>Roman's POV<
"Congratulations to all of you for surviving that first week.." I tuned Simon out, only listening to the thoughts in my head. He's given this speech a million times before and I probably have it memorized. Like always, my eyes found their way to Delilah who was sitting up straight and listening eagerly and intently to Simon. God, I love that girl. He brown hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing skinny jeans and a light pink tank top with a big studded heart in the front. My mind went back over last night.
The thing is, I don't want to start a fight with her. Delilah's way of dealing with fights is ignoring them and I hated that. But why can she trust Declan and not me? The guy who cheated on her over the guy who's been nothing but faithful to her. My eyes strayed over to where Declan was sitting with his band. Everytime I look at him I hate him even more, if that's even possible. However, Declan's pissed at Delilah and that could work to my advantage. Maybe Declan will tell me everything that Delilah won't just because he's angry at her. That would require actually talking to the guy though and I'm not really sure how that would work out.
"Okay, so with that said... Are you ready to hear this weeks theme?" Simon asked all the excited contestants. "This weeks theme is... Britian vs. America." The room errupted in excited noise.
"Britian.." Louis fake coughed into a microphone, standing on the stage beside Simon. I chuckled a little.
"Okay, so get in your groups." Simon dismissed them all. I gave Delilah a kiss on the cheek goodbye and watched everyone walk out of the auditorium, leaving my mom, dad, Niall, Erika, Harry, Cara, Danielle, Eleanor, and all the other kids. Holy shit, we have a lot of people in this family. I got up from my seat in the audience and sat down on the stage with everyone else while the adults discussed what was happening this week.
"How's other Delilah?" Danielle's Delilah nudged my arm. I smiled to myself.
"She's amazing." Delilah smiled. Having two Delilah's in my life is actually evry confusing.
"Have you gotten it in yet?" Jonathon, Delilah's little brother asked me, quite seriously. All of our mouths dropped.
"Did he just say what I think he did? Aislin, Erika and Niall's daughter, asked. Jonathon's 9...
"Where did you hear that?" Noelle asked him.
"I heard Louis say it." He smiled. Not a surprise at all, at least he doesn't know what it means.
"Sometimes I think it's a good thing they can't have kids." Aislin said.
"Don't say that." I looked up at Eleanor to see her talking intently with Danielle. Good, she didn't hear that.
"Mom, can I talk to you." I yelled over everyone's heads to try and get out of this conversation.
"Sure, honey, what's up?" She hopped down from the stage and stood before me.
"Can we go for a walk?" I asked, hopping down as well. She nodded and put her arm around me as we began to walk up the aisles.
"Is everything okay?"
"What happened yesterday?" I jumped right into it. I felt her arm loosen.
"What are you talking about?" She was playing stupid.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." I pulled away from her arm, in the middle of the rows of seats. "You, Louis, and Delilah are hiding something. Tell me what it is." She sighed and sat in the closest seat.
"Roman, it's not my secret to tell. So please don't ask me."
"Okay." I said, and walked away. My mom called for me to come back but I had already stormed halfway up the aisle. Why the fuck could no one just be honest with me? Especially my girlfriend!
>Kiani's POV<
"Eleanor could I talk to you." Everyone had watched Roman storm out of the auditorium and they had watched me with big, deer-in-the-headlight eyes, walk back down to them.
"Yeah.." She excused herself from the conversation her, Cara, Erika, and Danielle had been having about Cara's soon to be son. We headed upstage, out of earshot from everyone.
"You know what Louis knows, don't you."
"Depends, what does Louis know.." She made her tone match my urgent one.
"I don't want to say it if you don't already know. About Delilah. Roman's Delilah." I clarified, raising my eyebrows and hoping she already knew.
"Yes, I do. How did you find out?" Her eyebrows scrunched up, trying to figure it out.
"I saw her backstage."
"Delilah?"
"No, Audrey." She took a step back and her mouth opened.
"When?"
"Last night right before the show. She was with Louis and Delilah." I told her, surprised she didn't know that Audrey was here.
"Louis didn't tell me about that." She looked down at her feet as she said this. Louis was in trouble later.
"Roman's starting to ask questions, and I accidentally saw her. Sooner or later everyone's going to know."
"I kind of want them to." She admitted. I nodded my head, agreeing.
