Through the Lens

Goin Out

"Of course you don't." I laughed. "What time are you coming? I'm not even home yet."

"I'll give you two hours before we show up. You better get your game face on, no more of this emo shit. Not tonight, we're goin out." He said sternly.

"Yeah, yeah." I chuckled, knowing I was in for an interesting night if Louis was this fired up.

"Besides, Niall needs helping picking his covers from the new photos he got on his trip. It's about time the four of us catch up."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you in a couple hours." I sighed before we said goodbye and hung up, feeling a little apprehensive about going out but knowing I didn't have a choice.

Aside from the fact that I wasn't exactly in the mood, I knew it would be a media frenzy if the four of us were out together, and I just wasn't into it. At the same time, I knew I needed to go for Niall and to get out of the house and hopefully be able to have some fun. The boys had always been there to pull me out of a funk, and I was hoping maybe they'd be able to do it again. Besides, I was dying for any kind of news about Hailey, so I needed to talk to drunk Niall so he'd give me the full story and not the edited version.

It had only been five days since I left, but it felt like years since I'd talked to her. I was trying to give her some space while I licked my wounds, doing my best to remember that she'd pushed me away because she was scared, not because she didn't love me. I knew I could very well have been lying to myself, but it was the only thing that was getting me out of bed in the morning so I had to go with it.

"I gotta head home, I'll see you later at Niall's thing?" Jeff asked as he poked his head into the room and looked at me.

"Yeah. I'll be there." I nodded and he said goodbye before he disappeared down the hallway.

I stood up and grabbed my phone off the table, pulling my keys out of my pocket before I made my way out of the building and headed towards my car. There were about five paps shoving their cameras in my face, asking me all kinds of questions about Hailey, as they had been since I got home, desperate to find out who my mystery girlf from Hawaii was. I hopped into my car without saying anything and headed home, taking a long shower and changing into my clothes for dinner before the boys arrived.

I was just pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge when I heard my front door open, the sound of Louis mocking Liam echoing down the hall as they made their way toward me. I just laughed and shook my head, thinking about how much we'd grown over the past few years, yet the way Louis could irritate Liam had never changed.

"How is it possible that you have a child?" Liam laughed as they entered the kitchen. "You're an over-grown five year old. Actually, maybe not over-grown..."

"Yeah, yeah. Always with the height jokes." Louis rolled his eyes at him before he turned and saw me standing there. "Well look who it is!"

I just laughed as they each came over and hugged me, Niall trailing in behind them with a bunch of stuff in his hands. He threw it down on the counter before coming over to hug me, a little tighter than usual, before he pulled away.

"Hey, mate." I smiled. "How was your trip?"

"And by that, he means how's Hailey." Louis commented, smirking at me.

I watched as Niall cleared his throat uncomfortably, sending a sick feeling washing through me as he avoided looking at me.

"She's uh, she's good." He said awkwardly before he quickly changed the subject. "I've got some stuff for you."

He quickly shifted back to the counter and started pulling stuff out of the bag he'd brought, handing me various pictures Cash had drawn me and some photos Kelsey had developed of Soph that I quickly put on the fridge. He handed me a couple of other things Cash had made before he got to the bottom of the bag.