Heartbreaker [h.s.]

Chapter Two

"Could this day get any fucking longer?" Niall's whiny voice interrupts my writing for the 20th time today. I run my hands through my tangled hair and look to my left at him lounged out on the leather couch. "Niall, every single person we've listened to just doesn't have it," I reply.

"That's because you're too critical! That last dude was good," he counters.

"Quit your bitching. We have one left. Fucking relax." I go back to my journal trying to concentrate while we have the small windows in between each candidate. We are on the hunt for a new guitarist since Liam fell off the wagon yet again—another stint in rehab—and the process has been excruciating. I'd hoped since we had everything mapped out for the tour earlier than planned I'd be using some of the downtime to write. Our manager has been hounding me for new songs, but nothing seems to be sticking. I write and write and everything sounds like shit.

It's probably from the stress and pressure to replace Liam in such a short amount of time, if I had to guess.

Niall rolls onto his stomach and buries his face into a throw pillow and lets out a large groan. "I'm fucking starving, H!"

I roll my eyes and turn full to face him, brows furrowed and closing my leather journal. "I don't give a rats ass how hungry you are, we have one more audition so suck it up."

"Who's next anyways?" Louis stands from his stool and grabs a beer from the fridge.

"Dude, it's like 11 am."

"And you're not my mum." Louis grabs the print out sheet of 10 names all with a line through them except one, scanning the page. "Charlie Leighton..." He utters. "Lad better be good, we're running outta options." The paper falls out of his grip and onto the ground next to my foot. I groan and bend down to grab it, setting it back on the amp where it was previously placed. "Why don't we put things back where they belong Tomo," I say to him, annoyed.

"Again, not my mum." He flips me off and flops down on the couch, squashing Niall's calves.

"Oi! That hurts!"

"Such a sissy, Horan! Toughen up!" Louis' free hand flies down onto Niall's ass with a loud smack, prompting Niall to scream and buck Louis off of him. This is going to turn south fast...

"Lads, chill you're gonna-" Suddenly, Louis falls to the side and rolls off the couch with his beer tumbling down with him all over the wooden floor. "Shit you made me spill my beer!"

"Don't smack my bum dickhead!"

"You are both children..." I grumble. How is it I'm the youngest but the only one with my shit together? They act as if they are not at all concerned that our lead guitarist up and ditched us a month before tour. We finally have a chance to actually make something of our music, and he screwed us. I stand from my seated position and separate tweedle dee and tweedle dumb ass by grabbing Louis by his collar. "Cut the shit, he'll be here soon and your immaturity will scare him off." From the demo he submitted, I'd say he was our best bet and I don't need these two ruining it.