Long time no update huh? At least I think this chapter is a little bit longer. My updates may be slower because I'm getting a ton of writers block, I'm trying to finish up another story, and school isn't the easiest thing in the world. I've got a huge project and I have no clue where to start AND finals are coming up again. Augh....
Well, enjoy this chappie! :)
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I folded the last bit to create a paper crane. I tossed it over to Tony, who even though was in the middle of playing the piano, caught it with ease. “Hey Tony, let’s go over animal sounds.” I suggested randomly. Tony stopped playing abruptly, propped the crane up and shot me an odd look.
“What?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. I shrugged, implying that I was simply bored.
“Dog.”
“Woof.”
“Cat.”
“Meow.”
“Horse.”
“Neigh.”
“Turtle.”
Ever since we were little I’d suddenly ask Tony random questions, or I’d go over something stupid like animal sounds. We’d fire off quickly like this, but I’d never really gone over the sound a turtle made. Turtles didn’t really make a sound, did they? “What…?” Tony asked, confused.
“Turtle.” I repeated firmly. “Turty turt turtal.” I grinned. Tony leaned back in the piano bench and squinted at the ceiling. After a while he looked back down to me.
“Moo.”
“Genius.”
My phone rang again, the sound ringing in my ears and the phone vibrating in my pocket. I slipped my phone out and chucked it across the room. Tony’s eyes widened. He slipped the cover over the piano, but his eyes never left my face.
“Tye?”
“Yeah?” I replied. My little brother paused, unsure of what to say. I laughed half-heartedly. “No, I’m not pissed. I just don’t want to pick up.” I told him with a shrug. Tony didn’t look the least bit convinced but since he didn’t say anything, I let it pass.
He got up and sat down in the seat across from me. After a long moment of silence, Tony finally opened his mouth. “Why are you at home so much now? Don’t you have to prepare for your comeback?” I rolled my eyes. As if we really needed one. No wait. We did need one.
“I dunno. Just don’t feel like meeting up with them.”
“You get in a fight?”
“No. Just don’t feel like it.” I repeated. Tony shot me a funny look. Instead of pointing out my lame response, he picked up a piece of paper and began folding it.
In all honesty, I myself didn’t know why I wouldn’t meet up with the guys or just pick up my phone. I mean, what if it was Mom who’d called? I wondered if I wanted to avoid Griffin. Or Ken. Or was I just reaching that time where my life on stage was dead and gone? Hopefully not, because that’d be some wicked bad timing. It crossed my mind once that I wanted to avoid Arina, but she wasn’t even part of Hourglass, plus she was actually about a block away right then.
“It’s nice having you home.” Tony said absently, finishing off his fifth box. It was the only origami he knew. “But I don’t really think you’re happy.” He added. I looked up, shooting him a confused look.
Beside the origami paper, there were sheets- my homework- Tony tapped these. “Do your homework.” He instructed me. Being the stubborn ass I was, I wasn’t about to listen to my little brother, but for some reason, I obliged.
After about an hour of doing Algebra, which Mom said was my weak subject, I looked up at the clock. It was 9:07 PM and my phone was already buzzing again. I turned back to my work, intending to ignore it just as I had been doing. The sound of Tony’s pounding feet, running down the stairs, caused me to look up again.
Surprisingly Tony walked over to where my phone laid carelessly and picked up. I couldn’t help myself and ended up listening in to Tony’s side of the conversation and what else I could hear.
“Hello?... Yeah, this is Tony. Sorry, Tye’s sick.” Tony told whoever was on the phone. My brother had never seemed so awesome. “I don’t know when he’ll get better, sorry… I’ll make sure he hears that… Yup, okay. Bye,” Tony hung up and carelessly dropped my phone on the floor. “It was the creepy man. Sounded super pissed too.” He told me. By “creepy man” Tony probably meant Bailey.
“So what did the old man say?” I asked.
“He wants you to go right away whether you’ve got HIV or the flu or chicken pox or anything,” Tony laughed slightly as he said this. I rolled my eyes. That was just like Bailey. Whether he could see through the lie or not, that didn’t matter. He just wanted me to get there.
When I didn’t show any intention of moving, Tony cocked his head to the side. He kept looking at me funny, so I just glared back. “Well… aren’t you going?” he asked. I shook my head. Tony frowned disapprovingly. “Tye, you know this is your job. Just because it isn’t a regular one doesn’t mean you can skip when you want.” He scolded me. I rolled my eyes again.
“Didn’t you think it was annoying how I was always busy with the band?” I snapped. Tony’s steady gaze faltered. Oh yeah, hit the mark. I smirked, feeling completely satisfied.
“That doesn’t matter,” Tony said. Though his words represented nonchalance, they came out thick and unsure. “You chose to be part of the band and even if not right now, that’s where you’re most happy. Plus it’s your responsibility so go do your job.” He said, courage rising in the little man’s voice. My smirk eased into a gentler grin.
