Autumn, Bekkah, and Joanne's Adventures

It was around six, and our little trio was getting ready to meet up with the guys. The doors to our connecting rooms were opened even as we were changing, each blaring our own music. Autumn had mOBSCENE by Marilyn Manson – a.k.a. one of the best songs ever –, Joanne…honestly, I had no idea what she was playing. Our taste in music greatly differed, and we could only tolerate each other’s music. Myself? I Am Not A Whore by LMFAO blasted through my speakers. I was honestly convinced this song was made for me. I listened to the mainstream as much as songs and bands no one has ever heard of before.

Anyway.

As I shook my hips along with the beat, singing my heart out, Joanne turned her music even louder, trying to block out my own. I giggled. Oh, so that’s how she wanted to play it? I turned my stereo as loud as it could go, singing along.

“I AM NOT A WHORE…BUT I LIKE TO DO IT! SOMETIMES I JUST WANNA DANCE, GIRL I KNOW YA LIKE MY STYYLE, GET YO HAND DOWN MY PANTS…I AM NOT A WHORE! I JUST LOVE THE MUSIC – I AM NOT A WHORE – BUT I LIKE TO DO IT!” I sung at the top of my lungs, hopping up and down. Joanne was doing the same, and we stood at our respective sides of our connecting door, having a singing battle with each other.

Wearing bright knee-high socks and a tee shirt that was not even mid-thigh length, Autumn slid in-between Joanne and me, with an equally bright hair brush in hand. “That’s enough! We need to get dressed, hoes!” She scolded, shaking the hairbrush at us. Joanne and I sighed in defeat.

As soon Autumn wasn’t in between us anymore, I jumped on Joanne, wrapping my legs – and I was only in my under wear, while Joanne had on pajama pants and her bra – around her waist, flinging my arms around her neck with a wild smile.

“I looooove you!” I squealed, my smile widening when the two laughed. Joanne only wrapped her arms around me to keep me steady, and Autumn jumped on us, wrapping herself up with us. We ended up on the floor, the music drowning out our laughter.

Oh, how I love my friends.
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Clad in a shimmery purple, off-the-shoulder top that cinched right below my non-existent butt, black leggings that were extremely comfy and stuck to me like second skin, and pink, orange, green, and blue wedges that were a few inches high, making me look taller than I already am, I made sure my own door was locked before going into Joanne’s room, where her and Autie were already seated, watching TV. My dark brown hair tickled my back as it was in its natural wavy state, it was something like the beachy waves that were ever-so-popular, but the waves were not as defined.

Autumn grinned as a commercial for a musical she and Joanne loved came on, advertising it was to be shown later tonight on repeat three times. Her straight hair was super straight and shiny, and she was clad in the same over-sized tee – it was solid and a dark grey – with a silver belt cinching her waist, a short ruffled black skirt, glittery silver leggings – that didn’t look trashy whatsoever on her, but it would be on anyone else –, and black stilettos.

Joanne didn’t take her eyes off the TV, as she giggled like a school girl when the commercial came on. She sang along with the song that was played – once again, something that I didn’t know. She had a silk champagne colored strapless dress that ended somewhere along her thigh, not so short as it was trashy, and not to her knees to make it ultra-conservative. She had on one of Autumn’s black leather jackets – and unlike the popular leather jackets in America, this one had no studs on it to make it “edgy”, but had flattering seams – and black slouchy high-heeled boots. Her hair was perfectly curly, as always, and was let down and given a messy look to it, which offset the elegance of the dress nicely.

As I knew they hadn’t noticed me yet, I jumped in front of the flat-screen, grinning whilst giving them a peace sign. “Let’s go!” I chirped. The two gave me dirty looks for interrupting their TV time, but stood up nonetheless.

“Joanne, I adore your dress!” I couldn’t help but pet the silky dress, admiring how it went with her skin tone. Plus, the slouchy boots were an awesome idea – regular high heels would have been too plain and higher boots would have seemed trashy. But, I guess I was being biased seeing as how I owned the same exact pair of boots.

“Thanks!” She beamed, before assessing my own outfit. “You’ll probably get everying you ask James for.” She ended with a wink. After exchanging a look, we both turned towards Autumn. It was simply a ritual – we just had to comment on each other’s clothes. Not only was it in place to save us all from the embarrassment of terrible clothing choice, but giving positive feedback when deserved simply boosted one’s self confidence. And that’s always a good thing.

