Unrequited

Chapter 5

The next morning, I was up before mum had left. “Want to come to the arena today? I’d prefer we avoided any more episodes containing you getting lost in the middle of London,” she sighed, her hands cupped around a mug of tea and already dressed in her pinstripe skirt and blazer, hair meticulously slicked back into a bun. “It wasn’t that bad Mum. I was a fifteen minute walk away from the hotel! You shouldn’t have even sent Harry - that was a bit embarrassing actually.” I pulled my dressing gown tighter around me and hopped up onto a stool in the kitchen. “He sent himself actually...once he heard you were in a spot of trouble and I had to deal with incompetent employees and a sprained wrist,” she said in exasperation, remembering yesterday’s (literal) slip-up. “It was very kind of him really. I hope you thanked him.”

“Mum, I’m not two. I know my please’s and thank you’s quite well actually.” I rolled my eyes.

“Hmm.” She set her cup on the bench and went to retrieve her bag from her bedroom. “Well, if you want to come today,” she called, “I’ll tell the boys and their driver and you can leave with them at around nine.” 

“Alright!” I swung off the stool and ran to my room, mentally sorting through my outfit options as fast as I could. 

I entered the cafe at the front of the hotel lobby around thirty minutes later, handbag swung over my shoulder, determined to get in a quick breakfast before I met up with the boys. I sat myself at a table against the front window and buried my nose in the newspaper sized menu. I was wondering how many trees had been sacrificed just for this one menu when the waitress approached and I ordered the first things that came to mind. Toast and coffee. It seemed like an incredibly boring breakfast for such a fancy hotel but I didn’t want to risk eating anything too heavy in case it decided to make an unwanted reappearance later in the day. I let my thoughts wander outside the window while I waited for my food. It was unusually quiet for this time of morning but I loved watching the few people around on their way to work. Some juggling briefcases and folios, others eating breakfast on the run. The noise of the chair opposite me scraping backwards caused my thoughts to stutter and I looked up to see Louis already making himself comfortable at the table, his  fellow band members following close behind. Louis put on a nonchalant expression, as though I had invited them to come and sit with me, when he knew perfectly well I wasn’t expecting them at all. “Sorry,” said Niall, “Mind if we join you?”

“No, of course not, take a seat. I think you might have to drag another chair over, Zayn.”

They were all a lot brighter than I could ever manage to be in the mornings. The waitress made a reappearance when she noticed I had company and soon we were all eating off giant china plates with our meals piled neatly in the middle. My toast came with a knife and fork and had grass on it. “Parsley, if you want to be technical,” Liam had said.

“Well, what if I don’t want to be technical, huh?” I grinned. Louis actually ate his toast with the knife and fork and shortly after eating we hopped into two cars and were driven to the arena. For the boys, it was another full day of work and rehearsals and finishing touches. For me, it was an insight into my mother’s world. Somewhere I had been very much oblivious to until now.

“You’re going to be bored out of your brains today,” Harry warned as we made our way to one of the back doors. He’d stayed back with me while I’d tied my shoelace. 

“Oh I don’t think so. I’ve only seen you boys perform on Youtube so I’m excited to see you sing in person!”

“You say that now,” he smiled, “But once you’ve heard us sing the same song about 50 times over you’ll change your mind.”

“Fifty times?” I asked. He nodded in response.

“Well,” I said with a cheeky smirk, “To save me from this boredom you speak of...get it right the first time!”