Loving the Band (9 page)

‘So …’ I tried to be as casual as possible. ‘About Callum … ?’

She tried playing dumb. ‘What about him?’

‘Oh, come off it, Tegan,’ I scoffed. ‘You like him!’

She looked down and blushed. ‘Do not.’

‘Do too!’ I got up and launched myself next to her in excitement. She squealed.

‘I hardly know him, Jess!’

‘Well, then, today will be a good time to get to know each other, won’t it?’ I poked her arm and she swatted it away, laughing.

‘Anyway, enough about me, Jess. What about you and Shaq? Or Riley even? I saw him looking at you over our dinner. But then he wasn’t the one who stayed over.’ She winked at me.

So much had happened since that evening that I didn’t know where to begin. Things were starting to be really lovely with Riley and I was having fun. But before everything had gone wrong with Shaq, they’d been, well,
amazing with
him
. I sighed deeply. That was all gone now and I needed to move on.

‘Jess?’ Tegan looked at my troubled face with concern.

A loud honk outside saved me from spilling it all out. I took a deep breath. ‘That must be them. Got everything?’

Tegan nodded, but put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Later, yeah? We’ll discuss all this then.’ I gave her a massive hug. She really was an amazing friend.

Stepping outside into the warm sunlight, I suddenly had to clasp my hand over my mouth to hold back my giggles. There, right in front of me, was a bright orange camper van. Tegan burst out laughing beside me. I locked the door behind us and headed towards the van. The door slid open to reveal five now very familiar boys.

‘What on earth is this?’ I was still laughing.

Shaq surprised me by catching my gaze and rolling his eyes. He’d obviously had the same thought when he first saw it. I smiled at him.

Riley turned and beamed at me. ‘Hey there, gorgeous!’

‘Hey, you,’ I smiled.

Tegan ducked her head to get into the van and sat in the middle next to Shaq with Callum facing her. I followed, planting myself next to Tegan, with a delighted Riley opposite. He gave my foot a cheeky nudge with his, making me blush.

Logan and Tyler were in the front with Tyler driving.

‘Everyone ready?’ Tyler asked.

He started up the camper van and Riley intertwined his legs with mine, making them tingle. I caught Tegan and
Callum gazing at each other several times and I was delighted for my friend. They were adorable, but as Shaq turned to stare out of the window for the tenth time, avoiding Riley’s adoring face, I envied her and Callum the simplicity of their feelings for each other.

‘So you guys were a bit early,’ I said, trying to break the simmering tension in the back. I needn’t have bothered.

‘Well, Riley was too excited to see you and we thought if we didn’t come soon he would just explode!’ Callum laughed, and the other boys laughed along with him.

Riley held up his hands. ‘What can I say? I like the beach and I like Jess!’

Shaq shifted in his seat and sighed. Tegan raised an eyebrow at me questioningly, apparently not having missed a thing.

I shrugged my shoulders gently so only she would notice.

Trying to smooth over the awkward moment, Tegan piped up, ‘Aren’t you boys worried about attracting attention in this … er, thing?’ She gave the van a friendly smack with the back of her hand.

I heard Tyler chuckle from the front. He must have agreed but Logan jumped in: ‘Hey! Don’t hate the van! You’ll hurt her feelings.’

‘Her?’ I groaned. ‘Give me a break. You are girl mad.’

Everyone laughed.

‘Seriously, though, Tegan’s right. Brighton is a packed place. You’ll be hounded by fans all day.’ I frowned as I remembered what it was like when they were mobbed by
fans outside the hotel.

Shaq spoke huskily from the other side of Tegan. ‘I know somewhere.’

‘Oh.’

Logan reached over to turn the radio on, but it came on a little too loud. Suddenly the van came to a screeching halt and I was flung forward, almost crashing into Riley except for a strong pair of hands slowing me down mid-flight. I still managed to land in Riley’s lap, but without doing any major damage to either of us. Riley looked like the cat that had got the cream. I blushed and pulled away gently, going back to my seat and making sure to put my seatbelt on properly this time.

Riley pouted.

‘Thanks, Tegan,’ I said gratefully. ‘I could have really hurt myself – and Riley too.’

‘It wasn’t me,’ she whispered. And I looked up in surprise to see Shaq looking at me with concern.

