The Takeover

by Oli White

  ‘That’s terrific, son,’ Dad said. ‘You know how proud we are of you, don’t you?’

  I nodded, sensing a lump in my throat. ‘I do, Dad.’

  ‘Hey, your brother said to say hello, too,’ he went on. Then he chuckled. ‘That still sounds so weird, doesn’t it? Brother? Anyway, Lewis says hi, and he hopes it’s all going brilliantly.’

  ‘Oh, right. That was nice of him. So what’s he been up to down in Cornwall?’ I asked nonchalantly.

  ‘Well, we FaceTimed yesterday,’ Mum said. ‘He was in some surfing competition this week and he won, bless him.’

  ‘Yeah, Christ knows where he gets all that athleticism from,’ Dad laughed. ‘Not from me, that’s for sure.’

  ‘That’s great,’ I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. ‘Good for him.’

  ‘It’s brilliant, isn’t it?’ Dad said, with the same proud smile he’d given me moments before. ‘Actually, Jack, I thought I might go down to visit him next weekend. There’s a big biking rally on close to where he lives. What do you think?’

  Even via an iPad screen, I could tell he was a little nervous, and that this was his way of subtly asking my permission and checking it was OK with me. I have to admit, I was slightly thrown by the idea of Dad visiting Lewis, and the two of them heading off to a sporting event together … but I could tell it meant a lot to Dad, and I was determined to support him in this, even if it did feel weird not to be the only son in his life any more.

  ‘Whoa, Dad!’ I said. ‘A biking rally. That’s different …’

  ‘Oh, he’s bound to break something, and by that I mean a limb,’ Mum said, rolling her eyes.

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ Dad said, looking sheepish. ‘But I miss that kind of thing.’

  ‘Well then … you should go, of course,’ I said. ‘Go wild; rediscover your youth.’

  ‘Hey – why don’t you come, too?’ Dad said suddenly, his eyes lighting up. ‘Make it a real boys’ weekend, both of us get to know Lewis better.’

  ‘What, me?’

  ‘Why not? Can you get off for a couple of days? I’m sure Lewis would love it if you came. And so would I.’

  ‘Er … Well, I …’

  I didn’t know what to say. A bike rally with Dad and Lewis next weekend? With the schedule for Emerge as crazy busy as it was? If I took time out now, it was only going to make things worse with Austin, plus make Ethan look even more like the golden boy. And I knew that Dad was just being polite – thinking back to our first meeting, I highly doubted that Lewis would want me to come along, too.

  ‘Dad, I wish I could, but there’s just no way. You know what it’s like when GenNext are in the middle of a project. It’s crazy.’

  ‘I thought as much,’ Dad said disappointment flickering across his face. ‘Just thought I’d ask.’

  ‘Jack’s got enough to think about, love’ Mum said to him. ‘Maybe next time, eh?’

  After we’d said our goodbyes I ended the call, somewhat deflated. I mean, I hadn’t really got the chance to tell them about Emerge in any great detail. And then hearing that Dad was going to visit Lewis, and that the two of them would be bonding over this bike stuff, which I’d never really been interested in … Again that sense of displacement swept over me, like somehow I was on the outside of my own family. I’d hoped that speaking to Mum and Dad would make me feel better, but if I’m being really honest, I felt worse.

  I hung out solo in the flat for most of the morning, until Sai came back from his brunch date with Lily. I wandered out into the kitchen to find him singing at the top of his voice as he made a cup of tea.

  ‘Someone’s in a good mood,’ I said. ‘Good night?’

  Sai stopped in the middle of stirring his tea. ‘Oh, mate, Lily is SO amazing. I think I might be in love.’

  ‘Already?’ I said with a smile. ‘That’s fast.’

  ‘She’s just so great and she gets me, you know?’ Sai said. ‘She loved Oblix last night – the restaurant in the Shard. It cost me an arm and a leg, but the view is incredible. Romantic and all that.’

  ‘I’m really happy for you, mate,’ I said, meaning it. It was great to see Sai so loved up. I had to steel myself for what was coming next. ‘Look, Sai, have you heard from Austin today? He didn’t sleep in the flat last night. Do you know where he stayed?’

  Sai took a sip of his tea and nodded. ‘Yeah, he messaged me earlier. He stayed at Ethan’s. I think he’s still round there now, actually.’

