Elodie’s POV
Mr. Polite closes the door and I resume tickling Lux. I love kids. So innocent, trusting, not a care in the world. I wish things could still be like that. Lou walks in and I release her, letting her run to her mom.
“Oh was she tickling you,” she asks with a laugh as she scoops up her daughter. “Thank you for watching her,” she adds, directing the last part to me. “We’re going to go watch the show now, the 5SOS boys are about to start. Would you like to join us?” I sigh, looking around the empty room. There really was nothing else to do, so I nod my head and follow her out into the hall. We stay backstage, but I can see the younger boys performing. Lauren joins us right before they finish their set.
“Not going to take a seat in front?” she asks when Lou takes Lux out to the front, wearing her little earmuffs, so she could see them clearly.
“Nah, I don’t think I’ll stay the whole thing,” I say with a shrug. I was hoping to persuade security to let me back on the bus so I could actually have something to do.
“What about you? I’d think you’d want to have a good seat to watch your boyfriend.”
“Louis likes it when I sit here. It’s easier for him to see me. He likes to make sure I’m doing alright.”
“Seems pretty controlling to me,” I mutter but she shakes her head.
“It’s not like that. He’s not forcing me to be here. He does it because he cares. I’ve had a rough couple months and he just wants to be able to see me so he knows I’m ok.”
“Do you actually like this kind of music?” I ask next and she shrugs slightly.
“I don’t mind it. It’s not my favorite, I like country, but it’s not bad. They’re talented boys.” The second she mentions country I can’t help but grimace. She lets out a laugh when she notices.
“It’s not for everyone,” she acknowledges. I sit through a couple more songs and sure enough, just like she’d said, Louis kept glancing off in her direction to see if she was all right. Eventually though boredom overtakes me and I wander back towards the dressing room in search of security, planning on grabbing my things before heading back out to the bus. I sling my bag over my shoulder, doing a double take when I notice the pants still in the trash. I hesitate a moment before plucking them out and folding them up, tucking them under my arm and heading out.
I manage to find a guard that looks relatively familiar and I realize it’s one of the ones that my dad must have sent along. When I ask him if I can go out to the bus, he says something into his headset and eventually nods his head when he gets confirmation. He leads me through a maze of hallways until we finally emerge from the back door and can see the bus. Workers are milling around outside so it’s easy to get one of them to direct me to the correct bus. They all looked the same and I was going to have to figure out a way to identify which one was mine. I briefly think about tagging it and it brings a smirk to my face as I imagine graffiti on a bubblegum pop band’s bus. I shake my head with a grin as I think about the possibility of putting a goatee or mustache on the faces plastered on the side in the Nabisco advert.
When I get on the bus, I toss my bag and the pants onto my bunk before digging around in my suitcase and pulling out the small sewing kit I’d brought. I’d planned on using it to fuck with the Christian Military uniforms, but that was no longer an option. I take a seat on my bed as I quickly thread one of the needles and locate the hole in the pants. It really was a big one. I wonder how he did it. It’s not hard to fix however. I bite off the thread when I’m finished and shake out the pants. It would do. You could see a line if you looked close enough, but it wasn’t too noticeable and it wouldn’t rip again. I set the needle back in the kit and toss it into my suitcase before folding up the pants and heading out the door of the bus.
“Which is the boys’ bus?” I ask one of the workers. He gives me a look of suspicion and I roll my eyes. “I have something I need to return,” I say holding up the pants. His eyes widen and I realize what it looks like. Whatever let him think what he wants of me. God knows everyone already thought it.
In the end, he does end up directing me to the first bus in line. I falter a second when I step on. The layout is the same as our bus, but this one was loaded with technology. There was just about every gaming system known to man in here, plus computers, iPads, iPods, and phones littered on the table. Why on earth would they need all this? I start moving again, heading back towards the bunks. Some of them I can identify instantly who’s it is. Irish obviously had his four-leaf clover and Irish flag in his. Shorty’s was probably the one with girls’ things in it since he was the one with the girlfriend on tour. The other three were a little bit more difficult. One was littered with comic books, another had a candle, and the final one was fairly empty of decoration. I stand there a moment, trying to figure out who’s was who’s before tossing the pants on the bed with the candle. That seemed like a Mr. Responsibility thing to have. Trying to be all grown up with his fancy candle. I head out of the bus, returning to my own before grabbing my sketchbook and starting a new piece.
