""Liam you've gotta get your ass into gear fairly soon if you wanna be ready when we leave!" I called out to my room mate as I struggled with my jeans. The stupid things were my last resort after I'd spilled last nights dinner on the usual pair and I hated them because it always took me five minutes or more to get the damn things on.
Five minutes may not seem like that long but because I liked sleeping so much I was almost always in a rush and wasting five minutes putting on pants was totally unacceptable.
Like now, when I only had twenty minutes and I was starving, the pants were taking up precious time that could be spent eating.
"But Louis..." Came a drawn out sigh from the other room. Liam was in front of the TV as far as I knew and I hadn't wanted to rush him too much. For whatever reason they'd had him running around to singular interviews and all sorts of other shit recently, I knew that he was getting pretty tired. I figured he'd start moving in his own time but like I said, we only have twenty minutes before we've gotta meet Harry and Niall in the lobby and he hasn't moved all morning.
I huffed in relief when I was finally dressed then went out to the kitchen space to try put together something quick to eat.
"You had breakfast at least Lazy?" I asked the lump on the couch.
"No..."
I chuckled. He really was tired. He was the one always bugging the rest of us about breakfast.
"I think I'm sick Lou" Liam uttered, making me stop what I was doing. I turned around to see that he had emerged from his cosy spot under the blankets and was sitting up with a blank look on his face. I walked over as he rubbed his eyes.
"You can't really be sick today Mate, we've kind of got a lot on" I peered down at him, feeling bad. It wasn't anything I had any power over, I knew that, but still. We definitely had a busy day, tour days were always busy, but today was even more so.
Liam moaned and dropped his head into his hands miserably. I could tell how much he was dreading the day, he was really wishing he didn't have to move. I knew from experience how he was feeling and I fully sympathised.
"Can you call and see if I can stay here? I feel like crap." Liam looked up at me pleadingly, "I won't last the day.
"I can try, but you should get ready anyway because I doubt they'll care you crap you feel" I admitted as I took my phone out of my pocket, earning another groan from Liam. There was a knock on the door and I paused in confusion.
"Just us!" Came a familiar voice from behind the door, "can we come in?"
I wandered over to the door and unlocked it as I found the number I was looking for. The door opened and Harry and Niall stood there looking way to energised for nine a clock in the morning. I waved them inside.
"We got up early, because Niall though it would be hilarious to pour toilet water on me," Harry grumbled, "and hen we were bored, so here we are."
"Liam's sick" I said, feeling like I should at least say something before I excused myself to call management. I stepped back into the bedroom without bothering to wait around for a response and pressed call. I waited and waited and waited some more but no one picked up.
I huffed in frustration and went back out to the main room to relay the bad news.
I knew that Liam wouldn't be a happy lad but I didn't expect his eyes to well up when I told him he had to come.
"Whoa, Jesus, please don't cry" I frowned in confusion. Liam didn't cry, this was new territory for all of us.
"I'm not even sick!" He blurted randomly in a choked voice, ducking his head down as heat scorched over his face. I frowned.
"You know Li usually when you pull a sickie you don't tell on yourself" Niall bit his lip as he tried not to laugh after he got over his brief moment of shock. He sat down beside Liam while Harry and I looked on in confusion.
"I'm sorry" Liam sighed, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. "I'm so fucking tired, I don't wanna go."
I internally sighed in relief. I had no idea what we'd do if he'd actually started crying.
"We'll look out for ya mate" Harry offered with a pitying smile.
"We've got a bit of a drive first thing, you can sleep for a while anyway." I rubbed his shoulder, "you will have to get up and get ready though."
Liam grunted in resignation and stood up.
Ten minutes later when we got the message to come down to the van he had managed to get changed and clean up a bit. He seemed too tired to fight to much about leaving but he was silent as we headed down to the lobby and even quieter when we got into the van. He huddled against the door and leaned his head against the side of the car. I tried telling him he could lean on me but he declined. I had a feeling he was a bit mad about having to leave the hotel room.
