Love and Protect You: Full
Friends can be right bitches at times.
I dropped out of university just before starting my third year. My friends and I were going to pack up and move to London. All five of us moving into a big London flat together. Well, that was the idea for all of us. My friends thought they’d continue on with the idea without me. It wasn’t until I called one of my friends up and told her that I’d found us the perfect flat that she dropped the bombshell on me. ‘We thought you were going back to finish uni’ was the excuse she used on me.
So, I was without my friends and stuck in my parents’ house. It was about three months of my friends boasting about living in their own flat in London that I decided to look for a flat share of my own. There were a lot of people looking for someone to lodge in their flat. I booked a load of viewings for just after New Year.
“So, you’ll be sharing with two girls and a guy,” one girl was saying. “Your bedroom will be next to the bathroom. Here it is.” She opened the door to the smallest room possible. The only thing in this bedroom was a single bed and a small desk. There wasn’t any room for anything else to fit into that room. There and then, I had to turn down the room. The next viewing wasn’t any better. The room was a little bigger but the guys who I’d be living with were not very hygienic.
I was about to give up on looking when I came across the third from last viewing. Okay, I still had another two flats to look at, but the flat was good. The room that would be mine was a good size, and it had a walk-in wardrobe. The bathroom was across the hall from me.
“Who would I be living with, exactly?” I asked, while playing with the fridge.
“Two guys,” the guy showing me around said. “One’s 18, the other is 21. Although, if you choose to move in, they’ll be out of your hair in a couple of weeks as they’re going to America for three weeks. Now, tell me, who do you like, music wise?”
“Erm, I am a mainstream pop girl. I’ve seen JLS, Olly Murs, The Wanted and McFly all in the past year.” I stuck my tongue out slightly, trying to remember if that was all.
“So, you have the music taste of a teenager?” He laughed.
“Pretty much; is that going to be a problem?”
“It depends how much of a fan you are of them. Care to explain how mad you can get.” The guy leaned forward slightly.
“I don’t get starstruck, if that’s what you mean.” I sighed and closed my eyes. “I just love the music. I will sit in my room and listen to songs over and over again.” I smiled at the thought of the times I’ve hung out in my room, listening to the same album over and over again. I opened my eyes again. “When can I meet the guys, then
“They are at work right now. Hence, why I am here.”
“Right, any pictures or what they are like? It’s just; I like to know who I’m going to be living with.”
“Why don’t I get them to arrange to meet you when they are free?”
“Or, why don’t you call them now and arrange for something today?” I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head slightly.
“I’ll be sure to mention that you’re pushy and like to get your own way.”
“Say that if you have to, I’ll be sure to set them straight,” I grinned.
“Fine, I’ll call them. They might be able to get here soon,” the guy said and got his phone out of his pocket.
The guy jabbed at his iPhone a couple of times and then put it to his ear. He walked out into the hallway and disappeared into the bedroom that would be mine. I fussed around with the cupboards for a bit. Nothing unusual in the cupboards; just tins, cereal and pasta. I opened the fridge again and stared at it. When I closed it, the guy was back.
“They want to meet you,” he said. “They’ll be back in about half an hour. Do you want anything to drink?”
“Yes, please,” I said, lifting the milk out of the fridge door. “Coffee, strong, two sugars, little bit of milk. Thanks.” I went into the living area and sank into the sofa. I think I died and went to heaven. I was not leaving that sofa for a while. About five minutes later, the guy came through with my coffee and a coffee for him.
“So, what is your name? You never said,” I asked and took a sip.
“Martin, I’m a good friend of the guys,” Martin said and held a hand out.
I shook his hand. I kept the coffee mug in my hands to stop myself fidgeting. Martin could tell I was nervous. I started to look around the living room. There was a good, big, HD TV with Xbox 360 and Sky+. There was a big stereo system in the corner with speakers mounted in all four corners of the room. I walked over to the CD stack and started to look through them. I picked up Busted’s A Present for Everyone album and put it into the stereo. Air Hostess started to blast through the speakers.
“You’re a Busted fan then?” Martin asked.
“Hell, yeah,” I replied. “My first three gigs were Busted concerts and all took place within nine months. That was the best year of my life until last year.”
“How old were you then?” Martin asked. He was confused about my age as it was nearly ten years ago.
I laughed at his reaction. “I was 12 for the first two and then 13 for the last one.” At that point, the guys who owned the flat came through the front door.
“Martin?” The first guy shouted. “Where abouts are ya mate?”
“In the living room,” Martin said. “In here with Charlotte.”
Two guys walked into the living room. I couldn’t believe my eyes to begin with. Nathan and Jay from The Wanted were the owners of this flat. I immediately turned to Martin.
“So, this is why you asked if I get crazy, obsessed fan syndrome,” I said to Martin.
“As soon as you said you liked The Wanted, I was a bit concerned,” Martin said and grinned.
“I said I like their music.”
“Well, thank you Martin for showing her round. You can leave now,” Nathan said, shooing Martin out of the flat. Martin was a bit hesitant to leave but after Nathan and Jay begged a while, he finally left us to talk.
“So, you like our music?” Jay asked, sitting down in the armchair.
“Yeah, my favourite song is Behind Bars. But I do like more of the songs on your second album,” I said and finished my coffee.
“Do you want another coffee?” Nathan asked.
“Erm, yes please. Strong, two sugars, milky, please.” I cringed at how much I was saying please.
“Why do you want to move in with us then?” Jay asked.
“My friends got a flat together and left me out. I really don’t want to live at home and started looking for a flat share. I’ve looked at ten already and this is the best by far.” I vaguely explained.
“How many more have you got to look at? And please don’t be cheesy and say that this is the last one,” Nathan said and handed me my coffee.
“Thank you and no, I’ve got another two to look at if you really don’t want me to live with you.”
“Well, I have no objection at the moment, unless you have any weird habits or anything that we should know about.” Nathan raised an eyebrow at me.
“No weird habits that I’m aware of.” I mimicked his raised eyebrow. Nathan smiled and sat down next to me.
“Can you play an instrument?” Jay asked.
“Guitar, preferably electric but can switch to acoustic if necessary.” I took a sip of my drink.
“Favourite unsigned band?" Jay asked. I took a few seconds to reply.
“Would your stuff expand 10 fold if we touch it?”
“Well, last time I checked, my stuff wasn’t in Gringotts with a magic spell on it.” I winked.
“When can you move in?” Jay grinned at my Harry Potter reference.
“As soon as I can get a lift with all my stuff.”
“Just because she referred to Harry Potter?” Nathan asked Jay.
“That and she seems wicked. Do you not want her to move in?” Jay asked Nathan.
“Would you like me to leave you two to discuss me moving in?” I asked.
“Would you mind? If you leave your number on the fridge and I’ll call you back. If Jay calls you, hang up,” Nathan said.
I wasn’t sure if Nathan was joking or not but I left anyway. I went to the other two viewings but they weren’t as nice as Nathan and Jay’s flat. They were dingy and small and no matter how hard I tried to make conversation with the girls, they just weren’t nice. It was about four days later that my phone rang with an unrecognised number. I’m a bit wary of answering numbers I don’t recognise but as I didn’t have Nathan or Jay’s number, I kind of had to answer any call.
“Hey, it’s Nathan,” Nathan said down the phone. “Me and Jay talked it over and we’d love for you to move in with us. Jay can come pick you up today if you’re ready.”
“I can be ready. It’ll take you about two or three hours to get to my parent’s house though,” I said and gave him the postcode to stick in the SatNav.
“Alright. We’ll be there about 3 o’clock then. Will you be ready by then?”
“I’ve been ready to move out for weeks.”
“See you later then, flat mate,” Nathan said and hung up.
I couldn’t help but jump around the cramped spare room of my parent’s house. My sister came into the room. She took my big room when I moved into my Nan’s house.
“Why are you so happy?” She asked, sticking her nose up at me a bit.
“I’m moving out of this shithole and going to live in London,” I yelled.
“With what money? And who are you moving in with?” She questioned.
“Well, Nan gave me a massive load of inheritance when she passed away. And I’m moving in with two guys who are about my age.”
“Are they crazy murderers?” She crossed her arms.
“I highly doubt it. And trust me, they’re not anyway; it would affect their career.”
“What career?” She had a proper scowl on her face.
“Don’t worry your little mind,” I said as I flicked her forehead. “They’re picking me up in about 3 hours anyway.”
“Are they fit?” Typical chavvy sister. She’s 15 and only interested in her sex life; which is very constant with different guys. I was completely dreading her meeting Jay and Nathan.
I managed to get my step-mum and sister out of the house when Nathan and Jay arrived. My dad was still in the house. I was going to introduce him to the boys.
“Dad, these are the guys I’m living with,” I shouted into the back garden.
Dad was with the dogs in the massive garden we have at the back of the house. I used to have a lot of respect for my dad until I understood properly what my mum went through because of him. I have the smallest amount of respect because he went through a lot of dark places when my Nan was on her death bed. My dad’s only 37 and he’s already lost his mum. My Nan was only 55 when she died from a brain tumour.
My Nan didn’t want to go through chemo or surgery to remove it and possibly keep it away. Instead she dealt with the truth that she was going to die within the next 6 months to a year. My Nan died just before I started university. It was the September I was starting my course and she died in the June. Her last words to me were:
“Now, I know I’m going to leave this planet in the next couple of days, or even tonight, but I want you to go to university. Go and have the time of your life. If university isn’t for you, take a trip into London and live there for a while. I did when I was 16 and it was the best two years of my life. I only moved back to Cambridge when I was pregnant with your father. I have left you enough money to cover everything you want for the next few years. I won’t say what, only, it’s a lot. Don’t tell your father or your siblings. You’ve helped me with my illness and I want you to benefit the most from your efforts. Now, I want you to go back to your parent’s house and enjoy yourself. If I find out you’ve been worrying about me, I’ll come back and kick your tiny arse.”
I know right; very comforting last words. No one has found out how much I inherited from my Nan. I don’t particularly want anyone to find out because I’m afraid I’ll lose my real friends to ones that use me for my money.
“Aren’t these the boys from that band you like?” Dad asked and shook their hands.
“Yes, dad. Nathan and Jay. I’m moving in with them in their flat in London.”
“When were you planning to tell me this?”
“Now? And I’ve needed to move out for a few months now.”
“Fine, where’s this flat your moving in to?” Dad asked and looked at me.
“I’m not saying,” I said as I avoided eye contact with my dad.
“Because I don’t want Voldemort and the little hoebag visiting,” I snarled.
“Don’t call them Voldemort and hoebag.”
“Who do you call what?” Nathan asked.
“My step-mum is called Voldemort because she pretty much doesn’t have a nose and she likes to control people. Then, my sister is called hoebag because she likes to sleep around.”
“Your sister does not sleep around.” Dad argued.
“You are the other end of the house. I am in the bedroom next to her, having to listen to every bang of her headboard against the wall. Oh, and her boyfriends’ sneak out of the bathroom window before you get up.”
“Anyway, shall we get your stuff into my car before this kicks off?” Jay suggested.
“Please,” I said and walked back into the house.
It didn’t take long to load everything into the car. Although, some of the stuff didn’t fit at first, but after all three of us pushed against it, it fitted. I had to sit leaning into the window for a bit before Nathan made room in the front passenger seat.
By the time we got back to the boys’ flat, it was past dinner time and we were all starving. So, while Nathan and I were taking everything up in the lift, Jay went out to get Chinese takeaway. All my stuff was piled in my room with a few boxes in the living room. I was not looking forward to unpacking it. It seemed forever for Jay to come back with the Chinese. It turned out, he was picking up Tom, Siva and Max on the way.
“So, dudes, this is our new flat mate, Charlotte. Charlotte, these are the other guys,” Jay said while trying to find a suitable place to put the Chinese down.
“Good job,” Max said to Jay and Nathan, and winked at me.
“No one’s allowed to hit on her,” Nathan said.
“Why? Did you already call bagsy?” I asked, digging into some chicken chow mein.
“No, but they’re all taken.”
“Who called bagsy then?” I asked, failing at getting the chow mein into my mouth without any dropping onto my lap.
“What about me?” Jay asked, coming into the room with cutlery, chopsticks and plates.
“Just chatting about how you bought the food for us,” Tom said.
“Yeah, I am wicked, aren’t I?” Jay said and grinned.
I looked at Nathan and I could see him trying to hold a grin back. I knew it wouldn’t be long until I burst into a fit of giggles. Jay sat down next to me and we all started to actually eat the food. It was the best Chinese I’ve ever tasted. All things were talked about over dinner. It ranged from why I wanted to move to London to dropping out of university to the guys making bets on who was going to get with me first.
“I am not going to get on any of you,” I said and put my hands up to surrender.
“But you definitely have a favourite, don’t you?” Max asked.
“Well, you’re not supposed to have favourites, are you,” I said.
“Who is it then?” Nathan asked.
“I am not saying who my favourite is.”
“Say it, say it, say it,” Nathan started chanting. The others joined in quickly.
I sat, cross-legged on the sofa with my arms crossed and refused to say a word. Max got up off the floor and picked me up. He tipped me upside down, still chanting “say it, say it.”
“Max, put me down,” I squealed. “Or I’m going to be sick.”
Max quickly put me down in a pile on the floor. I laid there thinking of how to stop myself feeling sick. Max put his foot lightly on my belly and put his hands up in triumph.
“So, seriously, who’s your favourite then?” Jay asked.
“So, seriously, I am not telling. None of you need a bigger head,” I joked, sitting up.
“Right, let’s place bets on who it is,” Tom said. “I’m going to say Nathan.”
“That’s not fair, I was going to say Nathan,” Max said. “Fine, I’m going to go with me.”
“You can’t place a bet on yourself,” Jay said. “I’ll take Max.”
“I’ll take Jay,” Nathan said.
“I’ll have Tom then,” Siva said.
“Which means Max is left with Siva,” Nathan pointed out.
“One of you is right,” I said, sitting up against the coffee table.
“Who’s right?” Nathan smirked.
“I’m not saying. Stop trying to trick me into saying it.” I whined and lay myself back down on the floor.
“Give us clues,” Tom demanded.
“So, that eliminates Siva. But, we’re all English,” Nathan said.
“I’m going to start unpacking all my stuff,” I said and stood up.
The guys tried to stop me but I dodged them all and ran to my room. I turned the light on and stared at all the boxes and suitcases I had. The sad thing was that I knew there were a couple of bottles of wine somewhere hidden in the mass. My first goal was to find them and put them in the fridge. It took me about half an hour to find the two bottles but I eventually found them. I poured a glass of wine and took it back to my room. Yeah, the wine was a bit warm but it was alcohol nonetheless.
Nathan knocked on my door about half 11. Max, Tom and Siva had gone home by this time. He came into my room and sat down on my (now made) bed. I’d finished a bottle of wine by this point and was on the second glass of my other bottle.
“Unpacking when drunk, classy,” Nathan said. He had a beer in his hand.
“Shh, you,” I slurred slightly. “It clears my head a bit. You lot were being mean earlier.” I placed my wine glass on the floor.
“I’m sorry, but will you tell at least me who your favourite is?”
“I should just tell all of you individually that you’re all my favourite, shouldn’t I?” I tried to say inside my head. That didn’t happen.
“Well, now you’ve told me your plan, that wouldn’t work would it.” Nathan laughed.
“Just pretend you didn’t hear it. But Nathan, you are my favourite.” I smiled sweetly at him.
“Jay!” Nathan shouted. “I’m Charlotte’s favourite. She just told me.”
“He’s your favourite?” Jay asked, sticking his head round my door. “Is it because he has a baby face?”
“I never said he was my favourite. And yes, it would be because of his baby face. You’re my favourite because you have awesome hair. Siva’s my favourite because his accent makes me melt. Max has just got a raw sex appeal and Tom cannot speak to save his life.” I sat and pictured Max and Tom’s body for a bit.
“So, put all that together and we’re all your favourite.” Jay suggested.
“Yes, hang on. What if you ask your fans to do that? Put a picture of Nathan’s face, Max’s body, your hair, and you can’t really do Tom or Siva’s voice.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s already a picture of that on the internet somewhere.”
“Let me Google it,” I said and struggled to get my phone out of my pocket.
I was wriggling around on the floor for about five minutes before I managed to get my phone out. Nathan and Jay were nearly pissing themselves. I quickly got Google up and searched ‘Nathan Jay Max combined face’. Thousands of results came back. There was a really weird looking one where it was Jay’s hair, Nathan’s eyes, Siva’s smile, Max’s eyebrows and Tom’s nose on one face. I had to look at it wonky to actually make sense of it. I then couldn’t stop giggling at how weird it looked. I showed Jay and Nathan and even they started to laugh at the picture.
We stayed up most of the night just chatting and getting to know each other, while slowly going through the rest of my wine and the beer that was in the fridge.
I woke up the next morning with Nathan one side of me in my bed and Jay the other side. I climbed over Nathan to get out of bed and go to the toilet. When I’d finished weeing, I thought it was unfair how there were two free beds in the flat. So, I went into Nathan’s room and got into his bed. If they were allowed to crash in mine, I was surely allowed to crash in theirs.
“Charlotte?” Nathan asked, whilst waking me up from my sleep. “Mate, wake up.” I managed to make a noise. I don’t think it was actually understandable to any human, but it was a noise. “Charlotte, you need to wake up and get your arse out of my bed.”
“But it’s comfy and I’m sleepy,” I responded into the pillow.
“I can carry you into your own room, if you want?”
“If it means I don’t have to put any effort into getting up,” I said. Within a couple of seconds, Nathan had picked me up and carried me back to my bed, which was now empty. I went straight back to sleep until midday.
“Where’d you two disappear to this morning?” I asked, while making a cup of tea.
The guys had just come in through the front door. They came straight into the kitchen to hang out.
“We had to go meet our manager about what’s happening when we go to America in a couple of weeks,” Nathan said and filled the kettle up again.
“What you doing in America?”
“Touring,” Jay said. “Radio tours across America and playing gigs. So, you could be living here by yourself for about three weeks.”
“Wicked,” I said. “That means I get to walk around naked for three weeks.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to go to America anymore, mate,” Nathan said to Jay.
“Then I can’t walk around naked,” I said and sighed.
“So, have you got a job in London yet?” Jay asked.
“Nope, was going to start looking today, but Facebook and Twitter distracted me.”
“Well, don’t look,” Nathan said.
I gave them both a questioning look.
“You’re coming to America with us,” Jay and Nathan said together.
I was completely speechless. All I could do was stand there with my mouth open and my hands trying to do gestures. It took about fifteen minutes for me to make any words come out of my mouth.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Of course we are. We wouldn’t kid about something like that,” Jay said.
“You’ll be mostly hanging out with our manager Jayne. But I suppose we can hang out with you sometimes. Especially if they decide they all want to go out drinking,” Nathan said.
“Oh, I forgot for a second that I wasn’t legal in America. Looks like me and Nath will have to hang out most nights,” I said and winked at him.
“If you do, that means Tom’ll win the bet of who you’ll get on first,” Jay said and grinned.
“I’m not getting on anyone.” I laughed.
“That’s what you keep saying, but last night you were nearly jumping on Nathan.”
“No, I wasn’t, was I?” I asked and turned to Nathan.
“But you did admit to me which of us is your favourite,” Nathan said.
“Oh, really, who did I say?” I smirked.
“Me,” Nathan said and smiled. “And then you told me why. I have a pretty face. My hair is pretty. I have a good voice. You can actually understand me when I talk. You don’t think I look like a fly. You’ve had all different dreams about me; some normal, some sexual.”
“Oh God, please stop there, Nathan,” I begged.
“When did this happen?” Jay asked.
“When you spent about 20 minutes in the toilet. Oh, she also went into what we did in some of these dreams, like one of them was in a swimming pool, anot-”
“Shut up, Nathan,” I said and lightly hit him in the stomach.
“Tell me later, yeah,” Jay said in hushed tones to Nathan.
“No, he won’t, will you Nathan?” I asked and pulled my puppy-dog face.
“You ready for America?” Nathan asked me while I was trying to zip up my suitcase.
“I will be when I can get this closed. Do you fancy sitting on here with me?” I asked.
Nathan sat down on my suitcase and I sat on his lap. Nathan managed to zip the suitcase up. Jay walked in to me still sitting on Nathan's lap on my suitcase. Jay helped me up from Nathan's lap and replaced me with himself. It was funny to see the two of them cuddled up together on my suitcase, which made me take my phone out of my pocket and take a picture. That picture went straight onto Twitter.
“You two look like such a cute couple,” I said and showed them the picture.
“Had any more sex dreams lately,” Nathan asked which made me go silent.
“Anyway, taxi will be here in about 10 minutes to take us to the airport. And the most important thing, don’t forget your passport,” Jay said.
“Good point. Where is my passport?” I asked myself.
“I think I bought it here with me,” I said as I started to look around my room for my passport. It took me a couple of minutes to suddenly realise where my passport was; I’d packed it in my suitcase. I looked to the spot where Jay and Nathan were still sitting together. I smiled at them and then apologised.
“You’re kidding. It can’t be in here,” Nathan said and jumped up from the suitcase and unzipped it.
“Why did you even think about packing it in your suitcase,” Jay asked.
“I don’t know it was in the pile of stuff I needed to take on the plane. And then I kind of knocked the piles together,” I explained. “There’s probably loads of stuff I need on the plane in my suitcase.”
“Well, quickly sort it out while we sort ourselves out,” Nathan said and he and Jay went to get their suitcases and stuff.
I made us late for the taxi by about five minutes. Why did the others have to be on time? We’d got in the taxi and I realised I’d left my plane bag in my room. All I had on me was my phone and iPod. I had to borrow Nathan’s keys and run up to our flat, grabbed my bag and ran back down. By the time we got to the airport, I was absolutely shattered. I had to keep up with Jayne though. The guys greeted their fans and had pictures taken with them. Jay had the flip camera out and videoing all their fans and the trip through the airport.
“So, you lot haven’t seen mine and Nathan’s new flat mate,” Jay said into the camera. “She made us late to the airport this morning but it’s because she was just being stupid. Here she is.” Jay pointed the camera at me. “Say hi to our fanmily, Charlotte.”
“Hey,” I said and did an awkward wave. “Also, I did not make you late because I was being stupid. We were late because I packed my stuff really late last night, drunk.”
“So, do you think you remembered everything?”
I laughed. “Definitely not. I’ll probably end up buying clothes and shoes out there to wear.”
“Siva,” Jay said and walked over to Siva to question him.
“Wow, you handled your first time on camera well,” Nathan said and hugged me.
“Did you not see the awkward wave?” I asked him, still in the hug.
“Yes, I did. And do you want to let go anytime soon?”
“You smell nice,” I mumbled into his chest.
“Thank you,” Nathan said and kissed the top of my head.
“And I like being hugged when I feel like a moron.”
“I’ll keep hugging you then,” Nathan said and his arms tightened around me.
We were all hanging out in the airport, waiting to get on the plane. I stayed in Nathan’s arms for a good fifteen minutes. I only pulled away because I could feel one of our phones keep vibrating in our pocket. Turns out, Nathan was getting texts from all the guys about him hugging me for ages. They ranged from ‘awww’ to ‘mate, wanna put a bit more effort into keeping that hard on down’. Boys are charming people. When we’d piled onto the plane, I took a window seat. Nathan sat next to me with Jay and Siva in front of us and Max and Tom next to us. After takeoff and the seat belt sign had been turned off, Jay and Siva turned around and grinned at us.
“Take a picture,” I said to them both and put my earphones in.
“Already have,” Jay said and got his phone out.
He had taken a picture of me and Nathan hugging in the airport. I have to admit it looked really cute. But nothing would happen there. I pressed play on One Direction’s album and turned it up as loud as it could go. Every time I looked up from the window, Jay was lip syncing to whatever song I was listening to. I shook my head in shame. After listening to their album twice and wasting about an hour and a half, I switched my iPod off. Siva had all six Star Wars films to watch on his laptop.
“Jay, swap seats please,” I asked.
“Err, no,” Jay said and smiled.
“Why not?” I argued back.
“Why do you want to swap seats?”
“I want to watch Star Wars, if Seev will let me.” I stood up from my seat.
“He won’t. When he’s watching Star Wars, he almost kills anyone who disturbs him.” Jay laughed.
“Yeah, Martin tried once and Seev nearly broke his wrists.”
“Not really killing but okay.” I sat back down in my seat. “Now you have to entertain me.”
“What? How am I supposed to entertain you?”
“Tell me the most embarrassing thing about you,” I suggested.
For pretty much the rest of the plane journey, Jay, Nathan, Tom and I sat and shared stories between us. Max was happily snoozing in the window seat next to Tom. When we finally landed in Orlando, Florida, Max had woken up and the rest of us were starting to get sleepy.
“It’s a good thing we don’t have to perform tonight,” Tom said. “I would be asleep on that stage otherwise.”
“Right, let’s get your suitcases and go to the hotel,” Jayne said.
Jayne made me walk along with her again. She started saying stuff to me about what I’d be doing on the tour. It ranged from waking the boys up in the mornings to following her around; nothing complicated.
“Tonight though, you’re going to have to keep them awake until at least 10 o’clock tonight,” Jayne said to me.
“Well, that will be easy for Max,” I said and looked over my shoulder at the guys. “He slept most of the plane ride. The rest will be difficult.”
“Give them energy drinks. That always works for them.”
“Nope, that’s pretty much it. Although.” Jayne stopped walking and faced me. “Please try not to start any kind of relationship that’s more than a friendship with them.”
“Trust me, I don’t plan to.” I tried not to laugh.
“Nathan and you seem to look a bit cosy though.”
“We’ve spent the best part of two weeks constantly with each other. It feels comfortable to just do that,” I said. Jayne started walking again.
I felt my phone go off in my pocket. It was my step-mum trying to call me. I’m guessing she got my number off of my dad’s phone. I was routed to the spot.
“What do you want?” I asked as I answered.
“Why won’t you tell anyone where you live?” She asked.
“I don’t want you turning up.” I spat.
“Why is that?” My step-mum growled.
“I’ve got to go,” I said and hung up.
“Hey, who was that?” Nathan asked, putting his arm around me.
“I can’t believe you actually call her that.”
“I hate her so much, Nath.” The anger in me not subsiding.
“Block her number then. Also, what did Jayne say to you?” Nathan asked, trying to take my mind off of her.
“I’m going to be responsible for waking you guys up in the morning and making sure you’re on time and following her around. Also, you lot have got to stay up until at least ten tonight.”
“Ten?” Tom asked. “But it’s only two o’clock now. Jayne?” Tom ran ahead a bit to speak with Jayne.
“I don’t mind the idea of you waking us up in the morning though,” Max said and put his arm around me. Nathan quickly took his arm away from me. Nathan, Jay and Siva walked ahead a bit more to the baggage claim area.
“Aren’t you engaged Max?” I asked and pulled his arm off of me.
“What happens in America stays in America, right?” Max said.
“You really need to see Shell,” I said and laughed at him.
I pushed his smiling face away from me and we both laughed. We collected our suitcases from the luggage belt and made our way outside. A minibus taxi was waiting to take us to the hotel. I was sharing a room with Jayne. Nathan and Tom were sharing a room and the other three were sharing a room. We were hanging out by the pool tables at about five o’clock and Siva and Jay were struggling to keep their eyes open. Nathan and Tom seemed fine. Max and I were on a sofa out of the way of the rest of the guys playing pool.
“So, who is your favourite out of all us?” Max asked.
“Nath,” I admitted, not making eye contact with Max.
“Is that why you were all cuddled up with him earlier?”
“No,” I said bluntly. “I’ve bonded more with him more than I have with Jay. And he smelt really nice earlier.”
“Yeah, I noticed he smelt loads before we got on the plane. I think he went a bit overboard with the perfume.” Max wrinkled his nose, remembering the smell.
“I didn’t notice it until I was hugging him.”
“So, are you going to get on him?” Max had lowered his voice.
“Not allowed to even if I wanted to.” I shrugged.
“Jayne told me I wasn’t allowed to let anything happen with any of you. But I wasn’t even going to do anything like that with any of you anyway.”
“But you want to kiss Nathan, don’t ya?” Max started poking me.
“Leave me alone,” I said and smiled.
I joined in with playing pool. I completely smashed Siva and Jay, Nathan was too scared to face me and Tom only lost by the black ball. Jayne had decided that the boys could go to bed any time after eight. So, at eight o’clock, Tom, Jay and Siva went up to their hotel rooms. Nathan stayed downstairs with me and Max.
“Come on, Nath,” I begged. “Have a game of pool with me, please?”
“No, I don’t want to be owned by you,” Nathan said, taking the cue off of me and placing it against the wall.
“Tom didn’t get owned by me.” I sulked.
“You still beat him though, didn’t you?” Nathan said as he ruffled my hair.
“That’s because I am the boss of pool and I aced maths.” I slapped his hand away from me.
“Well, I don’t want to play against you. But I don’t feel tired yet, so we can hang out for a bit,” Nathan suggested. “If you’re not tired, that is.”
“Nope, not tired yet. Where did Max go though?” I asked.
We both looked around the pool area for Max. Next place that would be obvious to look was the bar. We found him having a drink with Martin and Kev. I pulled a seat up next to them.
“Dude, you’re supposed to tell me where you’re going,” I said and kicked his leg lightly.
“Kev and Martin came along and offered to buy me a drink,” Max said.
“Where’s my drink?” Nathan asked.
“You’re not old enough,” Kev said and grinned.
“Where’s my drink then?” I asked.
“You’re not old enough,” Martin said.
“I forgot I told you how old I was.”
“Now you’ve got to go the whole three weeks without a drink.”
“That’s so unfair. And I have to stay up until Max goes to bed.”
“You, Miss Bailey, are going to be up for a very long time,” Max said and raised his pint.
“Max, you’re going to bed when you’ve finished that,” I said. “I’m not waiting up until like 2 in the morning. It’s already 2 in the morning at home.”
“Okay, just because you obviously need your sleep to look that good every day.”
“Don’t take the piss because I can kick you hard in the balls and not feel any pain whatsoever,” I said and smiled at Max.
“Well, on that note, I’m going up to bed,” Nathan said and stood up from his bar stool. He hugged me and said goodnight to Martin and Kev. “I cannot wait for my wakeup call tomorrow morning,” he said and winked at me.
“I hate this band now,” I said and smiled.
It didn’t take long for Max to drink his pint of beer. I think the threatening of kicking him in the bollocks scared him slightly. Max, however, managed to wake Siva, Jay, Tom and Nathan when he tried to go to bed; even if Tom and Nathan were in a different room. It was 11pm, east coast, by the time I got into my own bed. Jayne had moved into another room as she didn’t know what time the boys would eventually go to bed and didn’t want to be disturbed when I got in.
It was too early the next morning. Well, I got about 10 hours sleep by the time I’d changed, taken my makeup off and fallen asleep. Jayne knocked on my door at 10am. After I hadn’t answered the door, she used her card key to open my door and wake me up.
“Sorry to be so brutal on your first day, Charlotte,” she apologised, “but you need to go and wake the boys up. It doesn’t take long for you to get ready does it?”
“Half hour tops,” I said in the croakiest voice I’d ever heard.
“Good, so, go and wake the boys up and then come back into your room to get ready and then make sure the boys are up.” Jayne left my room.
“The boys will definitely be up,” I said to myself as I grabbed my own card key and left my room.
First to get punishment for keeping me up was Max, although Siva and Jay were in his room. I banged on their door until someone would open it. Siva answered the door in a pair of boxers with a ‘what the hell’ expression. I pushed past Siva and clapped my hands by Max’s ears.
“Wake up, douchebag,” I yelled. “Sorry, Jay, Seev. But he did keep me up last night.”
“No problem,” Jay said and sat up in bed. “It just means I don’t get the same treatment if I’m already awake.”
“I would’ve woken you up nicely. Trust me,” I said to the other two. I turned back to Max who was covering his ears and burying his face in the pillow. “Max, get up now. I’ll be back with an air horn after I’ve woken Tom and Nath up.”
I left the bedroom and knocked nicely on Nathan and Tom’s door. Tom answered the door with a pair of pyjama bottoms on. He let me into the room. Nathan was in bed asleep still. He looked really cute and I felt really mean waking him.
“Nathan,” I said from across the room. “Nathan, wake up.”
“Don’t be shy,” Tom said and pulled me over to his bed. “Wake him up properly.”
“I don’t want to. I feel like I’m waking a sleeping baby.”
“That’s because he is a baby,” Tom said, his true Bolton accent coming out.
“Shut up, Tom,” I said and pushed Tom away. Tom pushed me back and I fell onto Nathan. Nathan woke up and kicked me accidentally. Nathan started apologising. When I asked for a hug, he got a bit awkward.
“Well, Nathan's up,” Tom said. “Just not in the way you intended it.”
“Oh god,” I said and hid my face.
“I don’t think it helps that you’re dressed in like nothing,” Nathan said and put his hand over his face.
“Will you two just get on each other already?” Tom asked. He picked me up and put me on top of Nathan.
I could’ve died with embarrassment. I was lying on top of Nathan on top of the covers while Nathan was trying to conceal the hard on he had underneath the sheets. I laid my head into the gap between his chin and his chest. His spare arm – which wasn’t covering his boner – was wrapped around me. I noticed Tom taking a picture at this point and quickly pushed myself off of Nathan's bed.
