Loving the Band (5 page)

When he didn’t reply, I turned round to check everything was OK, but as I did I spun straight into Riley, nearly spilling water all over myself and my beautiful new dress.

‘Whoa, careful there, Jess!’ Riley laughed.

‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to give you a fright.’ He looked down at me, absent-mindedly brushing away a strand of my messy blonde hair from my face. I flushed at the intensity of Riley’s expression and the feeling of where his fingers had touched my skin.

‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’ I jumped and Riley swiftly stepped away from me as Tegan came into the room.

‘No, no!’ I sang a little too gaily. ‘Of course not. Riley was just about to tell me where we’re all going this evening.’

Tegan raised her eyebrows questioningly, but didn’t say anything.

Riley chuckled. ‘We’re going to a lovely Italian place – it’s been in the same family for years. I think you’ll love it and it’s not that far.’

‘That sounds expensive,’ I said. I didn’t want the boys to think we were taking advantage of them being famous.

‘Don’t worry about that, you two. It’s on us. And, besides, you deserve it for putting up with us!’

Tegan grinned. ‘Ah well, in that case …’

Riley and I both laughed out loud. ‘Come on, then, let’s go,’ Riley said. Tegan walked ahead of us and Riley put his hand on the small of my back to guide me through the door.

‘Jess,’ Riley suddenly murmured.

I turned round. ‘What is it, Riley?’

‘Erm … n-nothing … I …’ he stammered.

‘Are you sure? We can talk in the car, if you like. It’s getting pretty late and Shaq and the boys will be wondering where we are.’

‘Ah … Shaq, yeah.’ I couldn’t read the expression in his face, but before I could ask him what he meant he had already brushed past me and headed towards the car. All I could do was follow.

The car journey to the restaurant only took about twenty minutes, but that was long enough. Tegan and Riley chatted the whole way there, talking about everything from football to the band’s next tour. Riley never spoke to me even though I was in the front seat next to him. I got a stiff smile at one point, but that was it. I wracked my brain to think what I could have said in the house to cause his mood change. He certainly wasn’t being his cheeky charming self.

We pulled up into the car park and approached the fancy-looking restaurant. There was a big queue outside; it must have been incredibly popular. Tegan and I went to go and stand in the queue, but Riley had other ideas and, taking us both by the hand, led us right to the very front. The doorman stepped aside with no hesitation.

The restaurant was stunning inside – a beautiful crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, its glittering light cascading across the entire room. The restaurant was low-
lit and had candles placed on the table, giving it a romantic vibe. It felt like a bit of a strange place to take a big group of seven people.

Riley spoke to the front-of-house manager and she led us through the restaurant to a big table where the rest of the boys were sitting.

Before we had even reached the table, the boys had noticed us and began to stand and wave. We hurried over. Callum approached me for a full-blown hug. The rest of the boys’ hellos were much less over the top, all with one-armed hugs and genuine smiles. Shaq stood a little back until I approached him. He pulled me in for a long hug and I breathed in his warm and spicy aftershave. ‘We missed you,’ he said gently.

I smiled back, realizing that the feeling was mutual. I sat down next to Shaq, and Riley took the seat on my other side. Tegan sat in between Logan and Callum opposite me, and Tyler sat at the head of the table, ever content in the role of father figure.

‘You look absolutely beautiful tonight, girls,’ Callum grinned.

‘I like your dress,’ Shaq said, gently casting his hand across the silky material over my hips. ‘It looks amazing on you.’

‘Th-thanks,’ I stammered. My heart was fluttering too hard to say anything more sensible. I couldn’t believe the effect his surprising and gentle touch had on me.

In an effort to gather myself, I turned to Callum.

‘So tell me, Callum, do you have any girls in your life at
the moment?’

Callum grimaced and I caught Tegan out the corner of my eye looking panicked.

‘Nah, there’s not a single one,’ he told me. ‘Haven’t found anybody yet.’

I could see Tegan’s shoulders physically drop with relief.

‘I think our problem is,’ Shaq began, ‘that we spend so much time working and in each other’s company that we’re practically brothers. Every girl has to pass the best-friend test five times over.’

I looked up into Shaq’s green eyes. ‘That’s how Tegan and I feel about each other.’

