4

1

"What the hell do you have in your hair?" I ask Jonah, grouping some of his hair together before shifting it to the side.

"Eww... is that banana?" I ask, scrunching up my nose.

"Oml, it probably is." Zach laughs.

"Why do you have banana in your hair?" I ask, completely and utterly confused, "I mean, how did it even get there?"

"Umm, well you know how my hair was really bad?" He pauses.

"Yeah." I nod.

"So the boys found your book, the one with the recipe for hair masks and stuff, and they decided it would be fun to make me one of the banana hair masks." He says, "And, let's just say they didn't blend the ingredients together very well."

I burst out laughing, these guys are idiots.

"And the banana never really came out when you washed your hair." I say, completely disbelieving.

"It just won't come out, I've been picking out bits of banana for hours." He reaches up, pulling the specific specimen out of his hair.

"Okay, here's what you need to do." I start, making sure he's paying attention before continuing.

"Go put some conditioner through your hair, and continuously comb through your hair for 5 minutes. Then wash it out and repeat it, and make sure to shampoo after conditioning."

"Oh, and make sure you don't use any of that two-in-one shit." I say as he nods, and gets up, "You can use my herbal shampoo after, and just use the cheap conditioner in my side of the cupboard."

"'Kay, I'll be back soon, hopefully before what's-her-name arrives." Jonah gets up, walking out of the room.

"Yeah, about that, why didn't you bring your girlfriend?" I ask Zach.

"I feel sorry for the poor girl, having to find her way here." I continue, waiting for his answer.

"She wanted to come herself, so yeah, I just decided to let her do what she wants. She'll make her way here eventually." He explains, as I glare at him.

"How long have you known this girl exactly?" I ask him, disapproving.

"Oy, don't judge me, alright?" Zach says, avoiding my question.

"You didn't answer the question, Zach." Corbyn points out, stepping into the room, laden with all of our drinks, and a ham and cheese roll.

"Yo, why didn't you get anyone else, aka me, any food?" I ask, grabbing my drink, as he offers it to me, before placing the rest on the table and grabbing his own.

"Because, 1) I had my hands full, and 2) incase you hadn't noticed I'm not that nice." Corbyn says, as he sits down on my right.

"You're so mean to me." I whine, pouting.

"Oh, give it up, Skye." He says rolling his eyes, and flicking me on the forehead, before laughing.

Huffing, I lean over, and slap him upside the head in protest, and retaliation.

"Fine, you can have a bite." He says, pleasing me, and holding out his roll.

"Finally." I nod, leaning forward to take a bite, a giant bite.

After chewing and swallowing it, I grin.

"Bitch, you just ate half of my roll, and you're grinning at me." He says, mouth agape, disbelieving.

"What? You offered me a bite, and that's what I did." I shrug, ignoring Jack beside me, who's beginning to laugh.

"That's true, she only took one bite." Daniel interferes, looking up from the sheet music he's currently editing.

"Yeah, a bite that was as big as half the roll, I may as well have cut it in half and gave it to her." Corbyn complains, groaning.

"You probably should have." I laugh, patting him on the back.

He takes a bite, tearing the ham, cheese, and bread with his teeth, as we laugh at him.

Getting up, Daniel walks over to the piano sitting in the corner of the room, and begins to play a few chords, which I vaguely recognise.

Enjoying the music, I smile to myself as I open my water and take a sip.

Wincing when he seems to mess up, I try to block it out, when he calls out to me.

"Skye, can you come here?" He asks, not turning around.

"Yeah." I say getting up, and walking over to him.

"What's up?" I question, upon reaching my desired destination.

"I need your help, and don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I know you heard it, I could feel you wince." He says, as I grimace in response.

"Okay, where is the problem exactly?" I ask, sitting on the extended seat, next to him.

He points to the space on the sheet, "I don't know, I feel like there's something missing maybe?"

"I don't know." I say, thinking, "Can you play that line?"

He goes ahead, fingers gracing the keys, and playing the measure of music.

"Yeah, you probably need to add a note or two in the end there somewhere, but there's something else." I say.

"Try playing 'b' instead of 'c' and go up an octave when you play the third 'e', hold it for longer as well." I suggest.

He goes on to play this, and it sounds moderately better, but there's still something off.

"It fills up the space more, that's for sure, but..." He trails off.

"Let me experiment." I say, touching the keys lightly, as my fingers ascend and descend along the keys, repetitively.

When I finish Daniel smiles, holding both hands up for a high-five. Smiling in response I hit each of his hands with the both of mine, and nod.

"Okay, now I need to write that down. But before that, can you play it again? With the rest of the chorus as well?" He asks.