“Tom showed me a picture of you and Nathan cuddling in bed together,” Martin said to me while the boys were sound checking later that day.
“Nothing happened,” I said in my defence. “Tom put me on top of Nathan.”
“Well, if Jayne sees that picture, she will not be happy.”
“If she doesn’t want to see pictures like that, she shouldn’t put me with the boys all the time. They’re all mates now so I am comfy with giving them hugs and pissing about with them.”
“Why don’t you treat Jay the same then?” Martin asked as he turned to face me.
“Jay’s not my favourite.” I mumbled.
“Well, yeah, he was the one I knew I’d get embarrassed the easiest in front of. Do you know what I mean?” I asked. Martin pulled the most confused-looking face. “Well, for me, there’s always one person in the band which you will be a bit more girly in front of and a bit more embarrassed to be yourself in front of. But as I live with that member of the band, it’s even worse. I find myself doing stupid things in front of him and I wouldn’t do those sorts of things in front of anyone else.”
“Charlotte, you do realise that you’re describing you in front of the biggest crush of your life, right?”
“I don’t fancy Nathan!” I stamped my foot.
“You’re telling me all this stuff that pretty much says you’re in love with Nathan.”
“I don’t fancy him, Martin!”
“Keep telling yourself that, love,” Martin laughed and walked over to Kev.
I hung out in the middle of the floor with my iPhone. I hadn’t spoken to any of my friends since they’d moved to London. I started to flick through pictures on Facebook. All they’d done since moving in together was have fun and go out while posting it all over their Facebook’s. I decided I’d start texting them.
Me: Hey Lissie. How’s your flat with the girls? X
The boys were still rehearsing the last few bits for their US tour. Max couldn’t care less about it.
Lissie: Hey Char. Yeah, just same old same old here. Did you go back to uni? X
Me: cool, nah stayed at home for a bit and then moved to London a couple of weeks ago. X
Nathan kept looking over at me. I tried to ignore this as much as possible. But I could see him checking every couple of minutes out of the corner of my eye.
Lissie: You moved to London? Who do you live with? X
Me: just two guys. I was looking for flat shares and came across this flat which was really cosy and roomy at the same time. X
A couple of girls ran past me. They were screaming their lungs out. Security quickly picked them up and carried them out though. That’s what I don’t understand about fans, why do they scream in pitches that people will clearly not go near them for?
Lissie: You’ll be getting on them soon then. Are they fit? How old are they? X
Me: they’re really nice, and they’re our age. But no, I won’t be getting on them soon. X
The boys had come off the stage now and were walking in my direction. Max and Tom were leading the pack and Nathan hung back a bit.
Lissie: When can we come round to see your new flat then? X
Me: well, I’m in America for a few weeks, can’t until after that and even then I don’t know what I’m doing when I’m back x
“Hey, Charlotte,” Max said and sat down next to me. “Who you texting?”
“Lissie from home,” I said and my text alert went off again.
Lissie: why are you in the US? X
Me: with my new job. Travelling with a bunch of guys around the US promoting their stuff. Gotta go now sorry x
“She’s a bitch, if that’s what you mean.” I snarled.
“Then, why are you friends with her?” Tom asked.
“Keep your friends close, frenemies closer,” I shrugged. “But right now, I could go for some COD.”
I stood up without using my hands and headed to the boys dressing room. They had a TV and an Xbox 360 set up in their dressing room. I switched both of them on and grabbed a controller. Jay came into the room and grabbed another controller. After a few headshots by me, Jay turned the Xbox off.
“What’s the matter,” Jay asked.
“Nothing,” I replied and put my controller on the floor. I started fiddling with my necklace.
“Is it because of the picture Tom took?”
“Nah, just,” I sighed. “My friends couldn’t give two flying fucks about me.”
“We’re your friends too. Don’t include us with the ones you hate.” Jay wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big hug.
“Well, you lot care about me. The girls don’t care. I moved to London to be nearer to them. Today’s the first time Lissie’s spoken to me since she moved to London.”
“Well, you’re in America now,” Jay said as he lightly punched my arm. “So forget about London while we’re here.”
“Good point,” I said and took my phone out of my pocket. I unlocked it, entered the password and chucked it as hard as I could against the ground. The screen shattered into pieces and the side had a massive dent where it hit the ground. Jay shouted ‘Jesus Christ’ from not expecting me to throw my phone and jumped behind the sofa. Siva and Tom came in to see what was going on.
“She smashed her phone,” Jay said, still hidden behind the sofa.
“I’m forgetting about London,” I said.
None of this made sense to either of the guys so they walked back out of the room. Jay joined me back on the sofa. He was carrying my phone in his arms as if to nurse it back to health.
“I want a new phone, new contract, new Sim card, new everything. I don’t want any of my old life,” I said.
Jay offered my phone back to me. I shook my head and pointed to the bin. He came back and gave me a hug. Max and Nathan jumped into the hug about 20 seconds later. I was piled underneath all of them in the end and wasn’t allowed to have any dinner until I’d laughed.
“Amazing first show guys,” Jayne said once we were back at the hotel. “Celebratory drinks for everyone, apart from Charlotte and Nathan, of course.”
“Can we go and get on the tour bus then?” I asked. All of our suitcases and stuff had been moved onto the tour bus while we were at the gig. I was tired and all I wanted to do was crash somewhere comfy. I could see Nathan wanted to do the same.
“Yeah, suppose you can,” Jayne said. “I think Martin’s in there, making sure no one sneaks on.”
“Come on, Nath, let’s go check it out,” I said and grabbed Nathan's hand and dragged him away to the bus.
The tour bus was massive. It moved in and out too. So basically, when we’ve stopped somewhere, it expands so more people can get inside but when on the road, it goes back to normal size so as not to get in the way of the cars. I found a bunk inside the tour bus that was comfy and claimed it as mine. Nathan took the one opposite mine.
“I think I could fall asleep right now,” Nathan said, turning on his side to face me.
“I definitely could,” I said and lay on my back, turning my head to face Nathan.
“So, why did you smash up your phone?” Nathan asked cautiously while playing with the blanket in the bunk.
“I want a new life. I don’t want to know anything or anyone from the life before moving into your flat.”
“I haven’t looked at him in the same way since I learnt what he did to my mum.”
“What happened to your mum, if you don’t mind me asking? It’s just; you’ve never said why she hasn’t been there lately.”
“I don’t like to get into it. I’m sorry, Nath. It still upsets me,” I said as a couple of tears left my eye.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought the subject up,” Nathan said, stretching between the bunks and holding my hand.
I got out of my bunk and climbed into his. He put his arms around me and squeezed. I only cried for a minute or so, but he didn’t say a word to me. He just held me and I think that’s all I needed. I fell asleep in his arms.
I woke up in Nathan’s bunk about three hours later. We had started to drive on the motorway in the night. Max was in the bunk opposite me. Tom was in the bunk beneath Max and Jay was in the bunk above. I leaned out of Nathan’s bunk and Siva was sleeping in the bunk above it. I climbed out of the bunk and made my way to the back of the bus. Nathan was hanging out by himself. Anybody else who wasn’t asleep seemed to be downstairs chatting.
“Did you have a good nap?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said and sat on the sofa opposite him. “I saw Max stole my bunk.”
“Have mine; I’ll take the one beneath yours.”
“No, you called that bunk.” I shook my head at him.
“Honestly, take it. I only took the one opposite you so we could talk.”
“Instead, I slept.” I giggled.
“Pretty much, oh and you talked a little bit in your sleep.” A smile appearing on Nathan’s face.
“What did I say?” I was a bit worried.
“You were just mumbling to yourself mainly, but I did hear you say something along the lines of ‘I don’t see why I can’t have him’ and ‘I hate being told who I can be with and who I’m not allowed near’.”
“Oh my god,” I was so embarrassed. I hid my face in my hands. “Can you ignore me in future if I start talking in my sleep?”
“I’ll just record you next time.” Nathan winked at me. “That way I can show the others,” Nathan said and laughed.
I hid my face in one of the sofa cushions. After half an hour, I was tired again. I made my way back to my bunk. Max was awake and creepily stared at me from across the bus. I hid my face under the blanket and pulled it slowly down my face. He was still staring at me. I threw a pillow at his face.
“You do realise, we only have a pillow each,” Max said, taking my pillow hostage.
“Could I have it back then please?” I asked nicely, and smiled at him.
“As long as you don’t wake me up in the morning by clapping right by my ears.” He gave me his most evil stare.
“Deal, although, you deserved it this morning,” I said and grinned at him.
“No, I didn’t. You were being unfair and cruel.”
“Deal with it, Max. Also, while you’re trying to deal with it, stop giving me the creepy stare, it freaks me out.”
“Shut up, both of you,” came Tom’s voice from behind the curtain below Max.
Max held his finger to his lips as if to shush me. I stuck my middle finger up at him and turned over to fall asleep. A few seconds later, I had a pillow thrown back at me. I grabbed the pillow and shoved it under my head. It took a while to fall asleep this time. I heard Nathan come in and get into the bunk below me. Well, I could feel him put his hands on my bunk, sigh and then after a few seconds, heard him climb into his bunk.
“Charlotte,” I heard someone say the next morning. “Charlotte, wake up.”
I tried to sit up, but whacked my head against Siva’s bunk. I laid back down and turned my head to face the voice saying my name. Jay was grinning at me. I pushed his face to turn the snooze alarm on. He pushed my face back and laughed.
“Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night?” I asked.
“It’s 11am. So, by night, you mean day, right?” Jay said, checking his watch.
“I thought Jayne was supposed to wake me to wake you?”
“Well, she asked me to tell you, you’re fired from being the band assistant.” Jay was still poking my face.
“I wasn’t getting paid, so that’s alright,” I shrugged,
“Okay then, but you were getting paid, just not until the end of the tour.”
“Oh, man. Oh, well, means I get like three weeks holiday.”
“You weren’t even working while you were at home. You were pretty much on holiday then, too.”
“Shh, Jay. What should I do today then?”
“Well, we’ve got a couple of hours before we arrive in Washington. We boys are having a FIFA tournament. So do you want to come hang out? Or do you want to make sure your head is better?”
“I’ll come hang out. I really need a shower though. I feel disgusting.”
“The only shower you’re going to get is if Martin or Kev pours a bottle of water over you.”
“Fine, I’ll just feel like a tramp,” I moaned and climbed out of the bunk.
The boys were quite abusive to each other while playing FIFA 12. I wondered what they would do to each other while an actual match was on. Once the game was finished and they switched it for Battlefield, Nathan came and cuddled up with me.
“You didn’t talk in your sleep this time,” Nathan whispered into my ear.
“Cheers for trying to hear anything else,” I joked and pushed him away.
“So, Charlotte,” Tom said while playing on the Xbox. “You’re going to have to survive the next three weeks without a phone. How’s that going to work for you? Isn’t it like your soul?”
“I can live without a phone.”
“How are you going to live without Twitter?” Nathan asked, getting his phone out and loading Twitter up.
“Don’t be mean, also, I am so stealing some of your phones at some point to check my Twitter,” I said and tried to grab Nathan’s phone.
Nathan was tweeting at that very second. He wouldn’t show me which made me want to check Twitter even more. I don’t like to admit it sometimes, but I am a social network whore. I love it. The fact you can look at pictures of people you’ve never met, or never going to meet.
“Oh, look,” Nathan said. “From that tweet alone, you’ve gained over 300 followers.”
“Now, that really is unfair. You know I love my followers,” I said and jumped on top of Nathan.
“Charlotte, if you just asked to borrow a phone, you could’ve borrowed one off of us,” Jay said.
“Jay?” I asked and smiled at him. “Can I borrow your shiny, perfect phone please?”
“Here,” Jay said and tossed me his phone. He was still logged into his Twitter account. Nathan moved next to me to look. Jay was getting some nice, informative Twapes. They weren’t shocking ones as any of the tweets could end up in a paper. They were just obvious ones that used my username and the boys. I then logged out of his account and into my account. Nathan was right; within a few minutes, I’d gained a few hundred followers. The tweet Nathan sent was ‘@Char_Bails is the girl who is living with me and @JayTheWanted. Follow her now’.
“Aww, thanks Nathan,” I said and logged out of Twitter. “Now, for a Facebook check.”
I opened Facebook up. Jay was still logged in there too. I was all too tempted to frape Jay but thought it would be too mean. Nathan was protesting next to me. I logged Jay out and logged into my Facebook. It all looked the same. I had a few notifications, which I looked through. I logged back out of Facebook and gave Jay his phone back.
“Good one, Charlotte,” Siva said, reading the tweets from Jay’s account off of his phone.
“What have you done?” Jay asked and quickly logged back into his Twitter.
“In future, log yourself out,” I said and grinned at him.
Jayne came upstairs and into the comfy section of the tour bus. I quickly left and went downstairs to join Martin and Kev. I sat down next to Kev and poured myself a coffee.
“I’m guessing Jayne scares you,” Martin asked.
“Since I stopped working for her, yeah,” I said and sipped on my coffee.
“Look, she’s not a horrible person; she just doesn’t want her boys distracted. That’s why there are no girlfriends on this tour.”
“I’m a flat mate, not a girlfriend.”
“You and Nathan don’t act like flat mates,” Kev said and chuckled to himself.
“You definitely want to have your way with him,” Martin said.
“Shut up, both of you,” I laughed.
“Well, we know Nathan wants to have his way with you,” Kev said in a quieter voice.
“Oh my god,” I said and hid my face. “I can’t escape either.”
“You could hang out with the bus driver. He might like some company.” Martin suggested.
“I feel like a tramp. Would he really want a tramp chatting to him?”
“You don’t look like one,” Kev said and encouraged me to go and keep the bus driver company.
I made my way to the front of the bus and perched on a seat by the bus driver. He was a nice, older man. Usually older men can come across a bit pervy or creepy. But he was lovely. Once we were in Washington, DC, he turned into a tour guide and pointed out loads of places.
We had a couple of days in Washington to hang out. This meant we were staying in a hotel. Because I wasn’t working for the boys anymore, I got to share a room with one of them. There was also a maximum of two of the guys staying in the room so one of them would be by themselves. I got the pleasure of sharing with the spare guy so got to choose who I shared with. As everyone thought I was going to pick Nathan, I picked Jay instead.
“To be honest with you, Charlotte, I really thought you’d pick Nathan,” Jay said as he dumped his suitcase on the floor of the hotel room.
“I don’t want him listening to me as I sleep talk,” I said and dumped my suitcase on the floor next to my bed.
“You know you sleep talk then?”
“I’ve known for years,” I said, emphasising ‘years’. I then took in the tone of voice Jay had used. “Why, do I always say something embarrassing?”
“Well, I went into your room once because I could hear you talking and you were chatting to Nathan about Nathan. Although, you didn’t realise you were talking to Nathan.”
“Oh my God, I hate Nathan. Do you remember what I said?”
“How you liked him in a certain way but nothing could happen because of it.” He pulled his laptop out of his backpack and switched it on.
“And here’s me thinking that he was just being nice and friendly.”
“He is, Char.” Jay rolled his eyes at me. “He’s told me he’d like something to happen but while you’re in the mindset of nothing can happen between the two of you, he’s not going to push anything.”
“Oh, he’s lovely. But I feel disgusting so I’m going to take a shower,” I said and went into the bathroom.
That was one of the best showers of my life. I washed my hair + body, shaved and then stood in the shower for about 20 minutes before I thought to get out. The bathrobes were so fluffy and felt really clean too. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay in the warm, fluffy bubble forever, until Jay walked back into the room with Max, Siva, Tom and Nathan.
“I wish my room came with a hot, naked girl,” Max said.
“I’m not naked,” I said and untied the bathrobe. I’d put underwear and some shorts on. I just hadn’t got round to putting a top on.
“A hot, half-naked girl then,” Max said and grinned.
I rolled my eyes at him and put a top on. The top of choice today was a Star Wars top. Siva approved of my choice. I left the hotel room and went downstairs. I hung out by the window in the cafe downstairs with a cappuccino, double choc chip muffin and my Kindle. After a couple of hours of reading ‘The Facebook Killer: Part One’, Jayne came and joined me at my table.
“Sorry about firing you,” she said as she sat down with a blueberry muffin and a latte.
“No problem,” I said and put my Kindle down. “Why did you fire me?”
“You were a bit useless.”
“Yeah, but the boys didn’t listen to me anyway. I pretty much had to drag Max to bed the other night.” I explained. “He regretted it in the morning,” I said more to myself and chuckled.
“Jay and Siva said. You really did that to him? Clapped by his ears to wake him up?”
“Yeah, it got him awake and out of bed.”
“And I saw the picture on Tom’s phone. Well, I saw it posted on Twitter.”
“I’m so sorry about that. Tom put me on top of Nathan and then took the photo. I couldn’t do much to stop that.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jayne shrugged it off. “It keeps their fans interested in them.”
“True, I suppose that’s the reasoning behind having Twitter. It shows people that celebrities are actually people like us, with their quirky and geeky side.” I chuckled at how I thought of Jay’s geeky side. Jayne and I got into a discussion about the social media and its effect on the boys’ popularity.
“Imagine what Busted would be like if they were introduced a couple of years later,” I said.
“Of all the bands, you think about Busted?2 Jayne asked and laughed
“Yeah, you have to admit, their stuff was wicked.”
“Whose stuff was wicked?” Tom asked, pulling a chair up to join us.
“Busted’s,” I said and moved my chair further round the table so that Nathan and Siva could join us.
“Busted were amazing,” Nathan said. “I miss them.”
“You have their album at home which, by the way, was quite far down the pile. I was ashamed of you.”
“Where would it be in your collection then?”
“Well, there’s McFly Wonderland, then Olly Murs In Case You Didn’t Know and then Busted A Present For Everyone.”
“Third of all time favourites?” Nathan asked, slightly shocked.
“Of course, it’s a good, cheesy, sing along album.” I felt a bit insulted that he didn’t think the same.
“Where’s our albums?” Siva asked.
“Erm, let me think,” I said and started to count off the list of albums in my head. “Battleground is number seven.” Counting further. “The Wanted is at number 13.”
“We’re not even in the top five and you live with us?” Nathan asked.
“Well, McFly, Busted, Olly and The Killers have got better albums.”
“Do you honestly want me to go through my favourite album list?”
“Yes, enlighten me on why we aren’t further up the list,” Nathan said and smiled.
I went through my top 13 albums. They didn’t need to know the albums after their first album. I also gave reasoning as to why they are before The Wanted’s albums. Nathan looked slightly satisfied once I’d finished. He couldn’t moan at me for not having reasons as to why they weren’t higher up on the list.
After we had been out for dinner, I attempted to crash in our hotel room. However, Jay had another idea and brought all the boys up to our hotel room. Why they couldn’t go into one of the other rooms, I don’t know. Nathan and Max hung out on my bed, while the other three were on Jay’s bed. I took up as much room as I could physically take up.
“Move over,” Max said and pushed my legs out of the way.
“Douchebag, it’s my bed,” I said and pushed him off of it.
“How come you won’t kick Nathan off?” Max moaned.
“He hasn’t tried to move me, yet.” I stuck my tongue out at Max.
“If I know I’m getting kicked off the bed, I’m happy here, thanks,” Nathan said, perching on the end of the bed.
“Kiss arse,” Max said and pushed Nathan off of the bed.
The next few minutes were full of the boys play wrestling each other. I hung out on my laptop while they sorted themselves out. I logged onto Twitter. I had over 3,000 followers now, all from one tweet. Well, by this time it was about 20 tweets from all the boys. The boys had eventually stopped play fighting and Tom and Nathan went into their room to get the Xbox. They came back and fussed around with it and the tele for a bit. Max joined me on my bed. He put his arm around me and hugged me.
“So,” he whispered in my ear. “Have you still got that crush on Nathan?”
“Shut up,” I said back and nudged him with my elbow. I switched my laptop off and put it on the bedside table between the beds. Max was still looking at me for an answer. I wasn’t going to give him an answer so poked him in the cheek to make him stop looking at me.
“That’s a blatant yes,” he said after a few minutes.
“”It’s not a yes,” I said.
“So, you don’t fancy him anymore?”
“I didn’t say that either.”
“So, is it more of a you-like-him-but-you-can’t-have-him-so-it’s-best-to-deny-it thing?” Max whispered in my ear.
“I knew you liked him,” Max said, a bit too loudly.
“Who does Charlotte like?” Tom asked, jumping onto the bed.
“Guess,” Max said and looked over to Nathan.
I felt myself burn up. I don’t show any colour when I blush but I can feel it.
I dug my face into my hands. When I looked up after about 10 minutes, Nathan was sitting next to my bed with his face near mine. I stole his hat. The next half an hour was spent with Nathan chasing me around the hotel for his hat back.
“Charlotte,” Nathan was shouting down the corridor. “I will kill you as soon as I catch up. You know I can’t run.”
“Fine,” I said, walking back down to his end of the corridor. “Here’s your hat back.”
I got to within reaching distance for him to grab his hat back, when I pulled it closer to me. I hid it under my top so he couldn’t get to it. He grabbed me and started to tickle me to let him have his hat back. I collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles. He fell on top of me and continued to tickle me.
“Stop it, Nathan,” I tried to get out between giggles. “You know how ticklish I am.”
“Let me have my hat back then,” Nathan said and pinned my arms against the floor.
“Well, I'm not stopping you anymore, am I?” I asked as a smile on my lips. Nathan had a stupid smile spread across his face. He started to lean in closer to me.
I pinned Charlotte’s hands to the ground above her head. “Well, I’m not stopping you anymore, am I?” She asked. A smile was forming on her lips. I could so easily just lean and kiss her now. In fact, I felt myself doing that. The tip of my nose had just touched the tip of her nose when we both heard Jay’s voice approaching around the corner.
“Are you two still flirting over Nathan’s hat?” Jay asked. I quickly pulled away from her but not quickly enough as he obviously saw something.
“Oh, sorry, was something going to happen here?” He asked.
“Just getting my hat back,” Nathan said and grabbed his hat from my lap. I stood up and started to walk in Jay’s direction.
“You two looked like you were going to kiss,” Jay whispered to me as I walked past Jay towards our hotel room. Max was still on my bed when I walked in. I collected my pyjamas from my suitcase and went into the bathroom. I changed and went back into the bedroom.
“Hey, Char,” Max asked. “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” I said and sat next to him on the bed. “Just be quiet and hug me.”
“Alright, you sure you don’t want to talk?”
“Definitely,” I said and put his arm around me.
Jay and Max swapped rooms. Nathan came into our room at one point to talk to me. I pretended I was asleep so he left me alone.
“What happened between you and Nathan?” Max asked.
Max was sat on his bed this time. He kept throwing stuff at me until I responded to him to say I was awake so I couldn’t get away with saying I was asleep.
“We nearly kissed,” I said, not looking at Max.
“You’re getting weird over something that nearly happened? It didn’t even actually happen; it nearly happened.”
“It shouldn’t have nearly happened though.” I turned over on my pillow.
“You really wanted it to actually happen.”
“Good night, Max,” I said and turned back over in bed.
No matter how much stuff Max threw at me, I wasn’t going to respond to him. The next day was a bit awkward in the group. I mainly did stuff with the band that performs with The Wanted. The boys hung out together with Kev, Martin and Jayne.
“Charlotte,” I heard someone call my name as I opened my hotel room door.
“Yeah,” I asked and turned to the voice.
“Can I talk to you,” Nathan asked.
“What nearly happened yesterday shouldn’t have happened or nearly happened,” I quickly said without looking him in the eye.
“That’s not what Max said.”
“What did Max tell you then?”
“That you wanted it to actually happen.” Nathan had a small smile on his face.
I took a deep breath in and breathed out while saying, “I didn’t say that.” Nathan made a ‘o’ shape with his mouth. “I just didn’t answer him when he asked.”
“Which means that what he asks you is true.” The smile appeared again.
“Can we not talk about this in the corridor?” I asked and stepped aside of the door for Nathan to step into the hotel room.
“Charlotte, do you or do you not like me?” Nathan asked.
I shut the door and kissed Nathan.
I didn’t want to admit it, but that’s all I could think about since we were on the floor in the corridor. Nathan had the biggest smile across his face when we’d finished kissing. I think I had the same smile on my face. Well, there was a smile until we heard a cough behind us.
“You finally kissed,” Max said and walked over to his suitcase. “So, what’s going to happen about the two of you living together in the flat?”
I didn’t even want to think about that. I avoided looking at Nathan at this point. Nothing could happen between us. Not only did we live together, he was pretty much my best friend out of the guys. Sure, I hang out with Max a lot but he’s more like an older brother. I don’t feel like I can tell about everything. Whereas Nathan was the guy I could tell anything to.
The rest of the US tour went smoothly. Nathan and I didn’t talk for the majority of it. As soon as I talked to him about nothing happening, he went into mute mode around me. I grew closer to the rest of the guys, whereas Nathan and I drifted apart a bit. I know you’re thinking that Nathan and I have only known each other for like three weeks when we kissed. But to be fair, we’d spent nearly 24 hours a day with each other.
“Home, sweet home, eh,” Jay asked as he let us into the flat back home in England.
“I can’t wait to get into bed,” I said and left my suitcase in the hall. I headed straight for my bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
Charlotte headed straight for her bedroom. She abandoned her suitcase in the middle of the hallway. Jay and I headed straight for the kitchen and shoved some food in the oven. This consisted of three pizzas and a baking tray full of potato wedges.
“So, you and Charlotte haven’t talked for the majority of the US trip,” Jay said, getting a beer out of the fridge and offering me one. I took it.
“She kissed me and then told me nothing was going to happen,” I sulked. “I didn’t know what to do or think.”
“You should’ve been like you were before you kissed.” Jay took the caps off our beers.
“It feels weird now. I just want to be hers.”
“Dude, you really need to man up,” Jay said and sipped his beer.
“You really need to man up,” I said in my fake Jay voice. I downed half of my beer in one. Why was I feeling so stupid about a girl I’d known for just over a month? I was glad we were going on tour in a couple of days.
“Charlotte,” Jay yelled through the flat. “We’re going in about half an hour.”
“Hang on,” I shouted back. I turned to the guy who was naked in my bed. “Do you need to go anywhere in the next half hour to forty five minutes?”
“Yeah, I need to leave in five minutes,” he said.
Shit! Shit! Shit! I’d gone out with a couple of the girls in the flat below ours and got quite drunk. I ended up inviting a guy back. Jay and Nathan didn’t know this guy came back. It’d only been a couple of days since we got back from America too.
“Quickly get dressed and I’ll try and sneak you out,” I said and left my room.
“She emerges from her room,” Jay said.
“Sorry, I got in late last night,” I said and hugged Jay.
“Who’s the guy?” Nathan asked, nodding to my room.
“What guy?” I asked and went and hugged him.
“The guy you bought back last night.” Nathan said into my ear.
I pulled away from him slightly. “I didn’t bring a guy back.”
“Well, let’s put it this way. You thought you weren’t making any noise when you came in through the front door or in your bedroom, but you were being loud.”
“Nathan, do you have a problem with me bringing guys back?” I stepped out of Nathan’s arms and took a couple of steps away from him.
“No, but I don’t like you lying to us.”
“Us or you?” I asked and crossed my arms.
Nathan didn’t have an answer. He turned to Jay. “Come and get me when the tour bus gets here, will you Jay?” Nathan asked and pushed past me to get to his room.
“Nathan, we’re not together. I can do what I want,” I yelled after him.
“I am quite glad you’re not coming on this tour with us,” Jay said once Nathan had slammed his door shut.
“Why does he have to be like this?” I asked Jay. “Why does he have to care about who I bring back? I would be perfectly fine if he bought a girl back.”
“But two days after we get back from America?” Jay put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m single, I can do what the hell I want,” I said. “Mike, you need to leave now,” I yelled to my bedroom.
“It’s Mark,” Mark said, coming into the living room.
“Whatever your name is, you need to leave.”
“Okay, well, I have your number. I’ll text you later,” Mark said and leant in to kiss me goodbye.
I turned my face so he kissed my cheek. I didn’t give him my real number. The number he has is the one to a Chinese down the road. As soon as Mark left I went back to my room and slammed the door shut. I couldn’t even face getting into that bed.
“Charlotte,” Nathan’s voice came at my door.
“I thought you were pissed off with me,” I said. I turned around on the floor to face away from Nathan. I heard him come into my room and sit beside me.
“Come here,” Nathan said and put his arms around me.
I couldn’t help but cry. I had never had a one night stand before. Nathan didn’t say a word but just held me. Once I’d stopped crying, he helped me change my sheets and put them in the wash.
“Thank you, Nathan,” I said and hugged him.
“No problem,” Nathan said and squeezed me. “I just hate that we’re leaving you to be alone.”
“I’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Hang on,” Nathan said and left the kitchen for a few minutes. He returned while on the phone.
“Thanks dude,” he said and hung up. “You have got a couple of guys looking after you for the next two weeks. After that, you are joining us on our tour.”
“Are you sure I should join you lot on tour again? We know what happened on the US tour,” I joked.
“Let’s see how you feel after two weeks, yeah?” Nathan said. He had one of his hands on my neck, rubbing his thumb on my cheek. He kissed my forehead.
“You ready Nath?” Jay asked, sticking his head round the kitchen door.
“Yeah, oh and Charlotte.” Nathan pulled away slightly. “It’s Niall and Zayn from One Direction who are looking after you.”
“But they’re younger than me. How are they going to look after me?” I asked.
“They’re pretty mature for their age, trust me,” Nathan said and hugged me. “But we’ve got to go. So we’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll see you then,” I said and gave Jay a hug goodbye.
Nathan and Jay left. Nathan came back up because he forgot his jacket. He gave me another hug and kissed me. He then got a bit awkward because he hadn’t meant to kiss me. I pushed him in the direction of the front door and smiled to myself.
“Hey Charlotte,” Niall asked at the front door.
“Hey,” I said and hugged Niall. “I can’t believe Nathan called you to look after me.”
“Well, we do live in the block of flats next over,” he said in his Irish accent.
That’s the thing that I love; Irish accents. When I’m hanging out with Siva, I can’t actually listen to him. I just completely melt and am blown away by his voice. The same is going to happen with Niall.
“Right, so, I was thinking that you come to Harry and Louis’ flat tonight. We’ve got the JLS guys coming over and Harry’s cooking.” Niall said, stepping into the flat.
“Wicked, but are you sure I can just crash your all guys dinner thing?”
“Yeah, I’ve already asked the others if it will be fine. They said they can’t wait to meet you. So Nathan asked for me to pretty much hang out with you all day.”
“Well, I’m not complaining, especially if you could just keep talking to me.” I grinned at him.
“Oh, you’re another girl who likes an Irish accent, eh?” Niall winked at me.
“Definitely, you should see me around Seev. I don’t listen to a word he’s saying, I just listen to him speak.” I laughed. Niall didn’t look too impressed. “I’ll listen to every word you say though. What do you want to do then?”
“I live with two lads of course we’ve got an Xbox. Do you want a drink?”
“Yeah, please,” Niall said.
Niall made himself comfy in the living room and set the Xbox up. I got us both some drinks. Niall had put Battlefield on to play. As I sat down to absolutely slaughter him at this game, there was a knock at the door. Zayn came to join us. I made him a drink and we played Battlefield for around four hours.
“We should really go to Louis and Harry’s,” Zayn said, checking his watch.
“Are they expecting us to show up soon?” I asked, killing someone with a headshot.
“They should understand that we got into Battlefield too much and lost track of time, right?”
“Yeah, I mean, if they know you’re playing, they’ll completely understand.”
“Wicked, so should we stop playing now?”
So we continued to play for another hour. Harry rang Zayn’s phone twice. Louis tried to get hold of Niall a couple of times too. By the time we arrived, we were nearly two hours late. The JLS guys were there already with Aston and Marvin playing FIFA 12 on the Xbox. I hugged way too many people as I entered the flat. Okay, I hugged 7 guys, but that’s a lot more than what is manageable.
“So, now that everyone is here, we can finally eat,” Harry said and led us to the dining area of their flat.
I have never had a dinner (since the Chinese the first night I’d moved to London) that was so delicious. Once we’d all finished, Aston, Marvin, JB and Oritse cleaned up. The 1D boys and I went and hung out in the living room. I was dying on the sofa from eating too much. I didn’t want to act like I would usually in case they thought I was a bit weird. You see, usually I’d be caressing my food baby and moaning but I don’t think I can do that in front of 9 lads. Well, I didn’t think I could do that.
“Look at the food baby I’ve got going on,” Harry said and lifted his top to show the smallest food baby.
“That is not a food baby,” I said, accidentally.
“It definitely is.” Harry let his top drop back down.
“This is a food baby,” I said and lifted my top up to show my belly.
“Okay, mine is definitely not a baby compared to yours,” Harry said and sat down on the sofa next to me.
I was completely not expecting it, but he poked me in the belly. I poked him back and moved to the other end of the sofa so he couldn’t reach me. Louis put FIFA 12 back on. Niall sat down next to me. I leaned my head onto his shoulder.
“I could go to sleep right now,” I said.
