Once in a Lifetime (l.s)

Introduction Pt. 2

I turn the corner to see Niall hugging Liam tightly. Zayn is laughing beside them.

His green eyes snap up as I meet his eyes. I swore I saw that soft look I missed so much, but I'm immediately met with a stone-cold glare. I gulp as I continue forward, now looking at the floor, but I can tell his gaze hasn't left mine. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up.

Liam, who hasn't read the situation yet, finally sees me and breaks from Niall.

"Louis!!! One, of course you're the last one here. Two, come here mate!" He grabs my arm and surprises me when he pulls me into a tight hug. "I know I just talked to you this morning, but it's so nice to see you in person."

I hug him back and nod into him. "It sure is, Li."

Once Liam finally releases me from his death hug, I turn to Zayn and give him a cheeky smile, to which he fights a laugh and shakes his head.

"Come on Malik, you know you missed me." I say as I walk slowly towards him, keeping the cheeky grin on my face. "Just admit it!"

He shakes his head ad looks up from the ground. "Okay, I missed you a little." He meets my gaze with a smile.

He looks so different. Not necessarily a bad different, he just looks so matured. I know how hard those years were for him, that's why I actually agreed with him leaving the band. I loved him too much to see him the way he was. That's why when I hug him in this moment, I make sure he knows that with my touch. I swear I squeezed the bloody hell out of him.

When I let go of Zayn I turn around to greet Harry, but all I see is his back as he walks towards the conference room. I'm not gonna lie, my heart cracked a little. The fact that he couldn't even say a friendly hello means that he's still beyond hurt and mad, and I understand but it still hurts. I deserve it though. I ghosted him, I thought I was doing what was best by leaving him to his career so I ghosted him. I realized I did the wrong thing too late, he had already blocked my number by then. Now, here we are, 3 years later and we haven't spoken a word.

I snap out of my thoughts as Z claps my back. We all shuffle into the conference room. I'm glad none of the boys said anything. I know they all felt the awkward energy, but the fact that they aren't drawing attention to it helps a lot.

We all sit around the long oval shaped table from right to left in order. Niall, me, Liam, Harry, and Zayn on the end. So many things have happened in this exact office and building, I realize how stressed and nervous I actually am.

I think Liam can sense that I'm freaking out because I feel his hand gently pat my bouncing leg under the table. I glance at him and he smiles, giving me a small nod of reassurance.

But the only thing I can see is the look on Harry's face over his shoulder. Harry is staring at the table with a gloomy, anxious face. He looks like a lost puppy. I can tell he's also nervous about being here, which actually brings me a little peace knowing it's not just me. I know because he's holding his bottom lip between his fingers, it's one of his nervous tells.

In this moment, the only feeling I have, is to make sure he's okay. I don't know where it's coming from, but I get the overwhelming urge to just scoop him up and hug him until he feels safe and happy. I'm quickly pulled away from that urge by the man's voice that we all love so much!

"Alright boys, thank you for coming today." The cowbell says. I've always been the one to have issues with Simon. When we were in the band, I always felt like I needed to stand up for the other boys. They're like my brothers and Simon was the evil stepmother. Things got even worse when all the shit went down with Harry.

Harry and I fell fast, but we were young and naive. I was confused, because I had never felt that way about another guy, but I knew I was falling in love with him. Once I accepted that, I was so happy. When Simon found out, he freaked out. Said it was jeopardizing the band. He fed us so much bullshit about how we were risking the other boys' careers, how we could ruin our chances. We were too young. We signed the stupid contract thinking it was the best option. If I could go back and risk it all, I would do it for him.

"As you all know, we're now just over the 10 year mark of One Direction." He says, glancing around at all of us as we nod back to him. "We've seen that now, more than ever, your fanbase is huge. They never went away, they actually grew in size. They're sitting on their toes, checking they're phones every few minutes for your posts, streaming your music all day 24/7. Hell, some of them would probably sell their organs for you guys to do a reunion."

I speak up, "So you're asking us what we think?"

He nods as Niall starts to talk. "Would it just be a single reunion tour? One last go before we part ways? Or are we talking a formal 'We're getting the band back together!' here?"

"That's what we're here to talk about. We have options but we want to know how you guys feel about it."