Through The Dark

Nervous

   I lay my guitar case in the back of the truck and hustle back into the house. "Are you excited, Olive?" I look down at the baby strapped to my chest. She sleeps just as nothing is going on. I continue to talk to her anyway as I load up the truck. "Do we have your ear muffs?" I dig around in Olivia's bright green 'Concert Preparedness Pack' that Sam and I put together. Most of the things we were taking with us aren't even in the bag. "There we go!" I find them and put them in the outside pocket. "Now, do we have enough diapers? Oh hell, we can stop and get some. What about your floor bed?" I continue to mumble as I organize the car. "Let's go find mum..." I walk back in and she's making a thermos of coffee for herself. 

     "Tea?" He hands me my mug and I sip it. "Are we ready to go? Suitcases in the car?" I look by the door and the giant pile we had is gone. Everything is packed. I follow her out to the car and put Olivia snug in her carseat. 

    "On the road again!" I smile and get in. My first show was tonight in London. I feel like I already like this touring style more. It's relaxed. We weren't having a big production team come like we did for One Direction.  It's just me, Sam, and Olivia traveling together. It's like a family vacation.  I do my own hair, decide what to wear, pick my set list. I mean, I do have a manager but she just makes sure venues are booked and what not. We meet our crew at each venue. All the shows are spread out enough that I can kind of explore the city. 

    I back out of the garage and turn around. I pull sunglasses down my face, as does Sam, and we're off. We're only about an hour from the stadium, depending on traffic. We have to be there at noon for soundcheck. Then, lunch. After that is a quick meet and greet. I couldn't be more excited to play this album live at seven o'clock.  

     I we draw closer to the stadium, traffic begins to slow. "This is ridiculous..." Sam says as she looks around at the almost standstill traffic. "These all can't possibly be going to Wembley." 

     "First of all, I can't believe I'm playing Wembley again." I say and look around. "Second, why would they be here already?" 

     We finally make it closer to the stadium where a police officer on foot stops me. I roll down my window as he walks to the window. "Sir, we can't have you parking on the street here. We've got a lot of people coming to the city." He doesn't look at me. 

     "Yeah, eh... I'm Niall... This is my fault. I should have figured out something before. I'm not used to having to manage this." This was one thing I totally forgot about. I flash him my ID and he gestures me to a private drive. "Thank you so much." I roll the window back up and follow him. "We really need to figure this out before Manchester." 

    As soon as I get out of the car, my manager walks up to me and laughs. "Did you not get my several texts?" She asks and I pull out my phone. There, seven texts. All explaining to me not to take the main road to Wembley.  

      "I'm sorry, Stacy..." I shake my head. "My phones always on silent now that Olivia is here." 

       "I'll have some guys come and bring your stuff up to the dressing room." She says as I'm getting Olivia's bags out of the car. We start walking towards the back door and I there's a suddenly an outburst of screaming from the lawn. "Oh, yeah...they can see us from here." She chuckles. "They can't get back here." She guides us into the quite stadium and unlocks a back hall. "Here we go..." She walks to the end of the hall to a door plastered with my name. "I'll be back for you in a half hour and we can go through sound check. Lunch will be here at two for you." 

      "Are you still as excited?" Sam asks and I begin to unpack the play pen. 

      "Of course...." I smile and take her hand. "Nervous actually."