“Well, if you have that food baby in you, it will be difficult to carry you back to your flat, so try not to fall asleep,” Niall said, putting his arm around me.
“Aww, isn’t that cute,” Aston said as he walked into the living room. “Niall’s got himself a girlfriend.”
I moved Niall’s arm away from me and stopped leaning against him.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Niall said.
“I know. Aren’t you with Nathan from The Wanted?” Aston asked.
“I thought you were together,” Marvin said.
“Nope, we live together and people seem to think because I’m going back to our flat that we are together. I live with Jay as well.”
“Oh right. What do you think the paps will say when you get walked home by Niall or Zayn?” Harry asked.
“They’ll probably say I’m cheating on Nath.” I played with my necklace.
“That’s already been all over Twitter,” Liam said while playing FIFA.
“Yeah, ‘cheating on Nathan Sykes’ was trending this morning. Then again, if there were pictures of me walking home and kissing some guy, I’d be accused of cheating.”
“And being gay,” Zayn laughed.
“Oh my god,” I said and quickly got my new phone out.
Oh yeah, I sorted a new phone out. I got the iPhone again but just a new contract and new number. Anyway, I opened the Twitter app and searched ‘cheating on Nathan Sykes’. There were hundreds of tweets accompanied with pictures of me walking home with the guy I slept with the night before. I dug my face into my knees.
“Seen the pictures?” Aston asked.
“Yeah,” I mumbled from behind my knees. “He didn’t look that bad this morning.”
“Was it in dim lighting?”
“It was in the darkness of my bedroom.” I lifted my head so that I was looking at Aston from over my knees.
“That’s why he didn’t look bad.” Aston laughed.
“Oh, I have good taste in men usually.”
“I think we need proof,” Louis said, sitting down on the sofa the other side of me.
I opened Facebook and searched for my first ex boyfriend. I found a picture of just him. I showed everyone the picture. They approved. The next ex had a million pictures to choose from. I showed the lads a few pictures. They thought he was vain and just about approved of him. My last boyfriend was next. He had only changed his profile picture once since we were together and to be honest, I’m surprised he’s still friends with me. Things didn’t end well with him. It was when I told him that I was dropping out of uni and he wasn’t happy. We had a massive argument that lasted the whole of my last night in Coventry.
“Okay, your previous boyfriends have been good looking, if that doesn’t make me sound gay,” Zayn said.
“Thank you,” I said. “That’s why I can’t understand why I went home with him.”
“Beer goggles or wine spectacles,” Niall suggested.
“Must’ve been,” I said and shivered.
After a few games of FIFA, the lads put CoD on. It ended up me and Harry playing until 8 the next morning. We both crashed at this point. I woke up around half 11. I got a bit confused at first until I saw whose chest I was sleeping against. Harry woke up about five minutes after I had. He smiled at me and then stretched.
“I definitely killed more people on CoD,” he said while brushing my hair away from my face.
“But, you died more than I did so I got a higher kill ratio,” I said and sat up.
“You finally got to sleep then,” Louis asked when he came into the living room.
“Yeah, what time did we crash?” Harry asked.
“About 8, I think,” I said and looked at my phone. Nathan had tried to call me three times already. I was about to call back when he called me again. “Hey,” I answered.
“I’m guessing you’re not at home,” Nathan said.
“Nope, I crashed at Harry and Louis’. What’s up?”
“Not much, our first night was good.” Nathan mumbled.
“Wicked, everything went well then?” I took the phone call into the kitchen.
“Yeah, there were some fuck ups at some points but they sorted themselves out. Everyone’s hung over though. We decided to celebrate the first night of TWAT.”
“Let me guess, Jay and Max were the most smashed?”
I laughed. “They were hungover most of the time in America.”
“I think Max will be worse when we go to his hometown. I am completely dreading that.” Nathan laughed.
I spent the next hour and a half chatting to Nathan on the phone. He pretty much talked me through the whole show. He finally got told by Tom to stop talking to me and grow a dick, so he hung up.
“How’s your boyfriend?” Harry asked as I walked back into the living room. He had a smug look on his face.
“Shut up, he’s not my boyfriend,” I said and threw a cushion at him.
That started the cushion fight between us which lasted about 10 minutes before we got bored of that. After I’d recovered from the cushion fight, I decided I should go home. I didn’t know where I was in relation to my flat as Zayn had driven us over to their place. Harry offered to drive me back to my flat. I thanked him and he kissed me on the cheek to say goodbye.
“Who’s playing here tonight?” I asked the lads while they were sound checking on stage at the LG Arena in Birmingham.
“Charlotte,” they all said and gave me a group hug.
“What are you talking about? I’m not performing,” I joked. “Look, would it be alright if I invited a course mate and a few of her friends backstage?”
“It should be okay. You’d have to speak to Jayne,” Max said, his arm still around my shoulders.
I went backstage to find Jayne. She gave me the okay to give backstage passes to my course mate and her three friends. I quickly called her mobile. She was excited that I could get her backstage passes. I arranged to meet her and her friends a couple of hours before the concert. This gave me about three hours to hang out with the guys and catch up a bit. I went into the lads’ dressing room. Siva and Tom were playing on the Xbox, Max was having his head shaved, Jay was filming for Wanted Wednesday and Nathan was hanging out on his phone. I walked straight over to Nathan and hugged him.
“Hey, stranger,” he said. “How has hanging with the One Direction boys been?”
“Good, lots of Xbox and banter,” I said. “Missed you lot though.” Nathan smiled and a slight hint of pink appeared on his cheeks.
“You missed us, or you missed Nathan?” Max asked from across the dressing room.
“All of you, of course,” I said.
“Just double checking. Sometimes you say us lot but actually mean Nathan.”
“I always mean you lot. If I missed Nath the most, that’s different.”
“Would you say it out loud though?” Tom asked.
My course friend, Carla, arrived early. When I gave them all their backstage passes, I gave them a tour of the arena before introducing them to The Wanted. After the initial shock of meeting them and having photos/autographs done, the girls calmed down and talked to the boys like actual human beings. Carla and Jay got on really well. At one point, one of Carla’s friends started to flirt a lot with Nathan and he was flirting back quite a bit. I didn’t like it but thought I couldn’t get mad.
“So, Charlotte,” Jay started. “What’s this I hear about you and a certain someone from One Direction?”
“That’s nothing,” I said, noticing Nathan had stopped talking to Carla’s friend.
“It doesn’t look like nothing from some of the pictures we’ve seen.” Max teased.
“What pictures have you seen?” I squinted my eyes slightly, thinking of any drunk photos from the Brits night.
“You sitting in his car, kissing.” Jay started to make kissy faces.
“He’s kissing my cheek. It doesn’t mean anything.” I laughed at them.
“He didn’t want me walking home from their flat,” I defended. “I was actually thinking of getting my own car so that he didn’t have to drive me home each night.”
“I’ve got no more questions,” Jay said and put his hands up to surrender. “Anyone else want to interrogate her?”
“Have you kissed him, properly?” Nathan asked.
“Yes,” I said, looking him in the eye.
“Were you drunk?” Nathan kept my eye contact.
I broke eye contact and looked at the floor. “Yes, it was at the Brit Award after party.”
“Did it go any further after the after party?”
“No, I went back to his bed, but nothing happened in that bed.”
“I’m done,” Nathan said and held his hands up.
At that moment, my phone’s text message tone went off. My phone was on the side next to Nathan. He looked at the screen and rolled his eyes. I lightly punched his arm as I walked over to get my phone.
Harry: Hey, how are the guys? Sorry I couldn’t say goodbye. We had to pack and get on a plane all within the space of about three or four hours. X
I couldn’t help but let a smile spread across my face. I put my phone back in my pocket.
“You’re not going to reply?” Nathan asked.
“I can reply later. I’m hanging out with you lot at the moment, aren’t I?” I questioned as I sat down on the arm of the sofa next to Nathan and ruffled his hair. He tried to push my hands away.
“So, this is the part of the night where we usually get someone from the audience to come up on stage,” Jay explained on stage. “But tonight, she hasn’t agreed to it yet, mine and Nathan’s flat mate, Charlotte, is here with us tonight. And she’s going to sing Sexy and I Know It.”
Jayne handed me a microphone and I was pushed on stage. There were thousands of people and I was a bit frightened. I kind of staggered over to the lads. I saw Carla and her friends in the third row and grinned at them.
“Everybody, this is Charlotte,” Nathan said and put his arm around me. “You might recognise her from a couple of the latest Wanted Wednesday videos.”
“So, Charlotte, are you ready to sing Sexy and I Know It?” Max asked.
“Well, we’ll be off stage for a minute to get changed. We’re going to humiliate ourselves again. I don’t know why we agree to do this every night of the tour,” Tom said.
“What are you going to do?” I got a bit nervous and started to have really short breaths.
“Just wait, Char, you will not be able to stand up because you will piss yourself laughing,” Nathan said, not looking me in the eye.
The guys left the stage for a bit. The music for Sexy and I Know It started and I started to sing along with it. By the end of the second verse, the boys had come back on stage. They were topless and wearing loose trackies. I had to keep singing no matter what happened. I couldn’t help but giggle quite a bit though. As soon as the second chorus finished, they ripped their trackies off to reveal them wearing different animal print shorts. I couldn’t help but burst out into laughter when they started to ‘wiggle’. I couldn’t physically stand up because I was laughing so much. Max came up to me and lifted me over his shoulder. He carried me down the podium in the middle of the arena in a kind of catwalk mentality. Kev had to come on stage to carry me off because I couldn’t stop laughing.
“It’s nice to be at home in my own bed,” Jay said, after he’d thrown himself onto his bed in the flat.
“Yeah, I know,” I laughed as he started stroking his sheets. “I changed both of your beds because it’s nicer to come home to fresh sheets.”
“Thank you, Charlotte,” I heard Nathan shout from his room.
“You’re welcome, Nath,” I yelled back.
“It’s a shame we don’t get to properly sleep in these until tomorrow morning,” Jay said, sitting up and looking in the direction of his lizard.
“Why’s that?” I said and leant against the door frame.
“We’ve got an end of TWAT party.”
“As if, you have a party to celebrate the end of a tour?”
“Yeah, and we’ve invited your boyfriend and his friends.” Jay grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at him.
“He’s not my boyfriend, Jay,” I chuckled at his childishness.
“You want him to be your boyfriend though,” Nathan said behind me.
“We’re just friends,” I said as Nathan moved past me into Jay’s room.
“That want to hang out, naked, with each other.” Nathan started pretending to make out with himself, moving his hips a bit too fluidly for a man to be doing.
“You are aware that we saw you two together in our dressing room, right?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, everyone was there.”
“And you noticed we could see you two flirting with each other, right?”
“We weren’t flirting that much, were we?”
“You know how we flirt, Char,” Nathan asked. I nodded. “Imagine that being 10 times as much. That’s close to you and Harry flirting the other night.”
I smiled to myself. I did like Harry, but I wasn’t sure if he liked me in that way too.
Nathan and Jay helped me pick out an outfit for the end of TWAT party. We finally decided on a pair of high-waisted shorts and a purple top which was tucked into my shorts. The boys tried to persuade me to wear heels, but they kill my feet by the end of the night. I settled for a pair of black plimsolls in the end. The boys dressed up nicely in trousers, t-shirt and a waistcoat.
As soon as we got to the party, I let the guys say hi to a bunch of people. I headed straight to the bar and asked for a glass of rosé. The 1D boys came over to me. They’d said hi to The Wanted lads. Harry was the only one to kiss me on the cheek.
“There’s a video on YouTube of you singing on this tour,” Zayn said.
“Yeah, the first night I saw them, they surprised me by telling me that I was singing and they were going to be dancing in animal print shorts behind me,” I said. “I couldn’t stop laughing.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much the main point of the video. It’s just you laughing throughout the majority of the song,” Liam said.
“Oh dear,” I giggled, embarrassedly. I held my bag against my face to hide it. When I moved my bag away from my face, Harry was the only one left standing in front of me.
“Hey,” he said and put his arm around me.
“Hey,” I said and smiled at him. “I can’t believe someone put a video of that on YouTube.”
“There’s one video of you and there’s hundreds of videos of us.”
“True, along with millions of pictures of you with different girls.”
“Which picture are you talking about?” He winked at me.
“The one of us in your car on the first time you dropped me off home.” I smiled.
“Yeah,” Harry whispered in my ear. “That’s a cute picture.”
“Ha-ha, I got a lot of hassle off the guys because of it.”
“Would doing this cause even more hassle?” Harry asked and kissed me. Once he’d pulled away, I rolled my eyes and smiled at him. He slid his hand into mine and squeezed.
“Are you sure you want to start this?” I asked.
“Definitely, I’ve never been so sure in my life,” Harry said and kissed me again.
Harry took his phone out of his pocket and opened Twitter. He opened a new tweet and tweeted ‘I am officially off the market. Sorry girls’. He pressed Tweet and within about ten minutes, Harry Styles was trending on Twitter.
“Finally,” Louis said when he saw us. “It’s been like a month.”
“Shut up, Louis,” I laughed and left the boys to talk. I made my way over to the Wanted lads but Tom dragged me away before I could reach them all. He took me outside to the garden where the smokers were hanging out.
“I wouldn’t go near Nathan,” Tom warned me.
“What’s up with Nath?” I asked.
“We’ve all seen Harry’s Twitter and he hasn’t taken it too well.”
“He’s drunk and emotional right now, hence the reason why someone has to be with him the whole time.” Tom explained.
A few people left the garden and went inside. They said ‘hi’ and ‘congratulations on the tour’ to Tom as they passed.
“Why is he drunk and emotional?” I asked.
“He’s drunk because he’s drank too much alcohol. You should know that, you were a student. And he’s emotional because he doesn’t like to admit it but he likes you.”
“I know he likes me.” I mumbled.
“Then why get together with Harry?” Tom’s voice rose slightly.
“Because I like Harry more in that way.” I matched his tone and volume.
“And it means no other girl can have the most irresistible teenager in the country,” Tom spat.
“That never came into my head, Tom,” I yelled slightly. “I spent like two weeks with him where I only left him to sleep. And even then that wasn’t very many times during those two weeks.”
“Well, do you want to talk to drunken Nathan?” Tom asked, pointing his hand behind me at the door.
“No, I don’t like drunken Nathan,” I said. “I think I should go home then.”
“You don’t have to go home, Char,” Nathan said behind us.
We were alone in the garden now. Tom stayed with us but stood by the door so no one could come out and make things awkward.
“There’s no point in staying here though, is there Nath?” I asked.
“We all want you to stay,” Nathan said and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Nathan, are you really upset with me being with Harry?”
“No, I’m a little upset but as long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“Oh God, Nathan,” I giggled. “That’s so cheesy.”
“What?” He nearly lost his balance. “You know I get cheesy when I’ve been drinking.”
“Sober up then, Nath.” I couldn’t help but laugh now.
“I am, well, I’ve been told to stop drinking and the people behind the bar aren’t serving me drinks anymore.”
“Maybe you should stay out here for a bit then. But I’m going back inside.”
“Do you have to go inside?” Nathan whined.
“No, but it’s nice to socialise when I’m still partly sober,” I said and left Nathan.
I walked past Tom and went through the door. When I’d got inside, I headed straight over to Jay and sat on his lap.
“Have you seen Nathan?” Jay asked me.
“Actual Nathan or his drunken persona?” I asked and sipped Jay’s beer.
“The drunken one.” Jay laughed.
“Yep, just had a nice conversation with him. He’s gotten to the cheesy state.”
“Aha-ha, what did he say?”
“He’s a little upset but he’s happy if I’m happy.” I facepalmed myself. “I hate cheesy sayings.”
“I love drunken Nathan when he gets cheesy.” Jay grinned at me.
“I don’t; it’s well embarrassing.”
“Well, here comes your new boyfriend. God help him if he starts getting cheesy,” Jay joked.
“Shut up, you,” I said and playfully elbowed him in the stomach.
“Char, we’re going to leave,” Harry said and helped me off of Jay’s lap. “Did you want to come back with us or are you going to go home with Nathan and Jay?”
“I’ll come back with you. Nathan’s drunk at the moment and he gets embarrassing.”
“Okay,” Harry held my hand and led me outside of the room booked for the party. “Oh and by the way, there are a few photographers outside.”
“Bring it on,” I said and winked at him.
All six of us left the party together. The paparazzi went mental over the five boys and when they saw Harry holding hands with me, they went insane. I was the first to climb into the minibus to take us back to Louis and Harry’s flat. Once we’d gotten away from the venue of the party, Harry put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.
I woke up the next morning with a massive grin on my face. Harry was already awake and was grinning back at me. He pulled me on top of him and kissed me.
“Morning, gorgeous,” he said and pushed my hair behind my ears.
“Morning,” I said and kissed him again.
“So, how did you want to spend our first day together?”
“Hmm, not sure, what are the options?” I asked and kissed his neck.
“Well, number one, we can spend the whole day in this bedroom and not leave. Number two, we can go on an actual date and I take you out somewhere. Number three; you can go home and scream, jump and fangirl around in the privacy of your own bedroom.”
“Tough choices, but I think number three is completely eliminated because I wouldn’t do that.” I kissed the other side of his neck. “So, what would you prefer, number one,” I kissed his chest, “or number two?”
“I would prefer number one because you were amazing last night.”
“So, let’s do number two then,” I said and smiled.
“You tease,” Harry said and rolled me over.
“Hey, Charlotte,” Nathan said down the phone to me. “Sorry about last night.”
“Hey, no problem,” I said. Harry was standing in front of me with his hands on my hips. He kept kissing my neck while I was trying to talk to Nathan.
“No, Tom said I got to my cheesy stage and I know you hate it when people are cheesy,” Nathan apologised.
“Honestly Nath, it’s no problem. I knew you were drunk so I ignored most of the stuff you were saying.” I giggled down the phone as Harry nibbled my neck.
“Oh, are you still with Harry?”
“Yes, he’s taking me out for the day, well, by the time we got up, afternoon.” I poked Harry in the chest.
“Oh okay, I’ll let you get back to your date then.”
“Alright then, I’ll see you later. Let’s have Chinese. I’ll get it this time,” I said. I said goodbye and hung the phone up. I kissed Harry.
“So, have you seen the sights of London?” Harry asked, running his index finger up and down my spine.
“Nope, not properly,” I said.
“Well, I managed to get us an open top bus to go around in. Well, it’s the bus we used for the One Thing video.”
“Really? That’s so cool,” I said as the bus pulled up next to us.
I raced onto it, up the stairs and stood at the front. Harry had his phone out and took a picture of me with my arms stretched out. He ran up the stairs and took another picture from behind me. I turned around and he took another picture. I took his phone off of him and took a picture of him. He grinned and stuck both thumbs up for the photo. He took his phone back, stood behind me, held his phone up and kissed my cheek while taking a picture.
The tour of London was amazing. We went everywhere; Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and a load of other places. Of course, because it was Harry Styles, groups of young girls were screaming everywhere. They were taking pictures of him mainly, but some of the girls wanted pictures with me. That was weird. Of course, Harry was completely milking the photographs and kept coming over to kiss me. Some of the girls shouted hate at me; some of the girls told me how happy they were for Harry. Every girl that said anything hateful to me, Harry refused to have a picture taken with them.
“When do you want dinner?” Harry asked.
“You know I’ve said I’m having dinner with Nath and Jay,” I said.
“Well, that’s what I was thinking. When do you want to be dropped off home to get dinner for those two?”
“Umm, how about I get dropped off at the Chinese about seven? That gives us about two hours left,” I said and wrapped my arms around Harry’s waist.
Harry wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He lifted my chin and kissed me. It was starting to get dark so a bunch of fairy lights were switched on along the top deck of the bus. It looked so pretty. At this point, Louis, Zayn, Niall and Liam came up the stairs and started singing One Thing.
“Oh my god, please tell me you’re not serious,” I asked Harry.
“I did not arrange for them to do this, I promise,” Harry said and turned to the other four. “Dudes, what are you doing?”
“Crashing your date,” Louis and Zayn said.
Harry left me and went down to the bottom deck. The bus slowed down to a stop. Harry came back to the top of the stairs.
“Leave, now. I don’t care how you get home, just leave,” he said and pointed down the stairs.
The boys dragged themselves off the bus. We watched as the bus drove away, leaving them stranded on the pavement. To be fair, we did leave them on a teenage girl abandoned street. Harry went back to kissing me. The bus pulled up by Hyde Park; the last stop on our tour of London. Harry grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bus and into Hyde Park. A section of the park had been completely decorated with fairy lights and closed off to the public.
“Harry, did you sort this out?” I asked, completely in awe of the place.
“Yeah, I wanted our first proper date to be something we’d remember,” Harry said.
“Aww, you’re such a girl,” I teased.
“Shut up,” Harry said and squeezed me.
We walked around our specific area of Hyde Park. Harry kept taking pictures of me. He wouldn’t let me delete the ones I thought I looked hideous in. I decided I’d get my phone out and start taking pictures. I saw that most of the pictures Harry had taken during the day had ended up being posted on his Twitter. They included retweets of pictures some of the fans we met today had tweeted him.
“Thank you for an awesome day,” I said.
We’d pulled up outside my local Chinese takeaway. I was on the pavement and Harry was still stood on the bus.
“Thank you for making it awesome,” Harry said and smiled.
“Please stop with the cheesiness, otherwise this relationship may not be more than this day.”
“Ooh, bit harsh.” Harry leant his forehead against mine.
“I don’t like cheesy.” I glared into his eyes.
“I’ll bear that in mind. But for now I suppose I have to let you get back to your friends.” His eyes were smiling as he stuck out his bottom lip.
“Do I have to?” I bit my bottom lip.
“Yeah, you promised. But I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
“Okay then,” I said and kissed Harry goodbye.
Harry leant out of the bus as it pulled away. He only just pulled himself back into the bus before he would’ve been smacked into a lamp post. I laughed and headed into the Chinese takeaway.
“She finally returns with food,” Jay said and took the Chinese off of me and into the kitchen.
“I’m starving,” Nathan said and started to open the containers. “Are you not hungry, Char?”
“Shut up, Jay. Yeah, I’m starving too,” I said and grabbed a plate. I started to dish up food onto my plate and took it into the living room. Nathan stayed in the kitchen to eat his dinner. He was on the phone to his mum for the majority of it. Jay joined me on the sofa. I’d switched Gamer on.
“So, your date was trending on Twitter today,” Jay said and took a mouthful of noodles.
“Was it?” I asked, playing with my food.
“Did it not go well?” Jay stopped eating his noodles.
“No, it was amazing.” Jay continued to chomp on his noodles. “He was really sweet and kept taking pictures, which were then posted on Twitter. The fans were really nice and sweet as well.”
“What’s the matter then?”
“You seem really sad though.”
“Honestly, I’m not. I’m just a bit overwhelmed with the day.”
“As overwhelmed as Harry gets when you flip your hair,” Jay joked. I gave him a death stare. “I’m sorry, but it had to be said.”
“Maybe you should take some tips from Harry; at least he can keep a girl.”
“Ooh, that was a bit mean.”
“You deserved it though,” I said and went back to eating my dinner and watching Gamer.
“Charlotte,” asked a voice at my bedroom door. “Are you awake?” I made a groaning sound to suggest I was alive. “Good,” Nathan said and came into my room. “What theme should I have for my birthday?”
“Nathan, we’re trying to sleep,” I said.
Harry had stayed the night and we didn’t get to sleep until nine in the morning. It was currently half 10. I could just about open my eyes to see Nathan. Harry was still fast asleep.
“Well, put some clothes on and come talk to me about my birthday,” Nathan ordered.
He left my room and I quickly put some underwear, trackies and my Back to the Future top on. Nathan was sitting on a bar stool at the counter in the kitchen. I sat down on the counter next to him.
“Can I just say that I went to sleep about nine o’clock,” I stated.
“Good, so you’ve had plenty of sleep,” Nathan said and smiled at me.
“Oh, well, that was self-inflicted so you get no sympathy. Anyway, what theme should I have for my birthday?”
“Well, you can’t have mine. I am having a beach theme. And it will be easy because we are going away to Ibiza for two weeks. And I’ve already talked to Jayne about you lot getting the time off. Michelle, Kelsey, Nareesha, the 1D boys, and their girlfriends can all get the time off. So we are going to get drunk and have a good time.”
“If you and Harry are still together at that point.”
“We will be. Anyway, your birthday. What have you got as an idea that you want to do?”
“Massive piss up in a club.”
“Which club? How many people? What night? Theme?” I started listing.
“You actually think this sort of thing through, don’t you?”
“Of course, I love planning parties and stuff. You get to watch a couple of weeks of planning turn into a night most people forget and then remember from photographs.”
“Ever thought about professionally party planning?”
“I haven’t got enough experience to actually have any business.”
“Well, here’s your first job then. You can be the person behind this night.” He pushed the piece of paper he had in front of him so it was in front of me.
“Really? You’d let me be in charge of your birthday?”
“Wicked, so what club were you thinking?” I asked.
Nathan had thought of ideas put hadn’t put any of them together. Nathan let me shower and get properly dressed before I started ringing clubs. Harry managed to surface from my bedroom around two in the afternoon. I was jealous of the amount of sleep he had.
“Char, I’m going to head home,” Harry told me once he’d showered and got dressed.
“You’ve got your hands full and I’ve got to be up early tomorrow for the flight to America for our album launch tour.”
“You’re telling me now?” I pouted.
“I keep forgetting what day it is. The others have been tweeting about it.”
“I’ve been a bit busy to be checking Twitter,” I said.
“Sorry gorgeous,” Harry said and kissed me. “But I’ve really got to go. I haven’t got any clean clothes, let alone started packing. I’ll see you in about three weeks.”
“You better buy me a nice present to make up for the short notice,” I said and grabbed his arse as he left the flat.
We got back to planning Nathan’s birthday. Sure it was just over a month away, but some places were saying they needed at least six weeks’ notice. In the end, I borrowed Jay’s car and drove to Nathan’s favourite club. I went in to see the manager.
“You do realise to rent out the club is going to need six weeks’ notice?” The manager asked.
“Yes, but I can pay the full amount now, and put £2,000 down for the bar tab,” I offered.
“I am just going to check to see if the ... what date was it that you wanted?”
“The 18th of April,” I said and the manager of the club left the room. He returned within a few minutes.
“So, you can pay £10,000 right now?” The manager asked.
“Okay, well, if you’d like to follow me to sign a contract and pay,” he said and opened his office door for me.
It was sorted pretty quickly. I drove home as quickly as the London traffic would allow me. Of course, as soon as a young girl in the office recognised me as ‘Harry Styles’ girlfriend’, the manager discounted the price by 20%.
“Charlotte, Charlotte, over here,” I heard photographers shouting.
I was at Heathrow airport waiting for the One Direction boys to come through from departures. I’d been waiting for about 20 minutes by now. I checked my phone for the tenth time. There was a text message from all of the boys. Next thing I knew, one of the security guards walked over to me and escorted me into a lounge area out back. I ran over to Harry and jumped into his arms. He spun me around in his arms and kissed my neck. He put me back down and kissed me properly.
“Ew, get a room,” Louis said from behind me.
“Shut up, mate,” Harry said. “I bet you’re like this when you see Ellie later tonight.”
“Yeah, but I’ll have my room,” Louis grinned and winked.
“Well, if everyone leaves, we’ll have a room then,” I joked and raised my eyebrows to Louis.
“How bad is it out there anyway?” Niall asked. “They wouldn’t let us go and collect our baggage.”
“There were a lot of paps. They got a few nice shots of me swearing at them.”
“That’s my girl; always telling people to fuck off,” Harry said and kissed my forehead. “So, is everything going well for Nathan’s birthday?”
“Don’t get me started on that,” I complained. “He’s changed his mind five times already about the theme. He insisted that he should have a beach theme because mine wouldn’t really be a theme if we weren’t properly dressing up. Then he decided it would be Baywatch theme and I told him that it would be the gayest thing and he hasn’t got the body for it. He wasn’t too happy that I told him that. Then it was a movie theme, which I was all for. Then he decided that wasn’t ‘him’.”
“What is ‘him’?” Zayn asked.
“I’m getting there. His next theme was Smurfs; until he found out that the blue dye doesn’t come out of your skin for a couple of days. For now, the theme is animals and Jay and I get to pick his costume.”
“That is not a good idea, Nathan,” Liam said. “What are you going to do to him?”
“Oh, I’m actually going to be nice to him. But Jay wants to make him dress up in a gorilla suit. He’d be absolutely baking.” I giggled.
“I think the main question is what are you dressing up as?” Harry asked and squeezed my arse.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? I’m keeping it a secret from you.” I poked his nose.
“Will I be able to take my hands off of you?” He whispered in my ear.
“Definitely not,” I whispered back and kissed him.
We were escorted out of the airport within a few minutes. The boys and I had to walk to the place where the planes are and get a minibus from there, off the airfield and down a back road leading away from Heathrow. Harry, Louis and I were first to be dropped off. I hugged the rest of the boys’ goodbye and ran into their building. As soon as Louis let us into the flat, Harry dumped his suitcase in the hall, lifted me over his shoulder and carried me into his room.
“Char,” Harry asked and shook me gently to wake me up. “Char, wake up.”
“Why?” I asked into the pillow.
“We’re filming our new video today, and you have to go home.”
“But I want to stay in bed and sleep.” I said into the pillow.
“So do I, but as that’s not happening for either of us, you need to get up.”
I turned my head to face him. “How long do I have?”
“About an hour before our taxi picks us up.”
“I’m going to go shower,” I said and hauled myself out of bed.
I walked with my eyes closed to the bathroom. I closed the bathroom door and stripped off. I showered, I dried, and I sat on the bathroom floor for 10 minutes, brushed my teeth and then went back to Harry’s bedroom. I pulled some of my clothes out of the draw Harry has allocated as my ‘drawer of crap’.
“How does it take you 45 minutes to shower, dry, dress and brush your teeth?” Harry asked.
Harry had just come from the kitchen. He’d cooked himself and Louis breakfast. It was then that I looked at my phone and noticed the time.
“It’s quarter to six?” I asked. “Quarter to six in the fucking morning?”
“Yeah, we have to start early to get it finished in one day,” Harry said. “Otherwise we’d have to miss Nathan’s birthday party tomorrow.”
“Fair enough, and I’m ready to leave the flat now. I don’t need to fuss with makeup or my hair.”
“Are you sure?” Harry pulled a disgusted face at me.
“Shut up, I look like a right catch. Also, as you’re not doing anything, go and make me a black, strong coffee so I don’t fall asleep when I’m driving home.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Harry said and bowed out of the room.
I laughed at how ridiculous he was. I decided I’d dry my hair at least. Harry brought my coffee in to me. I drank nearly half of it in one go and dried the rest of my hair. I then had enough time to do my 3-minute-makeup session. This consists of concealer, foundation and mascara.
“You look drop dead gorgeous now,” Harry said and kissed me. “Well, according to the paps who will be outside. I find you gorgeous all the time.” He winked at me as he grinned. His stupid, charming, making-girls-throw-their-underwear-across-the-room grins.
“Harry,” Louis yelled through the flat. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, is the taxi here already?”
“Just arrived and buzzed up,” Louis said and opened the flat door.
I downed the rest of my coffee and grabbed my bag. We took the lift down and headed outside. Harry walked me over to my car. He leant me against it and kissed me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow in your sexy outfit,” Harry said and kissed me again.
“You better match my sexiness,” I shouted as he got in the taxi.
He leaned out of the window as the taxi drove past and said ‘I can’t get anywhere near that’. I laughed and sat in my car. Six o’clock in the morning and I had nothing to do. I decided that I’d visit McDonalds. It was open from six and Harry hadn’t cooked me breakfast. I parked in the McDonalds car park and walked into the restaurant. There wasn’t a soul in this McDonalds; exactly how I like it. I quickly text Nathan and Jay to see if either were up. Nathan replied instantly. He was awake and could be there within ten minutes of walking. I ordered some food after about five minutes of hanging around.
“Heya,” Nathan said when he walked in. “You’re up and out of Harry’s flat a bit early, aren’t ya?”
“They’re filming their new video today,” I said and took a bite of one of my two McMuffins.
“So you got kicked out of bed?”
“Yeah, I got an hour’s notice though. So, I got to have a shower and dry my hair and even had time to do my 3-minute-makeup sesh.”
“Wow, that many paps outside their flat?” Nathan took the seat opposite me.
“Yep, that’s the main disadvantage of being friends or more with all you lot.”
“So, not all the hate tweets you get then? Or all the hate mail we get through the office?”
“Nope, because you can just have a massive banning or burning session. I love getting hate mail; it’s fun to see what imagination your fans have, or the Directioners.”
“I suppose they all think you’re stealing Harry from them.”
“Yeah, although he’s on tour or making a music video or recording stuff for their fans. So really, they are stealing him away from me.”
“Even though they were there first.” Nathan took a sip of the coffee I bought him.
I sighed. “Yeah, I don’t mind, I’d rather all you lot put your fans first. I met you all after your fans supported you. It’s like they’re your old toys and I’m the shiny new one. Yeah, you all want to play with me for now but you always want your old classics.”
“Yeah, I know we all want to play with you,” Nathan laughed.
