Fame (1D)

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

"Hey." I heard through the phone line as soon as I picked up.

"Josh?" I said incredulously. "You called!"

"Yeah I called! You wanted me to, remember?"

"I remember. But that was a few weeks ago!" I laughed. It felt like forever since I'd spoken to the other boys. "Where are you guys now?"

"What's the date?"

"July 12th."

"We're in Auburn Hills, I believe."

"I have no clue where that is." I laughed. "How are you and the boys?"

"We're... Good. Harry forgot his lyrics three times since Atlanta, and got screamed at by Lisa more than ten. He told her to go to hell, more than once."

"Who is this Lisa?" I said, annoyed. Who was she, and why was she making my Harry so upset?

'Not your Harry, Ali. He's not your Harry.' My mind reminded me.

"She's our tour manager. You really never met her?"

"No."

"You were with them for five months before..."

"I know. But I never met her." I shrugged. "Liam keeps calling me in the middle of the night with his number blocked. Did you know of this?"

"Yeah. Harry calls sometimes too- you never answer." He chuckled.

"Weird. Maybe because it's 3 in the morning and I would be sleeping? Just a thought."

"He really misses you."

"That sucks for him." I said nonchalantly.

"Ali..." Josh warned.

"I don't want my heart to be broken again. Why doesn't he call when I'm awake?"

"I don't know. It's weird for them not being able to talk to you whenever they want."

"It's weird for me too. But I've gotten over it and they should too."

"Ali, don't be like that." Josh sighed.

"What? They should get over it. I like it here in Wolverhampton."

"Oh yeah, you're living the dream. All those reporters camped out on your lawn? Wow. You're too lucky." Josh said sarcastically.

"Shut up." I mumbled.

"Don't lie to yourself." He snapped back. "Look, I have to go. I'll talk to you later." He sighed.

"No! No Josh, stay. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I know what you're doing, anyway."

"Go on?"

"You're putting up a hard front. You don't want him to hurt you again, I know that. We all know that."

"I'm not sure what to say to that." I laughed nervously.

"I really do have to go, Ali. I'll text you!"

"Bye." I mumbled before the line went dead. "How do I manage to screw everything up?" I asked Avery and Giordy.

"You didn't screw up that bad." Giordy laughed.

"That bad." I echoed.

"You just sounded nervous and closed off." Avery told me, picking at her nails. "It wasn't that bad. Besides, it was Josh. It's not like it was Harry or Liam, right?"

"They're all super close. Especially Niall and Josh... The boys think Niall is a happy little puppy when really he's the one that spills the dirt on everything and everyone."

"I still can't believe you know all of them personally. We can literally call them up right now and they would answer?" Avery said, her green eyes wide.

"Yup." I answered. Avery was the most starstruck- mostly because I'd known Giordy before and Ave was new. She hadn't known me before, so she was shocked when she found out that I had the entire band and crew of One Direction on my cell phone.

Avery and Giordy were fans of the boys. If I ever go back on tour, I'll have to convince the boys to let me bring them to my home and introduce them to my friends.

"Are you ever going to go back?" Giordy asked quietly.

"You should." Ave piped up.

"I'm not sure." I answered slowly. "I don't want to get hurt again, you know? It was rough the first week being here- I didn't even move until my mom brought me here. And the fact that it was my sister... I don't want to give Camila another excuse to do that to me again."

"I'm sure Camila will be on lockdown as soon as your mum tracks her down and gets her home."

"If my mum finds her." I said, locking eyes with Giordy.

I'd told my mum about what Camila had done, and she was furious. My mum had paid for Camila's entire tuition, and when she found out that she was travelling the world, stalking the boys and I and coming up with plans to break Harry and I up... Lets just say Camila better be prepared for our mother's wrath when she gets home.

She'd then gone into panic mode, and was texting and calling Camila non stop- all to no avail. We had no clue where she was, and it was freaking us out.

"She will. And once she does, you can go back on tour."

"What about dance? You guys will be improving all that time. I won't be back here until early November, if I leave. That's too much time to miss."

"You're almost done your solo. We're finishing trio tomorrow morning. You can run through it with the boy's choreographers on the big stages when the boys are done with soundcheck!" Avery suggested.

"That's brilliant." Giordy grinned.

"It is pretty smart." I agreed reluctantly. Avery and Giordy suddenly began cheering and dancing around like psychos. "Guys, I never said I was going back. The boys haven't even invited me back- let alone management."

"Have you even checked your email?" Giordy asked, raising an eyebrow. I frowned- I was caught.

"No..." I mumbled.

"Let's check it now!" Giordy sang. I followed the girls to my big desk top computer over in the corner, and they clicked the little envelope button in the corner.

There were 59 messages in the Modest folder. 5-9. I felt my throat go dry as the girls scrolled through them all.

From what we collected, the boy's management team had reserved one ticket on every single plane that was flying to where they were on that given day. Any time that a plane was flying to Auburn Hills today, there was a ticket reserved for me.

"Oh my god. You can literally hop on a plane and go!" Avery gushed excitedly.

"They're expiring in a few hours." I said, pointing at the most recent email. "Expiration Notice." I read. I saw Giordy furrow her eyebrows, and Avery frowned. "I can't go back now. I have no money."

"Let's check the other emails." Avery suggested. They went into the boy's folder, and there were only three messages. One from Louis, one from Niall, one from Liam.

I opened Liam's first- it was a sad email asking how I could leave them, I was overreacting, blah blah.

