I came back from the shop with two cups of coffee and handed one to Harry, “what are you doing?” I asked him. He had a plastic bag on the bed and was putting his blood stained clothes into it.
“I have the gig tonight.” He reminded me.
“Harry you realise you were a victim of a violent assault last night,” I reminded him, he shrugged.
“The doctor gave me the all clear when you were gone,” he replied. I folded my arms across my body and he moved towards me and gave me a tight hug.
“Is this about you being worried it’s too soon for me, or that it’s too soon for you?” he asked me, I looked away.
“Seeing him there again, the idea that he might be watching…” I trailed off.
“Babe, don’t you see?” he gave me a smile, “the best way to deal with this is to show him you don’t give a damn what he does.”
I looked up at him, “you really believe that?” he nodded.
*********************************************************************
I went into my dressing room, hand in hand with Harry, neither of us bothering to try and hide the truth. Simon was standing in the middle of it looking concerned.
“Simon,” I said taken aback, he observed us both, my hand in Harry’s but he said nothing.
“I assume you’ve seen the papers?” he said, I nodded; Harry had shown them to me reluctantly, “it’ll blow over.”
“It may seem cruel to say, but I think there’s a possibility that we could make this work in your favour.” He said, “I want you to do an interview with Piers Morgan.” I looked at him.
“Simon isn’t this a bit soon?” Harry interjected. Simon looked at him.
“No, January I understand that this is horrible for you but you need to be able to work this to your advantage.” Simon said directly to me.
“Wait,” Harry said, “what have the papers actually said?”
Simon raised his eyebrows while I looked on anxiously, “they say you’ve been in an abusive relationship, there’s some speculation over who it is.” he looked up at Harry.
“No!” I cried out, Simon gave a solemn nod.
“You need to do the interview.” Simon said.
There was a knock on the door, Louis entered, he looked tense, “am I interrupting something?” he said.
“This involves all of One Direction, if everyone thinks Harry beats women,” I flinched at the harsh language, “then all of One Direction will go down.” Simon turned to Louis, “I assume you read the actual articles.”
“They didn’t say it explicitly but they made a link.” Louis replied.
“How strong?” Harry asked, moving his hand around my waist and pulling me closer to him protectively.
“They mention how the scars are unseen and how you two have begun a romance.” Louis said avoiding eye contact.
“That’s bullshit,” I exploded suddenly.
They all looked at me as if they had forgotten I had been there. They were all thinking One Direction; I don’t think I had entered their minds in the slightest.
“January can you leave us for a moment?” Simon asked me, I frowned, I looked to Harry, he met me with a helpless glance.
“Sure,” I said, moving away from Harry, I walked out and closed the door behind me, “it’s not like it’s my dressing room or anything,” I muttered under my breath. Jamie stood in the hallway, snapback on his head and beats by dre in his ears.
“Hey,” he said, when I emerged pulling the headphones down so that they rested on his neck, “what’s going on in there?” he said nodding his head towards the door. I shrugged.
“Apparently it’s been changed to a One Direction conference room,” I leaned up against the wall beside him.
“Are you okay?” he asked me, of course he was going to ask me.
“As well as I can,” I said, “I put it out of my mind a long time ago.”
“Have you confirmed the name of him yet?” he asked me curiously, I shook my head, “is it the same one who attacked Harry last night?” he asked me. I didn’t answer him.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” I tried to dissuade him and he took the hint. The dressing room door opened and they all exited looking stressed.
“It’s a pre-caution,” Simon said, Louis looked uncomfortable.
“Of course,” Louis said.
“You all need to get to the front; you’re doing to group number together. We all nodded, as the contestants were all bundled to one end of the stage and Harry and Louis taken off somewhere else.
They all stared at me like I was some sort of alien, at first I was angry until I realised that had I not been me I would have been doing the exact same thing. I looked at the six of us. Mandy, Lace, Jamie, Smithy, Maggie and me. Soon one of us would be gone, a fear I had forgotten to be worried about that this week.
We were singing ‘Over Again’ this week, which really annoyed me, the show that was supposed to be helping us achieve our dreams had turned into an advertisement for One Direction, not only did we have to do a One Direction week this week, we were singing a One Direction group song and then they were singing their new song. Then next week the remaining five had to do a duet. It sounded selfish but ever since I had been thrown out of my own dressing room I couldn’t help but be a bit miffed.
“In five, four, three, two, one.” The crew member pointed at the door and we began.
Jamie was singing the first line:
“Said I’d never leave her cause her hands fit like my t-shirt, tongue tied over three words, cursed.” The boy came out on the first chorus and Harry was immediately by my side, I gave him a weak smile. He took my hand and gave it a tight squeeze.
“And we can start it all over again,” I finished and the audience erupted in applause, Dermot moved forward to speak.
“Now, we all know it’s been a tough week for many people on this stage, but I think the main thing that we need to realise that it all comes back down to the talent.” Dermot said as the audience clapped.
“Stay tuned because after the break we have One Direction making the biggest come back of all time, you don’t want to miss it!” the theme song played and we cut to break.
Harry turned to me, “Are you okay babe?” he said, I nodded.
“Just, just nervous.” I said he squeezed my shoulders.
“You’ll sail through it,” he promised me, “listen I have to go, but look I’ll see you before they announce the live result okay?” I nodded, and walked quietly back to my dressing room.
I picked up my handbag, I had left it there the night before, there was a message, it sent shivers down my spine and my stomach flip, I wanted to be sick, the idea of him, watching me, knowing that I was hurting knowing I was scared, but the last line terrified me the most:
You looked great tonight babe,
Too bad I couldn’t have seen you
Live again. See you soon,
Darren x
YOU ARE READING
Thunder
Fanfiction"I knew what I was doing throughout all of this, I knew what I was getting into. They may blame us, persecute us and say it was all our own fault, but do not let them weaken what we built, you are what I have been living for. I’m not afraid anymore...
