Under the stars || James McVey

chapter three

A blond and brunette glided through the door effortlessly. From the hair to the make up, clothes to the shoes and handbags, the two girls standing in front of me knew how to make an impression. Their dresses hugged their bodies perfectly, without them being overly tight. Their hair hung low and long, the blonde's curled immaculately down below her breasts to her waistline and the brunette's straightened but volumised to give the hair a thicker look, and longer than the other girl's.
I smiled and embraced them in a tight hug, all of us giggling like school children. "I can't believe you came!" I screeched at them.

"Of course we'd come, you daft shit." The blonde spat at me in a mocking tone.

"Chloe, you specifically told me that you had better things to do that dot around and listen to grown ups talk about their life problems whilst drunk and depressed" I rephrase back to her. Chloe had never been one for parties that did not involve partying, or 'raving' as she calls it.

"She's right, Chlo" said the other girl. Mags was the more reasonable out of the two of them, very practical minded and often a wisdom genius. "You said you'd rather drink bleach"

"That was until I realised that I have nothing better to do on a Friday night, because the only two friends I have are boring sods that care more about their careers than actual life." She huffed at me, meaning that the snide comment was directed at me. "Now I need some booze if I'm gonna stay here and listen to you moan all night about your perfectly miserable life"
I laughed sarcastically and lead my two idiots of best friends into the living room, where Chloe stopped on her tracks, grabbed my arm and yanked me through into the kitchen, just to scream at me.

"What the FUCK is James McVey doing in your living room?"

I stumbled in her grasp and looked at her bewildered. "Chloe, what the hell? Let go of me!" I scream at her.
She releases my arm and continues to stare at me, her glare getting more painful by the second. "Who's James McVey?"

Chloe and Mags gasp in unison and drag me back to the doorway of the living room, where Chloe points towards the blue eyes blonde boy conversing with my brother and his sister. I gape at both my best friends as they pull me back into the kitchen and stare at me once more, waiting for answer. "That's James. He's the son of a friend of my mother's." I say, still wondering what the big deal was. "Why? Do you know him?"

"Know him? Do we know him?" Chloe scoffs whilst pacing the kitchen floor. "Do you have any idea who that is?!" She yelps at me.

"Should I?"

They both just glare at me, the mouths wipe open. I felt under attack and I've no idea why.

Mags walks up to me and puts her arm around me gently. "Honey, that's James McVey, you know, from The Vamps."

"The who?"

"The vamps." Mags repeats to me.

"Who's the vamps?"

"You listen to their music, you dip shit"

"Chloe!" Mags exclaims a look of horror on her face, which pretty much mirrored mine.

"What?! She's a complete moron. Who doesn't know what band they're listening to all the time?"

"Me, obviously." I say under my breath.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

After much scrutiny off my two best friends, my darling brother decided he'd bombard through the kitchen door with a rather handsome curly haired boy on his tail holding out his arms in case my brother happened to fall on him again. He looked up from my brother and raised his eyebrows when Mags started screaming at Josh for throwing up over her shoes.

I tried as hard as I could but my laughter wouldn't stay down much longer. I burst out laughing at Josh's stunned expression as Mags kept screaming "You stupid idiot! Look at what you've done!" She ran out of the room in a huff and Josh stumbled after, slurring what I assumed to be an apology.
I hadn't realised I was still laughing until Chloe stamped on my foot causing me to yelp. "What the heck was that for?" I growled at her. That's when I saw she wasn't looking at me, but at the four boys standing on the opposite side of the kitchen island. Her mouth dropped and I just looked at her. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Katie, what's going on out there? There's a girl screaming and attacking your brother." James' voice snapped me from my mental conversation with my insanely mortified best friend.

"Oh, he threw up on her shoes." I shrug at him and started laughing again, until Chloe decided to stamp on my foot again. "Ow! Stop doing that!"

I turned to see the curly haired boy giggling at me. I took a moment to take him in. His chocolate brown eyes reminded me of Josh's; they shined under the yellow glow of the lights and sparkled slightly when he smiled. He was small compared to the lads beside
him but so was I, and I couldn't help thinking what it would be like standing next to him. The other two lads were also stunningly good looking. The tallest had a light blonde hair, like James, that was perked up at the front in a sort of quiff, but messier than most. The other had a sort of mix of blonde and brown hair that was spiked up all over the place, almost in resemblance to a hedgehog. He also had a strange beauty about him, and like the rest, he fit in with his skinny jeans and baggy t-shirt.

"He does seem a little drunk." The curly haired boy laughed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head in a sigh, noticing that Chloe was still staring at the boys and me with a strange expression on her face.

"Chloe, you ok love?" I say, nudging her slightly.

"You're The Vamps" She states to the four boys in front of us. I turn and stare at them too. So, these are the mysterious Vamps.

All of them laugh on unison and the taller boy introduces himself politely. "I'm Tristan, and this is Connor, Bradley and James." Connor being the spiky haired hedgehog and Brad being the one with chocolate curls. Bradley smiles at me and I return it automatically.

Seen as Chloe wasn't doing much talking, which was unusual considering the girl could talk for England, I had to reply for us both. "I'm Katherine and this is Chloe. The psychotic girl outside is Maggie, and they're both very big fans of yours." I chuckled at myself but I got a glare off Chloe, so I stopped.

"And you're not a fan?" Tristan asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Well- "

"She doesn't know who you are!" Chloe exclaims beside me before I got chance to get my words out. I creased my eyebrows at her and she shrugged, like to say 'What?'

"Ha ha, well that's different." James laughs with the boys just as Mags walks back in barefooted and scowling.

"I can't believe I ever fancied your brother. He's ridiculous!" She screeches before stopping in her tracks and dropping her mouth at us.

"Guys, this is Maggie. Mags, meet The Vamps" I say calmly to her. She composed herself quickly and walks over smiling. I giggle and sarcastically whisper in Chloe's ear, "At least she didn't loose herself", which resulted in a shove into the island and a newly formed bruise in the morning.
I locked eyes with Brad as I pushed myself back up off the counter, he grinned and winked at me, and I could feel the heat burning in my cheeks.
What was happening to me?

I looked away quickly and saw Chloe having a mild conversation with James, which made me smile, and Mags doing the same with Connor and Tristan. It was just me and Brad that weren't socialising until my brother swooped in and threw his arm around Brad's neck declaring that we should go back to the games room. I smirked as Mags pushed past him with a growl and him following her like a kicked puppy saying 'I love you' repeatedly.

They'd all left, leaving myself and Brad alone in the kitchen. "Can I ask you something?" He says suddenly. I nod and he continues with the most bizarre of things.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"