I ruffled my little brother’s hair, mixing the blue tips in with the rest of his hair. “Aw, so sweet it makes me sick. So just for the heck of it, I’ll go hang out with creepy man and sandy clocks.”
“What?”
“Point is, I’m going now. Peace.”
On the way out, I grabbed my coat and draped it over my shoulders. At the car door I paused and found myself looking up. It was as if some force was yanking my head up. Across the street I saw Arina. She waved at me, barely raising her hand. I waved back, feeling a huge weight being lifted off my chest and another one put down in its place.
Ignoring that funny feeling, I got into my car and started driving toward the dreaded apartment. I could only hope that Bailey wouldn’t kill me as soon as he saw the chance.
When I unlocked the door and stepped inside, I was immediately greeted by Ken. By now I was kind of expecting the twisted feeling in my gut that came. “Hey, Tye,” he greeted me. “Thought you were sick?” I paused in the middle of tugging off my converse.
“I uh… got better?” I basically asked. Ken laughed and waved his hand dismissively.
“Well you got lucky. Bailey just had to leave ‘cause he got a call from AT.” Ken told me. Ken was acting so normal. It occurred to me that when he offered Arina a ride that’s all it was. A polite offer for a ride. I felt a little sick thinking how fake he was. Then again, Ace was the essence of fake. Yet he pulled it off a lot less annoyingly.
I finished pulling off my shoe and walked out to where everyone else was. “So what’s up?” I asked. Nico chewed noisily on some chips.
“We have to compose five songs in seven days. Editing and crap can come later,” he told me through bites.
“Just five? Is this like a mini album?” I asked. Nico shrugged.
“Somewhat. Can we just use Feather?” he asked. Feather was one of the songs we’d recently published. It was still kind of new so it’d count… right. No one protested. Nico ticked off his fingers, holding up four. “One down, four to go,” he said.
“Oh goodie,” Ace said sarcastically. “Four songs. That doesn’t sound like that much at all.” He blew out a sigh and slumped down into an armchair. “You know, normally people work for months on their comeback-thingy—“
“It’s not really a comeback,” Griffin cut him off. Ace rolled his eyes.
“Same difference. My point is, I’m feeling this is way too rushed to actually be good.” There was a slight pause and no one said anything. What was there to say? Ace continued, “Bailey and AT can’t really force anything on us and it’s not like they can just kick us off with all the support we have.”
Nico shot Ace a look. “I’m really not getting what you mean,” he said with a frown.
“Well, if we all agree, we can always just cancel this big deal. Just take part in the AT performance, but we don’t really need our own… big thingy.” Ace really… needed to work on his vocabulary.
Another silence.
Griffin pulled out a bag of chips and tossed it to Nico. He then sat down beside Nico. “No one’s really against it. And I thought you were excited.”
Ace shook his head. “No, I’m totally cool with it but first off, I’m soo not fine with Kayla and Richard thinking I would need plastic surgery. Second of all, I’m thinking about Tye here.”
I looked up, suddenly paying more attention to what they were saying. “What?”
“Like, are you okay with doing all this, man? I talked with Bailey and he said there’s gonna be photo shoots,” Ace glanced at Griffin as he said this, “And talk shows and a whole ton of repeated performances. And more.” He added. I shrugged.
“What Bales says is law right? What can I do?” I asked, avoiding a direct answer.
“Yeah, but… I think we can just cut it off if it’s too much.” Ace was being awfully considerate about how I felt here. No one else cut in. I guess they all noticed what a bastard I’ve become.
Thinking back, I wasn’t always so grouchy and shit. Before we made it big and when we first started out, I was just like the rest of them. But I don’t know… I hated all those clingy fans, how fake they were. I mean, half of them like us just because of our looks. Maybe I should shave my head and see how our fans react.
I paused before answering. “If we cancel this show… wouldn’t that be breach of contract?” I asked. Griffin fidgeted nervously as I said this. Throwing that phrase around, “breach of contract”, was strictly taboo between the five of us.
Ken pushed his glasses farther up his nose. “I’ll probably hate you for the rest of my life if you do this, but I think if this is pushing your comfort level, we should just cut it off.”
Wow. I didn’t know what to say. Ken always talked about how he wanted to make it worldwide before the five year mark- the usual time where music groups broke up. Anything we did could be one step closer to world fame.
“So are we gonna do this thing or not?” Ace asked, cutting to the chase. “If one of us is out, we’re all out.” Everyone’s heads turned to me.
“Yeah sure, whatever.” I said with a sigh. “I’m in.”
“Alright!” Ken beamed, slapping me hard on my back. I was the only real problem between us and now that I’d agreed, there was nothing to stop Hourglass from going all out.
It was nice that even though I was the leader, in times like this, Ace or someone could just take charge and lead us. Despite what it might’ve seemed like, I was no solo man and I’d need all the help I could get. And it was nice to have friends who could give me this help.
“Okay then,” I said, picking up a pencil which was lying randomly on the floor. “Let’s get started.”