DayDream (Liam Payne FF) (BWWM) COMPLETED

Liam (41)

Liam.

I can't believe we're here. 

You can literally feel the excitement buzzing through the place and Niall is just about jumping out of his skin.

"Man, Croker. This is unreal," he keeps mumbling to himself, running his hands through his hair and creeping to the edge of the backstage area to look out at the crowd as our friends open up for us.

We all understand how much this weekend means to Niall so we're all just standing back and letting him take it all in. It's an emotional homecoming for him and I'd be lying if I said that we didn't all feel it too. 

Proud is an understatement.

Glancing over at the other lads, I note that they're all in their own little worlds. Harry has his chain in his mouth and is staring at the ground, Zayn has headphones in, occasionally bopping his head to the beat. Louis, pouring tea while playing games on his phone.

On the other side of the room, family is gathered around in light conversation and anticipation. Louis appears to be texting his sisters, who look over and shoot him faces before laughing and going back to doting on their youngest siblings, fussing with the ear muffs to protect their delicate hearing. Harry has crossed the room and now is in a one sided conversation with Theo, while Theo tries to pull the headscarf from Harry's head, earning laughter around the space. My mom and dad are chatting quietly with Gemma and Aubri and it makes my heart smile to see them getting along so easily.

Aubri has on a plain white tee shirt, her hair in a messy bun, usual suspects escaping and framing her face. Her hands are bare and my eyes trail to the gold link necklace around her neck and the light imprint teasing the top of her shirt. I laugh as I watch her fight the urge not to play with her necklace for fear of the few fans that are backstage seeing it.

We agreed she'd wear the ring around her neck to try not to draw attention to the jewelry. It's weird not seeing it on her finger where I placed it, but it safer for her this way. I don't want her to have any more issues than she already has had with fans.

I watch her features change and she quickly walks over to the edge of the stage and starts lightly singing along.

Disconnected. 

She loves this song. Michael and Ashton smile at her quickly from onstage before focusing back on the crowd, but not before a few girls point her out and she lightly waves. Stepping back into the backstage space, she smooths hair from her face and scoops Theo from Harry's arms, Theo instantly tugging on the headband in her hair. I just take in the scene as I watch her and Theo interact. She's so attentive to the little boy and every so often, she slightly shifts him so he can rest more comfortably from his perch on her hip. 

"Some women have a natural gift with children," my mom says quietly, appearing behind me, smiling knowingly.

I glance back over to Aubri and laugh at Theo trying to feed her his grapes, turning my attention back to my mother, she just nods to herself and pats my arm, eyes misty.

"I'm just so proud of the man you've grown into and all that you've accomplished," she clasps her hands to her chest and I feel my own eyes growing watery. Pulling her into a hug, we stand in silence for a few moments before she pulls away and wipes away a trace of a tear from my face with her thumb.

"Go out there and show them how hard you've worked for this."

The guys all get up from their respective perches around the space and we get into our traditional huddle, not saying anything but just centering ourselves before a show. Niall is fairly bouncing in the huddle with nerves.

We all instinctively turn when we hear our intro video being played as Ashton, Luke, Michael and Calum fly into the backstage area, running from Michael and a banana. 

Grabbing our mics and Niall securing his guitar, we run out on stage to the roar of the massive crowd that's here to see us play. It's unreal.

-

"I still can't believe I fell that hard." I grumble, rubbing at the aching spots on my body. I may have trusted the no slip stage a bit too much and I wiped out in front of an insane amount of people.

Walking backstage to our family and friends clapping for us was absolutely amazing though. Quickly scooping Aubri in my arms, I plant a kiss on her lips and I can hear the guys making jokes behind us.

Harry clears his throat and motions over to the fans recording the whole thing and I release Aubri, knowing I'll get some time with her later. We pose for a few more pictures and Paddy nods to let me know it's time to go. Grabbing her hand and her bag, she pulls her hood over her head before we exit the room to head to the vans. She hops in the van and I wave to a few fans who managed to find where we were parked.

"Why her?" A fan yells out and I turn to follow the voice of the speaker. A young girl, probably no older than 15, has her arms folded across her chest and a sour look on her face. "You don't even like girls like that Liam. Why her?"

Feeling annoyance starting to rise, I simply answer "I love her" and get in the van, slamming the door shut harder then necessary. It's one of the down sides to this life but I don't appreciate fans being rude when she's 10 feet away and can hear them. Putting my arm around her, I play with her curls while she plays games on her phone with Harry.

"Whoever created this is evil," Harry mutters as he furiously taps away at her phone screen.

Tap Tap.

I laugh as I remember she and I playing it a few hours ago. I almost broke her phone because I wanted to throw it at something.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I drift off to sleep before being jolted awake by the announcement that we're at the hotel. I don't even bother to walk into the bedroom, falling asleep on the couch with Aubri watching a movie. I think she got room service. I'm not sure, I'm so tired. 

She's been a great sport.