Signals

“Oh my God. So...fucking....awkward.”

I mumbled under my breath loud enough for Kadie to hear. We were waiting for our bags in baggage claim. The boys were on the other side of the room talking to one another as they stood staring at their phones. I managed to tell Kadie the whole story on the walk over.

“Don't look...” Kadie whispered from the side of her mouth as she glanced around the room. “He's totally looking over here.” I scrunched my brows and started turning my head. “I said don't look!” She whispered, louder.

“Shh!” I continued turning my head. “I'm trying to be causal about it!” I did a quick scan of the room only stopping in Daniel's direction for .0001 second. He looked away quickly, as if both our glances were on accident. I turned back towards Kadie. We stared at each other for moment.

“But wait” Kadie looked confused.

“What?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

“Do you think he likes me too?” Kadie modeled her body, trying hard not to laugh.

I sighed as I rolled my eyes and pushed her to the side.

Our bags finally came out on to the pick up surface. We quickly grabbed them and headed over to the hotel.

Luckily for us, Jebrone was nice enough to expense our stay on his company's dime. Him and the boys shared a pent house sized room. Kadie and I had our own double bed room that was attached to the pent house but also had it's own separate entrance.

I'm one of those people that has to unpack my things as soon as I get into the hotel. Kadie, not so much. She sprawled out across her bed and watched me put my clothes and shoes away.

“So, what are you going to do about Daniel?” Kadie asked.

“What do you mean?” I shut my empty suitcase and turned towards her. “He doesn't like me, K. I think we're just looking a little too hard into this.”

“Trust me, Lynn. I can totally see the sparks!” She said teasingly.

I rolled my eyes in response.

“I'm starving”Kadie grabbed her phone to check the time. “Ricky's is down the street. Let's go!”

“Should I call the guys?” I stood up from the floor.

“Just knock on the door” Kadie quickly stood up and grabbed her purse. I held my ear to the door for a second, wondering if I could hear anything, and then knocked. No one answered. “I'm waiting in the lobby.” Kadie was being impatient.

I knocked on the door again. There was a shuffling sound before it finally opened. “Lynn!” Daniel stood with charger wires in hand. “Come in!” He took a step back.

I hesitantly walked inside, briefly forgetting why I was here in the first place. I looked around at how messy the room was. It hadn't even been an hour since we got to the hotel

Jacob and Jebrone came walking out of their room. “Oh, hey Lynn.” Jebrone walked over and stood, exhausted, with his hands on his hips. “What's going on?”

“Kadie and I are gonna go to Ricky's to grab a bite. You guys wanna join?”

Jacob placed his hand over his stomach, as if to make sure he were hungry, “I'm fuckin' starved. How bout it boys?”

Daniel looked down at his phone. “Yeah” he nodded his head “Lauren said they just got out of the airport. I can tell her to meet us there?”

“Of course!” I smiled and gestured for them to come along.

I had forgotten that Daniel's best friend from back home, Lauren, and a group of their other friends were coming into town as well for the festival.

Jacob yelled for Will and Eli. They both came out of their rooms looking disorientated, like they had just woken up from a nap.

“We're going for dinner” Jacob informed them.

Eli mimicked Jacob's gesture from earlier and rubbed his stomach. “Wicked, I'm starving!”

I waited for them to quickly get ready. Daniel was the first one out of his room. His hair was nicely made. He wore a plain tee with skinny jeans and Converses. “Let's go!” He smiled.

I stood up from the chair I had been sitting on. “Everyone ready?” I asked as they came out of their rooms one by one. We walked out into the hall and went down the elevator to the lobby.

As we were walking out Daniel rested his arm around my shoulder, his other hand scrolling through his phone. “Look” he said. I was caught off guard.

Was his arm...around my shoulder? Was this the same guy who acted awkward when I grabbed his arm on the airplane? I didn't even notice what he was showing me on his phone. I was too busy freaking out.

I saw Kadie from across the lobby. Her eyebrows were raised and she lipped the word “what” slowly. I fake laughed as I looked down at Daniel's phone. He was showing me something to do with Mulberry Street Killer.

“It's about time” Kadie yelled as she walked up to us. Daniel removed his arm from my shoulder and slipped his phone into his pocket. Eli walked over and began talking to him. I quickly pulled Kadie aside.

“Did you see that?” my eyes were wide. “What was that?”

“He totally likes you Lynn!” Kadie laughed. “What was he showing you?”

“I don't even know.” I shook my head “I couldn't even manage to pay attention.”

“You're totally into him!” Kadie playfully pushed my shoulder.