Stella's POV
Louis was out for what felt like hours talking to fans after the show. Meanwhile, I was in the bus getting yelled at by Matt the Manager. I'm pretty sure the fans outside could even hear him yelling because the buses were parked in a pretty conspicuous spot basically in front of everybody. I know at least Louis knew I was getting reprimanded by our manager because it seemed like he stayed out talking to fans longer than he usually did. When he did finally get in the bus the usual nightly routine started again. The boys were partying, this time without Ava, but also this time you could feel some kind of tension in the room. To annoy my brother I lay down in his bunk to read my book and avoid socializing, but he didn't seem to mind. Every so often he'd leave the back room to get a drink from the front and every time he passed me he'd either ruffle my hair or, if he could, he'd close my book on me so I'd lose my page. The drive from Dallas to Austin was relatively short, so the party kind of died down as soon as the bus stopped at the new venue in Austin. Louis was the first to come out of the back room and stopped at his bunk, reaching in and squeezing my side to make me yelp and squirm enough that I hit my head on the underside of the bunk on top of Louis'. He just chuckled a little.
"Funs over little shit, out." He ordered. He didn't smell like alcohol or weed, which he usually did about this time. He must not have partied that hard tonight.
"Your bunk is so much more comfortable than mine." I whined. That wasn't just a ploy to annoy him, his bunk was actually more comfortable than mine. He had this really soft blanket he said he brought with him on every tour and as a bonus, his bunk was a middle bunk as opposed to my bottom bunk that was basically on the floor so sometimes people would accidentally brush my bunk with their legs as they passed. You know, except Leo who purposely kicked my mattress every time he passed just to piss me off.
"What's wrong with your bunk? Sabotaged?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.
"No." I sighed, then I started to move to get out.
"I'll let you sleep here on one condition." Louis decided.
"What?" I asked.
"Let's go take a walk." He said.
"A walk at 4 am in the middle of the city? Doesn't sound safe." I replied.
"Why not? I heard you're Spider-Man now." He teased. I rolled my eyes. "Come on, we'll bring JD."
So we brought JD.
"Tell me about New York." Louis prompted. He was smoking, but it wasn't weed, just a cigarette. I used to hate the smell of cigarettes, but I had gotten used to it being around him so much.
"Umm... well... did you know New York was once called New Amsterdam?" I asked.
"Stella." He scolded. I sighed.
"Ava went... absolutely off the rails. I was making us breakfast and she came in and started saying she didn't want me there and I asked her I could help her and she went off on me, started pushing me and..." I took a deep breath. "And I stuttered. Just a little. I was upset and overwhelmed and... fucking... I spent years trying to get rid of the stutter and it went away so I don't know why it came out now, I couldn't control it and... when I was in elementary school and I used to stutter everyone would call me St-St-Stella and that's what Ava did."
"What?" Louis asked, in a quiet voice.
"And she told me to take my stupid stutter and go home because she doesn't want me there because I'm too attached to her." I explained.
"She made fun of you for stuttering? Ava?"
"But she said she was sorry..."
"The same Ava that's protected you from bullies your entire life?"
