AN: Back from my weekend away with another chapter for you all.
The next morning things returned to normal between Eliza and Marie after a brief conversation where they eventually agreed that spending time with their tour mates would be a good idea, as long as they were careful.
Now everyone sat in the hotel suite eating breakfast awaiting Eric's arrival, when they would be told the plans for the day ahead, before the opening night.
"Good morning all." Eric greeted as he entered the suite, noticing how well everyone was getting on. Part of him regretted the agreement he had made the night before which meant he had to create a partial divide, especially when he had no idea why it was necessary (he hadn't really bought the 'no distractions' excuse.) "Everyone ready for today?"
He was greeted by mild enthusiasm from the young group in front of him.
"That's it? Well, I guess you are all that interested in seeing your new tour buses then? Fine, I'll just go let them know they aren't needed." Eric started to leave the room, counting to three at which point he received the expected reaction.
"We get to see them now? We never get to see them before the first show!" Shane blurted out, his eyes lighting up in excitement.
"Did you include the extras we wanted?" Jason asked, sounding surprisingly like pre Camp Rock Shane Grey.
"You'll have to go and see for yourself Jason." Eric responded, knowing Jason wasn't meaning to be rude. Seconds later all three boys were stood waiting beside Eric to be allowed to see their new mode of transport.
"Come on girls, you'll love this." Nate said as he noticed the uncertain looks the girls exchanged. None of them could understand how a bus could be exciting.
"You have your own private bus, designed to suit your needs." Eric explained, approaching the female members of the group, "And between you and me," he whispered to them conspiratorially, "yours is better than theirs." He indicated over his shoulder to the boys waiting impatiently by the door. The girls slowly grew excited and joined the boys.
As Eliza made her way to the door Eric took her gently by the arm.
"Do you mind if I talk to you just for a moment?" He asked. Eliza shook her head and began to worry about what she may have done to land herself with a private talk with the tour manager. "You'll still have time to see the bus, don't worry."
Eric told the rest of the group to head downstairs where Ian, his assistant, would show them the buses, and that he and Eliza would follow them shortly. Marie gave her sister a concerned look, silently asking if she should stay behind too. Eliza responded with a small shake of her head, indicating that the younger girl should stick with the others. With that Marie left with the rest of the group, throwing one last anxious look over her shoulder before the door shut behind her.
"Why don't you sit down Eliza?" Eric suggested as he seated himself on one of the sofas nearby. Eliza took a seat opposite him slowly, still confused.
"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked.
"I had a very, erm, interesting talk last night with Paul and Denise Grey, the boys' mother and father. I'm not sure you've met them?" Eliza shook her head, now even more apprehensive as to where this conversation was going.
"We'll they didn't seem too happy seeing you on the stage during yesterday's rehearsal and they came to talk to me about it. They want you to be removed from the tour." Eric felt it was only right to inform the young girl of the full situation.
Anger flared in Eliza's eyes as the words Eric has just spoken sunk in. She stood and started to pace as words tumbled from her mouth.
"How can they do that? It's not fair, the first night's tonight! It's not like you can go out and find a new artist, can you?" She didn't wait for an answer, "How dare they, why do they think they have the right to try and get mekicked off the tour, it's not my fault, I didn't choose..."
"Miss Austen!" Eric yelled, stopping the young girl mid sentence and, unintentionally, preventing her from letting her secret slip out. "I said they 'want' you off the tour, not that you are off the tour. You are correct, they have no right to try and remove you from this tour and I made that very clear to them."
Eliza returned to her seat opposite Eric, looking straight at him.
"So why are you telling me then?" She asked.
"Firstly, because I felt it was only right you were fully informed of the situation" Eric explained, "and secondly because there are some terms I had to agree to, to get them to accept your, as well as Mitchie and Caitlyn's, place on this tour."
"What kind of terms?" Eliza enquired. Her thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Marie last night and that morning, a conversation she was beginning to feel would soon become irrelevant.
"After we leave LA, you girls will be staying on a separate floor to the boys at every hotel, and when not at the stadiums you are expected to spend little time with Connect 3, so you don't distract them." Eric saw the flash of sadness which crossed Eliza's face and his guilt returned. "Of course," he continued, "we won't always be able to keep an eye on you, so if you and the boys happen to be at the same place, same time, and it could be construed as rude and bad publicity for you to be seen not spending time with them, well, we might just happen to be busy at that time and not notice." He winked, hoping she'd realise that he was indicating she could ignore these new rules to some degree, as long as she was subtle about it. Eliza smiled back at her tour manager. A question popped into her head and she spoke it before she thought it through.
"Do you know?" She asked, wondering if the man in front of her had been informed of the strange circumstances surrounding her and Connect 3's relationship.
