Hate Burns || Drew Starkey

Chapter 17

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Alyssa

~A few days later~

It is only day five in quarantine, and everyone is beginning to lose their minds in Drew and Austin's apartment. It's currently 9 am, and Rudy and JD are passed out in the living room while Alyssa and Drew and comfortable next to each other in Drew's bed. 

The group's days have been spent watching Grey's Anatomy and playing many card games. They have all become a lot closer and bonded so much. As for Alyssa and Drew, tensions are high but in a good way. Their feelings for each other seem to grow by the minute, but neither has spoken about it to each other. 

To Alyssa, it seems obvious. It's hard not to fall for the silly tall, brown-haired boy. Especially when they have spent every waken moment together. She has never felt this strong emotion in the past week, but she's not sure she's complaining. Every night in Drew's arm leaves her feeling the safest she has ever been. 

"Morning," Alyssa hears as she slowly awakes from her sleep. She is meant face to face with a sleepy Drew. She instantly smiles at him as he tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"How did you sleep?" She asks quietly, closing her eyes again. Drew just mumbles in response and placed a kiss on her head as he gets out of bed.

"Come back. You're warm," She whines, stretching out for him. He laughs and shakes his head no, and starts walking out of the bedroom.

"I'm going to make breakfast, get up," He says. Alyssa rolls over and grumbles, yawning. Eventually, she gets up and grabs her phone walking out of his bedroom into the kitchen. As she walks into the kitchen, she is met with all three boys awake. She greets the other two and sits down on a barstool watching Drew.

"What is fun and exciting on the schedule today?" The girl asks the three boys.

"Well, we actually have a virtual interview the entire cast at 12, but other than that, probably nothing as usual," JD explains, which shocks Alyssa.

"An interview?? I was not aware of this," She says nervously.

"I thought I told you my bad," Drew says, laughing, apologizing. Alyssa frowns and gets up, not saying anything as she walks to his bedroom and shuts the door behind her. Not to her surprise, there is a knock roughly five seconds later.

"Lyss," Drew says concerned, but not barging in respecting her privacy. She sighs and opens the door. He walks in and shuts it after him as they both sit down at the edge of the bed.

"What's happening?" Drew asks, genuinely confused as well as concerned. This causes Alyssa to chuckle as tears form in her eyes from frustration slightly.

"Hey, hey Lyss talk to me," He says. As soon as he notices the tears in the girl's eyes, he wipes them with the pads of his thumbs which causes a smile to form on the girl's face.

"I'm nervous. I've never interviewed for such a popular show before. What if I make a fool of myself," She rambles on quickly. Drew frowns, instantly feeling bad for not warning her ahead of time.

"Would it have been easier if I hadn't forgotten to tell you," he asks quietly. Alyssa instantly shakes her head and grabs his hands, and smiles.

"No, I would've gotten worked up, either way, I promise," She reassures the worried boy. He nods, and she smiles at him.

"Our agents normally send us the questions that they're going to ask about an hour before, so that can help too," he says, which helps calm the girl down a bit.

"And I have to be included?" She asks, trying to squirm her way out of it.

"Yes. No getting out of this. At least this one is virtual, so you can dip your toes in the water and get used to this new life," he says, trying to help calm her down.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. So give me your best tips for an interview, please,"  She says, accepting her fate.

The four eat breakfast together and hang out until it's close to the interview.

"Here they texted me. Let's look at the questions," JD says after a bit of lounging around. They all collectively check their emails and receive the same email for the questions. After Alyssa browses through the questions and answers them in her head, she gets up and heads to Drew's room to get ready. 

She searches through her suitcase for anything remotely fancy and finds a decent shirt, not worrying about pants since it is virtual. As she starts her makeup, Drew walks into the bathroom.

"You know you don't need that, right?" He asks, looking at all the makeup spread out on his bathroom vanity. Alyssa looks at Drew through the mirror and smiles, shaking her head lightly.

"It makes me feel a little bit more pretty," She admits, looking down not making eye contact with Drew. She feels a presence behind her, and arms wrap around her torso.

"hey, look at me, you're beautiful 24/7, especially when you're in a deep sleep with your mouth hanging wide open," he starts sincere but then jokes about the girl's sleepy state. She gasps and smacks him as they both laugh. She continues her makeup as Drew sits on the edge of the bathtub watching her in admiration. Soon they both complete getting ready and meet the two other boys in the living room.

JD had worked on setting up the interview and placed the computer right in front of the natural light by the couch. They all sit down and wait for the interview to start. Alyssa is sat in the middle of Drew and JD as Rudy is on the other side of JD.

Alyssa shakes her leg nervously as the time gets closer to twelve. Drew notices and places his hand on her thigh, getting her to calm down.

"It's going to be okay, don't worry if you stumble over your words, I'll jump in okay," He reassures the girl, smiling as he fixes her hair behind her ear. They both smile at each other in adoration but quickly look away as they hear the interviewer connect.