DARLING • DYLAN O'BRIEN

052 HOTEL

I dragged my suitcase out of the uber driver's boot laughing as I struggled with Meghan who also found difficulty in pulling hers out. After help from the driver, we finally made our way inside the hotel that Holland had organised for the group. 

Everyone was expected to arrive in less than five minutes and we were all staying at the same hotel in LA for a week, besides Tyler H who was only given two free days.

"This place looks amazing," Meghan gushed whilst spinning around in the middle of the lobby. I could not agree more with her, it was grand and beautiful with a slight touch of modern day design but it was obvious that they were inspired by the olden days. 

"The chandelier! It's so pretty," Meghan continued to point out certain things that caught her eye. We sat on the couches for a few minutes waiting for the others to arrive and when they finally did, the hotel lobby all of sudden became much louder. 

There were so many hi's and hello's going around, we were all hugging each other, capturing the moment on camera, laughing, jumping up and down in joy and overall happiness that we were all in the same room once again. 

After we realized that we were making too much noise, we finally, but slowly, made our way to the front desk to get our keys, the lady at the front was clearly not in a happy mood but she knew who she was dealing with so she kept her cool. We just laughed about it later at how much she really didn't like any of us. 

"Okay, three, two, one," Cody pulled the door open to one out of the two rooms Holland booked. We pushed our way into the door, after a while we quickly decided that this was going to be the girl's room even though both rooms that were booked were completely identical. They all had four beds, two bathrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and a nice balcony with an impressive view. 

"This is amazing," I said with awe. 

The boys separated from us to settle their belongings in the room next to us. Us girls did the same, we picked out our beds then unpacked. Half an hour later we lounged around in front of the TV and caught each other up on what we may have missed in each other's lives. It was truly a much-needed relaxation, time away from all the madness online that caused nothing but stress. I appreciated everything that these girls had done for me and I knew that the topic was bound to come up, and it was a lot sooner than I expected. 

"Things have been chaotic recently haven't they?" Holland spoke up with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. A far away look appeared on her face as she stared out into the window. The other girls remained silent but the look on their faces showed that they all agreed and they knew what Holland was talking about. 

"Have you talked to Dylan since the call?" Shelley asked with a soft tone. I shook my head, Dylan had stopped replying to my messages, therefore, leaving me with no choice but to stop bothering him. It was tough considering the feelings that I had grown towards him in the few months I had gotten to know him. Unfortunately, people change and it was a little hard for me to understand, but I was getting there. 

"I talked to him," Holland admitted and by the look on her face, I could tell she was not happy about it. 

"What did he say?" I asked curiously, Holland hesitated before spilling the information. 

"What is going on with him?" Meghan asked with a rather angry expression after Holland finished telling us her conversation with Dylan, everyone else seemed to have the same feelings towards the situation. All I could do was sit and process what was being said. Dylan was acting weird and I didn't like it. I hated the fact that he turned cold towards me but turning against his friends, especially Tyler and Holland, that was an ultimate low. 

"I'm trying to get through to him, but he's making it extremely difficult," Holland sighed exasperatedly, "I'm so sorry this is all happening to you, Bailey, you really don't deserve the hate you're getting online." she looked at me with sympathetic eyes. My gut twisted at the reminder of the online world that currently hated me. 

I shook my head my eyes slightly tearing up, "It's not your fault, people just like to have their say," I shrugged my shoulders acting as if it didn't bother me, but everyone in that room knew differently. Meghan, who sat next to me, begun rubbing circles on my back which she knew always helped to calm me down. 

"The best thing right now is to lay low, let this all die down and then clear things up when you're ready," Shelley added, "there are a lot of bad people online and you just gotta not let their words stop you from living your life." 

I smiled at her with as much gratitude as I could muster, of course, what she said was right, I shouldn't let them get to me but it was so much easier said than done.

 "I wouldn't even know what to say to clear things up, I didn't know I had to, it's just weird," I said puzzled at how I got myself in a situation like this. 

"It's hard, but it's something you can't escape from when having a relatively large platform like yours. There are no secrets, no privacy and they all expect to be informed about everything, to know all the drama, all the gossip. It's crazy but yeah, you just have to learn to live with it." Holland said. Reality hit that no matter what was going to happen, there is always going to be someone who will not like me. It's saddening that there are people out there who find joy in judging others. 

"To clear things up really just means, stand up for yourself. Let the people know that they have no right to belittle you especially with the bizarre claims that they are all making." Meghan piped in, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder to let her know how much I appreciated her help. 

"Exactly, just say what you think feels right, and when you find that you're ready to talk about it and you want some help. You can always call me, yeah? I've done my fair share of standing up for myself when shit happens and all these people want to make up stories about it." 

I nodded my head at Holland, loving the support that was pouring out of all these incredible ladies, "thank you so much, I honestly don't know what I would do without all of you."

"Any time, plus, if you really wanted you don't have to talk about it at all. It's not their place to force you to explain your side and you don't need to feel obliged to." Shelley said with a small smile. 

"True, but I feel like I should. I don't know. I think it would be best, once it all dies down, to just tell them how I feel. I want them to know that it isn't right what they're doing so that they don't do it to other people." 

"That's an amazing reason to do it." Meghan nodded her head approvingly. The other girls agreed. We continued to talk on about everything and anything. Allowing me to forget the worries that weighed down on my body.