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"Thank you, London for coming out tonight! Hope you enjoyed the show! Please be safe!" I watch the boys sink below the stage from the VIP box. I stand up and cheer just like the rest of the crowd. No matter how many times they perform they never cease to amaze me.
Once the crowd dies down I turn to the door to head backstage. The door swings open before I reach the handle. I topple over and a loud thump echoes through the room when the heavy wooden door flies open and smacks me in the face.
"Diana?" I let out a groan as they pile in and close the door that had hidden me just before.
"Why are you on the floor?" Harry asks as Niall crouches down beside me and examines my head.
"I don't know I just like it here,"
"Really?"
"No! You hit me with that bloody door,"
"Oh, my bad," I roll my eyes and laugh as Niall helps me stand up. Kind of ironic since that's what I've been doing for the past month for Niall and now that he's off of his crutches he's helping me off of my ass.
"If I have a massive bruise on my forehead for James Cordon tomorrow, you're going to owe me Styles,"
"No, no, no please, I'm sorry. I hate owing your things. You hold it over my head for the longest time and then use it on something dumb like buying you lunch."
"That is the whole point," I point out to him.
"Fine," He groans and flops down on the couch, resting his head on Louis' lap. Louis pulls the headband off of his head to tangle his hands in his long curls. Just a second later Zayn comes stumbling through the door with a mountain of snacks spilling out of his arms. He waddles over to the table and drops them all. A couple of them scatter onto the floor. Liam and Niall are quick to pick up the bags off of the floor and pop the crisps into their mouths.
"You know what we should do as a kind of last 'hoorah' before you all leave me," I sit down against the sliding glass partition with a bag of peanut m&ms. They settle themselves on the surrounding leather couches and chairs and look at me expectantly. I stare into the yellow bag sifting through the chocolate-covered candies.
"Well, are you going to tell us?" Zayn finally chimes in, getting impatient just like the rest of the boys.
"Oh, sorry. Got distracted." I set the bag down on the floor and cross my hands in my lap after clearing my throat and straightening my posture. "Piercings," I wave my hand through the air as if the word would appear.
"No," Harry immediately shoot down the idea.
"C'mon Harry please," I crawl over to him on my knees and grab his hand begging him to do it.
"Yeah, Harry. You should do it,"
"Thank you, Louis. See, Louis agrees with me." He nods his head.
"It'd be hot," Harry turns to look at him searching for any hint of sarcasm. He sighs and flops his head back down onto his lap when he doesn't find any.
"Okay, I'll do it. But, I'm not doing it alone." I turn and smile at my boyfriend with pleading eyes.
I stand up and walk towards him with my arms outstretched. When I get to him I rest my hands on his shoulders and bat my eyes at him. "Nialler, my amazing boyfriend, my confidant will you..."
"Sure, I'll do it." He doesn't hesitate to answer. He's surprisingly calm which sends a wave of shock through the tiny room.
"Really?" I beam.
"Why not? I've always wanted one," He shrugs. I wrap my arms around him tightly and press my lips on his. I turn on my heels holding Niall's hands behind me.
"Liam? Louis? Zayn?"
"It's a no from me," Louis imitates Simon's voice. Liam's lips press into a flat line.
"Will, you ever stop with that joke?" Louis responds with a 'no' trying his best to sound like Simon as he does so. "It's never going to end," Liam sighs and rubs his temples.
"So, is that a no Payno?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna sit this one out."
"You two are no fun," I turn to look at Zayn with my eyebrows raised in question. "You could finally get that nose piercing you wanted,"
"I'm in,"
"Yessss!!" I run over and hug him. He stumbles backward in surprise and wraps his arms back around me careful not to get the hot Cheeto dust that coats his fingers, on me.
About a minute later, Paul comes into the room telling us we have to get back to the hotel. I shove all of the snacks into a small grocery bag that I picked up from outside after retrieving it back out of the bin. The bin was empty when I threw it in there so it's not that disgusting.
