Hey There Delilah (Sequel to Not The Same)

Auditions

>Louis' POV< 

"Hey, Tim. Make sure you have all the CDs!" I shouted to the sound man behind me as I sat down at the huge judges table. I scoffed at the Pepsi cup in front of me. To be honest, I can not stand Pepsi.

"Ready?" Liam asked me. He was on the right of me, Simon on the left. The crew was setting up the lighting.  

"Yup!"  

Eleanor stuck her head out from backstage. 

"Babe, want some Starbucks?" She asked me, as if it was even a question.

"Yes." Liam answered with a grin. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe your wife is somewhere around here. She can get you some." We all knew Danielle wouldn't make a coffee run for Liam. Why? Because I have the best fucking wife in the world!

"But she's watching the kids!" Liam begged. Eleanor's face dropped, so did mine. I turned to Liam with a death glare. Immediately he realized his mistake and mumbled a "never mind." His comment still stung and lingered in my head, it hurt a lot.

"Yes, love." I gave Eleanor a smile, hoping it might brighten her mood a bit. What she went through wasn't easy to deal with, no one lets us forget that. With a quick smile she disappeared behind the veil of blue. I swear, everything here is blue. After seventeen years, it gets annoying. I made a mental note to ask Simon if after this season we could change it to green. Yeah..I like green.

I sighed, "This is going to be a long day..." Two weeks into audition, and I was mentally drained. All I wanted was to start doing the live shows, with the people who actually have talent, instead of a crapload of wannabe's.

"Tell me about it. New York is always interesting." Simon answered me. 

---------4 hours later--------- 

I slurped loudly out of my empty  Starbucks and looked at Liam. Who was... Asleep. A laugh found its way out of my throat, interrupting the young male who thought he could sing.This also resulted in me dropping the cup, which led to even more noise. He stopped in the middle of his performance and Simon gave me a death glare. The boy was now looking at Liam. I punched him in the arm making his eyes snap open.  

"Wha-" The crowed erupted in laughter. Then again, I could move my chair in closer to the table and they would probably laugh and trend it on twitter.

"I don't know if you remember but we won this competition 17 years ago and now we're back and we're judging. So.. Maybe you should wake up." I whispered so only Liam could hear. 

"Ha ha.." He yawned. "Sorry, but I got a little bored." Liam mumbled into the microphone. The crowd responded with a chorus of ohhhhh's. Simons eyebrows raised. I snapped my fingers in a 'Z' line (just so everyone remembered who the true sass master was here.)

"And they call me the mean one.." 

"Yeah, I thought you were the nice one." I added. Liam shrugged. 

"It's a no. From all of us." Simon answered. Liam and I nodded in agreement. The boy hung his head and walked off. 

A pang of guilt came over me. Part of this job was learning to ignore the part of you that wants to say yes to everybody. But it's hard when I've stood in the exact same spot. I know how all of these contestants feel. Except, when I was there, no one said no. I never even want to picture my life without those yes's.

Makeup people came up and started brushing powder onto my face.  

I chatted with Liam, aware and quite used to the cameras that were recording everything. The makeup people stopped and retreated but the conversations continued.