Louis POV
….
“You’re and idiot, Louis,” Louise tells me, tossing her bottle of aspirin my way.
“I’m aware.” I say. “Thanks for the drugs.”
“You’re welcome. Do you want me to do that for you?” She asks pointing to the wet mess on top of my head.
“Yeah. Please, I don’t have the energy or the patience to do it myself.”
“Okay. Liam do you need something?” Louise asks, reminding me that I was escorted here by Daddy Direction.
“Just him when you’re done,” Liam says.
“I’ll bring him to you. Go,” Louise shoos him.
Liam leaves without another word, leaving Louise and I alone. Why was she so determined to make him leave and where’s her child at?
“Where’s Lux?” I ask, confused.
“She’s with Niall. He came by earlier and she didn’t want him to leave so he took her with him. They’ll be back in a little while."
“Oh.”
“Alright, let me get the stuff for your hair. I’ll be right back.”
It never takes Louise very long to do my hair; she’s got it down. Within ten minutes she’s turned my wet, flat hair into a nicely dried, messy quiff. I’m very happy with it and thankful that she did it for me.
“Thanks, Lou.” I say, standing from the chair. I’m not standing up long before she pushes me back down, making me a little dizzy.
“Not so fast,” she says, holding up a finger.
“Fine. You didn’t have to push me,” I say, hands up surrender.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I’m really confused as to what she’s referring to.“What? There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Cut the bullshit, Louis. What happened?”
“Nothing.”
Louise rolls her eyes.“You didn’t talk the entire time I was doing your hair. I took way longer than I usually do and you didn’t say a word.”
“Okay. What’s your point?”
“You’re a chatter box, even with a hangover. The only time you don’t talk is when something’s up.. Did something happen with Elle?”
Eleanor? Is she serious? “No. I haven’t spoken to her since the last time we were in London.”
“Then who is it?”
No one on the team, aside from Paul, knows about Cassie. I don’t want to tell anyone else about her either. “Louise, please, drop it,” I plead.
Lou looks at me for a few seconds and then sighs. “Fine,” she says, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” I say, leaving Louise’s room with the pills she tossed to me earlier.
Instead of heading back to my room and taking the aspirin, like I should, I go to find Liam. Unfortunately for me, he is in Harry’s room. I don’t want to go in there after everything that happened last night but I don’t really have a choice; Cassie’s going to leave and I need to say goodbye. So, that’s exactly what I do. I give her a quick hug and leave, not staying in Harry’s room long enough to stir up any more drama. A few minutes after that, Harry sneaks Cassie back out of the hotel. I don’t bother tagging along because it isn’t really worth it and I’m not in a good enough state to do so, not with my hangover.
….
The moment the elevator door opens, I go straight to my room. I need sleep and some time to get over this fucking headache. I can’t believe sitting in silence managed to make it worse.
The time we spent at the restaurant was dull. Outings with the the entire team are usually a lot more fun but it was clear that most of us weren’t up for hanging out, after we got there. The ride to BJ’s was silent, the hour and a half we spent there was quiet, and the ride back to the hotel was silent as well. It was the worst outing I’ve had in a long time. It’s on a whole other level of terrible; not trapped in a store or forced to climb onto a ledge terrible, either, it was way worse than both of those.
I just want this day to end so we can move on to the rest of the tour. San Fran proved to be more dramatic than we ever thought it would be. I can't wait to leave. I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I never want to spend another week in this city again. The city itself isn’t bad, in fact it’s lovely, but it’s boring. There aren’t many things to see and there are too many people that might recognize us. It’s just not an ideal place to be for our little vacations.
Thinking about the city is making my headache worse. I take a few aspirin and try to go to sleep; if I sleep, I might just be able to forget about everything that’s happened this week. I’d love to forget for a while.
….
“Louis. Louis!” Paul yells, waking me up.
I open my eyes and try to grasp what’s happening. It’s dark outside. Why is he waking me up? Is it morning already? There’s no way it could be, I don’t feel like I’ve been out that long.
“Louis, come on, get up. You’re going to make everyone late Ed’s show if you keep sleeping.”
What is he talking about?
“Louis, I don’t have time for this. Get up.”
“Why?” I ask, my voice tired and raspy.