I yawned into my fist and decided that I would get some more sleep too. Because Liam was isolating himself I put my head on Niall's shoulder instead. Apparently that was a bad idea because he spent the next ten minutes teasing me about being a little baby who needed a nap. I didn't move though and soon he got bored and finally let me sleep.
***
Liam's POV
"We're here Li...time to wake up..."
I moaned and whacked my hand out dismissively. I made contact but whoever it as just laughed and shook my shoulder, "come on, you know you've gotta wake up Liam..."
I shuffled further away.
"Well, you've left me not other choice Mate." It was Niall, fuck, he was going to-
I jumped a foot into the air and almost hit my head on the ceiling of the van when Niall's fingers started tickling my sides. It was that moment, suspended in the air, that an uncomfortable whirling in my stomach became noticeable. Despite being in an awkward kind of pain and frankly feeling kind of sick I couldn't help but laugh as Niall continued to prod his fingers into my sides repetitively.
He only stopped when I was gasping for air and probably close to passing out, leaving me flopped against the back of the seat and trying to get my breath back while trying to make sense of the sudden onset of nausea flickering through me.
"No, don't go back to sleep Li." Harry shook me again until I opened my eyes.
The door beside me opened and Louis stood there with an easy smile, "first up is just a radio interview, you'll be fine."
"We drove all that way just for a radio interview?" I grumbled unhappily as I unclipped my belt. It was making my stomach hurt more anyway.
"Yes, now come on, out of the car" Niall pushed me forward gently. I must've looked like crap because even Niall had gone soft.
Louis took my arm and pulled me into my feet with a sympathetic smile, "Jesus, you're like a toddler."
I didn't bother replying, too frightened at the car park spinning around me. My legs felt like lead. They'd been pretty dodgy all morning because of how exhausted I was but now they just felt like they were going to collapse if I took a single step. The spinning wasn't helping the sick feeling go away either.
I shivered and stumbled slightly as a breeze tore by. By catching myself on the van I was able to stay upright luckily.
"Liam?"
I I blinked and my head jerked slightly at the sound of my name. I looked up to see that the others had begun walking to the entrance.
I shook my head slowly, "wait, I d-don't feel well..." I supposed it made sense that I was actually sick. It was probably the reason why I was so groggy this morning and it was definitely the result of being way too over-tired.
Harry jogged back over and grabbed my arm with a snort, "you already tried that once today."
He pulled me forward and as strange as my legs felt they seemed to still work mostly. By the time we reached the doors the dizziness had mostly faded away but it had left my stomach a mess and I couldn't help but hold it gingerly as we made our way inside.
"You must be more tired than we think if you reckon we're gonna fall for that all over again" Niall laughed.
"This morning was stupid, I was desperate. I'm not kidding around anymore, I feel- ugh, I think I might throw up, where's the bathroom?" I cut myself off mid-ramble as a wave of heat rushed through me and goosebumps only explainable by fever rose over my arms.
"You won't throw up and I think we're a few minutes late so we don't have time to search around for a bathroom anyway. Just try to relax Li, we said we'd look out for you today" Louis shook his head and looked at me sternly.
Louis was right about us being a few minutes late. The second the radio host saw us they were dragging us into the studio and shoving us into our seats. I groaned as the dizziness started to kick in again. So many people were talking all at once, it was making my head throb.
"And now we're here with One Direction!"
This was going to be total hell.
***
"Sorry, I'm going to have to run off to the bathroom real quick, where would I find it?" I forced my voice flat and as normal sounding as I could manage. I wasn't even completely sure if I was going to be sick, all I knew was that I wanted out even if it was just for a few minutes. Niall rolled his eyes.
It was supposed to be a short interview, nothing more than ten minutes but now it had been going for twenty minutes and I was definitely reaching the end of my tether. I didn't care it Niall didn't like it.
"Down the hall, just to your right- whoa, careful mate!" The host caught my elbow when I tried to stand and almost fell right back over. Harry had my other side as as the blurriness of my vision cleared I saw worry sparking in his eyes.