“Honestly? This outfit works perfect for you. It has the right amount of casual-sexy.” Joanne smirked. I nodded – I did like how she used a tee shirt in her ensemble.

“I love the leggings! They’re just…damn!” I drawled out ‘damn’ at the end, causing Autumn to laugh.

Autumn simply twirled around, putting her hands on her hips as she did, grinning. “I know, right? I didn’t expect it to look this good.” When she had done a full 360, she jutted out her hip and donned a “model” pose. Joanne and I laughed, reminded of America’s Next Top Model, a show we always watched together and usually made fun, but still praising some of the outfits.

Autumn sauntered out of the hotel room swaying her hips violently and over dramatically as Joanne locked the door to her room and I grabbed our purses that always sat next to Joanne’s door. I opened up mine – it looked like leather and it was shimmery and gold – and took out my phone, since I hadn’t even bothered to look at it since the morning when Autie and I called Joanne. I had three text messages.

The first was from my dad who missed me – I laughed at his attempts at “text speak”, such as his usage of “lol” – and who I hadn’t called in forever, so I felt a little bit guilty. I decided that I’d give him a call later to say hi to both him and my step-mom (I loved that woman, sososo much!) and all that sentimental stuff. Next was James, who told me the time the limo was going to pick us up. I immediately smiled, typing back a quick “thank you” with a smiley face. The number given for the third text messenger made me freeze. I snapped my gaze back up to the girls, glad to see that their backs were to me.

Found you.

The text message continued on to describe the hotel and all three of our rooms…as well as my night.

You can run, little rabbit, but we’ll always find you.

My body shook with hatred and total and utter fear. They were the reason why I wanted to leave England – I woke up to find a text from them giving only vague details of where I was. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, but all I knew was that it endangered all of us, and if I was found with my friends, they would also be punished. Guilty by association.

“Bekkah! Hurry up! They’re here!” Autumn called from the elevator, standing in its way so I wouldn’t miss it. Biting back tears, I jogged over to them and gave my apologies.

“Sorry, too busy fantasizing about how it will be in Vegas if we’re going. I mean, James winning at poker, a totally drop dead gorgeous girl at his side wearing something long, clingy, and sexy, like in all the old movies…” I smirked, feigning a dreamy look.

“Oh hush,” Joanne lightly pushed my shoulder. I flashed her a grin and a peace sign before leaning against the side of the elevator, careful not to lean into gum. I stared long and hard at the elevator door, hoping and wishing that Vegas would work out. I made sure to often give smiles and grins, as I normally do when I’m thinking of good things, as to not worry them. When the elevator took us to the main floor of the hotel, I threw a quick glance to the area where Autie has discovered Starbucks.

There was a man at the counter dressed in a black overcoat with a black hat. He kept glancing at the elevator cooly, pulling out money to hand the money over the counter. And then I saw it – the crimson jacket cuffs. Well…I could only guess that the cuffs were crimson in color, as its common knowledge that jackets normally don’t have the cuffs like suits do.

Only they have cuffs on their overcoats. I shuddered, walking faster so I was ahead of the two. I looked back with a disgusted look. “There was this really creepy guy giving us the eye, like rapist-creepy. I’d say let’s hurry up.” My skin crawled as I saw the man glance our way. I quickly turned back around and practically flew to the limousine. Before I could step inside, James stepped out and gave me a kiss to the cheek.

“Hey,” He smiled, and I melted, forgetting everything that was just on my mind. I slipped my arms around him, pressing myself as close as I could get. After the hug, he followed me into the limo and the other boys followed what James had just done. In the seat, I let my head rest on his shoulder while his arm wrapped around my cold shoulders.

“You all wanted to talk to us about something?” Tom began, running a hand through his already messy blonde locks.

Autumn gave him a kiss before winking. “It will be discussed at the restaurant, because we haven’t seen each other for hours…” Joanne rolled her eyes as Autumn and Tom began to make out. Matt just chuckled, shaking his head.

“Just another day with the gang, huh?” Matt smiled down at Joanne, who rolled her eyes.

“It’s kind of weird knowing that this is normal.” She commented, looking down at her boots.

“But, it is nice knowing that everything isn’t going to change on us!” I chirped, my wide grin to James. He swept down and kissed me, which also succeeded in making my cheeks flush. I could just never get used to this. But as everyone got wrapped up in their significant other, I failed to regain the feeling of being watched and the anxiety that came with it. This, I think, could be a good thing.