What The Heart Wants (Stereo Kicks/ James Graham)

Chapter 69

This week is big band week, and Louis chose Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. We're really happy with the song choice, since we've already performed this song and are comfortable with it. Today is Wednesday, and Louis has arranged for us to take a little break from rehearsals. None of us knew where we were going so we were really excited. Finally after about fifteen minutes of driving, the van pulled into the parking lot of an indoor go-kart building. "Oh yes!" James said excitedly as he opened the door and we all got out of the vehicle. We made our way inside where we seen Louis waiting for us. "Hi guys." Louis greeted, and the boys and I all replied at the same time. "As you can see, you're gonna go go-karting today. You guys deserve a break for all your hard work." He said. "Alright, you guys can go back there to change into your racing gear, and then meet me back here to split into teams." He said as he pointed to a door just a few feet away. We excitedly ran back there and changed as fast as we could. 'Change' is technically the wrong word, really we just threw on the racing jumpsuits over our clothes. After were all dressed and picked out our helmets, we met up with Louis again. This time there was a large man with tattoos all up and down his arms standing with him. He went over the basic rules before we split up into teams. Team Stereo was James, Chris, Reece, Charlie, and me, and team Kicks was Barclay, Casey, Tom, and Jake. The tattooed man walked us over to the track and let us choose our go-karts. James and I sat next to each other towards the middle of the group. I've never been go-karting before so I really have no clue what I'm doing. I'm just praying I don't crash and die, if I can avoid that, then today will have been a success. "Team with the most combined laps wins!" The man shouted. "They're going down." James whispered before he pulled his face mask down and started his kart. I started mine as well, and pulled my face mask down too. I figured he knew what he was doing, so I just copied what he did. I heard the others start their go-karts and my stomach fluttered nervously. I am so out of my element. "On your mark...get set.....GO!" The man yelled and waved the green flag signaling it was race time. I heard wheels screech around me as the boys took off, while I gently pressed on the gas pedal to start moving. I was only going 7mph. I wanted to get a feel for the steering and control of the kart. After about a lap I was a little more comfortable so I bumped my speed up to 10mph, then 15, then 20. I was caught up with the boys now. Granted, they all lapped me back when I was still on my first go around, but I didn't let that bother me. I hurried and got as many laps in as I could before the timer ran out. After the timer hit zero, we all parked our go-karts and met up with Louis and the tattoo man, whose name I didn't hear because James and I were too busy giving each other googly eyes while he explained the rules to us. "Alright, here are the results." The guy handed Casey a piece of paper that had all of our names, the amount of laps we did, and the name of the winning team. "And the winning team is...KICKS! Yeah!" Casey announced as him and his other teammates began celebrating. "Let me see that." James said as he snatched the paper from Casey's hand. "Sweet but I still got first place." James smiled proudly. "How many laps did you get?" I asked him. "Twelve. You got...eight. Not too shabby. Barclay got seven so atleast you did better than him." James smiled at me. "Alright boys. Time to get back to business. I want you guys to go home, and practice the song a few more times." Louis said as we left the building. "Thank you." I yelled over my shoulder to the tattoo man, who smiled and waved goodbye to me. Nobody else said thank you, not even Louis. When we got home, it was 6pm and I was exhausted, but we did what Louis asked and rehearsed a few more times. By 7:15pm, we were all pretty tired. It was a long, physically and mentally demanding day. "Netflix and popcorn?" I suggested. "Netflix and popcorn." Casey confirmed as he nodded his head, and the rest of the boys agreed. "Ok, you guys pick the movie and I'll be back with the popcorn." I said before going down to the kitchen and grabbing nine packets of popcorn. Thank god there are two microwaves. "Need any help?" I turned to see an uncomfortable looking Jake staring at me. "Sure." I smiled, trying to be as welcoming as possible. "You can take these bags and cook them in that one, and I'll do the rest in this one." I said, handing him half the popcorn bags and pointing at the separate microwaves. We went through minute after minute of awkward silence before I couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, this is ridiculous." I blurted and he looked over at me. "What happened the other day was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened, but it did, and I'm not mad or weirded out by it. Okay, maybe it was a little weird, but I'm still not upset. I just hate not being able to talk to you. I feel like everything is awkward now and I hate it. I just...I want my friend back." I sighed. "You're really not mad at me?" He said quietly. "No, not at all." I assured him. He took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh of relief. "Ok good. And you're right, it shouldn't have happened. I don't know why I kissed you. Especially since I'm talking to someone." He said. "Really? That's great. What's her name?" I asked as I removed one bag of popcorn  from the microwave and replaced it with a new one. "Her name's Caoimhe, but everyone calls her Erin. I've actually known her for a long time. We grew up right down the street from each other and we used to babysit the little neighborhood kids together and we would split the money. We used to be just friends, but lately I can't stop thinking about her. We text all the time and...and I don't know. I just really like her." He smiled. "Jake that's awesome. Why don't you ask her out? We can have another group hang that way there's no pressure. Plus I kinda want an excuse to see Kirsten, Brittany, Meg, and Layla again. And Charlie can invite Dia. It will be fun!" I said excitedly. "Yeah, alright. I'll ask her." He smiled. "Yay!" I clapped my hands and then grabbed the last bag of popcorn from the microwave. "Let's pop this cherry!" I yelled as we left the kitchen. "Let's not!" One of the cameramen yelled back from the other side of the house. "Whoops. Didn't know they were still here." I whispered to Jake and we both started laughing. When we got to the room I could see the movie they picked was The Ugly Truth. "Here you go." I smiled as I handed out all but 1 bag of my popcorn, while Jake handed out the rest. We all spread out across the room ready to watch the movie. Charlie and Reece were on the top of one bunk, Tom and Barclay beneath them. Me and James were on the top bunk of the other bed with Casey and Jake beneath us, while Chris sat in the big blue beanbag chair in the center of the room. When everyone was ready, Chris clicked play, and we all sat back and enjoyed the movie.

UNEDITED. HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED IT! THINGS ARE STARTING TO SLOW DOWN AND BECOME LESS COMPLICATED FOR ARIA. LIFE IS GOOD :) NOT TOO MUCH LONGER AND THIS FANFIC WILL BE OVER. I'M STILL DECIDING ON THE ENDING, BUT THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE A SEQUEL. NO PROMISES YET! I HAVE A FEW DIFFERENT IDEAS IN MY HEAD, WE'LL SEE WHICH ONE I CHOOSE :) THANKS FOR READING, AND AS ALWAYS, VOTE AND COMMENT ♡