Oh, Baby! #Wattys2020

Chapter Twenty Eight

Touring for a week was hectic for everyone. Especially for the acts, because they were either recording Christmas songs, performing or doing talk shows. Aside from the fact that a virus was passed between them all. It hit Hale and Jinx last, skipping over Viv, Dom, Omar and Bella. So travelling home was both a struggle and a blessing. While Bella took care of Hale and all of his whining, Omar was stuck with a very sick and silent Jinx.

"Is there anything I can get you?" He asks Jinx, who laid in a pile of blankets. He looks around the rest of the jet. Hale is curled up with Bella, passed out from cold medication. Jinx just looks at Omar miserably. "Something to drink?"

Jinx stares.

"Something to eat?"

Silence.

Desperately, "A cold wash cloth?"

Nothing.

"Dammit, babe, what do you want?" Omar pleads. But Jinx just closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. Omar bites the inside of his cheek, to keep from expressing his frustration over his boyfriend's silence.

He takes a seat across the aisle from Jinx and stares out the window as memories of the last week flash through his mind. Packed arenas, fans singing their lyrics back to them, fan meet and greets and talk shows. It was all a whirlwind of change. But he loved it. As did all of the other guys.

He scans the cabin again, catching Dom's eyes glued to Viv as she works furiously on the computer, completely in a zone. He narrows his eyes. Lately those two have been getting a lot closer, but would play it off around him. Omar would never think anyone would deserve Vivian, not in a million years. She is his little sister after all, but if he had to choose a guy, Dom would be in the top three, if not his first choice. And he knows that something happened between them during Viv's freshman year. He wasn't stupid.

He decides to bite his tongue and not call Dom out, it would just turn the cabin into a war soon. Besides, Jinx doesn't like any type of conflict at all. And it wasn't like Omar would be mad, he just didn't like being kept in the dark. Did they really think he would have a problem with it? He just wants Viv to be happy, and for Dom to be happy. They're the only two in n the group that aren't with the one they want to be with.

Omar leans back in his seat, concluding that it will happen eventually and looks away from his friend, letting his mind drift off to sleep.

👶

To say things got ten times worse in the weeks following the tour would be an understatement. It was chaos. Between fighting the press to get to school and then fighting them outside of it, Bella and all of Lasting Revival were bombarded by tabloids, new articles and magazine shots. While most of it was curiosity about where they were going or any of their relationships, some were criticizing. They were digging up everyone's past and Bella was beginning to get more and more anxious about hers.

It wasn't until pictures, manipulated pictures of Hale in inappropriate situations with other females, that the problems began. But Bella managed to keep her cool, they were manipulated anyway, and it was obvious. A lot of the photos were of fan meet and greets either organized or at random, all of which got posted on Hale's personal social media. Hale, however, was getting tired of the press trying to break up his relationship and was still getting used to being in the public eye.

"The school has asked us to continue from home." Hale grits his teeth, shoving past a guy with a camera. Bella struggles to keep up with him as he speed walks to his car.

"I don't think they can do that, can they?" She frowns, sliding into the car street he opens her door for her. An old fashion gesture, but a sweet one nonetheless.