"Why don't you give it a try?" I encourage, "Come on Daniel."

"But you're way better than me." He complains, and I roll my eyes, shaking my head.

"No, I'm not, I'll write it down for you if you play it." I plead, wanting to experience the feel of him playing again.

"Please." I beg, slowly getting a little annoyed, angered and frustrated.

"Fine, but it's your fault when I stuff up, and when I stuff up I'm gonna stop." He states, although I know we both know that he'll get it perfectly. I mean he can pick stuff up just like that, well musically at least.

Daniel plays the piece, from the pre-chorus to the post-chorus, and I find myself smiling, coming up with another idea for when they produce it.

When he finishes I clap, kissing him on the forehead, and high-fiving as the doorbell goes off.

"Look, I know she took a while, but she's finally here." Zach says getting up to get the door.

"What's taking Jonah so long though? I mean it shouldn't have even taken 10 minutes, it was only one shower." Jack says.

"Yeah, I guess, but this is Jonah we're talking about." Corbyn adds.

"True, but I don't know." I shrug, contributing to the conversation.

"Eh, Jack?" Daniel calls.

"Yo, what's up bro?" He responds, lifting his head up, and drawing his attention from his phone to Daniel.

"Come here."

Jack pauses his music, and gets out of whatever app he's in, before pulling out his AirPod, pocketing it, as well as his phone.

He walks over to us, and stops before us, where Daniel presents him with the sheet music, which I somehow, miraculously, managed to markup in such a short time.

Reading over it briefly, Jack smiles.

"So it finally matches the lyric change?"

"Yep, and try singing the first two lines of verse one, and the fourth line of verse two over the top." I say, getting two weird looks in response.

"Just try it." I say.

Daniel starts playing again, singing the chorus, bar one line, when Corbyn cuts in, as Jack sings the lines over the top of them.
The boys finish and I grin, as Corbyn, Daniel, and I take turns high-fiving each other.

"Okay, fine, Skye, you did good." Jack praises me, finally giving in and high-fiving like the rest of us.

Laughing lightly, I get up before the boys spontaneously break into verse, singing acapella style.

"You guys are idiots." I say, as they wrap their arms around me in turn, as if they're singing to me.

When they finish, you can hear Zach and his girlfriend making out, well you can't hear them so that's what I assume is happening.

We all burst into laughter, for no real reason, and head back to our seats, waiting for Zach to introduce us, or at least bring his girlfriend into the room.

Offering me an AirPod he plugs in the other one, playing music, specifically his music, and watching their music videos.

"Seriously?" I laugh, looking up at him from my position, where I'm laying on his lap.

"Yep." He nods, confirming my suspicion, as I continue to laugh my head off.

"Okay then, you do you, I guess." I shake my head, before resting it back down.

Zach then walks in, his girlfriend trailing behind him, and we bring our attention to the pair. Although, while Jack puts his phone down, we keep our AirPods in, and I don't bother sitting up.

"This is Daniel, Jack, Skye and Corbyn." He introduces us. "Everyone, this is Bri, my girlfriend."

"Hi," I smile, still not sitting up, the first to greet her.

She smiles back at me in return and, I instantly know it's fake, you can just tell with girls like this, call it a girls intuition if you like.

"It's nice to meet you, Bri. I'm sorry Jonah isn't here, he should be out soon." Corbyn greets, pushing my legs off of his lap, as he leans forward to shake her hand.

Bri quickly shakes his hand before exchanging pleasantries with the rest of the boys, though the boys clearly don't really like her.

"So, you two are serious?" Jack asks, not really concerned, or paying attention.

"Aha, yeah, I guess." Zach answers.

"Well, I'm happy for you." I say, finally sitting up, when the silence becomes a little awkward.

"Thank you, Skye." Zach nods, "Hey, why don't you go get to know Skye? I'm sure the boys won't be that bad compared to her."

"Well that wasn't very nice." I butt in, playfully reacting to his teasing.

"Sorry, I meant 'once you get acquainted with another girl.'" He re-phrases an excerpt of his sentence.

"That was much better." I state, nodding, and smiling.

"Yes, well I'm sorry if my previous wording offended you." He apologises, still joking with me.

"Anyway, the boys have to introduce me to the new changes they've made, but you can talk to Skye for the minute if you want." Zach offers.
"Sorry, but who is she to you? What does she have to do with any of this?" Bri says.

"She's a friend, and incase you can't take a hint, Zach wants you to go talk to her." Jack interrupts, slightly startling me with his tone.

"Oh, so she's what, your girlfriend? Flavour of the month?" Bri lets her bitch come out, and then I realise what she's really here for.

