Chapter 8 – Love and Lies
Niall and Harry were at Niall’s house trying to think of tunes for songs on the next album. The boys were going to join them later, after their date nights with their girls.
“Have you heard from Amee,” Harry asked Niall.
“Well I’ve talked to her on Monday and I messaged her on twitter today, wishing her luck” Niall replied right as Amee called Niall’s phone.
“Well, would you look at that,” Harry said before answering the phone, before Niall had time to process the situation.
“Hello, you’ve reached Niall Horan, sorry he can’t reach his phone right now, but you can always leave a message and I’ll give it to him,” Harry said laughing, he was trying to fight Niall away from the phone.
“Uh, Harry,” Amee asked through the phone clearly confused on who she called.
“Oh hello there Amee, how are you,” Harry replied still trying to fight Niall away.
“Give me the phone,” Niall’s Irish accent blared through the phone as he tried to snatch it out of Harry’s hand.
“I’m well, thank you. Are you two fighting,” Amee asked confused with the background commotion.
“Well fighting, is a loose term considering if Niall is going against me, its’ not much of a fight. It’s like a baby is trying to get its candy back, minus the crying,” Harry responded.
“Gimme that,” Niall said as he finally snatched the phone out of Harry’s hand annoyed.
“That is not true, he is such a liar,” Niall said through the phone, and asked with bated breath “how did it go frizzy?”
“Well,” Amee started uncertainty evident in her voice.
Niall started expecting the worst and said immediately, “Oh my god, don’t tell me that you didn’t pass, because if you didn’t, I am going to give Simon a piece of my mind. You are too amazing not to sign.”
“You really think so,” Amee asked blushing slightly.
“I know so frizz,” Niall said through the phone.
“I think so too babe,” Harry shouted from the background.
“See even he agrees,” Niall reassured her.
“Well apparently they thought so too, because the passed me through to Judges house,” Amee said.
“Yes, I knew you could do it Frizzy,” Niall said jumping off of the couch guitar falling off of his lap onto the floor.
“Crap,” Niall said and handed the phone to Harry so that he could check out the damage to the guitar.
“Hey, Niall just dropped his guitar on the floor,” Harry said laughing through the phone.
“Oh dear, is it okay” Amee asked concerned.
“Yeah it looks fine. Tell me, how scary was it?” Harry asked while watching Niall checking every inch of the guitar for scratches. Every time Niall found something, his eyes would go wide he would try rubbing it to see if it went away, and a sense of relief would wash over him when it did, then he would put his hand on his heart to slow down the beating. Harry was narrating the whole scene to Amee who was laughing along with Harry.
The scene went on for a little while longer and he heard someone call through the phone from the background, “Yummy Bear, its’ almost time for our reservation.”
“Coming Richie,” Harry’s heart dropped.
“Who’s Richie,” Harry asked curiously.
“Oh my cousin, we have a dinner reservation” Amee said with a laugh.
“Really, because I wouldn’t call my cousin yummy,” Harry said suspiously, but then added “But then again if I had a cousin who looked like you…” to lighten the mood.
“Everyone in my family calls me Yummy, apparently my older brother couldn’t tell the difference between Yummy, and Amee as a kid. So now everyone calls me that, I know embarrassing right,” Amee said with a laugh.
Harry felt his heart beat return to normal and said, “No, I think it’s cute,”
Amee blushed and said, “Hey, I got to run, tell Niall that I hope his guitar is fine, and that I will probably not be able to call him till after judges houses.”
“Definitely, love, have fun. Where are you going this year, do you know yet?” Harry asked.
“Trinidad, home of Nikki Minaj,” Amee replied.
“Awesome, have fun Yummy,” Harry said.
“Thanks bye,” Amee replied as they both hung up.
“Hey, I didn’t get to say bye,” Niall protested, when he noticed that Harry had hung up.
“It’s okay, she said she would call you after she got back from judges house,” Harry said nonchalantly, looking at the sad expression on Niall’s face.
“That’s not for a couple of weeks,” Niall said plopping down on the couch, not paying attention to his guitar anymore.
‘’She’ll be back in two Mondays mate,” Harry responded patting Niall on the back.
“Who’ll be back in two Mondays,” Liam said as he walked through Niall’s front door.
“Amee, she made it past judges houses,” Niall said a little sad.
“Well that’s great news,” Zayn said coming through the door, Louis right behind him.
“Yeah, it is,” Niall said trying to fake a smile.
“What’s wrong,” Louis asked, his big brother instinct kicking in.
“Nothing,” Niall replied, getting up to go into the kitchen for a box of cookies.
“Uh-oh, what happened? Did he break his guitar,” Zayn asked Harry.
“No, he dropped it but it’s good. Amee is leaving for a week and a half to Trinidad for judges houses, and said that she wouldn’t be able to talk to him till she got back. You know long distance and all.” Harry said very matter of factly.
“What’s wrong with you,” Louis asked sensing some tension.
“Clearly Niall likes her,” Harry said.
“Okay, what’s wrong with that. Amee is a really nice girl. Oh no don’t tell me, you like her too,” Liam said.
“What, no, of course not,” Harry said shocked that that thought even crossed Liam’s mind.
“Amee, is a really nice girl. Niall is my brother; he is too innocent for his own good sometimes. I just don’t want her to mess with his heart, and clearly he is already falling for her,” Harry said.
