Loving the Band (4 page)

‘Are you OK? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to catch me walking around half dressed.’

‘Erm … It’s fine … I really don’t mind. Really.’

I cringed inside as soon as the words came out. Did I seriously just say that?

Suddenly it went quiet between us and we stared at each other. It was Shaq who eventually managed to pull his eyes away.

‘Um, so, anyway, Riley is trying to cook something downstairs and I think you better come show him how to do it before he burns your kitchen down.’

‘OK. See you down there.’ I let him go first while I stood in my room trying to pull myself together.

The smell of burnt toast and a scene of complete chaos greeted me when I got to the kitchen. The five boys were standing around the room madly waving around tea towels to waft away the smoke. Thankfully Shaq had put a white plain T-shirt on now and must have told the rest of the boys to do so as well, because they were all dressed. I felt relieved. There was only so much six-pack a girl could take before lunchtime.

Tyler was the first to spot me. ‘Oh, morning, Jess. Sorry about the smell – it’s Riley’s fault.’

Riley grinned at me. ‘Hey, hot stuff.’

‘No pun intended, I take it,’ I laughed, walking through a cloud of smoke to get to the cupboard for a glass. When I opened the door, I noticed that there was only one left and it was on the top shelf. I stood on my tiptoes and strained to reach it. Suddenly I felt a masculine body stretch up next me. I gasped at the warmth and hard
muscles. A hand hovered above mine and grabbed the glass with ease.

I turned round to thank whoever it was and found myself looking straight at their chest. I recognized that body almost instantly – it was a bit hard to forget. My eyes trailed up to his face, confirming my suspicion. Shaq stood just centimetres from me, so close that I could feel his breath tickling me.

‘Erm … tha-thank you,’ I stuttered, and took the glass from his hand. He backed away so I could move past him towards the sink.

‘Almost ready!’ Riley suddenly declared, waving his tea towel with a flourish. But, as he did, it caught the flame from the stove and set alight.

‘Aaaagh!’ He dropped it on the floor as Tyler moved quickly, filling a bowl of water and extinguishing it immediately.

‘My hand!’ Riley moaned.

‘Oh my God. Are you OK?’ With barely a second to think, I took him by the arm and put his hand under the cold tap, letting the water run over it gently.

Riley rested his forehead against mine. ‘Thanks, Jess. That feels so much better.’

I blushed, not quite sure how to feel about how openly affectionate Riley was. I’m sure I would have been the envy of girls worldwide if they could have seen me.

A loud cough from Tyler broke the tension. I think I felt relieved. He waved his phone.

‘Guys, that was management who just texted. They’re
sending a car for us in an hour. And they don’t seem too happy.’

‘Well, we should start getting ready,’ Shaq growled, looking at Riley who seemed oblivious. ‘Now.’

‘Shaq, you’re the only one who needs an hour in front of the mirror,’ Callum joked.

Shaq just grimaced in return.

As the boys shot into action, getting ready to go, I wandered back upstairs to wake Tegan and to grab a few minutes to myself to think about how I felt about them leaving. Would they stay in touch? I doubted it – they’d probably just forget Tegan and me as soon as they stepped out of the house. Reality sucked.

After everything that had happened back in Scotland, I’d never expected to enjoy the company of boys so much. But I had. They’d all been a great laugh – Riley’s flirting had cheered me up no end, making me forget the horrible experience I’d had with Jacob. And Shaq, well, I just hoped he couldn’t tell the effect he had on me.

Tegan and I stood by the door with the boys. Shaq slouched behind the others, who had crowded in to give us hugs goodbye. He smiled sadly at me.

‘Do you really have to go?’

Logan chuckled and answered, ‘Yeah, we really do, even though we don’t want to.’

Oh God. Did I say that out loud? I was glad Logan had answered for everyone. I couldn’t look at Shaq and I could
also feel Riley’s gaze as we stood there.

‘Jess,’ Riley said suddenly.

‘Yes?’

‘Why don’t you give me your number? I’d love to stay in touch.’

‘Oh wow. Um, yeah, that would be great.’ I saw Tegan beam as I read out my number and Riley tapped it into his phone.

‘Maybe we can go for dinner?’

‘Er, what I think Riley means,’ interrupted Callum, who had been standing next to Tegan and was also watching Shaq carefully, ‘is that we’d
all
love it if you and Tegan could come for dinner with us.’

