Back to Where We Started

Chapter 5

By the time he shut the door behind him, Zayn noted that the rest of the boys, minus Louis, had already scattered, most likely claiming a space to call their own for the next few days.

"Want me to round up the lads?" Louis asked.

"How about we both do it?" Zayn countered. "We can round them up together. Just make sure the boys bring their bags with them to the lounge room. I think it'd be a good idea for us to assign sleeping arrangements for this stop."

Louis raised his eyebrow at that. "Wow, taking it back to the early days, are we?"

Zayn huffed a laugh at that. "Why not? I feel like we've been given the chance to basically start over with the boys. We know what's worked to help get them all on track before, might as well just do what works rather than trying something new each step of the way."

Louis nodded his agreement and dropped his bag over by the couch situated in the middle of the lounge room. He was about to begin his search for the boys when a thought occurred to him. Turning around, he directed furrowed eyebrows at Zayn and asked, "Who's in trouble?"

Feeling confused himself, Zayn countered, "What're you on about?"

Louis huffed out a breath and crossed his arms over his chest. "C'mon, you know what I mean. We only ever assign sleeping arrangements when one or more of the boys are in trouble, usually so whoever it is can share a room with one of us. Who is it?"

Zayn smiled fondly at Lou. "For the time being, Niall. He decided it'd be appropriate to express himself using a few colorful words while Paul was explaining the schedule for this afternoon. Apparently, our Irish friend isn't too pleased with what we have to do today. I don't think he knows I heard him, but I did, and he knows better than to use that sort of language."

Louis nodded his understanding before he thought over all of what Zayn had just said. "What d'ya mean, 'for the time being'?"

Zayn rubbed a tired hand over his face. "It might not seem fair, but I'm sort of expecting Harry to slip up before the day is over. He's already given me a bit of trouble with his attitude today, and he was clearly thrown by me calling him on it, so I'm not really expecting him to take it well when I tell them what's going on."

Louis nodded once again, this time a contemplative look on his face. "What about Liam?"

Zayn shrugged his shoulders at that. "I have no idea, to be honest."

Louis took a moment to think it over as well and came to the same conclusion. "Alright. Well, time isn't exactly on our side this afternoon, so why don't we go gather the boys so we can all have a chat?" he asked, slinging an arm over Zayn's shoulder and leading them both in the direction of the bedrooms.
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The fact that they were told to grab their bags was not lost on the boys. Much like Louis, they were all quick to connect the request to at least one of them being in trouble. It was probably because of that knowledge that the boys obeyed the request with little fuss.

"You can all just set your bags down in a pile over there," Louis pointed to the spot he and Zayn had set their own bags once they returned to the lounge.

The three younger boys did as they were told before spreading out on the comfortable furniture and looking questioningly at Louis and Zayn. The pair quickly settled into a couple seats of their own. Despite the nature of the conversation they were all about to have, Zayn didn't want the boys to feel like he was lecturing them, so it was important to him that they all felt like they were on the same level, rather than having him tower over them.