‘Yup,’ said Riley, staring at me, ‘it takes a very special girl to get past that.’

Halfway through the meal, a petite girl with short brown hair approached the table shyly and asked if they were indeed The Only Truth. All of them flashed genuine smiles her way, which lit up her face with a deep shade of pink. They agreed to break away from their meals to take a picture with the excited girl, although Callum looked a little distraught at leaving his plate. As they all got into position for the photo, her father took a few quick snaps on his iPhone. I could feel the girl’s eyes boring into the back of my head as I shared a glance with Tegan across the table. No doubt the girl was wondering who we were and why we were out to dinner with her favourite boy band. She also seemed curious as to why I was sitting very close to Shaq who, by the way she gazed at him, was clearly her
favourite. I shrugged it off.

The rest of the meal passed without interruption from any sort other than the waitress, and I found that all my earlier nerves had disappeared. Shaq and I had so much to say to each other about everything and anything, and Riley was so easy to talk to. He showered me and Tegan with compliments, and the wicked glint in his eye accompanied by killer lines made you feel like the most beautiful girl in the whole restaurant.

Shaq got up to pay for the meal and Riley turned round, taking my hands in his. ‘I’ll drive you both home now,’ he declared.

Suddenly Tyler, who hadn’t said much during the meal but had been quietly observing everyone else, interrupted Riley. ‘I need to talk to you about tour stuff, mate. Let Shaq take the girls back.’

‘Oh, OK.’ Riley sounded a bit disappointed.

I tried not to look up at Shaq with the memory of our last car journey together running through my mind. His leg next to mine under the table was as much as I could handle in front of everyone else.

And, as I caught Tyler’s eye, I could have sworn he winked at me.

Shaq led Tegan and me swiftly to the car, trying to avoid bumping into any unwanted attention from fans or press. As we reached the sleek black vehicle, Shaq unlocked it and Tegan automatically hopped in the back. ‘Er, didn’t you want to go shotgun this time, Tegan?’ I asked, not sure if
I’d be able to hide my reaction to Shaq if I was sitting so close to him again.

Tegan smirked from the back seat. ‘Nope, I’m just fine right here, thanks, Jess.’ Great. She knew.

I scowled at her and turned back to get in the front, but as I reached for the handle so did Shaq. His broad, masculine hand grazed mine and an electric tingle went down my arm. I gasped. Shaq was looking at me with wide green eyes and from his expression I’m pretty sure he’d felt the same thing.

‘Um, let me get that for you,’ he said, his voice gravelly.

I managed a breathy, ‘Thank you.’

As I got in, Tegan let out a fake cough from the back.

‘Shut up,’ I mumbled quietly so that Shaq wouldn’t be able to hear from outside the car.

She held her hands up in defence and chuckled. Shaq got in the car and I deliberately turned away from her, steadfastly facing the front.

‘Ready to go?’ Shaq smiled. I nodded and he started up the engine.

After that, I was surprised to find that for other people, those not struggling with a fluttering heart, Shaq was really easy to talk to. His conversation with Tegan was charming, clever and funny and I could see that she got on well with him. The banter between those two really made me laugh.

The radio was on quietly in the background and suddenly I noticed my favourite song had come on. It was by a small indie band that I knew Tegan wasn’t a massive
fan of and I presumed it probably wasn’t Shaq’s thing either, but then he surprised me.

‘Do you mind if I turn this up?’ he asked. ‘I love this song.’

I shook my head – of course I didn’t mind. He reached forward, turning it up slightly, but not too loud so that Tegan and I could still speak. But he didn’t need to. As he sang along to all the words, his voice left me breathless. It was deep but soft and rich – and not to mention totally mesmerizing. I was blown away and felt almost guilty for having said that I didn’t like their music. But I’d never heard Shaq’s voice come through any The Only Truth songs in this way before.

I could have listened to him sing all evening, but then the song finished and so did he. I sighed much louder than I intended.

‘Oh God, sorry. Was that really bad?’ Shaq turned to look at me.

‘Oh no! No, not at all!’ I stumbled over my words. Oh, brilliant. What could I say? I was just drooling over you and your voice? I could feel Tegan cringing for me in the back as I struggled to form sentences.

I gave up and just decided to be honest. ‘You have a beautiful voice.’

