Hey There Delilah (Sequel to Not The Same)

Old Delilah

>Roman's POV<

She hasn't been herself all week and it was blatantly obvious that something was wrong. Everyone knew it, I think even her fans were catching on due to her absence from social media sites.

It drew me towards her even more than usual. She was like a magnet that no matter how far away from her I tried to stay, I couldn't stop myself from being attracted to her. The new Delilah never had anything to say, as opposed to the old one whom had an opinion on everything. She was vague and mysterious in a bad way but it was almost hot how she shut the world out and sulked in a misery that was clearly too deep to allow anyone to try and penetrate through. Why did I love it so much?

Maybe it was because it gave me an opportunity to try to knock through those walls. It's like when girls play hard to get and you literally HAVE to try and get her. I don't understand it, but it's so natural.

That didn't make a lot of sense either though, I'm so attracted to her because she's isolating herself from the world and I need to pull her out of it, so why haven't I yet? It's been four days and I haven't even talked to her. Not once.. Not even a simple 'hello'. I definitely wasn't helping her, I was tearing her down even more.

I watched her final dress rehearsal in the auditorium before tonight's show. We were all here. Each of the contestant's and the entire One Direction entourage. Even Audrey was here, watching her daughter shine on stage.

When I say shine, I mean literally shine. Delilah was wearing a really simple black dress with an extremely shiny gold blazer that entirely lit up the stage. Another reason I was attracted to this new Delilah: she was still the old Delilah on that stage. It was like nothing had changed when in actuality everything had changed. She smiled the same way she used to, danced around the stage like she owned and was confident and secure. She interacted with us, her audience and pretend like it was all good. I loved that. Maybe it was an act, or maybe that stage was the one place she was 100% happy and content. That is magic.

As always, it was a simply flawless upbeat performance. Once it was over the smile, lights, and mic all fell. And all that was left was Delilah, gloomy and sad standing there in the dim lights of the auditorium.

I wanted to hug her and tell her that everything was all right, but here's the reason I've been keeping my distance: she will not open up to us. None of us. I had practically given up and so had Megan. My thought was that maybe if we have her enough room and enough time, she's come out of it, talk to us, maybe let me fix all her problems for her just like I wanted to.

She sat down away from everyone else, just off in a side row. Everyone noticed and of course, everyone was concerned again. Liam got up and walked over to her. Noelle, sitting beside me, tensed.

"What?" I asked her. She rolled her eyes an looked to the other Delilah, who rolled her eyes as well.

"Nothing." Noelle said. I ignored her arrogance.

"Next up is Megan." Simon called. The rest of the contestant's each practiced their performance and by the time they were done, Liam was still sitting next to Delilah. Neither of them were speaking but I smiled to myself over that tiny moment. That tiny moment that I knew meant so much to both of them.

>Delilah's POV<

I wanted him to leave. I wanted to tell him to leave. I actually wanted him to walk out of my life. 

"Don't do this." He had told me as he sat down. 

"Do what?" Was my response.

"Completely shut down in the middle of a competition like this. Think of your fans." That's all he had said to me. Did he even get it? I don't think he quite understood, or maybe he understood, he just didn't care. My fans. Don't shut down because of my fans, because of this competition. Not because I have an entire lifetime of happiness and peace ahead of me, no, because my fans want me alive.