"Tripped" I uttered as I felt for my balance. I took a deep breath and made my way out of the room, closing the door quickly behind me. I groaned and leaned on the wall with one hand while the other cupped my gut. It was churning even more now and my whole body felt hot and flustered.
I shut my eyes and rested my head against the cool wall.
A minute or so later the door behind me opened and I almost jumped out of my skin.
"What are you doing Li, I thought you wanted to go to the bathroom?" Harry frowned. I shrugged, looking at him blankly. After hardly a second of hesitation I decided his chest looked far more comfortable than the wall and fell right on top of him, hoping to god that he wouldn't fall under my weight too. Thankfully he didn't, although he did let out a shocked gasp and stumble back a step.
"I know you're tired Mate but this really isn't like you..." Harry breathed. I could practically hear the apology in his voice.
"Hm cos I'm sick" I mumbled, "I don't wanna be here."
My eyes were closed but Harry put his hand down so slowly and gently on my head that it didn't give me a fright. He hissed quietly and I groaned, knowing exactly what his reaction meant.
"You're warm alright" he sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, I thought you were just-"
"Yeah I know, that was my fault" I whispered tiredly. My stomach clenched and I felt my body go dead stiff, preparing for the worst. I pulled away from Harry just in case but after few moments nothing had happened and I decided I was good for now.
"Can we leave?"
Harry huffed thoughtfully, "can you try finishing this? There's only a couple of minutes left and if we leave in the middle Lou and Ni will both pack fits because they didn't get to."
I really didn't want to go back in but I nodded anyway, I could do two minutes if it meant we could go back to the hotel afterwards.
"Okay, let's head back inside then" Harry smiled softly and opened the door.
He was right about the interview only going for another couple of minutes and when it was over we had to quickly get back into the van so that we'd make it to our rehearsal in time. It was only a half hour drive this time and Harry was trying to call management.
"Who's the special person?" Louis asked, trying to steal his phone out of his hands.
Harry rolled his eyes, "management, Liam's got a fever and I told him we'd go back to the hotel after that interview."
I paused, waiting for everyone's reactions. I was against the side of the van again and my eyes were shut. I'd been still for a while, they probably thought I was asleep.
"Dude... You seriously fell for it?" Niall said in a disappointed tone.
"Harry, stop being so soft!" Louis exclaimed loudly, "he just wants his bed!"
"Yeah, because he has a fever" Harry huffed. I swallowed and shifted uncomfortably, the movement of the car wasn't making a fun time for me or my stomach.
"Look at him, he's obviously sick."
Just like that I could feel three pairs of eyes on me.
"Stop..." I mumbled.
A loud argument suddenly broke out between the three lads and before I knew it they were shrieking at each other like wild monkeys. Niall and Louis didn't seem particularly mad, they were just playing around but I could tell Harry was getting frustrated with their yelling.
"He's sick!"
"Harry, you're wrapped around his little finger!"
I moaned quietly and doubled over slightly as my stomach rolled warningly. Nobody heard or saw, they were too busy shouting at each other. I shuddered at the revolting taste of bile at the back of my throat and rasped out a few syllables, trying to make them quiet down.
Still, they were all too preoccupied.
"Shut up!" I bellowed finally. Everyone fell silent just in time for my stomach to lurch. Knowing full well what was about to happen I slapped a hand over my mouth and locked my lips shut as tight as I could.
"Whoa he's kinda pale Harry..." Louis murmured with wide eyes. I struggled to keep down my stomach while Harry searched around for a bag.
"No shit" Harry blurted with an irritated sound. I gagged and jerked forward slightly, involuntary tears leaping into my eyes as my body shook.
"Okay, so maybe he's not pretending anymore" Niall said sheepishly.