  ‘At Ethan’s?’

  ‘Apparently. Ethan’s parents have got a big flat somewhere trendy and expensive in east London.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ I said, taken aback. I’m not going to lie: I felt terrible hearing that my best mate was hanging out with my nemesis. Gutted.

  ‘Is that so bad? They get on well, I think,’ Sai said, clocking my reaction. ‘Jack, spit it out, man. What’s up?’

  And then I was spilling my guts, telling Sai about the events of the night before and Austin’s conviction that I’d told Ethan something I definitely hadn’t. I daren’t go into detail over Austin’s anxiety, because having Austin think I’d been disloyal twice was only going to make the situation worse; I just left it that he was really broken up about his split with Jess, and that he’d told me in confidence just how low he was feeling.

  ‘… so basically he thinks I betrayed him and nothing I say can make him believe that I didn’t.’

  ‘God, I knew there was something going on,’ Sai said. ‘He hasn’t seemed himself lately, but I hadn’t realised the break-up was affecting him this much.’

  ‘Please don’t make a thing of it, Sai,’ I said. ‘I only told you because I think he’s going to need your help now. I can’t help him; he’s too angry with me for that. He didn’t really want anyone else to know how bad he was feeling. Only me.’

  ‘And now Ethan knows,’ Sai added disapprovingly.

  ‘Yeah, but—’

  ‘Look, I don’t want to take sides, Jack, but I can see why Austin would be annoyed. I mean, that’s really private stuff.’

  ‘Are you not hearing me, Sai?’ I said, irritated. ‘I didn’t say anything. I don’t even like Ethan!’

  ‘And that’s what I don’t understand,’ Sai said. ‘Ethan seems like a decent bloke. You should at least give him a chance; it would make everything a lot easier. We can all sense that you don’t like him, and it’s making it difficult for the rest of us.’

  ‘Is it?’

  Sai nodded. ‘Of course! Look, Ethan’s helped put us in a great position and most of the time he’s singing your praises, banging on about what a great presenter you are. What more do you want? He’s a good bloke, Jack, you just won’t see it.’

  ‘He’s not a good bloke, Sai. He’s—’

  ‘What exactly has he done that’s so frickin’ bad? Tell me that, because I don’t get it,’ Sai said, raising his voice slightly. ‘Do you know what I think the problem is? I think maybe you and Ethan are too similar. You’re both, like, leading-man types, and that’s what’s causing such a competitive element. It’s not healthy.’

  ‘Leading-man types?’

  ‘Yes. You’re both competing for the limelight. The alpha-male position. You’re both outgoing and confident and—’

  ‘But that’s my point, Sai. When we met Ethan, he wasn’t like that. He’s completely metamorphosed. Don’t you find that weird?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ Sai said. ‘He’s just got to know us, that’s all. Look, I don’t think we should talk about this any more. I don’t like bad-mouthing someone behind their back.’

  ‘OK, Sai, I hear you,’ I said. He finished his tea in silence while I headed back to my computer.

  Well, that went well. If Sai didn’t believe me either, then what were the chances that anyone else was going to?

  THE LAST STRAW

  A whirlwind week of non-stop filming later, I still hadn’t made any progress with Austin. He was giving me the silent treatment, refusing to speak to me either at the studio or at the fl
at, which, of course, made things awkward for everyone else. Ella and Ava kept asking me what had gone down between us, but I couldn’t find a way to answer truthfully without giving too much away about Austin’s anxiety issues. Sai was doing his best to be diplomatic, acting as a go-between whenever Austin and I needed to communicate on set, but at times I was very tempted to call Austin out over his behaviour, which seemed pretty childish to me. I knew Austin, though, and I knew that he was so hurt over what he thought had happened that he just couldn’t bring himself to talk to me. Flat-out ignoring me was the only option for him. It didn’t give me much chance to stand up for myself, though, and whenever I tried to plead my case it just reignited his fury and he stormed off.

  It didn’t help that Ethan had stepped efficiently into the role of best mate, hanging out with Austin in the lounge area whenever we had a (rare) break, and even sitting with him hunched over a MacBook, spouting his wisdom on the GenNext promo for Emerge, which had me seething because the five of us had agreed that we wouldn’t let anyone else get involved with anything to do with the GenNext website. Ethan was too clever to lord his victory over me in front of the others, but when we found ourselves alone at the coffee machine one morning, he just couldn’t stop himself.

