Chapter 10: Meeting the Brothers

Sunday Morning- Jason

3:58 A.M.

It was almost 4 A.M. and I wasn't home. I wondered if my brothers were worried. Probably not. Not that they don't care, but they probably figured that I went to be with Tamia. Oh no. They probably think that I slept with her. Well, I did, just literally fell asleep with her. I also wondered if my parents would be worried. Maybe not if Raymond and Caiden covered for me.

By the time I got home, it was around 4:30 I the morning. Everyone seemed to be asleep. Perfect. I really didn't want to explain why I was getting home so early in the morning. I never do that, unless it relates to music.

I walk through the kitchen to head up the stairs that way, and then a light comes on. Shoot. My parents were probably worried sick. Well, my mother. My father was probably furious. I guess that's how he shows that he's worried. To my surprise, it was neither of my parents, but Raymond. I know he nor Caiden ever wakes up this early, so the only explanation for him to be up is that he never went to sleep. He's stayed up to 5 or 6 A.M. plenty of times. We just look at each other.

"Well this is new for you," he finally says. "Getting home at 4:30 A.M?" he almost seemed impressed.

"It's not what you think," I say defensively.

"Oh so you weren't at your girlfriend's house?" he asked.

Just then Caiden comes down the stairs. "Which girlfriend?" he asks. "'Cause you know he's got two!"

"I do not!" I said.

"Yeah, that's a good question," said Raymond. "Which girl's house were you at, Jason?"

I guess that was a valid question. Onise lives here in LA too. But I didn't know if she was back home yet. She still hasn't contacted me.

"Maybe he went to both!" Caiden said excitedly. "Alright!" he said, trying to high-five me.

"No, stop," I said. "I went to Tamia's. I called and asked if we could meet to talk in person. And you guys know there's not many public places we could go, so I asked if I could go over to hers."

"So... you guys just talked... all night?" asked Caiden.

"They obviously talked and made up!" said Raymond, "You see he's been gone for almost twelve hours!"

"No," I said again. "We actually did talk, but we fell asleep."

"And her parents were okay with that?" asked Raymond."No, we were in her room," I confessed.

My brothers looked at each other as smiles crept onto both their faces.

"I told you, it's not what you think!" I said. "We sat in her room and talked, and then we fell asleep. It was all innocent."

"I believe you, bro," said Raymond. "I know you're not like that, but I'm still proud of you for spending the night with a girl— even though nothing happened."

I rolled my eyes. "Can we just go to bed?" I asked.




Sunday Afternoon- Tamia

12:51

My family and I had just gotten back from a restaurant downtown. Every Sunday is family day: we go to church, then lunch somewhere in town, and then have a family dinner later that evening. Normally Sunday dinners would include my entire family: my grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins. But since we moved to California, it was just the six of us. Sometimes my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins would visit, but not too often since most of them live on the other side of the country.

But I was now starting to love California— after almost nine years of living here— and it was all thanks to Jason. Now of course Morrissa, Vie, and even Larry have made my California years enjoyable, but for the first time since I met Jason, I wasn't homesick... until today. I was really missing my extended family, but I was super excited to see Jason again. And I was possibly going to meet his brothers! And his parents. Oh no, what if his brothers quiz me on their music? Should I listen to a few songs before I head over there? Jason originally said that he'd come pick me up, but I thought that would be too suspicious to my parents, so we decided that we'd meet each other half-way.

I've never wanted to impress anyone before, but I really wanted to impress his family. I mean, they were stars! And I was a nobody. Another hurdle I had to jump over was how to tell my parents. I couldn't just tell them that I was going to meet some boy. I couldn't even go over to Larry's without getting the third degree. Hmm, maybe I'll just tell them I'm going over to a friend's house. They'll think I'm going to Morrissa's or Vie's. Man, I feel bad for lying to them. It's not really lying because I am going to a friend's house. Jason is my friend.

After everyone had settled down from being out all day, I decided to ask.

"Um, is it okay if I go over to my friend's house for a little bit?" I asked nervously. Now they're sure to know something's up. I never ask to go over to Morrissa's or Vie's this nervously.

"You know today's Sunday," daddy says. "We have our family dinner tonight."

"It should be okay as long as she's back in time for dinner," mama says.

I also never usually ask to go out on Sundays. Maybe this is what they thought my nervousness stemmed from. We all agreed that I'd be back well before dinner and I headed off.

As I started walking towards our meeting place, I pulled out my phone. I texted Jason to let him know that I was on the way, then I opened my music app to where Vie had already downloaded The Draper Brothers' latest album. I put in one earbud and hit play. The first song that came on was called Don't Say Goodbye. Immediately, I hear Jason's voice. I've never heard him sing in person, but I automatically knew his voice.

The song was obviously about heartbreak, and since Jason was singing lead on this song I wondered if this was from a personal experience. You could feel the pain in voice when he sang. Hmm...

I got almost halfway through the album before I reached our meeting point. Not too long after, I saw a guy dressed in a blue Hawaiian shirt with pale pink shorts to match flowers on the shirt. He was also wearing gold sunglasses and... was that a detective's hat on his head? I smiled to myself. Yesterday Jason told me how he wore disguises when he went out in public. Some were normal, some were weird and made no sense at all. As ridiculous as his disguise was, he was still super cute. I was also smiling because he wore pink. Not because he was a guy wearing pink or it looked bad on him, but because I told him that pink was one of my favorite colors. I don't know if it was intentional, but either way it warmed my heart to see him in that.