“Obviously not in that way!” I rolled my eyes.
“Ha-ha, anyway, you haven’t told me what you’re going dressed as tomorrow. Nor have you told me what I’m going dressed as.” I saw Nathan play on his phone under the table.
“I haven’t told Harry what I’m going as either.”
“Well, I’m your friend, not your boyfriend. You can tell me.” He looked up and winked.
“I’m going as a tiger. I’m having body paint done but no paint on my face. My face is going to be pretty. I’ve got a mask though.”
“Text sent to Harry,” Nathan said and showed his phone to me.
Harry had asked Nathan to find out what I’m going dressed as.
“I hate you,” I joked. “So, you want to know what you’re going dressed as. I’m not going to tell you now.”
“Please, Char,” Nathan begged. “Jay won’t tell me either, and Jay tells me everything.”
“You are going as a shark.”
“That’s not an animal; it’s a fish.” Nathan complained
“Yeah, but you’ll be a very smart, cute looking fish,” I said and pinched his cheek.
“What exactly are you dressing me up in?”
“You are going to be wearing a white t-shirt, grey trousers and a grey waistcoat with a fin on the back. I’ve also got you a hat to wear with a sharks face on the front.” Nathan face dropped. “It’s like one of your usual hats,” I added.
“I am going to regret picking animals as my theme, aren’t I?”
Yeah, I know Nathan chose animals as his theme, I’d actually changed the idea and everyone knew not to dress as an animal. Everyone was going to be dressed in the usual club stuff. I’d bought a nice, clingy, green dress with matching heels. It took me about two or three weeks to find the heels. Of course, I didn’t really lie much to Nathan when I told him what he’d be wearing. He will be wearing a white t-shirt, grey trousers and a grey waistcoat, but he won’t be having the fin on the back or the hat. In fact, I’m going to ban him from wearing a hat all night.
“What is everyone else dressing up as then?” Nathan asked.
“Well, I’m a tiger,” I said. “Harry, Louis, Liam, Zayn and Niall are going as monkeys, Jay is going as a lizard, Tom is going as a parrot and Max is going as a rhino. I don’t know about Siva.”
“This is going to be a very weird evening.”
“Yeah, and on top of it, you have to be blindfolded until you get into the venue. That means pictures outside by any press is going to show that you are blindfolded.”
“I am not going to let you blindfold me.” He shook his head and pointed at me. “I know where we’re going.”
“Or do you?” I said and raised an eyebrow.
“Charlotte, what exactly is happening?”
“Eat your food; it’s going cold,” I said and shoved my food in my mouth.
We sat in McDonalds from half six until half nine. We ate four McMuffins each and about six cups of coffee. We were completely buzzing with caffeine and decided it would be a good idea to go for a drive. We picked up Jay and then made our way to Tom’s flat. Tom and Kelsey joined us there and we went for a drive to Brighton. It was a two hour drive but completely worth it for the beach. We hung out on the pier and ate ice cream. It was a nice sunny day so we could get away with eating ice cream. I thought since leaving uni, I would have to grow up and act like an adult, but it’s been the opposite. The day in Brighton was the most childlike we’d all been since I’d started hanging out with the boys. Nathan and Jay completely smashed me with the bumper cars. Nathan scared the crap out of me when he chucked a bunch of chips at me and the seagulls flew directly towards me. I absolutely hate birds flying over my head. This instigated a chip fight between us all. By the end of the day, we were all tired and covered in grease. Kelsey and I decided that to get the grease off, we’d strip down to our underwear and go in the sea. Biggest mistake of our life. Not only was the water freezing cold, the boys decided to run off with our clothes. In hindsight, how did we not see that coming?
“I hate those fucking boys,” Kelsey screamed. “How can we get them back?” Then a grin spread across her face.
“Do not do anything to them that would mean they stink my car out, Kels,” I said.
“But they stole our clothes.” She stomped her foot like a child.
“We’ll get them back. Let’s head to my car.”
“They have your car keys.”
“Oh for fuck sake.” I was now the one to stomp my foot like a child.
“So, how are we going to get them back?”
“What were you thinking?” I asked.
Kelsey explained what she was thinking. You could definitely tell she had pranked Tom a few times before. We started to head back to my car. The car was parked about a 20 minute walk away. Our underwear had dried within 5-10 minutes of walking. When we’d reached the car, the boys were sitting inside of it with massive grins on their faces. Jay was in the driver’s seat and shook my keys at me.
“C’mon, guys,” I said. “Can we have our clothes back?”
“We kind of like this view though,” Tom said and smiled at Kelsey.
“Okay then,” Kelsey said and we sat on the wall by the beach.
A couple of guys came over and started talking to us. A couple of young, teenage girls also came over after a few minutes. They spotted me and asked for a picture. The guys asked us to join in with their football game. We happily agreed, looking back at the boys in the car first. After five minutes of playing, the boys got out of the car and gave us our clothes back. Jay handed me my phone and keys back.
This was our opportunity. Kelsey and I sprinted back over to the car, locked it from the inside and drove off. We only drove round the corner from where we were originally, but the lads thought we had actually driven off. Neither of us answered our phones for about half an hour. Kelsey answered hers in the end as I was supposedly driving.
“Hey baby,” she answered casually. Tom was going mental down the line to her. “Well, you took our clothes away and we had to walk a mile in our underwear, so we left you in Brighton.” More from Tom. “How much do you want us to come back and get you?” Some begging from Tom. “Char, do you want to head back and pick them up?”
“What are they going to do for us?” I asked loud enough for Tom to hear.
“Apparently,” Kelsey said once Tom had stopped talking. “They’re going to make us dinner tonight. Then Tom’s going to ravish me. I don’t know what Jay and Nathan will do for you.” There was some noise from their end. “Jay said you can have Neytiri for the night and Nathan said they’ll both wait on your hand and foot.”
“We’ll be there in a bit,” I shouted.
We sat in the car for ten or so minutes before driving round to the beach front and picking them up. Kelsey refused to let anyone else sit in the front passenger seat. I preferred Kelsey sitting in the front seat, purely because her music taste was a lot better than the others. By about half an hour out of Brighton, I was getting tired. Jay offered to drive home so I could nap in the back if I needed to. Nathan put his arm around me and I fell asleep against his chest. When we’d arrived back in London, Tom carried me up to our flat and put me in bed. I woke up later on in the evening. Kelsey and Tom had gone home. Neytiri was hanging out on the sofa next to Jay. Nathan was on the opposite sofa, staring at Neytiri. I picked Neytiri up and sat down next to Jay.
“Hello, pretty girl,” I said and put her on my lap, stroking her. She turned around on my lap and climbed up my chest. She had her face in my face and flicked her tongue out a few times. She made her way back onto my lap and rested her head in the dip between my legs.
“It’s so weird that she likes you so much,” Jay said and stroked Neytiri (also called Tia). “She doesn’t like Nathan that much.”
“That’s because I used to push her out of my room in the house and the old flat,” Nathan protested.
“And by saying that he pushed her out of his room, he means that he had a golf club that he used to use from the end of his bed and push her out and then close the door on her.”
“How could you be so mean?” I asked and scratched her head.
“She freaks me out with her,” and Nathan started to stick his tongue out like Tia does.
“Good impression,” I said and laughed.
Jay took Tia back into his room and put her into her tank. Nathan moved sofas and sat next to me. He grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and put Top Gear on.
“Do we have to?” I complained.
“Yes, Top Gear is awesome,” Nathan said and put the remote out of my reach.
“What happened to you and Jay waiting on me, hand and foot?”
“That went out the window when you were parked just round the corner from where you left us.”
“Kelsey accidentally let it slip.”
“So, you wouldn’t go and make me tea and a ham and cheese toasty?” I grinned at him. “Pleeeeeeaaaassseeeeee?”
“Yeah, I’ll go make you it,” Nathan said and went to the kitchen.
I grabbed the remote from Nathan’s side of the sofa and flicked the TV on to Grey’s Anatomy. If you’ve seen Grey’s Anatomy, it was the episode with the guy who has overgrown warts and when they’re operating on him, Dr. Bailey screams when a spider crawls out from between the warts. It was getting to this bit when my phone started ringing.
“Hello,” I asked without looking at the screen.
“Hey, is this Charlotte,” asked the voice down the phone.
“This is Lynette from Channel 4. I’m from the 4Music part of Channel 4. We spoke to The Wanted a couple of weeks ago and they mentioned that you were looking for a job. We know you are currently living with two members of the band and you are also currently dating Harry Styles from One Direction. We were wondering if you could come into the studio sometime tomorrow and audition for 4Music news section.”
“Wow, erm, yeah sure. How long will you need me tomorrow?” I asked. I didn’t particularly want to be spending the whole day at an audition and miss Nathan’s birthday.
“Only a couple of hours.”
“Yeah sure, I can come in. Thank you. When will you need me to come in?”
“We can get a car to pick you up about half nine,” Lynette suggested.
I spent a few more minutes on the phone to her. She was talking about the perks of the job and what it would entail. Most of it, she said, she would discuss with me when I went into the studio. Nathan had already sat back down and given me my toasty and tea before the conversation had finished. Once I’d hung up and gotten over the initial shock, I leapt onto him and hugged him.
“Woah, what was all that about?” Nathan asked while I was on top of him.
“4Music were just on the phone,” I said with a massive smile on my face. “You talked to the woman who is on there or whatever.” Nathan had to think back but then nodded. “She just offered me an audition for a job there.”
“Thanks, although, I’m having to go in for a couple of hours tomorrow to audition. So, I’m not going to be here for a few hours.”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s a potential job. I’m so happy for you,” Nathan said and gave me another hug.
I’d arrived at Channel 4 television studios. I was shown to the floor where the 4Music stuff was shot and produced. I was led to a big room with a massive table in the middle and about 15-20 chairs place around it. I took a seat and within about five minutes, Lynette had come into the room, introduced herself and sat down.
“So, Charlotte,” she started. “In the next couple of hours, we’re going to be getting you to do a couple of things for an audition. The first one is doing a two minute news read. This is just music news not actual news. And the second thing will be an interview with an artist.”
“Just out of curiosity, who’s the artist?” I asked.
“Olly Murs; he agreed to come in and help us for today.”
“Wicked, I haven’t seen him for a couple of months now.”
“You know him already, do you?”
“Yeah, when The Wanted were on tour, I hung out with the One Direction boys and Olly hung out with us one day.”
“So, you have connections already; that’s a good start.”
“Well, living with Nathan and Jay from The Wanted and dating Harry from One Direction, you get to know a lot of people. Take last week for example, Jessie J called Jay up and asked to take me shopping.”
“Well, should we take you to the studio to do your audition?” Lynette asked and stood up.
I walked with Lynette to the 4Music studio. We chatted about all different sorts of stuff. JLS were in the studio filming some stuff. I blitzed my news reading audition. So, I had a bit of a break before the segment with Olly. The JLS lads came over and hugged me.
“This is weird, Char,” Aston said. “What are you doing here?”
“Auditioning for a job for 4Music,” I explained. “They’re just going to get Olly for me to interview. It should be easy as I’ve hung out with him before.”
“Why didn’t they ask us to be interviewed? We’re already here.”
“You’re just not as cool as Olly, are you?” I teased.
“That could be true,” Marvin said, smiling behind me. “I mean, Olly is pretty wicked.”
“Thanks guys,” came Olly’s Essex accent from behind me. “Hello, Charlotte. You alright?”
“Yeah, Olly. How are you?” I said and hugged him.
“Yeah, I’m good. So, you’ve got to interview me, eh? I’m going to make this as hard as possible.”
“Come at me, bro. I can take anything.” I laughed. “Are you five still coming to Nathan’s party tonight?”
“Yeah, of course,” they all replied.
“Is it still a no themed party?” Oritse asked.
“Yeah, but dress nicely. Don’t just come in shorts and a t-shirt,” I said.
Lynette came back over. I said goodbye to the JLS lads and sat down on the sofa with Olly. The interview went really well. Olly and I had a laugh. I went home quite happy with the audition. When I got back to the flat, I could hear a lot of noise coming from Nathan’s bedroom. I knocked on the door and walked in. He was jumping on his bed because he was so happy about it being his birthday.
“Have you only just got up?” I asked.
“Nope,” Nathan shrieked. “I’ve been awake since before you left but I forgot it was my birthday for like an hour and then I’ve been jumping around since.”
“I think someone needs to open their first birthday present then. Follow me maggot,” I said as I headed out of his room.
“Yeah, you’re the baby and a fly.”
“Come here you,” Nathan said and picked me up. He carried me into the living room and dropped me onto the sofa. When he dropped me onto the sofa, I didn’t let go of him so he fell on top of me. We couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes. I finally got him off of me and went to my room to get his present. He followed me like a little puppy into my room. I went into the back of my walk-in wardrobe.
I handed Nathan a massive, nicely wrapped box. He ripped the wrapping paper off. I was filming it all on my phone. The box was for a 32inch Samsung TV. He looked confused. I motioned for him to open it up. He opened the box and found another present. He ripped the packaging off and found a box for a 20inch JVC TV.
“Is it just going to be boxes,” Nathan asked, unimpressed with the game.
“No, there is a present at the bottom,” I laughed as he chucked the box on the floor to reveal another smaller box that was wrapped up. He ripped through another three layers before he got to the real wrapping paper. He tore the wrapping paper off to reveal a nice box. Nathan raised his eyebrows up at me. He opened the box and he went into a state of shock. He lifted the car key out of the box.
“What?” Nathan asked, shocked and confused.
“C’mon, you’re dressed. Let’s go downstairs,” I said and paused filming.
Nathan was still really shocked. I took his hand and dragged him downstairs. We stood at the door to our block of flats. He still had the car key in his hand.
“Well, point it above all the cars and press the unlock button,” I said, smiling at him. I started to film him again. He pressed the unlock button and he closed his eyes. “You need to open your eyes to see which car it is,” I laughed.
“I don’t want to,” he whispered. “I’m too excited.”
“Would you like me to lead you over to it and put you in the driver’s seat?”
“I can’t even drive the car, so why did you buy it?”
“You can learn and practice in it.”
“Right, I’ve got my eyes closed. Take me to the car,” Nathan pointed to the car park.
I took him over to the blue Mini Cooper parked next to my purple Audi R8. I unlocked the car and opened the door. Nathan awkwardly sat down in the driver’s seat. I put the key in the ignition and turned the engine on.
“Oh my god,” Nathan said as he opened his eyes. “Charlotte, thank you.”
Nathan pulled me onto his lap in the car and hugged me. I slid myself into the passenger seat. Nathan put his seatbelt on and closed the door. He’d had some driving lessons and knew how to drive a car. Jay came down and joined us after about half an hour of Nathan driving around the car park. I had to park the car again for him.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Char,” Nathan said and jumped up and down.
“Now, all you need to do is pass your driving test,” Jay said.
“I’ve got him opening everything on here, Jay,” I said and flashed my phone. “He was going to give up.”
“Well, mate, Max, Tom and Siva will be round in a bit. And Kev, Martin and Jayne will be round later.”
Nathan had a massive grin on his face for the rest of the day. Jay bought him an iPad whilst Max and Michelle (although Michelle said that the present was all Max’s idea) bought him a Manchester City football shirt with ‘Sykes’ on the back. Nathan’s reaction to this was screwing it up and chucking it into the hallway. Tom and Kelsey got him a pair of trainers and Siva bought him another pair of trainers.
Everybody got ready for the party at ours. Of course, everybody was supposed to be dressed up, so we got Nathan ready and blindfolded him straight away. He had to trust us with his drinks. Bearing in mind there was Kelsey, Michelle, Nareesha and me getting ready, he was sat drinking for a long time. After a couple of hours, we were all ready. The One Direction lads came round just before nine o’clock. Harry wrapped his arms around me and wouldn’t let go for a bit.
“Hey,” I said and smiled. “How did filming go?”
“Really well,” Harry replied. “We finished by about ten last night.”
“Wicked, well, I missed you and you missed an eventful trip to the beach yesterday.”
“Yeah, I heard.” Harry looked around the room. “Well, when I saw pictures on Twitter of you walking along the beachfront in your underwear.”
“We had a chip fight,” I started and explained what happened.
“Well, you look absolutely stunning now.”
“Thank you,” I said and kissed him.
We all had a bit more to drink before the coach arrived at ten. It was a fifteen minute coach drive to the club. The girls left the coach first, then One Direction and then The Wanted lads. I was left on the coach with Nathan.
“Can I pull the blindfold off now?” Nathan asked and reached for the blindfold.
“No,” I screamed. “When you get off the coach, you’re allowed to. But you have to wait a couple of minutes.”
“Obviously there are press outside the club. They want pictures of everyone. In fact, I’m surprised I haven’t been called out for pictures with Harry.”
“Can we go now? I want to see people dressed up.”
“Fine, let’s go. Mind your step,” I said and led him off the coach.
There was a red carpet laid out to the entrance of the club. I could see the individual Wanted boys with their girlfriends. The One Direction lads were answering questions and having photos. When Nathan had stepped off of the coach, all the press turned to our direction.
“Take the blindfold off, Nath,” I said and grinned.
Nathan had his eyes shut tight when he took the blindfold off. He slowly opened them and his eyes fell immediately on me. He quickly realised he was only looking at me and darted his eyes to look at everyone.
“As if you didn’t do the animal theme,” Nathan laughed.
“I knew you would regret it,” I said and hugged him.
“This is amazing. Everyone’s still got dressed up.”
“Go have your picture taken with the boys,” I said.
“Only if you have your picture taken too,” Nathan said and dragged me over to the lads with him.
I posed for numerous pictures; some were with all of The Wanted, some by myself and the others were with Harry. This was the first time Harry and I had our proper picture taken together. This meant the press were going crazy. After 20 minutes, we were ushered inside by the bouncers.
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. I remember dancing with Kelsey, Shell and Nareesha a lot. Olly had a bit of a dance with me and the JLS boys tried to get The Wanted into a dance off. JLS absolutely ripped them to shreds. By the end, Max had to carry me outside to the smoking area and let me sober up a bit. Nathan joined me after a while.
“So, Charlotte’s the most drunk at my birthday,” Nathan said and giggled at me.
“You, my friend, are pretty slammered yourself,” I said and tried to point at Nathan.
“I was going to say sloshed, but changed it to hammered. I’m quite drunk. I’m surprised you can actually understand me.” I giggled.
“Ha-ha, so, do I get a birthday kiss?” Nathan winked.
“On the cheek.” I pointed to my cheek.
“On the lips?” Nathan suggested and pointed to his lips.
“Sorry Nathan, but no. That’s not going to happen,” I apologised while shaking my head.
“But it’s my birthday,” Nathan said with a hint of sulkiness in his voice.
“Maybe on your 21st. But your 19th isn’t a landmark birthday.”
“Okay, I’ll just have to wait two years.” He tried to flick his fringe out of his face dramatically.
“Also, it’s no longer your birthday, as of about an hour and a half ago,” I said and pointed at his watch.
“Well, am I allowed to say that you are probably the prettiest, most stunning, gorgeous girl here tonight?” Nathan moved closer to me.
“You can, you did and thank you.” I smiled at him.
“So, that job you auditioned for today, do you know when you’ll hear back from them?”
“They told me today that I’d hear from them within the next couple of days.”
“What job,” Harry asked as he came out into the smoking area.
“Look Nathan, it’s my pretty boyfriend,” I said and had the biggest grin across my face.
“Someone’s quite drunk, aren’t they?” Harry walked over to us and stood against the wall next to me.
“I only had a little bit to drink.”
“Ha-ha, okay then. So, what job?”
“I had an audition today for a job at 4Music.”
“Wow, what would you be doing?”
“Only doing like the news section and possibly some interviews. I hope I get the job. It would be awesome to stick my middle finger up at my step-mum.”
“I thought you didn’t have much family?”
“Oh, I don’t talk to my family; I hate the ones that are alive.”
“Which ones are still alive?”
“My dad, my half-sister and my step-mum.”
“She likes her dad but her step-mum is too unbearable,” Nathan said from the sidelines.
“So, meeting them is out of the question then,” Harry asked.
“Completely, well, unless I get my dad to meet us in London somewhere. But my step-mum and her daughter are two people I never want to see again.”
“Well, should we get you home? I think it’s someone’s bedtime,” Harry said and helped me up. I sat down on Nathan’s lap. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.
“Thank you so much for everything,” Nathan whispered in my ear. “Today has been amazing,” and he kissed my cheek.
I smiled at him and Harry helped me back up again. Harry and I left through a back entrance from the club. I was quite drunk and Harry thought it best for the press not to see that. Harry and I climbed into a hired car that Harry had sorted out. The car drove us back to my flat. I woke up the next morning with the biggest hangover in the world. It was a bad hangover because I’d woken up and had to run to the loo to be sick.
“Charlotte,” I heard a voice say while I was being sick. “You do realise I’m in the shower right?”
I looked up from the toilet and Jay’s head was poking out of the shower.
“Oh my,” I started to say before I was sick again.
I was sick a few more times before I could leave the bathroom. On the way out, I grabbed my toothbrush and the toothpaste and took them to the kitchen sink. I finished brushing my teeth and took my stuff back to the bathroom. I knocked on the door and Jay said it was safe to go in.
“I’m so sorry for running in,” I apologised. “But be glad; it could’ve been my bedroom floor or the hallway. And guess who would be cleaning it.”
“Definitely not me,” Jay said. “I had to clean Nathan’s sick up last night.”
“Oh lovely, where was he sick?”
“We had just opened the flat door, he had his arm around me as I had to support him, and he bent over and threw up right by the door inside the flat.” Jay shoved his toothbrush in his mouth.
“Ha-ha, he was smashed.” I laughed.
“Not as smashed as you though,” Jay said, keeping his toothbrush in his mouth. “I saw you just before you left and you were telling me how much you love my smile, laugh and my curly-curly hair. Then, you went to insult everyone’s hair saying how it wasn’t as smooth, silky and curly like mine.”
“And that is why you shouldn’t let me have tequila. You always make me do tequila when we’re out. You’re such a bad influence!” I lightly hit him on the arm.
“Yeah, but you’re hilarious when you’re drunk.”
“Right, I’m taking Tia. She is now officially mine.”
“Good luck moving her tank into your room,” Jay laughed as I walked out of the bathroom.
I went into Jay’s room and Tia was at the side of her tank. I picked her up and took her into my room. Harry had woken up by this point. I scared him by putting Tia in his face.
“Charlotte,” Harry moaned. “Don’t put her near my face early in the morning.”
“Ha-ha, it never grows old,” I said and put her on my bed between the two of us.
“You’re so mean. How are you feeling anyway?”
“Like I’m dehydrated and suffering from a sinus infection.”
“Lovely, well you got plenty of sleep. You fell asleep as soon as I put you into bed. You didn’t even stir when Nathan and Jay came back or while Nathan was chucking up all the alcohol left in him.”
“Some people just don’t know how to handle their drink.”
“Said the one who was in bed by two.”
“Shh,” I joked and stroked Tia.
Jay came and crashed after realising I’d actually taken Tia from her tank. After a few minutes, he went back into his room, taking Tia with him. Nathan wondered in around half 12. He looked like death. He even had his dressing gown hood pulled up over his head. He crashed at the bottom of my bed so I poked him with my toe repeatedly.
“Charlotte, piss off,” Nathan mumbled. “I’m too hungover to joke around.”
“Awww poor little baby Nathan can’t handle his drink,” I laughed.
“I’m going to leave you two to torment each other and have a shower,” Harry said, throwing the duvet over Nathan.
Nathan crawled up the bed and pulled the duvet over us. He gave me a cuddle.
“Aww, you’re really hungover, aren’t you?” I said, sympathetically.
“Yeah,” he snuggled into my arms. “Apparently I was sick inside the door of the flat. I don’t even remember leaving the club.”
“I remember most stuff. Well, I remember all the important stuff.”
“Do you know who I kissed last night?”
“You kissed someone?” I asked shocked, but wanted to know more.
“That’s a no then. Yeah, I kissed some girl but I don’t remember who she was.”
“Did you get her number?”
“Don’t have a fucking clue,” Nath laughed. He pulled his phone out of his dressing gown pocket. He went onto his messages. “Well, if the girl I was texting a lot last night was the girl I kissed, then her name is Leanne.”
“What does she look like?”
“I think she was blonde.”
“Is that it? Have you got any pictures on your phone?”
“Let me have a look,” Nath said and scrolled though his phone.
Nathan took a lot of pictures on his phone. We sat and flicked through them all. There was a load of me and Nathan that we took at the bar. It looked like we both went through a lot of shots within that section. Nathan started to upload the good pictures onto Twitter.
“Hi, Charlotte,” a guy asked on the other end of the phone.
“Yeah, speaking,” I answered.
“Hi, this is Jack from 4Music. I’m Lynette’s assistant. You recently had an audition for the news section on 4Music, yes?”
“Yeah, did I not get the job? I thought I would’ve heard back sooner about it.”
“Well, we had more auditions than we thought we were going to have and we had a very hard decision to make. But, in the end, we decided that we would like to offer you the job.”
“What?” I asked in shock.
“Yeah, would you like to take the news section position?”
“Yes, yes, definitely yes!” I squealed. I then calmed down a bit. “Can I ask what I had above all the other auditionees?”
“We have a number of reasons; you’re a likeable person, very down-to-earth, confident, you have good contacts and in the audition tape we watched with Olly, you really had chemistry with him. Of course, we are taking a bit of a risk with you because you are dating Harry who you could be interviewing when you break up. But we put that aside and really liked you.”
“When we break up?” I asked. I didn’t like the fact he sounded so sure of it. Jack tried to cover himself up a bit.
“I meant if you break up, sorry. But you never know what’s going to happen.”
“Fine, so when do you want me in?”
“You’ll be picked up tomorrow morning at half 8 and you’ll finish at half 3. Tomorrow will just be signing your contract and going over everything.”
“Okay then, so half 8 tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, I will see you when you get here,” Jack said and hung up.
“Bye,” I said to my phone. I quickly pressed recent calls and called Harry. It went through to voicemail. I pressed Max’s number. At least he answered.
“Hey Titch,” Max answered. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I just heard back from the job,” I smiled.
“Well done; when do you start?”
“Tomorrow morning. I’m going to be on TV!” I sang.
Max shared my excitement. “Have you told Nathan or Harry yet?”
“I tried to call Harry but he didn’t answer. And then I tried you. Although, do you think I should tell Harry before Nath, or Nath before Harry?”
“Well, I’d tell Harry. I think he’s a bit worried about you and Nathan. You do get quite cosy with each other.”
“We’re just mates,” I said. I sighed down the phone. “I love Harry.”
“You what?” Max asked, slightly in shock.
“Yeah, I know,” I couldn’t help but let a smile spread across my face. “I’m yet to tell him. But I do love him. I just want to make sure he loves me back before I start shouting about it.”
“You two are really cute together.”
“You do realise that you are under complete code of silence now. If you tell any of the boys or anyone in fact, then I have a free pass to tell your secrets that you shared when we stayed in the same room in America.” The phone went silent. “Thought so. So are you going to tell a soul?”
“Nope, and I’ll make a promise to that.”
“Thank you; I’m going to try and call Harry again,” I said.
“Alright, bye Titch,” Max said and hung the phone up.
Max and I have now got a very brother and sister relationship. He cares about me which is something I haven’t had in my life before from a male. I’ve never had a brother-like person in my life before. All the guys in my life were either my dad or guys who wanted to sleep with me. And just because I’m from Suffolk doesn’t mean that that includes my dad. I tried calling Harry again. He didn’t answer again. I sent him a text just to let him know that I’d got the job. Within five minutes of sending the text, Harry was calling me.
“Sorry, gorgeous,” he apologised as soon as I answered. “We were in a meeting.”
“You should’ve told me you had a meeting today,” I said. “I wouldn’t have called.”
“Yeah, I should tell you when I’m in meetings shouldn’t I? But anyway, congratulations.”
“Thank you, I start tomorrow morning, so I can’t meet you until like after half three.”
“That’s okay; apparently we’ve got to have an interview done for 4Music. So I might see you around.”
“Wicked, yeah, you probably will see me around. It’s all on one floor isn’t it?”
“True, I can’t believe I’m not there to celebrate with you. And by the time we get back from here, it’ll be morning and we’ll probably have to go straight to 4Music.”
“Well, your fans should be priority of me. They’ve been there since X Factor. I’ve only been here since February.”
“But there has to be a point where you come before them.”
“It’s been less than two months that we’ve actually been together. So that day can’t be for a while yet, can it?”
“Meet my parents,” Harry suddenly said.
“I would love it if you would meet my parents. My mum’s dying to meet you.”
“When we both have the time to go to your parent’s house, then I’ll meet them.”
“Thank you. I love you,” Harry said and his end went silent.
“What?” I asked. I was in a state of shock. Okay, I know I love him. But in no way did I think he was close to feeling that way too. Both ends of the line were silent for a couple of minutes. Shit! I’d completely lost my window to say it back.
“Harry?” I asked. My eyes were shut tight.
“I meant it,” Harry said.
“I love you, too.” I said and smiled. I swear I could hear him smiling too.
“Why do we have to be on different continents the first time we say it?”
“I know right, but for the moment, I’m going to have to leave you. I’m meeting up with my dad today and he’s just showed up.”
“Aw, okay, let me know how it goes, yeah?”
“Well, now that I’ve got you, I don’t know whether I can be bothered anymore,” I teased.
“You will be bothered because you love me too.”
“Damn, okay, I’ve really got to go now.”
“Okay, love you gorgeous,” Harry said and made a kissing noise down the phone.
“Love you too, but without the kissing noise.”
“Sorry, I’ll call you later.”
“Bye,” I said and hung up the phone.
It was the first time I’d seen my dad since I moved out. He looked well. He walked over to the table I was sitting at in a cafe just off of Oxford Street. He sat down without giving me a hug or a kiss. Okay, that never happened when I went to uni or was at home, but he hadn’t seen me since January and it was now the beginning of May.
“Hi, Dad,” I said and pushed my cup of coffee around.
“I’m not to see you again,” my dad said to me. He didn’t make eye contact. He just stared at his hands while twiddling his thumbs. The one time he did look up briefly, he looked at the wall he was facing.
“She told you not to see me again, didn’t she?” I crossed my arms, upset that she would do this.
“You don’t give us a number or an address; how are we supposed to contact you?”
“I don’t want her or the brat to be turning up unannounced or calling me. I know if I gave you any details, she’d be on me like a predator.”
“Well, I’m sorry honey, but that’s the way it goes with her. If you really don’t want to give us any form of contact details, we can’t see you ever again.”
“If you’re choosing her over me, maybe that’s for the best,” I said and stood up.
Tears started to fill my eyes before I could leave the cafe. I ran to the tube station and grabbed the first tube back home. As soon as I got back to the flat, I ran into Jay’s arms and cried.
It was the 20th July. The day we go to Ibiza for two weeks. I was too excited. I’d been packed for about two days. On the other hand, Jay was only half packed and Nathan hadn’t even started packing. It was one in the afternoon and our flight was at half ten that evening. Okay, we still had a fair amount of time to finish packing and sort stuff out, but Nathan really needed to sort stuff out if he didn’t have enough clean clothes. I walked into the kitchen and he was ramming a bunch of clothes into the washing machine.
“Is that going to be done in time?” I asked and flicked the kettle on.
“Yeah, Char,” Nathan laughed. “You panic too much sometimes.” He was holding his clothes in until the door was shut.
I made us both a cup of tea and sat down on the floor near the washing machine. Nathan slid down the cupboard and joined me.
“I can’t believe I’ve been here for over six months already,” I said and stared into my Tetris mug.
“Wow, it seems so much longer,” Nath said and traced the tattoo I had on my foot.
“I’ve been with Harry for four and a half months. It’s gone really quickly for me. I suppose you’ve done a lot more in the past six months than I have.”
“I don’t know. You’ve done a fair bit yourself. I mean, look, you’ve been at 4Music for 3 months and you’ve already got other job offers going for you. I mean, you have to take that backstage job at V festival. If you don’t, you’re a fool.” Nathan chuckled.
“Did I not tell you? I took the offer yesterday. I think that’s the only way I was ever going to V festival. I would not be able to hack camping.”
“Yeah, you do like your shower in the morning. Oh, and we’re not there this year.”
“Never mind, I’ll always have Olly to hang out with; and Jessie; and everyone else who is performing this year. Why aren’t you performing this year, anyway?”
“Going to Australia for a couple of weeks.”
“No fair, I’ve never been to Australia. Then again, I’d only been to France before I moved in with you lot.”
“Anyway, what have you got Jay for his birthday? I don’t have a clue of what to get him.”
“Well, he’s not getting it until we come back, but I got him a friend for Tia.”
“No way, oh but now there’ll be two of them going,” and Nathan did another impression of a lizard.
I nearly spat my tea out over Nathan when he did the impression again. We sat chatting on the floor while Nathan’s clothes washed. He took them out once the cycle had finished and put them straight into the dryer, not sorting out what needed to be dried naturally. Naturally, in a rush, is attacking them with a couple of hairdryers. We sat and chatted for another hour while the clothes dried.
