Shades Of Love

Chapter 3

A/N : I know I took a lot of time to upload this chapter. Sorry! But there were a lot of things going on... I'll upload the next chapter quickly. :)

That's Brendan BTW. >>

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That was officially the weirdest conversation I had ever had. The fact that the person who I was conversing with was rude and unwelcoming just made it more embarrassing. And that person was not bad to look at too. Oh, who am I kidding! He was hot! Brendan Carmichael. That jerk just made it even more awkward for me. This is what happened.

“Hello,” the man standing in the doorway said. He was wearing a black suit with a crisp white shirt and a thin black tie. His dark brown hair was short and neat, which just made him even more yummy! His piercing hazel eyes were scrutinizing me. His arms were crossed and his jaw was chiselled.

“H – Hi,” I stammered, tucking a lock of hair behind my ears and looking down, my cheeks feeling warm.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” The man asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I – I’m Kat. Kat Demming. I’m a journalist from the Royalty magazine and I’m supposed to be following the band around for four months,” I explained. The man pursed his lips and stared at me. His stare sent chills down my back. I continued, “Umm, who are you?”

“Brendan Carmichael. Manager of the band,” He replied.

“Oh, hey.” I held out my hand for him to shake. Instead of taking it, he glared at me and said, “I can’t really say ‘I’m pleased to meet you’ Miss Demming because then I would be lying. And I don’t lie. All I can say is please stay within your limits and do what you have come to do. Just remember that you have not come here to make friends or have the best four months of your life because you’re such a big fan. And if you are done with your very bad imitation of Kesha, there are more people on this plane who would like to use the restroom.”

Wow! This guy was a bigger asshole than I had thought. How did Kyra and the rest of the band members put up with him? Maybe he wasn’t rude to them because, well, he got his big fat paycheck because of them.

“Mr. Carmichael, have you ever heard of the word ‘manners’?” I scoffed. Brendan raised his eyebrows, clearly amused. I shoved past him, and walked out of the restroom. I didn’t like Brendan at all. How was I supposed to spend four months with him?

I walked up the aisle to where everyone was sitting. I flopped down on the couch and put my head in my hands.

“Hey... what’s wrong?” Tess asked.

“I just had a very pleasant rendezvous with your asshole of a manager.”

“Brendan? He can be rude sometimes, don’t mind him too much. He doesn’t open up to everyone. Tyler and I used to have bets how long he could stay without talking to any of us unless it was necessary. But now he’s pretty open with us. Dan knows him best though. He’s just rude right now because he doesn’t know you. Once you get to know him, he’s sweet,” Kyra explained, flipping through her magazine.

“Sweet? Yeah, right!” I scoffed. Brendan was not sweet. If he was, he wouldn’t have been so rude.

I took out a magazine from my bag and flipped through it. A picture in my magazine caught my eye. Kyra and Tyler were sitting on a bench in a park, holding hands. Wait, were they dating? I didn’t know that.

“Kyra, look you’re in People magazine,” I announced. Everyone looked at me and I felt conscious. I had only known them for two hours or something. Kyra got up from the barstool where she was perched before and walked over to me.

“Where?” Kyra asked, snatching the magazine from me.

“Even I wanna see!” Tess cried. Kyra looked at the picture and all the excitement drained from her face. She gave a quick look toward Tyler and then handed the magazine to Tess who had an understanding look on her face when she saw the picture.

Something had happened between Kyra and Tyler. I didn’t ask, though. I hardly knew them. Just then, Brendan came out from the washroom and sat down on the couch opposite from me. He started reading a book. I needed a drink. So I walked to the bar. Kyle was standing on the other side. He smiled and said, “What can I offer you today ma’am?”

“Surprise me,” I said, smiling.

“What about.... a mimosa ma’am? That is champagne and chilled orange juice.”

“A mimosa  sounds excellent sir,” I replied. Kyle made the drink in five minutes and handed it to me. I took a sip. It was really good.

“So?” He asked with anticipation.

“It’s lovely,” as I said that, a slow smile spread across his face.

“A lovely drink for a lovely woman.” Wait, was he flirting with me? Was the lead singer of Shades Of Gray flirting with me? Woah! Just then the captain started announcing something.

“Hey everyone, we’re almost there. Around one hour left. Or one and a half hours tops. So, what’s up guys? Whatever, let me just get to the point. I’m gonna do it in the formal way. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re experiencing a bit of a turbulence. So please return to your seats and put on the seatbelts. You can take them off once the sign is off. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride fellas. Buh-bye.”

“What. Was. That.” This was the weirdest announcement I had ever heard on a plane before. This was all too new for me. But I was the only one who looked shocked. Everyone else just put on their seatbelts and continued doing whatever they were doing.

“Greg is our regular pilot and has become a good friend so he’s pretty casual with us,” Kyle explained, “I guess we should get back to our seats now.”

I drank my drink,placed it on the counter and started walking to the couch; just then the plane started shaking because of the turbulence. The place where I was sitting before – beside Kyra – was already taken by Tess. Ryan Watson – the drummer – had gotten up and was sitting on the other couch. Dan – the bodyguard – was nowhere to be seen. Kyle went and sat on the other side Kyra and Tyler sat next to Ryan. There was only one place left – between Tyler and Brendan.

I didn’t have any option but to sit there so I walked to that place and was going to sit when the plane jerked and I fell on something that felt like someone’s legs. I looked up to see a pair of hazel eyes and some creases on the forehead. Brendan had an annoyed expression on his face again. But his expression faded away quickly. Our faces were two inches away.

“I know you’re into me, but I don’t like desperate girls. Sorry,” he said, with a straight face. He had absolutely no expression on his face.

It was my turn to be annoyed.