What The Heart Wants (Stereo Kicks/ James Graham)

Chapter 37

I woke up the next morning exhausted, and feeling like crap. All the boys were surprisingly awake already. We only have half an hour before we need to be downstairs for vocals, so I gathered my clothes for the day and took a ten minute shower. The first seven minutes were just me standing under the hot water, and the last three consisted of me washing my hair and body. Mainly my body. After I looked semi-decent, I joined the boys in Casey's room where they were just relaxing until it was time to go. "There she is. I thought we were gonna have to call in the national guard to get you out of bed." Tom announced as I walked in and sat next to Reece on his bed. "Why?" I asked confused. "Uh, because you slept through your alarm and you wouldn't even wake up for Casey or Jake." Tom said. What the hell? I never sleep through my alarm. "I guess everything finally caught up to me." I lied. I looked at James who was giving me a curious look. He knew I was gone last night, but he didn't say anything to the guys, which I was thankful for. "So what does the schedule look like for today?" I asked, changing the subject. Chris picked up the schedule from the bedside table and read: "Vocals from 10am-12pm, choreography from 12:30pm-2:30pm, then we have a photo shoot at 3pm." He smiled. He was always freaking smiling. I nodded my head then noticed that we had four minutes before vocal rehearsal. "Alright," I sighed and stood up. "We should get going." I turned, and headed downstairs.

Vocals went by quickly, but I'm honestly not too fond of our song this week so I was glad when it ended. The boys and I had just got in the van to head to choreography when James texted me.

James: You gonna tell me where you were last night?

Normally I wouldn't reply but he's sitting a seat away from me -literally. Jake is sitting between us and that's it. And he seen me open the text.

Me: I don't know what you're talking about.

Since there's no way I'm going to tell him the truth, I decided to play dumb.

James: Actually you do. Why can't you just tell me? You tell me everything.

He's right, I do tell him everything. So instead of playing dumb I just need to tell him a convincing lie. Something that he'll believe.

Me: I went to the park across the street to talk to Caden. I wasn't tired, and I needed to be able to talk to him without being afraid of getting caught.

We're about four minutes away from the theatre and I've come to the conclusion that the van driver is actually my arch nemesis and he wants this conversation between James and I to last as long as possible. That's why he keeps getting every red light and he stops longer than he should at every stop sign. He hates me.

James: Are you ok? Is your mom ok? Do you need to talk? Is there anything I can do?

Now I feel like a horrible person for lying to him. He's the only person I trust and he's honestly such an amazing guy. He's nice, funny, super attractive, trustworthy, and he actually cares about me and my family. Ugh. But if I tell him about my 'job' I'm scared he'll think differently of me and I don't know if I can handle that. Actually, I know I can't.

Me: Everything is ok. We just needed to talk :) xx

Besides, it's not like I'm totally lying. I mean, I did talk to Caden, just not last night.

James: Ok. You know I'm here if you need anything

Me: I know. :-*

Finally, we pulled up outside the theatre and the boys and I walked in to meet Brian. The choreography this week is on the same level as last weeks so I don't understand why we need to spend two hours a day rehearsing this crap.

When we were done with our elementary choreography, we went backstage for the photo shoot. This time I had to wear black skinny jeans, some awesome black leather studded boots, and a black tank top with a red and black checkered flannel over it. It was a lot more black than I'm used to, but at least I didn't look like a whore. By the time we finished the shoot it was already 6pm. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. The boys and I shuffled back to the van to go home. I still have five hours before I need to be to work, so when Chris suggested we all play a game of FIFA, I didn't decline. An hour later, and my team got our butts kicked. Seriously, 7-14 is just unacceptable. The boys decided to take a break, so I snuck outside to get some fresh air. I was sitting on the back patio in one of the lawn chairs just minding my own business, when someone opened the back door and joined me. "Hey." It was Reece. "Hey." I smiled and watched as he made his way to the empty seat next to me. "What are you doing out here?" He looked at me. "Just needed some fresh air." I shrugged my shoulders and looked out into the backyard. It was dark so you couldn't see much. Reece nodded his head and stared at the trees in the distance. "Can you believe this?" He whispered after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "No. It's absolutely crazy." I answered. "How come we never talk?" He asked randomly. "I don't know to be honest. I think there's just so many of us it's hard to socialize with everybody one on one." I said. "So are there any of the other boy's you're not close with or is it just me?" He chuckled. "Actually, I'm not close with Chris, Charlie, or Barclay either." I admitted. "I mean Charlie and I started off great but with the hustle and bustle of everything going on it's hard to keep the friendship up to date, ya know?" I told him. "Hey! You two up for a re-match?" Casey yelled out the back door before Reece could reply. We smiled at each other and went inside for the re-match.

I got to work at 10:45pm, grabbed my costumes, and did my make up. The order of costumes for tonight is student, nurse, angel, then cheerleader. When I got to my pole, there were three men in suits drinking some form of alcohol, and they were talking easily to each other. After so many years of doing this, I could tell they were colleagues. When they noticed me walk out, they stopped conversation and just watched me. If there's anything I hate about this job it's being looked at like a piece of meat by fat old guys. But they tip well so I just have to suck it up. Four hours later, and I was finally home. Not to mention $300 richer. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be, so I took a quick shower, picked my clothes out for tomorrow, and set my alarm for the morning. I can do this. It's all about time management.

SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! IT'S FINALS WEEK AND I'M SICK SO YAY FOR ME! ANYWAY,  HOPE YOU LIKED IT!