“As you all know, every person has to battle for a spot in my top eight,” Niall informed us the next day during Battle Round talk, but we could all tell he didn’t really like this, no matter how calm he seemed about it.

It made me nervous to think about, but I decided to try Niall’s strategy he mentioned last night. Of course, he used it for sex, but I could use it in this instance too.

You can do this, Everit.

“I’m gonna start by letting each of you know who you’ll be battling against,” he said. “I tried to match each of you up with someone who I felt as though you were similar to musically.” He began playing with his hair absentmindedly while he looked to the stack of papers in his hand. “You’ll notice that I’m not like the other coaches. Maybe it’s because it’s my first year, but they have tendencies to go back in time. I say stay in the modern times. If you dig enough, you’ll find that there are some extremely hard and awesome songs that people just miss, songs that should be sung as much as the old classics. So, for the most part, songs will be relatively modern. You may have never heard them before, but they’re relatively modern.” He rubbed his face and took a deep breath. “So, the first pair I’m gonna mention is Madi and Landon. You two will be doing Ever Enough by A Rocket to the Moon. It’s really an incredible song, and Madi, that’s out of your comfort zone, but that’s what I’m here for—to push you. Here’s the music. Go somewhere and start working on this together.” Then, his eyes met mine, and my cheeks began heating up all over again. Since we were being filmed, he kept his face calm, and I wasn’t entirely sure if I managed to do the same. “Everit and Jesse . . . you two will be singing Bite My Tongue by You Me at Six. It’s an edited version of the song, but it’ll be interesting to hear how you two do this.” He handed me the music and gave us both small, encouraging smiles. “Good luck.”

Jesse had his hand on my back as we went upstairs and into my room. Niall said to find somewhere, and my room wouldn’t have any interruptions.

Jesse noticed the drying bikini top on the side of the bathtub. “You found it?”

While he snooped around my room, I was getting everything set up on my bed for a rehearsal. First, I wanted to see if I really did recognize that song. I was looking through my You and Me at Six songs on my iPod and found that Bite My Tongue was one of them.

I put it on the dock and began softly playing it. As I was listening and trying to map out which parts I would be best to sing, I didn’t even notice Jesse come up behind me and put his head on my shoulder.

“Uh . . . what are you doing?”

“One of us is going home after the battles are over with,” he said. “Why not have a little fun? What would it hurt?”

My eyebrows rose in disbelief. “Are you serious? Get off of me. I’m not a little play toy. Call me whatever you want, but I’m saving that for marriage. Now, let’s get down to business. I’ve heard this song before, and now that I listen to it, I realize that I’ve heard it many times before. I used to listen to it all the time, but the lyrics are a little fuzzy.” I pursed my lips and looked up at him, erasing every previous memory I had of him from before this moment. “Can you sing something for me? Maybe the chorus of what you auditioned with? Really, just whatever.”

He nodded. “Fight for all you know when your back’s against the wall. Stand against the liars.
Stronger than before, when your life becomes a war, set the world on fire.”

I immediately recognized that song and laughed a little as he finished, trying to play off how nervous hearing his incredible voice made me. “Yeah. I see why he put us together.” Before he could even ask, I began singing a random song in my mind right now. “I never wanted to say this. You never wanted to stay. I put my faith in you, so much faith, and then you just threw it away.”

“Yeah, I definitely see why,” he agreed. “Alright, so, can you play that song again? I want to listen to see what you think about who should sing what, where we should both sing.”

I began running my fingers through my hair as I quirked my lips to the side. “I’m sure Niall has a plan already, but it can’t hurt to sing it together all the way through.”

So that’s just what we did after listening to it again and realizing what was changed and how we were supposed to sing it. Together, we sang it all the way through, and I had to admit. Singing with someone else was more fun than I thought it would be.

---

It wasn’t long before Niall came knocking on my door. I think we were actually the first group he came to because it was only ten minutes or so after we got up here that he came along.

“I’m sure you want to know who will be singing what,” he said when I opened the door, and I gestured for him to come in. “You guys are the only one I didn’t mark specifically with highlighters. I forgot to do that. Can I see your music?”

We both handed him our music, and he began highlighting the lines. While he did that, he began quietly singing the song under his breath. It was pretty incredible hearing him sing it.

“Alright,” he murmured. “Now follow me. We’ve got a lot of work to do this week, and I think we should get started now. First, though, I need to grab food. Do you guys want to eat something before we start?”

It was ironic how my stomach began growling as he mentioned this, so Jesse just chuckled and nodded. “Food sounds good, and from the sounds of Everit’s stomach, I would say she agrees.”

Niall laughed as he led us downstairs into the kitchen. As we walked, I could see some people looking at us funny, but the person that made me laugh was Brinley. She looked furious, although I didn’t really know why. She would get her turn, just like I was.

“Now, I’m not a great cooker, but I’m a great eater,” Niall informed us. “So, hopefully someone in the house will be able to cook. I can, but I’m not that good at it, so we need someone else. In the meantime, there are plenty of things to snack on.”

I shrugged. “Well, I’m a decent cook. Definitely not a world class chef, but I don’t mind cooking.”

“Try something,” Niall suggested, and he gestured to the kitchen. “We’ve got plenty of time, and you can never have too much food.”

Jesse laughed. “I’m pretty sure you can. People die from overeating.”

