COLLIDE ✰ BLAKE RICHARDSON

VII.

VII.

The next day was an off day since they didn't have a show booked. They'd arrived in New York overnight and the busses had dropped them off at a hotel in the morning. Leah had a room all to herself, which led to many remarks from the boys, but it would have just been weird if she was crammed in a two bed hotel room with the three of them. At least on the bus, the each had their own bunks and didn't need to share.

Although she had her own room, of course it had to be right next to New Hope Club's, meaning that they could walk through the door connecting them at any moment. Leah tried locking it, but then Reece knocked on it for five minutes straight while she was trying to fall back asleep, so she just decided to leave it open.

Joe and Marie had instructed them to do whatever they wanted as long as it wasn't going to cause anyone a headache. Taking that as they basically had free will, the boys had the idea to go out and explore the city. It was nothing special to Leah since she was from close by, but to the boys who were the most British people she had ever met, it was a big deal.

"Let's gooooooo, what's taking so long?" Reece whined from the bed Leah hadn't claimed. He was scrolling absentmindedly on his phone with a bored expression on his face.

"You're very impatient," she replied as she finished putting her rings on. "Okay, now I'm ready."

"Yay!" The blonde jumped up from his seat and ran towards the door. After grabbing her bag, Leah followed him over. Blake and George walked over behind them.

"Do you guys even know where you want to go?" Leah raised an eyebrow at them once they reached the elevator.

"You're the American, I think we just figured you would know where to go," George shrugged.

Leah rolled her eyes, "I should have predicted that."

They were almost down to the lobby when the elevator stopped and opened for more people to get on. The doors opened slowly, revealing a pair of teenage girls with The Vamps t-shirts on. When they made eye contact, Leah saw their jaws actually drop.

"Oh my god, hi," One of them stuttered as she dragged her friend by the arm into the tiny elevator. "HolycrapIloveyouguyssomuch. OhmyGodhiLeahyou'reamazingohmyGod."

"Hi girls, how are you?" Blake smiled at them politely. He was always so kind to fans no matter what kind of mood he was in.

"Amazing, now that we ran into you guys," The other girl replied, her eyes practically bugging right out of her head. "Um, can we take a picture with you?"

"Of course you can," Leah replied. Honestly, she was surprised the girls didn't just care about the boys and not even recognize her. The singer still wasn't used to the whole being famous thing. People had stopped her in shops before, but it was never a regular occurence. That was about to change now that she joined the tour, she realized.

They all posed for selfies on both girls' phones before they reached the lobby. The girls hugged each of them again before waving goodbye. Leah was so happy that they'd been so excited to meet her -- in a weird way, it made her feel accepted. Before tour started, for some odd reason, she'd been worried that both bands' fans wouldn't like her.

The four of them made their way out of the hotel, maneuvering around the long lines of tourists waiting to be checked in. Blake's hand found its way to the small of Leah's back as they wove through the crowded area, sending shivers down her spine. When they finally escaped the madness, his hand didn't budge. Unbeknownst to her, Reece and George had taken notice of it, giving each other knowing looks.

"Okay, miss tour guide, where are we headed?" George turned to the shorter girl as they stood outside of the hotel, tons of people rushing past them.

"I was thinking Times Square since you guys are the most British people I know," she shrugged.

Reece jokingly pushed her on the shoulder, "Hey!"

"Am I wrong?"

".... No."

Leah tilted her head in an 'I told you so' manner, "Okay, let's go then."

✰ ✰ ✰

Half an hour later, they finally arrived at Times Square. Surprisingly enough, they managed not to get totally lost. The walk was actually quite peaceful albeit the couple of times where Blake and Reece argued about where they wanted to eat lunch (eventually they just let George choose as a tiebreaker). They got stopped a couple of times on the way there, and each time made Leah increasingly happy. She didn't mind being interrupted at all -- everyone they'd met was so polite.

"Let's take pictures," Blake suggested, pulling out his phone from his pocket. He handed it to Leah and asked her to take some of him sitting down.

"These came out so good," He said as he swiped through them after she was done. "Tanner better watch out, I think Leah's coming for his job."

"Nah, I could never," Leah laughed. "Hey, we should take one of all four of us."

Reece went up to a young couple and asked them to take it, and the four of them posed in front of the bright billboards. The order went George, Blake, Leah, then Reece. Blake snagged his arm around her waist at the last second, taking Leah by surprise. She hoped her face wasn't bright red in the picture because of it.

They thanked the strangers and all crowded around Blake's phone to look at the photo. It had actually turned out quite cute -- they all had huge smiles on their faces.

"Send that to me," Leah said, taking out her phone. "Hey, wait, we should make a group chat."

Blake sent the image, creating a new group message which he named "The Best Band Ever (and Leah)".

"Gee, thanks," She laughed, saving the picture. "Okay, where to next?"

"Food," George deadpanned.

"I know just the place," Leah grinned, linking her arms through his and Reece's.