Playing With Lightning

The Spectacular Seven

“Nathan, Maeve,” Voices shouted out as we tried to force our way into the studios. “Maeve, tell us about your stalker.”

“Just let us through guys,” Nathan sighed, his hand on my back guiding me through the swarm. We made it to the door and security shut them behind us. The others appeared and ushered us into the meeting room where there was a full table waiting for us.

“Nice of you to join us,” Anne, the boys PR person, said with a disdainful look.

“It’s crazy out there,” Nath shrugged, taking a seat beside Taylah. I took a seat on her other side, between her and Tom. “Alright, what’s up?”

“Well, there are obviously some press issues that need to be discussed,” Anne said as if he should know that. “First off is the big issue of this twitter dilemma about Maddy.”

“It’s Maeve,” Jay corrected and she waved a hand dismissively. God, she really was everyone’s least favourite team member, but they just couldn’t get rid of her.

“Now, I think we’re all in agreement that tweeting your fans and bringing attention to it was a terrible idea.”

“I don’t think we’re completely in agreement Anne,” Jayne interrupted. “The boys were just trying to protect Maeve. It was a perfectly understandable move.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” she shrugged primly. “Anyway, the twitter has been taken down, and as long as we let the issue drop, everything should be fine. So it’s honestly not as big a problem as everyone says.”

Oh that’s a relief, everything’s all okeydokey a-okay. Jay must have seen me rolling my eyes from across the table because he let out a laugh, trying to cover it with a cough.

“The other rumours circulating at the moment are just more relationships,” she continued, having driven one point. She was like a machine gun, unstoppable and deadly. “Maddy and Nathan, Taylah and Nathan, Maddy and Jay, Taylah and Siva, Taylah and Max, Maddy and Tom, the usuals.”

Tay and I looked to each other and made barfing motions silently. The boys all laughed, making Anne and her team shoot us dirty looks. Jayne and the others who were used to our childish antics and didn’t care just smiled like you would at little kids who were being adorably bratty.

“We’ve also been slightly lacking in public appearances,” she moved on, ignoring us with all the effort she could muster. “We’ve arranged for the seven of you, as well as your lady friends, if they’re available, to spend the night at a local carnival. Act like you’re having fun, get some pictures taken. Just please, be careful. One bad picture could cause a media hurricane of the worst kind.”

That was Anne, our resident drama queen. Every little picture or rumour was practically the end of the world. And it was always our fault of course.

“Or here’s a better idea,” Jayne spoke over her. “Why don’t you all go, actually have fun and just try not to get into too much trouble, hey?”

“Well we can’t make any promises,” Tom grinned. “But we can always try.”

The meeting ended with Anne being all pissy because nothing went her way and us not caring because when things did go her way, everyone else usually just ended up miserable. We went out the back way to avoid the paps and journos, jumping in the car and heading to our place of course.

“Are you guys secretly homeless and you just go sleep on the streets at night or something?” I laughed as they once again took over my loungeroom, spreading their tall male bodies all over the couches, leaving no space for Tay or I. We just shrugged to each other and went to sit on top of them. I ended up on Tom’s legs while she was on Nathan’s stomach. They didn’t complain, so neither did we.

“Aww, Kelsey can’t come tonight,” Tom pouted like a depressed puppy as he looked down at his phone.

“Neither can Nareesha,” Siva added in. “What about Michelle?”

Max tapped away on his phone, only to shake his head. And then there were seven.

“Well guess it’s just the Spectacular Seven,” Nath grinned, poking Tay in the side. She laughed, being incredibly ticklish. “Shall we leave at, say, 5?” Okay, it was 3:45 now, so that gave us… an hour and 15 minutes?!

Tay and I immediately jumped up, running out of the room and up the stairs. She took first shower while I picked out clothes, then vice versa.

“I can’t believe they’re scheduling public appearances for the boys now,” Tay said from inside my wardrobe. “Anne needs to be slapped with a frying pan I swear.”

“Not going to disagree,” I laughed. “But I mean, a carnival? With the boys? It’s going to be a blast. You remember the last one we went to, right?”

“Oh yeah,” she half laughed, half shuddered. Yeah, it was a bit of a mixed memory that one.

“What if you and lover boy get all up close and personal on a roller coaster,” I said teasingly and she glared at me. She swapped her bathrobe for a pair of jeans and a shirt with a cardigan and a pair of vans. Cute and casual, perfect. She left her hair to dry in its natural curls, sitting crosslegged in front of my full length mirror to apply her make up with the utmost care.

I followed her lead and got changed into the outfit I’d picked out: a little black dress over sheer black tights with tiny hearts, lace up boots and a woolen jumper. I straightened my hair and put on a woolen beanie with a pompom on the end.

“Mascara,” I held out my hand and she put the tube in it. I applied as much as I could before it would start to clump. Tay looked at me with a smirk and I elbowed her. See, my eyelashes were a sore point, one that she just loved to poke fun at. Whilst my lovely friend was incredibly gifted in the area of lashes, seriously they were like spiders, even more so with the amount of mascara she wore. I, on the other hand, was severely lash challenged, my own personal shame that constantly came back to haunt me. It was traumatizing.

“Shut up,” I laughed, pushing myself up and straightening my skirt. “Come on, let’s go get our public appearance on.”