"You little..." I trail off, lifting my head off of Jacks shoulder.

"Excuse you." Corbyn says, in a way that mocks her pettiness.

It's at this point Jonah finally decides to come back to planet earth.

"Are you going to tell me her significance or what?" She persists, and I can't help rolling my eyes.

"Wow, I can't believe she knows big girl words like 'significance'." I laugh, whispering into Jacks ear. He just contains his laugh in response.

Jonah then comes up to me, leans forward and says, "Let's show her your significance." Before leaning in further, to kiss me deeply.

Smiling into the kiss, I let the feeling of my tingling lips, and heated body, overcome me, with sparks exploding, and moving across my skin wherever he contacts my skin.

After a bit, he pulls away, biting my lip as he does. I lean my head on his chest, catching my breath, before he pulls me up to stand next to him, wrapping his arm around me, and pulling me into his side.

I see a flash of something in her eyes, and a fleeting expression overcome her features, which I recognise, before smirking smugly.

"So, now you know who she is, it was nice meeting you Bri, but I think it's time for you to leave." Jonah says, politely kicking her out.

She stomps away, not bothering to even acknowledge Zach, her so-called boyfriend, and no-one goes out of their way to guide her out. The only reassurance we have that she has left is the slam of the door, and seeing her car drive away through the window.

"So, that was fun." Daniel breaks the silence, attempting a light tone, which makes us all want to laugh.

"I'm sorry Zach, you'll find someone eventually." I apologise, hugging him.

He pats me on the head, and squeezes me in return.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. Who do I never notice that they're all royal bitches?" He says, letting me go.

"It's about time you caught a break. Maybe you should just be like Daniel and not date?" I offer, sitting back down, registering that Jack's music is intact still playing, only a bit quieter.

"Did you even process any of that?" I laugh, turning back 'round to look at him.

"Kind of, it's a talent, but I also didn't really want to entertain her, so yeah." He responds as answer to my question.

We all burst out laughing.

"Okay, we need to move on from that." I say, "Did you get it all out of your hair?" I ask Jonah, sitting back down.

"Yeah, and then I towel dried my hair enough so that it didn't drip. I also decided I didn't really want to see Zach's girlfriend, so I messaged Tatum, and she sent me a little video of her." He says, explaining why he took so long, although leaving out the details of what actually happened in the video.

"Show me." I say, in a kind of demanding tone, wanting to see the cuteness of his 9-year-old half-sister.

He pulls out his phone and plays the video for me. By the end I am crying, with occasional snorts, due to hysterical laughter.

"What the hell was she doing at the end?" I manage to say, confused but no less fond of the little creature.

"I don't know, it doesn't get any less confusing however many times you watch it so don't even bother trying to understand." He says, still chuckling.

I wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes and shake my head.

"So, I think we nailed down the music for 'Fly'." Daniel informs Zach and Jonah.

"Yeah? What did you do to change it?" Jonah asks.

"Actually, don't tell us, you know neither of us will process it." Zach says, and we all laugh, knowing he's exactly right.

"Just play the whole song." Corbyn tells Daniel, who then gets up, but hesitates before touching the keys.

"I'll play it, if you want." Jack offers, and Daniel just nods in response.

"That'll be better, I mean I could have played but I sing through most of the song and I'm still adjusting to it." Daniel clarifies.

"Okay, let's hear it." Jonah encourages, as Jack takes his seat and starts playing.

The boys all migrate towards the source of the music and I sit there, keeping to myself, and just watch them.

They all sing along with their individual parts, and when they get to the chorus I know I've done well, and let myself relax.

Their voices carry me through a, musical, journey, sending waves of emotions crashing over me, with the song, full of passion.

By the end of it the feels are killing me, as it was a very motivational, heart-warming song.

They all handshake and stuff after finishing, and their handshakes take forever, so I take the time to brace myself for the impact of the feels, because they'll probably want to do it again.

"Let's go again." Corbyn says, and pulls out Daniels' guitar, as if to say 'you're playing this as well this time'.

I smile, knowing that I predicted this, and they start again, while I mouth the words along with their vocals, and the music.

I don't know what it was, but something about the added guitar, I think, made me snap, and as I let the lyrics process, I feel a tear drip from the corner of my eye.

And then another one runs down my face, and another, and another, and I can barely see through the pool of tears blurring my vision. I guess this is what good music does to you.

The boys finish the song and I walk up to them, before they notice my tears.

Laughing lightly, and sniffling, I wipe the tears away, grateful that there were no more to come.

"Come here." Jack laughs, and I immediately dive into him.

