Not So Normal

Chapter 74

2 years later

"You'll be fine. I'll be out there in the front row and you can just look down if you need me. But you won't need me because you'll be up there with the four guys you will be brothers with forever. Go get 'em," I say, my eyes watering a bit. The other girls are giving their guys similar pep talks and it's just emotional for everyone.

The girls and I watch as our boys go out onto a stage together for the last time. When they're out of our sight we go take our seats in the audience. Fans know the guys have an important announcement, but from what I've seen online, everyone thinks they're announcing another tour or album. They're in for quite a surprise.

Jimmy Fallon comes onstage and joins the guys and the show begins. As classic Jimmy Fallon goes, they joke around for a bit, but since Jimmy knows what the announcement, it turns serious fairly quickly.

"So as the audience knows, you guys have a big announcement to make tonight. Which one of you guys gets to break the news?" Jimmy says, trying to sound all peppy, but it's kind of hard in this situation.

"Well, I guess I'll do it," Liam says after an awkward silence. I can sense the crowd behind leaning in, curious as to why the guys are all so somber.

"It's been a long and amazing few years, but it's time that we all go our own ways. This will be our last appearance as One Direction. We've loved working together all these years, but we have all decided that it's been long enough," he says, almost sadly. I hear some girls in the audience gasp.

"We want all the fans out there to know that this is one of the hardest decisions we have ever made. You guys have been there for us for so long and we hate to let you down, but it's time," Zayn says. "It's hard to have a family when you do what we do."

The camera goes to Perrie, who is bouncing their little girl, Jaxon, on her lap. Zayn smiles as the sight and it's just adorable. Eleanor is sitting next to Perrie and her hands are on her very pregnant stomach. The audience really enjoys that shot.

"So Niall, you and Elissa have been married for a couple years now. Is there a family in your future any time soon?" Jimmy asks.

"Definitely. Now that things are going to be dying down a bit, I think a family is in the near future," Niall says, smiling at me. I can't help but smile back and the cameras have their turn on me.

The show goes on for the rest of the hour and then we all head backstage. The guys are all hugging and reassuring each other that they'll be brothers forever. It's really emotional for all of us. As much as we're all ready for this, we're all really sad. We won't be seeing as much of each other from here on out.

Niall and I are settling down in LA instead of going between our houses in London and LA whenever we feel like it. Zayn and Perrie have been 'settled' just outside of London for a while, so they're staying there. Louis and Eleanor just got a house in Birmingham so they weren't raising their kid in crazy London but they were still in a big city. Liam is staying the party animal that he is and is staying in London. Harry, being himself, is just wandering for a while.

When we leave the studio Niall and I say goodbye to everyone and I try not to get teary eyed. I tend to be really emotional. Everyone else is flying off to various places, but Niall and I are staying in New York City for a few days and visiting Lindsey and her fiancé, Blake.

Niall and I head over to Lindsey's place for a night probably filled with drinking our emotions away. Living with an Irish man has turned me into much more of a drinker than I was before I met Niall. It's a blessing and a curse.

Our few days with Lindsey and Blake are a nice distraction from life. All we really do is go to parties and drink and sleep all day afterwards, but it's fun. Our goodbyes aren't too hard because we're coming back in a couple months for the wedding. Luckily we're taking a private plane back to LA so we don't have to be around people while we deal with our week long hangovers.

Once we're back home in LA we just chill out for a few days since neither of us are really in the mood to do anything. We watch a lot of movies and eat a lot of pizza and ice cream. It's probably not the healthiest thing to do, but it's what we need.

Once we're ready to reemerge into the world we get straight down to business. Since we both quit our singing careers, we don't want to not have jobs and be bored all the time, so we decided that we were going to go back into the music industry, but be more of a behind-the-scenes act. The guy that ran my old contract place was retiring so we're taking over for him. He was glad to hand the reigns over to us.

I don't even know what to call us. We're kind of producers, agents, and all sorts of music-y people. Maybe "Music-y People" can be a new job title. It will be fun to find new talent and help artists develop to their potentials. We've got the music experience so I think we'll be good at helping artists.

Our first day on the job is spent following the retiring CEO around and seeing some of things we'll be doing. It makes me even more excited than I already am to start doing this every day.

A few days after we take over the company we fly out to Salt Lake City for an evening and go out to dinner with my mom and stepdad. I haven't visited for a little more than a year, so I figured they could use a nice night out.

"You know Elissa, I am just waiting for grandkids," my mom says at one point during dinner. I drop my fork and almost spit out my food.

"Mom," I say, embarrassed and annoyed. I never thought my mom would be one to bug me for grandkids.

"I'm not trying to pressure you, but you wouldn't want Parker to have kids before you, would you?" she says, faking innocence. I roll my eyes. My brother just met this girl and he's pretty sure she's the one.

"Mom, if I was pregnant, you would be one of the first to know, okay? Just don't bug me about it." I don't want to sound too defensive, but it's hard. I really want kids right now, but I think Niall still wants to wait. It's pretty frustrating, but I love Niall and don't want to pressure him.

We get back to LA really late, but I'm somehow not tired at all. I'm lying on our bed, staring at the ceiling, while Niall is brushing his teeth and all I can think about is that conversation at dinner. That just made me want kids even more. I'll have to talk to Niall because this is really eating away at me.

"Hey honey," Niall says from the bathroom. I keep staring at the ceiling and make a noise to acknowledge him. There's a few seconds of silence and then Niall is hovering over me with his arms on either side of my head.

"Hey Ni," I say, kissing his nose. "What's up?"

"Let's start a family."