Harry had finally managed to find a plastic bag tucked away in the back of the van. It had some trash in it but he just emptied it on the back seat and handed me the now empty bag. I would've rather turned away slightly to at least give myself some kind of privacy (sorry gonna pop in here with a pet peeve that has always just killed me on the inside, how do you guys pronounce privacy? Because some people say it like priv-issy and then there's Pry-vissy and I just can't handle that first one haha, okay back to it :) but upon having the bag in front of me I realised that I was out of time. The awful action I'd been holding back all morning happened before I could even blink and I hated every second of it. When I was done I wiped my lips dry and swallowed, grimacing at the rawness of my throat.
"Well, I suppose that clears things up then." Niall winced as Harry glanced around, unsure of what to do with the unfortunate bag. I pinched it lazily out of his hands and sling-shotted it out the open window carelessly. I just wanted the contents of it as far away from me as possible.
"Sorry mate, it was just kind of hard to take you seriously after this morning. No excuses though, I should've realised" said Louis apologetically. "Same here, sorry man" Niall nodded in agreement.
I shrugged, pulling my shaking arms around myself and tucking my knees up into my chest. I closed my eyes and tried not to gag on the lingering vomit taste in my mouth.
"Everything okay back there boys?" The driver, a stout lady named Mary-Ann or something with a hyphen asked. The sounds of puking were unmistakable, she was bound to know what had just gone on.
"Um there's been a bit of an incident, can we maybe just pull over for a few minutes?" Louis explained questioningly, leaning forward to make his voice more clear for her.
"Course, I'll just find somewhere" she replied with a sympathetic nod.
"I don't want to go to rehearsals..." I moaned pathetically, my voice horrible croaky. I doubted I could rehearse anything any way by the sounds of it. I didn't care how babyish I seemed at this point, I was tired, I was sick, and honestly I was beginning to get cranky. I needed a bed desperately.
The van rolled to a stop a minute or so later and Harry flung the door open so that we could all get out onto the side of the road. I sat down uneasily on the grass while Louis tried to call management yet again. They seemed to answer this time but he didn't sound very happy, I didn't think it was going very well.
I threw up again a few minutes later. I didn't even feel it coming this time and it gave me the fright of my life. Niall was sitting beside me and I swear he almost shat himself, one second I was just staring aimlessly at the cars going by and the next I was heaving up another round. It was literally a flash if heat and then boom- human fountain. No warning whatsoever.
"God, I think you just took ten years off my life" Niall rubbed my back as I got my breath back, the other hand on his racing chest.
"Did you hear that?! That was the sound of LIAM PUKING ON THE SIDE OF THE GOD DAMN ROAD" Louis exclaimed, "you still want him on stage, making a right mess, in quarter of an hour?"
"I didn't think so, have a good day, Arsehole."
Louis smiled and tucked his phone away, "well, that's rehearsals cancelled, and we don't have a concert today so that's something. Everything's cleared today apart from a signing we have to do in a couple of hours."
I groaned, my breath rattling choppily.
"You can just ditch and chill in the back room or something, they won't even know" Harry promised with a gentle clap on my back.
"Ready to get back in the van?"
"Never."
"Don't be like that, come on, up we go..." Niall yanked me into my feet, making me gulp and pause. Niall stopped still too, paring in guilt and fear, "please don't do it again Liam..."
I waited a few seconds and took a shaky breath, "I'm good."
Niall sighed in relief as we all got back into the vehicle.
The signing was pretty horrendous. And I thought the radio interview was bad. There were just so many people flooding in, yelling, squealing, laughing, it was enough to drive me crazy and almost vomit all over the ground in front of me several times.
Thankfully, that didn't happen, although the I did have to duck out to the bathroom once. I had been offered the back room for a nap but I decided not to. It would get out and management would be even more pissed at me. I managed, but it was safe to say I was more than compliant about going back to the hotel straight afterwards. It would've been better if I hadn't puked the minute I tried to lay down but still, my bed had never felt more comfortable.
Here's another one! I did say I had heaps ready to go haha! I hope this streak is making up from the time I spent away loves, I really do.