Harry knocked on the front door around half four. Nathan let him in and pointed him in the direction of the kitchen. I was making bacon or sausage sandwiches for myself, Nathan, Tom, Kelsey, Max, Shell and now Harry too. Siva and Nare, Louis and Ellie, Liam and Danielle, Niall and Zayn were meeting us at the airport. Harry wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.
“Hey,” he whispered in my ear.
“Bacon or sausage?” I asked.
“Sausage please; how are you?”
“Awesome, can’t wait for tonight. You alright?”
“I can’t wait for us to get to that hotel room,” he murmured while he nibbled my neck.
“Harry, you’re distracting me from cooking,” I giggled.
“I can’t help it if you look smoking in your holiday outfit.”
“Oh, this isn’t my holiday outfit. This is my plane outfit.”
“Okay, you look smoking hot in your plane outfit. I’m guessing you’ll look even better in your holiday outfit,” Harry still had his arms around my waist as I dished up the bacon sandwiches.
“Be a darling and take these through to Nath, Tom, Kelsey and Shell please,” I asked and smiled at him.
Harry rolled his eyes at me whilst picking three plates up and taking them through to the lounge. I put six sausages on in the grill. I buttered six slices of bread and watched the sausages cook. Nathan came into the kitchen to grab some sauce. Stupid Harry hadn’t taken any sauce in when he came back to grab the last plate for Nathan.
“You alright down there, Char?” Nathan asked, head in the fridge.
“Yeah, waiting for my sausages,” I said, having a proper stare into the oven.
“They’re that interesting, are they?”
“Oh yeah ... not really, it gets better when they start spitting and nearly cause the oven to set alight,” and as I finished speaking, the sausages did precisely that.
Okay, the first thing you shouldn’t do is put your hand in to pull out the tray they were being grilled on. I had oven gloves on, but they nearly set alight. Nathan turned the grill off and opened the kitchen window. I sorted the sandwiches out; miraculously the sausages hadn’t burned. I took them through to the living room with Nathan following behind with sauces. Everyone was chatting and the room was buzzing with excitement for the flight and holiday ahead.
“Who thought it was a good idea to go out as soon as we got here,” I asked Kelsey, Shell, Nareesha, Ellie and Danielle, while sitting by the pool.
“Max was the one who persuaded the lads,” Shell admitted, also nursing a hangover.
My phone started to vibrate on the floor next to my sun lounger. I let it ring through. I knew it was only going to be Harry asking to get him some junk food to help with his hangover. My phone kept vibrating. I leant over the side to see Niall’s name appearing on the screen.
“Hey, what’s up,” I asked.
“You’re going to laugh your arse off,” Niall giggled down the phone.
“Harry locked himself out of your room.”
“Why did he leave our room?”
“Because me and Zayn were knocking on the door constantly then ran off before he answered. Then the door shut on him.”
“What was he wearing?” And no sooner had I asked that question, Harry walked out to the pool area dressed in nothing but a small hand towel, which showed the majority of his arse.
“Can I have the card key, please,” Harry asked and smiled.
“Hang on a second,” I switched the camera on on my phone.
I took a few pictures. Harry had his moody face on. I stopped laughing and he helped me off of the sun lounger, keeping one hand on the towel to keep it in place. On the way up to the hotel room, I kept trying to tug the towel away from him. We reached out hotel room and I had no luck.
“There you go,” I said as I opened the door for him.
“Come back to bed for a bit,” Harry suggested, brushing his nose against mine.
Harry’s hand grabbed mine and pulled me into the room. He shut the door with his foot, dropped the hand towel and locked the door. His hand untied my bikini top in two fluid motions as he lifted me up. My legs wrapped themselves around his hips as my bikini top fell to the floor.
We never made it back to the bed.
I woke up in my hotel room. We decided that we would drop our stuff off at the hotel, let the girls freshen up and then go out. Max was the one persuading us lads to persuade the girls. I just wanted to get drunk so I could get on some girl to get my mind off of what Charlotte would be doing with Harry that night.
I sat upright in bed, immediately holding my head in my hands to control the spinning of the room. I closed my eyes and controlled my breathing to stop myself from being sick. After a couple of minutes, I opened my eyes and realised I wasn’t alone. I had brought someone back.
“Morning,” she said, still lying on her side, watching me.
“Morning,” I asked, not remembering actually bringing a girl home.
“You don’t remember anything from last night, do you,” the girl asked, sitting up and hanging her legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll just leave.”
“What’s your name,” I asked.
“Charlie,” the girl said, offering me her hand.
“Nathan,” I said and shook her hand.
Fuck. The first girl I get with, since my birthday, and she has to have pretty much the same name as the girl I want.
“Short for Charlotte?” I asked, wincing at the answer.
“Yeah, anyway, I should go. I left my friends and didn’t tell them where I was going.”
“Oh, okay,” I didn’t dare look at her face. I was scared she was going to look like Charlotte.
“What hotel is this?” She was starting to put her dress back on.
“The Corso Hotel and Spa,” I said, reading the name off a card on the side table.
“Oh right, I’ve got to go the other side of town. Anyway, see ya around,” Charlie said and left the room. I heard her speaking to Jay just outside my room then not long after the door to our flat shut.
“Dude, she looked like Charlotte,” Jay said as he let himself into my room.
“I didn’t look,” I said, burying my face into my pillow.
“What do you mean you didn’t look?”
“Meaning, I don’t remember bringing her back and then as soon as she said she was Charlie, short for Charlotte, I didn’t want to look at her. Why can’t I pick a nice girl?”
“You do, they’re all lovely and then you don’t want to get to know them in case Char becomes available,” Jay patted me on the back.
I groaned into my pillow. Jay left the room and I heard the shower go in the bathroom. There was a knock at the flat door. I threw some shorts on and headed to the door. I opened it and Charlotte was standing there in some denim shorts and a bikini top.
“You look amazing,” Charlotte said, laughing at how rough I felt.
“How are you this happy and pumped up when you drank as much as me,” I asked and pulled her in for a hug.
“I didn’t drink as much, but I was drunk,” she defended. “And I was up and by the pool about four hours ago.” She poked me in the chest.
“What’s the time?” I turned around and started to look for my phone.
“Half 1 in the afternoon; I came up to see if you lot wanted to come with us to lunch.” She looked around the living area to see if Jay was in there.
“Yeah, Jay’s just got in the shower. Let me find a top first as well.”
“You’re on holiday, you don’t need a top.”
“I’m going to be sitting with Max, Tom, Siva and Zayn; I need a top.”
“Fine, whatever, you going to be long or should I meet you down there,” Charlotte questioned, starting to head out of the flat.
“Hang on a sec.” I ran into my room, picked the first top out of my suitcase and pulled it on. I grabbed my phone and the hotel key card and went back to the front door. I grinned at Charlotte. “I’m ready when you are,” I smiled.
Charlotte rolled her eyes at me. She hugged me again but kept her arms wrapped around me for longer this time. I held her there for a few minutes. Neither of us spoke.
“We should really go downstairs, Harry’s probably wondering where I am,” Char said, face still buried into my chest.
“You’re the one still hugging me,” I whispered.
Charlotte reluctantly let go of me. I left Jay a note saying we’d gone to lunch and for him to hurry his ass down there. All the meals were buffets. I took a seat between Niall and Max. Charlotte sat opposite, next to Harry with Ellie the other side of her.
I glanced around the table; Zayn had a girl sitting next to him at the table. She didn’t look familiar at all. He didn’t look too impressed that she was there. When I came back from getting my first plate of food, she was still sitting there. She rolled her eyes and leant towards Zayn, facing away from the table. He whispered something back which made her storm away from the table. I got up from my seat and placed myself in the girl’s seat.
Zayn had grown to be a good mate of mine. He was my age and seemed to care about Charlotte. When she went off with the five of them, he’s the one I trust to look after her.
“One night stand who thought I wanted to hang out,” Zayn said and laughed to himself. “Some girls think that there’s more to a drunken shag.”
“Well, mine left as soon as I admitted I didn’t remember bringing her back,” I said, playing with the chicken on my plate.
“It wasn’t the girl in a green dress that looked a bit familiar with light brown hair, was it?”
“Yeah, apparently she looks like Charlotte.”
“Apparently?” Zayn said after nearly spitting his drink everywhere.
“I didn’t exactly look at her this morning, and I definitely don’t remember bringing her back here.”
“Dude, as if. I swear you don’t have one night stands with anyone.”
“I was very drunk last night. In fact, I’m still dizzy now.”
“Do you want a cup of tea?”
“Yeah, that would be amazing,” I said and leaned back in my chair.
“Anybody else want a cup of tea or coffee,” Zayn asked the table as he stood up.
A few of the others nodded their heads and requested mugs of hot drinks. Jay eventually joined us at the table. He caught my eye and nodded his head towards the other end of the table where there were a couple of free seats. I shook my head. Zayn knew quite a bit about me; more than Max or Jay knew about me, which I didn’t like to admit to those two.
Jay text me from the other end of the table.
Me: yeah, it’s nothing mate, don’t worry yeah?
Jay: you sure you don’t want to talk about it?
Me: nah, it’s nothing. She’s got Harry.
Jay: what happened with Char?
Jay: is she fucking with your head again?
Jay: fine, okay, I won’t mention it again.
I looked up and Jay was looking down the table at me, eyebrows raised. I looked away so I wouldn’t have to explain. My eyes instinctively looked at Charlotte. She was laughing at something Harry had said to Max and Shell. She caught my eye and screwed her face up jokingly. I laughed and shook my head. Max subtly turned his head to face who she was pulling the face at.
“Nath, mate, you wanna go outside for a bit?” Max called from down the table.
“Nah, Zayn’s bringing me tea,” I rejected Max’s offer.
“Nah, c’mon,” Max got out of his seat and came round to my end of the table. “You look like you need some air.” Max lifted me out of my seat and pretty much carried me out to the bar by the pool. Jay joined us within a couple of seconds. “What’s the matter?” Max asked, putting his arm around my shoulder, fussing with the top of my ear. “Jay said you slept with a girl who looks like Charlotte last night.”
“Everyone’s saying she looks like Charlotte,” I said and ordered a bottle of Strongbow from the bar.
“She did,” Jay nodded his head. “Look, here’s a picture of the two of them together.”
Jay and Max started looking through pictures from last night. Wow, she didn’t look like Charlotte, just looking at her reminded you of Charlotte; the way Charlie smiled was like Charlotte, the way she looked at me, the way she kissed. I went off into my own world, thinking about the kiss Charlotte and I had in Washington.
“Nathan, what happened between you and Charlotte?” Max asked, looking quite concerned now.
“After Jay got in the shower, Charlotte knocked on the door asking us to go down for lunch,” I started to explain. “Now, looking back, it just seems silly. Forget it.” I started to walk back to the dining room. Max and Jay grabbed both my arms and sat me down on a bar stool. “Fine, we hugged but she kept hugging me when we usually pull away. So, obviously, I was going to hug her more until she moved away. She didn’t move away until I pointed out that she was hugging me and not letting go.”
“I’m having a word with her,” Max said and pushed past to join the eating lot.
“Max, no, please don’t. It’ll just make things awkward and it’s only the first day of the holiday.”
“Fine, but if she does it again, I’m saying something.”
All three of us went back into the dining room, receiving weird looks off of Tom, Siva and Charlotte. I grinned at Charlotte and went back to sitting next to Zayn.
Harry was the sweetest. All he did for me the first day of Ibiza was wait on me hand and foot. This went away after the first proper night of sleeping.
The sunlight woke me up at about half 8 in the morning. I didn’t recognise where I was and panicked for a couple of seconds. I then realised I was in the hotel room and calmed down. I turned over in the King size bed to see Harry snoozing. He looks like a puppy when he sleeps; his hair falling in innocent curls across his face. He really needs a haircut. I kissed his nose and quietly climbed out of bed.
When booking the holiday, I made sure Harry and I had the best room. Well, I was paying for it, I deserved the best. The others still had really nice rooms. Well, you can only get nice rooms in a 4 star hotel. Okay, Jay + Nathan and Niall + Zayn shared a flat but they still had their separate rooms.
In our en-suite, we had a shower and a corner bath. I don’t like having baths usually, but I really fancied one. I filled the bottom of the bath with bubble bath and let the taps run. There were a lot of bubbles. I climbed in and it was just the right temperature. I leaned back and rested my head against the side.
“Char,” Harry whispered into my ear.
“Keep saying it like that,” I smiled. I’d dosed off slightly. Harry’s face was right next to mine; so close that I could feel his breath on my neck.
“Can I join you?” He smiled.
“That involves moving,” I teased. “I’m really not up for moving.”
Too late. Harry had climbed into the bath next to me. He pulled me onto his lap and started to kiss my neck. I smirked. I was more in a playful mood though. I put my arms behind me and scooped some bubbles up. I placed the bubbles in Harry’s hair and around his jaw to make him look like Father Christmas. That set me up for a giggle fit.
“Please let me get my phone to take a picture,” I asked between giggles.
Too late; I’d jumped out of the bath and grabbed my phone from our room. Harry stayed in the bath and didn’t actually mind his picture being taken. I chucked my phone back on the bed. I climbed back into the bathtub and back onto his lap.
“Have you stopped being a child,” Harry asked, lightly tracing patterns on my thighs.
“Have you stopped being an adult?” I asked, mimicking his tone of voice.
“If I wasn’t an adult, I couldn’t do anything with you.” His fingers started to stroke up and down my spine. “Paedophile,” he whispered and grinned.
“Have you stopped having fun then,” I said in a hushed tone, kissing his jaw line.
Harry kissed my lips. He couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I was so happy to be with him. Happy beyond relief.
“He’s still asleep,” Nathan said as he let me into their flat. “I don’t think he’s got anyone in there.”
“Wicked,” I whispered. “Will he get mad if I do this?”
“Nah, he shouldn’t be too hung over. I made him drink three pints of water before he went to bed.” I pulled a confused expression. “He kept forgetting that he drank a pint of water,” Nathan added.
We were both standing outside Jay’s room with a massive cake in my hands. I’d lit one candle at the front. Nathan and I arranged this the day before. Nathan thought it would be funny to write ‘Happy birthday Jaybird. Remember joining the band at the age of 19. You fucking OAP. Also, two years ago, we had a number 1. Again, you fucking OAP! Also, duck.’ We knocked on Jay’s door and let ourselves in. Jay was just about awake.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Jaybird. Happy birthday to you,” we both sang in our opera voices; Nathan’s being a lot better than mine.
“A cake?” Jay asked excitedly, very awake by now.
“Blow the candle out first,” I said. “And read the cake obviously. We couldn’t be arsed with a card here so we wrote a birthday message on the cake.”
“You get presents and cards and stuff when we get back,” Nathan said.
Nathan hadn’t got Jay a card or a present yet. Jay blew the candle out, concentrating on his wish. He read the message out loud. Confusion spread across his face as he slowly read, “Also, duck?”
And BAM! The cake went in his face, all over his bed and a little bit on the wall behind him. Nathan recorded it all. Jay grabbed me and rubbed cake all over my body and face. All three of us were in a cake war throughout their flat. Nathan and I were hiding on Jay’s balcony at one point. We made it out that we’d left the flat.
“Stop moving, he’s going to hear us,” I giggled.
“Stop whispering, he’s going to hear us,” Nathan giggled back.
I moved over to Charlotte’s side of the balcony and crouched down behind the airer Jay had put his towels on. I had cake in my hand and pushed it into Charlotte’s face. She had cake in her hand still and tried to push it into my face. She misjudged her aim and pushed it into the wall behind me. I wiped the cake and icing away from her eyes. Even covered in cake and icing and she was still stunning. She looked into my eyes once she could see. All I wanted to do was kiss her.
I couldn’t believe Nathan pushed cake into my face. He was supposed to be on my side. He wiped the cake and icing out of my eyes though. He was looking into my eyes and smiling. Not one of his stupid smiles though; it was a happy, genuine smile. I hadn’t seen one of those for a few weeks now. He moved his head closer to mine. I thought he was coming in for a kiss.
I was going to kiss her. I leant my head forward. I chickened out. I couldn’t put her in that situation. She came on holiday with Harry. She needed to leave holiday with Harry. Instead, I put my cheek to hers.
“Do you think we can get more cake from the bed,” I whispered into her ear.
“Yeah,” I breathed, so relieved he didn’t kiss me.
I wouldn’t have thought Nathan would put me in an awkward situation. He helped me off of the floor and we sneaked into Jay’s bedroom. He wasn’t in there so we grabbed some more cake and icing. Jay jumped out on us from behind the curtain. He got Nathan first. Nathan fell to the ground and made the most pathetic dying noise anyone could do.
“I thought you went to acting school,” I laughed. “You should be able to make a better dying sound than that.”
Jay turned to me, hand full of cake and icing. I screamed and ran out of the flat. Jay chased me down the corridor and down the stairs. I ran through the lobby being closely chased by Jay. I ran outside and down a path that led to the beach. Jay got a hold of me before we made it to the beach. He grabbed me by the waist, lifted me up and pushed the cake into the side of my face.
“Jay,” I screamed and giggled at the same time.
“Ahaha,” he laughed and put me down.
We both looked ridiculous, covered in cake and icing. People who walked past us were staring. We both grinned at everyone who walked past.
“So, what did you get me?” Jay asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I placed my arm around his waist.
“Well, you know how Neytiri looks a bit lonely sometimes,” I asked, a smile gradually forming across my face.
“You didn’t get me another lizard did you,” Jay couldn’t contain his excitement.
“She could be having babies soon,” I said and grinned at him.
Jay suddenly started jumping around, his curls bouncing every way he bounced. You could say he was excited but that would be a complete understatement. I laughed at him pretty much buzzing from excitement.
“When’s he coming?” Jay asked, after he’d calmed down enough to speak.
“About a week after we get back. Don’t worry,” I added when his face dropped when he realised he might not be there to see him. “He’s arriving a few days before you go to Australia.”
“I love you Charlotte,” Jay said and hugged me. “You’re the best flatmate I’ve ever had.”
“Wicked, I’m so rubbing that in Tom and Max’s face,” I laughed.
On the walk back up to the hotel, Jay randomly kept jumping about and laughing. Out of all the lads, I have to say Jay has the best laugh. It gives me the same happiness as a child’s laughter gives me.
I let myself in to mine and Harry’s hotel room. He was awake and playing the Xbox in the living area. I was still covered in Jay’s cake. Harry paused the game (which is a rarity) and looked over at me. His face dropped.
“Jay’s birthday,” I said and headed to the bathroom.
Harry followed me. He wiped two fingers across the bottom of my neck. I turned around and he had his fingers in his mouth. He pulled me towards him and started to lick the icing away from my neck. He started to kiss and lick down my right arm. When he reached my wrist, he pulled away and stuck his tongue out as if he tasted something bad.
“Did you lean on sand at all?” Harry asked, wiping his tongue on the back of his hand.
“Oh, shit, yeah,” I laughed. “Sorry, baby.”
“Go shower,” Harry whispered into my ear, nibbling my ear lobe and eating the icing from the cake shoved by Jay into the side of my face. “I’m sure we’ll have some sand-free cake later.”
He winked and squeezed my arse. I playfully hit his chin with my shoulder. He stood in the hallway while I made my way to the bathroom. I stripped down to nothing and winked at him as I stepped into the en-suite. Within about five minutes of showering, Harry had joined me in the shower.
“Let’s get even more drunk,” Max and Niall yelled as we stood outside of Space.
We were let straight into Space and escorted to the VIP bar area which I’d booked before we came to Ibiza. Everyone except Nathan and I were quite drunk already. I was a bit tipsy but as everyone was drunk, I felt a bit responsible to make sure they got home alright and didn’t end up passed out in the toilets. Nathan felt the same, especially as he was in the same flat as Jay. At one point, we were both at the bar; everybody else was on the dance floor.
“You don’t seem to be drunk,” I stated to Nathan.
“Jay needs to be looked after,” Nathan laughed. “Do you want to go outside for a bit?”
“Best not, there’s a bunch of paps waiting for anyone leaving the club.”
“We can ask the manager if we can hang out upstairs on the hidden balcony for a bit.”
“Yeah, we know about it because of when we filmed Glad You Came. We needed to get away from the British drunks.”
“You go and ask, I’ll stay and get the drinks,” I said.
Nathan returned within five minutes. I had just about got served. I knew I should’ve worn something that got my boobs out. Nathan showed me the way to the hidden balcony. No paps could see us up here. I sat down at one of the tables on the balcony. Nathan sat down in the chair next to me.
“I can’t believe you shoved cake in my face earlier,” I said, not thinking of anything else to say.
“Don’t act like you didn’t like it,” Nathan joked.
“Shut up.” I started to feel myself going hot.
I hadn’t felt like this since Washington. Wow, Washington felt like such a long time ago. The memory of kissing Nathan came into my head. I smiled to myself. The way he held me; like he never wanted to let go. This led me to think of when he kissed me when the boys started their arena tour.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Nathan asked.
I glanced over to him. He was peeling the label off of the Budweiser bottle he was drinking.
“I want to say nothing important, but that’s not true,” I said honestly.
“What was it you were thinking of?”
“Stuff that’s happened in the past six months or so.”
“What was six months ago? Oh, the US tour. Wow, that seems a lifetime ago.”
“A lifetime? It seems like two weeks ago. I mean, yeah, a LOT has happened. Should we list them all?”
It’ll be more fun than going back in there to watch you get on Harry, I thought. “It’ll be more fun than looking after that lot,” I said, tilting my head to the direction of the door.
“Yeah, true,” Charlotte laughed.
“So, the last six months, we toured the US.” I started.
“You made history with being the highest debuting UK boy band with Glad You Came on the US Billboard charts.”
“We had our first arena tour.”
“One Direction’s album debuted at number 1.”
“Our album debuted at number 1.”
“Harry and I got together.”
“You got a brilliant job.”
“I did, didn’t I? Erm, my turn, you passed your driving test so you get to drive your wicked car around.”
“We got another number one single in the UK.”
“Gold Forever made more money for Comic Relief.”
“We kissed.” I said out loud.
“I did not mean to say that out loud,” I quickly said.
Charlotte’s face was blank. Completely blank. I couldn’t tell if she was upset or angry or surprised. I put my beer bottle down and crouched in front of her. She made eye contact with me. She bit her top lip, which usually means she’s stopping herself from saying something.
“Char, honestly, I didn’t mean to bring it up,” I begged. All I wanted was for her to say something; even if it was going to be hurtful. “Please speak. I promise never to say anything about it again.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” she said, looking at her drink.
“When you said penny for my thoughts, I was thinking about our kiss in Washington. And then the kiss before you went on tour.”
“Why are you with Harry?”
“I love him. I really do love him. Yeah, okay, sometimes I think ‘what if I chose Nathan over Harry’ but that doesn’t matter now. If I was with you, I would’ve been thinking ‘what if I chose Harry over Nathan?’ But I made that decision and I’ve fallen for him.”
When Charlotte said she loves him and she’s fallen for him, a massive smile spread across her face. I could see she was happy. I was still crouched down in front of her, my arms resting on her lap. She’d put her drink down on the table. She placed her hands on my arms.
Nathan looked hurt. I knew he liked me. But he needed to get the message that I was in love with Harry. Yeah, I did wonder, about once a week, what would have happened if Nathan and I had actually started being together after the first kiss. The thing was, I had only just been introduced to the guys; I couldn’t just jump into a relationship with one of them.
Nathan had crouched down in front of me. His arms were folded on my lap. I put my drink down on the table and put my hands on his arms. I squeezed them, took my hands away a bit to see him arms go white and then return to brown. Nathan tans quickly; I’m so jealous of him. It takes me forever to tan. I put my hands back on his arms again.
I wanted to see how much he’d tanned. I pulled his wristbands off and put them on my own wrists. The tan lines he had were quite impressive. He was already a little bit tanned from being in the UK (I didn’t realise that was possible). Nathan held his arms out against my legs. I was so pale. I lightly stroked my fingertips up and down his arms; drawing circles around his palms every time I reached them.
Why was she doing this to me? This was the ultimate tease. I knew she wasn’t aware of doing it in that way. I’ve seen her lightly stroke her own arms. It comforts her. I’m guessing, when she does it on other people, it’s supposed to comfort them. This was just turning me on a bit. I looked up and watched her face as she did it. She didn’t look completely with it. In fact, her eyes looked a bit sad.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, letting her stroke my arms still.
“Nothing, Nathan,” she said, a bit more sternly.
I stopped her from stroking my arms. I awkwardly pulled a chair to in front of her. I sat back down and put my arms on her lap again. She went straight back to stroking them. I could feel myself wanting to kiss her more and more.
“Should we go back in soon?” I finally asked. I needed to pull myself away from the situation we were heading in if we stayed like that much longer.
“Yeah, although, they’ll be absolutely hammered by now,” Charlotte said, smiling at, what I can imagine, a drunk Max fussing over her.
“Do you want to go back to the hotel then? Find Liam and tell him to look after Harry and Jay?”
“Yeah, he’s daddy Directioner,” Charlotte smiled and stood up.
I stood up and pulled her into me for a hug. We made our way back into the club and found Liam. We explained that we were going back to the hotel. We left the club and the paps were taking pictures.
“Where’s Harry?” They asked Charlotte.
“He’s still inside, goodbye,” Charlotte said.
I was quite proud of her. When we first went out together, she wasn’t too keen on the photographers and yelled abuse at most of them. Since she’s been with Harry, she’s learned to deal with them. Well, I guess being with the Justin Bieber of the UK, you’re going to need to deal with them.
We decided to walk back to the hotel. It wasn’t too much of a walk. As soon as we got out of distance of the paparazzi, Charlotte grabbed a hold of my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks, and taking her heels off.
“Are you sure you want to do that? There could be glass on the floor,” I said, looking around on the ground for pieces of glass.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Charlotte said and smiled at me.
After a couple of minutes, Charlotte let out a whimper. She started to hop along the path.
“Have you got something in your foot,” I asked and laughed.
“I stepped on something,” Charlotte whined.
“Glass? Bottle cap? Lego?”
“Shit, I was joking earlier,” I said, still laughing but a bit more concerned.
“Kidding,” Charlotte laughed.
I lightly shoved her. She pushed me back. We started to play fight in the middle of the path. I eventually got her locked in a grip she couldn’t get out of. She looked up at me; head slightly tilted and a shy smile plastered on her face. I put my hand to the bottom of the back of her head. She had both hands on my chest. Our noses were touching. Our mouths were about an inch away from each other. It would be so easy to kiss her.
Okay. So, Nathan and I had just left the club, walked down the road for about ten minutes and stopped. Yeah, I will admit, I did some flirting with Nath, but I thought it was harmless flirting. Out of the way of the paps, we got back to ourselves.
Nathan had me in a grip that I couldn’t get out of. He loosened it when he knew I wasn’t fighting his grip anymore. We were nose to nose. I could see his green eyes. They were so pretty. That was the first thing I noticed about him when I first saw The Wanted in a magazine.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” I said and closed my eyes, breaking eye contact with Nathan.
“I know,” Nathan said and loosened his arms even more.
“I want to do it though,” I admitted and opened my eyes again.
“No, we can’t. You love Harry and Harry loves you. I shouldn’t be getting in the way of that,” and he dropped his arms.
I grabbed hold of his t-shirt. Pushing myself up onto my toes slightly, I kissed him. His arms wrapped themselves around me again for a few seconds before he pushed me away. He took a step back.
“Charlotte, you know it’s wrong,” Nathan said. “You know you love Harry and you want to be with him. Please don’t chuck away the thing that’s made you happy over the past four months.”
I went over to Nathan and kissed him again. He pulled away. I sighed and started walking back to the hotel. Nathan walked behind a bit. We got the lift together. He wanted to make sure I got back to my room okay.
“Nathan, I’m not a child,” I snarled when the lift arrived at my floor. “I can manage to get back to my room safely.”
“I wouldn’t have peace of mind if I didn’t see you to your door,” he said, following me out of the lift and down my corridor.
As soon as I got to my hotel room, I found the key card, let myself in and shut the door in Nathan’s face. I slid down the back of the door and rested my chin on my knees. I brought my hands to my face and cried.
She slammed the door in my face. It took all the willpower in me to stop kissing her. I stood outside her door for a few minutes. I thought I could hear her crying. I sighed and started to walk back to my hotel room.
Zayn and Niall were on the same floor as us. They were booked to share a flat the same as ours. I was just putting the key card into mine and Jay’s door, when Zayn came round the corner to get to his and Niall’s flat.
“Oi, Nathan,” Zayn said, speeding his pace up to get to me. “Why were you and Charlotte kissing?”
“We didn’t mean to,” I said. Zayn had reached me and was leaning against the wall next to the hotel door.
“You two disappeared for a while before you left the club too. What happened then?” Zayn asked.
“We were talking on a hidden balcony outside the manager’s office,” I explained.
I opened the flat door and walked in. Zayn followed me in. I pulled a beer out of the fridge and offered one to Zayn. He took it, opening it against the coffee table. We sat in silence for a few minutes. The silence was broken when Jay started to bang on the door.
“Naaaaaathaaaaaannnnn,” Jay sang. “I want to go to bed,” he continued.
I laughed and jumped over the back of the sofa. I let him in. Liam was supporting Harry. I took Jay into his bedroom and chucked him in the direction of his bed. I went back to Liam at the door.
“You want help with taking him upstairs,” I offered to Liam.
“Yeah, Zayn? Could you help me?” Liam shouted through to Zayn.
“Why don’t you want me to help?” I asked as Zayn brushed past me.
“Let’s put it this way, Harry’s not exactly in a great mood at the moment,” Liam explained, vaguely.
“He’s pissed off with you for distracting Charlotte. He wanted to spend the night with her.”
“I wanted to dance with her,” Harry burst out, not being able to keep his head up. “You stole her away from me the whole night.”
“Harry, it wasn’t like that,” I explained. “She looked bored, watching everybody be drunk while she thought she had to stay a little sober to look after you.”
“She isn’t even looking after me; you distracted her from that.” Harry had regained some control over his body.
“I didn’t distract her. She wanted to get away from the drunk people.”
“Admit it; you want her. You’re not happy with seeing her with me.” Harry was partly leaning on Liam now. He could point at me without too much swaying.
“If you make her happy, I’m happy she’s with you. Every time she talks about you, she has a genuine smile on her face. She loves you. She’s loved you for a while. She doesn’t love me. Why do you think I’ve backed off?” My voice was rising a little bit louder than I intended.
“You didn’t back off today. Where was she this morning? Not in bed with me; she was with you, having a cake fight with you.” Harry was raising his voice to match mine.
“Where was she tonight? She was with you. Why don’t you find yourself some other girl to try to get with? Why do you have to steal my girl?” Harry had tears in his eyes. He wasn’t leaning against Liam at all now. “Oh wait, you did get on some other girl the first night we were here. The only thing, she was pretty much the same as Charlotte.”
“Harry, just go to bed,” I said, turning round in the doorway, heading to bed.
I felt someone grab my t-shirt. I turned around and felt something hit me in the chin.
“Hello,” I answered my mobile.
I had just drifted off to sleep. I wasn’t aware of what time it was. All I knew was that it wasn’t time to get up as the sun was only just turning the sky pink.
“Char, we’re in the hospital,” Zayn said down the phone.
“Oh god,” I groaned. Not what I wanted to hear in the middle of the night. “What’s happened?”
“Harry hit Nathan a few times.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I climbed out of the bed.
Zayn told me which hospital they were in and gave me the details of what happened. At one point he was whispering down the phone.
“I saw you and Nathan kissing,” he whispered.
“What? Is that why Harry hit him?”
“No, Harry doesn’t know. Nobody else knows. I think you have some explaining to me though.”
“I’ll see you in a bit, Zayn,” I said and hung the phone up.
I rushed getting dressed, shoved my hair up into a rough pony tail and grabbed a makeup wipe from the side, shoving my makeup bag into my bag. The lobby downstairs was packed with what I could guess were fans and paps. As soon as I was spotted, they went mad. I pushed as hard as I could through the crowd. I’d finished taking my makeup off and felt so rough. I was getting abuse shouted at me from the fans.
“How could you let Nathan hit Harry?”, “How could you let Harry hit Nathan?”, “Directioners hate you, Charlotte!”, “The TWFanmily hate you!” and “Pick a side you whore.”
Well, I thought the fans liked me. They were happy if their idols were happy. I didn’t feel like I’d caused them to get into a fight. I didn’t even know what had happened. The only information I had was that Harry hit Nathan a few times. Did Nathan hit back? I don’t know. Did Harry hit Nathan because of me? I don’t know.
It took forever to get to a taxi and pull away from the hotel. There were paps outside the hospital, waiting for me to arrive. I sat in the taxi, preparing myself for the questions and abuse I was going to have shouted at me.
“Love, do you want me to pull round to another entrance?” The taxi driver asked, turning around to face me.
“They’re going to be at all the entrances,” I sighed. I started to cry a bit. The taxi driver leaned over the front seat and squeezed my hand.
“I know an entrance which won’t be covered by the press or fans,” he winked at me. He pulled away from the entrance and into the staff car park. He didn’t have to explain anything to the security guard. The taxi driver pointed to me in the back seat and the security guard let us through. He pulled up outside a glass door.