We opened Niall's next, and it wasn't in fact from Niall. The first line said that it was Lisa, and she emailed from Niall's account because her email was confidential. She was just asking if I would be coming back, and saying that it would benefit everyone if I did.

We opened the last one, from Louis that was sent July 8th. I think the boys were in Pittsburg that day.

Attached was a video, and Louis had written only a few words underneath.

'Watch until the end. He needs you back. We need you back. Love Louis xx'

"I guess we'll have to watch-"

"Shh." Giordy hushed me- she'd already selected the video.

From what I could tell, it was at a concert, and the boys were singing.

"Which song is this?"

"Change My Mind." Avery said absently, her eyes focused on the screen. I took a deep breath when it shifted into the second verse- Harry's part was in this verse. We all watched Liam perform his part calmly and near perfectly, and then Harry began to perform.

"Did he forget?"

"He changed a word."

"He didn't sing the last-"

"Guys." I interrupted. Louis had said something about him forgetting lyrics onstage, but I hadn't imagined it would be like that. He looked absolutely heartbroken- that wasn't the Harry I knew. "There's a new video coming up." I said, and as soon as the song ended we saw someone following Harry offstage.

"Hey Ali and friends." We heard Louis' voice come quietly over our speakers. "Hope you enjoy this... Just kidding. Harry's about to be dead-"

"Harry, what the hell?!" A woman yelled when the clumping on the staircase had stopped. There was a break, and then some shuffling. "Harry Styles. What. Was. That." She said, slowly and angrily.

"I forgot. I'm human." Harry's voice said, sounding bored.

"The 'I'm human' excuse only works for a little while, Harry. Why haven't you been focused lately? Do we have to cut off all communication with everyone, make you-"

"Make me what, live in that damn tour bus? Go for it, Lisa." So that girl is the Lisa that the boys kept talking about. "I would love to. Because it's a whole lot better than facing what I have to outside of the band. As much as you hate to know it, we all have lives, Lisa. We have friends and family back home. The band isn't our entire life."

"This is about Alison, isn't it." She said quietly.

"It's not about Alison." He said quietly, and I frowned.

"Well what's it about?"

"It's about you treating us like objects to make you money! We're not money makers, Lisa. We're people. We have feelings. And if you don't respect that, you can-" Louis cursed under his breath.

"Harry! Come here, band talk." Louis said, louder now, and we heard him pushing the door open.

"Thanks Louis."

"What's gotten into you, man? Last month you were happy and excited for anything that crossed your path. Now you're screaming at our manager in a back room?"

"It wasn't a back room, firstly. And secondly, last month-"

"Alison was here." Louis interrupted.

"Ali was here." Harry agreed, and it seemed like he'd lost a fight, the way he said it. Louis sighed, and the two began walking.

"Boys? We need to get Ali back. Harry just told Lisa to go to hell, and we need Ali back. Now." Louis said.

"You told her to go to hell?" Niall asked quietly.

"I didn't really finish the sentence before Louis saved my ass." Harry said, sounding ashamed.

"We'll get Ali back soon, Harry." Zayn said comfortingly.

"Don't worry." Liam said.

"We'll figure something out." Niall said from a distance.

"Thanks lads. What do you say we get back to the hotel?" Harry said.

"Sounds good to me. It's probably best we steer clear or Lisa for a few days." Louis chuckled.

"Good idea." Harry agreed.

"Call me when you're finished watching this." Louis whispered, and then there was a click and the video was over.

"My goodness. Harry is in love with you." Avery said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I know." I groaned, falling into a couch. "Why is this so complicated?"

"It doesn't have to be." Giordy said, joining me on the couch.

"But it does. Everything is so complicated when it involves those boys."

"He loves you. You love him. What's so complicated?" Avery asked.

"How can I be sure that when we get in a fight he won't just run off and get drunk? Kiss the first girl he sees? He acts like he likes me but as soon as things don't go well... I need to be able to trust that he will stay faithful."

"Then trust him. Ali, you need to go back on tour." Giordy said.

"Do you guys want water?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Avery and Giordy sighed, but nodded. "Be right back." I said, and ran up the stairs.

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•Avery•

"Hello?" A tired British voice sounded through the cell phone.

"Hi! This is Harry?" I said quietly. Giordy and I had found Harry's phone number in Ali's phone, and we were calling him to tell him to tell Ali to go back on your.

"Yeah, if you're a fan please don't call again."

"Oh! I'm not a fan. Well, I kind of am, but that's not why I called you."

"Why did you call? It's nearly 4 in the morning."

"It's Avery Hartfiel and Giordy Van Atche, we're in Ali Richards' basement right now and we don't have much time."

"Why are you in her basement?"

"Oh! We were sleeping over. Sorry to freak you out. The three of us just read all the emails that she had in her inbox, and we think we can convince her to go back. That's what you want, right?"

"Yeah." He said groggily. I heard the flick of a switch and gave Giordy the thumbs up. "How can you get her to come back?"

"Call her and invite her back. She said she hadn't been invited back- she thinks you're all furious with her. If you just ask her to come back on tour, we can take care of the rest. Can you do that, Mr. Styles?"

"I believe I can. Thanks for calling."

"We're serious, Harry. She'll be back in no time."

"Thank you, Avery and Giordy. But I need sleep, goodnight."

"Night!" I smiled as I hung up. Giordy ran over to the couch and sat down just as Alison came back around the corner with our water bottles.

"Thanks." Giordy smiled.

"Thank you!" I sang, and then we spent the rest of the night watching sad movies and eating popcorn.