The rest of the boys laugh too, and soon we are surrounded by the rest of them, and I'm caught in the middle of a man-band group hug. Let me tell you right now, it's intense.

"You good?" Daniel asks, as I'm released and no longer encapsulated.

"Aha, yeah. I think so, at least, the whole population is gonna be crying when they hear it." I laugh.

"You sure, though?" Jonah asks, and I nod in response.

"Yeah, 'course. I'm all good." I say, not 100% sure, but knowing if I say 'fine', they'll probably pick up on something.

"'K, what are we all doing, for the rest of the day?" Corbyn asks us, changing the subject, which I'm very thankful for.

I send Corbyn an appreciative glance, which I hope he recognises, and smile, "I don't know."

Zach, Daniel and Jonah shrug, and Corbyn says the same.

"Well, I've got an appointment at 4, I'm getting the arrow." Jack says, as the only one who has plans.

"You promised me you wouldn't get anymore." I sigh, knowing he's talking about another tattoo, looking at him, exhausted.

"Yeah, I know, but Skye..." He trails off, trying to reason with me.

"Do you remember back 3, almost 4, years ago? When we first met? You saw an ink parlour and decided to walk in, because you'd been anxious to get a new tattoo. You know, the one which secretly has something do to with me?" I ask him.

"Yeah." He nods.

"Well after that I asked if you were ever going to get anymore, and you said 'yes'. You told me you wanted to end up with sleeves one day, and I managed to persuade you out of it. But, even though you haven't gone there, even though the rest of you is clear and ink free, the amount of tattoos you have has doubled since then. And, come on Jack, you have to remember the lengthy argument we got into last year, that you ended up writing 'Pieces' about, we talked about this. And yet you never seem to think." I rave on, now angry.

"I know it's your life, and your choice, but seriously Jack. Can you imagine 30 years from now? Those tattoos won't look as good. And another 30 years from then?" I ask.

"Yes, it's sweet, cool even, and I know they all have meaning and I know they all have a purpose but Jack. You're not the one looking at yourself, I am, we are, and right now, if I'm being one-hundred percent honest, I don't want to look at you. I really don't, and not because of the tattoo's you have now, but because you want more, Jack. It's not up to me, and I'm not going to threaten you, or stop you, but know that I don't like it. And, please, just promise me you'll think about this." I say before leaving the room.

I walk out to the doorway, and don't dare look back, but rather step out of the way and lean my back on the wall, slowly sliding down it, breaking down.

I rest my head down, in my lap, and pull my knees to my chest, trying to contain my sobs, and not get so affected. While Jonah's my boyfriend, Jack and I have a special bond, a friendship stronger than any I've ever had, and hopefully the strongest I'll ever have.

I mean, yeah, I love him, but sometimes I think he doesn't love himself, and he knows how I feel about this, but yet he doesn't seem to care. I know it's his life, but he's in my life, he's my best friend, and yet I feel like he doesn't trust me, or he doesn't listen to me, or maybe I'm the problem, maybe our friendship isn't as strong as I thought it was.

I don't even know anymore.

I know Jonah's mission is to be here when I'm sad, but I just can't decide whether I want Jack to come out, or Jonah. Okay, now I'm whining, whinging, and complaining, I really hate everyone.

Hearing footsteps, I ignore them, and try to steady my breathing, but nevertheless continue to cry to myself.

Soon, warm arms wrap themselves around me, and I fall into the loving embrace, not even needing to look up, and knowing it's Jack.

He doesn't say anything, and after a while find myself calming down.

"I'm sorry." I apologise, not even justifying my actions, "I didn't mean to go off like that."

"No, I'm the who's sorry, I keep breaking my promises, and I keep hurting you in the process." Jack hugs me tighter.

"I'll cancel today's appointment, I'll never get a tattoo again." He tries to redeem himself.

"No." I say, pushing him away. "Go get this one, I know what it means to you, but I won't like it, so don't go around bragging about it."

"Once I get this one, I won't get anymore." He says, getting up and offering me a hand.

Taking up his offer, he pulls me up, and I wipe the tears from my eyes gently.

"I'll make it up to you, we can go shopping right now." He offers, a very tempting suggestion.

I decline the offer politely, by shaking my head.

"Come on, Skye, I know you want to, please, just let me do this, we can buy you whatever you want. It can be just the two of us, or the whole band, whatever you want, we probably need the others with the amount of shopping bags you'll make me carry." He laughs.

"You know me too well." I shake my head, as he grabs my hand tighter and pulls me back into the room.

I avoid all the boys looks as I step into the room, and pretend I don't register their gazes which are quite clearly on me.

"Please stop." I voice, once I get sick off their relentless looking.

