Moments In Time

March 2015

Kacey Owens sat with four of her bandmates in a conference room, waiting for their management team to come inside for an announcement. The four guys were rather quiet, which was unusual. She'd been so adjusted to her boys being loud and rambunctious, so when she noticed that lately they'd been talking in hushed tones and such, it unnerved her. She also noticed that none of them wanted to make eye contact with her anymore. She had no idea what was up their asses, and she was getting tired of being out of the loop.

Ever since Zayn went on his break, they always seemed to be secretive, and they'd always stopped talking when she entered the room. It bugged Kacey, especially since they'd never kept secrets in the nearly 4 years she'd joined the band.

Kacey had joined up right before the band crossed over to the United States. She had just turned seventeen at the time. She was an American, and Simon believed that having an American girl in the band would help boost sales.

He wasn't wrong. Kacey had a wonderful voice, and related to a lot of the fans in the crowds. She always spoke her mind, and valued the fans above anything else, except for her family, and her boys. She wasn't society's idea of beautiful. Instead of being tall and thin, she was short and of average weight, with dark brown hair and big brown eyes that almost always smiled. She was also kind, an attribute that drew all five boys to her at once.

She had a special bond with each of them. Harry was one of her best friends, and they'd spent a lot of time doing college prep together. In a lot of ways, he saw her as a little sister, and he was very protective of her.

Niall was the one who she loved to relax and have a beer with, while he chatted about things that others only pretended to find interesting. She always made him feel important, and made sure others knew it as well.

Liam was the older brother she never had. He was always there to listen to her whenever she needed it. He had a calming presence and always helped her mellow out when she got angry. Liam had had a bit of a thing for Kacey when she'd first joined but Kacey just wasn't into him. He soon accepted that graciously, and continued to be the friend she needed.

Louis may have been the oldest, but she loved being mischievous with him. They'd played several pranks on the other members and crew over the years. For all his pranks, though, Louis was quite protective of Kacey as well. Whenever she fought against the other boys, which was rare, he'd always back her up. He wouldn't let anyone say anything bad against her, and she wouldn't let anyone talk bad about his insecurities.

Then there was Zayn.

Zayn and Kacey were close from day one. He went out of his way to make her feel welcome. Once, when management forgot to book a room with enough beds to go around, Zayn gave up his bed for Kacey and slept on a makeshift bed of couch cushions and pillows.

They'd spent several days together at a time when the fame got too much, just to destress and unwind. They were completely themselves with each other. He was without a doubt her best friend in the entire world, and she was his as well. The others were jealous of their bond sometimes, but they also knew that fame was hard on Zayn, and if Kacey helped make it easier on him, then they wouldn't discourage it.

However, lately, there was tension between the two of them. None of the boys but Louis knew what had happened between them. Though they were friendly towards each other, Kacey and Zayn both feared for the future of their friendship.

Which was why his decision to leave the tour for a break was fully supported by Kacey. He was letting the rumors get to him in a bad way and she didn't want him hurting himself. She had been in the room with him and Jawaad when he said he needed to go home. She told him to go, and to get some rest. She hoped the break would help their fractured friendship. She wanted it back to the way it was before, and she knew that he did, too.