Power & Control

9: S&M

~A

It was finally time for me to let loose. All the stress of releasing the album was finally over. It was out in the world and there was nothing else I could do about it. There were no more changes to be made, no more stressful nights at the studio to make sure a song was perfect. No more debating which songs would make it to the album and which ones would be scrapped. That was my least favourite part of the whole process.

We had booked a small venue for a party, only the people involved in the making of the album and a few close friends attending. That didn't stop paparazzi from waiting outside. But I didn't really care tonight. It was good press, and I made sure I looked good in a short black dress. I was able to pass through the paparazzi easily, stopping for just a few seconds for pictures before being led by my security guard inside the small venue. I was instantly greeted with nothing but familiar faces, putting me at ease. Louis was the first to come over to me, greeting me with a quick hug.

"You've finally made it. Had everyone waiting around for a while." He instantly teased with a tight lipped smile.

"It's my party, I think I have the right to be fashionably late." My comment made him roll his eyes at me. He stopped a waitress walking by with a tray of champagne, taking two glasses and handing me one before placing his hand onto my back.

"Now that you're finally here, let's make a toast." He led me towards a small stage, barely a step elevated off the rest of the room. There was a single microphone on a stand there, a television screen behind it. I followed along without protesting, giving myself a head start by downing half the glass in one go. Louis wasn't that surprised by that. We'd gotten wasted together plenty of times. He pulled me to stand next to him once in front of the mic, tapping it a couple of times to check if it was on.

"Everyone, hello? Can you hear me?" He cluelessly spoke, darting his eyes around the room. The loud music was turned down, people turning to face us. I finally got a good look of who was really here, the crowd separated into evident groups to differentiate them. Most of our managing team was present, as well as a handful of my closest friends huddled up together. Zayn was on his own, since he barely knew anyone here. I could see him proudly smiling from a quiet corner. A few other artists I've grown close with were able to attend and I was sure Harry would too if he wasn't touring. I did miss him being around, because we really were very good friends first and foremost.

The last group I took notice of was my band. They had all stuck together towards the left side of the stage. The girls, Perrie, Leigh, Julia and Jillian were all stood together a bit closer while the guys, Ty, Niall and Duncan were a bit farther away. Niall had the usual judgmental look on his face, eyebrows creased together and jaw clenched. He held a beer in one hand, keeping his arms crossed. Just the sight of him made me scoff under my breath and tear my gaze from his direction. We were here to celebrate and he was being all serious and broody.

"Thank you all for being here. Very exciting night for all of us. I could go on talking for way too long, I've been told I have a tendency to ramble. So I'm gonna leave this to Lex." Louis stepped aside once he was done with his announcement, sending me a smile. With a subtle eye roll, I stepped up to the mic. I knew I had to make a speech, but I never found that particularly hard.

"Hey everyone. I'm not gonna keep you long because I know we all just wanna have a good time. Just want to propose a toast to everyone who had helped me get to this point of my career so far. Especially to you, Lou." I turned to him, his smile only growing as he slightly bowed his head to me. I sent him a kiss before looking into the crowd again.

"I wanna thank all the people that are always hard at work with me and for me. My incredible band that's gonna come on tour with me, playing all those new song every night. And of course all this wouldn't be possible without my writing and producing team, who had to put up with me to make this album perfect." I smiled, managing to spot Lauren and Mitch in the far back, who both rose their glasses to me. Inevitably, my eyes skimmed over Niall. He had such a pleased smile on his face, I was was fighting the urge to stomp over at him and slap it away. He was beaming with pride, seeing as I just practically thanked him twice. I focused back onto what I was doing before anyone could take notice my attention had shifted, clearing my throat away from the mic before going near it again.