Love On Tour (Book 2)

America

(Jamie's POV)

Birmingham is a breeze. We get through every show without a hitch, and y/n even seems to start enjoying herself at the parties, though makes a habit of being quite clingy if some other girls linger for too long. Can't say that I mind her doing it though, it's quite sweet I reckon. Roland and Jimmy are perfect on drums and bass, as usual, and we decided to let Sam take the reins on vocals for some more of the songs. He's really coming into his own and the crowd loves him.

Over the next few weeks we perform in Manchester, Aberdeen, Plymouth, Blackpool, Portsmouth. All the major cities and, wherever we go, the shows are always a sell-out. Mum comes everywhere with us, taking every opportunity to take pictures or have private chats.

Now we're on a plane to America, first stop; California.

I leave y/n to sleep for a while at the back and I make my way over to Sam.

"Hey man," I say, sitting in the space opposite him.

"Hey bro, what's up?" he asks, stretching out in his seat.

I sigh, "I got a text from Tristan, he's not coming. Says his mum's in a really bad way and he doesn't wanna leave her."

Tristan's mum has been suffering with dementia for the last few years, but she's getting worse too fast, and she's been in too many dangerous situations lately because of it. He told me her days can be anywhere between just forgetting his name, or going somewhere and forgetting why she's there, or even leaving the oven on when she leaves the house for hours. So she needs 24/7 care, and Tristan is insistent to be the one giving it to her. They've always been really close and, now we're not sure how much time she has left, he refuses to leave her.

"That sucks. I get it though. If it was Mum, I wouldn't wanna leave her either."

I nod in agreement. "D'you think she's alright?"

"Who? Mum?"

"Yeah."

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"It's just... this is a lot. We're constantly on the move, everything's so hectic, plus she's been dealing with the stress of me and y/n. I look at her sometimes and she's spaced out, she looks exhausted. I'm just worried about her."

"Jamie, she's doing all of this cause she wants to. She'd say if it were too much for her."

"Would she though? You know what she's like."

"She's bloody stubborn is what she's like."

I glance over to where she's sitting, headphones in, eyes heavy from the lack of sleep.

"I just don't want her to overdo it."

"I know man, me too," Sam says as he looks at her.

I sigh and make my way back to y/n, gently take her hand in mine as I drift off to sleep by her side.

California

(Y/n's POV)

The fan-base in America seems to have tripled in comparison to the UK. We end up leaving the airport late because the band gets stopped multiple times for pictures or signatures, though I'm quite surprised when even I get asked for autographs. I look to Jamie for guidance, and he shrugs with an encouraging grin. So I sign some napkins, a few photos, t-shirts and even someone's plane ticket. It's sort of exhilarating to be recognised and to be loved by strangers. But I do see how it can get tiring; after being cooped up on a plane, I just want to crash onto a hotel bed.

I manage to squeeze through the crowd to find Julie, and we make it out to the taxi arm-in-arm, with Jamie and the band soon following.

As soon as he and I make eye contact, we burst out laughing.

"How was that?" he asks me.

"Strangely fun," I say, still giggling and slightly hyper from the excitement.

He puts his arm around me and kisses my forehead, "They love you."

"Almost as much as they love you," I joke.

"But not as much as I love you."

Sam clears his throat from across the taxi. "Save it for your room maybe?"

Julie swats his leg. "Hush you, it's sweet. Just cause you're jealous."

I blush a little but Jamie throws his head back and laughs.

I lean my head against his shoulder and we stay like that for the rest of the journey, and I catch Roland glancing at me out of the corner of his eye a few times before looking out the window. Not sure what that's all about.

The studio

Julie and I are just sat chatting near the drinks table when Jamie jogs up to us.

"Hey babe, just a heads up, I'm gonna be practising some solo songs. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take, so you don't have to stick around if you don't want to."

"No problem babe, I'll see you after," I say, giving him a swift kiss before he goes off again.

"Things all good now then?" Julie asks, giving me the side eye.

"Really good," I say, hiding my grin behind the rim of my cup. "We're sick of the drama, so we're making this as easy for ourselves as we can, and it's really nice not to have to stress about the wedding."

She squeezes my arm lovingly. "I really am happy for the two of you. I must admit, I was looking forward to buying a new hat, and it'll have to wait a bit longer, but you'll go the distance. You'll get there one day."

"I hope so. I really do want to marry him, but I don't want it to be a publicity stunt and I don't want to feel pressured, you know?"

"You take your time dear. Now, not to be rude, but I'm going to go to the hotel for a lie-down."

"Are you feeling alright?" I ask, concerned.

"Of course darling, just a little jet-lagged. Don't you worry about me."

I give her a smile as she goes, but I can't help noticing her face looks a little paler than usual. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

Roland approaches me the second she's gone. "Hey y/n, I know Jamie's gonna be busy for the next few hours and, if you've got nothing better to do, I could give you a tour of California? I lived here for a while, so I could show you all the best spots. And it would be good to get to know the girl who's marrying one of my best mates."

"Oh, um. Yeah, we sort of put the wedding on hold for a while," I explain awkwardly.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah," I don't like how he seems to perk up slightly at this news.

"So what do you say about that tour?"

I glance over at Jamie, but he's too engrossed in his music to notice me. I really don't want to go but I also don't want to be rude.

"Sure, why not."

What am I getting myself into?