sable's pov
Andi and I continue to wait rather impatiently around the festival gates. People walk past us, shooting us confused looks as to why we're doting around the entrance and not enjoying the actual festival itself.
I can't help but to grumble beneath my breath as I watch all these people driving in, knowing they'll be able to spend tonight however they'd like to. But me on the other hand, I'm stuck running around like crazy to get my best friend separated from some awful celebrity.
It's certainly not what I had in mind when I arrived here this morning.
"I'm going to kill Linley, I swear to god," I mutter as a car full on ungodly hot men drive past us, waving to both Andi and I.
Andi hops down from the fence we were both seated on to give me an incredibly unimpressed look, folding her tanned arms across her chest. I raise my hands in defense, not quite sure as to why she's giving me that look.
"Don't put this all on her," She snaps at me with her usual attitude, "You both were the idiots who thought they were just hilarious. You're lucky you're not handcuffed to Harry," She tells me, raising her voice just slightly.
She certainly has a point there. It was both Linley and my idea to throw our drinks on them. Linley just lacks any sort of filter, so I should have seen the argument coming and tried to stop it.
I glance down at my own pale, bare wrist, gratefulness swelling in my chest at my own freedom. I honestly think I'd be trying to kill myself if I were attached to Harry Styles. I respect Linley for her self-restraint.
"Still, how the fuck are we supposed to perform tomorrow night with a boy attached to Linley's arm?"I groan, burying my face in my hands with stress eating at me.
The moment I watched that man slap that handcuff around Linley's tiny wrist, my stomach dropped. How the hell is she supposed to play the keyboard and sing without the freedom of her left hand?
We've worked far too damn hard for it all to go to shit the day before our performance, all because of some stupid, harmless little prank. I'm not going to let these prissy teen heartthrobs mess with our career.
"Chill out," Andi sighs as she leans against the fence beside me, her curly hair tickling my bare legs, "You said Nathan should be here any minute, right? He'll know what to do," She tries to assure me, making me take my face from my hands.
That's right. As soon as Nathan gets here, he'll get right down to business and we'll be out of this mess before we know it. He's certainly not going to sit back and let us mess up our biggest performance of our lives.
My eyes return to the constant streaming of people entering the festival. In cars and on foot, people enter the new universe that is Ragstock. I narrow my eyes as I scan the crowds of people, searching for Nathan's familiar face.
It's already starting to get dark, past the point of sunset. The sky is lingering on it's deep pink stage, on the brink of complete darkness. It becomes harder and harder to scan the stream of people entering.
I know Linley is going to be absolutely furious that we've left her alone with those two idiots for this long amount of time. We had tried to talk to some maintenance guys, but they wanted nothing to do with us and our problems. So, after bugging Nathan to hurry up with a million phone calls, we decided to camp out at the entrance to wait for him.
I can't even begin to imagine what Andi and I will return to find. Either Zayn will be dead or we'll all be simply kicked out of the festival. I know Linley and Zayn aren't going to just sit there. It's going to be World War Three.
"You know something though," Andi says, her own eyes narrowed so she can scan the crowd with precision, "I think Linley and Zayn would be an incredible couple. They look absolutely adorable together."
I burst into a fit of coughs, falling directly off of the fence to land on my hands and knees. I choke on my own gasp and incredulous laughter. Did Andi hit her head or something? Does she not know Linley at all?
My wide eyes turn to give Andi a look full of disbelief. It's as if she doesn't even know who our best friend is. She rolls her eyes at my knack for dramatics and folds her arms stubbornly across her chest, a motion I'm quite used to.
"What type of drugs did you snort?" I ask, shaking my head in complete horror at the even mere thought of Linley and Zayn in any sort of romantic involvement whatsoever.
If Linley didn't kill herself first if that happened, I'd surely do her a favor and do it myself. Egotistical members of boy bands are far, far from our types of men. We like boys with actual talent and dignity, not boys who sing frilly songs that others wrote for them.
"Shut up," She grumbles, obviously angry that I'm reacting in such a manner, "I just thought they'd look cute together," She raises her hands in defense.