‘WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?’ Callum shouted at the boys in the front. Tegan winced at the volume.

‘It’s Logan’s fault!’ Tyler protested grumpily. ‘You know not to distract me when I’m driving!’

Logan tried to defend himself. ‘Oh, so you thought you would kill us all?’

‘Shut up!’ Tyler exclaimed, swiping Logan round the back of the head. Riley leaned over to split them up, his toned arms pushing them apart easily.

While all this was going on, I leaned behind Tegan and mouthed a silent thank you to Shaq. His green eyes softened
and he nodded back.

Riley leaned forward. ‘Swap places with me, Tegan?’ Realizing that it meant she got to sit next to Callum, Tegan readily agreed, and Riley swung himself into the seat between me and Shaq, placing his arm protectively round my waist. ‘I’ll keep you safe from here on out.’

Tyler’s announcement that ‘we have arrived’ came to the relief of everybody who had started to get fidgety by the end of the journey. Everyone except for Tegan and Callum that is, who were still staring into each other’s eyes.

I looked out of the window. I didn’t recognize this place at all, and it was deserted. The beach was beautiful, though, and the sea was calm, lapping up against the sparkling sand.

‘It’s great, isn’t it,’ Riley murmured as he reluctantly slid his arm from round me.

He jumped out on to the grassy bank and reached back up, his hands on my waist, easily lifting me out of the camper van. I loved how he made me feel almost weightless. He smiled shyly down at me as I tipped slightly into him on landing.

There weren’t that many people hanging around, and the people who were didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by the boys’ presence.

Callum suddenly grabbed Tegan’s hand, pulling her along
with him, and together they ran down to the sand and the water’s edge. I couldn’t help but giggle at her trying to keep up with him. They were so cute to watch.

Soon everybody ambled down towards the sand and I followed. Riley turned round and took my hand firmly in his. We made our way down to the beach where we found Callum and Tegan sitting together and whispering to each other. Most of the other boys had already thrown their tops off and launched themselves towards the surf.

Riley turned to me. ‘I’m just going to go join them for a while.’

‘No problem.’ I decided that I would do a spot of sunbathing. I grabbed my towel and laid it out on the sand. I thought about taking my shorts and T-shirt off, but I didn’t want to be the first one to strip so I just lay down with my clothes on. Tegan came over, looking so happy that she might explode.

‘Hey!’ she said excitedly. ‘What ya doin’?’

‘Sunbathing?’ I said, thinking it was pretty obvious.

‘In your clothes?’ She looked sceptical.

‘Erm … yeah,’ I said, trailing my toes in the sand.

‘Oh, come off it, Jess,’ she scoffed, and I shot my head up to look at her. ‘I know what you’re thinking. You, my friend, have an amazing body. If I had your figure, I would be getting it out all the time!’

I laughed and was about to object when Callum came over too. ‘You coming in the water, Tegan?’ He had already stripped down to his trunks.

‘Coming!’ She stripped her clothes off too. I was pretty
impressed by her new-found confidence. Soon she was left just in her spotty bikini, and gave me a big wink before running ahead down to the water’s edge. I caught Callum staring at her with his mouth wide open. He looked over to me and blushed as I narrowed my eyes at him.

‘You look after her!’

He nodded earnestly and ran into the sea with her.

I looked around and the boys were now scattered along the beach. Callum and Tegan were splashing each other in the water while Tyler, Shaq and Logan were playing with a frisbee, diving into the sand to catch it. I couldn’t see Riley.

I took my chance while everybody was busy to start stripping down to my bikini. I grabbed the ends of my shirt and was about to pull it over my head when a shadow towered over me. I quickly grabbed the shirt back down and wrapped my arms round myself. I looked up and squinted in the sunlight. Riley stood over me with a questioning look written on his face. He plopped himself down next to me on the sand. ‘Jess, really?’

‘What?’ I mumbled.

‘You know what,’ he simply said in a soft voice. He grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, revealing his perfectly toned body. I don’t know how he expected me to feel perfectly fine stripping when he looked like he was cut out of a magazine.

He poked my bare thigh playfully. ‘Come on, Jess, you next.’ He leaned forward and started undoing the buttons one by one on my shirt and then pulled it off gently. The graze of his fingers against my skin almost burned.

