First Time For Everything

08

Author's Note: This chapter doesn't really feature her reltionship with Niall at all. It instead builds on Harry and Louis and her relationship with them. I hope you like it. The next chapter is pretty Niall heavy with some good ol' Liam thrown in. 

Also anything that happens w management in this chapter is fictionalized (for legal reasons) and i made it up (for legal reasons). thanks. 

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Almost an hour passes from our little recording session. Louis still hasn't come back upstairs, and I get more and more nervous every time I think about it. Harry's knee is bouncing quite noticeably next to me.

The four boys and I are sitting outside, barely speaking. I can't believe they're dragging them to Italy. My mum brought us tea a while ago and we're all sipping at our cups aimlessly. I can't believe they're dragging them back into the spotlight.

"What d'you suppose he has to talk to Louis about?" Zayn asks once the silence is a bit too much for all of us.

Harry sets his cup down a bit more aggressively than normal and I jump at the loud sound. Niall seems to notice and I remember the day back in the greenhouse when I told him about my stupid childhood phobia. He raises his eyebrows at me, but I just look away.

"It's alright, Haz," Liam says, somehow very level, "I'm sure it's just about the album. Lou is doing most of the writing anyways."

We all know that that's not why Louis is still trapped in my basement, but Harry nods, trying to find comfort in Liam's words.

It goes silent again.

"More tea anyone?" my mum steps out onto the porch and looks around at us, concern in her eyes.

"Hm, maybe, ma'am," Zayn says quietly.

"I'll put the kettle on. Feel free to ask if there's anything else you lot need."

She's being particularly pampering today, and I know that somewhere in her motherly psyche she's aware we're not doing well with that man downstairs. She wipes her hands on her dress, still staring at us like she's trying to understand what we're all dealing with.

I smile at her and stand up, trying to drag her attention off the boys, "I'll help, mum."

I follow her back into the house and into the kitchen.

"Are they all alright?" she asks, leaning against the counter.

I grab the kettle and fill it with water, and then go to work with the tea leaves. I let her question sit in the air for a moment, not really wanting to explain the situation to her, but also not able to find it in myself to lie to her.

"I'm hoping they will be, mum," I say, filling a tea infuser with leaves and setting it aside, "I think we'll all feel a bit better when Lou comes back upstairs. Then we can really start talking."

"Does that man really want to drag you all to Italy?"

I smile at the contempt in my mom's voice, "Yeah, I s'pose he does."

She scoffs and I watch her turn around and flick on the stove. I place the kettle over the flame and step back, leaning against the fridge where I cross my arms.

"It's just so complicated, you know? Scott is supposed to know best, and I'm sure he knows way more about the industry than all of us combined. Except maybe dad. But now, today, I realized he doesn't know anything about us. He doesn't get my music or the boys' needs. He doesn't get what it's like for them. It'll be exhausting taking them to Italy. They'll get recognized every which way and there's nothing any of us can really do to stop it. And Scott doesn't even care."