It was right before we were supposed to leave for the abandoned insane asylum, and I crept up close to Ethan.
"Are you going to leave that part in?" I asked him, referring to Grayson's choice of titling me Ethan's girlfriend. We had talked about slowly but surely letting the fans know, and never directly confirming it.
"I guess so. Since the lie detector thing already came out...you're still okay with that, right?" he asked me.
"Yeah, yeah. Not official, but unofficial." I reminded him.
"Yes." he confirmed. "I don't know. Grayson's been on my ass about it. Harder to hide it and how honesty is the best policy and shit."
"No, I completely agree. He just did it kind of...bluntly." I admitted, rubbing my arms up and down, not wanting to let on how upset I was about him taking charge of our relationship's public status.
"He's being a dick to you. Should I tell him to back off?" Ethan said, lifting my chin up.
"No. That makes me seem like a bitch." I feared.
"Emma, telling someone to kindly 'fuck off' is not you being a bitch." Ethan tried to convince me. I laughed at how stupid he sounded.
"Nah, I don't really care that much. Let's just go, otherwise, we'll be late again..." I reasoned, turning to walk out their front door.
"You're going to be cold. There's no heating in an abandoned asylum." Ethan informed me. "Now that Grayson has unofficially exposed us, you can be seen wearing my clothes."
"Great," I said sarcastically, but took his pink sweatshirt and slipped it over my head gratefully. Even though it was a minuscule gesture, it was strangely liberating, wearing his clothes, and knowing people would notice.
As if he could read my mind, he commented. "I'm sure that's been on my Instagram or Snapchat before. They'll find it. Look at us go, dropping hints everywhere." He fingered the drawstrings of the sweatshirt absently.
"Look at us go," I agreed softly.
He planted a quick kiss on my forehead and said "You look cute in my clothes," before dragging me to the jeep.
We were halfway to the asylum when Grayson announced. "My head still really fuckin' hurts."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have slammed it into a door frame." James grinned at him, patting the top of his head.
"I'm actually nervous about this," Ethan added. "Like, actually."
"I'm not," James said. "Emma?"
"Eh, I don't know," I said. "My stomach hurts, though."
"That's probably nerves," Grayson observed. "My chest is really tight,"
"You're all little bitches." James decided dismissively.
"I don't think it's nerves..." I said thoughtfully, "I kinda feel like I'm going to throw up."
"Well, don't do it on me," James warned me. Ethan met my eyes in the rearview mirror.
"Do I need to stop?" he asked.
"Nah," I said dismissively. I hadn't eaten all day, so maybe that was it. I hadn't really had an appetite for a while. "We're almost there anyway."
As we pulled into the asylum's back entrance, my stomach dropped once again. It seemed like Grayson's did too, by the look on his face. His cheeks were red and his eyes wide.
"Wait," James said, as Ethan parked the car. "I really don't think this is a good idea. I take it back, we shouldn't do this."
"We drove all the way here!" Grayson insisted, standing outside the jeep. "Come on, man."
I listened, jumping out my side, planting my feet on the yellowing grass. We stood around for a few moments while Bryant set up the cameras, and James continued to argue.
"Oh, shit," Ethan muttered, gripping my shoulders from behind me. There was a black SUV rolling in behind us. Los Angeles police. "Get in the car." Ethan insisted forcefully, stepping in front of me, towards the vehicle.
I obeyed, leaping in and slamming the door shut, falling on top of James.
"Wha-?" he questioned.
"Police are here. I don't think we're going to be filming this video." I informed him breathlessly.
"Oh," James said, and I could hear the relief in his voice.
I heard Grayson and Ethan talking to the uniformed men in muffled voices.
"No, problem, thank you!" I heard Grayson call before he jumped into the front seat. "Yeah, so this isn't working out."
Ethan crawled in on the other side, leaving James in the middle. "Busted," he said. "Whatever, let's just go home."
Somewhat relieved, I leaned my head against the window, but the sinking feeling in my stomach was still there. I slowly realized how cold the window felt against my forehead.
"Hey, could you...could you check my forehead? I think I'm, I'm really hot, I think." I mumbled, straining to keep my eyes open. Ethan's brow was furrowed in concern as he reached over. His hand was surprisingly cool against my hairline.
"Holy-" Ethan yelped. "She's burning up. What do we do?"
"I knew it..." I said softly, squinting my eyes again. Suddenly, Ethan was climbing overtop of James and settled next to me.
"Here, put your head against me, yep, like that." Ethan coaxed softly, guiding my head towards his shoulder, and pressing me tight against him, keeping me upright.
"Water." I croaked. "To cool down."
Grayson passed a water bottle from the front seat back, but before it reached my hands, everything went black.