"Same and I'd really like to see her again." The image of Audrey walking down the hall with her daughter flashed into my mind again. "I didn't get to say much to her. I was in complete shock."
"I need to talk to her. I absolutely have to apologize and everything."
"But it would mess so much up." All of the possibilites frightened me.
"I know. But I think it'd be worth it." She told me. I didn't answer her, but I completely agreed with her.
>Liam's POV<
I walked through hallways thinking of my contestant's song choices. They'd chosen some pretty amazing songs. Lunch just ended and now they were working with their vocal coaches. I thought I'd step in and observe some of their rehearsals.
I walked into the first rehearsal room but knew it was the wrong room before I even stepped throuhg the open door. However, I was sucked into the room anyways. For two reasons: 1. This contestant already ahd their song memorized and was sitting on the edge of the grand piano with her back to me. Most contestants don't have their song memorized until tomorrow and 2. Her voice was captivating. Perfect actually and it fit nicely with the familiar song.
I found myself walking over to the piano, her back still to me. Her vocal coach eyed me funny as she tried to listen to the song. I sat down at the piano bench, Delilah's back still away from me. I began playing the Little Mix song that she was singing.
At first, she just kept singing, but eventually she slowly turned around, not missing a single note.
"Turn your face, walk away, and stay.." Her eyes widened when she saw that it was me. I may not be Delilah's mentor but sometimes I wish I was. She has that star quality and she's going to go far in this business. I smiled at her, letting her know to go on as my fingers continued hitting the keys.
"In my memory, I was hurtin, long before we met, oh. In my memory, they're still burnin, fingerprints you left and I always meant to say to you I Cant!"
When she threw her head back and belted the top lyrics of the song, she wasn't a 15 year old who'd spent her entire life trapped in New York. She was a 36 year old who'd seen the entire world. There was so mch depth and power to her that I almost got lost in the song even though I wasn't the one singing. Delilah's voice wasn't just entertaining, it was an experience. She's the front-runner in this competition. When I was on x factor that was Matt and he won it. Delilah kept on singing the song perfectly as she got down from the piano and cautiously sat next to me on the bench. I wasn't even sure where I was anymore. All I could pay attention to was the raw emotion in her voice and her shining brown eyes. She reminded me a lot of myself.
"So hard to face.. That I can't feel you anymore. Hard to face.. That I can't feel you anymore. So walk away until you're not standing at my door. Turn your face, walk away, and stay. Turn your face, turn your face, and stay. Turn your face."
We sat there for a couple minutes, the piano mixed with Delilah's voice echoing in our heads. There weren't words to follow that performance.
"You're going to win this and then you're going to go so far." I told her. I watched as her eyes watered up as she looked back at me. "Believe me, you have more talent than anyone in this building right now, including myself."
"You'll never know how much that means to me." She told me. I looked around us, expecting cameras. Expecting her to be showing off, or trying to boost her votes. But no one was there even Delilah's vocal coach had left and the door was shut. I looked at her again, to see one tear run down her cheek. I put my arm around her.
"I don't know your life but you've probably had to worry about a lot. I can guarantee to you that you won't have any worries for the rest of your life. Maybe just little things." These were the moments with contestants that I lived for. When you can safely tell them that one day very soon, they'd make it. I could feel Delilah's body release the weight that had been holding her down her entire life. I could feel her spriit lift like there was a connection between us. It gave me a warm feeling inside. Delilah had the best shot out of anyone here of becoming world famous one day.
>Delilah's POV<
After I hugged Liam goodbye I sat at the piano bench and stared out the large windon in front of me. I don't know how long I sat there. Probably a couple of hours. No one came to look for me even though I'm sure they knew I was here. Louis did at least, I bet Liam told him about this and he's leaving me alone. I'm not sure where Vanessa, my vocal coach, went. Once I stopped singing, she was gone. It make sme wonder if she knows. Maybe everyone knows and it's time to just face the fact that everyone's going to know. It seems like I'm uncertain about everything right now. It's scary having no idea what's going to happen, obviously, that's like the first life lesson you learn.
One thing's for sure, I want more moments like that with him. I still feel like crying it was that damn perfect. Everything I've ever wanted my entire life is happening right now, but I couldn't be any more afraid of it. Behind me, I heard the door squeak open. I stayed where I was, facing the window waiting for the mystery person to approach me first. Footsteps echoed in the glossy room and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Roman straddled the bench next to me.