Of course I'd never in a million years admit it aloud, but I have to confess that both Zayn Malik and Harry Styles are probably the most attractive boys I've ever met. Their personalities ruin it for themselves, as well do their careers, but if we're basing things solely on their appearances, they're heavenly.
And to be honest, Zayn and Linley do look rather good together. He's tall and lanky with dark, ethnic features; it's like the polar opposite to Linley's small, petite features and pale skin with her platinum blonde hair. The striking differences make them appear very interesting together, in a quite pleasant way.
If I didn't know either of them and I just saw them together, I'd think they were a rather cute couple.
But of course that is not the case and Zayn Malik is an awful person that isn't coming anywhere close to dating my best friend. Luckily I don't think Linley's opinion differs from mine, so I won't have to be worrying about anything.
I just have to keep Andi and her ridiculous thoughts away from the two of them before she fills their heads with fake feelings and bad ideas.
"Hey, isn't that him?" Andi shrieks, tearing me from my thoughts, causing my head to snap up in excitement.
And sure enough, I see the familiar red head of our manager walking in, talking away on his cellphone as he always is. I've never been so happy to see him in our entire time working with him; which honestly isn't saying much because most times we're with him, he's yelling at us for some stupid thing we've done or said lately.
Nathan is a tough guy, which is why he's perfect for our manager. Linley and I have a tendency of letting our tempers get the best of us. So we need someone to kick us into gear once in awhile, to keep us in check.
He's mean as hell, but he gets shit done. That's all we need.
"Nathan!" I shout, waving my hands as I run towards him, Andi following closely behind me.
His tall red head turns around, a confused expression on his face as he scans the crowd for whoever was shouting his name. Andi and I shove our way through the large crowds, earning us a few grumbles of complaints and dirty looks.
I continue waving my arms around to grasp Nathan's attention, which feels damn-near impossible in this sea of people.
"I gotta go, bye," Nathan says into his phone before shoving it in his pocket the moment I approach him.
He wears his usual tense, intimidating expression on his face, not greeting me with a smile like a normal human being. I can't help but to smile at him as I reach him, relief washing over me.
"Okay, so where is Linley now?" He asks me, continuing to walk with his usual brisk pace. He talks with his business-like voice as always. Andi struggles to keep up with us, even with her long model-like legs.
"She's with Zayn and Harry," I answer without missing a beat. With Nathan you don't have time to even think. If he asks you a question, you give him the answer within .02 seconds, otherwise you no longer have his attention.
We walk through the busy crowds of people, the night life is just as magnificent as I remembered. A few people here and there wave to me, recognizing me. I give them a friendly smile and wave in return, still not quite used to being noticed in public.
"Those are the One Direction boys?" He asks, his fingers typing away on his phone; when he's not talking on the phone, he's emailing or updating our website or updating social networks. This man is never on his phone.
"Yes," I answer, knowing that he will not see my nodding head, "We've already tried talking to all the maintenance guys, or anyone that works here really. No one is willing to help us," I inform him, letting him know that I haven't just called him without putting on my 'big girl panties' as he likes to scold us for.
He lets out a low groan of irritation, making a smirk appear on my face. All those workers that laughed in our faces are going to regret it now. Nathan is going to rip them a new one.
I shoot a relieved grin over my shoulder to Andi. She smiles back in return, unable to help herself now that our night can be returned to normal. It can be just the three of us, like old times, ready to get ourselves in trouble.
"Nathan!"
A loud, deep voice calls out, causing the three of us to stop in our tracks. Nathan's head whips up from his cellphone as we scan the crowds of people to see who's shouting after him.
My eyes land on a group of men, all in their late twenties, early thirties, smiling and waving in our direction. I don't recognize any of them to work with our record label, so I turn to give Nathan a confused look.
His face lights up in a way I've never seen before. He stashes his phone away in his pocket, a place his cellphone rarely sees. A bright smile comes across his tense face, making him look his actual age of 29.
The look of utter confusion on my face only intensifies as Nathan hurries in the direction of this group of men, his arms held wide open. I don't think I've even seen him embrace his own wife.
"Holy shit!" Nathan exclaims as he wraps his arms around each and everyone of the men, giving them a bone crushing hug, "It's been too long," He looks at them with amazement written on his face.