“Through there, love, then turn right and keep going,” the taxi driver explained. “You should end up at A&E.”
“Thank you so much,” I said, getting my purse out.
“I didn’t turn the meter on. Don’t think I don’t have a 13 year old daughter who loves both bands. I know exactly who you are. Now go. Go and see both of your boys.”
“Thank you so so much. Has your daughter got Twitter? I want to tell her how amazing her dad is,” I cried.
The taxi driver (Tim) called his daughter up and got her Twitter username. He then had to explain why he was asking, which caused her to scream down the phone.
“She wants to speak to you,” he said, handing me his phone.
I spent a couple of minutes talking to his youngest daughter, Tia. Once I’d promised I’d follow her on Twitter, I said goodbye to Tia and gave the phone back to Tim. I rushed inside the hospital. Who to go to first; Nathan or Harry? I stood at the A&E desk for a few seconds before Zayn came up behind me. He put his arm around my shoulder and dragged me down a corridor.
“You need to see Harry first,” Zayn said. “You can’t come here and go and see Nathan first. Harry thinks Nathan’s out to steal you from him.”
“Does Harry know how ridiculous he’s being,” I asked, stopping in the corridor.
“No, I kissed Nathan. Nathan didn’t want to kiss me. I made it happen.”
“That doesn’t make it any better.”
“I went to find Nathan because I’d seen the two of you kiss. I confronted him about it. He didn’t really give me an explanation as to why you were kissing. After a while of sitting in their flat, Jay was knocking on the door, wanting to come in and Liam had walked him back to the flat with Harry. Harry was on the verge of passing out and being supported by Liam. Nathan offered to help Liam take Harry back up to your room but Liam thought it would be a better idea for me to help him instead. By this time, Harry had come round a bit and started on Nathan. Harry was asking why Nathan was trying to steal you away from him. Nathan wasn’t being aggressive at all. Next thing we knew, Nathan had turned away to go to bed, Harry had grabbed Nathan by the shirt and was punching him. Nathan had pushed Harry off of him and we had to split the two of them up. Harry’s hand is broken and he has a bit of a bruised face. Nathan has a hairline fracture in his jaw and a broken rib.”
“The two fucking morons,” I growled. I was so angry at them both. “I’m having serious words with the both of them. They have to cut this jealousy thing out. I can’t have one of my best friends and my boyfriend fighting.”
I stormed off down the hall. Zayn coughed. “This way, Char,” he pointed.
I walked next to him until we arrived at Harry’s room. He was having his hand put into a cast as we walked in. At least he looked sober by now. I sat in the corner of the room while the cast was being put on. Liam was sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed. Harry winced every now and then. I’ve never broken a bone in my body, so I wouldn’t know what pain he was in.
The nurses left immediately once they had finished. Liam sat with Harry until the cast had dried. Liam felt the cast a couple of times to see if it had dried. Once the cast had dried, Liam patted Harry on the back and left the room; leaving us alone.
“You dickhead,” I threw at Harry. “Why would you punch Nathan?”
“You know I wouldn’t have punched him if I was sober,” Harry said.
Harry didn’t look me in the eye; too ashamed of what he’d said and done to Nathan. He could tell I wasn’t happy.
“Why; why would you start on Nathan?”
“I feel like he’s stealing you away from me,” Harry said, a couple of tears leaving his eyes. “You’ve spent a lot more time with him lately than you have with me.”
“You haven’t even been in the country,” I stood up from the chair and made my way to stand in front of him. “Do you really blame me for spending loads of time with them when I hardly get to see you anymore?”
“But we’re always hanging out round yours now. It’s very rare that we hang out at my flat.”
“I know, but if we hang out at your flat, I’m usually kicked out early in the morning because you have to jet off to somewhere.” I started to play with the curls in his hair. The curls a million girls want to run their hand through.
“I’ll get you a key. That way you can come and go whenever you want.” Harry had his good hand entwined with mine.
He pulled me closer to him; tears still trickling down his face. I rested my forehead against his. If he was going to cry for much longer, he’d have me in tears.
“I love you; no one is going to steal me away from you. I can promise that,” I kissed him.
“I love you, too. But I’m not completely to blame, you know.”
“Oh, I know and don’t worry; he’s going to be yelled at too.”
“I’m sorry to put you through this, especially as it’s so close to your birthday.”
“You’re going to have a lot of making up to do, mister Styles,” I said.
Oh god. I was now in tears myself. Why does he do this to me? He started to kiss me all over my face, telling me how beautiful I was. I couldn’t stop smiling after that.
“As you are all better,” I started. “I should really go check on Nathan.”
“Yeah, go,” Harry encouraged. “He is a best mate to you. I promise I won’t get jealous this time.”
Harry laughed. I kissed him again and left the room. Zayn showed me to Nathan’s room. Siva was sat in the chair next to Nathan’s bed. Nathan was sleeping. Siva offered me his chair and went to get the both of us a cup of coffee.
“Nathan,” I whispered. “It’s me, Char.” A groaning noise came from Nathan. “I think for the rest of the holiday, apart from my birthday, I should hang out with Harry.”
“No,” came from Nathan’s mouth.
“Nathan, he goes to America for a month when we get back to the UK. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m asking for your permission.”
“What about us? We’re going to Australia for three weeks when we get back.”
“No, you have about a week in the UK before you got to Oz; One Direction have a day. We get back at 10 in the morning and they jet off at 7 the next morning.”
“Can you leave? I want to go back to sleep.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you back at the hotel.”
“No, as soon as I can get out of here, I’m going to go home.”
“You’re not going to be here for my birthday?”
“Nope, you want to spend time with Harry. I’m giving you the time to spend with Harry. He gets two weeks, us lot get a week. It’s fine.”
“Nath, don’t be like that.”
“Charlotte, leave, please?” Nathan pleaded.
I sighed and stood up. I leaned over his bed and kissed him on the cheek. Zayn was watching from outside. I joined him again. He held his arms out and pulled me in for a hug.
“He hates me, Zayn. He hates me,” I cried into his chest.
It was the morning of my birthday. Harry had woken up before me and disappeared somewhere. I had the bed all to myself. I rolled until I was in the middle of the bed, stretched out and relaxed. I fell back to sleep for a bit. I was woken up to a strange boy kissing me around the bottom of my neck.
“Happy 21st, gorgeous,” he said. “Breakfast is on its way up.”
“Thank you,” I smiled, enjoying him kissing my neck. “I feel so old though.”
“You definitely don’t look old,” Harry moved to my side, tracing patterns on my stomach.
“Well, I’m now 21 but you’re still 18.”
“So, you basically feel like an OAP and you think of me as a child? Do I feel or act like a child?” Harry asked, nibbling my neck.
“No, you do not,” I laughed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “How long until breakfast is here?”
“I ordered it just before I came in here. I told them to take their time. Well, I said bring it up in an hour. I know you can’t eat much as soon as you wake up.”
“So we have enough time to do stuff?”
“Hmm, what ‘stuff’ does this involve?”
“You know full well what this stuff involves,” I said, pulling him on top of me.
“Titch,” Max turned to me, holding my hands and looking into my eyes. “Promise me something.”
We’d started drinking at three o’clock that afternoon. Max and I were smashed already. We had told the rest of the group that we were going to reception to book taxis. Instead, we started walking to the strip. We had just reached the strip when Max turned to me.
“You are going to enjoy tonight and get drunk with me,” Max pulled a stupid face.
“Of course, it’s my birthday. I need some alcohol in my body.”
“Let’s get to a bar then. See how many drinks we can get free for being in The Wanted.” He winked at me.
“You whorebag,” I laughed as he grabbed my hand and ran to the nearest bar.
Max was telling everyone that it was my birthday. The first bar got me up on the actual bar and made me do a bunch of drinking games. Max was giggling in my ear the majority of the evening without the rest of the crew. I had to giggle back because he was like a child.
“Charlotte,” Harry asked down the phone. “Where are you?”
“We are on the strip already,” I slurred down the phone. “Where are you?”
“At the hotel still, you moron,” Harry laughed. “Is someone quite drunk already?”
“Noooooo,” I tried to convince Harry.
“Charlotte, are you ready for the blowjob?” The bartender asked.
“Quickly get down here and you’ll find out. You might get one later,” I laughed down the phone. “I’ll see you in a minute, yeah?”
“Definitely,” Harry laughed and hung up.
One of the bartenders’ climbed on top of me. He inserted a cocktail shaker into his trousers, pouring alcohol and mixers down his toned abs into the cocktail shaker. I couldn’t stop laughing. Max was whispering stuff into my ear which made me laugh even more. I had to place one hand on the lid and one hand underneath and shake for a minute. After shaking, I had to drink the cocktail that was made. Harry and the rest of the birthday crew walked into the bar at that moment.
Was I seeing this right? My amazing girlfriend was playing drinking games on the bar. Max was bent down by her ear, whispering stuff to make her laugh. Now I can understand why the person the other end of the phone asked if she was ready for the blowjob. I rushed over to the bar and took Max’s place.
“That’s not usually how you do it,” I whispered into her ear.
Charlotte spat the drink in her mouth all over the bartender. She then burst into a fit of giggles and tried to apologise to him. She was kicked out of that bar. We made our way to the next bar.
“You are so easily amused when you’ve been drinking,” I teased.
Charlotte was still in a fit of giggles. I let the others carry on into the bar. I held Charlotte in my arms for a couple of minutes. I pushed her hair behind her ears and looked into her eyes. I could tell she was trying her hardest to focus on my eyes.
“I know you’re sad,” I said and kissed her.
“I wish he was here, Hazza,” Charlotte said, fussing with the bottom of my top. “He was the first person out of everyone here who got to know me; like actually got to know me. And he’s not even here on my 21st. I know you hate him.”
“I don’t hate him. I was just drunk and a bit annoyed that you went off with him and not me.”
“But anyway, he’s my best friend. Birthdays and momentous occasions in your life aren’t the same without your best friend.”
“Well, happy birthday, and turn around,” I said and smiled.
I nodded to behind Charlotte. She looked confused, which makes her look really cute. She turned around slowly to see Nathan a few feet behind us. She screamed with excitement and ran towards him, dropping her bag on the floor. She jumped into Nathan’s arms. He spun her around.
Yeah, okay, I am jealous of the relationship they’ve got. She always chooses him over me. I suppose if her best friend was a girl, I wouldn’t give a fuck. But it’s a guy who likes her. The thing that got me convinced nothing will happen between them is what Nathan said once he told Charlotte he was going straight home after he’d left the hospital.
I went into Nathan’s hospital room. He was alone. I’d sent Charlotte, Zayn and Liam home. Niall and Louis were asleep in their hotel rooms. They had no clue of what had happened this morning. Nathan opened his eyes as soon as I walked into the room. He rolled them as soon as he saw me.
“Look, Nath, mate,” I started.
“Leave it,” Nathan said, not hearing me out.
“I’m sorry I hit you. I didn’t mean to hospitalise you.”
“Then why did you keep hitting me?”
“I was angry and drunk and I shouldn’t have done it.”
“Well, I want to put it out there now, I am not out to steal Charlotte from you. If you do anything to harm her, I will harm you, understand?”
“Says the one who’s in a hospital bed.”
“Well, there’s all five of us that would make you see sense. Do you really want to be on the wrong side of either Tom or Max?”
“Not really; honestly mate, I’m not going to hurt Char. She is my world.”
“Make sure you treat her nicely,” Nathan pointed, speaking in his most Gloucester accent.
“You better treat her nicely too. Don’t give her any hassle about spending time with me and the boys.”
“I won’t. I’m leaving to go back to the UK as soon as I get out of this hospital. They’ve told me they want to keep me in until Charlotte’s birthday.”
“No, you’re not going home as soon as you leave this hospital. I won’t let you. You have to be there for her birthday.” I moved to the end of his bed.
“Why? She told me she’s spending the rest of the holiday in your company and not seeing me.”
“She doesn’t mean it; she’s just pissed off at both of us for fighting. Come on, you must know she doesn’t mean any of the stuff she says when she’s pissed off.”
A smile spread across Nathan’s face. “Yeah, she’s told me she’s never speaking to me once. That lasted the whole of an hour.”
“Ha-ha, yeah she is a bit stupid like that. I give her all my respect though. Well, even Danielle and Eleanor.”
“Why’s that?” Nathan asked.
“How do they put up with us when we’re not there the majority of the time?”
“I think Char deals with it well because she’s got the rest of us to fall back on. It’s not like you’re leaving her on her own.”
“Yeah, I know we’ve only been together four months but I have thought about asking her to move in with me. But I don’t think I could live with the guilt of leaving her there by herself.”
“Maybe when everything’s calmed down a bit, you can think about moving in with each other.”
“I have a feeling it won’t calm down though. I’m so scared she’s going to end things because I’m never in the country.” I found a piece of plastic that moved on the bed frame. I started to play with it.
“You don’t have to worry. Us five are always there for her when you’re not. And even then, you’re the first person she calls or texts to let you know what’s going on in her life. She loves you more than you think. You may think she’s going to leave you when you’re hardly there for her anymore, but she’s told me that she’ll be there and support you no matter where you go or what happens.”
“How come she tells you all this stuff?”
“She thinks of me as a best friend. And if you’re feeling a bit more worried, Max knows a lot more. He’s like her older brother.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” I laughed. “But you can’t go home. If you stay, it’ll be the icing on her cake. I have an idea of what you could do as well. It’ll make her birthday, especially if she thinks you’re leaving when you leave here.”
Nathan didn’t go home. Nathan didn’t go home. Nathan didn’t go home. This has to be the best birthday ever. I had my arms wrapped around Nathan’s neck and I wasn’t going to let go anytime soon.
“I’m so thankful you’re here, maggot,” I said into his ear. I pulled away from him slightly.
“Harry convinced me to stay,” Nath said and winked to Harry behind me. I let go of Nathan’s neck and ran towards Harry.
“Thank you Harry,” I said and jumped into his arms.
“You’re welcome, I know you wouldn’t enjoy yourself completely without him being here,” Harry said and smiled at me.
“I love you way too much. Stop doing stuff to make me keep falling for you,” I joked.
“We getting more drinks?” Nathan asked, looking at the others in the bar.
“I feel like I’m starting to sober up a little,” I stated, dragging my two favourite guys in the world into the bar.
Nathan didn’t stay for the rest of the holiday. He stayed a couple of days longer but decided on the Monday that he was going to get a flight home. I got a taxi with him to the airport, where a few fans were waiting for him. He had a few pictures with them and signed various things, including sunglasses and flip flops. Some of the girls wanted pictures with me and for me to sign pictures of Harry and me. We said goodbye to the girls, following them on Twitter before we could leave.
“I’ll see you when I get back,” I said and hugged him lightly.
Nathan still had some pain when hugging people from his broken rib.
“Yeah, I might not be back when you get back,” Nathan admitted. “I’m going home for a week or so.”
“And there you were, complaining that you don’t get to spend any time with me before you go to Australia,” I joked.
“I’m kidding Nath, calm down. I’ll see you when you get back, yeah,” I asked and gave him another hug.
Nathan stormed off to begin with, then laughed and waved goodbye to me. As soon as I couldn’t see him anymore, I turned round to head out of the airport. I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. I was sat in the back of the taxi for a few minutes before looking at my phone. The only love I had was on my Twitter, and that was followers trying to get me to follow them.
“You have a thing for picking my taxi, don’t you,” a familiar voice said from the driver’s seat.
“Huh,” I asked, lifting my head up. “Oh my god, hi Tim.”
“Wow, a big celebrity like you remembers my name?”
“I’m not a big celebrity, trust me. I’m just associated with big celebrities. How are you?”
“I’m good, still driving this thing around. But it pays for my daughter’s obsession so she’s happy.”
“Yeah, I’ve spoken to Tia a bit on Twitter. You’ve raised a good one in her.”
“Yeah, shame her older sister couldn’t be as sweet as her.”
“Oh lay off, your older daughter must be lovely too.”
“Nope, out until god knows what time with god knows who. She doesn’t set a very good example for Tia.”
“I think I follow your older daughter. Is her name Charlie?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. 17 years old and able to get into the bars and clubs around here because no one checks ID regularly.”
“I’m going to tweet her now. In fact, are Tia and Charlie at home now?”
“They should be; unless Charlie has skipped out of looking after Tia.”
“Do you want to drop me off at your place then?”
“Yeah, sure, unless you’re some kind of axe murderer.”
“Do I have an axe? And you know exactly who I am.”
“Okay, I’ll drive you to my house,” Tim said, turning the taxi around in the middle of the street.
We chatted for a bit before he pulled up at his house on the outskirts of Ibiza. I gave him €20 and fled the taxi. I wasn’t letting him give me the change from a €8 taxi. He deserved to have a €12 tip. I ran up to the door as Tim drove off and rang the doorbell. A young girl who looked about 15/16 answered the door.
The girl nodded her head. She was in complete shock that I was standing at her door. I couldn’t help but smile. She just stood there motionless. I opened my arms and hugged her. She finally breathed.
“You alright, or do you want some oxygen or something,” I joked, stepping into the house.
“You’re in my house,” Tia said, the realisation hadn’t quite hit her yet. “Charlie, Charlotte’s in our house.”
“Charlotte who?” Charlie yelled from upstairs.
“Charlotte Bailey, the girl who is with Harry Styles,” Tia yelled back, not believing her sister didn’t immediately know who I was.
“What?” The shocked reply came back.
“Yeah, I’ve been tweeting her recently. And now she’s at our house.”
There was the sound of footsteps rushing around upstairs. A girl appeared at the top of the stairs. She looked like she was halfway through curling her hair. She froze to the top stair.
“Hey, Charlie,” I said and waved.
“Oh my god, is it really you? It’s not a lookalike, are you?” Charlie asked, still stuck to the top step.
“Nope, but you could nearly pass for my lookalike. Wow.” I couldn’t believe that she looked like me.
“I get told that quite a bit. But oh my god, the real Charlotte Bailey is in our house, Tia.”
“Although, I’m not just here for the fun of it,” I said, moving up the stairs towards Charlie who was still rooted to the spot. “Your dad says you’re going out, drinking, doing stuff with boys and all at the age of 17.”
“My dad thinks that I go around sleeping with guys, which I haven’t. Yeah, when I go out in town, I do drink and usually I crash at a friend’s house. I’ve only been home with three guys. One of them was really recent and you know him.”
“I’m guessing one of the 1D boys?”
“Nope, Nathan Sykes. I couldn’t believe my luck that I managed to get with him. He doesn’t remember bringing me back to his hotel room though. I pretty much left a minute or so after he woke up.”
“Wow, he didn’t tell me that. I just dropped him off at the airport. Do you want me to finish curling your hair?”
“Yeah, that would be amazing. Tia, take pictures so my friends believe me.”
“I have a better idea. I can do a Ustream and your friends can watch.”
“Really?” Charlie asked, showing me to her room.
Charlie loaded her laptop up and plugged the charger in. I loaded Safari up and typed ustream.com in the browser bar. I signed in and opened Twitter up in a new tab. ‘Ustream session now tweople [inserted link] with two friends I made in Ibiza xx’. Over 300 people were viewing us on Ustream.
“Do you want to text your friends? Tell them to find the link on my Twitter,” I said and turned back to the laptop. “Hello, everyone. Now, I need an update. How bad are the pictures in the papers?”
Apparently, there weren’t many pictures in the paper of my birthday. And according to my fans, they were good pictures. Charlie’s friends had tuned into Ustream, seen me curling her hair and then rushed round to actually meet me. We all messed around on Ustream for a bit. I had a quick Q&A session and I had to answer some really awkward questions.
“Right, so I’ve been on here for about an hour now. I think it’s time for me to go and spend the day with these girls. I did say I’d spend some time with Tia and Charlie mainly. So, I guess this is goodbye until I’m back in England. Bye tweople,” I said and waved at the camera.
I stopped the broadcast and logged out. I lay down on Charlie’s bedroom floor. I sat back up after about 30 seconds. Charlie’s friends were staring at me.
“I’m not an animal,” I laughed. “I feel like I’m at the zoo or something.”
“Can we have a picture,” her first friend, who was called Sarah, asked.
Big mistake. They took several pictures. Even as I was sat talking to them, they were taking pictures. In the end, I took Charlie down to her kitchen.
“I don’t mean to sound mean towards your friends,” I started. “But could you ask them to leave?”
“Yeah, they’re starting to bug me with the constant picture taking and the video recording. Anyway, they don’t know about Nathan and I kind of wanted to talk to you about him,” Charlie looked a bit embarrassed about it.
“Sure, if you go and get rid of them, I’ll make us a cup of tea each. That’s always better for talking,” I smiled.
Charlie went upstairs and convinced her friends to leave. She came back down into the kitchen and threw herself onto the sofa in the corner of the kitchen. I made her a cup of tea, guessing at what she wanted. I seemed to have guessed right as she sipped her tea, happily.
“So, Nathan, what about him?” I asked, joining her on the sofa.
“Has he said anything about me?” Charlie asked, looking over the top of her mug.
“To be honest, I’ve not even heard he’d done anything with anyone since he’d been here. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, well, never mind. I saw Jay on the way out of their hotel flat. I didn’t know if he’d mentioned it.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice my shocked face as soon as you mentioned that you had slept with Nathan. He hasn’t been with a girl for ages. In fact, I don’t think he’s slept with a girl since he’s birthday. Well, he might’ve been with a girl when I’ve been staying round Harry’s.”
“Yeah, we know he’s been hooked up on you a bit.”
“Yeah, where was it he said it? Well, he didn’t exactly say your name; everyone’s kind of guessed it,” Charlie sipped her tea. “He basically said in a magazine that he was single but he liked a girl he was quite close to. And you two seem to be photographed quite a lot together. I’ve talked to other members of the TWFanmily and they think the same.”
“I didn’t think the TWFanmily knew he liked me.”
“You mean it is definitely you he likes?”
“Well, not anymore, we’re more like best mates. Harry and I love each other too much for anyone to ruin it for us.”
“Wow, I feel like such a moron,” Charlie said, covering her face with her free hand.
“Well, there’s one clear reason as to why, out of all the girls to choose from, he chose me. If he liked you in that way, he was only going to go for the girl who looked most like you.”
“Did he give you his number or take your number?”
“Nope, I kind of left before that awkward conversation came up.”
“What an arsehole,” I shook my head.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened our text thread.
Me: you jackass. Why didn’t you get Charlie’s number?
I didn’t expect him to text me back for a couple of hours at least. Charlie and I chatted about typical girl stuff for a while. My phone started ringing from the kitchen table. I got up and looked at the screen.
“Where are you,” Zayn asked. “You should’ve been back ages ago, shouldn’t ya?”
“Yeah, I’m at a friend’s house,” smiling at Charlie.
“Friend? All your friends are either in the hotel or on a plane.”
“You know I told you about the taxi driver who dropped me off at the hospital the other night? Yeah, I’m at his house with his daughters. Oh, and Nathan slept with the oldest daughter.”
“Yeah, she looks quite like me, doesn’t she?”
“I guess so, oh look, here’s Harry,” Zayn said, passing the phone to Harry.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Harry sang down the other end of the line. “I think you should get back here soon. I want to see you on a jet ski.”
“You know I’m always up for a jet ski, but I can’t just leave Charlie and Tia here,” I sulked.
“Who are Charlie and Tia?”
“Well, you know when you were being a douchebag the other night and having a fight with Nathan? Well, the lovely taxi driver who drove me there and didn’t charge me, I’m spending the day with his daughters. Oh, and Charlie was the girl who Nathan slept with.” I turned to Charlie. “When did you and Nathan sleep together?”
“Erm, I think it was Friday night, Saturday morning, over a week ago,” Charlie said, thinking back to that night.
“Had he opened his suitcase at all, do you remember?”
“No, I remember a suitcase still against the wall in the bedroom.”
“Did you two know he’d slept with someone?” I asked down the phone again.
“Erm, I think everyone knew apart from you,” Harry winced down the phone.
“What? You’re kidding me, right? How could everyone know but me? I’m his best friend.”
“No, he’s your best friend. Jay’s his best friend and Jay told everyone that the girl Nathan was getting on, the first night we were out, he went home with.”
“I am going to kill him when I get back to England. I mean, we get back.”
“Calm down, Char, why don’t you bring Charlie and?”
“Tia back to the hotel and we can hang out. Preferably you hang out with me, naked, in our hotel room.”
“If I knew being with a young lad was going to be this exhausting, I would never have said yes at the end of TWAT party.”
“Yeah, I do. I’ll be there soon, okay,” I asked.
“I can’t wait,” Harry breathed down the phone.
“We are going to our hotel and the two of you get to hang out with The Wanted and One Direction, minus Nathan,” I told Charlie and Tia once I’d hung the phone up.
Tia ran around the house screaming with excitement. When she ran past me, I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“You can’t be like that though,” I laughed.
Tia instantly calmed down. Charlie ran up to her room and grabbed her phone and camera. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, Harry wanted to carry me away to our hotel room.
“Harry, this is Charlie and Tia,” I said, resisting him pulling me up to our room.
“Hey, Charlie,” Harry said, smiling at Charlie. “Hey, Tia,” he crouched down so Tia was looking down at him.
“Can you take photos,” Charlie asked me, handing her camera to me.
I took a bunch of photos for her. Tia wanted a couple on her phone, which I gladly accepted to do.
“Right, the two of you, you can have whatever you want at the bar, except alcohol,” I added, seeing Charlie’s face light up. “You can have whatever food, but meet me back here at half four for when you’re dad comes to pick you up before his night shift.”
“Okay,” both of the girls said and walked together in the direction of the pool.
“So, we have a choice of activities to do,” Harry offered, hands on my arse, lips on my lips. “We can go up to our hotel room and hide from everyone for a couple of hours, we can hire a couple of jet skis or we can go scuba diving.”
“Oh, scuba diving sounds amazing, but so does the jet ski option,” I said, not being able to make my mind up.
“Well, we still have a few days left, maybe we could do those tomorrow or Wednesday. At this moment, I could really go for option number one,” he raised his eyebrows playfully at me.
Harry held me closer. Okay, I was not going to resist for much longer. I’ve finally found a guy that has made me into my 15/16 year old self again. By the four month period, I’m usually over the honeymoon period. Harry just keeps it going for me though.
Why did it have to be the last day of holiday? It meant that it was the last day I was allowed to spend the whole time in Charlotte’s company. She was lying on the sun lounger next to me. She’d fallen asleep. I could tell because she was wearing sunglasses and they were sliding off her face. Slowly, and quietly, I pushed my sun lounger directly next to hers. I lay on my front and turned my face to look at her. She was still snoozing.
I honestly thought she wouldn’t be with me. When I saw the way she looked at Nathan the first time we saw The Wanted play live, I thought she liked him more than she could ever like me; let alone love me. She stirred slightly; taking a deep breath in and then a deep breath out. Her sunglasses fell further down her face. I could watch her sleep all day.
“Harry,” Louis whispered, standing at the end of my sun lounger. “Management just called.”
When management called and you had a ‘holiday’, it wasn’t good. Louis wasn’t exactly wearing an excited face either. And when I say ‘holiday’ I mean any time we are allowed off. Usually we don’t have a holiday like this. I stroked Charlotte’s face and Louis pulled me out of the sun lounger. He pulled me over to the ledge looking out to the beach.
“They want us to fly back as soon as possible,” Louis explained, not looking me in the eye.
“Can’t they wait until we come back tomorrow? I mean, what is 24 hours?” I asked.
“They want us on a plane to America by 10 tomorrow morning.” Louis was now fussing with a piece of loose thread coming from his shorts, still not looking at me.
“Tell them no; I mean, you’re free to go back if you want, but I’m not leaving Char a second before I said I would. And that is Sunday when we were supposed to get on a flight at 7 in the morning.”
“Can you tell them that? I don’t want to get into an argument with them. They are our management.”
“And a shit one at that,” I said, taking my phone out of my back pocket. I dialled our manager’s number. It rang a couple of rings before he answered. “I’m not getting on a plane until tomorrow evening.”
“Harry, we need you on a different flight,” Paul said. “If we don’t get on another flight, you won’t get on a plane. Twitter is going mad with fans saying they will be at the airport to see you off.”
“I am not leaving Charlotte, Paul,” I spat. I never got angry, but they were always asking us to leave people before we want. “I told her that I’m not leaving her until Sunday morning, and I’m not. Okay?”
“Harry, we need all of you to go to the US.”
“I’ll be there, but on a later flight. It’s only 24 hours later. You can last without me for that long, can’t you? And it’s only recording. We’re not doing a tour out there or interviews; you don’t need me there if the others are recording their voices. I mean, you make us leave all the time. Next month, we’re leaving yet again to go to Australia. I’m fed up with having to leave every other day.”
“Harry, you signed up for this. You knew if you made it in the world, you’d have to jetting off to visit fans all the time.”
“We’re not meeting fans though; we see them, yes, but we don’t get to hang out with them or have pictures with them or have general chats and get to know them.”
“If we do that, they’ll all go mental and obsessed.”
“No they won’t; the past couple of days, we’ve been hanging out with a couple of girls. One of the girls is 17 and all she wants to do is go out and enjoy having no problems. She saw us on the Up All Night tour and said, honestly, that she didn’t feel it was personal. Then, her younger sister who’s 15 told me that she felt like one of the luckiest girls in the world. I asked her why and she replied ‘I got a photo with all with you and no one pulled me away so someone else could get a photo’. Our fans really feel like we don’t spend time with them. Do you know how sad that it? That is the way we will end; our fans will get bored and feel we don’t appreciate and love them.”
“That’s not true, Harry. Your fans are screaming teenage girls who will always be obsessed with the five of you.”
“And what happens if we’re still together and touring and making singles and albums when we’re 25 or 30. Our fans will be around 25 or 30. Will they still want to be our fans when they start having their own life and have grown out of the fangirling stage?”
“Fans will always be there for you.”
“Not if we don’t convince them we care about them,” I yelled, laughing at the fact the message wasn’t getting into Paul’s brain.
“Harry, get on the plane with Louis, Niall, Liam and Zayn,” Paul ordered.
“Or what; I’ll be out of the band? You know how the fans will react. And you know full well that I bring the most money to the company so you won’t get rid of me for that. All I’m asking for, well not really asking, is to stay with my girlfriend for another day before I leave her for a month.”
“Fine,” Paul said and hung up.
I felt like throwing my phone against something. I rarely get angry. Management seem to drive me insane. We don’t get very much notice before we go somewhere unless it’s for a planned tour. I looked over to Charlotte, thinking it might help to calm me down. She was still asleep. I walked back over to her and watched her sleep still. Her sunglasses had completely fallen off by now. I picked them up off her chest and put them back on her face. This caused her to wake up.
“Hmm,” she murmured as she stirred, opening her eyes slowly.
“Have a nice nap, gorgeous,” I asked and kissed her.
“I fell asleep?” She asked, taking her sunglasses off and rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah, you’ve been sleeping for about an hour now. Sorry, I woke you up.”
“Nah, it’s alright, I should be awake and not sleeping. I’ve got less than 24 hours to have you all to myself,” she smiled. “You’re pissed off.” She noticed I wasn’t happy. She put her hand on my cheek.
“No, I’m not anymore; speaking to you has made it better.”
“Harry, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Management want us to get the next plane back so we can be on a plane to America by 10 tomorrow morning.”
“I’ve called Paul and told him no.”
“Are you crazy, Harry? Please don’t start pissing your management off.”
“I’m not leaving you a second before I have to.”
“Harry,” Charlotte whined.
I climbed on to her sun lounger. I had my hands on the lounger either side of her face, my knees were supporting me either side of her thighs. She giggled.
“I,” I kissed her. “Am.” I kissed her again. “Not.” Kiss. “Leaving.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss “A.” Kiss “Second.” Kiss “Before.” Kiss “I.” Kiss “Have.” Kiss “To.” Kiss.
“Okay, I get the message,” she giggled. “Now, I think we should get you up to our room before you get a hard on and get photographed with it.”
I looked around. “Too late,” I smiled and nodded to a pap leaning over the wall that separates the pool area to the walk down to the beach.
“Oh god, guess the tag line,” Charlotte laughed.
“Something along the lines of me getting pissy with my manager.”
“They can’t hear that from over here.”
“I was over there when I was having the argument on the phone. He probably heard and recorded everything.”
“Well, while we’re here with the worst already done, how about I straddle your lap. Actually give them something to actually photograph.” She slid underneath me and out from between my legs before I could say anything.
I lay down on the sun lounger and she climbed back on. She sat with her knees either side of my legs. She pulled the back of the sun lounger up so I was sitting upright. She tilted her head to one side and flipped her hair. I smiled at her. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I looked at her. I took in every inch of her body; from the one dimple in her left cheek when she smiles, to the single mole she has next to her belly button. Even the stretch marks she has around her hips that stretch up her sides, although they are faded now and only appear as faint white and silver lines, which disappear when she has a tan. I started to trace where the stretch marks usually appear.
“Stop it,” Char said and recoiled back on the sun lounger.
“You’re beautiful,” I said, placing my hand on her neck and stroking her cheek with my thumb. “It shows what you’ve come through. I wouldn’t change any part of you.”