"What's going on?" He rubbed circles on my back, trying to soothe me, even though I was far from upset.
"I've never been happier before in my entire life." His face twisted to confusion.
"Well my day's been crappy. I fought wiht my mom." He watched me like I should understand why.
"About?" I prompted him to explain more. His hand stopped and fell from my back.
"You." I knew what this was about.
"Roman-"
"What the fuck are you hiding from me?" He cut me off and stood up, practically steaming. He stepped away from the bench and headed towards the window, on the way he punched over the music stand, sending sheet music flying everywhere. "DECLAN EVEN KNOWS! EVERYONE IN THIS DAMN PLACE KNOWS BUT ME!" His face was red, as he screamed at me from across the room. He put his forehead against the huge window and stood there. I took a deep breath, her goes nothing. Slowly, while trying to find the words to explain, I headed over to him. Cautiously I placed my hand on his arm. When he didn't move I took it as a sign that he didn't hate me.
"Louis knows because he found out in the background checks, Kiani knows because she saw with her own eyes, Declan knows because I was an idiot who put my faith in the wrong person." I fetl him tense up, thinking I'd still keep it from him. "And now you're going to know because I'm in love with you." He looked up at me, surprise in his eyes. Now his face wasn't so red, he took a deep breath and watched me expectantly.
"We might want to sit down, this might take awhile." I grabbed his hand and lead him over to the couch on the left side of the room. It was green and looked gorgeous with the sunlight hitting it. The second we sat down Roman and I locke eyes and I jumped right into it. "You know Audrey?" Roman through his head back.
"Oh my fucking god, not you too! Why the hell does everyone keep bringing her up?" Roman had a slight smirk on his face and shook his head like he couldn't believe. Now it was my turn stiffen,
"Why? Do you have a problem with her?" He laughed.
"She's a fucking bitch! She practically ruined One Direction!" To say I was shocked was an understatement. Tears pricked my eyes as I stood and started speed walking for the door, covering my mouth with my hand.
"Delilah? What the fuck is going on?" He yelled after me right as I got the door.
"She's my fucking mom!" I turned towards him and yelled as angry as I possibly could, and stormed out.
>Roman's POV<
Practically in a trance, I fell over backwards onto the couch, staring at the light wood flooring. Oh my god. She's joking. She has to be. That's not even posible, Delilah's fucking with me. I heard running in the hallway and two people walked into the room. My mom and dad.
"Roman?" My dad asked in his rough accent.
"Honey, what's wrong?" They walked across the room and each sat on one side of me. My moms arm wound around my shoulder as I stayed in the trance-like state.
"She's joking isn't she?" I asked my mom, already anticipating her next question.
"What? Wh-"
"Delilah! Audrey isn't her mom that's not possible." I cut her off. My moms eyes grew wide.
"What the fuck?!" My dad yelled. I forgot that he didn't know.
"What are you talking about?" I looked to my mom for an answer.
"You know Delilah. The one in Louis group." My mom tried to explain over me, to my father. He nodded his head slowly and I swear, for the first time in my entire life, I actually saw fear in my dad's deep brown eyes. "She's Audrey's daugther.." My mom squeaked. His mouth fell as he stared at us waiting for someone to say something.
"I can't even fucking believe that!" I yelled, pissed off again. "Audrey's a fucking bitch who almost ruined your entire band!" Both my parents stared at me, horrified. I guess I had been a little too loud, because the last person I would want to have heard that walked into the room.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Liam shouted, loud enoguh for probably the entire building to hear.
-------------Author's Note-----------
You guys hate me, I know... And this chapter was shorter than the chapters I've been uploading, but it had to be because the next chapter has to be like together.. It's really hard to explain. You'll see. It's also one of my favorites so maybe it will be up by tomorrow.. I've got nothing to do tonight. haha!
Today, I hit 50 fans, NTS hit 21,000 reads, and HTD hit 5,000 reads! That is so dang incredible! You guys are the best, you have no idea what it means to me so thank you so so much for all the support! All of a sudden a couple days ago, I started getting a crap load of new readers.. Not that I'm complaining, but does anyone know why? lol, it was really random! Also, you all have been leaving the loveliest comments ever and I read every single one of them even if I don't get the chance to reply to them all but I do try, thank you for that too! I love you guys <3
xx, Ashley.