I knew my face must have been flushed bright red and so I turned to hide my face. As I did, my heart sunk. Shaq had stopped playing frisbee with the others and was standing stock still, glaring at the spot where Riley was sitting next to me. He strode off away from everyone else down the beach.

I sighed before beginning to feel a bit annoyed. This wasn’t my decision and I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I turned back to Riley.

‘OK, then,’ I challenged with a big grin, handing him the suntan lotion. ‘You can do my back for me.’

I turned over so that I was lying on my front and undid my straps. I could practically hear him gulp.

I felt him lean over and gently brush my hair away. The skin on my neck tingled as my hair fell down towards the sand. He squeezed the lotion on to his hands before placing his palms ever so softly, and with a slight tremble, on my back before beginning to rub it in gently. My whole body buzzed as he made each motion.

Suddenly Riley stopped and murmured. ‘Jess, you don’t know what you do to me.’ I did up my straps and pulled myself up. The look on his face made me catch my breath. What was I getting myself into here?

He must have seen the sudden doubt in my eyes as he laughed, breaking the tension, and then scooped me up bridal style.

‘Riley! Where are we going?’ I squealed. But he didn’t have to answer the question – it took me a few seconds to realize and then start to panic. We were heading straight
for the water.

‘No … no, Riley!’

He was now running with me in his arms. I looked up at him pleadingly, but he thought I was teasing and had a massive grin plastered on his face.

I had always hated water, ever since I was a little girl. Me and my brother used to go camping with Mum and Dad all the time when we were younger and we always used to pitch up next to a large, beautiful lake. After a few lessons with my brother, I considered myself a pretty good swimmer and so one morning when everyone was still asleep I crept out to the lake and swam right into the middle. I started to get tired and began to find it hard to keep my head above the water. As the water slowly engulfed me, I realized I was drowning. If it hadn’t been for my brother launching into the lake after me, after waking up and hearing my cries for help, I would have died right there. Now I was so frightened of the water that I couldn’t swim at all.

Riley ran into the splashing waves, swung me back once and then launched me into the air.

I heard Tegan scream, ‘Nooooo!’ right before I hit the water.

The drop from the air into the water took my breath away and I sank under. I started to panic, unable to find a way up, and took a great lungful of seawater before everything went black.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, I was sure I felt strong arms pulling me out of the water and on to the beach.

Voices came and went: Tegan screaming and a deep authoritative voice telling everyone to ‘back off and give me some room’. I felt a hard pressure on my chest. Suddenly I felt bile and salty seawater coming up my throat and I coughed it up violently as I was rolled over quickly on to my side.

I opened my eyes to see Shaq’s concerned eyes desperately searching mine. ‘Oh God, Jess. Don’t do that to me. You’re safe. You’re safe now.’ I tried to push myself up, but he gently restrained me, pushing me back towards the sand. ‘No, just stay there for a while and try to recover.’

Tegan flew round Shaq’s shielding body and launched herself down next to me, tears streaming down her face. ‘I’m so sorry, Jess. I tried to tell them. By the time I saw you hit the water, I couldn’t get to you quick enough. I
was too far away. I’m so sorry.’

I watched Shaq get up and move away to give us some privacy.

‘It’s OK,’ I croaked, my throat still sore from the stinging water. ‘What happened? Did Riley fish me out?’ I looked around. ‘Where is he?’

‘It wasn’t Riley who pulled you out, Jess. It was Shaq. He came flying down the beach into the water like a man possessed after he heard me scream. He must have realized straight away what was happening.’

‘Oh …’ My already racing heart began to beat even quicker. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. ‘And Riley?’

‘He followed you and Shaq out of the water and stayed here the whole time while Shaq did the Heimlich manoeuvre on you. He wouldn’t leave your side – until he saw you open your eyes and Shaq taking care of you. Then he just left.’ Tegan looked upset. ‘I don’t think he can cope with the guilt he’s feeling.’

I felt terrible. ‘But it’s not his fault … I never told anyone that I couldn’t swim. He just got carried away in the moment.’

‘I know, Jess honey,’ Tegan said, holding my hands as I pulled myself up. She stroked my back protectively. ‘I think you need to let him be by himself for a while and get it out of his system. And then you should tell him that. Tyler’s gone to find him.’