Hurriedly, I walked over to him. "Hi," I said, reaching out for a hug. I didn't realize it, but I had been longing for his hug all day. It was the sweetest and most genuine embrace. It never felt like this with Larry.

As I reached out for a hug, I worried if I was being too forward and if he didn't want to hug me back. But before I could retreat, he pulled me into him and squeezed hard. "Hey," he said, almost breathlessly. "You like what I'm wearing?" he asked as we pulled away from each other.

I giggled. "I really do," I said.

"I wore pink just for you," he said.

I knew it! He took me by the hand and said, "C'mon. Let's head over to my place."

A few minutes later, we arrived at this gated community. Jason pulled out his phone, typed in a code, and the gates opened. Wow. I'd never seen anything like it. The sign at the gates read HURST PLACE. As we walked through the gates, they quickly closed behind us. Jason then took off his hat and shades.

"I live right over here," he said.

We walked down a small street until we reached a house that had the numbers 1464 on the mailbox. We walk around to what I assume is the back and he enters in a code at the door. Entering the house, I see that we're in his kitchen. It was huge!

As I was taking in my surroundings, Jason turned to me and said. "I wanna prepare you for my brothers. They can be a little intense, so I apologize in advance."

"You already told me about them," I said, referring to yesterday afternoon. "They don't sound that bad."

"Aww, man I hope you didn't tell her everything!" says a voice coming down the stairs.

Two guys appeared. Raymond and Caiden. I recognized them from the pictures Morrissa and Vie showed me yesterday. Man, I can't believe I'm in the same room as both their celebrity crushes!

"We're not bad at all," says who I believe is the younger one. Caiden. He steps forward, grabs my hand, and places a gentle kiss on it. I see Jason flinch out the corner of my eye. Was he jealous? That's so cute.

"It's very nice to meet you," he continued. "I'm Caiden and you must be Marie."

"No, man, that's Jeanette!" jokes Raymond.

"Very funny," said Jason. I could see he was starting to get irritated. He's so cute when he's upset. Okay, I need to stop.

"Yeah we're just kidding," said Caiden. "We know it's you Tamia. You're all he ever talks about."

I am? I thought.

"I do not!" said Jason. Call me crazy, but I thought I saw him blush through his brown skin. Wow, he really has been talking about me.

Caiden continued, " Yes you do! We don't even hear you talk about Onise anymore." Raymond jabbed Caiden in his side. "Oops."

"It's okay guys," said Jason. "She knows."

"You know about Onise?" Raymond asked carefully.

"Oh, um... yeah," I stuttered. Truthfully, I almost forgot about her. And Larry. Crap. "I know all about his girlfriend," I continued. "But have I a boyfriend. Jason and I are just friends."

I look over at Jason and I see him smiling at me. I smiled back.

"Those smiles don't say 'just friends'," Caiden whispered.

"Shut up, man," Raymond whispered back, jabbing him in the side again.

"Hey Tamia, wanna see our studio?" Raymond asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, we'll show you where all the magic happens!" said Caiden.

"Um, sure," I said. "Is that okay?" I asked Jason.

"Yeah, c'mon," Jason said. He took me by the hand.

"Alright!" yelled both his brothers as they took off around the corner.

We followed them down the hallway and stopped at the door. Caiden turned around and smiled at me. "You know," he said, "We've never brought a girl down here before."

"Shut up and open the door," Jason said, smacking Caiden lightly on the head.

He opened the door and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so cool down here! There was so much equipment: microphones, headphones, keyboards, guitars, drum sets, and so many other things I didn't recognize.

"Wow," I said.

Jason looked at me and smiled. "You like it?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah, it's really cool!" I said.

"Hey Tamia?" Caiden asked me.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna be the first person to hear some music from our next album?" he asked.

"What? Another album already?" I asked in disbelief. "I just started listening to the last one!" Oops. Shoot, I wasn't supposed to let them know that I'd never heard their music. Maybe Jason had already told them?

"We should probably catch her up before she hears any new stuff," said Raymond.

"Guys, we don't wanna bore her with our music," Jason said.

"No, it's fine," I assure him. "I've been meaning to listen to your music. I was actually listening to some songs on the way over."

"Really?" Jason asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah," I replied.

"What were you listening to?" asked Raymond.

"My friend downloaded the Reflections album on my phone," I replied. "I was about halfway through before I met up with Jason." I looked at him again. He was still smiling at me. Even though he didn't want me to know about his celebrity status right away, I could tell that he was glad that I wanted to hear his music.

"So um, what'd you think so far?" Jason asked, kind of nervously.

"It was great!" I said. I wondered if I should ask him about the heartbreak song. Was it about Onise or another girl? I decided not to.

"Okay, well let's start you back over at the beginning— from our first album," said Raymond. "That way you can get the full effect of the evolution of The Draper Brothers." He said dramatically.

"Okay," I laughed.

Jason leaned over to me and whispered, "You don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want to make this day all about me and my brothers."

"Oh no, it's fine," I whispered back. "Yesterday you told me everything about you. Now I want to hear your music."

He smiled at me. I could tell that it meant a lot to him. He's not an egotistical guy, and I almost had to force him to tell me about himself yesterday. He'd said that he'd rather hear me talk. Larry never talks to me like that. Ugh, I have to stop comparing them. They're two totally different guys. That's the thing—they're totally different. Could it be that I was falling for Jason? No, I can't. and he's definitely not falling for me, I tell myself. Or is he? Well, I guess it doesn't matter. As I've said many times before, we're both involved with someone else. Oh well. That still doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed spending the day meeting the brothers!