  ‘Mate, such a shame about you and Austin falling out,’ he said from behind me as I hit the button for a cappuccino.

  I spun around to face him. ‘Are you kidding me?!’

  He shrugged. ‘You’re such good friends; I’m sure you’ll sort it all out soon. Once he’s got over the trust issue, of course.’

  I saw red. ‘There IS no trust issue. He’s only refusing to speak to me because of the lies YOU told him!’

  ‘Whoa, Jack.’ Ethan was smiling pleasantly, and he took a step back with his hands held up in front of him. ‘I’d watch yourself. Chucking around accusations isn’t going to help the situation. Especially when we’ve got to pull together to wrap up on filming. Be a team player, mate.’

  Before I could respond, he’d sauntered off, leaving me so angry I could barely speak. There was no point talking to the others about it, though. The conversation I’d had with Sai had proven that, and Ella already thought I had a bee in my bonnet about Ethan. Saying anything more might come off as jealousy, and I was way too proud to risk that.

  At least I didn’t have too much time to dwell on things, because as filming went on and we got closer to the end, the pace became more and more manic. I guess none of us had realised quite how tough this kind of schedule was going to be: filming and editing five full episodes in three weeks. It wasn’t just the stuff in the studio either. On top of that, there was the last of the documentary location material to shoot with each artist in turn (with Ethan carefully planning the schedule so that Ella and I were always in a different location, of course). Of all the things GenNext had done, this was without doubt the toughest, and we were all working insanely hard, aware of just how much there was yet to achieve. Olympia, meanwhile, tried to keep us buoyant, constantly reminding us how amazing the rewards were going to be at the end of it all.

  One bright spot was that in amongst all the madness, Ella and I managed to grab a quick dinner together one evening away from the studio, even though we had to get straight back to work afterwards. I didn’t feel like it was the best time to go deep on all the things that were worrying me – Ethan, Austin, the weirdness of the Lewis situation (Dad had sent me several photos of him and Lewis at the bike rally at the weekend, holding pints and grinning at the camera) – but at least we had a good chat about how Emerge was going, and how excited the GenNext audience seemed to be for our TV debut. It was just like old times. In fact, I could feel some of the tension that had been there ever since Total melting away, just a bit.

  ‘It feels nice being here, just the two of us, doesn’t it?’ I said, pushing my empty plate away.

  ‘I know! It’s like, we’ve been in the same two buildings but we’ve hardly seen one another,’ Ella smiled, and I fought the urge to mention Ethan’s complete monopolisation of her. ‘Still,’ she went on, ‘from what Ethan’s been saying, we’ll be flying off to America together soon. He’s pretty confident the American network are going to pick up the show.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ I said. ‘And there’s you who doesn’t even want to go to America.’

  Ella elbowed me in the side playfully. ‘I said I didn’t want to live there; I can work there for a couple of months, can’t I?’

  ‘I guess so,’ I said, really pleased that we seemed to be on the same page about the possibility of Emerge doing a stint in America. Then Ella did that very cute nose-wrinkling thing that I loved, and I bent down towards her, and we kissed. God, I needed this right now. This renewed closeness. I don’t know what had brought it on, but whatever it was, after all the weirdness with Austin and Sai and Mum and Dad, I really needed it.

  In a haze of coffee, adrenalin, late nights, and headaches from sitting in front of monitors or Macs for way too long, finally the Owl and GenNext teams wrapped up the filming on the first five episodes of Emerge. The live episode, featuring the winner’s showcase gig, would all be shot on the night.

  When Glen finally called ‘It’s a wrap!’ it was a pretty proud moment for the team, I have to say. We congregated in the middle of the studio, laughing and high-fiving, knackered but triumphant. The only fly in the ointment was that Austin was still deliberately avoiding me, but overall the mood was upbeat. Not even Ethan’s presence could bother me at that moment. Now it was time for all of us to blow off some steam – and Olympia had invited everyone who’d worked on Emerge to a swanky cocktail party at a mansion in Mayfair that evening. AJ and Lily were going to be joining us too. All the bigwigs from Owl TV and Channel 4 were going to be there, and Olympia promised us that it was going to be awesome.

