Boyband Rebound [Editing]

p r o l o g u e

The lights brighten and Louis finds himself grinning as the screaming fans come into view. Their hovering podium finally lands with a whoosh on the stage and Louis closes his eyes as Liam begins their first verse. The screaming grows louder and Louis is thankful for his little blue earpiece; blocking majority of the sound out. He then opens his eyes and glances at the other boys. All of them have small, content smiles on their faces and he shares a look with Harry before he bursts out suddenly into verse.

Laughing, Louis turns back to the audience. He can faintly make out his sisters, mother and girlfriend in the front row, all of them clapping along to the beats. He scans the crowd and then spots the rest of the boys’ families, and is secretly pleased that Niall’s elder brother has turned up; despite joking about hating the band’s music. His interest in the crowd and apparent disinterest in the currently playing music doesn’t go unnoticed. The other earpiece crackles to life and he can hear his music producer’s hoarse voice scream in his ear: “Louis! Ears on the song.”

He tries not to pull a face. Pushing the power switch on his microphone, he heads over to where Niall is immersed in his guitar strings and lopes an arm around the boy’s neck and begins to sing.

□ □ □

Harry pushes his damp-with-sweat hair back from his forehead to get a better look at his manager’s face. “What are you talking about?” asks Zayn, his eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. Mr Cowell, their manager, sighs. “He quit.”

“Because that makes so much sense.” Niall deadpans.

“Look, I don’t know why your music producer quit fifteen minutes after exiting the stage, okay? I’ve had a rough day and it’s already an hour past midnight.”

“Now what are we supposed to do?” asks Liam wearily. The concert has tired all five boys measurably, and all they want is to get back into the hotel and their beds. Mr Cowell sighs; exasperated.

“Look. How about we all just call it a day right now and think things over tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I think that’d be best.” Harry speaks up, once again pushing up his hair. When it falls back into his eyes with a flop though, he surrenders. “We’ve also got to think about what we’re going to do with the rest of the tour now that we don’t have our on-stage DJ.”

“Not just the concert, Harry. We’ve got to think about your next album as well.”

Niall’s jaw drops open. “You’re thinking of cancelling the album?!”

“I’m not thinking about anything except my hotel right now, Niall. Tomorrow. We’ll sort this tomorrow.” With that, Mr Cowell spins on his heel and walks away, pushing a pair of sunglasses as he does.

○ ● ○ ● ○

                As a result of living in a huge complex with four other boys, Zayn is used to a lot of things. What he isn’t, though, is waking up to a flour-covered Louis breathing down his throat.

                “Your closeness to me is something I’d appreciate if it weren’t six in the morning, Lou,” he grumbles, pushing the grinning boy off him and rolling out of bed. Louis snickers when he gets mixed up in the sheets, but lets out a right laugh when Zayn’s face promptly meets the floor.

                “Shut up,” the younger boy mutters. He pulls the sheets off himself with a flourish and stalks towards the bathroom door, head held up.