“You have to say that, you’re my boyfriend,” she started to pick at her nails. “I’m going to go upstairs and put some clothes on. We can spend the day down on the beach, yeah?”
And before I could say a word to her, she had jumped off the sun lounger and made her way up to the hotel room. I threw my head back on the sun lounger. I knew I shouldn’t have brought her attention to them.
I rarely feel self-conscious about anything anymore, but my stretch marks are the thing I hate about my body. Everybody has something they wish they didn’t have. Mine is just something as small as stretch marks. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll get more when I have kids, but they’re ones you’re meant to get. I wasn’t supposed to get these.
As a kid I was smaller than the rest of the kids in my class, I was skinniest to begin with. I was 3 when my parents became divorced. I lived with my mum for a couple of years before she committed suicide. After the divorce, she became severely depressed. My Nan told me all this when I was old enough to understand. My dad gained custody of me two weeks before my mum killed herself. I feel that if I wasn’t taken out of her care, she might still be here. I blame my dad completely; he cheated on my mum; he was the one who requested the divorce; he got married and knocked up my step-mum before I’d even started school.
Well, after my mum died, I began to learn to swim. When I reached nine years old, I joined the local swimming club. Swimming is a sport that tones your body. For me, it was a sport that made me gain weight. I became the fat child. Now, my sister was four by this time and she was what I used to be, skinny. I looked like a whale compared to her. I kept up the swimming though. I stayed swimming until I was 15 years old. As soon as I quit, the weight piled on even more so. This is when I developed my stretch marks.
My first year of uni, I gained over a stone within eight months. I knew this had to stop. During the summer, I worked hard to lose the weight I’d gained. I ended up losing 2 stone over the four months I had off over the summer. During my second year, I lost a further 3 stone. I’d gone from a size sixteen down to a size 8; I finally looked good for my height.
The only problem with gaining weight quickly over a short period of time was you get stretch marks. Of course, during the summer after my second year, people noticed that I was wearing a bikini for the first time in my life. Then they would notice the stretch marks. I knew they noticed because they would look at them and then raise their eyebrows.
Harry loved my stretch marks though. I’ve noticed him rub his hands up and down my sides, feeling them as they were slightly raised above my unstretched skin. This was alright when we were behind closed doors, but the way he did it in public, whilst a guy was photographing us, I didn’t feel comfortable.
I’d reached the hotel room and let myself in. I shut the door and rushed to the bedroom. I pulled a pair of shorts on, my flip flops and a loose white top. I tied my hair up into a bun and added a layer of sun cream onto my face, neck, shoulders, arms and legs. I checked myself over in the full length mirror, grabbed the hotel key and left the room again. Harry met me down by the pool.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he apologised. “I shouldn’t have done it. I know you get self-conscious about them.”
“Thank you, but I shouldn’t be so self-conscious about them,” I said, handing him the hotel key.
He took the hotel key and put it in his pocket. He kissed me on the lips, my nose and then my forehead before wrapping me in his arms. I took in his smell. He smelt like Lynx.
“Come on, let’s make the most of our last day together,” Harry said, sliding his fingers between mine. “I am getting you on those jet skis.”
“Charlotte,” I heard a voice say from behind me. Next thing I knew, I was grabbed from behind and swung around.
“Olly,” I laughed. “Put me down. You’re going to get us both tied up in the microphone cord.”
“Oops, sorry,” Olly laughed, untwirling us. “How is my favourite 4Music presenter?”
“I expect to be your favourite presenter,” I joked, pointing at him.
“Well, you would be but I present Xtra Factor, so Dermot’s my favourite presenter.”
“I’ll never be able to compete with him. I’ll just stick with being your favourite 4Music presenter.”
“I was about to interview Tinie Tempah before he goes on,” I said, nodding to Tinie Tempah who was making his way over. “Heya,” I said as I hugged Tinie.
“Heya, Char,” he said as he let go of me. “I’ve got 15 minutes before I go on.”
“Don’t give me much time, do ya, Patrick,” I teased.
“Don’t call me Patrick,” Tinie whined.
“Sorry Tinie, I’ll be nice, I promise,” I smiled at him.
Tinie walked round to our interview area. Olly stood at the side, out of view of the camera. Tinie is a lovely guy. He chatted away to me. We just finished before he was called to go to the stage. I hugged him, saying we’d get a drink later.
“Someone’s got their flirt on,” Olly teased, sitting down in the seat Tinie had just left.
“I did not have my flirt on,” I laughed, swinging my legs up onto the arm of the chair. “I only have my flirt on for Harry.”
“Flirt flirt flirt flirt flirt flirt flirt flirt,” Olly repeated.
My producer looked over at me.
“Right, as we have Olly here, we’re going to do his interview now,” she said.
Olly was microphoned up. When Laura (my producer) had turned around, Olly leant over to my chair, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chair. I couldn’t help but laugh. Olly was going on about me having my flirt on, what would he say this was? He started to tickle me.
“Ha-ha, stop it you fool!” I giggled.
Olly let go of me. I climbed back over to my chair. The cameramen started filming. Olly and I had a right laugh. He had me in fits of giggles throughout the interview. It took 30 minutes to get five minutes of footage.
“Are you still coming over later?” Olly asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got no one to go home to. I finish at nine though,” I said, undoing the mic from Olly’s top.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll hang out until then.”
“Wicked; I can’t wait for the Killers to perform. Fuck that, I can’t wait to interview them in an hour.”
“You have the ultimate best job.”
“Oh come on, like you don’t love performing in front of thousands of people. I saw you in June. You were absolutely loving everyone singing your songs back to you.”
“Yeah, that is pretty wicked. But you get to chat to so many inspirational artists and bands.”
“I don’t get to chat to all of them. Some of them are there for the interview and then have to rush to somewhere else before I can have a chat,” I said.
“Charlotte, the Killers are doing their interview early. We need to go through a run-through of the questions you’re going to chat to them about,” Laura said.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Olly said.
“See you later, Olly,” I called as Olly walked off to watch James Morrison.
“How were the Killers?” Olly asked.
I’d joined him in the crowd, waiting for the Killers to come on stage.
“They were so nice. I want to hang out with them all the time,” I smiled. “Like, they were so lovely.”
“And now we’re about to watch them perform. What an end to a brilliant weekend, eh?”
“I know, right. What would make it even better would be a nice cold Fosters in my hand,” I suggested.
Olly and I looked at each other, smiled and climbed over the barrier. We walked round to backstage and headed to the nearest bar area. We grabbed two Fosters and headed back to the crowd. It was dark now and all the lights had been turned off on stage. Lights started flashing as the Killers came on stage. I sipped my Fosters and smiled.
The Killers were amazing live; videos on YouTube didn’t do them justice. Olly and I sang along to all the songs; Mr Brightside being the one we belted out the loudest. Just before the Killers had finished, Olly and I left the festival. Olly had bought a flat in Chelmsford as it was kind of his home town. Well, now it was a city. We walked into town and headed for a pub. We found the Wetherspoons and settled down in there. As soon as midnight hit, we left and caught a taxi back to Olly’s flat.
“This is exactly how I imagined your flat,” I said as I chucked myself down on the sofa.
“Really,” Olly asked, handing me a Carlsberg. “When Aston came round once, he said he imagined it a bit simpler.”
“Nah, I love all the fan stuff you have everywhere. But then again, it’s like that at home.”
“Are you and Harry not moving in together anytime soon? You’ve been together how long?”
“Ha-ha, erm I think about five months now and nah, we’ve discussed this. I’ve got a key to his place. He doesn’t want to leave me on my own. Also, he’s hardly here. So if we went looking for a flat together or a house, he wouldn’t be here for long before he goes off again.”
“You really miss him when he goes off don’t you,” Olly gave me a sympathetic look.
“I miss all of them when they go off. I always get left behind.”
“Come here,” Olly said and opened his arms for me.
I stood up from the sofa and curled myself up on Olly’s lap, letting him wrap his arms around me. I sipped on my Carlsberg. I was in Olly’s arms long enough to finish it. I reached over to the coffee table and put the bottle down. Olly pulled me back comfortably onto his lap. His thumb was rubbing me soothingly on my hip. I rested my head against his chest, listening to him breathe; listening to his heart beat. Olly kissed the top of my head. He kissed my forehead. I lifted my head. Olly looked me in the eyes for a couple of seconds before lowering his head. I pushed my lips onto his as much as he pushed his lips onto mine.
Olly leaned me back on the sofa, still kissing me. His hands were running all over me. My top was pulled over my head. His top was ripped open and pulled off behind his back. Olly kissed me again, moving his kisses down my jaw line and then down my neck.
“Olly, we shouldn’t,” I said. Olly groaned as he pushed himself off of me, sitting upright on the sofa. “We both know we shouldn’t be doing this. I mean, I’m with Harry and he’s like a little brother to you, right?”
“Yeah, I don’t even know what I was thinking. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“I didn’t exactly stop you, did I?”
“Don’t blame yourself, if I hadn’t of started-”
“Olly, look at me,” I ordered and pulled his face close to mine. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“Olly! I shouldn’t have kissed you!” I looked Olly in the eyes.
All I could think of was kissing him again. I was filled with alcohol, adrenaline and loneliness. This was not a good combination. His face was still so close to mine. I bit my lip, trying to restrain myself. I was about to push myself up to kiss him again when my phone went off. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen; it was Harry.
“Heya, gorgeous,” Harry said once I answered.
“Heya,” I breathed down the phone. “You alright?”
“Yeah, sorry, did I wake you up?”
“No, no, was just about to go to bed.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“No, it’s fine. I want to chat. I miss you.” I sighed down the phone. Olly stroked my face and climbed off of the sofa. He walked out of the living room.
“I miss you too.” Harry said back. “You at home or are you at a hotel tonight?”
“Neither, I was hanging out with Olly for the last part of the festival and I’m crashing at his.”
“Oh good, at least someone’s looking after you.”
“How’s recording going?” I asked.
I spent the next hour on the phone to Harry. Olly checked up on me a couple of times. I volunteered to sleep on Olly’s sofa. It was really comfy actually. He tried to convince me to sleep in his bed and he takes one of the sofas, but I flat outright refused.
“So, we have got a brilliant exclusive piece we are going to be filming,” Lynette was telling us all at our Monday morning meeting. “Charlotte, I think you’ll like this.”
I jerked out of my staring contest with my cup of tea. I started to actually pay attention.
“Huh,” I asked, looking over at Lynette.
“We have got an exclusive that you are going to be covering along with your new blog. Now, we know most of the fans are on Twitter, but what we weren’t aware of was the following that groups and artists have on Tumblr.”
“Isn’t Tumblr some kind of blogging site,” I asked, sitting up in my chair.
“Yes, but videos, pictures, gifs, conversations and fanfics are posted and reposted across Tumblr. There are thousands of these girls and guys who post about bands and artists. One video that one girl takes when going to a One Direction signing can be spread around to thousands of fans, being made into gifs and still shots, within a few minutes. It shows the creative side. Fangirling is the new craze for these fans. This is why we have decided to set up a Tumblr blogging account.”
“4Music is going to start fangirling?” Chris (the festival organiser) asked.
“No we won’t start fangirling,” Lynette assured. “Charlotte is going to start a blog about the artists and bands she interviews.” I spat my tea out back into my mug from shock. “This will start with the One Direction Australian tour that you will be joining them on.”
“What? You mean I get to hang out with them on their tour?” I asked.
They never let me go and do stuff with 1D or The Wanted. They were even getting a bit edgy when I did interviews with Olly Murs. I kind of sat in my chair, in shock. I’d only been at 4Music for about 4 months now. Okay, I didn’t stay at the news section for very long, around 6 weeks. But I didn’t expect to be the main presenter on 4Music. There were rumours spread around the Channel 4 studios that I was going to be presenting T4 by the end of September. I hadn’t been approached for the job so I couldn’t confirm it.
“We thought it would be best if you cover their tour. We’ll go more into detail about it next week during a personal meeting. But that’s the end of our meeting this week, unless anyone has anything to say?” Lynette asked.
Everybody shook their head. The meeting was ended. I had to rush to hair and makeup. Today I would be hanging out with Little Mix as they made their second music video. I was brought the choice of two outfits; a purple cardigan dress or a pair of knee length shorts with a light blue low back top. I chose the shorts and blue top.
I arrived on the set of the shoot about an hour before the girls were due to start filming. They were getting their makeup done when I arrived. I walked straight over to them and said hello.
I spent the whole day with Little Mix. They finished filming at midnight whereas I finished my filming at gone half 1 in the morning. I arranged for a taxi to pick me up whilst the camera guy packed up his stuff and went home. I left the studio and waited outside. I was looking at my phone, checking the time again.
I looked up to see if the taxi had arrived again, instead I met with a face I hadn’t seen for a month.
My face instantly lit up. Harry was back from the US. I ran into his arms and he lifted me up. He was hugging me as tightly as I was hugging him.
“I missed you so much,” he said and kissed me.
The kiss I’d been wanting for a month. We must have stood on the street, just not saying anything, for about half an hour. The taxi driver had arrived and gone after we didn’t reply to him. I noticed Harry’s hair was shorter. He still had the curls, but they didn’t have to be pushed out of the way half of the time. I liked it. It made him seem older; more mature. I swear he’d grown an inch as well. I didn’t think I had to push myself up that much to kiss him.
“You’ve grown,” I smiled, playing with his bracelets. “And I love your hair like this.”
“Yeah, it did seemed weird at first,” Harry said, pulling at a curl at the front. “I felt like I had it all chopped off. And it was weird not to be flicking it out of the way all the time.”
“You look grown up,” I said, leaning away from him slightly to get a better look. “If you start talking about settling down and stuff, I will hit you.”
Harry laughed. I didn’t realise how much I had missed him until he was here in my arms. Harry picked me up, put me over his shoulder and carried me to his car. He placed me in the passenger seat and closed the door. It took about 45 minutes to get back to my flat. The lads weren’t back from Australia yet so we had the flat to ourselves.
I unlocked the flat door and let us in. Harry pushed the door shut and locked it. I dropped my stuff on the floor and turned to face him, placing my hands on his chest and kissing him. One of his hands was on the bottom of my back and the other on the back of my head. He leant me against the hallway wall kissing me. He moved his hands down and squeezed my arse. Meanwhile, my hands found the bottom of his top and ripped it off of him.
I didn’t mean to rip it but I wanted him too much to care. He looked down at his top. It was his favourite Ramones t-shirt. He smiled and shrugged as it fell to the floor. Harry slid my top over my head. He lifted me up as I wrapped my legs around his hips. He took me into the living room and laid me down on the sofa.
“Charlotte, we’re home,” came a shout the next morning, waking both me and Harry up.
I registered whose voice it was as I heard the front door slam shut and the bedroom doors open.
“Under no circumstances do you come into the living room,” I shouted, hoping they could hear me and not come in asking what I said.
“What?” Jay asked, heading towards the living room.
“Jay, come in and I will kill Neytiri and Jake,” I said.
“Right, do you want tea?”
“Yeah, please, mate,” Harry answered.
I sat up, pushing Harry off of me lightly. I found my underwear and made my way to my room. Harry shoved his boxers on and found his jeans. I was in my room and found some pyjama shorts and a top to put on. I went back into the living room. I didn’t realise how much of a mess we’d made the living room. Harry walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. Nathan was in the kitchen and they all hugged each other to welcome each other back. I shrugged at the living room. I’d sort it out after I’d seen the boys.
“Hey,” I said, pulling Jay and Nathan in for a hug at the same time. “I’ve missed you guys; also, don’t go into the living room.” I smiled.
“What have you done to it now?” Nathan asked, heading out of the kitchen.
“Nathan, I wouldn’t,” I yelled. “Harry and I came in last night and kind of couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”
“How did you manage to do that?” Nathan asked, shocked but smiling as he came back into the kitchen.
“Do what?” Jay asked as he ran out of the kitchen. He returned a few seconds later. “Fuck me, Char. We’re going to have to disinfect the place if you managed to knock over everything.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I laughed. “How many times have I found your underwear behind the sofa or on the TV, Jay?”
“Fair point,” Jay shrugged.
“But I still have to sit in there,” Nathan complained. “I’ve never had sex in the living room.”
“Then you haven’t lived,” Harry smiled, sipping his tea.
“What? When?” Jay and Nathan asked.
“I think you thought no one was in the flat. Jay was at home for the week and you probably thought I was at Harry’s and you had a girl back and you, erm, didn’t keep it in your pants for very long.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, Leanne.” I moaned, mimicking Nathan.
Jay burst into a fit of laughter. Harry smiled to himself. Nathan went bright red.
“I’m not staying here to be bullied by you lot,” he said in his most farmer voice. He lifted his mug up to say bye and walked out of the kitchen.
Jay was hunched over, clutching his stomach from laughing so much. From spending so much time with Nathan, and my ability to pick up accents quite easily, I pulled off a brilliant Nathan impression.
“When did you get back then, Harry?” Jay asked.
“Last night, in fact, I surprised Charlotte once she finished work,” Harry started.
I decided to leave Harry and Jay to catch up. I went into Nathan’s room. He was sitting at his desk on his laptop. I sat cross-legged on his bed. He ignored me for a couple of minutes.
“I’m sorry,” I laughed. “I’m sorry for still laughing too. If you want to know something about me, I’ll tell you.”
“I pretty much know everything about you,” Nathan said, turning around in his computer chair.
“Not everything,” I said and put my mug on the floor.
“Well, everything but your sex life; which by the way, I do not want to know about. I know we share, but I’d like to not share that much.”
“Alright, I have one piece of information that I’ve been dying to tell someone who won’t judge me for it but will just be a friend to me about it. But can I tell you later, when Harry and Jay aren’t around?”
“Yeah, sure, what is it about, roughly?”
“I’ve been lonely the last month,” I hinted, looking at Nathan from underneath my fringe.
“Oh, Char,” Nathan said sympathetically. “How bad?”
“Nothing past first, but still,” I threw myself back on Nathan’s bed.
Nathan climbed on to the bed with me and gave me a hug. Nathan kissed the top of my head.
Harry wanted to spend the day with me but he had to go home, unpack, do washing and then go off to do an interview with MTV. Max and Tom came round and tried to get us all out on a pub crawl. I refused to go and Nathan made an excuse to say he was too tired to go out. Max, Tom and Jay headed out at eight to start their pub crawl starting at the Friar’s Apple down the road.
“So, what’s this thing you’ve done then,” Nathan asked, turning the TV off after ten minutes of them leaving.
“Right, so you know I did V Festival?” I asked, facing Nathan on the sofa. Nathan nodded. “Right, so Olly performed on the last day and so did The Killers. Olly and I watched the Killers perform while having a few drinks. We left about ten minutes before the end of The Killers and headed to a pub in Chelmsford. Once it was closing time, we were quite tipsy and I decided I’d crash on the sofa at his. Anyway, we headed back to his and we had another beer each and I was sat on the sofa with him and he was hugging me because I was upset.”
“I missed you lot and Harry and the rest of the lads and I was lonely. No matter whether I was at Harry’s flat looking after the goldfish or whether I was here looking after the lizards, I was always lonely. Yeah, I had the girls from downstairs but they weren’t the same as you guys. Anyway, he was hugging me and he kissed me on the top of the head. Then he kissed me on the forehead and so I kissed him back.”
“And that’s how far it went, right?”
“Well, I took his top off and he took mine off and there was some definite groping. But yeah, that’s as far as it went. I stopped it from going any further and then I wanted to kiss him again but Harry called.” There were a few seconds of silence.
“Charlotte,” Nathan said and reached over to me for a hug.
“I want to tell Harry it happened but I think he won’t forgive me. He definitely won’t let me see Olly again by myself.”
“Have you seen Olly since?”
“Yeah, a couple of times, but I haven’t hung out with him. We’ve both been too busy to hang out.” I stopped for a second, breathed in and sighed. “I feel really dirty. I’ve never cheated before.”
“Hmm, well, as you stopped before anything really happened and you didn’t go back again, I wouldn’t call it cheating as much.”
“What if your girlfriend did it to you?”
Nathan went quiet for a minute. I could see him thinking about it.
What if Charlotte cheated on me? Well, if she stopped before anything happened and I knew she loved me, I don’t think it would be cheating. If she felt this torn up about it, maybe she wouldn’t do it again. Oh God, this put me in an awkward position. Whatever I say could turn round and bite me on the arse.
“I’ll be honest with you, if I knew my ‘girlfriend’,” I quoted. “Was in love with me as much as you love Harry, I’d forgive her, but if she did it again, I think that’s when I would hate myself for loving her.”
“I would never cheat again,” Charlotte said, shaking her head. “I hate how I feel. I’m so glad that I have a makeup artist and hair stylist to sort me out because for the past three weeks, I certainly haven’t.”
“Well, at the moment you look amazing,” I said and grinned at her.
“Thank you, Nath,” she smiled looking down. “I love you, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I love you too,” I said and pulled her into me for another hug.
I did. I love you; a lot more than you think too. I just wish you knew.
“You’re really quiet this evening,” I commented, kissing the top of Charlotte’s head.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Just enjoying watching TV, like normal people.”
“We are normal people,” I laughed.
“Yeah, I definitely see normal people being swarmed by teenage girls.”
“Well, that’s what you signed up for when you decided you wanted to be my booty call,” I joked, whispering booty call into her ear.
“Ha-ha, it’s more like, I knew what I signed up for making you my booty call,” she teased back.
No, I wasn’t having that. I grabbed her ankles and pulled her slowly off the sofa, being careful not to hurt her. I dragged her across the living room, down the hallway and into the bathroom. I climbed into the shower, grabbed the detachable shower head and pointed it at her. She couldn’t stop giggling.
“No, don’t get me wet, please, Harry,” she giggled.
“That’s not what you usually say,” I laughed.
She was still in a fit of giggles. I pressed the power on button; the water starting pouring from the showerhead and soaking her. She managed to stop giggling and stand up, nearly slipping over on the tiled floor. She hurried over to me but slipped over, taking me out with her. I couldn’t stop laughing. Her hair and top were soaked. Next thing I knew, Charlotte had grabbed the shower head off of me and was soaking me.
“Erm, Harry?” Louis called through the flat. “Harry? Are you alright? There’s water all over the floor in the hallway.”
“Shit,” I said to Charlotte and pulled myself into the shower cubicle. I turned the shower off, placing the shower head back in its place.
Louis appeared at the bathroom door. He raised his eyebrows to Charlotte and then to me. The bathroom floor was a layer of water. We pretty much flooded half the flat.
“Sorry, Lou,” Charlotte apologised, still lying on the floor. “Harry started it.”
“And you’re supposed to be the more mature, older one of the relationship,” Louis teased, shaking his head at her.
Charlotte looked up to me with a mischievous expression on her face. I knew exactly what she was thinking.
I was hoping Harry knew exactly what I was thinking. Harry helped me up from the floor. I ran over to Louis and jumped on his back. Harry hurried over as fast as he could, trying to not slip over. We both took Louis down and tried to make him as wet as we could. I couldn’t help but laugh when we’d finished with Louis and he was looking like a soaking puppy.
“It had to be done,” I shrugged.
“You wait, Harry Styles and Charlotte Bailey, you wait,” he threatened, pointing his index finger at both of us. “Karma will get you.”
“Can’t wait,” I joked as Louis went into his room.
“Clean the water up!” He shouted after he’d shut his door.
“Yeah, we should really clean this up. Don’t really want to get kicked out,” Harry said, pushing his hair back. “Should we use you as the mop?”
“I think we’ve soaked up half of it with our hair anyway,” I joked. “But I’ll leave you to do it. I want to get changed into a pair of dry clothes. Have fun,” I teased and went into Harry’s room.
“Pizza’s here,” Niall said, opening the flat door holding six Domino’s pizzas.
“Wicked,” Zayn said, grabbing a couple of the pizza boxes from Niall’s grip. “Your flat’s looking clean by the way, you two.”
Harry, Louis and I all looked at each other and smiled.
“Thanks, Zayn,” Harry said and grinned.
“Ooh, I have some exciting news for you lot,” I said, taking a bite out of my Texas BBQ chicken pizza. “I am coming to Australia with you.”
“What?” Liam, Louis, Niall and Zayn said.
“Really,” Harry asked, face lighting up.
“Yeah, it’s for work but I'm covering your Australian tour.”
“Finally, you get to come with us.”
“It’s alright for you Harry,” Louis said, sitting the other side of Harry. “You don’t see El or Danielle coming with us.”
“Yeah, but Lou, how often do they go and visit you when you’re off? I never get to fly out and see you when you’re touring somewhere and have time off,” I pointed out. “For example, America just now. I didn’t get to fly out for the last ten days, whereas El and Danielle did.”
“Fair enough,” Louis shrugged and at that moment, Danielle and El walked in.
Both of them kissed their boyfriends and sat down on the floor. They started a conversation between themselves. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both lovely and sweet but I much prefer hanging out with Kelsey, Nareesha and Shell. Once we finished our pizza, I took all the boxes out into the kitchen.
25 hours later and we were off the plane. I was absolutely shattered. That’s all I ever seemed to be. I’d only managed a couple of hours sleep at the beginning of the first plane journey. Harry insisted that we both join the Mile High Club.
“What’s the first thing we’re doing here, Paul,” Liam asked, poking Zayn in the cheek.
“Please say it’s sleeping,” I whispered to Niall.
“I hope it’s dinner,” Niall whispered back.
“You beast,” I laughed. “You only had some food about an hour before we landed.”
“But it’s been ages since I had a meal. I’m starving for a Nandos.”
“Oh don’t say that Nialler; I could really go for Nandos right about now.”
“Ha-ha, we should ditch and go for Nandos.”
“Stop saying Nandos. You’re so mean. I need some ductape to make you shh.”
“Nandos, Nandos, Nandos!” Niall kept saying.
We were both in a fit of giggles, mainly because we were overtired. While Harry was asleep, I hung out with Niall.
“Charlotte, Niall, are you listening,” Paul yelled from a few metres back. Neither of us realised how far ahead we’d walked. We were both too engaged in our conversation about food.
“Sorry, Paul,” we both apologised.
“We’ve got three radio interviews to do today,” Paul started to explain. “Then you can crash in your hotel rooms.”
“Can you get us Nandos to eat in our rooms?” Niall asked, which set me off into giggles again.
“Yes, I will get you Nandos. Also, Charlotte, what are you going to film the boys doing?”
“Their everyday stuff, like,” I started to think. Hmm, I couldn’t film Harry being all over me. “Oh, like, all the bromances going on and the pranks they pull on each other. Just their usual ladish stuff.”
“Could you keep the bromances to a minimum?”
“Why? No one thinks they’re actually gay.”
“Well, there has been a lot of speculation.”
“About the Larry Stylinson bromance?”
“And others.” Paul pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Harry and Louis are in very happy relationships, Liam is head over heels in love with Danielle. Zayn has definitely been getting some recently and all the girls are in love with Niall and he’s into girls nearly as much as he loves his food.”
“Well, we’d appreciate it if it was kept to a minimal,” Paul requested.
“Fine, but we, at 4Music, like to see them be themselves and not controlled by their babysitters who are scared that if one of them is gay, then they’ll lose money,” I said, just out of distance of Paul’s ear range.
All the Directioners love Paul and the rest of management. They don’t know how much they are controlled. The bromances that have developed are not as strong in public as they are when we are hanging out together, even when all us girls are there. Niam are very cosy with each other. They are the most bromantic out of all the bromances. If we’ve been watching a film, they can be found comforting each other by stroking the other’s hair. The love the boys have for each other is amazing and inspiring.
We collected our luggage and made our way into a designated lounge for us. I whipped my laptop out and started to write an update on the blog I had to carry out for work. When the minibus was pulled round to pick us up, I pressed ‘Create Post’ and all their fans would be able to see the blog. Of course, there had to be a couple of pictures to go along otherwise their fans wouldn’t be able to imagine some of the things.
By the end of the third radio interview, we all looked like we were the zombies in The Walking Dead. I filmed some bits from each of the radio interviews and you could see the progression of tiredness in their faces. We couldn’t wait to get to the hotel and order Paul to get us Nandos.
“I’m so tired and hungry,” Louis moaned in the minibus as we pulled up to the hotel. Louis bit Zayn’s shoulder. “I am definitely napping before Paul gets food to us.”
“Have we got single beds or doubles here?” Liam yelled in the direction of the front passenger seats where Paul was sitting.
“Doubles, but that does not mean you bring girls back when you go out lads, alright?” Paul warned.
“I cannot wait to climb into my luxury room that Channel 4 paid for me,” I boasted and winked at Harry.
“Looks like Charlotte’s room is going to be the hanging out room,” Zayn cheered and stuck his tongue out at me, biting it slightly.
“Harry can hang out there,” I suggested. “Naked or not naked, that’s up to him. I’ll be naked,” I added, smirking.
“I love my girlfriend,” Harry grinned, squeezing my thigh.
“Wish I could say I love you too,” I teased, winking and then looking out of the window.
I had to check in separately as the lads were grouped together under fake names. I was given my card key and escorted by a gorgeous Australian guy to my room. He showed me around the room and then stood by the door.
“Thank you,” I said and handed him a $20 noted.
I watched him walk back to the lift. I sighed, snapped out my dreamlike trance and went back to my room. The sofa was the first thing I laid my eyes on. I threw myself down on it just before my phone started to ring.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I heard the other end. “What room did your new boyfriend take you to?”
“1152,” I said and smiled. “I bet he’s nothing compared to you. But this sofa and my bed are looking pretty lonely.”
“Well, Paul's gone get Nandos; he’s getting you some too. So how about I come upstairs when he’s come back?”
“Sure, I don’t know if I’ll be awake, though.”
“I’ll come up and get your key now, shall I?”
“Yeah, then I can nap before food,” I said and yawned.
Within five minutes, Harry was knocking on my door. I opened the hotel room door only to be greeted by all five of them standing there. Harry took me into his arms as the others rushed past into my room. Harry looked into my eyes. He rubbed his nose against mine and whispered “I love you so much.” I responded with “I love you too.”
Paul dropped the food off at my room. I set the video camera up in the corner and recorded them chatting and eating. Yeah, okay, Paul would prefer it if I only recorded them while he was there but oh well.
“I can’t believe how overly tired I am,” Zayn said in his thick Bradford accent.
“I think if I went to bed now, I’d be restless for hours,” Louis said while casually wiping hot sauce on to Niall’s cheek.
“Thanks Louis,” Niall shrugged. “Char, you not going to eat with us?”
“I’m recording, I shouldn’t be in shot,” I said and nibbled on a few chips. “I shouldn’t be heard either, so stop talking to me.”
The boys chatted a bit more as they ate. Harry slid under the table at one point, without anymore noticing, and grabbed Zayn’s legs. It was all within camera shot and would make an excellent clip when we’d get back to England.
Over the course of the next few days, What Makes You Beautiful was released, they played a couple of gigs, they did signings at each gig, and they played a few more radio interviews. They were absolutely shattered night after night.
We started off in Cairns, played there, and then drove down to Townsville. A couple of days later, the boys were playing in Mackay shortly followed by Gladstone. Tonight, the boys were performing in Brisbane. The lads had a couple of days off after tonight’s show. This meant no more sleeping on the tour bus for any of us; we were going be sleeping in an actual bed again.
The show was being recorded in Brisbane and in Sydney. I was going to personally be filming some bits with my video camera. Harry and I were hanging out backstage as the swarm of screaming, teenage girls were released into the theatre. Harry’s fingers were making patterns up my back as I sat on an empty stage set box.
“Thank you for supporting me so much over the past 7 months,” Harry said, looking deep into my eyes. “I don’t know how you girls manage being apart from us for so long.”
“Hey, you have to survive without us,” I pointed out. “Anyway, I think my sanity has been maintained by having help from Nath, Jay, Max, Tom and Seev.”
“They are good guys. It seems so weird to think us lot never hung out with them after X Factor. We looked up to them during our year on the show. We all said ‘that’s the band we want to be like’.”
“But instead, you’ve become a manufactured band who can’t completely be themselves.”
“Why do you think we push the bromance stuff? Okay, we are a bit cosier with each other when management isn’t around, but we started off not doing anything. Now we attack each other while doing an interview. Or grab each other’s dicks.”
“I can't believe how much your management control you. It’s ridiculous,” I said, feeling a pain in my right hand.
I slammed my fist into the stage set box. Harry quickly grabbed my hand to look at it. It was fine after a couple of minutes. I left Harry to set up the video camera I had on me.
4Music had sent some of our film guys and their equipment over to film the two shows. As there was quite a big gap between the stage and the start of the crowds, I decided that would be a good place for me to film my bits. As there was about 20 minutes before the lads were due on, I went round the front of the crowd.
“Hey, girls,” I said as I approached a group of young girls with ‘1D’ written on their faces.
“Oh my god,” they said in their British accents. “It’s Charlotte. Can we have a picture?”
“Sure, yeah, but on one condition,” I offered.
“Anything,” the smallest of the group said.
“You record a little something for the boys.” I held up my video camera.
“Definitely,” they screamed.
So they took a few photos and got a few autographs off of me. It was my turn to get something. I flicked the video camera on and aimed it in their direction.
