I was the only one left in bed when I woke up. The sheets were cold and I didn't hear anyone in the bathroom, so I quickly snuck into the shower, before I heard commotion in the other half bath. I walked in with my robe on, and found all the boys in their robes, standing in front of the mirror with James' camera trained on them. I almost ran into his abrasive lighting set up.
"Is this the get ready with me?" I asked sleepily.
"Oh, hey sister Emma!" James squealed.
"Can I pop in?" I asked.
"Yeah, say hi!" he insisted.
I waved to the camera. Grayson was fixing his hair, and Ethan had suddenly disappeared. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him in behind the semi-transparent wall. He beckoned me towards him. I was confused, but made my way to him anyway, making sure I was out of the camera's sight.
"What?" I whispered, vaguely aware of James telling a story. Ethan showed me his phone, his subscriber count gleaming.
5,999,859
"Holy shit. You think you'll hit it today?" I asked, gripping his wrist in disbelief.
"Uh-huh. That would definitely make this trip better." Ethan said.
"Duh," I responded.
"Du-ude. I'm so happy for you." I said lovingly. I reached up and hugged him, standing on my tippy toes.
"We haven't hit it and this is how you're acting?" Ethan jokes. "Imagine what you'll be like when we actually do."
"You'll have to see," I said without thinking but then went along with it, smirking at him as I left the bathroom. I could see his face redden and his Adam's apple shift as he swallowed.
Ethan always bragged about never being shy in any situation, and always being confident around girls, but he always seemed to clam up whenever I did anything that just might pique his interest. It was definitely new territory for me, but I liked it.
I nonchalantly picked up my brush and started getting ready, remembering I was on camera and I needed to be very casual around Ethan because the fans detected anything and everything. After James had wrapped up his video, he finally emerged. Grayson, Ethan and I had been waiting for at least 45 minutes.
"Fucking finally." Grayson groaned. "That took 9 hours!"
"Hey, hey, it's a job, kitty girls," James explained.
"We know, it's our job too," Ethan said ironically. James pressed his lips together.
"Okay, okay, let's just go. I wanna go zip lining." Grayson insisted.
"We're going to that roof party first," I said. "No questions asked. I don't care if you guys 'don't party'. We're going."
"We party sometimes," Ethan said weakly.
"Yeah, sometimes," Grayson said.
"No you fuckin' don't," James said, wrinkling his eyebrows in disbelief. "If you went out and partied you'd be mobbed. And then later pictures would come out and your reputation would be destroyed. You should really phase that out before a big sister scandal just ruins you both."
"They're doing fine right now, almost at 6 mil." I said. "But I think James is right. I'm surprised you both haven't gotten caught doing something stupid."
"We're just not stupid." Grayson reasoned.
"Fair point." I conceded.
"You guys bullshit so much," Ethan scoffed. "Neither of you do shit. If you want to party, let's party. I just don't think the roof is going to be as great as you think."
As expected, ziplining was way more fun than the roof party. Ethan squeezed my sides after we all exchanged looks, knowing it was weak.
"Sike!" I giggled as we walked out. "Let's just go back and to the hot tub."
We were all even more exhausted when we finally arrived back at the room and immediately changed into swimsuits, took a few pictures, and settled into the hot water. The bubbles against my back and neck were exactly what I needed.
"Oh, shit, I almost forgot," Ethan exclaimed suddenly, reaching for his phone. "The subscriber count."
I immediately moved closer to him, looking over his shoulder. He opened it.
6,000,016.
"Gray!" he called. "We did it, man!"
"Whoa. That's insane." Grayson breathed, pulling out his phone, probably to tweet his thanks. I squeezed Ethan's arm.
"Congrats, that's incredible, Ethan." I told him honestly. I sat next to him, hand still wrapped around his arm, and laid my head on his strong shoulder.
"I have to tell you something." I finally said.
thank you so much for 1k reads! it means so much to me!
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