The Crystal by Jones M (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

to face the window beside her. I was uncertain, but it felt like my cousin wasn’t sure about her future plans.

Zane’s P.O.V

“Guys, I need your advice on something,” I said. Ethan, Logan, Harry and Liam stopped conversing with each other and turned to face me.

“S’sup, Zane? What’s the problem?” Logan asked.

Then I proceeded to tell the boys about what happened when I went into Emery’s room the other week. They gave me shocked looks.

“No,” Logan said with his mouth wide. “You did not.”

“I did. But it was an accident! I didn’t know she was in the room instead of the shower!”

“Dude! You could have knocked before entering,” Ethan said with a chuckle. I glared at the boy, but all he did was laugh at my reaction.

“I realized that later, but I had already seen everything.”

“Everything?” they asked at the same time with worried looks.

“Everything.”

“Oh, Zane,” Harry said, turning to face me and clapping me on my back. “You are screwed.”

“I apologized to her and she seems okay with it. The thing is I just feel weird around her.”

“What kind of weird?” Liam asked.

“The good kind of weird. Like, I can’t stop thinking about what I saw.”

“You mean you’re aroused around her,” Ethan pointed out with a flat tone.

“Ethan!” the rest of us whisper-shouted to him.

“What? It’s not like they can hear us.”

I groaned before placing my face in my hands.

“I will just advise you by saying it’s just a phase. Also, do not tell Bianca about this. Your girlfriend will be mad that you are fantasizing about a girl who looks hotter than she is,” Ethan continued.

“Ethan!” we shouted his name at the same time, and the bandmate just shrugged his shoulders. I turned around to see if the girls had heard us. They were chatting animatedly, even though I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. At least my worry ceased about Emery having heard what was discussed.

I just hoped that Ethan was right and that it was just a phase. 

CHAPTER 26

Emery's P.O.V

The flight to Glasgow was short. It took roughly two hours to reach our destination, and we were early enough to get lunch. At the moment, the boys, Selena and I had sat around a large table in a restaurant, away from the view of the public eye.

  

My cousin and I insisted that we cast a spell over the boys to hide their identity in public, but the boys rejected the idea. They said, and I quote, that they didn't want something like Freaky Friday to happen to them.

I mean, seriously? We were experts in magic, not freaking beginners!

Anyway, we had just ordered our meals, and we were waiting for the waiters to bring them to us. To hold our stomachs, we had requested for milkshakes. It was better that than ice-cream because I would be full even before I began to devour the meal.

"You guys are sure that you don't want me to cast a spell to hide you?" I asked again before taking a sip of my strawberry milkshake.

Mmm, yummy!

"We are sure," Liam replied. He and the rest wore the same disguises like the last time when we went to Buckingham Palace. I had to agree that the blonde wig could agree with Liam. For the others, it seemed so out of place. It seemed like they were trying to pull a Hannah Montana, and it was working so far.

"You guys are lucky," Selena said. "I'm surprised no one has noticed you by now!"

"Here you go," a waiter said as he and two others brought us our food. They had gotten the arrangement wrong, and so we switched plates to get what we ordered.

We all dug into our food, enjoying what was served before us. I had a plate of spaghetti Bolognese with another milkshake whereas the rest ordered lasagna.

"So the tour is about to resume," Liam said as a way of starting the conversation. I had been doing that thing where a customer in a restaurant awkwardly takes glances of their meal and surroundings when the singer spoke.

"We will be very busy with preparations and auditions," he continued. I had a feeling of how the conversation would go on.

"So you need us to leave," I stated for him. His head and the rest's turned to face me in an abrupt manner. Their eyes were wide, and they had looks of disbelief.

"What?" Logan was the one who asked, stretching the word. I sighed.

"Liam said you guys will be busy. I would not want to be a bother--"

"You are not a bother to us, Emery," Zane cut me off.

"But--"

"You. Are not. A bother," he punctuated the sentence while giving me a no-complaining expression. I had no option but to agree with him.

"Okay. So what is it that you guys wanted to say?"

"We got you new phones," Liam replied.

Selena shrieked in excitement whereas I raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with ours?" I asked with a frown.

"No Wi-Fi," Ethan stated as if it made a lot of sense.

"Okay," I stretched out the word.

"No compass, no support for cellular internet connections, no long-lasting charge..." Zane trailed off.

"Okay," I cut him off.

Liam proceeded to open the bag that he came with and took out two small boxes.

"Samsung Galaxy S," Selena and I read aloud. I looked away from the phone and to the boys.

"How much did this cost?" Selena asked.

