CHAPTER 2
NIALL'S POV
"You boys are going to take six months off." Simon said to us. All of our faces broke out into smiles. We never got days off, let alone half a year. We were all so busy, never having time to visit family or old friends. "And you are going to stay in Bloomington, Illinois." He finished.
"Where the hell is that?" Harry asked, with the same confused expression all of our faces held.
"It's in central Illinois." Simon explained.
"You have never specified where we had to vacation at." Louis said a little edge in his usually teasing voice.
"Well no matter where you guys go, there is always a multitude of fans and we have to hire extra security and send them with you. You guys never end up having fun. And you always end up getting mad at all the fans. So we are taking away that option." Simon finished. All of us boys settled back into our chairs and sighed, knowing he was right.
"Wait." Liam said with a worried expression, "I haven't seen Danielle in two months! We just got back from a world tour! I was gonna go see her tomorrow!" he said sadly.
"Don't worry about that Liam. You guys don't leave for another week. You have time to visit family and girlfriends. You could take them with you if you want? You can even take your pets" he suggested, quirking an eyebrow, "Besides, it's not like we are locking you up in Bloomington. You boys can go on little vacations to wherever you want. But you must always go back to Bloomington. You will be calling Bloomington home, for the next half year." He finished.
**
I remembered when Simon told us we were going to be staying in Illinois for our big break. That was a whole week ago. In that week I visited my family in Mullingar. It was a blast. I missed them a ton on tour.
I was on a plane, along with the other lads, on our way to Chicago. From Chicago we would take a connecting flight to Bloomington. No one, and I mean no one, knew where we were going. We couldn't risk the fans finding out and telling the whole world, literally. We had all met in London, from our home towns, at 4:30 this morning. Our flight left at 6:00 this morning. We had to wait in large lines. We were disguised so no one would notice us and figure out where we were going. We couldn't get the special services we usually got because we were disguised. It was now 8:00. Only six more hours of this horrendous flight.
All of the other boys were asleep. I wasn't because I was thinking. Liam, Zayn and Louis were really upset that Management, and Simon, had put restrictions on our vacation. Harry and I didn't really have a problem with it. I was really confused about this.
Oh wait.
"And it all makes sense to me." I quietly sang under my breath, quoting little things.
Of course. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.
Liam, Zayn and Louis all have girlfriends. Very devoted girlfriends, I might add.
Harry and I don't.
Harry was naturally a flirt, so he didn't mind being single, but I did. I always wanted a really strong, long lasting relationship.
Louis always seemed to have great relationships.
Zayn was always patient and was willing to wait for the perfect girl. So when he got into a relationship it was that much more special.
Liam was just a big romantic mush ball. He had been in and out of a relationship with the same person. He was always waiting there for her when she would change her mind, and make the right decision. Loyal.
Harry liked to hide the fact that he wanted a serious relationship. He would pull a curtain over his actual feelings and cover them with charm and flirtiness. Of course he never told me this but I knew it was true. I would glance at him sometimes, when we were getting home from a trip and Louis, Liam and Zayn's girlfriends would be waiting. Just searching the whole crowd to see them and jump into their arms. Harry and I looked on with longing in our eyes.
I didn't let this affect me that much but all of a sudden, with this vacation, it hit me again.
'Oh well.' I thought. 'maybe I'll meet someone this year. Maybe Harry will too.' I threw in for my best friends benefit.
It was June. So we would be in Bloomington until Christmas. Eleanor, Perrie and Danielle were all planning on coming every once in a while to visit us
I was feeling a little drowsy so I decided I should probably sleep now. I got out my headphones switched on my Ed Sheeran playlist and slowly drifted off to sleep.
**
When I woke up we were in Chicago and all the lads were surrounding me and poking my cheeks and stomach.
"AAAH!!!" I screamed, to which they all just busted out laughing.
"Come on Niall! It's time to get off this flying machine and march right onto another one!" Louis said his teasing side back.
"Alright, alright." I mumbled in my sleepy voice. I shoved all of my things into my carryon backpack. We all put on our sunglasses and pulled our hoods up, hiding our signature hair.
We walked off of the plane no one looking at us strangely or anything. It was weird. We were constantly being stared at everywhere else we were. We walked across the airport to find our flight to Bloomington. This was easier said than done. Liam had Brit's leash in one hand and his turtles traveling case in the other. Zayn had Boris on a leash and, with difficulty, was keeping him close to his body. Of course we were going to bring our pets if we were going to be gone for six months. Perrie was bringing Hachi when she came and Danielle was bringing Loki.
When we finally got to our gate, our flight was about to depart. We had the whole first class to ourselves, just like on the London flight, which was nice with two dogs and five boys. The turtles had a seat to themselves and the dogs roamed about freely. All of us boys sat close together, talking.
"So. Does anybody know what central Illinois looks like?" Harry asked trying to see out the window.
"No idea." I said back, laughing slightly. "I've never been anywhere in Illinois besides Chicago." I added.
"Let's google it!!!" Louis screamed excited about his original idea, as he typed away on his phone.
After about thirty seconds he showed us some pictures. It was very green. There were crops everywhere. It wasn't breathtaking but it wasn't ugly either.
We finally landed in Bloomington and drove our car, that we were given, to our apartment. The scenery was very green and it was hot out, probably in the eighties. We drove with the windows down as we blasted music. Many other teens that were driving did this as well.
It was very strange for Louis to drive on the right side of the road he complained about it the whole way to our temporary home. We still had our sunglasses on and hoods up, we lugged all the luggage into the elevator and Liam rode up with it. The rest of us waited for the other elevator and rode up with the other bags that didn't fit and the dogs. When we got up to the penthouse Liam was sorting all of our luggage into piles. Zayn, of course, had the biggest pile.
After each of us lugged our luggage into our separate rooms we were all just sitting around on the couches in the main area.
"Sooooo." Louis said. "What ya wanna do?"
"I don't know what do you wanna do?" Harry responded.
"I don't know what do you wanna do?" Louis said back.
"I don't know what do yo-" Harry tried to say back, but he was cut off by Liam.
"Is it just me or is this like déjà vu of Jungle book?" he asked with a smile. Man does he know his Disney movies.
"Let's go exploring." I suggested not thinking that they would like my suggestion.
"OMG yes!!! We are going on an adventure!!!" Louis screamed, jumping off of the couch and running to put his shoes on. We all stared at him. "Come on!!! It will be fun!!!" he screamed again. We all groaned as we got up and joined him. "We can leave the dogs here." He said as he literally punched the elevator button.
We rode the elevator down to the main level and started our adventure.