Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 33

(Niall's Pov)

"I have made an executive decision." Liam announces. I roll my eyes. He is always doing that.

"And what might this decision be?" Zayn brings up. We have all been sitting in the living room, sometimes talking, but not very often. It's just a comfortable silence. We are all friends here, and that makes the silence bearable.

"We are going to go talk to management," he holds up a hand to stop the inevitable protests. "Just hear me out. We are gonna have to talk to them sometime, and I think that it ought to be on our terms, not theirs. We have made it highly unlikely they will continue to work with us, so we need to be in charge of the conversation. And to do that, we need to have a goal in mind. Now, I want to know what you think we should do. Maya and Emma, can you two wait in the other room?"

Emma moves to stand, but I grab her arm, pulling her back into her seat beside me. "Let them stay." I insist, smiling at Liam. He frowns.

"I don't want them influencing your decisions." He insists.

"It's fine Niall." Emma assures me. "I don't mind."

I smile and kiss her gently on the lips before letting her stand up and leave. She takes Maya with her when she leaves the room, and after a moments hesitation, Will follows after them. I don't know if Liam wanted Will to Leave as well, but he doesn't protest as he walks out. He just turns to address those of us still in the room.

"We did some stuff that management is going to hate. But if we are sure that it's what we want, I'm sure we can persuade them to keep working with us," Liam exhales. "But if we aren't sure that that's what we want, we shouldn't even try. They're gonna be harsh on us either way, and as much as I hate to say it, it may be time to terminate our contract with Modest!."

I find myself nodding at Liam's statement. Modest! had put us through a lot already and after everything that happened today, I can't imagine that anything will get any better. If we want freedom, if we want to be happy, we need to cut our ties with them.

"Well I certainly don't want to go back to those sick homophobes." Louis is, of course, the first to speak.

"I agree with Louis," Harry decides, "I want to be able to be myself."

All eyes turn to Zayn, who shrugs. "I never much cared for management. I say we ditch 'em."

Liam looks over at me. "What about you Niall?"

I smile. "If we ditch managment, no more threat of the basement. I'm all for it."

Liam grins. "Then I guess it's time to pay management a little visit."

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(Emma's Pov)

I sit in ZAyn's room with Maya and Will. We had been banished from the living room for the time being,  but that was okay, because Maya and I had a lot that we needed to talk about.

"So Maya, what really is our plan?" I ask, "Are we just gonna drive back to Texas?"

She shrugs. "I never really thought about it. Everything has been happening too fast. You were my ride and we were seperated for a long time. It hasen't really come up."

I nod, feeling the same way. It feels like way too much has happened in the past couple of days for us to just go home.

"I mean, we really don't have much of a choice," My phone rings as I'm speaking, and I stop to answer it.

"Hello?" I say into the mouthiece, wondering who could be calling me.

"Hello. Is this Miss Emma Powell?" The voice belongs to a woman, and sounds serious. My heart sinks. I'm sure that it must be the police calling to say that they changed their minds and that I was going to have to go to jail after all. But I don't hang up.

"Yes, it is." I admit.

"Well Miss Powell, I am pleased to inform you that the New York Printing house has accepted your manuscript. Silence was the title, correct?" My mouth drops open and I am in too much shock to respond. "Miss Powell?" 

I shake myself out of the trance. "Sorry. I'm just a bit shocked. Are you serious?" Maya and Will are watching me with interest.

"Quite serious Miss Powell. You really shouldn't be suprised. That was quality work." I beam as she compliments my work. "But there is one thing you should be aware of." 

"What?" I ask, sure that she is going to say something irrevocably bad.

"We need you to move to New York. We've worked with long distance authors before, but we would perfer to work with you in person since you are so young." She tells me. My head starts spinning, wondering about this new development. "We have arranged to pay all of your living costs, but it would be up to you to get your stuff and yourself here."

"Um, can I talk to you tommorrow? This is kind of a lot at once and I wanna talk to some people before I agree to anything." I suggest.

"Of course MIss Powell. My number is 555-6148 when you've made your desicion." She tells me.

"Thank you," I tell her, memorizing the number.

"Thank you, Miss Powell, I hope to hear from you soon." She tells me before hanging up. I grin at Maya, putting down th phone.

"Who was it?" She asks, confused by my sudden joy.

"New York publishing company," I tell her, and her eyes widen. "They loved the manuscript." She squeals in joy.

"That's great Emma!" She exclaims, and I nod.

"Yeah. But they want me to move to New York." I tell her. Her eyes widen even further.

"Emma, this is like, your dream! You have to accept!" She tells me. I shake my head.

"Right now I have to worry about making sure you have a ride home." I tell her. She shakes her head wildly.

"No you don't. I'll stay with you for a few months until I can get a job, and then I'll rent my own flat. We never even have to go home first." She decides.

I look at her in shock. "Since when have you wanted to live in New York?" I ask. THat had always been my dream, not hers. SHe smiles.

"I don't know. But I love it here, and i definaitly think we should stay." She tells me.

"What about our stuff?" I protest.

WIll steps in. "I can get you guys new stuff if you need it. And I'm sure any of the members of the band would be more than willing to help. None of us are exactly poor."

I throw my hands in the air. "You guys are dead set on this, aren't you?" They both nod. I laugh a bit, shaking my head a bit at them. "Then I suppose I have a phone call to make."

~X~'''~~~~~!

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