“Have you heard anything I’ve said to you at all?"
“Not really, I’m still kind of waking up.”
“I told you to get up so I can take you and the boys to Ed’s show.”
Ed’s show? Ed’s show, right. Wait, Cassie’s going to be there.
“Take them without me,” I say, rolling over on the bed.
“Why would I do that? Weren’t you excited for this a few days ago?”
I was excited to hear Ed’s new songs for the first time, I’m not going to lie, but Cassie being there is going to mess everything up. I’d rather sleep than be around her right now.
“Yes but there will be more shows and I’d rather get the sleep.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Tell the guys to have fun without me.”
Paul doesn’t say another word, leaving me alone in my room. Now that he’s gone, I can get some more sleep.
Cassie’s POV
Harry brought me back to my house around 1:40 in the afternoon. He was in a hurry after Liam came to the room. Louis dropped by Harry’s room to for a little over a minute to tell me goodbye; it was weird.
I called my cousin, Brittany, when I got home. I told her about everything that happened with Christian. She told me not to worry about him because "guys like him are always trying to act like nothing affects them. They will say and do whatever they have to, to seem tough. Most of the time they are overcompensating due to how vulnerable they feel. He’s harmless right now, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” I know she’s right but that doesn’t change anything; Christian threatened me, vulnerable or not, a threat is a threat, and I’ve got a reason to worry.
After many hours of sitting on the couch with baseball bat next to me, I finally get a text from Harry.
“How are things at your place? Any trouble?”
“No. Nothing’s happened at all. I don’t think he’s going to come back today.”
“Good. Are you ready for Ed’s show?”
I almost forgot about Ed’s show. I’ve been too worried to think about it. “No. I forgot. I need to get ready.”
“How could you forget about your idol? You should be ashamed, Cass.” I can’t help but smile whenever he uses my nickname. I wish I had one for him.
“Well, Styles, it’s hard to remember things when you’re sitting at home, alone and scared out of your mind.”
“Don’t be scared. I’ll be with you soon. You’ll have some muscle to protect you then.”
“Paul’s going to protect me? Thank goodness!”
“-__-”
“I was kidding. Don’t be a sour puss. :p”
“Fine. Go get dressed. We’ll meet you at Amplify, by the back entrance, at 8:00.”
“Okay. See you soon, Curly.”
“See you soon, Cass.”
It’s 6:17 now. I need to hurry if I want to get to Amplify on time.
….
After arriving at Amplify and finding parking, I notice that I’m still ten minutes early. I’ll have to wait around back for the guys, in the cold. It’s a good thing I brought a jacket.
The walk from my car to the back of the venue wasn’t too bad. I decided against heels and I’m glad that I did. It took me a few minutes to maneuver through the crowd of people trying to get inside Amplify. I’m pretty sure that I stepped on a few toes and elbowed some ribs trying to get through the huge mass of people in the front. I’ve never seen so many excited people at once, it was a little bit overwhelming.
“There you are!” Someone shouts nearby. I wonder who they're yelling to.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and it scares me. A little rush of adrenaline pulses through me, turning me around and nearly hitting the person who touched me. My hand is caught mid-swing, by a tall, tan, curly haired man.
“Woah, Cass, it’s me. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Harry says, his green eyes, wide, and burning into mine.
I can’t form any words. I’m too caught off guard by the way he’s is looking at me.
“Cass?”
“Sorry,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m a little on edge.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go inside.”
“Okay.”
I’ve never been in the back of Amplify before. I’ve been to the venue a bunch of the times before but only in the main part. You could say it’s like a small performance scene, except the fact that there’s a huge stage and stadium like seating. It’s not a stadium though, it’s like an Indie lounge; with a cafe, standing room, and everything you would expect from that type of place.
Amplify is, by far, one of the weirdest places in San Fran. It has no category when it comes to structure or style. The fact that the building is designed to look like a bunch of huge speakers doesn’t help but it does make it more creative so that’s something.
The back of this place is bigger than I thought it would be. Harry has taken me down at least five or six hallways, looking for the place we’re supposed to be. after what seems like forever, we finally stop outside a big convention like room marked “VIP”. Harry and I walk in and four pairs of eyes move to us.
