Taking Chances

Chapter 4

The next several days passed in a blur of new faces, schedules, plans and fans.

We arrived in the early morning hours into London, immediately being ushered into a van and transferred to a hotel. Although each of the guys had homes in London, the hotel was only blocks from the venue and made the next few days of rehearsal and final preparation easier.

I was exhausted. After finally having some space to myself once removing Louis from my lap with the help of Zayn, I was able to get a few hours of light sleep. But it wasn’t restful. It actually made me feel worse. I love sleep. I could sleep all day, every day if I was able. Some people were able to function on just a quick cat nap, but I was NOT one of these people. I should have known better, but I was so tired on the plane I just let myself drift off.

Once we reached the hotel, we quickly deposited our bags and headed off to the venue. By the time we reached our final destination, it was after nine in the morning.

The guys were rushed off to go over some rehearsal details, while I was introduced to Paul, the tour manager, and taken around to meet other members of the team and see the venue. It was all quite overwhelming, my nerves rising in my stomach again. Everyone was warm and friendly, and I was given more than one warning regarding the boys tendency to play pranks and their general debauchery.

I watched a quick rehearsal, this having been the first time I had ever really heard the guys sing. Of course, I had heard the occasional song on the radio, but never consciously equated it with the five I saw on the stage now, who seemed more interested in trying to push each other over the edge of the cat walk than singing.

I learned quite a bit over these few days. I learned many of their songs, after a while able to at least sing along with the chorus if nothing else. I learned the names of almost everyone else on the team, which I was quite proud of since I was usually horrible with names. I learned that the warnings I had received during my initial meetings with the team were true, witnessing fruit fights, Harry jumping out of recycle bins in an attempt to scare Lou, their hair stylist, and Louis running down the halls screaming like a maniac, Liam hot in his heels with a water gun.

I also learned that I was having the time of my life already, and we hadn’t even left yet. Everyone was easy to get along with, there was never a dull moment, and I found myself at ease quickly. I was usually a reserved person, taking quite a while to get comfortable enough with new people to be myself and joke around. But I was surprised to find that within a short time I was taking part in some of the debauchery around me, even supplying Harry with fruit to throw at Zayn.

I also learned quite quickly to never leave my camera unattended.

I brought it with me to rehearsal, figuring I would get an early start and get the feel for how things were going to go. Adjusting settings, observing light and such now would help me once we were out on the road. I had taken a few shots, careful to be discrete and unintrusive with my images as to not annoy the guys, but also to get them in their most natural states. I was happy with a lot of the shots I had gotten that morning, setting my camera down on the table in their dressing room and going to find something to eat as lunch approached.

I came back a short time later, my camera still on the table. I thought nothing of it, until I got back to the hotel and downloaded the images onto my laptop.

Scrolling through, I was quite pleased with the ones I had taken. Some of them rehearsing, some of them bickering and playing around with members of their team, even one of Zayn catching a nap on the couch.

Then I got to some images I knew for a fact I hadn’t taken.

The first was of Harry, staring blatantly into the camera, a cheeky grin on his face, his hands on his hips in what I assumed an attempt to pose. The next was a shot of someone’s bare bum. A pair of feet clad in gray socks. A blurry hand trying to push the camera away, a close up of an ear. The images continued on their random trail, the last being a close up of a pair of incredibly blue eyes. It was actually a really good picture, the eyes perfectly sharp, every fleck and reflection noticeable.