Group Chat ➵ bws

eleven

Autumn

"I'm not a child you know. I can make my way back to the hotel on my own." I giggle at Brad and he looks down at me, a frown on his handsome features.

"Not while you're drunk you can't, sweetheart." He replies, his arm wrapped securely around my waist.

"Won't you get noticed doing this? Taking a fan back to your hotel?" I ask, looking through my bag for my keycard.

"Probably. But it's easy enough to explain. You're my friend, you were very, very drunk and you're staying in the same hotel as me." He rambles, his free hand tugging at his curls.

"I'm sorry." I say, pressing the button for the lift and clinging onto his jacket as the room begins to spin.

"What for?" He removes his other hand from his hair and to my waist, keeping me balanced.

"Dragging you away from your friends to help me to the hotel." I step into the lift slowly and he follows, pressing the button for our floor.

"It's alright. I want to make sure you're safe." He smiles down at me and we stand in silence for the rest of the elevator journey.

Once we reach our floor, we walk down the hallway in silence too, but Brad's hand never leaves my waist.

I unlock my door and Brad leans against the frame, chuckling quietly to himself as I stumble around the room to find the light switch.

"It's over here, you know." He laughs, pointing to the small switch on the wall.

"Oh. Thanks, curls." I grin, turning the light on and kicking my shoes off at the end of my bed.

He nods and turns away, mumbling goodbye as he runs his hands through his head of brown hair.

"Wait, Brad!" I yell after him and he stops.

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay with me?" I plead, smiling shyly.

"Sure." He smiles softly, walking inside and kicking the door shut behind him.

  ➵

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee filling the hotel room,   Brad perched on the desk against the opposite wall from the bed.

He smiled over at me as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and yawning.

"Morning, sleepyhead." He waves, stuffing another pancake into his mouth.

"Morning Brad." I smiled back, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and walking over to him.

"I brought you some breakfast, I hope you like pancakes." He holds out the other plate of pancakes, which were slowly growing cold due to the fact that I had been asleep for a while.

"Thank you, Brad." I smile, sitting back down on the bed and eating my pancakes.

"You're welcome." He stands up, stretching.

"I have to go now. Joe rang me twenty minutes ago asking where I was because I left the bar pretty early last night." He explains, running his hand through his hair.

"That's okay, thank you for staying with me last night." I yawn, smiling at him.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart." He winks, standing up and pulling his shoes on.

"Do you go to Manchester today?" I ask as he pulls his jacket on.

"Yeah, we leave at around 7 this evening for the show tomorrow." He nods, picking his wallet, car keys and key card up off of the counter.

"Maybe I'll see you before you leave?" I question him, crossing my legs beneath the quilt.

"Maybe, but I doubt Joe will let me out of his sight after last night." He sighs, opening the door.

"See you later, Brad."

"Goodbye Autumn."

➵

"Where did you go last night?" Evie asks, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Back to my hotel room." I reply, eating my muffin and avoiding her questioning glances.

"Oh really? Because the photos on Twitter say otherwise." Jess smirks, pushing her phone at me.

I look down at her screen, which was filled with two photos of me and Brad, leaving the club the previous evening.

"Where did these come from?" I ask, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth.

"Some photographer got them. There's a whole news article about it and everything." Evie tells me.

"I need to go." I say, picking up my bag and standing up, my hands shaking.

I had to speak to Brad about this before Joe did.

unedited

It's all kicking off now & Brad's biggest secret isn't even out