Ohh, hai!! We are now officially over 500 reads!! Actually, the last time I checked, we were 5 away from 600! It's exciting!! That's more than 100 reads in two days. The sound that just came out of my mouth was not human. Extremely exciting business because I honestly thought nobody would ever read this and now there's apparently people who anxiously await the next chapter and that me all happy and asdfghjklasdrtyuijn inside. :) I've literally been giddy all day. Ask Kay. She knows, she's had to deal with it. :) Hahah, anyways!! So, as some of you know, yesterday I was totally like "Ohmahgawd, we're uploading tonight. I don't even care". And, don't get me wrong, I had all intents and purposes to, but, then, fanfic happened. And I ended up staying awake until 10 o'clock this morning reading. It was scary good. WHICH BRINGS US TO TODAY'S SHOUT OUT.Shout shouts to @zanajjar for being one of the very few fanfic writer's that can literally make me laugh hysterically to myself while I cuddled my pillow pet. That is a very rare occurrence. So, yes, please, everyone go read New York and fall in love and cry like me and then we can fangirl together. Okay? Okay. So, I love you guys uber much and you're all so absolutely beautifully beautiful. Happy reading, pretty princesses!! xX Em ♥
*Coryn's POV*
"I got you something!" Zayn said excitedly as I walked up to the little cafe in town where he was waiting for me.
I rolled my eyes while I sat down at the table. "Something for little ole me? How kind of you, good sir, how kind of you."
He laughed as took out a brightly colored long box, sliding it across the table towards me. "Shut up and open it."
Lifting the top off, I couldn't help but grin. Nestled in the middle of some neon green tissue park was a pink, polka dotted skateboard. I took it out quickly, gasping slightly when I saw that not only were the wheels pinks, as well, but they were also encrusted with crystals. "These better be rhinestones, Malik," I threatened as I turned it over in my hands. On the bottom, in elegant, glittery font was a simple name. "'Nutcracker'," I read with a laugh. "You watched the twitcam?"
He smiled brightly. "Of course! You were brilliant! The fans love you already. I, actually, was just talking to management about getting you to collab on a song with us for the album."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow before sipping on the tea he'd ordered for me. "So, whatexactly are you smoking today?"
He laughed again. "Drug free. I promise! I just think it would be cool. You know, get some fresh new sound to it. You have a soulful voice."
"Is this what you do for fun? Drink hipster tea and try to convince people to embarrass themselves?'
"Shut up! Its not hipster tea! And, no, this is not our date!"
"We're going to get tattoos." I said flatly as I took out my wallet and placed a few bills on the table before standing up.
His face fell slightly as he walked beside me, our skateboards (his had a giant pot leaf on the bottom. Shocking) tucked underneath our arms. "How'd you know?" he pouted. "It was supposed to be a surprise."
"You're Zayn Malik. Everytime you get bored you end up showing up at an interview with a new tattoo," I replied while I shook my head.
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting in the living room with Jason, one of Ed's friends and also the only person other than Ed that I trusted to put something permanent on my body. Jason had pretty much brought his entire shop with him and we patiently waited as he set up a bunch of fancy looking devices.
"Hey, Jay? You think you could pierce my nose, too?" I asked hopefully. I'd always wanted to get it done but the only piercings they allowed for ballet was your ears. And only one hole per ear.
He smiled at me proudly. "Of course," he said brightly. "Ed would be so proud. Little baby Coryn's growing up." He wiped at his eyes like he was tearing up.
I made an ugly face at him before looking back at my phone to see what tattoo I wanted to get. I already had a few picked out but I wanted one more. Who knew when I'd be this ballsy again?
The front door opened and me and Zayn looked up to see Louis and Harry walk through the front door.
"I thought you two had a date today," Harry said as he plopped down next to me on the couch.
I nodded towards Jason who was working diligently, taking out containers and containers of ink and arranging them. "We're on it now. What does Zayn do for fun? Drink hipster teas and get tattoos. I'm going one step above and piercing my nose," I said proudly.
Harry looked at me with wide eyes as he grabbed the notepad off of my lap. He flipped through quickly until he found the first tattoo design. I looked over and saw that it was the 'Beside You' one going on my left wrist. He smiled softly and then turned the page. And then another. And then another. And then another. "Jesus," he groaned as he flipped through yet another design. "How many are you trying to get? All of them?" He winced when I nodded my head. "I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out you were really blood related to Ed."
"Shut up, it's only five. And they aren't even large ones."