We almost have to sprint out to the car to try and avoid getting mobbed. Niall's hand is intertwined with mine as we run out of the arena into a large van.
It's almost 1 in the morning when we finally get back to the hotel. I crawl into the bed next to my already sleeping boyfriend as soon as my make up is off and I've stripped out of my clothes into one of Niall's t-shirts.
-
Niall had pulled me into his chest sometime in the night and I wake up with his chin nuzzled into my hair and his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I shut off the alarm on my phone and lay in silence. Paying attention to his slow steady breathing while the rest of the world slipped away. About five minutes later another alarm went off and this time, as much as I wanted to, I couldn't hit the snooze button and fall back to sleep because we'd be late to the studio.
Niall groans beside me and rolls onto his back stretching his arms out. I yawn and sit up and try to rub the tiredness out of my eyes. It doesn't work.
I go to the bathroom only to find out that I look a mess when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair is sticking out everywhere, I've got bags under my eyes, and there's a tiny bruise forming on my forehead from where the door punched me. You owe me Styles. Niall comes into the bathroom not too long after me looking to be in about the same state that I am in. We brush our teeth and do everything else we need to do in silence. It's a comfortable silence.
He slips a navy blue button-up over a white t-shirt before coming back into the bathroom. His blonde locks are still damp from his shower earlier.
"Can you do my hair?" I smile and nod my head.
"Sit," I pat on the closed toilet seat. He does as I say and I get to work on his hair. I click play on my phone and 5 Seconds of Summer echo through the bathroom. Niall shakes his head and laughs when I stop doing his hair so I can use the hairbrush as a microphone. I dance around the bathroom like an idiot and pass the "mic" to Niall who gladly takes it and joins me. When the song finishes I look at the time. We're cutting it quite close so I finish blow-drying his hair and spike it up with some gel. Once I was pleased I let him go and went back into the bedroom to get dressed.
I try to pick something nice but, not extremely fancy since the nicest thing any of the boys were wearing was a button-up shirt and black skinnies. I finally settle on something and put it on before running to the lobby with the rest of the boys trailing behind knowing we're already late.
-
"Please welcome One Direction!" James calls out. We all make our way out from behind the curtain to the blue couches, waving to the audience as we sit down. I'm not entirely sure why I'm here but, James insisted I come on the show. "And the beautiful Diana Aldaine!"
"Thank you, James," Each of us says once we're settled and the applauses have died down.
The show starts with pretty easy questions about touring, new music, and other topics.
"Diana, will you be touring with the boys again this year?"
"Yeah I am right now for the England portion but, after that, I won't be because of work."
"It must be really difficult spending every day with five teenage boys,"
"You don't even know the half of it. I once came back to the tour bus to see them dancing around in my clothes bras and all. Looked like some kind of ritual, it was honestly terrifying." James laughs as all of the boys hide their faces in their hands except for Harry who looks quite proud of himself. "I had to get rid of all of the clothes because they had stretched them out do much."
"I would pay good money to see that,"
"I've got pictures," I hold up my phone but, Niall quickly snatches it away and shoves it down his pants. "Nevermind then." I shield my face from the rest of the boys as I 'whisper' to James "I'll send them to you later," I wink.
"Brilliant," He laughs and turns his direction towards the boys. "But, I need to know what lead up to that moment,"
"Well, long story short," Louis starts. "Di left her suitcase open and unattended so naturally we decided to go through it and put everything on."
"Naturally, yeah, totally get it," James responds, his voice filled with sarcasm. "Even after all of this how did you end up dating this one over here?" Now he's talking to me as he points over to the Irish man sitting next to me. He grabs my hand and links his fingers with mine.
"I honestly don't know," I smile at my boyfriend and he smiles back at me.
"May I ask how you two first got together? I need all of the details." He sets his note cards down and joins his hands under his chin studying us both carefully.
"We were in a parking lot at like three in the morning I think it was after we had bought some stuff to make cupcakes. She was teasing me about something Louis said to the press about me dating Carly Rae Jepsen and then I kissed her." Niall answers. It was short but, to the point. "We hid it from the boys for a while well, except for Liam. He figured it out. And, now we're here." Liam's fist bumps him casually not taking his eyes off of the host.
