Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

What happens in Washington

Alisha

Another gymnastics meet, another battle for the best. It was just starting to look like the commotion had calmed down, when someone mentioned to me that a stranger had gotten extremely close to Sohail with a knife on him. This made the situation worse. 

Nevertheless, our lives could not come to a standstill. The guys had to go make movies, Malaika had to walk the ramps, Arhaan had to go to school and I had to stick my routines in place. With increased security, Dimitri, Roo and I made our way to the airport. Of course the media had picked up on this paranoia of everyone, but they were yet to figure out why. With increased security came some perks, that being paparazzi kept a few feet away from us and security mingling amongst them to ensure nobody carried a potential weapon. 

Making our way to our flight to Washington D.C, our posse of bodyguards and cops sure caught a lot of public attention. But my attention was on my phone.

"He'll call when he wants to. Don't spend all your life staring at the screen." Roo whispered to me in the lounge. We were getting a foot massage, a much needed one at that, and in my hands was still my phone.

"He said he loves me, and he never got back to me. I made a mistake, I know, but..." 

"He'll be stupid to lose you, remember that." 

I nodded, but didn't quite agree with her. I was the one who was stupid enough to have pushed him away from me for no mistake of his, the one to make decisions without involving him, to hurt him in ways that are sometimes not forgivable. 

Washington D.C. was cold, colder than I remembered it to be. Maybe it was the climate change talking, or maybe it was just my low oxygen level. On our way to the hotel, where all the participants were staying, the paparazzi chased us. However, D.C. paparazzi seemed to be lazy, uninterested and uninspired. Bureaucracy finds its ways into all professions in this city, it seems.

"Sammy!" I looked at her, with her headphones on, already on one of the three beds in our room. Tyson and his team were not impressed by the security measures, and had therefore decided that one person will always stand outside the room where I stayed, to make it secure. They also hated the idea of the balcony, and were inside to put on a portable lock that made it impossible to be opened from the outside. These men carried all kinds of fancy tools with them, the ones that I was too lazy to think about right now.

Sammy, or Samantha, sent a flying kiss at us and went back to her music. We all knew she liked to do that after practice, so we didn't disturb her. Lauren chose the bed closest to the balcony, which Tyson was secretly glad about. It left me with the bed in the middle and also, right next to the washroom. 

It was right after an early team dinner that my phone went off. Picking up the number, I lost my voice. What if it was a threat? Not many unknown people have my number, definitely nobody in Washington D.C. On top of it, it was registered as a private number, and serious, serious efforts are needed for one to get something like that.

"Alisha, you there babe?"

Ashley! It was Ashley Walz.

"Oh hey, I just got worried with the private number. That's all." I smiled, remembering she would obviously be using a private number, which probably changed every few weeks for security reasons as well. 

"That's fine. Hey, you can't be in the city and get away with not meeting me! Come on home!" 

"You sure your parents will be fine by it?" I asked, worried about what they would make of a friends simply crashing in for the night. They were strict, I can tell you that, but they were extremely humble and polite all the same.