Home for Christmas

"Zane!" her name being called snapped her out of sleep. She jumped upright in the bed she was in and it took her a moment to remember where she was.

"Fuck," she whispered, instantly registering who it was that had called her name.

"Hi, Jay," she rasped, raking a hand through her hair and leaning back against the headboard of the bed.

"Did you have sex with my brother last night?" Jared asked, straight to the point.

"No!" she said, looking at him with wide eyes. "Gross!" she said, trying to push the thoughts out of her head that were telling her that she didn't exactly think he was 'gross' anymore. She didn't know what she thought he was. Jared laughed quietly, tossing a t-shirt at her.

"I know. He told me everything. Get changed. There's an extra toothbrush in the bathroom. I'm kidnapping you to come watch us practice," he told her matter-of-factly, and she knew it would be no use to argue. He was bound to actually kidnap her if she tried to do anything else.

A few minutes later he was leading her out to his car. "Coffee?" he asked, holding the passenger door open for her.

"So much," she replied, nodding. He laughed and headed to the closest Starbucks.

A while later, they were pulling into the driveway of a house that she recognized. It was the house in the film they'd made, 'Artifact'. There didn't seem to be any close neighbors, and it was a good thing, too, because she could hear Shannon drumming from the street.

"It was easier to just keep recording in the house. The rent's cheap because it's kind of a dump, but it definitely works for what we need. That way we don't have to pay to rent a studio, and we can just crash here if we stay too late or whatever," Jared explained, watching her look at the house questioningly. She nodded as he led her inside. "We have earplugs if you want," he yelled over the immediate sound of Shannon drumming. She smiled and shook her head. She followed him downstairs to the huge finished basement where their studio and practice space was.

She was instantly absolutely mesmerized by Shannon. She'd never seen him so concentrated and passionate. He was like... a work of art. He was shirtless and his muscles rippled as he drummed and she instantly felt a flip in her stomach after noticing that fact. Suddenly, he looked up at her and winked wildly, a thin sheen of sweat covering his face and chest. She blushed and averted her eyes as quickly as she could, but when she looked up again, Jared was staring at her with a goofy look on his face.

She met the other third of the band, Tomo, and sat on a chair watching them practice for a long time. She'd always been a fan of their music, but somehow watching it happen in real-time was such a better experience. The way they all meshed together and worked around each other was fascinating. Without really realizing it, though, her eyes kept landing on Shannon. Somehow he caught her gaze every single time and made a different goofy face each time, making her laugh against her own will. 

A while later, Jared was taking a long swig from a water bottle and walked over to her and held a microphone out to her. She looked at him, confused.

"You still sing, don't you?" he asked, and she scoffed.

"Not in a long time, no," she told him, and he laughed. She'd been in choir and theater in high school and college. She'd done her fair share of musicals, but it had been a long time ago.

"Sing with me, Zane," he told her, poking her in the shoulder.

"I... no, Jay, I can't," she said, and Shannon walked up beside her out of nowhere.

"I've never heard you sing," he said, crossing his arms and looking amused. She shook her head firmly.

"And you're not going to today, either."

"Please, Z, come on," Jared begged, pushing the mic towards her. "C'mon, it's just the three of us here. No one will make fun of you," he said, and Tomo appeared beside Shannon and nodded vigorously. "I'll even let you pick the song."

"Ugh, fine," she gave in finally, and Jared and Shannon both smiled at her widely. Shannon winked again as he went back behind his drum kit. She flipped him her middle finger and he put a hand over his heart, feigning deep offense.

The song she chose was 'Edge of the Earth', one of her favorites off of the first album they'd ever put out. It was the first one she'd ever heard when they'd started making music and she'd never forget how excited Jared had been when he'd originally sent it to her to listen to. He'd even managed to get her back home for the album's release party.

She sang with Jared, having a much better time than she would have expected to, and when the song was over, all three men stared at her.

"What? That bad?" she asked, getting instantly embarrassed.

"I would make love to that fuckin' voice," Shannon said, instantly making her face go red.

"I don't know if I'd go that far, but I think I agree," Tomo said, laughing. Jared nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're really fucking good, Z," he told her, and she couldn't help but get a little bit giddy. No one had ever said anything like that about her voice before, not even when she'd been actually singing for people somewhat frequently.