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
"Awwww," James cooed. "God, I'm dying of the cuteness radiating off the two of you. It's sickening."
"Thanks, James we try," Niall grabs my face and kisses me but, makes sure it's appropriate for television.
He asks the rest of the boys about their current relationship status. Of course, Louis and Harry are both 'single'.
"Niall, recently you were in a very bad car crash,"
"That is correct. Shattered my knee and wrist but, I think they're okay now."
"I'm glad you're okay now. It must have been really scary for you, all of you really."
"It was I nearly shit my pants when I got the call," Liam says. "None of us had any idea if he was alive for hours after the crash happened."
"I never even want to see another hospital waiting room for as long as I live," Harry adds and we all nod our heads in agreement.
"And Diana you were the first one at the hospital?" I was trying to avoid talking about this by nodding my head but, now I've been singled out and have no way of twisting myself out of this one.
"Yeah, I was on the phone with him when it happened," My voice cracks near the end as the scene comes flashing back into my mind. I don't think anyone noticed except for him. Niall puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. He rubs his hand down my upperarm. The small gesture calms my racing heart.
"It's okay, you're okay," He whispers into my ear. I nod my head knowing that i'm going to have to talk about it at some point so it might as well be now.
"And that's how you got there so quickly?"
"I guess so. When I heard it I went into the living room and turned on the TV and they were reporting a crash involving three people including the driver and, I had this feeling it was them so I ran." My eyes start to water. I try my best to keep the tears at bay and it seems to be working, well at least for now.
"Niall was with someone else?" He squeezes my shoulder and leans in planting a kiss on my cheekbone. My focus is all on my thumbs that fiddle around with each other in my lap.
"He was with my brother, Nathan." A single tear rolls down my cheek. Niall cups my cheek and rubs the tear away with his thumb. Zayn reaches around him and places a comforting hand on my shoulder. "He didn't make it," I say before he can ask. Well, there it is.
"Oh I'm so sorry Di," James looks guilty as he calls for a commercial break. I take the oppurtunity to recompose myself. "I truly am sorry," He walks over to me and pulls me into a hug. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
"It's okay," I smile up at him. "You didn't know, it's not your fault."
"Do you need anything? Water, tissues, or?"
"No, I'm okay. Thank you, though." He smiles sympathetically at me and nods his head before going back behind his desk.
When the commerical brake is over James has switched to a completely different topic. Now the attention is back off of me and the conversation is much more light-hearted. I sit back on the edge of the couch and observe the boys carrying the interview and laugh when it's warranted.
It's dark when we leave the studio.
"Whatcha doin'?" Harry skips up to me and leans his elbow on my shoulder. I turn of my phone and swing it down by my side.
"Nothing," I grin at Harry.
"I don't believe you,"
"Why not?"
"You turned your phone off suspiciously quick and your making that face you always make when your lying,"
"I do not make a face!"
"You definitely do,"
"Harry's right," Liam agrees.
"So what were you doing?"
"You'll see," I pat his cheek and climb into the van.
"You little shit!" Louis whips his head up from his phone to look at me. I grin cheekily at him, proud of myself.
"What?" Niall asks. He flips his phone around and shows it to the boys seated in the van.
"You posted it!" Niall yanks the phone out of Louis' hand and zooms in on the image of them dressed up in my clothes dancing around the tourbus.
"Calm down it's only an Instagram story,"
"They're gonna screenshot it and post it everywhere," Liam argues. I smile knowing damn well that that was my plan.
"Huh, didn't think about that,"
Harry and they rest of the boys lunge at me and tackle me as best as they can considereing we're in a moving vehicle. Louis ruffles my hair up and I try to slap there hands away which ends up turning into a big catfight. It finally stopped when the driver yelled at us saying we were going to make him crash. I smooth out my clothes and fix my hair. I sit there in silence for a moment before breaking out into a loud fit of laughter thinking about that image circulating the internet for the rest of our lives and more.