“Okay, fine, you can,” Niall agreed with a frown, but then, he smiled as he looked back over to me. “Either way, food is very important, so Everit, please go right ahead and make us something.”

“That is a woman’s job, after all,” Caleb mocked as he entered the kitchen, and I just snorted while Niall frowned at him.

“A woman is capable of many things,” I protested, and to sell my case, I pretended to look angry. “I mean, have you ever done laundry? It’s such a pain! And, I mean, there’s such a small number of men with vaginas.”

That made all three of them laugh, and I couldn’t help but laugh too as I started looking through the cabinets and refrigerator for things to make.

Surprisingly, I found everything I needed to make enchiladas, so I very eagerly began preparing everything. The three guys around me were talking up a storm while I worked, but as soon as I put the enchiladas, which were smothered in cheese and sauce, they stopped so that they could look at me with a raging hunger in their eyes.

I just smiled innocently and began rummaging through the refrigerator again for something cold to drink, and what I found was strawberry lemonade in a can—spectacular stuff that I could drink all freaking day. So, I popped a can open and turned to look at them, and I found that they were still staring at me.

“What are you guys staring at?” I demanded, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

Jesse pointed right at me and laughed. “You.”

Caleb nodded in agreement. “You’re hot, Everit. No one can deny that, and you’re being quite the tease right now.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him as Niall frowned in his general direction. “I’m just getting a drink! How is that being a tease?”

“It comes naturally for some people,” Niall admitted, and he shrugged his shoulders. “You are one of those people. Still, I’m curious. What are you making? It already smells fantastic!”

I was beyond grateful for the change of subject. “Enchiladas. I haven’t made them in forever, and I freaking love ‘em.”

“Mexican food is always a good option,” Niall said with that same adorably bright smile that made my heart race. “How much longer until it’s ready? I’m eager to try it!”

“It’s ready as soon as the cheese melts,” I said. “By the time we get plates out for everyone, it should be ready.”

“Did you make enough for everyone, or just us?” Jesse asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I made a lot. They’re really not hard to make, so I just made four pans full. Should feed us all.”

As Niall began getting plates down for the four of us in here, the other two guys started looking into the oven, just waiting for the cheese to be melted. From the way they kept looking, I figured it probably looked good to them.

Distantly, I could hear Low by Flo Rida, and I couldn’t help but dance a little as I rummaged through drawers looking for forks. It was getting closer as I danced, and when it entered the room, it came in via Noah.

He laughed as I continued to slightly dance—nothing like I do when I’m alone. “I thought I smelled something good! What’s cooking?”

“Enchiladas,” Niall said in the funniest and also sexiest Hispanic accent ever. I knew he could speak fluent Spanish, but that was still sexy.

I grinned over at Noah and nodded. “What he said.”

Caleb and Jesse were dancing as well, and Niall was even getting his head going. That’s when I realized that we probably had the best team there was. Niall was new to this, so he didn’t really know how everything went, but we were also all so young. We could connect and bond in a way that people from all sorts of age groups couldn’t. Maybe we didn’t all get along, but we understood each other, and we enjoyed a lot of the same things.

That’s why I was able to actually start dancing a little more as I pulled out five forks and got out a couple of oven mitts to get the food out.

Noah had somehow found my dance music playlist because the next song that came on was Wop by J Dash, so I really started dancing then. But, the food got ready in the middle of the second verse, so I had to get it out.

It was kind of funny to watch. As soon as I got it out and set it on the counter, people from all over the house began swarming around the food. I kind of figured that they would if they were hungry, but they all looked so eager to jump in and try it.

Ella seemed a little hesitant. “I don’t know how well this will go with my diet . . . .”

I shrugged and began scooping a lot of enchiladas out for myself before grabbing handfuls of forks and setting them by the now large stack of plates Niall got out. “Probably not well. It’s smothered in cheese and sauce, as well as meat, but it certainly goes well with my taste buds.”

That was about all it took to get her to just dig in. It was funny because she looked like a ravenous animal the way she did, and when she saw me put a lot of sour cream on mine, she did the same.

Niall laughed hysterically as he held his fork up in the air. “May the enchilada party begin!”

As I made my way through the crowd and over to the large dining room table in the connected kitchen and dining room, I noticed Brinley standing at the entrance of the kitchen. Must I even tell you that she was glaring at me? This time, though, it looked personal, and with furious tears in her eyes, she stalked right out of the room and upstairs.

I didn’t think much about it because Niall and Noah came rushing over to sit beside me, their own plates full.

“This is amazing!” Niall exclaimed. “You’re more than a decent cook. I nominate you the house cook!”

And everyone still trying to get their food began cheering in agreement. That, for some reason, made me very, very happy.

You did this, Ev. You made a huge group of people happy . . . and they actually like you!

Notes

Because what brings people together better than food? :)

The lyrics in the description are from the song Life, Love, and Laughter by Donavon Frankenreiter. I've never heard the song, but the lyrics fit.

I hope you guys are still enjoying this. Comment? Yes? That'd be awesome. :)

Here's a random picture of Niall. Just because, well . . . :)

Oh! Before I forget, this story is set in the fall of 2013. That was when I started writing it, so that was when I based it off of.

Anyways, enjoy this story! I may only post one more before I wait for some comments and such. Just because I don't wanna upload something if no one wants to read it, ya know?

Enjoy anyways. I hope you do. :)