“That’s what I am worried about too. We need to know if she really likes him or not, I don’t want Niall getting hurt,” Zayn said.
“Alright, chocolate chips or oatmeal raisin,” Niall said coming in with two boxes in his hand.
“Chocolate chip, duh” Harry said trying to act natural.
“What,” Niall said as he looked around at all the faces staring back at him.
“Nothing Niall,” Louis said.
“Let’s make some music,” Liam said changing the subject and pulling out some song sheets.
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‘How can a place always be so hot,’ Amee asked herself as she pulled her long hair into a messy bun and sat outside fanning herself. The house was overlooking the beach and the sun was setting over the horizon. It would have been a beautiful sight, if it wasn’t so damn hot.
“There you are,” came a voice from behind that belonged to Gemma.
“Hey, I have your dress upstairs, thank you for that, you really are a life saver,” Amee said with a smile.
“Oh don’t worry about it hunny,” Gemma said as she relaxed in the chair next to Amee.
Amee smiled at her kindness and moved her feet over so Gemma could kick up her feet too.
“So, my friends say that I am really good at reading faces and emotions,” Gemma stated.
“Oh really, what does my face say about me,” Amee challenged.
“That you are a kind, generous person, and you left someone back home,” Gemma said.
Amee laughed and said, “Well, there is this one boy.”
“Oh yay, the juicy stuff,” Gemma squealed, rubbed her hands together and sat up right.
“I think he might of friend zoned me though,” Amee said looking towards the ground.
“You, a guy would actually friend zone, you,” Gemma said. Amee nodded an looked towards the ground sheepishly.
“Who is this boy who clearly has no eyes,” Gemma asked.
“Just a boy,” Amee said, not wanting to admit anything.
“Woman, you wore my dress, I would like to know who you want to impress,” Gemma said.
“Oh you just rhymed,” Amee said and they both broke down into a fit of giggles. That was the beginning of a string of long conversations. Savan came in around dinner time, and joined them with a plate of food. Later they started to play charades, and there was the kiddish side of Savan showing up, the side that reminded her so much of Olly. ‘Olly!’ Amee thought instantly. Amee was having so much fun that she didn’t remember her dad or brother once.
“Hey I’m going to head upstairs for bed, you know jetlag,” Amee said as she faked a yawn and stretched out her arms. She grabbed her cell phone and ran upstairs to her private bedroom.
“Hey Jamie,” she said when her dad’s receptionist finally answered the phone.
“Hey Amee, you called right on time, your dad just saw his last patient,” she replied cheerfully.
“Oh yay, lucky me,” Amee said, secretly hoping that her dad, was busy so that she could blame him for them not talking in a while.
“Hey princess, aren’t you tired?” He asked confused at the time difference.
“What, Why would I be tired,” Amee asked checking her clock that it was only seven in Trinidad.
“Well it is eleven o’clock there isn’t it,” He asked.
‘Oh crap, there is a time zone difference between here and London,’ Amee thought.
“Oh my god, its eleven already,” Amee faked surprise.
“Yes, it is sweetheart,” Jerry responded.
“Oh wow, dad I have modern medicine bright and early at 8 am, I still haven’t even started the homework yet,” Amee said and faked another yawn.
“Okay well you go back to your studies, we will talk later then,” Jerry said.
“Okay daddy,” Amee said.
“Amee, one more thing, I want you to know that I am very proud of you,” Jerry said.
“Th-thanks dad,” Amee said when her heart dropped.
“Bye sweetheart,” He said before he hung up. Amee threw her phone against her bed, then her body, and tried to think of something else. ‘Think about the song for tomorrow,’ Amee forced herself, so that she wouldn’t feel like a bad daughter. When it all the forcing failed, she did something else, called Olly, which went straight to voicemail.
“Hey,” came a voice from behind her after what seemed like an hour.
“Hey,” She said back, looking at the face at the door.
“You okay,” Savan asked.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be, it’s not like I am lying to my parents about what dream I am following,” Amee said as she buried her face into her pillow.
“Well why don’t we look at it this way,” Savan said coming closer and sitting on the edge of her bed.
“What way Savan, anyway I look at it, I am lying to them. They are going to find out, I know they are and then, my dad will come, pull me out of the competition, take me back to Chicago, and lock me up till the end of eternity. He is never going to trust me again Savan. I just…” Amee said when Savan interrupted her.
“Hey, hey, hey, stop,” Savan hugged her to calm her down.
“First of all, you might be right” He agreed with Amee, who looked back at him, tears threatening to run down her face. “When you win, and then I suppose you will tell your parents about it and they will probably ground you for a little bit, but they won’t take the life away from you. You did lie to them after all. However, you are forgetting a little fact, when you win, you have officially proved to them that you can make it in this business,” Savan stated. Amee looked at Savan and pulled him into a hug.
“Thank you, Savan” she said into his shoulder.
“Anytime kid,” He said patting her head.
“You going to be okay,” Savan asked her hesitantly pulling away.
“Yes I will be fine,” Amee responded with a small smile.
“Good because tomorrow is a big day,” Savan reminded her as he got off her bed and walked out of the room.
“Savan,” Amee called.
“Yeah,” Savan responded looking through the doorway.
“Do you really think I can do it,” Amee asked for what would be the last time in the competition.
“Kid, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t you could,” Savan responded and walked away.