Elevator ➵ J.M.

11. A Little While

e l e v e n

"ARE YOU EXCITED?!" KARA SHOUTS as I pack my bags. Tour is starting tomorrow.

"Yeah, I am," I say. And I'm not lying. I am excited. I'm excited to see fans. I'm excited to perform. I'm excited to travel the world. I'm not excited to talk with Jonah again.

"Okay, well we have a meeting with everyone in like 10 minutes. Let me just put on a different shirt, then we'll leave," she says before she hurries out of my room. I smile and sigh. This is actually happening.

She arrives in ten seconds with a new shirt and new pair of jeans. She gestures me to follow her and I walk behind her. We go into the elevator and press the button for the lobby. I quietly hum a song that I'm currently writing. It's a duet for a girl and a guy. The female vocals are tuned for me, but I don't know who can sing the male vocals. We'll figure it out on tour. It'll be like a surprise for tour.

"Amber," Simon says, walking up to me.

"Hey," I say with a smile, pecking him on the lips. We became official a couple days after the first date. It was best to move on. That's how you crush old feelings, right?

"I'll miss you on tour," he says, grabbing my hands and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. I felt like melting in that moment. It was calming. This was all I wanted: simplicity.

"I'll miss you," I reply. "It's just for a little while."

"We have to go, Si. Sorry!" Kara says, pulling me away.

"Yeah, I get it," he says, putting on that ever-so-cheery smile like usual.

I chase after Kara as we go to a nearby building for the meeting.

"Hi, this is Amber Thompson and I'm Kara Darnell," Kara says, out of breathe. "What room?"

"4A," the receptionist answers in a honey sweet voice.

"Thanks," Kara crisply responds, going to the elevator.

We go into another elevator. I guess the city has a lot of elevators? I've spent quite a lot of time waiting on elevators since I've moved here. Like a lot.

"Hi!" Kara says as we burst into the room. Everyone was late except for the agents. "Where's everyone?" She asks Zeke, my agent.

"I don't know," he admits. "They should be coming soon." Just as he finishes his sentence, Jonah, Zach, and Jack stampede in.

"Corbyn and Daniel are on their way," Jonah says, his eyes locking onto mine.

"An electrical mishap," Jack adds, hastily taking a seat.

"Thank you for coming," Janet, one of the boys' agent, says to Corbyn and Daniel as they arrive two minutes later.

They glance around the room uneasily as they take a seat.

"Okay, does anyone have anything that we can add to the set?" Janet asks.

"Well, I have a duet I'm working on," I say, raising my voice.

"Are you almost done with it?" She asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes, I just need a male voice and the last verse," I respond.

"Can you play us the song?" Zeke asks me.

"Yeah," I say, walking over to a piano. Wait, why is there even a piano here?

"It's called 'Little Do You Know,'" I say as I turn back towards them.

"Jonah, go sing the male part," another agent says thoughtfully, "if this goes how I think it will, we have our finale." Fear and panic strike my heart. No! This can't happen. This is supposed to be sung with someone that I have a friendship with. Not a whatever this is.

"Okay," Jonah says, getting up and walking towards me. I start playing the song and sing the lyrics as he sits next to me. Our forearms touch, and I feel electricity course through my veins. My verse ends and I continue playing as Jonah starts singing and adding little frills here and there in the piano part. I don't want to admit this, but his voice fits perfectly.

God, what trap am I getting myself into?

We start singing the chorus and turn towards each other. Our eyes lock onto each other, and no one brings the key to open it. We just stare at each other. My hands move naturally; I don't even have to think about it. It's just muscle memory now. The song ends melodically, yet our gaze doesn't waver.

"That was perfect," Zeke breathes out, looking between everyone.

"Yeah," Daniel says uncertainly, looking between me and Jonah.

"We will work on that choreo today and tomorrow," Janet says, closing her binder. "It'll be something simple but fiery. I need something that will make the crowd cry, but also cheer. This is it. Good job, Amber."

"Thanks," I reply meekly. This isn't how it was supposed to go.

We all slowly file out of the room.

"Wait, Amber," Jonah calls, pulling me back. "Look, I'm sorry."

"For what?" I ask.

"What happened. I overstepped and I just—" he starts speaking before I interrupt him.

"There were two people weren't there? I'm at fault, too," I say kindly. "The thing that matters is that it—that it doesn't happen again." I choked on my words.

"Yeah," he says, nodding his head vigorously.

"Good," I say, walking away.

I catch up to Kara, and I feel sad. I don't know why. I didn't expect anything different. I didn't think he was going to fight for me or anything. But I guess, it just—no, it doesn't matter.

[]

Both Jonah and I arrived at the building at the same time and walk in to find what the choreo is.

"Okay, so we just wanted something simple that is very easy," Zeke starts off. "So this is what we came up with. Amber starts singing and emerges from one wing. Smoke covers the floor. You have to act out the lyrics," he says to me as I nod my head. "And you, Jonah, you do the same thing except you come from the other wing. You are literally talking to each other. Then your hands intertwine. You hold the mics to each other's mouths and you sing." Our faces were literally inches apart. We shared a breath. My muddy brown eyes stared into his multi-colored eyes.

This won't end well.

Hey! Two updates in a day! I hope you enjoyed!

Q. What do you think will happen on tour?