What The Heart Wants (Stereo Kicks/ James Graham)

Chapter 63

Ugh. Friday. 6am wake up call. I got home around 2:30am after work so I'm tired, but I can still function. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom. I took a quick shower to wash the sweat and other various substances off my body. When I was done, I went to my room and put on my favorite pair of jeans capris, and by jean capris I totally mean jeggings that stop mid-calf. I then paired the bottoms with my Michigan jersey, and a yellow tanktop to go underneath. I did my hair in a fishtail braid, and put my tennis shoes on. I looked sporty, but cute. When I went to James's room, Charlie was the only one ready. "Morning." I greeted, but he was just smiling at his phone like an idiot. "Earth to Charlie?" I snapped my fingers. "What? Sorry." He chuckled. "Uh huh. Who you texting?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "It's nobody, it's just somebody I go to school with." He defended. "What's her name?" I asked. "Her name's Dia. She's...she's amazing." He gushed. "Sounds like someone's got a crush." I teased. "No. Well...maybe. Ok, fine. Is that bad?" He looked at me. "What? Why would that be bad?" I looked at him. "I don't know. I just feel bad for our fans." He said. "Look, you're fourteen years old. You deserve a normal relationship, and that's exactly what you can have with Dia. Unlike our fans, she knows the real Charlie Jones, not just the Charlie that gets up and sings to millions of people every Saturday. If you like her, tell her." I felt bad for him. He's so young and naive. I'm just glad we're in the same group so me and the boys can look out for him. Actually, we all look out for each other already, that's a plus side to having so many people in a group.

