The group was woken in a panic, the door to their hotel room opened and two men rushing in, specifically Ben and Tanner.
"For God sake, there you are," Ben sighed, Cassie sitting up on her elbows.
"What's going on?" She asks sleepily, the boys sleeping around her stirring around in the sheets.
"We thought we had lost you," Tanner sighed, "you didn't come back to the room last night and you didn't have your phone."
"You saw me leave to come here last night," Cassie brushes her hair away from her face, "you knew where I was."
"You left all night without taking your phone. Understand why I'd be concerned," Tanner speaks sternly, Cassie nodding.
"Sorry," Cassie mumbles, looking over at Blake who wakes up next to her.
"What're you doing staying in here anyway?" Ben asks, arms crossed over his chest.
"We had a sleepover," Cassie chuckles, not understanding why it had to be a big deal.
"We can't have the fans thinking anything's going on because you're staying over with Blake."
"Well the fans aren't in here, are they?" Cassie scoffs, rubbing her eyes, "plus there's two other guys in the room."
"Look, we're not late, we haven't slept in. Why are you mad at her?" Blake asks calmly, still half asleep.
"We're just trying to maintain how you look in the media, both of you," Ben tries to calm Cassie down, but she was just awoken abruptly and there was no chance of her simmering down unless she got a cup of coffee first.
"I appreciate that, but every girl with legs, gets accused of dating whatever band member they're spotted with. Fans like to conspire about who's with who. They find it fun. I was the same when I was younger," Cassie shrugs, getting her point across.
"We'll have to keep you away from the boys if that starts to happen. Joe doesn't have time to manage more than one band and their dating scandals."
"You're not going to be able to keep me away unless you fire me. You've hired me specifically to hangout with them and capture it all," Cassie rolls her eyes, Blake clearing his throat awkwardly next to her.
"Blake?" Ben raises his eyebrows, Blake innocently looking up at him, "anything to add?"
"It's kinda true," Blake speaks timidly, "I mean, I saw someone on Instagram complain about Cassie being around us too much but when someone mentioned her being around Tanner, they didn't care because he's not in a band."
"I rest my case," Cassie sighs, falling back onto her pillow, "I know how fans work. I am one."
"Right, and of who?" Ben snickers.
"The Vamps, all four of 'em, since Can We Dance, thank you," Cassie scoffs, "I get teased about it all the time and even Blake would get stroppy if I did as little as stand next to one of them. Think about how fans must feel about me working with all three of these guys, if they don't want them dating, even though we're obviously not."
"They should of hired you for the media office," Tanner chuckles, stopping when he looks over at a stern Ben.
"I was previously writing up the interior design magazines for the company I was hoping to be a designer for, but I was persuaded to quit that job and put my chances of being an interior designer at risk, just to come on this tour," Cassie looks over to Blake, although her words are aimed towards Tanner.
"Which is why we will not accept any more scrutiny towards her for being our friends and doing her job, harmlessly," Blake looks Ben dead in the eye, "you're in charge of us when Joe isn't around, but you wouldn't have been able to come on this tour with us if it wasn't for us helping you find Cassie, so, please."
"Cassie, go get ready," Ben mumbles, tongue toying the inside of his cheek.
"Can I count on you to not barge in?" Cassie scolds, collecting her dress from the floor before heading out the door.
"We'll talk to Joe about this later," Ben glares at Blake, who says one last thing before they leave,
"He'll just go over her contract, which has nothing in it about having to keep her distance, and only states that she must remain a professional relationship with us. I don't recall us crashing under the same blanket while she was on the clock."
"Enough, Blake. We'll see you at breakfast."
"Kinda badass how you stood up to Ben this morning," George admires as the group sit at breakfast, Cassie chuckling at his comment.
"I always got teased for being really close with Blake at school. Before we got close, I always hung out with people who were popular but would never talk to me, while Blake was fancied over because of what he did in the music department of the school. I'm used to standing up to myself," Cassie carelessly rambles, sipping on her cup of black coffee.
"Well that's not very fair," Reece frowns, stirring his straw around in his orange juice.
"Yeah, guys shouldn't do that," George sighs from disappointment.
"You're right, but it's usually girls who have the issue with it."
"Girls?" Reece furrows his eyebrows.
"Yeah, ever heard of them?" Cassie mocks, cocking her head off to the side.
"Shut up!" Reece argues through gritted teeth.
"What are you two bickering about this time?" Blake sighs, sitting down the the table.
"She called me gay," Reece slumped back into his chair.
"Oh, congratulations Reece. Proud of you," Blake smiles, placing his plate down in front of him.
"I'm not gay," Reece scoffs.
"I never said you were, Jesus," Cassie laughs, "gosh, you'd think it was a bad thing to be gay. It's not. Get over yourself."
"She was just teasing you for not acting on any of the attention you get from ladies," George informs Reece kindly.
"I think I picked up on that, hun. Thank you," Reece speaks bitterly.
"You can't be getting offended every time someone says something about you not getting girls. I swear a straight man being asked if they're gay makes them so defensive as if every once of testosterone they have is suddenly going to be drawn from their body," Cassie rolls her eyes.
"I've noticed that!" Blake chimes in, "this guy on the train one time got asked for his number by another guy, and he got so offended. Like, I would've still given them my number to hangout but let them know I like girls. He didn't have to make it a big deal."
"Gay guys are usually the really cute ones, so it's a compliment," George smiles, taking a sip of his water.
"That's the attitude, George," Cassie laughs, reaching over the table to high five him.
"Everyone's a little gay," Blake shrugs.
"I agree," Cassie nods, "see that girl over there? She's so hot."
"You're a little less that and a little more full on bicurious," Blake chuckles, "you hit on girls more than I do."
"Sometimes people have to hear that they have a nice body!" Cassie defends, "I don't care what I am, she's hot. Point blank. I'd kiss her."
"I'm gonna ask her for her number," Reece stands confidently, basically marching over to the ginger woman.
"So what are you, then? You clearly like women," Blake looks over at Cassie, asking from a place of care, rather than judgement.
"Labels are for supermarket isles. I'm just versatile," Cassie waves Blake off, eyeing Reece trying to ask a girl out.
"Oh no," Cassie slightly chuckles, a disappointed Reece walking back to the table.
"She has a girlfriend," Reece mumbles, sitting down at the table.
"Alexa, play I Found A Girl by The Vamps," Cassie sighs, Blake almost choking on his scrambled eggs by her joke.
"I'm really sorry, Reece. She was cute," Blake speaks to Reece genuinely, Cassie finding herself looking over at Blake with a slight feeling of jealously.
"But not as cute as you, obviously, Cass."