What The Heart Wants (Stereo Kicks/ James Graham)

Chapter 23

The flight back to London was long and boring. I ended up sitting next to Jake and he kept asking me about America. What was our food like? What sports did we watch? What TV shows are popular? Etc. Finally, he fell asleep and I could get up and talk to some of the other boys. My first choice was Casey, but he was asleep and I didn't want to wake him up. James was also asleep, but I noticed Barclay was sitting alone, so I went and sat next to him. "Hey." I smiled. "Hi." He looked from the window to me and smiled. "What are you doing?" It was a dumb question, but I didn't know what to say. "Just looking out the window. My Ipod died because I forgot to charge it so it's either stare out the window or sleep, and I'm not tired." He said. "Well staring out the window is better than getting interrogated by Jake." I said, causing him to let out a small chuckle. "You don't talk much." I observed. "I talk, there's just so many of us that I don't think my opinion really matters." He looked back out the window. "What? Barclay that's ridiculous. Of course your opinion matters." I tried to assure him, but he just shrugged his shoulders. "It does. All you have to do is speak up and we'll listen." I put my hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Aria." He looked at me and smiled. "No problem." I smiled back. "You know, you're not nearly as intimidating as I thought." I grinned. "Wait what? You thought I was intimidating?" He looked at me with a bewildered look. I nodded my head and giggled. "What on earth made you think that?" He asked. "I don't know, you're just so quiet. You came across as mysterious and confident, which intimidated me." I tried to hide my smile, but failed. "Oh my god, that's hilarious." He laughed. "You wanna know something?" He stopped laughing and looked at me. "Hmm?" I asked. "You scared me too." He whispered. I felt my eyes get big in shock. "You're so talented and confident and headstrong. It made me feel incompetent." He said. "Oh my goodness." I chuckled. "Well clearly we're horrible at reading people. I thought you would be rude and cocky, but you're not." I said. "And I thought you would be bitchy and stuck up but you're the farthest thing from it." He smiled. We both chuckled. "You know, my Ipod has a full battery. You could listen with me if you want?" I offered. "Ok." He smiled and I pulled out my Ipod and headphones and handed him one. I turned on 'my favs' playlist and we sat there listening to music for the rest of the flight.

When we finally landed in London, it was 3am. The boys and I went to the parking garage and waited for Reece and Charlie to get picked up by their parents. Once they were gone, the rest of us left. Barclay ended up taking Casey and Chris home, and Jake took James home. I obviously rode with Tom. "That was an amazing week, wasn't it?" Tom looked over at me, then back at the road. "Are you kidding? It was the best." I smiled. The rest of the car ride was quiet, except for the radio. When we finally got back to Toms house, we grabbed our things from the trunk and crashed as soon as we made it to our beds.

*One week later*

We move into The X Factor house today. The boys and I have been texting all morning, we're so excited. "You all packed up?" Tom asked as he brought out his third suitcase and set it next to my one duffle bag. I chuckled and nodded my head. "Alright. Let's pop this cherry!" He exclaimed as he grabbed two of his suitcases and headed towards the car. I grabbed my duffle bag and his last suitcase and followed him. Once everything was all packed up, we got in the car and he put the address of the house into the GPS. It was about twenty-five minutes away. "I'm so excited. It's only been a week, but I feel like I haven't seen the boys in forever." I clapped excitedly. "I know. After being with them every day it's weird not having them around." Tom agreed. "Do you have a favorite?" I asked curiously. "A favorite member?" He looked at me. "Yeah. I mean of course you like all of them, but if you had to choose, who do you like the best?" I revised my question. "Do you count?" He smiled. "No. Just out of the boys." I said. "Hmm. Well if I can't pick you, then it's a tie between Jake and James." He said. "Nice. Mine is probably a tie between James and Casey." I said. "Casey huh? I didn't know you guys were close." He looked skeptical. "I mean, we're not as close as me and James are, but yeah, he's really cool. But so are you. And Barclay. And Charlie. God damn it. I take it back, I can't choose." I said dramatically. He chuckled and shook his head. "You're not fooling me. I know you like him." He grinned. "What? No I don't." I said nervously. "It's ok, you don't have to pretend. It's obvious you guys like each other. You don't have keep saying he's your best friend. You can call him your crush." He said. My best friend? "Wait, who are you talking about." I asked, confused. "James of course. It's obvious you guys like each other." He smiled smugly. I couldn't help but laugh. He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow at my sudden outburst. "Sorry." I said trying to calm down. Finally, I stopped laughing and Tom looked at me like I was on drugs. "I can assure you, nothing is going to happen between James and I." I stated. "Uh huh. We'll see." He winked and turned the radio up. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. If only he knew about me and Casey. I smiled smugly to myself, and looked out the window as we passed house after house on our way to meet the boys.