Blackmailed Into The Band

Search Party; No Balloons Allowed

" I have to go home," Josh said as soon as we found him.

" What? We just got here," Aidan said.

After our radio interview, with the excuse that Josh felt sick and had to leave, we found him outside the guy's bathroom, sitting against the wall with his phone pressed against his ear.

" My sister is gone. And I know you guys don't understand-"

" I'd understand," Phillip sighed. " If anything happened to my little sister, I'd be... Devastated."

" So what do we do?" I asked.

Gavin came around the corner and sighed. " Good job on the interview! Your YouTube views have exploded and everyone wants to hear more-" He stopped talking. " Is everything okay?"

" My sister is missing again," Josh said as Aidan held him up.

" Drea?"

Josh nodded. " I have to go home and help-"

" You can't go home," Gavin said.

Carter nodded. " If you go home maybe you could be the next victim," He said. " You're safer with us."

" I just feel like I really need to be there with my parents," He said before crying into Aidan's shoulder.

" If you go home and went missing along the way, it'd be nearly impossible to track you down," I said.

" But Drea's missing again, she's probably lost and-"

He started crying harder.

" Josh, I was told that Deborah ran away," Gavin said.

Josh's eyes widened. " She- She what?"

" She left on her own," Gavin frowned.

" What? Why? Why would she do that?"

" Perhaps she knows things that no one else does. I've seen Drea. She's smarter and much more clever than she lets on," Aidan said. " I trust her to be safe on her own, whatever she's doing, she probably has a reason for."

Josh nodded, wiping his tears away and asking for permission to dial his parents again.

" Alright. And then we'll go back to my place," Gavin said. " Take your time kid."

Josh nodded and we walked towards the lobby and sat down as he called his dad. Aidan was with him the entire time and I started seeing a pattern. Every time someone cried, Aidan was there to comfort them.

" Okay, I told them I wouldn't go home," Josh said. " But I feel awful."

" It's okay. Drea knows what she's doing," Aidan assured.

We left the radio tower and found Gavin parked in the front, talking to a female his age. They were holding hands and he looked really happy. That was his wife.

" Hey kids! Meet my angel," He said as she turned to face us.

She had straight light brown hair and large brown eyes. What caught everyone's attention was her face. Half of it was burnt off and permanently distorted. There was a huge scar going from her eye to her chin.

" Hi," We all said.

" Hello," She said shyly.

" This is my Eva," He said, taking her small hand and waving at us. She laughed and pulled away.

" Nice to meet you. I'm Carter, that's Aidan, dark hair is Phillip, and the tall one is Josh. The chick over there is Alexia," He said.

We all said hi again.

" Well, let's go home," Gavin said, motioning for us to get in the car.

We all crammed into the back of a minivan, complaining the entire way home and making Eva laugh. She had such a pretty laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was night time and I helped Eva cook for everyone. Carter had also helped. After eating a homemade lasagna, we all went to our rooms ready to fall asleep.

Apparently some of our Californian supporters wanted to meet us and Gavin had made an arrangement for a small meet up tomorrow.

I brushed my hair once more before checking my phone and texting my parents goodnight. I was cold, despite the fact that California was abnormally warm all the time.

As I started dozing off into the cloud-like bed, my door opened and Aidan stood there, holding his pillow.

" I can't sleep," He said, bowing his head nervously.

I sat up. " Come on," I said, shielding my eyes from the light outside.

He closed the door and settled down beside me, thanking me for letting him stay.

" It's okay. I couldn't sleep without you either," I said, wondering why I let those words come out of my mouth.

" Hmm... I wonder why," He teased before getting serious. " I think I'm just worried about Josh. I feel like... He's going to go off by himself."

" I doubt he'd do that." I said, snuggling my head into his chest.

He hummed in appreciation. " You're right. He has better sense than that."

We stayed quiet for a few minutes before he spoke again. " Your hair smells nice."

" Thanks," I said, finding his hands under our blanket. " I feel like you... You're always there for all of us. And sometimes no one's there for you. Must be hard," I said and yawned.

" Don't think about it like that. Go to sleep," He said, pressing his lips against my cheek.

I returned the favor, taking notice of how smooth his skin was and how he blushed. I really liked sleepy Aidan.