-
"Which one of you is first?" A tall bald man covered in tattoos with large black gauges hanging from his earlobes asks. Zayn, Harry, and Niall exchange looks as if they are expecting someone else to step up.
"I guess I'll go first," The tattoo parlor is small, the walls are painted red with sketches and pictures covering most of them. It reminds me of the one where we all got our tattoos, well except for Niall. "You're all a bunch of babies," I sit down on the leather seat and the man begins to clean my ear.
"We're not babies!" Harry's brow furrows in anger.
"Then why am I the one in this chair right now?"
"Fair point,"
"Ni, come here. Hold my hand,"
"Ha! Look who's the baby now," Niall does a little dance over to me extending his arm forward.
"No. You know what I don't want your hand anymore," I throw my hands up in the air and he frowns. Just then the man rolled over on his stool with a needle in his gloved hands. "Okay nevermind. Give me your hand please."
"That's a big needle," Niall's eyes are wide as his eyes lock on the man's actions.
"Ni, your not helping," I giggle nervously.
"Sorry, I'll shut up now,"
"No, don't shut up keep talking. I need to here your voice."
The anticipation builds as the needle nears my ear. My hand squeezes his as hard it can as the man counts down from three. When he gets to one the needle pierces the flesh and my hand relaxes.
"Oh. That wasn't bad," Niall and Harry look scared shitless. I don't know what they expected but, I don't think they knew what they were getting themselves into. Zayn on the other hand was slightly calmer since his ears were already pierces so he knows the drill. The man slides to the other side and pierces the other ear. I've had my ear pierced before but, I wanted more so I decided to get my doubles. He examines my ears and then hands me a mirror.
"Look at me," Niall says. I turn to him making sure he can see my beat red ears. "Oooo, I love them."
"Thanks love," I kiss him and stand up from the black leather chair. "Harry, you next?" He shakes his head. "Oh come on! Just get it over with. It really doesn't hurt that bad, it's like a small pinch."
"Fine. I'll go next," He sighs and slowly climbs into the chair.
"Do you need me to hold your hand?"
"Yes, please."
"Three, two, one." Harry flinches and his nails dig into my palms.
"Ow." I stretch my hand out. "See it wasn't that bad,"
"Not that bad? Small pinch, my ass! That hurt like a bitch."
"You only got one ear done. I think you'll sruvive,"
"I don't think I will." I laugh and look over to see Niall frozen with his eyes wide and his arms stuck to his sides.
"Stop, your scaring Niall," I giggle and point at Niall who shakes himself out of his trance. "Zayn you up?"
"Might as well. I don't think Niall will be in that chair for a while."
"Your probably right," I walk over to him and pull him into a hug and rock with him side to side.
"Do I not get anyone to hold my hand?"
"Don't worry Zaynie I've got you," Harry squats down beside his chair and clutches the older boy's hand.
"I don't think Louis would be happy with this," Niall says resting his chin on my head.
"Oh well, I like it when he gets jelous,"
"You ready?" The piercer asks. He nods his head and takes in a deep breath. He lines the needle up with the purple dot on his nose and pushes it through. Zayn squeezes his eyes shut and clinches his teeth as he replaces the needle with a small golden hoop.
"Holy shit Zayn! It looks so good," I stare at him, my jaw slightly open. And I thought this man couldn't get anymore attractive, I was wrong. Yes, I am with Niall but, no one can deny his beauty. Plus, I'm more into artificially blonde Irish guys.
He examines his new piercing in the small hand mirror and smiles at his appearance.
"I do look good don't I?"
"Not exactly what I said but, you're not wrong," Niall scoffs behind me. "You look good too babe," He smiles and pretends to tuck his hair behind his ear.
"I know," He giggles. The tattooed man coughs and Niall's focus shifts in his direction.
"You're up buddy,"
"You got this Ni," I walk him over to the chair massaging his shoulders as I do so. When he sits down his hand immediately finds mine. "Just breathe. In and out. In and out," He matches his breathing to the rythym of my words. "There you go."
