Transitions

I Can't Believe I'm Finally Meeting You

I sent him a quick text back and felt my fingers twitching from the anxiety.

I'm excited to see you guys too. You'll never guess who is on our flight. The Vamps! Their supporting act is with them too. I need to vent to you the second we get home. Its urgent xx

Luke and I carried on a conversation via iMessage for a while until the flight attendant finally came around asking everyone to get ready to land. I squealed with delight and send Austin to take my seat to talk to the boys about me touring with them. I sat with my new friends and we talked about where they were touring, what dates they would need me to sing with them and what I needed to do. As we finally touched down on the ground it was around 10AM in Sydney and it was hot!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to bright, sunny, and hot Sydney, Australia. We appreciate you flying with American Airlines, and we hope you enjoy your time in Sydney. We have two special passengers on board today that I think deserve a round of applause since they have officially been adopted and are finishing their move to Sydney! Give them a round of applause everybody!" the pilot cheered through the speakers of the plane.

I heard clapping from all ends of the plane. When we pulled into the gate, I stood up from my seat, grabbing my belongings and following everyone off the plane. I had already given all 8 boys my iMessage code and all my other contact information. I was stoked since they'll be in Australia for 6 months doing touring and other press and everything, I have lots of chances to work with them. We ran down the jet way and when I got to the bottom of the ramp, I saw a familiar face standing by the door. My jaw dropped, it was Luke. I ran towards him squealing and he greeted me with open arms.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I'm finally meeting you." I whispered, while hugging him tightly.

His chest was vibrating from him laughing. I looked up at him and smiled. I heard another squeal as Mackenzie ran and bear hugged me and Luke. He started laughing.

"It's nice to finally meet you girls as well. Come on, Calum is at Macca's getting some food for you girls. We know how bad airplane food is. Where's Ash and Mikey?"

"They are back talking to the boys from the Vamps and their supporting act. They're going to be in Australia for 6 months and want me to tour with them!" I screamed in excitement.

Luke smiled, "That's wonderful! I'll text Ash and let him know where we are. Let's go."

We followed Luke through the airport down to baggage claim and Macca's where Calum was waiting. He already had our suitcases somehow; I guess one of the boys told him what our bags looked like. The table he was sitting at had different sandwiches and drinks scattered across it. My sister and I ran towards Calum to hug him as well. We all sat down and picked some food while waiting for the rest of the crew to come down.

"Cal, you'll never believe the opportunity that Riley was just given." Luke started to explain.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at me, "And what would that be young lady?"

"The Vamps and The Tide are touring around Australia doing press and concerts. The Tide, which is their supporting act, wants me to be their supporting act on tour!"

They all shouted as the other boys came down the escalator laughing, "Riley! Take this opportunity! We can home school you if you want to take part in this. You're almost 18 so it wouldn't matter either way. You'd be set to graduate in the fall anyways. We're on break until June anyways, I mean we'll be doing some writing here and there, but we can arrange stuff. Until then, let's go! I want to show you guys your new home!"

We brought our luggage out to another van that was waiting for us. A man in his late 30s came around the side of the van to put our luggage in the trunk. We got in the van with the other boys and we headed out of the airport lot, waving goodbye to our new friends. I sat in the front row with Luke. Calum was riding shot gun and Michael and Ashton were in the row behind us. I was texting Nate back and forth about if I tour with them, what songs I should sing etc. Michael looked over my shoulder.

"Who could you possibly be texting now? It's 9PM in America right now." he asked, as I gave him a mind your own business glare.

He looked back at me with a concerned expression, "Is everything okay, Riley? You've been acting weird ever since we got off the plane. I know it kind of confused you seeing Austin again since it's been 4 years, but is there something else going on I should know about besides them wanting you to tour with them? Are there any like, feelings towards someone?"

I rolled my eyes and brushed his concern off; trying to not go down the path I knew it was going to go down if I spoke my mind. I liked Michael, of course, however, Nate was closer to my age and I knew how Austin's mind worked, he would do everything in his power to look after his buddy. I looked at Luke and whispered for him to come closer so I could whisper in his ear.

"Nate from The Tide has a crush on me. Austin, whom I competed against on the X-Factor, made a deal with me. I could tour with them as a supporting act, if I went on a date with Nate, who's my age. I don't want to hurt Michael's feelings since I know he has a thing for me as well. I feel like I've led him on..." I whispered in Luke's ear, watching him nod in acknowledgement.

He looked at me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight, "You do what you think is right. Don't worry about how he reacts. Personally, if you really want to date someone, we would prefer them to be your age. Michael is 3 years older than you, which with some people, especially due to the band, will not go over well. We'll talk up in the game room when we get to the house and talk about it later."

After talking to Luke for a little while longer, we pulled in a driveway. The house was fairly large, but it was beautiful. It was a light blue house that looked to be at least 3 stories. I could see balconies sticking out of the side of the house. We got out of the van and made our way to the front door. Luke walked up and unlocked the door, pushing it open. We stepped in and I looked up to see that it was a 3 story house. Each wall was a different color and plastered with different rock and punk rock band posters. Luke led my sister and I up the first set of stairs.

"Mine and Ashton's rooms are on the same floor as yours, and Calum and Michael's bedrooms are downstairs. The 3rd floor has different rooms, one is a studio, another is a practice room, and then there's a game room."

He led us down the hallway to two rooms that were side by sides. I opened the door and walked in. 3 of the 4 walls were a light purple, but the one wall on the same side of the door had doodles drawn with chalk on it. There were fairy lights hung on that same wall and some clothespins so I could hang pictures. A neatly made bed with a silver blanket and tie dye sheets was centered under the lights. I smiled at the decorations. I looked on the wall to my left and saw a sliding door. I walked over and opened the door to reveal the bathroom and on the other side of the bathroom was my sister's room. I stepped through the bathroom into the other room. My sister's room was simple and pink. There was a bed up against the wall with a white headboard and some packets about the dance school in Sydney were on the deep red desk sitting in the corner, with a brand new laptop on top. My sister squealed in delight when she opened the closet and found a whole bunch of dance practice outfits from shorts and crop tops to leotards and jazz shoes. There was a new pair of black converse sitting next to her jazz clothes. I ran over to my closet to see if I had anything waiting inside. I opened the doors slowly and gasped when I turned the light on. Inside the closet I found multiple outfits, from band t-shirts and skinny jeans, to track shorts and jerseys. Ironically two pairs of track shorts had the 5SOS Safety Pin heart logo. There were 3 pairs of converse in different colors, a skateboard and a few different snap backs. I looked over in the other corner and found a desk similar to my sisters, but in white, and a brand new laptop sitting on the desk and a printer with a stack of photo paper.

"Abbi told us you were really big into photography, so we made sure you had everything you needed." Ashton piped up from the doorway.