THE GUYS' girl

Chapter 4

Song Vibes: Best Song Ever by One Direction

This choice had less to do with the lyrics this time and more to do with the music video. If you have time, I think it's worth watching. Makes me laugh everytime!

I had to cut into a bathroom down the hall to recover from the excitement of Cam's touch. Looking up at my reflection, I tried to tell the frazzled girl in the mirror that she had no reason to get worked up.

First of all, Cam is almost three years older than you. Second, he doesn't see you that way; he was just being nice. Third, you already have a crush on Hunter.

Yeah, a one-way crush on Hunter, so that hardly counts as a reason!

I glared at myself in the mirror. "And fourth, Avery, you might as well go ahead and have crushes on both of them, because it's not like anything will ever happen anyway."

Shouldering my backpack, I exited the bathroom and navigated my way to the kitchen area. It was a skinny galley kitchen with exits on both ends, barely fitting a fridge, microwave, and coffee maker. Leo Burrows had told me to help myself the last time I was there, so I grabbed a bottle of water and stood to close the fridge.

Warm fingers softly closed around my arm just above my elbow and a low, teasing voice whispered in my ear, "Found any good closets lately?"

Hunter. 

His words had an immediate effect on me. I jumped involuntarily, gasping and simultaneously dropping my water bottle. Smooth, Avery.

With a short chuckle, he scooped down to get the bottle, his hand leaving warm tingles behind on my arm where we'd ceased contact. He held the bottle out to me, and I timidly looked up from the bottle to his amused face. HIs perfect lips were pursed in a way that I knew he was trying not to laugh at me. But his gleaming eyes were what froze me in place. Was he flirting with me?

As if reading my mind, Hunter winked at me. Then he turned on his heel and continued walking through the kitchen and out the doorway at the end. I thought I saw his shoulders shake a little as though he was laughing.

It had only been a ten-second interaction, but he'd given me plenty to think about. Why did his touch and his eyes put me into such a daze? Would I ever be able to have a normal conversation with Hunter? And was he actually flirting with me? Or was that laugh when he walked away a tell that he'd merely been teasing or mocking me?

With my head lowered I walked into the meeting room, thankful that I'd thought ahead to bring homework with me. I spotted a quiet corner and prepared to make a beeline for somewhere I was sure to be ignored.

Instead, I was met by a chorus of greetings and smiles.

I turned to see all five guys seated at the large table. The thing was, they looked genuinely happy to see me. Of course, I'd already spoken with Aiden and Cam, but the other three wanted to know where I'd been the past week. When my mom snuck in behind me with her chocolate chip cookies, I happily accepted my invisibility again.

I normally would have dove right into my studies, earbuds in, not paying a bit of attention to my surroundings. But then again, when were my surroundings ever this alluring?

A lot had been decided in the last week while my parents and I had moved our stuff from Kentucky to Florida. After working with Leo and their voice coach in the studio, tough conversations about lead vocals and distribution of parts had already caused some tension in the group. I guess that was to be expected when five individual all-stars suddenly became just one-fifth of the talent. Aiden had already told me that some of the guys were miffed that Cam had been given the majority of the lead vocals.