  ‘Jack, what are you wearing tonight?’ Sai shouted the minute I got through the door that evening. I’d stayed on after the others had left to work on some GenNext social media content, and now I was running late. ‘Should I wear a short-sleeved shirt, or can I get away with a muscle-fit T-shirt?’ he went on.

  ‘Just a suit and a blue shirt,’ I said. ‘Erm … as impressive as your muscles are, Sai, I’m not entirely sure if a muscle-fit T-shirt is quite the right look … Tonight sounds like it’s going to be a pretty classy affair.’

  ‘Oi! I’m class personified,’ he said, offended.

  ‘Of course you are, mate. But … you know … maybe the short-sleeved shirt, just to be on the safe side?’

  At that moment, the front door swung open behind me and Ella and Ava bundled in, dressed in their evening finery. Ava had scrubbed up nicely in a black and red printed dress; it looked awesome with her bright red hair, which she’d tousled into curls, and vampy red lipstick. And Ella looked totally amazing – she was wearing a dress I’d never seen before, a long silk ivory number with a slit up one thigh that stopped just short of being outrageous and instead looked incredibly sexy. As always, I felt a swell of pride that she was my girlfriend.

  ‘Sorry, I’m having an outfit crisis,’ she said, before I had a chance to tell her how fantastic she looked. ‘Nightmare! Can I use your bathroom for a minute?’

  She thrust her beaded handbag at me and dashed past into the bathroom. Ava shrugged and followed me into the living room.

  ‘You’d better get a move on, Jack. The cars are coming soon,’ she said.

  ‘Seriously? I’ve literally just got in. Haven’t I even got time for a bloody shower?’

  ‘Just wash the important bits and throw on something dazzling,’ Ava laughed. ‘And make it snappy.’

  There was a semi-desperate cry from Ella from my bathroom. ‘Ava, can you come here a sec? Have you got any safety pins?’

  ‘You’d better use Austin’s bathroom,’ Ava said to me, heading for the door. ‘Sounds like Ella and I could be some time.’

  ‘Why not? He’s not using it,’ I muttered to myself. Austin had barely been at the flat during the week; he’d stayed
over at Ethan’s quite a few times.

  I put Ella’s bag down on the coffee table, but I hadn’t realised it wasn’t zipped up, and everything shot out and fell onto the floor. I bent down to pick up the make-up, the tissues and her iPhone – which pinged with a WhatsApp as I scooped it up.

  For a moment, I felt like my head was actually going to explode. My face was burning and my mouth went dry. Ethan was messaging my girlfriend – what the hell? I knew it. I knew he’d been trying to move in on Ella. Sure, he was stealthy about it, but I’d clocked it even if nobody else had. And Ella – had she been messaging him back? When had she even given him her number? I trusted her, of course I did, but Ethan had already managed to turn my best friend against me – was he trying to do the same thing with my girlfriend?

  For a while I just stood there, looking at Ella’s phone in my hand, the message still lit up on the screen, and wondering what on earth to do.

  ‘Almost ready,’ Ava suddenly called from the bathroom. ‘Crisis averted with safety pins. Sai? Jack? Are you all suited and booted?’

  The cars were due any minute. Shaking myself out of my trance, I dropped the phone back into Ella’s bag and went to get showered and dressed as quickly as humanly possible. The euphoria I’d felt after Glen had called a wrap on filming was draining away fast, and all the fatigue and uneasiness of the last week or so, since I’d fallen out with Austin, was coming back with a vengeance. Suddenly a party was the last thing I felt like … and I knew I was going to have to tackle Ella about the message at some point. There was no way I could let that one lie.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’d hastily thrown on a suit and squirted on some Armani and we were in the car en route to Mayfair. Sai sat up front next to the driver, and Ava, Ella and I were in the back. The others were all excited, laughing and chattering about the party. I tried to join in but I couldn’t concentrate, the words from Ethan’s WhatsApp message running on a loop through my mind, so I turned and looked out of the window instead. London was whizzing past, wet and grey, and as we drove through Piccadilly Circus and around the statue of Eros, I looked up at the massive moving ads flashing above Barclays Bank and Boots. Suddenly something caught my eye … something familiar.