The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

48. Beach House

There is something about airports that always mesmerized me. Maybe it was the fact there were people from all over the world walking around. Or that you can go anywhere you want from here, I don't know. I just know that I was smiling the whole walk from the plane to the parking lot, where we were going to be picked up. We walked outside and followed Katy, she knew where we had to be. Two SUVs were parked in front of us and my brows shot up. Nice. They were going to bring us to our hotel. Elliot rolled his eyes, walked past us and shoved his bags into the arms of the driver, before getting in. Marcus, Charlotte and me all looked at his ridiculous behaviour. The driver put his bags in the car and we handed him ours. "Well, have fun kids!" Hayley said while stepping into the other car with the other mentors." Great. Being in a car with Elliot.

We were driving just outside the city and Marcus and Charlotte were almost glued to the window, pointing to the palm trees and beaches. I must admit, it's beautiful. But it's nothing new for me. We left the city a few minutes ago and I sighed in relief. The hotel wasn't in the city, but outside. So the chance I'll meet my father is now less high. "Sir, can I ask you something?" Charlotte asked to the driver. "Of course." He said with a genuine smile. "Can you tell me where our destination is?" She asked and I grinned. I'd like to know too. "I'm sorry miss, but I've been told not to tell you." He said with a smile. Charlotte groaned and sat back in her seat. I chuckled and shook my head. I looked outside, watching the familiar buildings pass us by.

"We're almost there." The driver said and my head snapped up. I looked outside and saw that we were driving near the beach, passing beautiful beach houses. It looked beautiful and exotic. He pulled up a driveway of the most awesome house I've ever seen. A typical and very luxe beach house with lots of palm trees around. It just looked so... Tropical. Marcus squealed and Charlotte and I chuckled. Marcus was really fun. He was a bit silent, but I guess that's just because he doesn't know us. "So... What do ya think?" I heard someone from behind us say. We turned around and I was scared shitless when I saw a camera crew standing there, with all their camera thingies pointed at us. I didn't know they were going to film us? But whatever. It's kinda cool actually. "It's amazing! It's definitely the most beautiful house I've ever seen and I can't wait to see the inside!" Marcus said while clapping his hands. I nodded. "I can definitely see us staying here a couple of weeks." I said and Charlotte agreed. The camera man nodded and went to Elliot who looked like he actually enjoyed his life for once. The driver had taken all our bags out of the car and laid it next to it. "Thank you." I thanked the man. "LEGO!" Charlotte yelled while grabbing her bags and jogged towards the house. I quickly grabbed my bags but Marcus bumped his hip against mine so I fell out of balance and he could grab his stuff earlier. "Traitor!" I yelled and he giggled, running after Charlotte to the house. I quickly grabbed my things and walked after them. We probably looked like idiots, trying to run with all our bags, towards the house. We walked into the house and I couldn't believe my eyes. Everything was just so... Vacation like. I don't know. It was just perfect. We walked around and eventually came into the kitchen, where the judges sat around the huge kitchen island, all with a smoothie in their hands. Typical. I rolled my eyes and sat my things down. Marcus ran towards Katy and hugged her. "Thank you so much! This is amazing!" He said and Katy laughed. "Yea, seriously. This place is awesome." I said and Hayley smiled. "Don't thank us, thank the producers!" She said and I shrugged. The camera crew came into the kitchen, with their cameras still turned on. "Thank you producers!" Charlotte said into the camera and a few people chuckled. "So... Let's see who's going to stay in which room." Ed said while he gestured to the stairs. Charlotte and I quickly looked at each other before running upstairs, Charlotte following us. Elliot just had to be mature and walked upstairs. There was a beautiful chandelier hanging on the ceiling and there was a hallway with four doors. "Rooms on the first floor are ours!" Hayley yelled from downstairs with an evil laugh. We quickly ran to the stairs, towards the second floor. It looked the same as the first floor. I opened the door, revealing a beautiful bedroom with a huge bed and all white and light blue colours. There was a private bathroom and a small walk-in closet. I went to the next room, where I saw Charlotte running to the bed, jumping down on it. "I CALL DIBS!" She yelled. I looked the same as the first room. I quickly looked at the other rooms and saw that they were exactly the same, and Elliot and Marcus already claimed it. Well, I guess I'll have to take the first room then? I smiled happily. I walked around in my room a little bit, getting used to it. I opened the curtains and saw that I had a small balcony. When I opened the doors and stepped outside I gasped. The clear blue ocean was in front of me, creating a beautiful view. Palm trees surrounded the house, and I really felt like I was on a vacation. "I'm getting my bags!" I yelled to no one in particular. I ran downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed my bags. Ed, Katy, Luke and Hayley weren't there anymore, so they probably went to their rooms. I groaned while dragging my heavy bags up the stairs. "You need help hon? Don't want to ruin your pretty nails now do we." I heard above me and saw Marcus standing there with a bright smile. I chuckled. "Yes please." I said and he took a bag from me. "What's in here? Your whole makeup collection?" He asked and I rolled my eyes. "You know I don't use a lot of makeup." I said and he nodded. "Yes, you're very natural. And natural is good. I've seen girls with all these terrible colours on their faces... That's just a big no-no." He said and I smiled. We walked into my room and set the bags on the bed. "Well, I'm going to unpack myself. Laters." He said and I said a quick goodbye. I unzipped my bags and started unpacking.