"Not a lot. We even had installed unlimited calls and texts for you."

"You did?" Selena and I asked at the same time. The boys nodded in agreement, and they stared at us with hesitant looks.

I did not know how to feel about it. I mean I loved that they did that for us, but I did not want to feel indebted to them. But then, that was already too late, seeing that I boarded their private jet for free.

I opened the box and saw a black sleek touch-screen phone staring back at me. I touched it, caressing the phone and feeling amazed that such technology had reached my hands.

"I love it," Selena and I stated at the same time. We stared at each other before falling into fits of laughter. The boys relaxed, seeing that we were okay with the phones.

After having lunch, we went to a hotel booked by the boys' management. 

Then on the next day, we found ourselves going to the location where the boys would perform.

It all felt surreal. The advantage of being on tour with the Ordinary Brothers so far was going to new places I would never even have bothered to visit. Even though I wouldn't get to visit all of the popular sightings in the area, I would have seen enough to satisfy my curiosity, especially since I wasn't the touring type.

Selena and I were outside a large structure where the boys were to perform. It was called the Clyde Auditorium. It had a smooth dark-bluish metallic appearance.

There were people around, and there was the crew of the tour that the boys came with. They were inside the building practicing the songs and dance moves for the two-day concert.

The phones that the boys got Selena and me had five-megapixel cameras. They weren't very clear, but then they weren't that bad.

The two of us were acting like the tourists we usually weren't. We moved around, taking pictures of our surroundings to fill the memory of our phones.

"Why are you taking photos of the sky?" Selena asked with a frown on her face.

"I love me some scattered clouds on a clear blue sky," I replied, continuing to snap photos of the atmosphere.

"Girls," Trevor called out to us as he approached us. Selena and I turned to face him.

"The boys want you to go see them inside," he said, pointing at the large structure. "They said something about you liking the inside of the auditorium better, I don't know."

Selena and I thanked Trevor before proceeding to the entrance of the building. Once we were inside, we noticed that the ceiling's position kept increasing in height as we walked further to the stage. There were about six hundred bluish-green seats around us. There were also others on the two floors above us that were arranged in an ascending order towards the entrance.

"Wow!" Selena exclaimed in amazement. She took the words right out of my mouth. 

How many people were going to attend the boys' concert?

In front of us was the stage. There were lights arranged at the top of the ceiling, and below it, there was a stage where the boys were expected to perform. Behind it was a black stage curtain.

"Amazing, right?" Logan spoke. We turned to face him, seeing him approaching us with a smile. He was walking towards us from my left. It seemed like he had been waiting for us.

"How many tickets did you sell?" I questioned.

"I don't know," he replied. "Our management deals with all that stuff. By the way, you should come see us practice in the back."

"No--"

"Sure!" Selena cut off my decline. With a sigh, I followed her and the musician. We moved towards the back of the stage, which was past the curtains, where we saw the crew of the tour preparing themselves for the concert. There was a group which was dealing with music and sound check. Another was setting up the stage while the other, which was the rest of the band, was singing.

"Selena! Emery!" the boys called out our names. Some of the crew turned their attention towards us. I felt a blush form on my cheeks, and so I avoided their gazes and turned to face the boys.

"So, what are you guys up to?" I asked. There was a piano among them. Harry had sat in front of it while Liam held a guitar. Zane and Ethan had been singing, but at the moment, they were all giving me furrowed eyebrows. Harry even went as far as raising an eyebrow at me.

They continued to remain silent.

Did I forget something?

Then it hit me that they were preparing for the concert.

"Sorry. I forgot because this place is amazing," I said with my mouth forming an 'O' shape. "I didn't think you had many people coming to your concert."

Another silent reply.

What had I done now?

I mentally went through the words I spoke. My eyes widened when I realized my mistake.

"No! What I meant is, I didn't know how popular you were."

Selena turned to face me with a look of disbelief.

"Still?" she asked. She shook her head at me in false pity, and I rolled my eyes at her. That managed to get a smile from the boys.

"So, how does it feel?" Logan asked beside me with a giddy smile.

"Huh?" I said with a confused look. He playfully rolled his eyes at me.

"Your first concert!"

"I'm excited. I can't wait to see you perform!" I replied.

"Really?" Logan asked with a look of disbelief.

"Sure! I may not have heard your songs--"

Selena cut me off with a false clearing of her throat.

"Most of your songs," I corrected myself. "I liked What Makes You Beautiful. That song gives me a feeling that your other songs are great."

(A/N Some of you may have already found out that this book was originally a 1D fanfic. I have included some of their songs in this book. I placed