jammies.
I shrugged. "What's up? And where's Nathan?"
"He's asleep." Tom informed me.
"This is something for him, isn't it?"
"Cool, she guessed it."
"What is it?"
They looked at each other, probably silently deciding who's gonna tell me about their plan. All three gazes landed on Siva.
He sighed. "Right. So, as you know, Nath's birthday is coming in... two weeks,"
"And?"
"By then, we'd be in the middle of our tour, in Pennsylvania."
"Then?"
"Erm... Nath's been really down, staring off to space a lot and generally being quiet and weird. We think it's because he misses you, and he's spending his 22nd birthday away from you, which is, I guess, hard for him,"
"Go on."
"We sorta... um... want you to go down to Pennsylvania and spend the day with him. We've already talked to management. They'll let him have a day off after the show, and we'll be the one to handle the expenses for you."
I stared at them, stunned. "You had this all planned, but you still don't know if I'd say yes."
"Well, sort of," Max said, shrugging. "It's very unlikely you'd say no."
"Wait, hold on a sec-" Daniel interfered, holding up his hand. "I know we only met, but are they dating?"
I sucker-punched him in the arm.
"They're halfway there, man. You should've seen what happened two nights ago." Tom said.
I chewed my lip. "How's Nath?"
"He's fine. But he's gotten really quiet. Which is unlikely."
It could be because of anything.
"Fine. I'm going. When can I drop in?" I decided.
They just stared at me, processing what I just said.
"Whoa, that fast?" Jay asked, bewildered.
"Yeah. It could be a great one for him."
"Cool. Then it's settled, then?"
"Yep."
"You can pop in at our hotel on the day. Your plane leaves at 10 pm the day before, so we have an extra suite at the ready." Siva said.
"Alright," I sighed. "Let's just hope things don't get rough on the way."
"Why? Is there something wrong?" Max queried, his brows furrowing.
I shook my head furiously and pinched Daniel's leg when I saw he was about to speak.
"Alrighty then," Jay said, smiling. "Wait-is that an Avatar shirt?"
Daniel looked down at his clothes, grinned, then nodded.
"Where'd you get it?"
"Souvenir item."
"Cool,"
"Alright, I'm done here." I interrupted, standing up. "You shut off the laptop when you're done fanboying. Bye guys."
~
A/N: Haiiii. It is f'cking irritating getting Writer's block in the end of a chapter. Ugh. =____=
Anyway, I love reading what you guys have to say. Maybe drop a comment sometime? I appreciate your feedback. :> I love you guys! <3