Ride

It's a little...small.

"Well...I haven't...," Niall rubbed the back of his neck.
I rolled my eyes and zipped my hoodie up a bit more.
"I'm your tour manager- that pretty much equates to stage mommy."
"Nuh-uh-uh," Louis chides. "You're the intern to the tour manager- that equates to mommy's sexy secretary."
The boys continued to debate my role in their lives, with me only looking on amused. "Whatever you are," Liam interrupted. "You'll have to start investing in some business wear, or fans will get the wrong idea. No need for you to get death threats for bedding with Harry when you never shagged with him in the first place.
"You shagged Harry? I thought you shagged Louis!" Niall went wide eyed. "Did you shag both of them?"
---
As we arrived at our location, the first thing I noticed about SiCo Records was the massive amount of people surrounding the building; Hoards of women and girls were trying to get in, and they only seemed to get into more of a frenzy when they saw the black car pull up.
"We're here, lads," Mark announced, prompting us to get out. The five of us climbed out of the car with the safe protection of a few gentlemen in black to huddle us into the building.
The building was very basic on the inside, completely polar to my expectations. The boys and I walked over to the elevator in the far right corner of the room. Instead of a button to press, there was a key-card slot.
"SiCo Records likes to have a dash of flair with security, so you'll need to stick with us or Mark till you get your own clearance pass," Harry explains.
The elevator music, funnily enough, was "You Don't Know Your Beautiful"; Hearing the song immediately made the boys look more tired.
"Do you all not like your song?" I ask.
"It's not that way don't like it," Niall begins.
"We owe a lot of our success to this song," Harry continued.
"It's just, we've sang this song so many times that it's become..." Liam struggled to pick the proper word.
"Boring and defining." Louis finishes.
"Ahh." I responded awkwardly; looking at my feet and enjoying the song while it played.
The elevator opened to a scaled down version of the lobby, but with a box room also inside, which I assumed is the recording studio.
When we stepped out, another presence made itself known: a bald olive skinned man wearing a suit.
"Boys!" He greeted with a friendly smile. The man took note of me and gave me a courteous nod "Ms. Clarke, thank you for showing up!" The man put his hand on my waist and guided me to one of the lax chairs. "We were notified by your hotel that there was no Riley Clarke checked in, so you must excuse me if I seem surprised you're here."
What the hell, man! While inside I was positively brewing rage, I quickly blinked the attitude out of my eyes and maintained a flat demeanor.
"With all due respect, sir, the hotel didn't have any record of a room reservation by SiCo. I wasn't able to stay at any hotel last night, so you must excuse me if my appearance is too casual."
The man crossed his arms and sighed "Ah. Well then, we must forgive you."
I was ticked off, but I had to appreciate that he was humouring a sarcastic banter with me.
Before I could get a nice subtle piece of wit in, Harry interfered and introduced the man to me.
"Ri-err- Ms.Clarke, this is Rhys Gilligan, he helps control us."
To play polite, we shook hands and smiled at each other.
Rhys circled me, clearly aware whose clothes I was actually wearing. "Where did you end up staying last night, Ms.Clarke?" He scratched his head, mock thinking "Because, while I I could have sworn that Liam has the precise body wash you're using."
"What do you do, sniff them?" I scoff. Rhys' lips tightened into a line.
"I fortunately met Riley last night and offered her board in Zayne's old room," Liam explained. "There was nothing left, product wise, in his bathroom, so I let her use my shower."
I was genuinely impressed with Liam's ability to lie. That wasn't something I picked up about him during our early morning meeting together.
"On a lighter note, I have an idea for a new song. Can we get to the studio and start working?"

Rhys nodded but pulled me aside once more. "One Direction will be starting their global tour in six months, but their tour promotions will start within the month." He put a hand on my shoulder "Their tour schedule has already been made and put into action, so your job is to travel with them, make sure they don't say anything too stupid, they get places on time, and be the person on the inside of the group. If SiCo needs them to do something, you have to be prepared to get them to do it."
Rhys squeezed my shoulder "If you feel overwhelmed, you're royally screwed. In fact, it's a little...small."
My task list didn't seem too bad. In fact, hanging out with them might be rather enjoyable!
-- Looking back on my thoughts, I don't know what prompted my sudden optimism, but, regardless of the reason, I was being full heartedly naïve and stupid.--

A.N.: Hey guys! I've had an insane week, which is why the chapter is short and late! Sorry :(
I'll probably update this later so the title ties in better!