Liam’s POV
The show ends and we run out to the bus so we can get out before the flood of traffic from the fans leaving. Harry takes the steps on the bus all in one stride, bounding up into the bus so he can grab some things before heading over to the other one. Zayn is in second, with the same thought process while the rest of us follow slightly slower.
“Hey your trousers are on my bed,” Harry shouts, throwing the clothing at me as he continues moving to gather his things. I unfold them, realizing they were the pair I’d split and when I turn them over, I see that the hole is now gone. Lou must have fixed it for me. But why would she have put them on Harry’s bed?
“Hey Lou, did you fix my jeans?” I ask, sticking my head out the door and calling to Lou who was talking to Paul in the parking lot.
“No, do you need me to?” she answers causing me to frown in confusion. I shake my head no before looking for our other stylist who gives me the same answer. Who fixed them then? Did we have a magical trouser fairy on tour? As I think back to who could’ve done it, I realize the only two people who’d seen me toss them were Elodie and Lux. Honestly, Lux probably was the more likely of the two to fix them despite the fact she couldn’t sew. I can’t imagine Elodie actually doing anything nice for me. But it must’ve been her. Knowing that, I examine the clothing closer, tugging slightly to see if it was made to split instantly again. It seemed like something she’d do. Make me think they were sturdy only to have them split in the middle of Times Square or something. They held though and I check the insides, looking to see if maybe there was itching powder or something.
“You going to move or are you going to block us from switching all night?” Harry asks and I realize I’m still in the doorway. I move to the side and he and Zayn dart out, heading towards the third bus. I can hear Louis in the shower and Lauren’s already lying in their bunk as the bus starts moving.
“Those must be some pretty interesting trousers,” Niall jokes as he emerges from the back, seeing me studying them. “C’mon, its about time I kill you at Fifa again.”
I toss the jeans to the side as I pick up one of the controllers and Niall turns on the game.
“Do you ever get the impression that someone is the exact opposite from the way they act?” I ask as the game loads.
“What do you mean?” he asks, only half paying attention as he opens a bag of crisps.
“I dunno, like, they’re portrayed so poorly by the media and they let it happen and everyone buys into it because they can act like a brat, but underneath it all they actually are a nice person. They just hide anything good they do.” I say as the game finally loads and we begin to play.
“You mean like Harry’s womanizer portrayal?” I freeze as I realize how similar the scenarios are.
“Goal!” Niall shouts as my lack of attention leads to him scoring.
“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “It’s different. It’s not something Harry tries for. Just because he doesn’t brag about the good things he does doesn’t mean he’s trying to keep ahold of the reputation he does have.” Niall hits pause and turns to look at me.
“How come every conversation we’ve had lately turns into one about Elodie?” Did they really?
“They do not,” I deny instantly, regardless of if it was true or not.
“Well what brought it on this time?”
“My pants.” Niall looks at me in shock, his eyes dropping down to my crotch for a split second and I realize what that sounded like. “No, the ones I ripped.” I correct with a shake of my head. “I think she fixed them.”
“I didn’t know she sewed.”
“Neither did I,”
“Huh,” he muses. “Well maybe instead of begrudging her for having that persona, you should be spending your time figuring out why she’s like that,” he says hitting play again. I can only half pay attention as the game proceeds, too busy thinking over what he said, resulting in a devastating defeat.
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Haha so how'd you like El's attempt to guess the bunks? Would you have been able to figure them out?
I think the overwhelming majority favors the ship name Eliam and it's probably the one that sounds the least bad. I seem to have this problem where I don't think through ship names before naming my characters haha.
But yea, over the next couple chapters we'll be seeing the two conflicting sides of Elodie. See if you can notice what is is that's different about the situations when you see the two sides of her. Like, who's around her and where she is and stuff like that. It might give you a clue as to why she's the way she is.
I hope you all are liking it so far. Let me know what you think in the comments and please fan/vote also!