What The Heart Wants (Stereo Kicks/ James Graham)

Chapter 3

The boys and I sat around the fire singing random songs for about an hour before it got too cold to function. After we were all inside Tom asked us, "you guys wanna watch a movie?" We all nodded and made our way to the living room. "What movie do you guys want to watch? I have Netflix so I have just about anything." Tom said pulling up the Netflix homepage. "I think we should let Aria pick." Casey looked over at me and winked. The only one who noticed was James, but he pretended he didn't see. "Alright." I smiled. "Hmm, give me a genre to pick from. I want to make sure it's something we all like." I said looking around at all the boys waiting for them to shout out a specific genre. Nobody said anything. "No suggestions? Ok, Twilight it is then." At that they all shouted and Casey grabbed my shoulders and spun me away from the remote. I accidentally slipped and we both fell onto the couch, Casey landing directly on top of me. "Hey now. None of that." James grabbed Casey by the back of the shirt and lifted him off of me. The rest of the boys laughed and so did I. "Well clearly you guys are against Twilight. What kind of movie do you want? I can't pick one until you give me some suggestions." I told them, quickly deflecting the attention from what just happened with Casey. "Action. Everybody likes action." Reece suggested. "Or a comedy. Everybody likes comedy too." Jake countered. "Alright, how many want a comedy?" I asked and seen three hands go up. "Majority wins. Looks like we're watching an action movie." I smiled, grabbed the remote and went to the 'action' section. "Ohh, how about Taken?" I turned to see the boys reactions. They looked so confused. "Taken? With Liam Neeson?" I added. Still nothing. "Have none of you seen this movie?!" I exclaimed. Slowly, they all shook their heads no. "Good God, what are they doing to you guys here?" I said sarcastically then pushed the play button and sat down on the couch. The boys decided it would be fun to try and sit all of us on the couch so we were practically sitting on each other. I ended up getting squished between Casey and James. Not that I am complaining. We were so close I could feel everytime they both took a breath. "Well this is cozy." James chuckled and looked down the couch at the row of people. We all laughed and then he looked a me. Considering how close we were this look felt different than the ones outside. I felt little butterflies in my stomach and then felt my cheeks get warm. I immediately looked away and prayed he didn't notice. The movie had just started so when he leaned over and whispered, "I think it's cute that you blush," I was the only person who heard, or even noticed that he was talking to me. I lightly leaned over and elbowed him playfully. I could feel him let out a little laugh and then we both turned our attention back to the movie.

The movie was half over when I felt Casey's hand creeping closer to mine. I nonchalantly put my hand on my lap that way he no longer had access to it. Don't get me wrong, Casey is really good looking but he's a ladies man and I am not interested in pursuing anything more than a friendship with him. It's best he understands that sooner rather than later. Especially if we want to avoid any awkwardness during rehearsals and what not. But then I felt James slowly begin to drag his hand closer to mine and for some reason, I didn't move. I don't know why but I surprised myself when I moved my hand closer to his, closing the distance between them. He slowly intertwined his fingers with mine and I could see him smile out of my peripheral vision. I tried, but failed to hide my own smile. After a few minutes of holding hands in secret he began to rub his thumb along my hand. It was relaxing and comfortable and I didn't want it to stop. Before I was ready to, I had to let go of James's hand because the movie was over and all the boys were getting up. James and I got up too and followed the boys to the kitchen. We all got something to drink and stood around for a minute. And then Charlie had an idea. "Boys, why don't we play truth or dare?" He suggested with a big smile on his face. I looked around and everyone was smiling except me. "No. No way." I said shaking my head. "What? Why not?" Jake asked me, and now all the boys were looking at me. I didn't respond. "Aww are you scared?" James looked at me and smiled the same sexy grin he gave me outside. "No. I just..." I had no reason not to play, I just knew that since I was playing with a bunch of teenage boys it was no doubt going to get sexual at one point. "You know what? Fine, i'll play. But I'm not flashing anyone." I said and went and sat back down on the couch. James quickly followed and took his spot next to me. The rest of the boys came shuffling in just seconds after and this time they sat around the room so we could all see each other. I was now seated between James and Tom. Much better. "Arlight, I think I should start since it was my idea." Charlie said. Nobody disagreed. "Ok, Barclay, truth or dare?" Charlie asked. "Dare." Barclay replied. "I dare you to...lick your own foot." Charlie told him. "If I can even reach it." Barclay replied while taking his sock off and lifting his foot to his mouth. Surprisingly Barclay did it. "Alright, your turn to ask someone." Tom looked at Barclay. "James. Truth or dare?" I looked over at James and he looked back at me and said, "dare." He smiled and I had to look away before I could blush. "I dare you to give Aria a lap dance." Here we go. I knew it was going to get sexual. The boys laughed and James got up and stood in front of me, his pelvic area lining up perfectly with my face. "I need music." James turned around and looked at the boys. "Yeah alright. What's a good lap dance song?" Tom pulled out his phone. None of the boys offered up any suggestions, and I sure as hell wasn't going to suggest a song. "How about Ride, by SoMo?" James looked down at me then back to Tom. Oh my god no. Why this song? He shouldn't even know about SoMo I thought to myself. At that, the other boys nodded in agreement. "Have you guys heard that song?" I asked moving my head around James to look at the boys. They all nodded their heads to indicate that they have heard it. "Well then you guys know that's baby making music, not lap dance music." I said. "Are you suggesting I change the dare from James giving you a lap dance to you and James making a baby?" Barclay looked at me with mock surprise. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." I replied sarcastically. After a couple seconds Toms phone began playing the song and James looked back at me. "Wait!" Chris yelled before James could start. Oh thank god. "If we're gonna do this, we have to do it right." Chris got up and went to the kitchen and came back out with a chair. Seriously? Tom paused the music and they made me get up and sit in the chair. "This is so stupid. Need I remind you, I just met all of you less than twelve hours ago!" I yelled over the boys laughter. "And do we need to remind you that we're a band? We need to get to know each other somehow." Casey spoke for the first time since I rejected him on the couch. He didn't sound mad though which was good. He might not have realized at the moment that I was rejecting him either, in which case I'll have to do it again. "And getting a lap dance from James is going to help me get to know him how?" I asked, purposely avoiding eye contact with James. "It won't. Now be quiet and enjoy your lap dance." Tom said before playing the music again. The other boys all got quiet and I looked at the floor, the wall, the ceiling, anywhere but at the guy in front of me.