"Sorry, but you know how they say things happen in three's, and I guess we're just waiting for you to cry again." Daniel says, and I just laugh in response.
"Well, you better make sure you're nice to me, starting with going shopping, right now." I smile sweetly.

They all groan in response, and I just laugh.

"Don't worry, I'm using Jack's money. It's his way of making it up to me, and besides you all wanted something to do, so come with?" I ask, leaning back into Jack.

"Yeah, okay." Daniel agrees, and I smile, pulling him to my side, and Zach comes along with him, before looking at Jonah and Corbyn.

They're clearly indecisive, and need a bit of persuasion.

"Come on, it'll be fun." I say, looking from Jonah, to Corbyn, then back to Jonah.

They share a look, before smiling, and agreeing to come with.

Jumping on them, I push them onto the floor and give them both a hug, before letting them go.

"We leave in 5 minutes." I say, getting up, and leaving the room to go pee.

When we are all ready to leave, Corbyn asks who's going in whose car, and unintentionally starts a bit of an argument.

"Yeah, but she's my girlfriend." Jonah says.

"But I'm the one who's taking her shopping." Jack emphasises.

"Yes, but as previously stated, she is my girlfriend." Jonah argues.

"Oh my god, seriously boys. Stop arguing, I'm right here, and I've decided I'm going to go with Daniel, you can come with us if you want Zach, and Corbyn, please sort that out. Neither of you are driving." I say, walking out of the door and pulling Daniel with me.

Zach doesn't come with us, and I'm glad that he takes the front seat in Corbyn's car, forcing Jack and Jonah to sit in the back together. I think, actually, I know, Corbyn can tame them, and they'll be best friends again when they get to the shopping centre.

Hopefully Daniel will have told me what's wrong by that time as well.

"So are you going to tell me?" I say. "And don't start with that 'I'm having a bit of an off day' crap, because I know you better than that."

"It's not important." He tries to convince me.

"Well, yes, actually, it is." I say.

"My wrist hurts." He tells me, trying to pass it off as a small issue.

"No, there's something else, and which wrist?" I ask, leaning down to open my bag.

"I just..." He pauses, trying to think of how to word it or something.

"It's my right wrist, by the way." He says, while thinking.

"When you brought up the fact that I don't date." He says, sadly.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry Dani, you know I didn't mean it." I apologise, realising my fault.

"It just made me think back to stuff, that's all." He says.

"I really wasn't thinking, you know I wouldn't do any of that intentionally." I say, genuinely regretting saying it. I was the only one who knew the full story, and knew that he was sensitive about the issue.

"Yeah, I know, it's all good, Skye. Trust me." He says, briefly looking away from the road, at the lights, before turning his attention back to driving.

Finally finding what I want from my bag, I retrieve the item, and hand it to Daniel, when we have reached the car park.

"I don't have my wrist braces on me but I've got my compression sleeve, and my wrist supporter. Can you please put it on?" I say, closing my bag before opening the car door, and stepping out.

"So, have you boys sorted out your petty argument?" I ask Jonah and Jack as they emerge from Corbyn's car, parked next to Daniels.

"Yes, it's resolved, and we've moved past it. Right boys?" Corbyn says, closing his car door, and locking it once Zach finally got out.

"Yeah, we're all good." Jonah begrudgingly states, resulting in a stern glance from Corbyn in response, and a distasteful look from Jack.

"Boys, just get over it. I love you both equally, but in different ways, and while I value your opinions, you're input in my life doesn't mean you can dictate it." I straighten them out, before walking past with Corbyn, Daniel and Zach trailing behind me.

"I hope you don't mind but I invited Tina to join us." Corbyn informs us, referring to his girlfriend Christina.

None of us object and I smile, "Was she happy to come? It'll be nice to see her again, I haven't see her much lately."

"Yeah, she should be here in another two minutes, or so. He was happy at the prospect of seeing you too." Corbyn replies, as Jack and Jonah finally catch up to us, at the entrance.

They seem to have worked things out, which I'm happy about.

"So, it's time to go shopping." I smirk, looking at all of the boys with a devilish expression.

"Oh god. It's happening again." Zach complains, as the rest of the boys wince.

"Well at least you're not paying for it." Jack says, scared.

"Hey, it's your own fault, Jack." I laugh, walking in. "Are you coming?"

The boys then walk in behind me, and I'm grateful they haven't been recognised, and am hoping and praying that they won't be.

Maybe it's kind of selfish of me, I don't know, but I just wanted them to be 'normal' for this once, and not the hottest boyband, sorry, man-band, in the world right now. Aha, I'm so funny...

"Ok, where to first?" Daniel asks.