The Way Things Change

Chapter 29

There was so much going on all the time, but I was used to it now. Mark and I had made a workout schedule for the boys, all 10 of them. Thank God I wasn’t alone on this. I wouldn’t be able to handle it. The 10 of them were, of course, the One Direction boys, then the 5SOS boys and the drummer from the band, Josh. The two drummers and Liam were the most eager to work out, but the others did their part as well. I grew to like them all very quickly. Well what was there not to like? They were good looking, carefree and really just dorks goofing around. They were up for anything that was just remotely fun and somehow I always seemed to end up in the middle of their fights. 

When I got tired of the overwhelming amount of testosterone, I spent my time with Lou. I learned how to do my hair with almost no effort. And I helped her work out. She was perfectly skinny, but she had some things she would like to improve. When Eleanor was around we sometimes went shopping together and all in all I just had so much fun on the tour. 

Suddenly we had a two week break in the tour before heading to South America. The boys went to their families and I went back to the house, my home now, to unwind for a bit. So much had happened these last five weeks. I had been right about Harry, he wasn’t happy at all. But he was a smart guy and broke up with Taylor. I didn’t know the exact details to how it went down, but I knew he was happier now. 

AND and and… Danielle and Liam were back together! I told you they were perfect!

Soon we were on our way to South America. I was looking forward to that. I had always wanted to go. Well go anywhere really, but I thought South America was absolutely beautiful, so this was a great start. And it was hot and sunny compared to London. 

Time was flying by so fast, it was crazy. I grew to like Josh a lot. Not like that… but a lot. We were always in competition when we were working out. When it came to strength, he always won, duh he was a boy, testosterone levels much higher than mine. But when doing cardio I always won. I went out for a run one day and he decided to join me. He told me to just go at my own pace, he didn’t need my guidance and besides this was my time off. In the beginning I held back because I felt guilty for leaving him behind, but when my legs started to take over he couldn’t keep up. I kept running back and forth, not wanting to loose him somewhere in an unknown city, but it really seemed to annoy him. When we were back at the hotel he collapsed on the ground trying to catch his breath. I did the same, only standing up against the wall. I loved this feeling. And thank God the fans didn’t know where we were. Yet. Seriously, they were like master detectives!

“Don’t do that again. Please” Josh finally said when he was breathing almost normally again. 

“Do what again?”

“That running back and forth. Seriously, I was dying and you kept running like you could feel nothing at all. It made me feel really out of shape, so please don’t, otherwise I’m not gonna run with you anymore!”

“You are out of shape thought” I said teasingly, pushing him with my foot. “But I honestly hadn’t thought of it like that Josh. I’m sorry. But hey, you told me to go at my own pace and I didn’t want to loose you.”

“Fine” he sighed. “Then I won’t join you for your long runs anymore. But I bet I can beat you at intervals.”

“We’ll see about that. Don’t get too cocky, you don’t know how fast I am. Now come on, we have to go do some heavy lifting.” I pushed him again. 

“Do we really have to?” Josh was whining, but he did get up. 

“Yes! Of course. Don’t be such a pussy!”

“Fine… I’ll race you there” He was already racing towards the gym.

“No fair” I yelled after him, trying to catch up with him.

***

I had spent my day with Niall, out in public. I didn’t care for the paps anymore. It didn’t matter if they saw us. I would never get used to the cameras following the boys’ every move, but I had learned to ignore the rumours that were made up about me. They weren’t even that creative. It was always the same. If I was hanging out with Liam, Louis or Zayn without their girlfriends around, they were apparently cheating on them with me. And if I was hanging out with Niall we were supposedly dating. Yeah, Harry and I didn’t spend much time together, just the two of us. He was currently busy running after some model chick, I didn’t really know her, so who was I to judge? Again, if Harry was happy, that was all that mattered. 

Niall had truly become my best friend after the kiss. It had been a bit awkward at first, but soon he had become like a brother to me. Always protective, making sure I didn’t get hurt. So the two of us spending the day together wasn’t anything special. 

The rehearsals for the nights show had been great and now I was backstage pacing around for the boys. I had been hanging out with 5SOS, but they were going to watch the show up close. I didn’t want to do that. I was a bit nervous. 

“Calm down, would you?” Lou said. “I’m sure they’re fine!”

The show had been a disaster. Really. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. The boys were always trying to make every show the best one, so I knew they wouldn’t be ‘fine’. On top of the technical difficulties, you could hear that the boys were tired. This was the last show before a well deserved one month break and their voices couldn’t cope anymore. They were able to pull through though, but I had heard Harry’s voice crack once or twice. No wonder, since he had to be the one with the most solos. His voice couldn’t take it and I knew he would be mad at himself. I kept pacing. 

After about 20 minutes the boys came into the dressing room. They weren’t cheery and hyper like they used to be. 

“FUCK!” Niall screamed in frustration and collapsed onto the couch next to Lou. 

“There was nothing you could do about it.” Lou said. Not the right thing to say right now. 

“But we had the responsibility” Liam spat. 

“Every show must be the best, otherwise we’ll disappoint our fans. Maybe it’s the only concert they’ll ever go to and it completely sucked.” Harry was running his hands through his hair, clearly upset. They were all upset. They never wanted to disappoint their fans. 

“Not to be a buzz kill or anything” I said, clearing my throat “but we do have a plane to catch.”

The flight home was long and nobody said anything. This was not a good way to end this leg of the tour. 

When we got home all the boys went to their rooms immediately. I couldn’t sleep. I decided to make some food, just to keep myself busy, and then the boys could eat it in the morning. When I finally made my way up the stairs to try and get some sleep, I heard sobbing coming from one of the rooms. I froze to the spot. What should I do? I don’t think I was supposed to hear that. I decided to go look. When I opened the door to where the sobbing was coming from I saw a boy with his face in his hands. It was Harry. 

He was upset, tears running down his face. So I did the only thing I could. I gave him a shoulder to cry on.