Perfect Promise

Charlie

While Noah was at Gavyn’s, Jordan, Maia, Amber, and I decided to hang out in Jordan’s hot tub. It was nice to hang out by ourselves in private. While the mall had been nice, meeting so many fans was a little draining. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate them, because I did with my whole heart, I had just always been more of an introvert. Adding to that, I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent. It was safe to say I appreciated the time I had with my friends to relax.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Noah, though. What was she doing? Was she feeling okay? I knew she was feeling worse than she was letting on. I hoped she wasn’t pushing herself past her limits.

Erys and Rudy came to join us in the hot tub, pulling me out of my ruminations. Rudy sat beside me, holding my hand, as we all played never have I ever. It was fun to get to know Erys and Rudy beyond what the surface. Doing so while holding Rudy’s hand felt surreal. Sure, it didn’t seem like much, but there were still so many firsts I had yet to experience, and casually holding hands in a hot tub with someone who actually liked me was one of them.

Once we finished playing, myself coming out as the clear winner, we decided it was time to head to bed. We had another day of work ahead of us. I dried off and headed off to my room, kissing Rudy good night on the cheek. I got into my pyjamas, curled up in the blanket, and tried to sleep. After a few minutes, when I couldn’t fall asleep instantaneously, I pulled out my phone.

“You coming back for the night?” I texted Noah.

“Sorry boo - spending the night with Gavyn!” she replied instantly.

“Kissing him? ;)”

“More… Much more ;)”

“DAMN GIRL WEAR PROTECTION OKAY BYE”

Having an all too clear idea what Noah and Gavyn were up to, I decided to try and sleep again. It was difficult. I had this strange feeling in my stomach; I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I decided to attribute it to whatever bug I had caught. Eventually, I managed to fall asleep.

I woke up early, so I decided to make myself some coffee to keep myself awake for the long day ahead. I groggily made my way down the stairs, surprisingly without falling down. At least, that was until I crashed into something.

“Charlie!”

“Noah?” I was baffled, “What are you doing here?”

“Gavyn is just picking up breakfast for everyone,” she explained, “Oh my god, Charlie, I have so much to tell you.”

She took me tenderly by the hand and led me to the kitchen. She didn’t let go as I made us both coffee. All Noah could focus on was telling me all of the intimate details of her night. I must have been really exhausted, because I secretly didn’t feel as happy for her as I expressed. I had the same weird feeling in my stomach from the night before. I hoped the coffee would help me be more genuine in my excitement.

The others trickled in slowly. Gavyn arrived last, with an abundance of food. Of course, none of us could ever let any food go to waste, so we ate it all graciously. When we were ready, we made our way back to the games room to work.

“So about this contest,” Quinn said as we took our seats, passing us each a piece of paper “I drafted a list of criteria for the contestants.”

“Let’s post these, they’re good to go,” Hakim said.

“Why don’t we make a website for them?” Erys proposed as pulled out his laptop.

"Great idea," Rudy commended his friend.

Within minutes, Erys showed us the website he created. It looked really good. I could tell that we were all excited about it. At least, all of us except for Noah and Gavyn. They were far more infatuated with each other.

"Ready to put it up?” Erys asked.

“Ready,” the seven of us said eagerly. Noah and Gavyn agreed a moment later.

"Its up," he declared.

Entries began to pour in within minutes of us posting the website on social media. Seeing so many people so interested in writing songs for us was unbelievable. It really showed how many people truly cared for us. The guys must have been used to this kind of attention, but the girls and I had only been in the spotlight for a few months. Nevertheless, our fan base was growing exponentially by the day, and we didn’t even have our own single yet. I wondered what this moment would feel like looking back on it.

"Back to work, shall we?" Hakim beckoned us all out of our thoughts.