Tomlinson was the best thing to happen to me (Watty's '13)

Touring

"Have fun, then. I'll see you before Christmas Eve." I gave them each a hug. "I'll come out with one of you for the break. Except you, Louis. Be a bit awkward to live next door to where I used to after what happened."

"Right, well we'll see you later then."

Being alone in the flats is not ideal at all. Niall's noisy as is, and it's like someone's put soundproof walls up or something, the entire place is silent. Spooky silent. So when crashing noises filtered upstairs before absolute silence, I knew something was up. And then the banging on my door. "Open up," a rough voice ordered.

"Who is it?" I grunt, irritated. Three hard slaps on my front door.

"Open up," they persist. There's no other way to checking who it is apart from opening it with the chain in place.

"Yes?"

"Do you know a girl by the name of Annabelle?"

"No. Why? Did you lose her?" I ask with an Irish accent similar to that of Niall's.

"Annabelle Lee," the other expands in detail. "She ran away and we have leads that she currently resides in the area."

"No, never heard of 'er. 'Ere, ya speak Canto?" I relaxed sufficiently to take the chain off the door casually.

"Yeah."

"講," I order. Speak.

"Nah, 要走. 老兄, 他-" he stopped. Need to go. Something about his brother of higher rank than him, a term used usually by martial arts schools or Triad members, more predominantly the latter. I've been watching too much Hong Kong tv drama and this is most likely irrelevant.

"Haven't seen 'er, but I'll keep an eye out," I promise them as one of them hands me a slip of paper with a mobile number on it.

"If you see the girl, call the number. Asian, shoulder length hair and a fringe in the front." I nodded in understanding, and they left. I really can't do anything about this, I'm hunting myself. Thank goodness for the Irish accent, they would have recognised me to not be a local anyway. Might as well play the whole bastardly thing up and go for foreigner in the first place.

Work is as usual, and I arrive home to find a box down the front, wrapped in green paper. It's a parcel. I take it up, unlocking the door before quickly unwrapping the item. Inside was a box. DCShoes. Holy George! DC! How much does it cost? DC is an American brand, but how much did it cost? They're originally skater shoes, but they work just as well for breakers.

"This is awesome. Thanks guys," I mutter to myself. "Wouldn’t be you Louis, would it? Didn't think so. I'm a very logical person, and as far as how we've seen you behave, you'd be murdering those boys if you found out. Thanks for the thoughts, guys." I turned on the tv for news, slouching onto the sofa. It mentions One Direction on their tour and how everyone's after a piece of them. Correction, newsreader, Harry more than everyone else, I'd believe. I hear more of him singing solos than Zayn, Niall and Louis combined so far. He's also the one who gets the random few lines, and it all adds up.

I'm really bored, and since I have nothing to do alone this weekend, I check to see if Niall took his iPod with him. Surprisingly, it's still here. He's got what appears to be the entirety of the album. Might as well give it a listen. Most of them I find features mostly Harry, and though we're partners on a special level, I'm not very happy with it though it's likeable. Musically it's quite simple, maybe except the drums because I don't know how they reach from the snare drum to the suspended/ride/some fancy named cymbals in such a short period of time. This time I get to hear that lead single of theirs in quiet. If I tried really hard I could get the actual lyrics, but why bother with the real deal when you can say something else? The one starting with the piano chords. That one's likeable. So far, I don’t think there are songs numbering in any more than 3 songs that either I like the sound of, or have all of them singing solos. And then there was one, after 5 songs without any sign of Louis and hardly of Zayn, starting with what I assume to be guitars or some sort of synth. It's almost rock, probably considered pop rock. Almost my favourite in the album, contested with the third track.

So I've heard the entire album once, and my impression is… snare roll please… alright. They've got good voices, fresh. I don't dare listen in to the lyrics, I'm scared they might be really awkward. Except that track 3. I heard most of it, and the guitar track seems pretty simple, as long as you don't use the complicated bar chord version.

At night, I dream about things that stick to my memory, even waking me up in the middle of the night. It's mostly losing the boys somehow or other, or a rival that attacks Zayn or Niall in particular, and I can't do anything about it. I can't stop the dream from recurring, and I can't do anything to prevent this happening.

"Hello?"

"Hey Liam, it's Annabelle. How's your tour going."

"Guys! It's Annabelle!" Static noises filter through. "I've put you on loudspeaker, everyone's here except Niall and Louis."

"Why not?"

"Oh, they're discussing something," Zayn dismisses. "It's nothing, really."

"Missing us?"

"Yeah, who wouldn't? It's like a ghost town up here. Nothing. Just me."

"Just between you and us, we found you those shoes. You got them yet?" Zayn was getting secretive.

"Yeah, they're awesome. How much did they cost?"

"Oh, only about 60 quid," Liam answers. In our house, we receive pocket money on a weekly basis whether we have school or not.

"60! I wouldn't be able to get that much in pocket money in 2 months, even! And anyway, how did you manage to get them to me?" I ask, curious. "Louis would have murdered you all!" I shout in a whisper.

"Target incoming," Harry whispered close to the phone.

"Who are you talking to so secretively, eh?" Louis.

"Andy," Zayn says.

"Stop lying, I know it's not Andy, Zayn."

"See, I told you before we should lie, Zayn. We're talking to Annabelle."

"Can I talk to her?"

"No Louis, if you're going to talk, I'm going to end the damned call." Footsteps answered my objection.

"Annabelle, were you really going to end the call?"

"I don't want to talk to him. It's going to end in a messy row that neither of us wants to back down in. And Zayn, why the heck did you try to lie?"

"Well I didn't think it would end well, so I might as well divert it."

"Niall still somewhere else?"

"Yeah. Bro time for us."

"I've been thinking. I'm going down to the pub some Friday nights after you guys come back or something along those lines. Be better if Niall and Louis didn't come along. Just me and Harry would be cool. Or Zayn. Either works fine, really."

"What do we talk about?"

"Anything, really. Whatever's troubling you, I guess."

"Sounds good. Count me in."

"Awesome." I hear a door open.

"Niall, where've you been for so long?" The call ended. This is great, this partnership with the other 3. No trouble so far, with these ones.