Boyband Rebound [Editing]

e i g h t

He rolls over, grumbling under his breath, trying to find a comfortable position in which he can doze off. They’ve finished forty dates on their American tour, as well as a few meet and greets, signings, and other press related stuff. It’s the first Wednesday in many that they’ve been able to sleep in until the afternoon; because management usually likes scheduling concerts on Wednesdays – something he’s not a fan of.

When a few minutes of turning and tumbling is not able to deliver him a comfortable position, he angrily jerks his blanket up, resulting in it all flopping around his midsection and leaving his feet bare. “Argh!” he exclaims, finally finding the inner strength to get up and flatten down his blanket with his hands.

“What’s up, Nialler, you in a war with your blanket?” asks Zayn, who’s lounging on the bunk in front of Niall, a pair of earphones jammed in his ears. Zayn’s fully dressed, something which has astonished Niall (making him want to point it out) but, he’s a lazy potato, and opening his mouth to give a coherent response is something Niall’s trying to avoid. He makes a face instead and sends Zayn the finger, earning himself a chuckle.

“Go back to sleep, pretty boy,” laughs Zayn, crossing his legs over themselves, his toes waggling to the beat. He pushes his glasses further up his face and closes his eyes, ramming up the volume so as to block any further sound intrusions; which he knows are going to happen when Louis and Liam return from their little football practice.

Sure enough, he’s able to finish only one song on his iPod before the bus door opens with its familiar whooshing sound and the sound of rambunctious laughter fills the void (or in this case, bus). Louis and Liam clamber up, grinning at each other and chuckling on a previous joke, before noticing that Zayn’s giving them the evil eye and they sober down.

Liam walks over to where Niall’s burrowed himself in his bunk, and sits down at the edge, unaware that he’s about to sit on Niall’s toe. The blond boy gets up with a roar, pushing Liam off the bunk as a reflex; before pulling his leg up and gently stroking his toe.

“Liam, you idiot!” he growls, patting his toe softly; looking up to glare viciously at Liam, who just shrugs, biting his lip in an attempt to hide his laughter. Louis and Zayn, on the other hand, burst into uncontrollable laughter, Louis sliding down the length of Zayn’s bedpost to seat himself on the bus floor.

The bus just then roars to life, and all four boys are throw back a bit as the bus starts moving forward. “Does anyone know why we were at a halt?” asks Zayn, calming down enough to get the sentence out, glancing over at Niall, who’s now struggling to get out of his sheets. The blond manages, swinging his legs over the side to get into a sitting position.

“Yeah, they wanted to fill gas and buy food,” answers Liam, seating himself on the edge of Niall’s bed again.

“For that long?”

“Two buses with two hundred - eighty litre tanks, and food for ten crew and four drivers. Yeah, two hours is a pretty acceptable time.”

“So we should be getting our lunches any time now,” comments Louis, pulling Zayn’s iPod towards him to scroll down his music library.

Just then, the door to the bus’ bathroom opens and Harry steps out, wearing sweatpants which hang loose at his hips and a towel draped around his shoulders.

“So there you are,” says Zayn offhandedly, as Harry grins at him and pats Niall on the back as the Irish lad wanders into the bathroom to get himself cleaned up.

“Was getting a bit of a makeover,” smiles Harry, occupying Niall’s previous place, not before jerking the blanket off the bunk to make his bed.