‘Tonight?’ Riley added.

‘Yeah, I guess we’re free. Aren’t we, Jess?’ Tegan asked.

I grinned back at Riley’s eager face – he was very cute. ‘Yep, we can do tonight. For sure. See you then.’

Suddenly a car outside beeped its horn. ‘Right, boys, you ready?’ Tyler asked, turning to go.

‘I’ll text you the details later,’ Riley promised me.

‘Time to go,’ Callum said from behind me.

‘Bye, Jess,’ Shaq said softly as he passed by.

And then they were gone.

The house felt pretty empty. It was strange not having to turn round to tell one of them off, laugh at their outrageous flirting or – in one particular case – just catch your breath at the intensity of your feelings around them.

Tegan walked over to the sofa and threw herself down next to me. She sighed, obviously thinking the same
thoughts. ‘Those boys are really hard work.’

‘Yeah, I know. It’s not what I had planned for this fortnight in London, I have to admit … It was totally worth it, though, wasn’t it?’

Tegan turned her head and sighed again. ‘Totally.’

We burst out laughing.

Tegan and I spent the rest of the day looking around London, hitting the shops and our purses hard. London was just as madly busy as I remembered it – everybody seemed to be in a rush. But, on the other hand, it was the most cool and individual place I had ever been. Everyone had a different look and there was so much to see and do. Tegan was as thrilled by the city as I had been the first time I’d visited Dad here. Being older and able to walk around with my best friend instead of a parent meant that I saw an entirely different side to the city.

We ate lunch in a cute little cafe down a cobbled side street away from the main shops, watching the world go by and gossiping about what everybody was wearing – and more importantly what we would be wearing that evening to go out with the boys. A little shiver went down my spine just thinking about it, and I could tell from the twinkle in Tegan’s eyes that she felt the same.

In fact, the what-to-wear conversation carried on for the rest for the afternoon. Usually it didn’t concern me what others thought of my outfits, but for some reason it really seemed to matter to me this time. But, more importantly, we hadn’t actually had the text from Riley yet.
I felt surprisingly disappointed at the thought that we might not see them.

‘We can’t get our hopes up, Tegan,’ I said for the hundredth time that afternoon. ‘I’m sure the boys are massively busy.’

Tegan pouted. ‘I know. But we should wear something nice from what we brought down from Scotland. Just in case?’

I ran through a mental list of all the clothes I had brought with me. Damn! I remembered that I left my best going-out dress at home – I didn’t think I’d need one on a no-boys, crazy girly break! I slapped my palm on my forehead. Nice one, Jess.

‘Tegan, I left my red dress at home!’ I wailed. ‘Can I borrow one of yours?’

‘The
really
cute red one?’ I nodded. ‘Oh, well, you could’ve borrowed something from me, but I only bought the one too. I’m sure we’ve enough time, if we hurry, to buy something before the shops shut!’

We searched in all the big high street shops for a desperate hour with no luck at all. I was starting to give up hope and thinking about not going at all when we came across a small vintage shop, tucked away on a back street that we hadn’t noticed before.

Tegan led the way and I gasped. It was like we’d walked into a treasure trove containing the most beautiful dresses in the whole world! And the best thing was no one would have anything like it. Not knowing where to start, I began raiding the old-fashioned rails, gathering dress after dress
over my arm.

I went to go into the changing room, but Tegan held out her arm to stop me. ‘Right, show me what you’ve got.’ She started sorting through the pile one by one. ‘Nope, maybe, no, oooh yes, and yes, that one too.’

‘Really?’ I asked, looking at the three silky offerings left hanging from the changing-room rail.

‘Yes, really, Jess,’ Tegan replied, crossing her arms. ‘You have the most beautiful figure and you don’t even realize it. These are going to look amazing on you.’

The shop owner, a young woman with fifties-style waves and a nipped-in pencil skirt, who had been watching the whole process, suddenly spoke up. ‘I think she’s right, you know.’

‘Yes, well,’ I humphed at Tegan. ‘You’re very bossy, you know that?’

She smirked as I flounced into the changing room to try on the dresses.

I knew which one was
the one
as soon as I tried it on. I didn’t even need to look at the others on the hangers. For Tegan and the shop owner’s benefit, I stepped out of the changing room and twirled.

