"And here's your Friday night five o'clock drive with DJ Malik," said radio co-host Perrie Edwards. Her boyfriend, Zayn, grinned and turned up the base.
"Where we goin' after, babe?" said Perrie, sitting in a chair.
Zayn spent a few more seconds fixated on the music, then turned to his beautiful girl. "Well babe, I'm actually meeting up with some guys I knew in high school."
"Really?" she said, surprised. Zayn rarely talked about with his gang from high school. Legend had it--by Mrs. Malik, that was--that Zayn had had five best friends from which he'd been inseperable from, and they all sort of went off in different directions after graduation a few years ago.
"Yeah," he said. "The guy that moved to England, he's visiting this weekend, so...we decided to meet up tonight. You can come if you--"
"No, it's fine honey. Go, have your fun. I'll be with the girls," Perrie said. "The girls" was her indie band, Little Mix that she formed with her best friends. Zayn kissed her on the forehead as she stood up. "Go home, Per. I'll close up here."
"Thanks," she said. They kissed and she left. He smiled after her, watching the door close. He turned back to the music when he got an idea. Just as an Ellie Goulding song ended, he started an old song from when they were kids, mixing it up. They'd written I Would when they were only sixteen or seventeen, when they had big dreams of making as a pop band. Well, here Zayn was, three years into the real world, and he was a part time radio dj and pizza dilivery man. But, he couldn't complain. He had Perrie, and at least at the radio station he was doing what he loved: making music. So he smiled, and played a new Rhianna song.
Liam Payne whistled happily to himself as he mopped the floor. A few weeks ago, he decided to start closing the gym at five o'clock on Fridays, and he was glad he did, because now he had the place to himself. Liam loved having the place to himself, because that was when he got to sing. He blasted the music he wanted as loud as he could, and cleaned the place, and sang at the top of his lungs. Most days, he played old classic rock songs, but today...today was different and the playlist on his phone he selected was not labled "Beatles & Springstein" but "One Direction ∞", a playlist he made nogalistically. And why had he done it? Because tonight was not an ordinary Friday night of doing paperwork while Sophia studied nearby. Tonight he was seeing the boys. He had to admit, he missed them a lot. They'd had some great times in high school, and he couldn't wait to relive them tonight. He called Sophia and left her a voice mail before finishing the job at the gym and taking a shower in the men's room.
Niall grinned. Tonight, he studying would only be until five thirty. Tonight he'd be seeing the guys who had most been the most important people in his world. He changed the music coming from his phone from a Katy Perry song to a song he didn't remember putting on his phone. "Moments?" he whispered to himself. And then he hit it, and the memories came flooding back to him. Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Louis playing songs at Harry's dad's house every single day after school and all through the weekend. He missed it so much, and soon he felt tears coming. He wiped his eyes and went back to studying. He had a huge final coming up, and--oh, screw it. He stood up on his desk, and shut his eyes, singing along with the song, pretending he was once again in that garage, with his best friends. He couldn't remember being that happy in a while.
Harry Styles couldn't remember being this conflicted in a while. Tonight was the night he was going to see all of his best friends again for the first time since he graduated two years ago. But he couldn't get past the fact that this wasn't just a fun reunion with the boys. First, he had to go through the embarrassment of how well he'd done. It wasn't a secret that Harry Styles was an up-and-coming artist, and that the rest of "One Direction" wasn't. He had risen to a small fame since his decision to drop out of college, and his newest single was sure to be a #1 hit soon. Ad while he was ecastic at his own good luck and accomplishments, he was slightly worried that his old friends might be jealous or resentful towards him. Although--Louis had his own share of fame, but not musical. And that was the other problem. Louis. Oh, the amount of different things that name as meant...best friend for so long, then boyfriend for years, and then--exes. Harry sighed. He missed Louis so much. But he didn't have time for the distraction of a boyfriend right now. And his new career couldn't afford that scandle. And anyway, Louis lived so far away...
Louis Tomlinson groaned. His crappy little hotel room was so dismal and bleak. But when he saw what Niall had posted on Twitter, he brightened. "Can't wait to get the gang back together," his friend had written, with a picture of the five of them goofing off when they were younger. God, he did miss the boys. Playing soccer--or football, as his teammates called it--in England had always been his dream as a kid. Well, one of his dreams. He missed America, though, and was glad to be back. Had he developed an accent? He'd find out soon enough.
"One Direction" had been formed by Louis and Zayn first in a town on Long Island called Burtville. Burtville High was home to grades 8-12. Harry and Niall were inseperable since kindergarten, and Liam was their other best friend. Liam was Zayn's next door neighbor and lifelong companion. Louis met the four of them when Harry's mother Anne befriended fellow single Johannah mother, and the two of them found themselves spending an awful lot of time together. Soon Louis met Niall and Liam, and then Zayn, and it wasn't long before they had a band. When Louis graduated two years later, he attended a local, two-year college and the five of them still played together. When Zayn graduated, he had decided not to go to college, and began to work at a local radio station as an intern and at some different local restaurants. In 2012, Harry, Niall, and Liam graduated high school, and Louis graduated from two-year college. Louis was asked to play soccer in England, and had to leave immediately. Niall started college at NYU, but Harry didn't get accepted and went to the American Conservatory of Music in Illinois instead. Liam went to work at a gym, and when he was only 19, he was offered a job at a different gym a couple towns over as the manager of his own gym. When he was 20, he bought the place.
So Louis was in England, Harry was in Illinois, Niall was in New York City, Liam was in Massapequa, and Zayn was in good old Burtville. But, that February, everything seemed to go their way. The soccer season was over for Louis and Harry had moved back to New York to make his name in music a few years ago. They would all be together, tearing up their old home town like the good old days.
Zayn was the first one there, as planned. He worked there, and had gotten permission from the manager to meet with his friends after closing time. She almost hadn't agreed, but once she found out that Harry Styles would be there, and that Zayn could get a picture of him in the restaurant, she quickly complied.
The waiters had all just left and the place was pretty much closed