After 15 minutes I was done. I grabbed my sunglasses and walked to the balcony. The railing was very thick and made of wood, so why not sit on it and let my feet bungle over the edge? If my mother saw me like this... She'd freak out. I was looking out over the ocean, really enjoying the sun. "What the hell? Skyler?" I heard a voice beneath me say. I looked under me and saw Luke standing there. on the balcony under mine. "Get off of there! Are you crazy? You could fall and die!" I chuckled. "Okay MOM." I stood back on the balcony and hung over the edge, so talking with Luke could be easier. "This place is so amazing." I sighed while looking at the ocean again. In Sydney I didn't live near the ocean and I didn't really go often... "I know." Luke said. "COME ON GUYS! LET'S GO SWIMMING!" I heard Katy yell from the hallway. "I better go change." I said while walking back into my room. I walked to the small walk-in closet and looked at the different bikini's I brought with me. Black would probably make my skin look very pale... And pink was just... No. I decided to go with a navy blue and white striped bikini and put it on. I wrapped a big black towel around me and walked out of the room, meeting Charlotte there. We both grinned before walking down the stairs. "Ladyfriends! Wait for me!" We heard Marcus yell and we both laughed. We waited for a minute before he came walking out if his room with the bright smile he always seemed to have. We walked downstairs and walked through the back doors outside. It was beautiful. There was a big porch with beach chairs on it, and a few steps lower was a pool. Sure, why not put a pool 10 metres away from the beach? A few steps lower there was a path that led to the beautiful beach with white sand and blue water.

After 'swimming' with Charlotte and Marcus for a while we decided to get a tan. So after I've been laying in the sun for what felt like hours I decided it was enough. For now. I'd only get more lazy if I stayed here. I looked around on the beach and saw that there was a sort of... Mini jungle next to the house? Whadefuq. We're just outside LA. I'm pretty sure that's not normal. Eh. whatever. "Hey guys, wanna check the mini jungle out?" I said while pointing at it behind me. Charlotte hummed, but didn't do anything. "I'm gonna stay here for a bit longer..." Marcus said and Char nodded. "Same." She said lazily and I chuckled. "Well, I'm gonna check it out. See ya later!"

When I walked towards it I saw that there was a small path leading into it. I grabbed a pair of flip-flops first. I didn't want to step on rocks or anything like that with my bare feet... I followed the path further into the 'jungle'. No, I wasn't like one of those stupid chicks in movies who are going the wrong way and end up being eaten by a group of angry gorillas or something like that. There was only one path, and I was following it. Luckily there weren't a lot of animals. At least no mosquitos. Gosh, I hate those things. I only heard some birds and it was very relaxing. I heard a branch snapping behind me and turned around quickly. But I saw nobody. An animal, or...? Aw hell nah. This was like one of those terrible cliche horror stories. But what the hell am I going to do? I walked pretty far already... I decided to head back. Whatever made the branch snap would get me anyways, if it was like the movies. I chuckled at my weird thoughts. I walked back until I was stopped by a large hand clamping over my mouth. I wanted to scream, but the sounds were muffled by the hand. What do I do? Kick him in the balls? It was definitely a him, because he had large hands. Just when I was about to kick him in his balls he took a step back and I lost my balance. The man was quick enough to catch me, even though I didn't know why he'd do that. I closed my eyes tight, not wanting to see what was going to happen next.