He looked at me, his face flushed. ‘Really? That means a lot. Thanks, Jess.’

I felt Tegan kick the back of the chair as we pulled up to my dad’s house. The easy conversation that we’d enjoyed on the journey faded away and I could feel the tension
between Shaq and me.

Tegan needed no prompting at all and scrambled out of the car before Shaq could get the door for her. ‘Well, I’ll be off, then. I’m pretty tired and want to go to bed. Thank you so much for taking me out for dinner, and for the ride home.’

‘You’re welcome. It was the least I could do.’ Shaq smiled at her.

Tegan gave me a cheeky wink through the window and then skipped up the drive, letting herself into the house.

Shaq and I looked at each other with nervous smiles. I felt my cheeks go hot.

‘You looked really beautiful tonight, Jess.’

I blushed. ‘Don’t say that – I know that I didn’t. Especially when I think about all the stunning girls you must see every day in your job.’

‘Hey, what made you so unconfident? You must see other boys looking at you all the time. I know
I
see them,’ he frowned.

I gave a small laugh at Shaq’s protectiveness. He had definitely figured me out quickly. What had happened with Jacob and Lucy in Scotland had left me feeling low and doubting myself all the time.

‘You’re right, I guess. I never used to be like this. It … it’s an old relationship.’ I looked at my feet nervously. Tegan knew what had happened and had seen how it had affected me, but I had never actually spoken to anyone else about it before now.

Shaq looked at me – his green eyes serious. ‘Whoever it
was couldn’t have understood what they were throwing away. You’re an amazing person, Jess. You’ll find yourself again, I know it.’

I swallowed hard. My heart was beating so fast in my chest I thought it was going to explode.

Suddenly, he began to lean over towards me. Oh God. Was he going to kiss me? I realized that I really wanted him to. As his face came close to mine and his dark hair brushed my cheek, I could feel myself trembling. Then he gently kissed me on the cheek.

‘Oh.’ The kiss burned on my cheek. I blushed from the realization that I had wanted more. Could Shaq tell? I reached up and touched my cheek where his lips had grazed my cheek. ‘Erm … Well, I better go now. Tegan will be wondering where I am,’ I mumbled, the words falling out on top of each other. I knew full well Tegan would pretty much have guessed what I was doing.

He looked like he was trying not to smile. ‘I thought she said she was going to bed?’

Crap. I was making a fool of myself – the kiss had completely unnerved me. I needed to get back into the house – and to stop speaking. ‘I … erm … Yeah, but you know what she’s like – always worrying, that girl!’

‘Right, of course,’ he agreed, letting me get away with my scrambled logic.

I tried to change the subject. ‘Anyway, I’m sure the boys will be waiting for you. It sounded like Riley was keen to get the car back! He seems to love driving.’

‘Yeah, you’re right, I’m sure he does,’ Shaq agreed,
looking a bit sad all of a sudden. What had I said? I kicked myself for ruining the moment.

‘Well, thanks again, Shaq.’ I took a chance, leaned across and gave him a kiss back on the cheek before scrambling out of the car.

‘Bye, Jess,’ he breathed, looking surprised.

My wobbly legs managed to carry me up the drive. I waved one last time, watching Shaq pull away, and then closed the door, slumping against it with a great sigh.

My head was all over the place. This was not how I expected to be feeling this holiday. I wondered if Shaq was thinking about me too, then shook my head in disbelief. Of course he wasn’t.

It was time to go to bed and forget all this by the morning.

I was about to go and find Tegan when a knock at the door made me almost jump out of my skin. I put the door on the chain and opened it carefully. There on the doorstep stood Shaq. He pushed his hand through his short dark hair in frustration, messing it up even more than usual.

‘I’ve got a problem and I think I need your help.’

I felt my pulse quicken, seeing him standing there again.

‘Are y-you OK?’ I stammered. Was this about us?

Shaq looked embarrassed, kicking some gravel off the step. ‘I’m really sorry but my car has broken down.’

‘Oh,’ I said, trying not to show my disappointment. ‘Do you want to come in?’

‘Thanks, Jess,’ he said, stepping into the hall. ‘The thing is I can’t leave the car, but I also can’t get hold of the boys. They must have gone clubbing or something after we left the restaurant.’