That Girl Band (Liam Payne)

Part 6

By the time we arrived in New Jersey, Liam and I had NOT watched another WW2 movie and played video games with his band-mates. We talked, laughed and had a great time. It was only 9 hours, but I can't remember ever feeling so close to a person. I loved the way he smelled, the way he talked, the way he held me. He had a habit of kissing my head, right near my hairline. For some reason, it made me feel safe. I fit right under his chin when he stood and he liked to pull me in and cuddle me there.

When we arrived at the venue, people started to scatter, doing their jobs, unloading trucks, moving stage parts. Liam and the other boys were dragged away and I hurried over to Max. "We have an interview with a radio station. Let's go. You need to get ready." I was dragged onto the bus and forced into my Styx persona. Then it was a race to the radio station, an appearance at a local mall then back to the hotel where we were told to stay put until morning.

Someone knocked on the door. Hoping it was room service, I pulled it open, faced with Liam. "I'm looking for Beth?" he said.

I was frozen. It was Liam. He was talking. My knees were weak. I couldn't speak. I wanted to scream out that I was Beth, but Max came up behind, pushing me out of the way. "She's not here." she said.

"Oh." Liam was staring at her. I put my head down and looked at him from between my lashes. "Uh, do you know where she is? I still don't have a number for her?"

Max crossed her arms across her chest and said, "No and she doesn't have a phone."

"She does. I've seen it. I forgot to ask..."

Max didn't listen. She just shut the door in his face. "Good Job, dummy. He likes you." Then she laughed, walking back to her bed.

The next day, we were woken up extremely early and hustled into New York. We were going to be on the Today Show. They were going to interview us and we were the featured artist for the day on their summer concert series. I never spoke during the interview. Even when the interviewer directly asked me a question, I let Max answer.

We played our three original songs before being hustled back to New Jersey. Benny took us straight back to the arena and made us practice the new songs that Max and Jesse had written. I hadn't had a single second to myself the entire day. I was exhausted. When we got back to the hotel, we had been awake for 18 hours. I went right into my room and laid down, not even bothering to remove my wig or makeup. I think I fell asleep, because I was jolted awake by yelling. It was Liam.

"Where the hell is she? She can't just be gone!"

I heard Max yell, "She is. She had to leave. Now GET OUT." The was a scuffling noise and the door to my room flew open.

I sat up and watched Liam look around. "Beth? Lizzy?" He looked right past me. He turned and disappeared out of sight. I laid back down, listening to the door slam.

"Band Meeting. NOW!" I heard Benny yell. I walked out of my room and sat on a couch. Benny turned and pointed at me. "Fix this. Fix it NOW. I told you not to play around with those boys. I told you." He turned and stomped into his own room.

The next day was a show day and I didn't have time to be anyone except Styx. We were supposed to play the two new songs at the show tonight and Benny wanted to record at least one. He took us to a recording studio and got one of the song recorded. Benny wanted an album out in October. We were going to be writing and recording at every stop. Any free time would be few and far between. We napped on the bus before the show, waking up for dinner and a sound check. Liam was in the lunchroom looking like he hadn't slept. His eyes were red and they looked tired, like he had been crying. He looked up, hopeful, when we walked in, but the looked faded when he saw it was just the four of us. I felt my heart breaking. I was hurting him, beyond all reason. It wasn't fair, but I didn't know how to fix it without hurting him even more. Why hadn't I asked for his number?