"Alright, three, two, one." Niall cringes in pain. His hand grips even harder on mine, crushing my hand. He puts in the earring. Niall's eyes are closed throughout the whole thing and still closed after.
"Ni, my hand," I tried to wring my hand out of his strong grip but, it doesn't budge.
"Is it over?"
"Yes it's over. You can open your eyes now." He opens his eyes and looks down at his white knuckles and lets go of my hand.
"Sorry,"
"-S okay," I stand up and admire at my boyfriend. It's weird seeing him with a small little hoop on one ear. "You look hot."
"Niall the church boy? Give it a rest. Niall the bad boy more like," Harry quotes Louis from that one interview.
He studies himself in the mirror, making faces at himself. "I should buy a motorcycle now,"
"You should not buy a motorcycle now," I say taking the mirror away from him, afraid it's feeding into his already growing ego.
"Crowd in I want to take a picture," Zayn holds up his phone and snaps a photo of us all showing off our new piercings. "I'm posting this on Instagram." He smiles at the photo and taps the screen a couple of times and then stuffs it back in his pocket.
"Sha'll we head back to the hotel?" I suggest.
"Yes! I need to show Louis my new earring."
-
I watch them sink below the stage one last time. At least for a while. I can't help but, become teary eyed because this is the last concert before I have to part from them. I love going with them on tour but, it's nearly impossible with my work schedule getting more and more busy.
I run as fast as I can out of the stuffy room. I weave my way past workers and down long hallways until I'm stood where the boys come out after the shows. They have to leave tonight for the rest of the European leg and this is my last chance to say goodbye before they're whisked away again.
THe boys come running out, trapping my in a big hug. As far as I can tell they seem to be in the same boat as me when it comes to the watery eyes.
"I'm going to miss you guys,"
"We're going to miss you too," Liam says still holding tight on to the hug.
"Yeah. Whose clothes are we supposed to dance around in now?" I luagh at Louis' joke thinking back to all the times they thought it'd be funny to put my clothes on. It used to be a rare occurence but, I thought the whole James Corden thing would be the last of it but, it definitely was not.
I step away and look at them all like it's the last time I'm ever going to see them. And, in a way it is. There's always Facetime though. I scan the group of boys and my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach when I reach Niall. His eyes are red and puffy, he can barely look at me. I slowly approach him with my arms open inviting him into a hug. Before I get close enough to hug him, his strong arms wrap around me. He bends down to meet me and rest his head on my shoulder.
"I wish you could come with us," He whispers.
"I wish I could too," I sniffle holding back the tears. I can't hold them back any longer when Niall pulls away and stares into my eyes. Everything hits me like a ton of bricks and the walls come down releasing ugly sobs from deep down in my stomach.
"I love you so much,"
"I love you too,"
"Don't forget to call me okay?"
"I won't. I promise." He slams his lips against mine. Electricity pulses through my vains routing from the passion in the kiss. I slide my lips against his while slipping my hands into his hair, deepening the kiss. It's only a couple of months, I try to tell myself. A couple of months without my boyfriend and bestfriends. This is going to be harder than I thought.
One of the boys' bodygaurds comes by interupting our kiss. "You've got to be on the bus in five,"
"Shit, okay," He sighs and presses his forehead to mine. "I love you," He says one more time.
"Niall we have to go!" Louis shouts from down the hallway.
"I love you too. Now go," He kisses me once more and jogs backwards down the hallway.
"Don't forget me Horan!" I shout after him. He smiles and spins around and follows the rest of the jogging boys.
(A/N) Sorry this one took so long. I have a whole outline for the rest of the story but for some reason this still took an insanely long time to right. It's also kind of a filler chapter so I apologize for that too. Thank you so much for reading this so far and bearing with me. I know this fic kind of sucks but, I've really enjoyed writing it. There are only going to be 35 chapters so we're almost at the end! These are also unedited so I apologize for any mistakes I've been trying to go back and revise previous chapter because they are all shit.
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