4*TOWN

Reprisal

Late one night, Jesse's in bed when he recieves a call from Raya. He answers the phone, surpressing a yawn.

"What's up?"

"Hi, Jesse! I hope I didn't call at a bad time."

"I mean, it is pretty late. But it's cool, I wasn't doing anything."

"Good, good. Uh, I would have called earlier, but I got a little busy."

Raya laughs. Jesse rolls his eyes, but doesn't say anything and waits for her to go on.

"So, you guys have a big day tomorrow. A few interviews, a meet & greet, and of course the RMAs. I'll be there to pick you guys up at eight."

"Alright. Is that all?"

"Y- yeah. So... See you tomorrow! Bye!"

Raya hangs up abruptly. Jesse goes to find the other guys and tell them the news, which they should already know for the most part. When he gets downstairs, he sees T and Tae Young sitting on the couch, a blanket over the two of them. The lights are all off, and it's completely dark except for the glow coming from the TV. Jesse looks at the screen, and sees that they're watching A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Jesse comes up behind the couch and puts his hands both on one of their shoulders. T and Tae Young both jump away, Tae lets out a yelp while T punches at Jesse.

"Woah, calm down! I'm not Freddy Krueger."

Jesse moves out of the way, and T starts laughing.

"Dude, that was a good one!"

"I wasn't trying to scare you. Raya just called and said she's picking us up at eight in the morning, I was coming to tell you guys."

Jesse explains.

"Oh, right. That radio music award thing..."

Tae sighs, leaning his head on the back of the couch.

"Yeah. Also we have some interviews and a meet and greet before that, so you two better get to bed."

"But Jesse! We're not even done with our movie."

T whines, gesturing toward the TV. Tae looks up at Jesse with a smile, trying to help with the convincing.

"It's already midnight, and we all have to wake up early."

"We are responsible adults. We can stay up for as long as we want."

T says. Jesse scoffs,

"Yeah, responsible isn't the word I'd use. Don't complain when you guys are tired in the morning."

Jesse says before heading back to his room.

☆

In the morning, everyone is getting ready for the day at the same time. Raya is already there, waiting for them in the living room.

"Guys, you have ten minutes to get to the car!"

Raya yells and goes outside. Upstairs, T is rummaging through his closet as Z sits on his bed.

"Ugh, where is it?"

"What is it again that you're looking for? We gotta get going."

"I can't- aha!"

T pulls out a black shirt with colorful pictures and writing.

"Aaron Z's #1 fan..."

Z reads the shirt out loud, and T laughs as he puts it on.

"Is this the best shirt you've ever seen or what?"

"It's definitely... You."

"And what's even better..."

T pulls out a second, identical shirt, but instead of having Z's name and pictures on it, it has his own.

"I got you one too! So we can match!"

Z laughs as he takes the shirt from T.

"Wow. You are so adorable, you know that?"

When the Aarons are finally done getting dressed, they head outside and into Raya's car.

"Alright, the first interview is on live television, so don't say anything crazy."

Everyone looks at T.

"Oh, come on, guys! When have I ever... Okay, I guess I see it. Whatever."

"...Anyway, the second one is like your usual ones. It'll be edited and all that, and probably end up on MTV or something. After that you all have the meet and greet, which you should know how that goes by now."

"And then we win the award for best music video."

Robaire cuts in.

"Uh, yeah. About that, they already told me what award you guys are winning. Do you wanna hear it now, or do you want the surprise?"

Everyone agrees on waiting until the show to find out what award they've won. Pretty soon, they're parked in front of a tall building for their first interview.

"Remember, this is gonna be live. Be careful with what you say."

"Got it. See you!"

Jesse waves at Raya before leaving with the rest of the guys.

☆

"So, Robaire! Everyone's been dying to know, who's the lucky girl that Justin Timberlake caught a black eye for?"

The interviewer asks, and the audience 'ooh's. Robaire rolls his eyes, he's already gotten this question way too many times.

"There's... Uh..."

Robaire looks at Tae Young, and then back at the interviewer.

"I can't say."

"Ah, what a bummer!"

Tae frowns, looking away from Robaire. The rest of the interview goes smoothly, with all of the usual questions about what inspires them, their love lives and so on.

When they get back in the car, though, tension starts to rise between two certain bandmates.