Saving Summer (Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan) ON HOLD / REWRITING

1 : Risks Were Meant To Be Taken.

Hailee O'Brien.

"You're insecure, don't know what for; you're turning heads when you walk through the door," I stumbled out of my tiny, ensuite bathroom and dove for the stereo. After turning the dial to its maximum height, I began dancing around the room in the mid-morning sunlight. The moves I threw out weren't professional nor were they anywhere close to publicly acceptable, but I somehow managed to keep my balance and make it look graceful. I smiled, pleased with not only myself, but the morning DJ's choice. 

"Why do you insist on doing that every time one of their songs is played on the radio?" Victoria asked as she stuck her head inside the doorway. Her hair was an array of caramel curls and the previous day's makeup couldn't cover the prominent dark circles underneath her eyes. Even though I hadn't heard Piper's cries through the night, I knew she'd been up with her. The four month old was quite colicky; something that Victoria, as a young mother, didn't quite know how to deal with.

"I didn't wake her, did I?" I asked. I knew I shouldn't have tampered with the radio's volume, but it was an impulse that I hadn't yet learned to control. The infant's hearing was abnormally sharp. If she could hear a plate clattering to the floor in the kitchen from two stories above, then she could hear the music pulsing from my stereo despite the fact that her room was on the opposite wing of the house.

"No," She smiled, "Cassidy offered to look after her today,"

"Great!" I lit up. The circles underneath Victoria's eyes were only one of the many signs that she was exhausted. We - myself, Mason, Matthew, and Tonya - had offered to help, but Victoria had shot down our request almost immediately. The decision had been made final when Piper decided that she only wanted to be around her siblings whenever she was in a good mood.. which wasn't very often.

"What's on your agenda today?" Victoria asked sleepily.

"I'm not actually sure. I guess it depends on whatever Sofia and Jade are up for," I said as I shrugged, "We made plans to meet at pier at noon, but nothing more specific than that."

"Feel free to use the car if you need it," Victoria smiled, "I'm sorry we haven't--"

"There's no need," I said as I raised a hand.

"We'll go see a salesman whenever your father gets back from New York, I promise," Victoria smiled lazily one last time before shutting the door and disappearing down the hallway. I sighed, knowing the promise was meaningless. Piper's early arrival had changed the year's course and I couldn't blame Victoria for abandoning plans especially when I was allowed the use of her '12 Chevy Sonic. I sighed once more before shutting the stereo off. I grabbed the clothes I'd thrown so hastily on my bed earlier in the One Direction frantic and headed for the bathroom.

A half an hour later, I found myself putting the finishing touches on my makeup in the bathroom. I'd changed into a pair of faded jean shorts and a white off-shoulder tee that hugged my torso. My strapless aquamarine bikini peeked out from underneath. I'd also taken the time to straighten my long, layered hair and it shone a brilliant shade of cherry brown in the bathroom's fluorescent lighting. The small amount of makeup - foundation, usual two-toned natural eye shadow (a light mauve color of my lid with dark brown covering the edges), a thick line of eyeliner on my top lid, mascara, and pale pink lipstick with sheer lip-gloss - managed to make the outfit look classy even though it wasn't anything special. I slipped my makeup pouch into my shoulder bag along with a few packets of makeup remover in case we did decide to go swimming. I slipped my rainbows on, grabbed my batman lanyard that jingled merrily with the sound of a hundred or so keys, and my white Ray Bean's before hitting the light switch. I managed to stuff a beach towel along with a bottle of tanning oil into my bag as I headed downstairs. There was no sign of Victoria on the lower level which could only mean that she'd taken my earlier advice and retired to her bedroom for some much needed rest.