Chasing Dreams

Chapter Eleven - 'New Beginnings Or A Refusal To Accept The Past'

Chapter Eleven – ‘New Beginnings Or A Refusal To Accept The Past

They were finally leaving Ireland behind them. Lacey was so happy to be going, her view of Ireland was now overshadowed by what had happened and she was eager to start on the European leg of the tour. They would be leaving their current tour bus in Ireland and flying over to Paris. There they would pick up their new tour bus that they’d use to travel around Europe in.

Lacey lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling as she contemplated her time with the band. She had now been with them for just over a month and a half and was surprised about how many things had happened of course there were the good bits, i.e. her stories, meeting Jenny, Ian and Steve, meeting the boy’s, travelling etc. But there were also bad bits: Ollie, Monica, Ollie, it was a never-ending list.

She was confused but she still wanted him and she almost hated herself for it. She knew she was being silly and pathetic but she just couldn’t stop. If you took out the fact that they were a famous boy band, she could have still found herself falling for someone like Ollie. Somehow because he was famous, it made it worse. She decided not to focus on it any longer; she’d push it to the back of her mind until she had a clearer mind to think about it with.

They’d managed to secure a private jet to fly from Dublin to Paris. Usually they flew first class on an ordinary plane with other passengers. However, after discussing security details, Steve had decided it would be better for everyone if the boy’s flew privately.

It would only take an hour and twenty-eight minutes to fly from Dublin to Paris, so at least the group wouldn’t be stuck on the plane for hours on end. Once they had officially taken off and the seatbelt sign had been switched off, Jack proposed a game of ‘I have never’. So the group sat in a close circle, or as close to a circle as they could get, as plane chairs weren’t built for circles.

Jack started off the game with something easy ‘I have never worn nail varnish’ and Lacey was forced to take a chip from the pile. As they were on a plane and Steve had refused to allow them to drink alcohol, they had decided to use chips instead. The person at the end of the game with the most chips won, according to Jack. Lacey thought that was confusing as usually the one with the most should be the loser, so she voiced her concerns to Jack. He replied that with most things that was the case, but with ‘I have never’ it was more fun to have the winner be  the one who had the most things as it was more amusing. Lacey couldn’t argue with his logic, especially when he pulled that puppy dog expression, so the game continued.

Silas picked up chips for using female hair products, weeing in public, getting a fans name wrong and going commando. Jack picked up chips for forgetting to lock the bathroom door, being sick on Steve and drunk dialling his Mother. Ollie received chips for most hook-ups in a month, swearing on live television and being caught on camera behaving inappropriately. Lacey won two chips; one for wearing nail varnish, the other for wearing heels. Bradley ended up being the winner of the game, securing seven chips for himself. It was the reason he’d been known as a bad boy. Ollie was a bad boy among women but it had always been Bradley who was the true bad boy. Even though he had mellowed out since he started dating Elena, it was still his image.

Jack stretched and got up, as the game had ended, the boy’s took this as their queue to get up and walk around before returning to their seats. Lacey used the time to think of what sort of story to write next. Ian had laxed the rule a bit, he’d decided that writing a story for every venue sounded a bit forced. Instead he’d decided that Lacey should write when the idea struck. Indeed the fans were certainly the spontaneous writing and the fact that they needed to check the sight each day. The comment box on the website was overflowing with comments and suggestions and there was hardly a bad remark there, leading Lacey to believe she was doing well.

‘Hey Lacey, how come you haven’t talked to your parent’s since you won the competition?’ asked Silas.

Lacey tensed as she turned to face him, she noticed the others had stopped talking to listen to her answer and even Steve seemed mildly curious.

‘Because they wouldn’t want to hear from me’ she said.

‘But they’re your parent’s right, they love you’ said Jack.

She nodded ‘yes but they don’t agree with my passion for writing. They see it as a hobby not a profession and when I won this competition, they told me that if I accepted, I shouldn’t bother coming home’ she stated.

‘But that’s dreadful, parents are supposed to support their children’s dreams no matter how farfetched they seem. I don’t know what I’d do if my parent’s hadn’t supported my singing career’ said Ollie outraged.

‘My dream differed from the dream of my parent’s and because of that my dream was frowned upon and classed as wrong. I love my parent’s but if they’re going to step aside and ignore me for following my dreams, then it’s their problem. I won’t stop writing for anyone’ said Lacey passionately.

‘Here, here’ said Bradley smirking.

Lacey rolled her eyes as she got up to get some water.

‘You’re very brave standing up for your dreams and not bowing to the wishes of your parent’s. It must not be easy’ said Steve as she passed him.

‘No it’s not easy’ she said ‘but I manage’.

He smiled at her attitude as she returned to her seat and shortly after the seatbelt sign dinged back on, marking their decent into Paris. The airport was quiet as they arrived quite late in the evening. There was a car waiting to take them to the hotel they’d be staying in for the three nights they would be in Paris for. After Paris, they would be back on the tour bus for the majority of the Europe part of the tour.

By the time they arrived at the hotel, Lacey was quite tired but travelling with celebrities meant she had to suffer the enthusiastic meet ‘n’ great by the hotel employees with them rather than going upstairs to bed. The employee who had been given the job of welcoming them was far too perky for this late hour and Lacey couldn’t tell if he was generally like this or if it was because the boys were here. Either way, she wished he would stop talking as she was beginning to get a headache.

‘Lacey’.

‘Hmm’ she said tiredly.

Someone chuckled.

‘Lacey he’s stopped talking, we can go to our rooms now’ said Bradley.

‘Oh, ok’ said Lacey quietly, fumbling as she tried to reach her suitcase handle.

‘Can someone take Lacey’s suitcase, she looks too tired’ said Bradley.

‘I’ll take it’ cried Ollie.

Lacey nodded her consent and trudged along behind the boy’s and towards the lift. They’d got rooms on the seventh floor. Steve had a room to himself, the room to his left was for Jack and Bradley and then the room on his right was for Silas and Ollie. The last room, to the right of Silas and Ollie was Lacey’s room. She would have been over excited at the prospect of sleeping in a bed again had she not been so tired. As it was, she thanked Ollie for carrying her suitcase, walked into her hotel room, closed the door and collapsed on the bed. That night she slept like a log, the sleep she desperately craved making her feel much better.