Love Lock

New Ways

"You're telling me what?!" Simon Cowell screamed over the phone, causing Louis to hold the device further away from his ear with a grimace.

"He's gone, he left us last night," Louis sighed, pacing the floor in front of the other three boys.

Harry clung onto Liam's side while Niall watched Louis nervously.

"Where is Zayn now?" Simon asked coolly. Louis rolled his eyes and snapped back.

"Not here Simon, get a hint," Liam smirked at Louis' sass and started towards the fridge.

"This is serious Tomlinson. I'm contacting the rest of our team right now. We will handle this and while we do..just stay put," Simon growled and hung up the phone.

Louis glared at his cellphone and looked back to the boys with a halfhearted shrug.

"He's pissed."

"Naturally, he's losing money."

"So what's the verdict?"

"He said they'll take care of it," Louis laughed humorlessly,"whatever that means."

"Prepare for a rough few days lads. It's going to be hectic within management," Liam walked back in and tossed his friends a few drinks.

"We have to tell the fans," Harry gasped quietly, catching the tea in his lap.

"Simon said they'll deal with the public also," Louis said quickly before Harry started worrying too much.

"So now what?" Niall took a sip of the bottled tea and questioned.

"Concert after the weekend, we have to figure out who's singing Zayn's parts," Louis mentioned closing his eyes.

"He has a lot of high notes," Niall frowned and looked to Harry and Liam.

"Liam no, I can't go that high, I'll mess it up," Harry stammered. Louis pinched the skin of his forehead, he couldn't deal with anymore tears today.

Liam cut in with an assuring smile and a hand on Harry's arm. "Hey, hey, it's okay, we can work on it."

"The fans are going to be so upset if I can't hit his notes," Harry worried.

"Just like we're going to have to adjust, they will too, it'll be okay," Niall pointed out and threw an arm around the youngest.

Scrunching up his nose, Louis got to work collecting lyrics from their music room.

"This is going to take forever," he grumbled at the sheets in his hands. Another setback and this band is going to lose it, louis thought.

The weekend was filled with back and forth fights with management and the struggle to learn Zayn's parts. It was the night before the concert and the group of four sat criss-crossed on their kitchen floor.

Niall and Louis popped marshmallows into their mouths while looking down at the music in their laps.

"Diana, let me be the one to light a fire inside those eyes, you've been lonely, you don't even know me but..I.." Liam sang but paused to glance at the clock that read 1:30am.