"Do I know what?" He responded, a look of genuine confusing crossing his face, instantly alerting Eliza to the fact he was as in the dark as the others.
"Er, why they wanted me off the tour?" She responded, changing the meaning behind her original question quickly.
"They'd rather you didn't distract their precious sons. They can't stop Shane, Mitchie, Nate and Caitlyn, but they can attempt to stop you distracting Jason." Eliza nodded, trying to keep calm as she listened to the lie the people who were supposed to be her parents had spun.
"So how about we let you go join the others in exploring your bus?" Eric asked crossing the room and opening the door as Eliza followed slowly behind.
"Thanks. For telling me that is." She said sincerely as she walked past him. He smiled in response as he shut the door behind them
The boys sat in the lounge area taking in their new bus. Nate was sat on the large armchair nearest the television scanning through the large collection of DVDs and video games they had been given. Every so often he could be heard to whisper 'I love this film' or 'we've gotta play this' or similar sentences.
Jason on the other hand was sat on the sofa nearest the large window, staring out of it at the carefully positioned hanging bird cage which had the Connect 3 logo imprinted on it which hung just in view. It had been the one item that, when asked what they wanted on their bus this year, Jason had insisted on. He didn't want to miss out on a chance to see more birds, even if it wasn't the most logical place to have a bird cage.
Shane sat on the sofa in the centre of the room looking around at his surroundings. He'd been on tour so many times, but recently he'd just taken it for granted. This time he was going to take it all in, as if this was their first tour again. Yet as he sat there, as much as he tried to focus his attention on all of the stuff which had been placed on this bus especially for them, he found his thoughts kept drifting back to a certain red headed musician who had been held back in their hotel room. Eliza Austen.
In the short, and he meant very short, time he'd been getting to know her, something had struck Shane as odd. Every time he or his brothers had talked about a childhood memory the night before, Shane had noticed an odd sadness cross her face, which she would swiftly cover with an exaggerated grin. He also hadn't missed the glances she kept exchanging with her sister throughout the night nor the warning look which filled the younger Austen's face each time. Something was going on with Eliza Austen and Shane was determined that by the time the next two months were over he would find out what it was.
"What do you guys think of Eliza and Marie?" Jason asked, pulling his attention away from the bird cage. Apparently Shane wasn't the only one who had the newest members of their group on their mind.
"I think they're cool, at least they seemed to be last night. And they have some pretty good stories between them." Nate remarked, moving to sit beside Shane as Jason took a seat in one of the bean bags nearby. "But you know what I was thinking?" The others shook their heads. "If you just looked at them, from their appearance you wouldn't really think they were sisters. It's only when you see how they interact that you realise they must be. I mean that silent talking thing? It's kinda creepy." Shane thought about it. His younger brother was right; the two girls didn't look anything alike. He wouldn't say he and his brothers were identical, but there were enough similarities between them that you could tell they were from the same gene pool. With Eliza and Marie that just wasn't the case.
"Well I think they're great, they totally fit in with our group and it's nice to have someone younger for Caitlyn to hang out with when Nate's busy, and someone older for..." Jason trailed off as he noticed the look in his brothers' eyes and realised where their thoughts were heading.
"Someone older for you to be with?" Shane finished his older brother's sentence for him."
"Maybe" Jason mumbled, looking at the floor. He was happy that for once he wasn't going to be the 'old' one on the tour, that this time it wouldn't be a few months of feeling like the chaperone to his younger brothers and their girlfriends, or at least if it turned out to be like that, there'd be someone else there with him.
"How old is she anyway?" Shane asked.
"Twenty-two I think. Same age as Jase, though I don't know when her birthday is exactly, her internet bio didn't say." Nate responded. Shane realised he should have known Nate would take the time to look up the details of the people joining them on tour, it's what Nate did. He liked to be informed.
"So she'd be the perfect age for you Jase, you know, if you're interested." Nate continued, hinting heavily, trying to follow the instructions his girlfriend had given him earlier that morning. For the past few months Nate, Caitlyn, Mitchie and Shane had started to feel slightly guilty that they were couple-y a lot, leaving Jason to be alone. Now they had been handed a perfect opportunity for him to finally have someone of his own to be a couple with, and the girls had decided they weren't going to let it pass, roping Nate and Shane in to help.
"Look, I told you guys, I'm not interested. And after what she was saying about relationships last night, it doesn't sound like she is either." Jason was still trying to understand the strange feeling of déjà vu he got whenever Eliza was around, like he knew her, even though he obviously didn't. He decided to try and change the subject. "Why don't we go check out the girls' bus, Eric said it was better than ours and I want to know if it really is."
AN: Another chapter for you guys. I'm enjoying writing this story, though less people seem to be enjoying reading it, but I will keep updating anyway. If you get a chance, let me know what you think, I have big plans for where this is going.