The next several days passed in a blur of new faces, schedules, plans and fans.
We arrived in the early morning hours into London, immediately being ushered into a van and transferred to a hotel. Although each of the guys had homes in London, the hotel was only blocks from the venue and made the next few days of rehearsal and final preparation easier.
I was exhausted. After finally having some space to myself once removing Louis from my lap with the help of Zayn, I was able to get a few hours of light sleep. But it wasn’t restful. It actually made me feel worse. I love sleep. I could sleep all day, every day if I was able. Some people were able to function on just a quick cat nap, but I was NOT one of these people. I should have known better, but I was so tired on the plane I just let myself drift off.
Once we reached the hotel, we quickly deposited our bags and headed off to the venue. By the time we reached our final destination, it was after nine in the morning.
The guys were rushed off to go over some rehearsal details, while I was introduced to Paul, the tour manager, and taken around to meet other members of the team and see the venue. It was all quite overwhelming, my nerves rising in my stomach again. Everyone was warm and friendly, and I was given more than one warning regarding the boys tendency to play pranks and their general debauchery.
I watched a quick rehearsal, this having been the first time I had ever really heard the guys sing. Of course, I had heard the occasional song on the radio, but never consciously equated it with the five I saw on the stage now, who seemed more interested in trying to push each other over the edge of the cat walk than singing.
I learned quite a bit over these few days. I learned many of their songs, after a while able to at least sing along with the chorus if nothing else. I learned the names of almost everyone else on the team, which I was quite proud of since I was usually horrible with names. I learned that the warnings I had received during my initial meetings with the team were true, witnessing fruit fights, Harry jumping out of recycle bins in an attempt to scare Lou, their hair stylist, and Louis running down the halls screaming like a maniac, Liam hot in his heels with a water gun.
I also learned that I was having the time of my life already, and we hadn’t even left yet. Everyone was easy to get along with, there was never a dull moment, and I found myself at ease quickly. I was usually a reserved person, taking quite a while to get comfortable enough with new people to be myself and joke around. But I was surprised to find that within a short time I was taking part in some of the debauchery around me, even supplying Harry with fruit to throw at Zayn.
I also learned quite quickly to never leave my camera unattended.
I brought it with me to rehearsal, figuring I would get an early start and get the feel for how things were going to go. Adjusting settings, observing light and such now would help me once we were out on the road. I had taken a few shots, careful to be discrete and unintrusive with my images as to not annoy the guys, but also to get them in their most natural states. I was happy with a lot of the shots I had gotten that morning, setting my camera down on the table in their dressing room and going to find something to eat as lunch approached.
I came back a short time later, my camera still on the table. I thought nothing of it, until I got back to the hotel and downloaded the images onto my laptop.
Scrolling through, I was quite pleased with the ones I had taken. Some of them rehearsing, some of them bickering and playing around with members of their team, even one of Zayn catching a nap on the couch.
Then I got to some images I knew for a fact I hadn’t taken.
The first was of Harry, staring blatantly into the camera, a cheeky grin on his face, his hands on his hips in what I assumed an attempt to pose. The next was a shot of someone’s bare bum. A pair of feet clad in gray socks. A blurry hand trying to push the camera away, a close up of an ear. The images continued on their random trail, the last being a close up of a pair of incredibly blue eyes. It was actually a really good picture, the eyes perfectly sharp, every fleck and reflection noticeable.
Just then my phone vibrated on the bed beside me. Picking it up, I smiled at the message.
Harry: Get any good pictures today? ;)
I quickly typed back.
Me: You guys are dicks.
I could hear him laughing from his room, which was next to mine.
Harry: I thought we did a good job!
Me: Don’t quite your day job, Styles
Harry: :p
I could hear muffled chatter through the wall coming from Harrys room. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. I slid off the bed, thankful that I hadn’t changed into my pajamas yet and still had on my jeans and t-shirt. Opening the door, I found Harry, Louis and Niall there, all grinning proudly.
I leaned against the doorframe, shaking my head at them.
“Can I help you, boys?”
Harry wasted no time sliding past me and into the room. Louis and Niall followed, Niall reaching around to smack my butt as he walked passed. I yelped as I closed the door, shooting them a dirty look.
They jumped onto my bed, pulling my laptop towards them to scan through the photos.
‘Make yourselves at home’ I thought to myself sarcastically.
Harry lay on is stomach, with Louis on his side beside him as they flipped through the photos. Niall sat cross legged on the bed, laughing occasionally at some of the images they found. I stood at the foot of the bed watching them, slightly nervous for some reason. This was the first time they would be seeing the kind of work they would be getting from me, so their reaction was important. Thankfully, they seemed pleased, Louis even stating he wanted a couple of them for his twitter account.
Niall reached over to my bedside table, plucking my camera from the top. Flicking it on, he started playing with the settings, looking through the lens around the room.
I couldn’t help but grin at them. They were all so comfortable, completely at ease with themselves and their surroundings. Very little seemed to bother them, and that sense of calm was refreshing to me. I was used to hectic, insanity thanks to my time in the ER, so a relaxing work environment was a nice change.
I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of the camera clicking. I turned to find Niall taking a picture of me, his grin wide across his face. Lowering the camera, his eyes stayed on me, looking please with himself.
