“You know what? This is also going to sound crazy, but why not?”
“My turn to ask,” Roy said. “Really?”
“Of course. Yep, really.”
“Awesome! I’ll look at flights and let you know when I’ll be there. I’ll shoot you off a text and let you know my travel plans. I’ll grab an Uber or something when I get there.”
“Depending on when you get in, I’d be glad to come pick you up,” Blayne added.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Roy said. Blayne heard Roy shuffling in the background. “Okay, so I’m pulling up flights from here to there.”
“Where are you now?”
“New Orleans, so a hop, skip and a jump to Houston. It looks like I could be there about twelve-fifteen. Would that work for you?”
“Fits into my schedule,” Blayne replied, shaking his head in disbelief that he was letting a virtual stranger come to stay with him, though Blayne didn’t see Roy as a complete stranger. “How will I find you at the airport?”
“Oh, that’s right,” Roy said. “We haven’t exchanged pictures.”
“You always said you were photo shy.”
“I am, but I’ll shoot you off one right now.”
Blayne pulled the phone away from his ear and read his text messages. An image of a blue-eyed, brown-haired guy was staring back at him with a smile that looked like it should be in a toothpaste commercial.
“Killer smile,” Blayne said. “You’re pretty cute. I was afraid you had a second head or something.”
“Nope, no second head,” Roy replied. “Like I said, I don’t put my picture out there too often.”
“Well, I need to get some work done around the house if I’m having company tomorrow,” Blayne said, standing and doing a quick survey of the living room.Definitely have a few piles I need to pick up.“Thankfully, my houseboy is scheduled to clean tomorrow morning, so the place will be ready when you get here.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’m going to book my flight and text you the information. I’m going to wait to make my return flight, just in case you want to kick me out sooner rather than later.”
“Isn’t that going to be crazy expensive?”
“It makes it a bit more expensive, but I’m not worried. I want you to know you don’t have to keep me around if you want me gone. I know this is going to be awkward.”
“Hey, if we get along half as well in real life as we do online, we’ll have a blast.”
The two said their goodbyes and goodnights. As soon as Blayne hung up the phone, he looked around the apartment again and immediately started decluttering. Thankfully, he had a ton of closet space, so he could shove everything in there and not open it until Roy was gone.
Chapter Seven
Ethan
Ethan spent most of the night hatching his plan. He used a credit card no one knew about to purchase the ticket to Houston, but he still had to figure out how he would ditch ZERO. The band was flying out that morning to Seattle for the first leg of the new North American tour. They didn’t have any dates for several days, so Ethan didn’t think they would kill him when this was all said and done. At least, he hoped they wouldn’t.
Ethan packed his overnight bag and threw in a few extra things he knew he would need that morning. At eight-thirty a.m., he opened the door to his suite and met up with the rest of the guys for breakfast. As usual, Orr was running late, so Ethan sat down in the suite’s kitchen and grabbed a pastry room service had delivered.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Ric said as Ethan sat down.
“Anyone heard from planet Orr yet?” Ethan joked.
“I knocked on his door and made sure he was moving about twenty minutes ago,” Zach told them. “Yeah, he totally slept through the alarm clock again.”
“He could sleep through a hurricane,” Ric said, biting into a piece of bacon.
“What time are the parents picking us up?” Ethan asked. The group often referred to their producer, Dan Rawlins, and their manager, Ron Hightower, as their parents.
