Niall's POV
Louis, Zayn, and I walk around the stage as we wait for Liam and Harry to come join us. Paul Roberts, our choreographer, comes bustling in with a stack of papers in his hands. He takes a seat in the only chair in front of the stage at the moment and starts flipping through them. I watch him, my guitar in my hands, as Louis starts juggling a ball around.
"What could take this long to talk about?" Louis asks as he dives to catch his ball. I shrug my shoulders and start strumming the first few chords to "I Wish".
"I'm going to go check on them," Zayn says, standing up and brushing his hands on his black jeans. I nod my head and look down at my moving hands. Right as Zayn stands up, a loud pop booms through the auditorium. Zayn looks back at me, Louis drops his ball, and I look up at the speakers. The black boxes crackle as words try to come through. I listen as best I can, but it's too fuzzy for me to understand it. I shrug my shoulders and go back to playing my guitar.
"-is missing, and we have to go after her!"
My head jerks up just like everyone else's. We all look around the huge room for someone to pop out and scream "Ha!". But that doesn't happen. Instead, the room grows quiet and the air stiff and nervous. Someone clears their throat and a voice comes roaring through the speakers.
"Uh, sorry, lads. You weren't supposed to hear that," Harry says awkwardly through the speakers. Louis picks up his mic, turns it on, and spins around to face the speaker Harry's voice was loudest.
"Well, we did. So get yer arse down here so you can explain what's going on!" Louis says. Harry makes a "humph" noise but must've gotten up because there is a lot of shuffling going on. A few minutes later, Harry and Liam come through the west entrance in a slow walk. I start getting anxious as I think of who they were talking about. Liv is in the bus right now, and Tara is in the sound room preparing for tonight. So, who's missing?
Liam and Harry take a seat on the stage so they can explain everything. As soon as Liam begins, though, Eric comes running in, totally flustered.
"Has anyone seen Tara? She's no where in the building, and she's managing your mics tonight!," Eric asks through harsh breaths. Liam and Harry look to each other, guilty expressions on their faces. My mind is racing with questions that don't even make sense to me.
"Erm, well, Tara kind of disappeared this morning," Liam says, looking at Eric and clearly avoiding my eyes. I glare at Liam then at Harry then back to Liam. Why didn't they tell us? If Tara's been gone all day, she could be anywhere. Heck! If she really wanted, she could be on a plane right now going back to Ireland. But we wouldn't know because Liam and Harry decided to be selfish and keep this to themselves.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!" Louis shouts, shooting to his feet. Zayn stares off into the distance with a worried look on his face. I look down at my fingers as they grip the neck of my guitar tighter and tighter. Eric grumbles some curse words and walks over to Paul Roberts who is still sitting in his chair, completely oblivious to what is happening around him.
"We didn't tell you because we didn't want to worry anyone," Harry says. I glare at him.
"Worry us! What do you think we are doing right now?" I exclaim. Liam looks over at me and puts a hand on my shoulder to tell me to calm down. I nod my head and take a deep breath.
"Look, Tara has been missing since about 5:00 AM today. We've tried calling and texting her, but she hasn't answered us. I haven't got a clue where she could be," Liam explains finally. My mind stops completely as my heart sinks. She's run away again, I think sadly. I bet she ran away because of me.
"Has anyone tried her brother or Kelly?" Louis asks. Harry and Liam shake their heads sadly.
"I don't have Kelly's number and Jack isn't answering. It seems to me that the whole James family has fallen off the face of the Earth," Liam replies.
"Tara's father is in prison, her older sister is in Australia, and her mother is in the hospital because of cancer," Zayn states suddenly as he sits up straighter and looks around at us. We all stare back at him, amazed and confused on how he knows that.
"How?" I ask confused. Tara never mentioned her family like that to me. I've asked, but she always responded by saying, "They're good". I never pushed her because I didn't want her mad at me. Now, I wish I had.
"She told me that night in the park. She was crying when I found her. I got her to tell me what was wrong and she just poured everything out. All her problems were laid out on the table."
We all nod our heads to let everything sink in.
"So, could she be in Ireland?" Louis asks. I shake my head.
"I checked for plane tickets a few weeks ago. They were all booked," I say. Louis sighs loudly as his slumps back in his seat.
"Well, did anyone see her after you guys left my flat?" I ask. Everyone shakes their head. Everyone but Harry and Liam. They glance at each other, guilty looks on their faces. My head snaps over to them, my glare intensifying by the second.
"Uh," Harry says awkwardly. "Yeah. Liam and I were with her last night. I actually spent the night with her..."
My glare drops as I hear Harry's words. He was with Tara...all night? Does that mean Harry and her had sex? Would Tara do that? I mean, she has a boyfriend — a rather dumb one I might add — and Tara isn't like that. She doesn't go around just banging any guy she meets. Right?
I question everything I knew about Tara. She and I were growing closer which means that I got to learn things about her that others didn't know. So, if she likes Harry but is dating Hunter, then, where does that leave me?
I'll tell you where; right next to that old tofu sitting in our freezer on the bus. Not wanted, not liked, not even in the back of her mind. I feel like I'm just forcing myself down her throat and she's trying to be polite by swallowing the horribleness. The awful taste in her mouth prominent as she drowns me in a flood of cherry-flavored lies.
A/N:
Heylo! How are you? I'm pretty good I guess. This story is (sadly) coming to an end. I don't know how many more chapters after this one, but it's getting close...maybe. I can never really tell how much I have left...so, I'm sorry if there's, like, twenty more chapters. Haha, I'm kidding. At the very, very most it will be ten more. But I seriously doubt that will happen.
Also, what do you think about this chapter? I'm really proud of it. I've had it finished since like early September. So, yeah. I like how it all turned out. Hopefully my final ending is just as good.
Man, am I knackered! I just finished homework (which is why I updated late!) and am finally going to bed! YEAH!!! Sadly, though, I'll be waking up in five hours for school. Ugh!
Anyway, that's it. If you like my story, please comment, vote, and/or follow me! Love ya!
P.S. Tell me what you think of the title for this chapter. I like it a lot and want to know what your opinion on it is!