Crossroads of Life

Chapter 11

Niall POV:

The camera clicked loudly in front of me. I was smiling for the pictures, but not willingly. The boys and I were at a photoshoot. The pictures were gonna be used to promote the band in the states because we were heading over there soon.

We were all dressed up. Caroline, our stylist, had put me in a white shirt, loose red pants, a grey jacket, and some white Supra Vaiders. We were mostly goofing off at the moment, climbing on top of each other and pulling weird faces at the camera, but I didn’t feel like goofing off.

I was going along with it, smiling just the same as always, but every time the photographer yelled ‘give me those big smiles, boys’ or something along those lines, I couldn’t help but think I don’t want to. I didn’t want to smile. I was sad on the inside.

Bailey rejected me; she plain out said she ‘couldn’t have a boyfriend’, which was a lie. I could tell by the way she said it, something in her bright hazel eyes flickered out when she looked at me. She didn’t mean those words, but they still hurt.

There was something she wasn’t telling me. Something was hiding under those sparkling eyes and freckly cheeks. She told me to trust her, and I did. But as I looked at her leaning against the photo prompt, holding her clipboard, I couldn’t help but think; there was something wrong.

Didn’t she understand that whatever it was.. it didn’t matter? That I would care for her regardless?

The cameraman carried on, but I was no longer looking at the lenses. I was looking at her. She was giggling loudly at one of the pictures Danielle was pointing to.

Her laugh drove me crazy. She turned her back to me, reached into her bag, and pulled out her phone, her curly hair falling off her shoulders.

As she bent down, her tight sleeveless purple shirt scrunched up a bit, revealing her tan lower back. Even from this distance, I could make out the little indents that formed sexy little back dimples.

I began to breathe faster as I scanned my eyes down her body. Her bare legs, her bum wrapped up in black high waist shorts. Her hands, her bare collar bone, her everything.

“Niall?” a voice asked, bringing me back to reality. “What are you looking at?” Oh.. right, I was in the middle of a photo shoot.

“Nothing, sorry,” I replied blankly, tearing my eyes away from Bailey.

“Don’t look like nothing to me, mate,” Liam said, looking in the direction I had just torn my own gaze from. He gave me a crooked little smirk, a head nod, and turned back to the camera.

‘You’re right, she’s the opposite of nothing.’ I wanted to say, but the cameraman had noticed my lack of attention now too, and was saying something about my hair. Before I knew it, a stylist was walking over with some hairspray.

‘She’s everything,’ I thought silently, as I stole a final glance at her before turning back to join the other boys.

Bailey’s POV:

****

I pulled the headset over my ears and fastened the battery pack to my belt loop. Picking up my clipboard and notebook, I forced my way backstage, turned the dial on my headset and clicked the blue button.

“Paul,” I said into the microphone that hung from the ear piece. “Where do you want the boxes?”

“Backstage left,” I heard a deep voice reply.

“Gotcha,” I scribbled in my notebook and felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Macy, the stage manager.

“How you holding up?” she asked politely, her voice coated in a thick English accent.