“Glad to see you finally found us. This place is pretty confusing, isn’t it?” Ed says with a big grin plastered on his face. I’m glad to see him again.
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird. We had to go down six different hallways before we finally found the right one.” Harry says, guiding me over to a couch by the rest of the guys.
Liam, Niall, and Zayn are the only other people in the room. Where’s Louis at? Maybe he got lost or something.
“Hi, Cassie.” Liam says after I’ve taken the seat across from him.
“Hi, Liam. Guys. How are you?” I ask, trying to make conversation.
“Good,” Niall responds before getting up and walking over to Ed. They are standing across the room by a row of guitars, chatting away as Ed plucks the strings of a brown acoustic.
“Don’t mind him,” Harry says before giving me a smile that I can’t help but return.
“What time does the show start?” I ask no one in particular.
“Half and hour from now. I’ll be back.” Zayn says, excusing himself.
How is it that I can scare away more of these guys than a whole mob of girls without even trying? I can’t really be that bad, can I? I mean, I haven’t even been in the room for ten minutes and I’ve already gotten rid of two of them, three if you count Ed.
“You’re not going to leave too, are you?” I ask Liam. He shakes his head no. At least he’s okay with me.
“Ed, time for the final soundcheck,” someone says calls from the door. Ed leaves and Niall goes with him.
Fifteen minutes pass before Ed, Niall, and Zayn return. Louis is still no where to be seen. I wonder where he’s at.
“Alright, let’s get this show started. Everyone, follow me.” Ed says, his guitar still in hand.
….
About an hour later, Ed is all done with his set and we're all back in the VIP room. Ed’s set was absolutely amazing. I’m so glad that I got to hear “Don’t” and “Tenerife Sea” live. I was in tears by the time he had gotten halfway through his set. I don’t know what it is about this ginger haired man that makes me so happy but I hope it never, ever, goes away.
“So, what did you think?” Ed asks before taking a sip of whatever he’s drinking.
“I was great,” Harry says, excitement present in his tone. The guys agree with him.
“Cassie, what did you think?” Ed asks me.
“I loved it. It was the best show I’ve ever been to,” I say honestly. It was such a good show and having Harry by my side the whole time only made it even better.
Ed smiles. “You know, I was actually kind of nervous to perform some of those songs tonight. It’s weird doing songs from ‘Multiply’ because of how personal they are. I’m glad that I didn’t disappoint.”
“So am I. Thank you for letting me come. I couldn’t tell you how much it means to me even if I tried.”
“You’re welcome, Cassie.” Ed says.
“Sorry to interrupt,” a man with a headset says, “Ed, it’s time for your meet and greet.”
“Okay, I'll be there in a minute,” Ed says and the man leaves. “I guess that’s me. I’ll see you guys around.”
Is that it. No, it can’t be. I didn’t even get to hug Ed.
“Ed?” I ask frantically.
“Yeah, Cassie,” he replies.
“Would you mind if I got a hug?”
Ed laughs before bringing me into his arms. It’s a short embrace but it was enough to make me get emotional again.
“Thanks,” I say, my voice breaking a little.
“It’s no problem. Don’t cry, I’m just a person,” Ed jokes, winning a smile from me. I wipe away the tear that was forming in my eye. Ed waves and then he’s gone.
I hadn’t even been paying attention to the other guys during my little goodbye with Ed so I wasn’t surprised to see them staring at me. I don’t know what to say so I distract myself from their eyes by checking the time on my phone.
It’s 10:34. I should probably get home, I need to prepare the house for Tiff’s return. Tiff. I don’t even want her to come back. I can’t believe she told her brother everything. I hate her, I really fucking hate her. She’s supposed to be my best friend and have my back. Why would she tell her brother everything? What did I do to deserve that? I don’t know but she’s dead when I see her. Dead.
A/N: I’m going to have to stop here because my dad is being an ass and keeps setting time limits on how long I get to use the computer. I hope I won’t have to worry about it for much longer but just in case I do, know that I’m trying to write these chapter as fast as I can. Chapter sixteen may take me a few days but it’ll be up asap, I promise.
Please C/V/S! I enjoy reading your comments, they make me really happy. I’d love to learn some more about you guys so make an inline comment of your favorite color. I’ll see you all in the next chapter.
Thanks for reading! - Tyler