Just Talk to Him! (IM5)

Chapter 6

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Just because I made a deal with my sister that for ever 6 chapters she reads of my other story, Hell's Little Girl, I'll write one for JTTH. So, expect two more chapters soon. Enjoy!

June 20th, 2013 - 4 pm

The concert passed by in a blur. Off on the sidelines, I cheered and hollered and jumped. Honestly, I thought the concert was amazing- the adrenaline, the energy, and the loud music really made it fun- but I would never admit it to Cole. Maybe to Dana or Dalton or anyone else, but to my older brother? That would be like admitting ultimate defeat.

Afterwards, the boys meet with the fans who bought meet and greet tickets. I hide in the corner of the meet and greet area, watching the girls squeal and fangirl. I shake my head and wonder how on earth all those girls think my brother is attractive. I mean, sure he’s not ugly, but come on! It’s Cole!

As I stare at the line of fans, one of them sees me and nudges her friend. My eyes widen in horror. No, no, no. Please don’t point me out. But then, her friend leans over the table and asks Gabe something. No, no. no. Gabe turns around and calls my name.

“Yo, Kylie!” He motions me over and grins.

Reluctantly, I jog over. Oh no. I’m not good with strangers. But then again, someone actually wants to meet me. I imagine Anna berating me. She’d tell me I’m wasting a fine opportunity to improve my people skills.

I plaster on my best happy smile and say, “Hi!”

The two girls giggle. They look about sixteen. One asks, “OMG, you’re Cole’s sister, right?” She pushes a white shoe at me. “Can you sign my shoe please?”

Her friend nods excitedly. “Oh my god, yes! Can you sign my poster? It would mean so much!”

I gulp and glance at Gabe in panic. He gives me a thumbs up. My heart thumping, I look around for a sharpie. I feel Gabe press on into my hand. I give him a grateful look. Then I sign the shoe and the poster, my hand trembling. I’m never becoming famous.

The girls squeal a thank you and move on. I breathe deeply and glare at Gabe in embarrassment. He just gives me a short hug. “Good job, Kylie.”

Nope. Not a good job. Now all of their fans probably think Cole’s little sister is weird. Oh no. I’m doomed. I want to hide in a corner again and just go back home to Texas. I’m never coming back to LA. Ever.

June 20th, 2013 - 10 pm

We shuffle into LAX. The concert is over, I’m fully ashamed, and I didn’t see Leslie or Britney again, which was disappointing. They would have been the only fans I’m not afraid to meet.

“Hurry up, Ky!” Cole whines. He pulls my arms and I stagger.

“Hey!”

“I can’t believe Mom and Dad made me deal with you,” he complains.

Despite my rising annoyance for him, I do pick up my pace. “You know, no matter how much you whine, I’m still going to be stuck with you for the rest of summer. You’re more boring than those community college physics classes I wanted to take.”

A nearby voice yells, “Oh! Burn!” I glance in that direction and see Dana. He grins and I can’t help but return his smile.

“You were eavesdropping?” I accuse lightheartedly.

He shrugs. “You guys were pretty loud.” He slows to match my pace. “How did you like the concert?”

“It was awesome!” I exclaim happily. Then I remember that Cole is still here. I turn to him and frown at the smirk on his face. “Except for you, Cole. You were pretty bad.”

He pretends to be crestfallen. “I’m offended.” Then he slings his arm around my shoulders. “It’s okay though, Ky. I still love you.”

I lean into my brother for a moment. Dana raises an eyebrow. Then I laugh and push Cole away from me. “No, you don’t.”

“Oh no you’ve caught me,” He replies in monotone.

I giggle. We arrive at the gate. The flight leaves in half an hour. “So now we wait?” I ask.

Dana nods. “Yep.” He pulls a pack of cards out of his pocket. “Let’s play a game.”

I laugh and run to the seats their manager saved for us. Gabe, Dalton, and Will are already there. I greet them again and stick my luggage to the side. Cole sits down next to Will, with Gabe and Dalton across from them. Dana plops on the floor between the seats and starts shuffling the cards. I want to sit next to him. It’s him, Cole, or one of the other boys. I take a deep breath and sit down next to him on the floor. I make sure to sit on the side away from my brother and, incidentally, closer to Will.

Dana passes out the cards and I take mine, confused. “What are we playing?”

“IM5 Extreme,” Dana says.

“It’s a tradition,” Will adds for my benefit.

“Uh-”

“It’s a combination of BS and Spoons,” Dana explains patiently. “Here, I’ll play with you.”

He collects all the cards again, shuffles them, and passes them out once again. This time, he and I share a set.

He scoots closer to me. “The person with the ace of spades puts down his card first. Obviously, that means when you try to end with four of a number, it would be harder to aim for an ace.”

“Well, you can.” Will interrupts. “Since technically you could get BS’ed and take the pile with the ace.”

“I’m explaining!” Dana complains. He continues, “You know how to play BS, right?” I shake my head, embarrassed. “That’s okay. Basically, as we go around the circle, you have to put down the next higher number. You can put down as many as you want. You can lie, too, if you don’t have the next number or for whatever reason.”

I nod. “I think I remember my friends playing this.”

He smiles. “Really? Cool! Anyway, if someone thinks you lied, they can call you out by saying ‘BS!’ If you didn’t lie, they have to take the whole stack. If you did, you have to take the whole stack.”

“Explain the Spoons part!” Cole whines impatiently.

“I’m getting there!” Dana retorts. “In BS, your goal is to get rid of all your cards. Here, your goal is to end up with four of the same number, which obviously means you either started out with all four and got rid of the rest of your cards without giving those away, or you got BS’ed enough times to get all four. Get it?”

“Yeah,” I say. “You really don’t have to play with me.”

Dana shrugs. “Whatever. Too late to shuffle again.”

I see Dalton snicker and Cole narrow his eyes at him. Why is that funny?

At the end of the first round, Dana and I won. “Yes!” I cheer. Dana laughs at me. By the time we finish several more rounds, it’s time to board the plane. I pout as Dana and I push ourselves off the floor. He offers me a hand on my way up, but I blush and refuse his help.

On the plane, we sit the same way we did when we came here to LA. I can’t wait to go to San Francisco.