Copyright ✘ One Direction [EDITING]

T W E N T Y - O N E

A/N: what's 9+10

2 months later...

"5," the crowd yelled, nearly causing me to go deaf. I winced slightly but continued to move through the throngs of people in search of the group I'd arrived with.

"4."

A flash of blue sweater material went by me and I let out a sigh of relief, latching onto them. Jodi turned around and upon realizing it was me, gave me a wide, toothy grin and motioned for me to follow her.

"3."

"You'll never believe what Dominic just told me," she said, having to shout over the loud noise of the people.

I snorted. "Spill, then."

"2."

We arrived to where the rest of the group was, all in position. I smiled at Miranda who gave me a lopsided grin as she leaned into Dominic who had his arm around her middle. I rolled my eyes at how affectionate they were being and chose to stand between Jodi and Isaac, who quickly handed me a drink.

"1."

I covered one of my ears and brought the cup up to my lips just as the crowd began screaming, "Happy New Year!"

The loud music continued and I let out a sigh of relief as I threw back the drink and discarded the cup somewhere unknown. Miranda and Dominic lip locked and I bumped her with my hip, causing her to snap her eyes open and shoot me a look.

"What did you want to tell me?" I asked Jodi.

She widened her eyes, "Oh yeah. Did you hear that Nelson confronted him about what happened last week at the bar? I couldn't believe he had the nerve."

"Woah," I said. "Someone should really talk some sense into the guy."

Jodi laughed, "Can't believe you actually went out with a guy named Nelson. Where are your standards?"

I shrugged. "They must've disappeared when I went out with Liam."

The whole predicament a few months ago had long since stopped being a touchy subject. Sure, now and then I think about it and get upset, but I'd like to think I was over it. My friends and I would even make fun of it sometimes.

The only thing that would hit me with a large wave of nostalgia was hearing their songs on the radio. I'd ended up buying their album and it turned out that half of their songs were mine, and the other half was most likely written by Iris. There was one called Half a Heart that was really iffy to me but I always shrugged it off and pushed it to the back of my mind.

Sometimes I want to march up to a courtroom and sue them, but I always decide to leave it be because I don't want to cause any more trouble. That was a chapter in my life I don't want to revisit. I was turning a new leaf and I was finally happy.

"Listen to this," said Isaac. He pulled me down beside him on one of the couches in the room we were in. "'One Direction to start stadium tour this April'." He looked up from his phone. "Big whoop. If anything, you should be getting half the money from that tour."

"It's pretty good that they're touring stadiums," I said to him, attempting to be optimistic about the whole thing. "That's cool. A lot of people can't do that."

Isaac pursed his lips. "Oh c'mon Carter, cut the shit. I know you're upset."

"Well, what more can I do?" I paused. "Actually, don't answer that."

New Year, new me.

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Miranda and I ended up arriving home at around one in the morning. She was stumbling drunk and had to lean against me for support.

"Jesus Mirry, when did you get so heavy?" I groaned, struggling to put the key in the lock.

She frowned and whined. "When did you get so bitchy?"

I rolled my eyes and finally threw the door open, the darkness of the house unveiling itself before me. I hastily flipped on the light switch and helped Miranda onto one of the couches. She moaned in pain and I bit the inside of my cheek as I started to help her remove her shoes. I knew dad wasn't home because he went out to see other family so I had to deal with her on my own.

"You might not want to drink so much next time," I muttered, tossing her shoes to the side.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," she said.

I stood up and rubbed my eyes which had become heavy with sleep. I had work the next day and I didn't have time to deal with my lazy, drunk sister. I knew she didn't want to go up the stairs so I just let her sleep on the couch; she'd be fine in the morning.

I trudged up the stairs, my body feeling ten times heavier than normal. I turned on the light in my room and flopped onto my bed. I took out my phone and opened the Twitter app, checking my notifications before moving along to Instagram. My follower count was insanely high, considering that I was once 'Liam Payne's girlfriend', and his fans had never ceased following me. It was nice at times but I didn't quite enjoy it much when people raved about how much they loved us being together.

I plugged my phone into my speakers and turned on Pandora. The music filled my ears and relaxed me as I moved into my bathroom, removing the makeup and brushing my hair into a bun for sleep. I changed into a pair of warm pajamas, since it was quite cold, and then crawled underneath my blankets.

I was just about ready to fall asleep when my music automatically paused and my phone began ringing with a phone call. I took it from the speakers and raised a confused eyebrow at the number on the screen, one I had yet to recognize.

"Hello?" I said, the fatigue slightly evident in my voice.

"Hi, may I please speak to-" The man on the other line paused. "Carter Riley?"

I had to hold back a groan. "This is she."

"Well, hi, Carter!" His mood immediately lifted. "I'm Walter, calling from Sony Music. I've received several calls these past few months telling me how talented you are at songwriting."

"Okay?" I replied.

He continued, "I got around to listening to some of your work and let me just tell you this now – you're fantastic."

"Thank you."

"We wanted to propose a deal with you – you come write with us, and we'll get you out there. You'll be writing for all the biggest names – Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, One Direction, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato – you name it."

I almost had to snort at that because clearly he must know that I've already written for One Direction once and it didn't turn out so well.

"That sounds really great, but," I responded, "I'm not very interested in songwriting still."

His mood didn't deflate. "Well, I'll give you my number so you can think about it, alright? Trust me when I say that furthering your songwriting career will get you places. Places you've never even believe you'd get to. Make sure you give me a call, Miss Riley. You won't regret it."

I stared at my phone after the conversation had ended, in shock, awe, and utter frustration.

I remembered something Liam had said to me the last time we'd seen each other:

"I'll make it up to you, I swear."

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A/N: oooooOOOOoooh can't wait for the upcoming chapters idk if you guys can tell what's gonna happen next or not but

im excited

vote and comment your thoughts. should carter accept the job?