"I think you should get 'Nutcracker' tattooed somewhere!" Louis called from the kitchen. He ran in excitedly with a giant grin on his face. "GET IT AS A TRAMP STAMP. GET IT AS A TRAMP STAMP."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to Jason as he motioned for me to sit in the chair. "Why don't you get one, Lou? It'll look better over your ass."
He waved his hand dismissively. "I already have one, silly. It's an anchor."
Jason was working on my last tattoo, a feather on the back of my neck, when my phone started ringing. The boys were all gathered around me, trying to figure out how not even the feathered detail was causing me pain. Honestly, it was tickling me.
I checked to see who was calling and put it on speaker phone. "Hey, Eddy Bear! You're on speaker phone!" I yelled obnoxiously as Jason wiped some ink away from my neck.
"Hey, everyone!" He said while the boys called out their hellos. "What's that buzzing noise?"
"Coryn's being a badass!" Niall called out around a handful of popcorn.
"Little baby Coryn just finished getting six tattoos and her nose pierced," Jason said into the phone as he handed me a mirror while he held one up to my neck. "And they were all highly detailed. Didn't even squirm once."
Ed laughed loudly. "The girl went through training to be an Olympic swimmer. And then went to boot camp to teach herself discipline. She doesn't know what pain is."
I rolled my eyes as Jay started putting bandages on the feather. "It tickled. And you act like boot camp was something that I wanted to do for fun."
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "But did you enjoy it?" He asked flatly.
"That doesn't even really matter," I mumbled before quickly passing the phone to Liam.
"Hey, mates, did you talk to management yet?" Ed asked.
"About the awards dinner thing for that American magazine?" Harry asked in reply.
"Yup, that would be it."
"Then yes. Yes we did," Lou piped in.
"Good, then I won't be alone. And, Coryn?"
"I'm here," I sighed.
"You're coming too," he said firmly.
I quickly took him off of speaker phone and pressed the phone to my ear. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I don't want you in London by yourself so when the lads fly out here next week, you'll be getting on the plane with them," he said using his I-really-don't-have-the-patience-to-argue-about-this.
"What? No. I don't want to. I'll stay with Lara."
"That would be fine," he said tiredly. "If she weren't flying out as well to be my date for the dinner."
I stood up angrily and stepped outside, slamming the door behind me. "And what the fuck do you want me to do in America? I could easily stay home and do exactly what I'll be doing in America. Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
I heard him sigh heavily. "You're right. You'll go as Harry's date."
"No, Ed. No. Fuck you. I'm getting extremely tired of this shit. Do you understand that? You don't run my fucking life. Stop trying to. I moved in with you so you could watch me. I even let you move in five fucking strangers to watch me. I am not about to fly to fucking America and be forced to sit through some shit awards dinner just because you don't trust me. What kind of friendship is this anymore? You're not my father so stop fucking acting like it. When the hell can I go back to running my life, huh?" I yelled into the phone.
He was silent again before he spoke in a calm voice. "Maybe you don't remember this but the last time I trusted you, you ended up in a fucking hospital in a coma for a week. So excuse the fuck out of me for trying to keep you alive because if it were up to you you'd probably be dead just like our parents. Now, I want you to go into the house, walk up those stairs and pack your clothes for America. I'm expecting you to be on that plan on Monday and if you're not then I'll just have to call Dr. Forbes and say that you relapsed."
I sat on the porch, staring with wide eyes at nothing. He just threatened me. He just fucking threatened me. My best friend. He would rather me be trapped somewhere where they pumped my blood with fluids than to trust me to be alone. This was what our friendship had come to. This is what it came down to. Me being a failure, always failing someone, never being quite enough.
I could feel the tears streaming down my face as I took a deep breath. "I hate you," I whispered before hanging up the phone and doing exactly what he told me to do.
*Ed's POV* "Don't you think you were a little harsh on her," Lara said softly, watching me with a worried expression over Skype.
"It's the only way she'd listen to me," I replied tiredly, holding my glass of scotch to my forehead. I was exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. This tour was already destroying me and I wasn't even close to being half way finished. Lara continued to watch me, a sad smile playing on her lips. God, I missed her. God, I missed Ryn. I missed being able to sleep in my own bed.
"I know that you think what you did was right, that it was the only way to go, but at what price are you willing to pay to make sure that she does everything your way?" She asked, resting her head on the palms of her hands
I sighed heavily and Coryn's last words played over and over in my head. I hate you. Could she really mean it? We were both speaking in the moment. Or at least that's what I thought. I also thought that our bond was unbreakable but look where we were now. Maybe that was the problem. I was always pushing her, pushing her, never letting her decided what she wanted.