driver's license // r.h.

Chapter 22

I woke up to my phone buzzing. I sat up and grabbed my phone to see it was almost 8:00. I slept a decent amount last night, besides waking up and then staying up until 4:30. Max had texted me to let me know his team won last night and that he scored the winning touchdown. Sarah had sent me a video of his touchdown last night so I pretended I didn't already know. I texted him congratulations, feeling really proud of him. I heard movement from the kitchen, someone is already up.

I quietly slipped out of my bunk and walked to the small kitchen area in the front of the bus. No one else was there except for Jonah leaning against the counter drinking his cup of coffee. "Good morning Lexi," he gave me a smile and continued to take another sip out of his mug.
"Good morning to you too Jonah," I greeted, taking a seat at the small table.
"Have you looked outside yet?" he asked. I sat there and noticed the bus wasn't moving anymore. I leapt out of my chair to open the nearest curtain. I pulled it back to come face to face with a huge stadium. The light reflected off its tall structure and the electronic screens advertised the concert for tonight. I gasped, looking at all the empty parking spots in the giant lot that would be filled up tonight. Nerves filled inside me, but so did excitement. This was the first venue I would ever play at and it was huge!
"Oh my gosh," was all I could get out, admiring the view. Jonah chuckled and poured more coffee into his mug.
"Morning," Corbyn yawned. While me and Corbyn were in our pjs, Jonah was fully dressed and everything. He was normally the first one up and always got himself ready for the day. Literally, I don't understand how he does it. Corbyn peaks out the window and smiles once he sees the venue.
"Hey, I remember this one," Corbyn says. "We had a really good crowd."
"Morning guys," a tired Daniel walked in rubbing his eyes. The tour bus door opened and Jon walked inside.
"Good, a few of you are awake. Interviews start in about an hour, so go wake up the other boys," he said. Corbyn and Daniel immediately rushed back by the bunks with smirks on their faces. Moments later, Zach screamed like a little girl and fell out of his bunk with a thump. Corbyn and Daniel burst out laughing and walked back to us crying a little from laughing so hard. Shortly after, Jack and Ryan walked in followed by a grumpy Zach who gave Corbyn and Daniel the death glare.
"Okay now that everyone is here, I'll read today's schedule so listen up," Jon said. Jack elbowed Zach and he bumped the table. "Interviews start at nine o'clock. You guys will start off by having an interview with all seven of you for about twenty minutes and then another one for fifteen. Then, Alexis and Ryan will have three ten minute interviews with breaks in between while you boys have ten interviews for who knows how long," Jon said. The boys groaned except for Jonah who looked over at me and Ryan to give us an encouraging smile and thumbs up. My first interview! "Now hurry, we are on a tight schedule!" Jon clapped his hands together as we hurried off to get ready. "Man, I missed tour," Daniel said genuinely smiling.

The camera woman gave us a thumbs up and the host started introducing us. I was seated next to Zach and Ryan for this interview. Corbyn, Jonah, and Daniel were behind us and Jack was next to Zach. "Today, we are so lucky to have the Why Don't We boys," she gestured to them and they waved with a smile. She was average height and probably in her late 20's. Her hair was burnette and curled, while her face was caked with makeup. She wore red lipstick and had a high pitched voice. "And their tour openers, Ryan and Alexis!" she gestured to Ryan and I. Now, it was my turn to force a smile and wave. How were they not nervous? The first half of the interview was questions for the boys, which I was fine with. I watched as they smiled and talked with ease, cracking jokes along the way.