It was a cream hem dress, which hung flatteringly longer at the back, just grazing my calves. Along the neckline the dress gently glittered with a delicate line of cream beads. It was perfect.

Tegan gave herself a little clap. ‘I knew it!’ she declared proudly.

The shop owner tilted her head to one side and smiled
at me. ‘Whoever he is, he is one very lucky boy.’

‘Do you think they’re ever going to text?’ Tegan groaned. She looked nervous all of a sudden. ‘Do you think it’s even still on?’

I had to admit I’d been thinking exactly the same thing. So much so that I’d made myself put my phone down the side of the sofa so I wouldn’t be tempted to check it every ten seconds.

I tentatively pulled the phone out and peeked at it! ‘Oh! Riley has texted.’

‘Read it! Read it!’

‘
Hey, Jess, be ready for eight and I will be there to pick you and Tegan up. Kiss
,’ I read out loud, trying not to blush at the kiss sign-off.

‘Eight o’clock?’ Tegan said, sounding incredulous.

‘Yeah, why?’

‘It’s seven now!’

‘He’s coming in an hour!’ I shouted.

Tegan paused. ‘Hey, I wonder why Riley is coming alone
to get us.’

‘I don’t know. Why?’ I asked, distracted, wondering how fast I could take the stairs to get ready on time.

‘Oh, no reason,’ she replied, looking at me curiously with a smile on her face.

And with that we both raced up the stairs. I grabbed my dress from my wardrobe where I’d hung it up earlier, slipped my day clothes off and stepped into it. Facing the mirror, I sectioned my hair and heated up my curling tongs. I carefully wrapped each section round the tongs and watched as my hair transformed into a fifties-inspired mop of curls. I parted my hair on the side, pulling it away from my face with a vintage slide which my mum had given me and which luckily matched the beads on the neck and hemline of my dress. I walked over to the dressing table, grabbing my make-up bag on the way.

I sat down on the chair and applied my make-up. I left it pretty natural as per usual, but added some eye shadow to match my dress. Grabbing my coat, I went to check on Tegan.

‘Hey, Tegan, you ready yet?’ I shouted down the hall.

‘Give me, like, ten mins, yeah?’ she shouted back.

I tapped my fingers nervously against the silky material of my dress. ‘OK, but hurry up! I’ll be waiting downstairs.’

I went downstairs and into the hall to grab my shoes, then back into the living room to sit down on the sofa to put my shoes on – they were nude wedges, my favourite, mainly because they made me two inches taller.

I looked at the clock and it was now eight – Riley would
be here any minute.

Trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach, I told myself it was normal to feel nervous. We were about to go to dinner with one of the biggest boy bands in the world, after all. But something inside me made me feel a little bit relieved that it was Riley that was picking us up. I put my fingers to my hand where Shaq had grazed it undoing my seatbelt yesterday, and shivered.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. My heart began to beat at twice its normal pace. I swiftly stood up, losing my balance and grabbing the arm of the sofa to steady myself. I tried to walk as slowly as possible to the door as I didn’t want to look too eager.

Opening the door, I found myself staring at a grinning Riley Townsend. He was wearing a pair of green skinny jeans that fitted his lower body perfectly, a light-blue shirt and a smart grey blazer, all of which contributed to the perfect manly silhouette. I felt self-conscious in my new dress, and I tugged at its hemline.

But then, in what I had come to know as his usual manner, Riley made me feel much better. ‘Wow!’ he whistled.

I blushed before giggling at his complete and utter openness about what he was thinking. It was cute and set me at ease.

‘Seriously, Jess. You look … beautiful.’

‘Aw thanks, Riley. You look fantastic too. Do you want to come in?’

He nodded his head, his blond curls tumbling down his
face. I moved out of the way to let him in then shut the door behind him. He went into the living room and stood leaning on his right foot, putting his hands in his pockets. If I didn’t already know what a confident charmer he was, I would have said he looked a little nervous.

‘Tegan should be down in a minute. Do you want a drink?’

‘Yeah, that would be great. Just water, thanks.’

I smiled, pleased to have something to do other than blush under Riley’s gaze. I walked into the kitchen grabbing a glass and filling it up with water.

‘So where are we going tonight?’ I shouted through the doorway.