I stepped up, climbing on the bed to snatch the camera from him.
“Oh, no, that’s not how this works.” I said, reaching to take the camera away. He pulled it quickly behind his back, out of my reach.
“Why not?” he asked innocently. “Its only fair.”
“Too bad,” I argued, trying to reach around him as he laid back against the camera to keep me from taking it. I was on all fours, one arm trying to reach around one side of Niall, the other holding me up. We were almost touching, the smell of his cologne attacking my senses. “I hate my picture taken.” I replied, my voice almost cracking.
“Oh please,” Louis interrupted, pushing the laptop back and reaching passed Harry to join in the match between Niall and I. “You’re gorgeous, you probably take amazing pics.” Louis reached under Niall, sliding the camera away from him and quickly jumping back to the other side of Harry and out of my reach again.
“She does,” Harry interjected, his attention no longer on the laptop. His feet crossed at the ankles up in the air, swinging back and forth. “Taylor showed me.”
I froze, my attempt to get the camera from Louis interrupted. “Taylor showed you what?”
“She showed me the pictures you let her take.” He answered with a smirk.
I could have died right there.
About a year before I had let Taylor talk me into letting her give me a makeover. She did my hair, makeup, everything. She said I looked amazing. I thought I looked too overdone. I almost never wore makeup past the basic lip gloss, so any time I had anything more than that, I felt like a show girl. She had jumped up and gotten my camera, deciding to have our own little photo shoot. She pushed me against one of my bare walls, snapping away. I had to admit some of the pictures were pretty good, especially since she had no idea what she was doing with my camera, but I still hated to see myself on film. My eyes looked larger, rimmed with dark liner, and light shadow. My cheekbones looked more defined thanks to the dusting of blusher, and my lips were red, a stark contrast to my pale skin. It was probably the best I had ever looked, but I was still uncomfortable and made her promise to never show anyone. My place was behind the camera, not in front of it.
I fell back onto my heels on the bed. “Im going to fucking kill her.”
Harry laughed. “Why? They were amazing. Really sexy.”
I hid my face in my hands. Ugh. She was so dead.
My rage at my soon to be deceased friend was again interrupted my the click of my camera. I pulled my hands down to find Louis now taking charge, standing at the edge of the bed, the camera at his eye.
“Work with me, love,” he cooed, changing the angle of the lens. “Show me sexy.”
I started to lean forward to jump off the bed and kill him, when a pair of strong arms gripped my waist and pulled me back. I fell back into Niall, his arms pinning mine to my side, my back to his chest. He leaned his chin in the crook of my neck. My stomach tightened at the contact.
“Com’on Dylan,” he started, looking towards the camera. “Let’s show ‘im how its done, yeah?”
Louis started snapping the camera like mad, moving around the room, shouting commands. “Oh, that’s good, just there. Move your head closer. Dylan, don’t look so scared. Niall, work it bitch.”
Harry jumped up to join Niall and I. I found myself sandwiched between the two boys, Harry wrapping his arms around mine to help Niall hold me down. They were laughing maniacally, obviously proud of themselves as I struggled against them.
“Im SO gonna kill you guys! LOUIS! Give me the damn camera!”
Harry kissed me on the cheek, Louis snapping the camera more. Niall took his lead, kissing my other cheek. Now I was smushed between them, Louis practically dancing around the room as he shot the camera.
Finally I was able to get an arm free, pinching Harry hard on the arm. He jumped back, gripping the sore spot with a laugh while I pulled away from Niall, slipping from his grasp. I slid off the bed, practically jumping on Louis and taking the camera back.
“You just wait,” I threatened. “It’s a long 8 months, and I have plenty of time for payback!” I kicked at Louis as he jumped towards the bed.
“Please,” he crooned. “I think I got some good stuff there. Definitely Vogue material”
I rolled my eyes. “Ok, out. All of you.”
They laughed, sliding off the bed, and towards the door.
“Night, love!” Harry called, Niall and Louis waving as they followed.
When the door safely clicked behind them, I flopped onto the bed. I slid the memory card out of my camera and into my laptop, planning on erasing any proof the last fifteen minutes. Flipping through the pictures, I laughed. The look on my face in most of them was NOT impressive. The first one that Niall had taken of me watching Louis and Harry was actually good. I was grinning lightly, my skin clear and eyes bright. It was actually a nice picture, if it hadn’t been of me. Most of the ones Louis had taken were blurry, partly because of my struggling against the arms around me and partly because Louis was constantly moving. But there was one of Niall and I, his head in the crook of my head, his arms around my middle, and my head tilted slightly towards his. If I hadn’t known better, it would have looked like I wasn’t being held captive. I had a smile on my face, Niall grinning in a laugh. It was sweet. I found myself smiling.
I slid the image over to my saved folder, choosing to erase the rest. There as no need to have any ammo for them to get ahold of, since they obviously had no problem going through my laptop.
Closing down the computer, I quickly changed and slid into bed. I was still trying to catch up on sleep from the flight, plus the time change, and suddenly found myself impossibly tired.
I drifted off to sleep as I couldn’t help the memory of the feeling of Nialls arms holding me tight creep in.