"So how do you guys know Ryan and Alexis?" she suddenly asked.
"Well, Ryan is my little brother," Zach said, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "And Alexis was introduced to us through our label."
"Why did you pick them to open for you guys?" she asked, propping her chin on her elbow.
"They are amazing artists and we wanted to take them with us," Daniel answered.
"I see, but why did you pick both of them? Why not just one of them?" she asked. What kind of a question was that? I could tell the boys were a little annoyed with her but they kept putting on a fake smile and answering her questions. After all, this was an interview.
"Because they are both insanely talented and we wanted both of them to come," Jonah answered, slightly annoyed.
"Now Alexis, I understand you get quite a bit of hate," she said, turning to me.
"I mean everyone does," Jack stepped in. I could tell she didn't like me.
"Yes...well, I was wondering how you deal with it all. I mean, I read some of your comments and they were really harsh."
"To be completely honest, I don't really read my comments. I don't want other people's approval to control my life," I answered truthfully. I felt Jonah's strong hand resting on my shoulder to give me comfort.
"I completely understand. How do you feel about being bodyshammed in your own comments and criticized for your voice?" I froze, not knowing how to reply to that. Did she not just hear my last answer?
"Like she just said, she doesn't read her comments," Ryan answered for me, squeezing my hand. By the fake tone of his voice, I could tell he couldn't stand her.
"Ah Ryan, how is your relationship with Kaylee going?" she asked in her false sweet voice.
"Good," he nodded.
"She is really pretty, don't you think so?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said again.
"For those of you who are watching and don't know who Kaylee is, she is Ryan's amazing girlfriend. She is a super well known model and is absolutely stunning. She is ranked one of the top models in the country and travels all the time to model for big brands. How do you feel about dating someone as impressive as that?"
"Yeah, she's great. I got really lucky," he scratched the back of his head. I looked down and noticed his hand was still on mine. I slipped it away and held my hands in my lap.
"How did you guys meet?" she asked.
"We met at an event and just hit off I guess," he said shrugging.
"Who made the first move?" she asked.
"She did," he answered.
"Good for her! So Alexis, how do you feel about Kaylee?" she asked. Startled by the question, I looked up at her.
"Uh...I like her. She's been a really good girlfriend to Ryan," I lied.
"I see. How do you feel about her fans attacking you for getting in the way of their relationship and calling you some...names?" she asked. I knew exactly what names she was referring to. I was stunned by the question, was this normally how interviews go?
"First off, her fans have nothing to worry about because I have a boyfriend," I responded. "Second, we are just friends, and I don't see him like that." The word 'friends' was forced out of my mouth and sent a pain to my heart. I hated lying knowing I had completely fallen for him.
"Oh, I wasn't sure if you two were still together. I mean, he posts a lot of pictures with other girls all the time," she said. Why is she asking these kinds of questions?
"Yeah, we are coming upon three months actually," I said, faking a smile to hide how insecure I felt.
"We actually have another interview to get to, so thanks for your time," Jonah said politely before standing up to leave before she could protest. I mumbled a thanks as well and followed him.

Once we were all far enough down the hallway he stopped us and turned to me to give me a hug.
"I'm so sorry you had to deal with that, especially for your first interview. No one should ever have to be treated like that," he said stroking my hair.
"It's okay," I whispered, silently crying into his chest.
"It's not okay, she was rude to you for no reason," Ryan said angrily.
"You handled it so well, I was so impressed," Daniel said comfortingly, rubbing my back.
"Just know, whatever she put in your head isn't true. She is one of the few people who are unfortunate enough to not see you for who you are," Jack said. I pulled away from my hug with Jonah to face the other boys.
"This interview should be up in a few hours. You just have to keep your head up and move past it," Corbyn said. I nodded, I don't know what I would do without them!
"This next one should be more fun anyways. These people are so sweet and come up with a fun new game for us to play every time!" Zach said to cheer me up. I wiped my last tear from my check and put on a smile. I could see them grinning, happy to see me smile, before we walked down the hall to our next interview.

Just as Zach had said, this next interview was so much fun! We did a couples yoga challenge and Daniel and Corbyn both tied with the most points. We took turns partnering up to try different yoga poses. If you and your partner could do it, you each got a point. After each round, we switched partners. The people there were so incredibly nice and made me forget about my horrible first interview. Although I wasn't the best at yoga, I still had such an amazing time!

After the yoga interview, the boys were escorted to their next interview while me and Ryan stayed in the same room as the next group of people came in to interview us. Our first two were pretty much only about the process behind writing and producing our song and each of our EPs. It was nice to talk about how far we have come so far and not be asked any awkward personal questions. "So let me get this straight, you moved to LA, wrote and recorded your first EP, and collabed on a song in less than TWO MONTHS?" the man asked me shocked. We were almost done with our final and third interview and so far it has been like the last two, which I was fine with.
"Yeah basically," I laughed.
"That's impressive, you go girl! So I wanted to end this interview with a few questions fans tweeted me," he said.
"Shoot," Ryan nodded at him.
"First, when did you guys write this song?" he asked.
"I'm pretty sure it was in January," he scratched his neck.
"Oh wow, so not too long after you two met!" he said. "The next one is: how are you two feeling about your first show tonight?"
"Nervous," I admitted, "but I'm also really excited."
"Me too," Ryan agreed. He nodded to show he understood.
"Ah, that's normal for most artists before their first show. Fans want to know if we will be getting anymore collabed songs from you two in the future?"
"I mean, I'm down," Ryan says, giving me a smile.
"Me too, we will just have to wait and see," I said shrugging with a smile.
"Well fans think you two sound amazing together! With that being said, the last question is the most asked one," he starts. "Have you guys dated or have there at least been feelings caught?" he asked.
"Oh, um," I started, not sure how Ryan wanted us to respond to this question. Do I admit I caught feelings for him?
"We did not date, but I did catch feelings, I don't know about Lexi though," he said, looking at the ring on his hand. The shocked look I had on my face must have been caught on camera and at that moment, I didn't know what to say or do. My heart was beating so fast and I fought hard to contain my happiness. I didn't know if he still had feelings for me, but I knew he had them at one point, and that was all I needed.
"I did too," I admitted, blushing and looking at my feet.