Invading Radiance

Chapter 3

    About and hour and a half later, Clay had woken Gem up by shaking her shoulders. Gem sat up in her chair and stretched. But as she happened to look out the window, she saw that they were now on the ground, and the plane was pulling into the gate. She removed the earbuds from her ears, unplugged them from Clay's phone, and put them in her carry on. Gem then faced her bandmate and embraced her.

    "Thank you so much," Gem thanked the girl in her arms for helping her through her fear of heights.

    "Of course sweetie," Clay said before the pulled away. "I've got your back, and I'll always be here if you need me."

    Once the plane was at the gate, and the cabin lights turned on everyone in the plane stood up to start getting their things. Since the group was in the second row of the plane, all they had to do was wait for the first row people to grab their bags before they could get off. Once they exited the tunnel and were in the LAX, they made a beeline for baggage claim. Typically when they travel the girls would buy a small souvenir from the airport but LA wasn't too far from their home base of San Francisco, so they saw no need for it this time. Once they got to baggage claim, it took them about two minutes to find the correct carousel and three more minutes to collect all of their luggage. The group of six headed out to the loading lanes and the manager stepped off to the side to make a phone call. That was when two little girls younger than the age of 10 ran up to the girls dragging an older boy with them.

    "Hello cuties," Gem said while bending down to the height of the two little girls. "What can we do for you princesses today?"

    "Can we have your autographs please?" The younger of the two squeaked through her braces while the older boy facepalmed in the background.

    "Of course sweet pea," Gem said while she grabbed the two papers that the girls presented to her. "What are the names of the two princesses standing in front of me right now?"

    "I'm Eliza, and I'm eight," said the girl with braces before she pointed to the other little girl. "This is my sister Jaden, and she's seven. Oh, and this is our brother Johnny, and he's fifteen."

    The older boy, now known as Johnny, instantly went red-faced. "Eliza, they did not need to know that!"

    The five girls in the band let out little giggles at the flustered teen. Gem finished writing her note and passed the two papers to the rest of the girls. Elle was the last one to sign the paper, so when she finished, she returned them to the girls. As she handed them back, she got an idea.

"Would you girls like a picture of us?" Elle asked and giggled at the excited expressions on the little girl's faces.

    All the girls bent down to their knees and pulled the two girls into their sides. They all struck a pose as Johnny took a picture on his phone. After he took a few pictures, he put his phone back in his pocket. Just as the girls were going to say their final goodbyes, Jaden whispered something in Clay's ear.

    "My brother doesn't like people knowing, but he listens to you guys' music, and you're his favorite." After she said, this Jaden hugged the girls and ran back with her sister and her brother. But before they could get too far away, Clay stopped them.

    "Wait, Johnny, can I see your phone real quick?" The fifteen-year-old boy was both confused and flustered as he turned back towards his secret celebrity crush. He pulled out his phone and handed it to Clay without making eye contact. She took the phone from his and opened up the camera. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and lifted up the camera in selfie mode.

    "Say cheese," was all she had to say to get Johnny's attention up and off the floor. He was confused at first, but he soon smiled at the phone camera. Right before she took the picture, Clay turned her head and kissed the boy on the cheek. When she pulled the camera back down, she looked up to find a very flustered boy right next to her. She smiled at him and returned his phone.