Runaways -A One Direction Fan Fic-

Chapter 16: Goodbyes

“To finally going back home!” Louis says, taking the lead and taking swallow of his drink.

I raise my own can in acknowledgment and take a long gulp of my own, letting the cool liquid slide down my throat, only  burning slightly on its way down. Is it weird to think that I’m afraid to actually go back to my own place??

No, because your physco manager is waiting for you there. The little voice in my head answers.

“You’re gonna love it in London Nickolette, I’ll admit it’s a bit rainy, but you’ll get to try Nando’s!” Niall says enthusiastically. I swear, that boy is like the harbringer of Nando’s and it’s his mission in life to bring joy and happiness to the people of Earth by spreading the word about Nando’s. Seriously, he’s generating so much publicity for that place they should make him King of Nando’s….I bet that would make him happy.

Nickolette looks down at her hands and starts picking at her thumbnail, “Yeah…” she agrees, but I can tell she’s keeping something from us.

Obviously though, it appears Louis’ amazing observing skills have kicked in again -note the sarcasm- and he seems completely oblivious to Nickolette’s odd behaviour, “Didn’t you say something about disguises Nickolette?”

The girl seems to have noticed my questioning stare and answers, grateful for the distraction, “Yeah…yeah…of course. We’re risking it enough with having you guys here, but this is nothing compared to the danger that’s going to happen when you land in London. People are going to be on high-alert for anyone who even looks like a member.”

Nickolette begins rummaging in her bag for these ‘disguises’ and I can’t help but notice the way she put emphasis on the word you in her sentence….it’s almost as if…..oh….

Immediately it all falls into place like pieces of a puzzle, no wonder she's been sounding so miserable lately, her home is here, not with us. What were we even thinking? Nickolette flying home with us....god, now that I say.....think it out loud, it really does sound like a pile of bullshit. Fuck I feel stupid now.

"Okay, so I have wigs and hats as well as some makeup...." Nickolette says, pulling a giant mess of tangled, multicolored wigs and numerous hats from her bags, "...Actually on second thought, I don't trust any of you with my makeup. Let's see, 1, make that 2 fake mustaches, and....AHA! I knew I had these somewhere!"

"Umm...what exactly are these?" I ask, turning the tiny box around and around in my hands, trying to use my proficiency in  French to decipher the Italian. Louis moves from his suitcase perch to sit on the floor, pawing through the items Nickolette has dropped there, "Those, my dear Harold, are brown colored contacts."

"I call the mustache!" Louis shots triumphantly, holding the brown piece of fake facial hair.

Nickolette laughs as Niall, Liam, and even Zayn, his attention piqued by the idea of going undercover, descend upon the pile like human vultures, everyone's beer forgotten -Niall's probably already emptied, "Just pick what you want and go to the bathroom to put it on." she says,

*********

Ten minutes later, after meticulously pinning a blond wig to my head and arguing with Niall and Louis for 5 minutes about who got to wear the contacts, the 5 of us exit the bathroom, my eyes watering from the unfamiliar feeling of the contacts against my eyeballs. Did I forget to mention that I lost the argument? Well I did, and these things are fucking itchy.

The remaining mustache went to Zayn  -mostly because he refused to muss up his 'oh-so-important hair-do' and we needed something else for him- and I have to say, looking at him and Louis is like looking at older versions of themselves...and it's actually really fucking creepy, wait, I can just think of the time we all wore fake mustaches for that episode of SNL...yup...definitely less creepy. The four of us who don't obsess over our hair all got stuck with wigs, Niall with a brown one, Liam with a curly black one, and me and Louis with straight blond ones. *Sniff* I want my curls back!!!