"We haven't seen you since college graduation, man," One of the men - the one with a bald head - says, wearing a grin that matches Nathan's identically.
My eyebrows raise in surprise. These are Nathan's college friends? I can't even imagine him with a social life. His entire universe revolves around work. Linley and I have to practically twist his arm to get him to have a drink with us from time to time.
"What're you doing here?" Another man asks before his eyes flit to both Andi and I with amusement, "Enjoying yourself, it looks like."
Nathan turns to look at Andi and I, completely forgetting who he had been with only moments ago. His face twists in embarrassment as he steps to the side of us.
"This is Sable," He gestures to me as I give a little wave, "She's a member of Starry Eyed, the group I'm managing. And this is her friend," He looks at Andi with confusion, realizing he has no idea who she is.
"We didn't know you were the manager of Starry Eyed. They're fantastic!" One of the other men exclaim, looking at me with excitement.
I give them all an uncomfortable, humble smile, glancing down at my feet. Andi chuckles as she always does when Linley and I receive compliments and don't know how to take them. Neither of us are as confident as Andi is. When she gets praise for her dancing, she smiles and takes it like she's the queen.
"A lot has happened since we've last seen each other," Nathan nods, turning his body away from Andi and I, going back to forgetting we're here.
"Let's have a beer and catch up. What do you say?" The bald man suggests, clapping Nathan on the back as if nothing had changed between the group of men.
Andi and I exchange worried looks, knowing this is dangerous now. We need Nathan, otherwise Linley and Zayn are going to be stuck together forever. And with a performance tomorrow, that is not an option.
I cough loudly, directing everyone's attention back to me.
"I'm sorry, I know you all want to catch up," I shoot the group of men an apologetic frown, "But Nathan, don't forget why I called you... The problem with Linley..." I turn to face my manager, trying to be as polite as possible, so not to embarrass him in front of his friends.
"Yeah, I know," He dismisses me with a wave of his hand, "I'm just going to have a few beers with them. I'll meet up with you guys later tonight, don't worry. You don't perform until tomorrow night," He says with such a carefree attitude that is not at all like him.
My jaw drops as he turns around and walks off with his college buddies without another word. I'm stuck between wanting to run after him and scream in his face, demanding that he separate Linley and Zayn; and just crying.
Why is this all happening to us? Why did Nathan chose tonight as the night that he's going to let loose and catch up with old friends? What did we do to deserve this? I highly doubt spilling a little bit of beer on two irritating boys deserves all this.
Andi lets out a sigh and shakes her head, brushing her tight curls out of her face. Her shoulders slump with defeat, knowing how managers can be. There's no way I can chase after him and demand him to do what I want; he's my boss.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I throw my head back and shout.
Linley is going to be absolutely livid. I wouldn't be surprised if in an angry fit, if she just broke free from her handcuffs after she transformed into the hulk.
"We might as well go find Linley," Andi puts her arm around my shoulders, shooting me a sympathetic frown.
I let out a sigh, admitting defeat as well. We head off back in the direction of where we left Linley with the other two idiots, but not before I angrily kick the ground and let out a long string of swear words.
We're just going to have to figure something out ourselves...
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AN:
wah. wah. waaaah. (my attempt at failure music. ha.) looks like it's not going to be fixed as easily as they thought, eh?
how do you guys think they're going to get out of this? think they'll be able to do it before the girls' performance tomorrow night? hmmmm
btw. i know i mentioned it before, but my lovely friend @ScrapbookLove created sable, so big props to her. sable is being played by emily browning, so i threw in a gif of her on the side. she's so pretty. i love her.
but this chapter is dedicated to @BoyBandJunkie5 bc in the last like week, she's commented on like every chapter of 'the traveller' and has commented on every chapter of this story. so, thanks so much babe <3
i'm glad you guys are getting into this story. i'm always so nervous, since i know you guys have liked my previous stories, that you won't like anything new, but lo and behold, you do <3 it just warms my heart. keep the comments coming guys, it's the thing that motivates me to keep writing, even if i start to lose the energy to.
ily guys
love always,
perksofbeingaweirdo