***

Soundcheck and wardrobe fitting went off without a hitch. I'm excited for our performance tomorrow, I think it's going to be our best one yet. James has some killer vocals going on throughout the piece. Every time we practice he gives me chills because he's so good. Seriously, I didn't think it was humanly possible for an 18 year old boy to sound so amazing. When we got back to the house at 11am, the boys started discussing what they were going to wear to the party tomorrow night. I just sat and observed this odd moment. This was my first time listening to eight straight guys give each other fashion tips. "Aria what are you wearing?" Reece asked. "I don't know. Can I just go in my sweats?" I was kidding. Kind of. If that's an option then I'm so wearing sweatpants. "Ha. Funny. No, you have to dress up. Didn't you hear Mel say it was formal dress wear?" A few of the guys were looking at me now. "No, I didn't. So does that mean sweatpants are a no go?" This time I really was joking. "Alright, that's it. Everybody put your shoes on." Casey said. "Why?" I asked. I was comfortable and didn't want to move. "We're going shopping. We all need new outfits for the dance." He said. The boys all nodded and started putting their shoes on. "Aria, come on." Casey said after he noticed I hadn't moved. "I'm running on three and a half hours of sleep. You guys go. I'll just wear my white dress." I said. "The one you wore to the club? You can't wear that to a formal." Casey rolled his eyes. "Watch me." I stuck my tongue out at him. "That's it." James walked over to the bed where I was laying, slipped his arms under my body and pulled me from the bed. "Someone grab her shoes and purse. We'll be downstairs." He yelled from the hallway. "That was rude." I gave him a dirty look but quickly smiled at his smug face. When we got downstairs, he set me down on the kitchen floor and a few seconds later Chris emerged with my tennis shoes and Reece had my purse. Chris handed me my shoes and I grudgingly put them on. "Um. How are we getting to...wherever we're going?" I asked nobody in particular. "We're gonna take one of the minivans." Tom answered. "Aren't those supposed to be driven by licensed staff only?" I asked as he opened the door and we all piled outside. "Well I'm a licensed contestant and that's basically the same thing." He smirked as we approached the van he had the keys to. "Where the hell did you get the keys to this thing?" I asked, slightly frantic. "Just calm down and get in the van. It will be fine!" He exclaimed. I rolled my eyes and got in the van next to Jake and James. "We're so  screwed." I pouted. "Oh shush." Tom turned up the music and the boys chuckled at us. About fifteen minutes later, we pulled up outside an outlet mall, which is basically a huge mall with practically any store you can think of. "Alright, where to first?" Charlie clapped his hands excitedly. "We could try Alexander McQueen. They're expensive, but they have nice clothes." Tom suggested. "Yeah, or you could save $150 on a pair of pants by just going somewhere else." I countered. "Aria, everywhere here is expensive. It's all name brand shops. Gucci, Coach, Calvin Klein, BOSS, Dior, Guess, Jimmy Choo and more." He explained. "Well what the fuck are we doing here? What's wrong with Forever 21? or The Buckle? Or fucking Wal-Mart?" I complained. "Because those stores are for losers." Tom stated. "Excuse me, but over half my wardrobe is from those stores." I challenged. "My point exactly." He winked, and the boys chuckled. "Ha. You're so funny." I said sarcastically. "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." James said as he pulled me in for a bone crushing hug. I don't know why I'm so irritable, I just am. "Right. I think we should split up. Me, James, Charlie, and Casey will go get our suits now. Barclay, Jake, Chris, and Reece you'll go with Aria to help her find a dress. Once we have our suits, we'll find you guys and then we can take over helping Aria find her shoes and accessories while you go get your suits." Tom ordered. I didn't feel like arguing anymore so I agreed.  We all split up in different directions. Tom, Casey, Charlie, and James all headed towards Alexander mcQueen, while me, Jake, Barclay, Chris, and Reece walked aimlessly until we found a store with dresses. I don't even know the name of it. All the dresses in this store were freaking ugly. I don't care whose name is on it, I'm not going to wear it if it looks like a paper bag. We moved on to the next store and experienced the same problem. "What the hell? Am I the only one who thinks all these dresses are ugly?" I asked the boys. "No, these are definitely ugly." Jake confirmed. "Where are we supposed to go? All these stores are name brand and none of the designers have good taste in fashion." I sighed. "How long has it been?" Jake asked quickly. "About half an hour. Why?" I asked. "Ok, if we hurry, there's a forever 21 across the street." He smiled and grabbed my hand. We all started running across the street. When we reached the store, we were all panting and out of breath. "That's my exercise for the month." I joked. The boys chuckled and we all eventually caught our breath and walked inside. "What the...why are there prom signs?" I asked, confused. "Probably because it's prom season." Jake said as we made our way to the prom dresses. "But it's November." I was still confused. "Very observant of you. Prom is always in November." Jake told me. "Oh. Not in America. Prom is always in the spring." I said while shuffling through the dresses. "What do you guys think, long or short?" I asked the boys. "Long." They all said at the same time. "Well ok. See if you can find either red, white, yellow, or black. Those colors look best on me. Especially red with my dark hair, and eyes." I told them. They all nodded and grabbed dresses they thought I would like. After the five of us went through every rack, I had fifteen dresses to try on. Holy shit. "I'll try to hurry!" I shouted as I shut myself in the dressing room with all the dresses. The first dress was a simple yellow strapless number. I opened the door and showed the guys. "So?" I looked at them expectantly. "Nah. It's too boring." Barclay said. "Agreed." I nidded my head and shut the door. We went through dress after dress until we reached the last three. I saved the best for last, since I knew I wanted a red dress, I tried on all the white, black, and yellow ones first. Although there were a few black ones I liked, I wanted red. Red is a sexy and sophisticated color. The first one was a strapless sweetheart neckline, with embelishments right under the breasts. It was flowy and pretty. I opened the door and the boys' faces perked up. "I see why you said red." Chris spoke up first. "That looks really nice." Barclay said after him. "Yeah, this is my favorite so far. But there's two more." I smiled and went to try the next dress on. This one was a mermaid style and was a little too sexy for what I needed. The boys agreed. The last one was dark red, sweetheart neckline, semi-mermaid, with rhinestones going across the bodice. It was beautiful. I slowly opened the door and when the boys seen me their jaws practically hit the floor. "Holy shit." Jake breathed. "Aria, you look beautiful." Reece smiled. "Thanks." I felt myself blush. "I think I'm gonna get this one." I said, and they all silently nodded. Once I was back in my regular clothes, I bought the dress -it was only $180 as opposed to $400- and we all walked back to the outlet mall. Once we entered the parking lot, Tom called Jake to see where we were. He told them to meet us outside Coach. We stood waiting for about two minutes before the four boys emerged from around the corner. "I see you got your dress." James smiled. Thankfully it was in a black zip up dress bag so he couldn't see through it. "I see you got your suit." I replied, and he smiled. "Alright. You guys go ahead and get your suits, we'll take over from here." James said to Barclay, Jake, Chris, and Reece. They all nodded their heads and left us. Tom, James, Casey, and Charlie all began walking towards BOSS. I hope they have cute shoes. Surprisingly they did. I ended up buying a pair of bedazzled silver pumps that match my dress. Next was jewelry. I don't need much since there's bling on my dress, so I just opted for a necklace, and some earrings. $360 later and I was finally done! James carried my shopping bags for me while I carried my dress. We met up with the other boys at Alexander McQueen right as they were checking out. "That was fast." Jake said when he noticed us. "Well I didn't have fifteen dresses to try on this time." I smiled. "Touché." He replied. "You tried on fifteen dresses?" James said, bewildered. "I'll admit, it was not my finest moment." I giggled. "Do you like the dress you ended up with?" He asked. "I love it." I smiled. "Yeah dude, she looks great in it. You're definitely in for a shock." Barclay told him. "I'm looking forward to it." James winked at me. Once we all had everything we needed, we made our way back to the house. When we got home it was 2:15pm and I was exhausted. "I'm taking a nap before work tonight." I said as I took my bags from James and hid them under my bed. I hung my dress up in my closet, then fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

UNEDITED. THE PICTURE ABOVE IS ARIAS DRESS. JUST CLICK ON IT FOR FULL PICTURE! I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THIS CHAPTER! IT'S PRETTY LONG LOL DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT! :)