Broken || Little Mix ||

Chapter 29 - E

I get yanked out of a restless slumber by an incessant banging on the room door. I hear the other three girls groan as one of them gets out of bed and stumbles to answer it. The clock on the bedside table is reading just past five in the morning. That means after they finally managed to get me to come back into the room, and after we all cried our eyes out for a good hour and a half, we've managed to get two hours of sleep.

"You girls awake?" Paul calls out, flicking on the lights for the room.

I groan again, my head still throbbing from earlier. Dried tears cling to my face and I try to scrub them away with my sleeve. I sit up and push Perrie, trying to get her more awake as she hides under the covers.

"Bus is rolling out in thirty. Get your stuff together. We'll talk on the road."

He doesn't say another word before turning on his heel and exiting the room. The four of us look at each other, unsure of what to say.

"It can't be that bad of news if we're continuing on, right?" Leigh tries.

"Or maybe they just made a snap decision, shit will hit the fan again today and by the time we make it to Boston the tour will be cancelled and we'll be on the first flight out," Jesy says, getting out of the bed and stretching.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Jes," I reply, stretching myself and rubbing my eyes.

She shrugs. "Just being a realist. Get your arses moving."

"She's in a great mood," Pez mumbles, still under the blankets.

"Can't blame her with everything going on. You know how protective she is. I better go get dressed."

With that, Leigh goes to her room, leaving me and Perrie alone. I yank the covers away from her and give her a shove.

"I was the one in the hospital yesterday and I'm still moving faster than you. Come on."

"Five more minutes," she groans.

I sigh and roll my eyes, hoisting myself off the bed and grabbing a change of clothes. Since it's a travel day, I take a fresh set of sweats into the bathroom with me. The second the door closes it's like all the air rushes out of my lungs. The bathroom has become a vacuum in which no oxygen exists. I grip the edges of the sink, forcing my body to work. For my diaphragm to contract and air to run back into my body. It takes a minute but brute force seems to win the battle with my anxiety right now.

I take a shaky breath, splashing my face with cold water, longing for something to ease the raging waves inside of me. Knowing that I can't stand in place forever, my body screams at me as I drive it through the motions of changing my clothes and brushing my teeth. I scramble to move as quickly as possible, wanting nothing more than to be out of the confined space.

By the time I get out of the bathroom, Perrie has changed and lazily shoved everything back into her suitcase.

"I hate mornings," she complains.

"You can sleep on the bus."

I don't look at her as I talk, instead walking to the nightstand and grabbing my phone, hoping against hope that there will be a message waiting for me. My heart drops as I scroll through my messages to see that none of them are from him. I fight the urge to text him again, knowing that being clingy right now is not a good idea.

"Still haven't heard from him?" Pez asks softly.

I glance up from the screen and give her a small smile while shaking my head.

"I'll be surprised if I ever hear from him again."

I fight back the tears in my eyes and sniff my nose, rubbing it against my sweater.