“So, girls, say hi, your names and where you come from, then give the boys a message,” I held my finger up so they didn’t speak yet. I turned to face the girls also in the front row further along. “I’ll be doing the same with you lot.”
The first row were very excited to be filmed. Especially the British girls. Of course, nearly all the girls on that front row knew who I was.
The boys’ performance was amazing. Harry kept winking at me. Or the camera. It was hard to tell. Louis, because it was being recorded, did stupid, hilarious dance moves. Niall smiled and acted cute a lot. Liam winked and grinned at all the girls in the front row. Zayn was quite quiet tonight. During the encore, I went backstage to find him. He was getting clothes ripped off of him and then another load of clothes pushed into his hands.
“What’s up Zayn,” I asked.
Zayn shook his head at me. I pulled my eyebrows together and nodded my head up. Zayn rolled his eyes, finished getting dressed and pulled me to a side which was free and quiet.
“Nothing like that is wrong,” Zayn reacted to my concerned expression. “I just don’t feel like talking today.”
“Alright,” I said and hugged him. “You know you can always talk to me if anything’s bothering you, right?”
Zayn nodded and walked back over to the 1D lads. I rushed to get in front of the stage before they came back on for What Makes you Beautiful. Harry and Liam continued to flirt with the crowd/cameras, Niall started to mess around more, while Louis flicked his gayness onto 90%. I did feel a bit concerned about Zayn.
“I think that was your best performance yet,” Paul chuckled as we collapsed on the tour bus.
“Thanks, Paul,” we chorused.
Harry sat down between me and Louis. He leant his body against me and his legs were across Louis’ lap. He was fussing around on his phone.
“Where’s Char, Haz,” Louis asked.
“She has to do some filming for work,” Harry answered, still on his phone.
I quickly glanced over to his screen. ‘Caroline Flack’ read the name at the top. I was confused. Why was Harry texting Caroline? I didn’t read what they were texting as it’s a pet peeve of mine.
“Can we go to a McDonalds or something,” I asked Paul.
“Yeah, I could do with some food,” Liam and Niall agreed.
Paul rolled his eyes and nodded. We pulled up at a McDonalds fifteen minutes later. I let everyone else get off the bus first. Before Harry could leave, I grabbed his arm by the elbow.
“Can I have a word,” I whispered. Harry nodded his head, confusion written all over his face. Louis was a bit hesitant to leave without Harry until Niall dragged him off.
“What’s up mate?” Harry asked, slapping me on the back.
“Why were you texting Caroline?” I asked bluntly.
“Did you read any of the messages?”
“No, but you two haven’t talked since you split up in January.”
“X Factor’s just started back up and she’s starting to miss me. She knows I love Charlotte so we’re just talking.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Harry. We know what you’re like.”
“I wouldn’t risk what I have with Charlotte. I love her way too much.”
“Good, you know Nathan and Max will be after you if you hurt her.”
“Yeah, that kind of scares me. Can I go get food?”
“Oh and Zayn, mate? Don’t mention any of the Caroline thing to anyone. I don’t particularly want to be judged by my best friends.”
“Only if you promise not to act on these texts. Just stay away from Caroline.”
“Fine,” Harry said and jumped off the bus.
The last thing I want is for Charlotte to be angry or heartbroken. Yeah, I know Charlotte’s older than me, but she feels like one of my sisters. If anyone hurt my sisters, I would seriously hurt them.
I was watching TV in my hotel room on the sofa. There were a bunch of knocks coming from the door. I paused Glee and walked over to the door. I yanked it open to see a group of young girls looking up at me; smiles plastered on their faces.
“Hi, can I help you,” I asked, confusion obvious on my face.
“Is Harry in your room?” Number 1 said.
“No, they’re not staying in this hotel,” I lied and smiled politely. “They’re staying in one the opposite end of the city centre. Did you not know?”
“Oh, we thought Harry would be staying with you,” number 2 said.
“We love Harry,” number 3 said.
“That’s nice,” I leant against the door frame. “Aren’t you going to go to the other hotel where they’re staying?”
“Well, you’re here and he loves you, so he’s obviously going to show up at some point,” number 1 piped up again.
“Sorry girls, he’s spending the night with the lads.”
“Can we come in then?” Number 4 finally spoke.
“Sorry, no. And I hate to do this but if you don’t want anything else, I’m going to have to call down to reception to have someone remove you.” My phone started ringing in my skirt. “Hello?”
“Hey, we’ve just arrived at the hotel,” Harry started. “Are you in your room?”
“Yeah, but there’s four girls waiting at the door of you.”
“Okay, I’ll bring the rest of the guys up and maybe they’ll follow them.”
“Yeah, just keep an eye on them for a while.”
“Okay, see you in a bit.” I hung up. “Looks like you’re in luck girls,” I said, turning towards the door. “All the boys are coming-”
There were several more at my door. A few of the girls, including number 1 and 4 were taking pictures and recording me. I quickly got my phone back out of my pocket and shut my hotel room door. I locked it, dialled Harry’s number and grabbed the room phone.
“Hello, Leanne speaking, how may I help?” Leanne on reception chimed.
“Hey, Char,” Harry sang into my other er.
“Hi Harry, hang on,” I said. “Leanne could you send security up to 568 please? There is a herd of teenage girls gathered outside my room.”
“Charlotte, what’s going...” Harry’s voice trailed away as I heard screams from outside my door and from Harry’s end of the line.
“They’re on their way,” Leanne said down the phone.
“I think the girls have moved on. Tell security to look for the One Direction lads,” I said and Leanne hung up.
About 20 minutes later, a bunch of knocks came at my door. I saw through the peep hole that the 1D lads wanted to get in. I wrenched the door open and shut it as soon as all five were in. I flicked the lock.
“That was mental,” Niall said and slid down the wall until his arse hit the floor.
“There were only four to start with,” I said.
Harry pulled me in for a long hug. My head fitted into his neck. I looked at Zayn. Sympathy flashed across his face, followed by anger. I was worried about him.
“So, what’s it going to take for you losers to let me spoil my girl in the bedroom,” Harry asked, taking my hand in his. He circled his thumb around my palm.
“A kiss,” Louis joked, pursing his lips.
“Hey, Harry, why don’t you ever spoil us in the bedroom,” Zayn asked, a smile appearing on his face the first time today.
“You lot aren’t girls, well you don’t have the body of one,” Harry replied.
“Fine, but if we’re bored later, we’re coming back to hang out,” Liam said.
They all left, kissing me on the cheek as they left. Harry locked the door and turned me around. He pushed me against it and kissed me. The kiss became more passionate. He lifted my legs and wrapped them around his waist. Carrying me to the bedroom, he whispered, “I don’t ever want to lose you.”
I woke up before any of the boys did. It was so nice at this time in the morning. How could they not be awake to see this? At around three in the morning, the boys came back into my room. They had crashed in the living area of my hotel room. I got showered and dressed as quickly and quietly as I could. I grabbed my laptop and my phone and headed downstairs. We’d been in Australia about a week now.
I put my laptop down at a table in the breakfast patio area outside. I grabbed a plate and helped myself to the buffet. I had scrambled eggs, a bagel and a spoonful of baked beans. I sat back down at the table. I switched my laptop on and ate some egg and bagel while it loaded.
I opened Mozilla Firefox and clicked on the Tumblr tab at the top. I had a bunch of questions people wanted answering. Firstly, I thought, I should really write a blog update. I hadn’t written one since the first day we arrived. Text. Click. Title. A week in Australia. Post. And I started to write. The last post was done very briefly in the airport. This meant that this post was going to be a complete update of the past week.
The boys came down from my hotel room at around 10 o’clock. They’d all managed to get showered and dressed. Well, I did open all the curtain as I was getting dressed just to make sure they didn’t stay in bed for too long. The breakfast bar was open until half 11. They all headed straight for it, apart from Harry who gave me a kiss before heading for the breakfast buffet. Their plates were piled high with egg, bacon, sausages, beans, mushrooms and toast. They had to make two trips as they needed drinks. I’d got my phone on record for my blog. My blog pretty much needed to be dedicated to the lads for the next three weeks. I propped my phone on the table where all of them were in shot.
I continued to write as they ate their breakfast. Because of this, I wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to them. I heard chairs moving around and scraping the floor within short periods of time. I just thought it was people moving around us or the boys getting more food; we all know what Niall’s like. I looked up a couple of times to Harry. I thought he had been sitting to the right of me. The first time I looked up, he was actually sitting between Niall and Zayn in front of me, whilst Louis was on my right.
I concentrated on my blog again, trying to remember every little quirky, typical thing the boys had done in the past week. At that precise moment, I was completely unaware that the boys were moving seats every 30 seconds or so. I looked up again and Niall was sitting in Harry’s seat, Liam was in Louis’, Harry in Niall’s, Louis in Zayn’s and Zayn was in Liam’s. I got confused because I didn’t think they were sitting in those places before. This continued a couple more times with the boys only making subtle changes.
“Are you lot changing places?” I asked when I looked up and Harry was sitting next to me.
“It took you long enough!” Niall said, still eating brunch.
“And you were recording it,” Harry laughed and kissed me on the cheek.
I picked my phone up and stopped recording.
“Well, that’s something to put on YouTube and my blog later,” I said and slid my phone into my pocket. “When I can be arsed.”
“I’m so thankful we get the day off today,” Zayn said, stretching in his chair.
“Don’t you have to do a Livestream or Ustream session later?”
“Yeah, but the UK’s 10 hours behind so that won’t be until like 10 o’clock tonight,” Louis said. “Hang on, what time is it here if it’s 11 o’clock at home?”
We all pretty much facepalmed ourselves. Louis was the eldest of the group, but that did not mean he was the smartest. Daddy Directioner, Liam, patted him on the back.
“What’s 11 plus 10?” Liam asked.
“Erm, nine o’clock isn’t it?” Everybody cheers. “Shut up,” Louis laughed.
“Well, as my laptop’s on, did you lot want to do a video to your fans? Well, I’ll be posting it on my blog.”
“Yeah, I miss our UK fans,” Harry said, taking my hand in his. “We never seem to spend any time there.”
“Tell me about it,” I accidentally let slip.
“Well, after this, we’re spending a few months in the UK. We can spend every day together to make up for not being there.”
“I like the sound of that,” I smiled.
Harry’s hands were on my neck. He started stroking my cheeks with his thumbs. He moved his face to mine so our noses were touching. Zayn and Louis were making gagging noises. Both Harry and I raised our eyebrows at them. They didn’t stop. Harry quickly kissed me.
“So, that video to our fans,” Liam said and grabbed my laptop.
“Last night of the Australian tour, guys,” I said to the boys backstage while they were having makeup and their hair done. “What are your thoughts?”
“I don’t want it to end,” Liam said. “As much as I want to go home, see the turtles, see my friends and family and especially Danielle, I love going out and making people happy every night.”
“Yeah,” Louis said in the seat next to him. “Just the fact we can stand there and hear the words to our songs being sang back to us; it always sends shivers up my spine.”
“What would you say has been your best moment on this tour?” I asked, looking at Niall.
“Mine would have to be the night where we had to run through the hotel in Brisbane to get away from fans,” Niall laughed. “That was fun.”
“They were mental,” Harry said, looking directly at me. “I still can’t believe they went to your room to find us.”
“Zayn, what are you looking forward to most about going home,” I asked.
Zayn was sat at the back of the room on the sofa. He was running his hand, soothingly, up and down the arm of the sofa. He had been quite quiet since Brisbane. “Getting back to my own bed and not having to sleep on a tour bus bunk for the majority of nights,” he said. The rest of the boys laughed and agreed. “I also miss chilling out and seeing my family.”
All of a sudden, the stereo speakers in their dressing room started to blast What Makes You Beautiful. The boys burst out laughing. It wasn’t the normal version of the song; it was the sped up version. I looked over at Harry and he was holding my iPod. This sent me into a new fit of giggles. He looked quite confused really.
I rushed over to the iPod and put Na Na Na on. I started singing it at this speed to Harry. The boys started to clap along. Once the chorus was reached about 30 seconds in, I started to mini rave. I pulled Zayn out of the seat and got him to join in. The song was on for less than two minutes. As soon as it had finished, Zayn sat back down. He went back to routinely stroking the sofa.
“Are you sure you’re okay,” I asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa which stopped him from caressing it.
“Yeah, don’t worry,” Zayn said, looking up at me. I put my hand on his arm and squeezed; letting him know I was there for him.
“Remember, guys,” I said. “You are being recorded again tonight. Hence, the interview that we have stopped doing because of Harry.”
“Why because of me?” Harry asked, voice becoming high-pitched.
“Because you plugged my iPod in and started playing stupid songs.”
“Our songs aren’t stupid!”
“The sped up versions are ridiculous.”
“Well, yeah, where the hell did you get that from?”
“Found it online. There’s a bunch of them on there. I really like Up All Night and Moments sped up.”
“You spend way too much time on YouTube,” Harry said, wrapping his arm around me.
“Put me down, douchebag,” I joked. This caused him to start ruffling my hair. I reached out to ruffle his hair but he grabbed both of my hands.
“If you touch his hair,” their hair stylist, Guy, said while styling Louis’ hair, “I will have to kill you, Charlotte.”
“What if I accidentally ran my hands through it?” I started to inch my hand closer to Harry’s head.
“I wouldn’t,” Guy warned.
My hand crept closer. Guy raised his eyebrows and shook his head. I touched a couple of curls at the front. Guy jerked in my direction. I ran out of the room as quickly as my legs could take me.
“Char,” Zayn called. “He’s not going to get you.”
I stuck my head around the door. Sure enough, Guy was still fussing with Louis’ hair. I took my seat again behind my camera. I continued on with the interview. At 9:15pm, the lads were called to go on stage. Even from their dressing room, I could hear the girls screaming.
I decided that tonight I was just going to hang out in the dressing room. All the boys had left their phones in the dressing room as they weren’t allowed them on stage. Zayn’s started ringing. I looked around me, making sure no one was around, and then headed for the phone on the sofa. I picked it up and looked at the screen.
“Gabby?” I asked myself, trying to remember Zayn mentioning a Gabby to me ever. “Who’s Gabby?”
My thumb was hovering over the answer call button. I couldn’t answer, could I? Zayn hates it when Harry answers my phone without me knowing. How could I do it to him? But I did really want to know who this Gabby girl was. The ringing had gone off four times; there was only another four left before it went to voicemail. Ring ring. Charlotte, don’t do it. Ring ring. Charlotte, you dare answer that, you’ll have to answer to Zayn. Ring ring. And he’s like a big brother; he scares you when he gets pissed off. Ring-
“Er, hi,” a girl answered down the phone. “Is Zayn there?”
“Erm, no he’s not at the moment, sorry,” I replied. She sounded American, not sure where about from but not from the South. “He’s just gone to go on stage.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll call him in a couple of hours,” Gabby said, sighing slightly down the phone.
“Okay, who is this, by the way?”
“My name’s Gabriela but I prefer Gabby. I met Zayn when One Direction were shooting for Up All Night, a few months ago.”
“Oh, right, it’s just, not meaning to sound like bitchy or anything, but he’s never mentioned you.”
“Yeah, I kind of asked him not to,” Gabby said, sounding distracted down the phone. “Erm, but anyway, can you just say I called and wanted to say sorry?”
“Just say I’m sorry,” Gabby insisted.
Oh no, she wasn’t going to get away that easy. Yeah, Zayn treated me like a little sister but I treated him like a little brother at times.
“Right, I’m going to be completely honest with you, Gabby. Zayn is like a little brother to me. By the way, this is Charlotte, Harry’s girlfriend. And he’s been a bit distracted lately and not himself. Are you anything to do with that?”
“Erm, yeah, I’m sorry. He told me he was fine. We’d been seeing each other for a bit and then just before he left for Australia, we got into a bit of a ... disagreement. I won’t go into it. Can you just tell him I’m sorry and I want to talk to him?”
“Yeah, sure. If you ever want to talk, DM me on Twitter and I’ll give you my number,” I offered. She seemed like a nice girl. I wanted Zayn to be with a nice girl.
“Thanks, see ya,” Gabby said and hung the phone up before I could say bye.
I put Zayn’s phone back on the sofa after locking it. I looked around the dressing room. How could Zayn not tell me about something like this? We always shared stuff. Okay, fair enough, I haven’t told him about the kiss with Olly, but I told him everything else. He knows about everything that’s happened between me and Nathan.
The boys were finished by half 10. Their assistant came into the dressing room at 10 to collect all their stuff. Once the concert finishes, they have to sprint to the back of the arena to climb into a van to get them out so their fans don’t bombard them. I didn’t have to worry about this. I could leave whenever I wanted. Just after half 10, I saw the boys rush past their dressing room, Harry stopping for a second.
“Has everything been collected?” Harry asked, darting his eyes around the room.
“Yeah, now go!” I yelled, pretending to push him from across the room. “I’ll see you later.”
Harry winked at me before running off. I smiled to myself, thinking how much of a flirt he can be. I received a text around ten minutes later. All the boys were in the van and heading to the hotel. I picked up my camera and microphone case and carried it towards the stage and seating area. The two camera guys were still there from recording, waiting for me to arrive.
“You got the footage?” Neil (camera guy number one) asked.
“Yeah, are you going to take this camera back with you?” I asked, handing the case over to them.
“Yeah, Lynette wants all the footage so she can put it all together by the time you next come in to work.”
“Wicked, right, so I’m going to go back to the hotel. I’ll see you back in England, yeah?”
“Yeah, Charlotte, see you back in the UK,” Neil said and hugged me. Cam (the other camera guy) hugged me too. I smiled at both of them, picked up my bag with my purse, hotel key and phone in and walked towards the front of the theatre.
I climbed into a taxi outside the theatre and made way back to the hotel. Sydney was beautiful. The taxi driver drove past Sydney Opera House. It was truly amazing. The only time I’d seen it was in Finding Nemo and that’s not really the same is it. I reached the hotel before 11. It was tough for the taxi to drive up to the front of the hotel as there were a couple of hundred girls standing on the path and street, blocking the road.
“Here’s fine, mate,” I said as the taxi driver was beeping at the girls to move.
“You sure? I can get through so you can get to the doors,” the taxi driver asked.
“Nah, I’ll go the back way. That way I’ll get through without being recognised too much, hopefully,” I laughed.
I handed a $10 to the driver and climbed out of the taxi. I kept my head down, looking at the pavement. I headed towards the back entrance of the hotel. I had roughly five metres left, I could do it. I made the mistake of running the last few metres out of view. A couple of girls’ heads turned and saw me running. There were screams and my feet took me faster along the side of the hotel and round the back. I grabbed a hold of the door handle, swung the door open, raced inside and slammed it shut. I found myself facing two guys from security.
“I’m actually staying here,” I panted. “Honestly, my name’s Charlotte Bailey, here’s the key to my room.” I put my hand into my bag and fussed around, looking for the key. Finding it and pulling it out, I showed security the key. They relaxed their stern looking faces into a smile.
“We know who you are, darling,” one of them said.
“We were just playing,” the other added.
I sighed and headed towards the stairs just behind them. I could hear them chuckle as I walked out of sight. I didn’t head to my room first; I went straight to Zayn and Liam’s room. I knocked on the door a couple of times before Liam answered.
“Hey, is Zayn in here?” I asked, walking past Liam and into their room.
Zayn was sitting on his bed. He had his laptop on his lap and was playing Angry Birds on Facebook. I walked over to him, took his laptop away and closed it. I sat down in front of him, crossing my legs and staring at him.
“Erm, should I leave?” Liam asked, still standing by the door.
“Could you?” I asked, smiling weakly.
Liam looked from me to Zayn and then back to me, smiling and nodding his head at me. He left, taking the hotel key with him to get back in later. I turned back to Zayn.
“Gabby called your phone just after you went on stage,” I said, fussing with the laces on my shoes.
“What?” Zayn asked, anger starting to be present on his face.
“I’m sorry, but it rang a couple of times. I thought it was someone from like your family or something,” I rushed.
“Char, it’s okay. I’m glad someone found out about her now, actually,” Zayn said, holding my hands.
“Who is she? I mean, she said to me to say to you that she was sorry and she wants to talk to you.”
“She’s this girl I met when we were filming Up All Night. She actually played the girl who Harry was getting on in the video. We hit off and I like her, Char,” Zayn had a smile spread across his face.
*Back in April, filming Up All Night*
‘Please let her be the girl I’m with in the video,’ I was thinking in my head.
We were at our Up All Night video shoot. There were five girls lined up next to us. We would all have one that would represent the girl we wanted to ‘stay up all night’ with. There was this one girl with long dark brown hair and really dark, bambi looking eyes that were completely mesmerising. I wanted to have her as my girl. Nope, that wasn’t going to happen. She ended up with Harry.
“Hey, Harry,” I called when we were told there was enough time to have lunch. “Who’s the girl you’re with?”
“Well, you know Charlotte,” Harry joked.
“I’m being serious.” I nodded in the direction of the girl. “Who is she?”
“Her name’s Gabby. She’s just moved here from New York.”
“Well, hands off because she’s mine for today.”
“As you said, you have Charlotte!”
“Ha-ha, do you want introducing?”
“Nah, I’ll go over myself in a minute. I need a mirror first.”
“Mate, you look fine. She’s really nice and loveable. Just go and talk to her,” Harry slapped me on the back and pushed me in her direction.
I never get nervous talking to girls. Though, to be fair, lately I only ever talk to girls over Twitter. I walked slowly over to where Gabby was standing. I could hear her talking to a couple of the other girls. Her accent was amazing. I love a girl with an American accent. The girls looked up at me as I stood next to them.
“Hey,” I said, more nervous than getting on stage to sing to people. “I’m Zayn.”
“Hey, I’m Nikki,” said a short, slim, blonde girl. She had a London accent.
“Hey, I’m Vicki,” said a tall redhead.
Gabby held her hand out to shake mine. I completely forgot every human thing to do and made a fool of myself. I looked at her hand and then looked at mine. I looked back to her and went to take her hand, accidentally punching her in the stomach. I didn’t know what to say. I was completely humiliated. I could hear Harry laughing the other side of the set.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologised, putting my hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” she laughed off. “It didn’t hurt.”
“No, we should have that looked at.”
“Zayn,” she giggled. “It’s totally fine. Shall we try that again?”
“Okay, well, I’m Zayn,” I said, holding my hand out.
“I’m Gabby,” she said as she shook my hand. “You did it right this time!” She laughed again.
“That’s what she said!” Harry shouted from across set.
I threw him a death stare. He burst into a fit of laughter.
“Sorry about him, he’s a dick at times,” I said, still holding Gabby’s hand.
“He seemed alright during the shoot,” she didn’t break eye contact.
“Gabby, we’re going to get food,” Vicki said. “Are you coming?”
“I’ll be there in a second,” she said, breaking eye contact and looking at Vicki and Nikki. “I think I’m going to stay here for a bit.”
“Okay, have fun,” they both said and smiled.
“So, Gabby, you’re not from London are you?” I asked, sitting down on the white sofa on set.
“Nope,” she said, sitting down next to me. “I’m from New York. I’ve just moved into an apartment with Nikki and another girl called Ashley.”
“So you moved to another country and you’re how old?”
“18, nearly 19; I graduated high school last year.”
“Wow.” I was just blown away by her. We talked for the rest of the 45 minutes we had for lunch. Not only was she stunning, she was so fun to hang out with.
We carried on filming after lunch. Any time we had a break or they needed to focus on one of the other boys, I was chatting and hanging out with Gabby. It was about 10 in the evening when we had another break.
“Hey, Gabby,” I asked, walking over to where her and Harry were. “Could I have your number?”
“Erm, yeah, sure,” Gabby said, leaving Harry and I to get her phone from her bag. She returned quickly. “Here, put your number in and I’ll call you.”
I dialled my number into her phone, double checking it to make sure I hadn’t mucked up anywhere. Nope, it was my number in her phone. I smiled and gave her phone back. Harry was looking intently at his phone.
“What’s up, mate?” I asked, rubbing his shoulder.
“Have you seen what’s on Twitter?” Harry asked, showing me his phone screen.
“What?” I laughed, taking his phone off of him.
On the screen, there were pictures of Charlotte walking along the street or something in just her underwear. I looked through more. Yes, she was definitely in just her underwear.
“Why?” I asked Harry, handing his phone back to him.
“I don’t know. Do I call her and ask her?” Harry asked.
“Leave it until you see her tomorrow. You don’t wanna piss her off before she goes to bed.”
“Yeah, cheers Zayn,” he said and walked away.
I turned back to Gabby but our time was cut short as we had to start filming the last bit for the video. We didn’t actually finish filming until 3 in the morning. We were all shattered and quite glad that we were driven home. Before I got in the minivan with the lads, I dragged Gabby over to a corner.
“Do you fancy hanging out sometime?” I asked.
“Yeah, you have my number so just call or text and I’ll let you know if I'm free then,” she said, sweeping her hair to one side.
“Sure, I’ll see you soon,” I said, leaning down slightly to kiss her on the cheek.
Gabby blushed and smiled. She was adorable. I said goodbye again and walked off. I looked back a couple of times. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. There was something she had that no other girl I’d met had.
*After the group holiday*
“Right, I know this is last minute,” I started to explain; walking into Gabby’s flat she shared with the girls. “But you’re going to need to pack some stuff and get your passport. You’re coming to LA with me for a week.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Gabby asked. “I can’t just drop everything.”
“Have you got any jobs going at the moment?”
“Well, no but I can’t just jump onto the first plane that you want me to get on.”
“You’re having Harry’s place. He’s staying in Ibiza for another day.”
“I’ll come to LA with you on one condition,” Gabby offered, smiling at me.
“What? I’ll do anything to get you to start packing. We’ll have to leave in about an hour.”
“Get packing then,” she said.
I was so happy. She was coming to LA. Yeah, she was only going to spend a week there before she was supposed to go home for a couple of weeks. But she was still coming away with me. I picked her up by the waist and kissed her. I carried her into her room. Her suitcase was already open with a couple of things in it.
“You knew I was coming over, didn’t you?” I asked, lightly shoving her.
“No, I was starting to chuck stuff in for when I go to my parents,” she explained.
Gabby started to chuck clothes into her suitcase. I awkwardly sat on her desk and looked around her room. I’d only been in there a couple of times. We tended to hang out at my flat because there was no one else to disturb. She had a keyboard leant against the side of her wardrobe with the stand behind it. There was an acoustic guitar resting on her bed with sheets of paper surrounding it. I pushed myself off her desk and walked over to the bed, trying to read the bits of paper.
“No,” she said, not looking up from packing. “They’re not ready for other eyes yet.”
“What are they?” I asked, backing away from the bed, hands in the air. “Songs?”
“No, they’re cake recipes. Of course they’re songs. But as I said, they’re not ready for other people to be reading yet.”
“Go on, let me see one. You get to pick. I just want to hear your stuff. You only sing when I’m around, I’ve never heard you play.”
“That’s because you’re lame and don’t have instruments in your apartment.”
“Apartment if you’re where I come from,” she finally looked up from her suitcase. I stuck my bottom lip out and tilted my head forward slightly, giving her the puppy dog look. She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Fine, I’ll play you one song. But you have to promise that you’ll look away, do the rest of my packing while I’m playing and that you will not repeat another word or note of it.”
She started strumming the guitar. Playing chords that went perfectly together. Then she started singing. I could listen to her voice all day but before I knew it, the song had finished and she was putting her guitar back in its case.
“No, don’t stop,” I begged.
“I did tell you that it was only one song,” she winked, brushing her hair back with her fingertips.
“Fine, you’re not allowed into the studio this week while we record.”
“That’s fine with me, I get to spend time on the beach and walking around LA,” she teased.
We finished packing everything and rushed down to the bottom of her flats to get in the taxi waiting for us. We arrived at the airport. I had to leave her at this point. I didn’t want all the paps to start photographing us together. It wasn’t fair to shove her into this light yet; especially as she wanted a career in the acting world. I didn’t want to jeopardise it by having her being judged on her relationship with me than her pure, natural talent. She climbed out of the taxi first and made her way into Heathrow. The taxi driver took me round again, letting me get out and make my way into the airport ten minutes later.
*After returning from LA*
“Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a while. Just wondering if we could meet up this week? I’m only back for a couple of weeks before we head off to Australia for another tour. Call me back, yeah? Bye.”
I was starting to get worried. Gabby hadn’t text or called me since a couple of days after she went to New York. I knew she was supposed to be getting back to London roughly the same time as us, give or take a day. I was back at my flat and was unpacking my stuff. It was late when we got back. I knew Harry was off to surprise Charlotte. He was ridiculously in love with her. Something I plan to be like with Gabby. I was trying not to be yet.
With Gabby, we’re really good friends and when we meet up we kiss and stuff, but we’ve decided not to be an official couple. I felt so guilty about sleeping with that girl the first night in Ibiza that I called her up that day and told her. I could tell she was a bit jealous but when she realised that I completely regretted it, she was a bit more forgiving.
I didn’t get a call back before four that morning. I decided to call it a day and try to go to bed, even if it was only eight o’clock in my head. I didn’t exactly get a good night’s sleep.
I could hear my Blackberry going off in the distance. By the time I realised it was my phone, it had stopped ringing. I couldn’t remember where I’d put it before going to bed that morning. With my eyes feeling dry and crispy, I searched around my bed, looking for my phone. It started to ring again. I headed for the sound and found it underneath my bed.
“Hello,” I asked, answering my phone without looking at the screen.
“Hey, sorry,” Gabby’s voice came down the phone.
“Hey, I haven’t heard from you in over a week. How are you?”
“Zayn,” she said. She sounded serious. I knew something was up. “Look, I’m really sorry Zayn. I’m not coming back to London.”
“Well, I’m coming back for a couple of weeks but I’m moving back to New York. I auditioned for a part the day I got here and they called a couple of days ago to say I’d got the part. I’m really sorry.”
“How long is the part you got?”
“Well, I think they said that filming would be ten months on and off.”
“Would you consider moving back to London after you finished filming?”
“If I didn’t get another job offer in New York or the rest of America, then yeah, I’d consider moving back.”
“What if I said I needed you here?”
“You’re going off to Australia for three weeks.”
“After that we’re in the UK for a few months doing stuff for X Factor and we’ve got our new album and single to promote. Then we’ve got our arena tour in March so we’re here for that.”
“Zayn, don’t make me feel bad. Anyway, it’s not like we’re together. I can just pack up and leave.”
“But Gabby, I don’t want you to. I want to be with you,” I let out.
There was silence down the phone. I couldn’t even hear her breathing.
“Zayn, this is a really good job for me.”
“I realise and I’m happy for you. I just don’t want to let you go.”
“Zayn, stop making this hard for me. We’ll talk when I get back tomorrow. I’ll come straight to yours if you want?”
“Yeah, I’ll get some food in.”
“I’m not staying,” Gabby apologetically said down the phone.
*Just before the Brisbane show*
“Hey, Gabby,” I said, answering my phone as soon as I saw she was calling. “What’s up?”
I heard her softly crying. She held the phone away from her slightly, hoping I couldn’t hear.
“Gabby? What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. “Gabby, something’s wrong. What’s wrong? I’m free for you to talk as much as you want.”
“I’m pregnant,” she cried down the phone.
“She’s what?” I asked, gobsmacked that Zayn had a girlfriend that I had no clue about. Oh and she is carrying his child.
Zayn stopped speaking. He wasn’t looking me in the eye. His head was facing his lap. He had a shower as soon as he got back to the hotel so his fringe was in front of his face. I noticed a couple of tears drop onto his hands in his lap. I’ve never seen Zayn like this. I’ve seen him angry crying, but I’ve never seen him sad crying.
“Zayn, I didn’t mean to be judgmental or anything,” I moved so I was sitting next to him. I wrapped my arm around him, trying to comfort him. “I’m sorry. I was just shocked you managed to keep this from me or anyone for this long.”
“She had an abortion,” Zayn cried.
I took a sharp breath in. What do I do in a situation like this? I haven’t ever had a friend go through something like this before. Well, not a guy friend.
“She talked to me about it first,” Zayn explained, wiping the tears away from his eyes. “I said I was happy with whatever she chose. I have to be. If she had a baby now, both of our careers would be fucked up.”
“Well, let’s be fair, your career wouldn’t be fucked up,” it came across a bit harsher than I intended. “Everybody would love you more because you’d be papped with a baby. And who can resist a guy with a baby?”
“I can’t believe she had an abortion,” Zayn held his head in his hands.
“You should’ve said something to her. If you wanted her to have the baby, you should have said,” I squeezed him in my arms.
“I couldn’t do that to her. Honestly, Char, imagine if you wanted to have an acting career and you had a baby at 19, you would get hardly anywhere.”
“You need to call her,” I said, reaching for his phone on the bedside table.
Zayn took the phone out of my hand. I gave him one last hug and he kissed my head. I left him to make his phone call to Gabby. I made my way to Harry’s room. I wasn’t completely with it; my thoughts still on Zayn and how torn up he was about the abortion. Harry could see instantly that something was up. He took me in his arms and held me.
“Can I go back to my room now,” Liam asked, hand on my shoulder.
“Nah, I would leave it for a while,” I said, resting my head against Harry’s chest.
Harry kissed the top of my head, rubbing my back. He suggested we head to my room. I agreed, saying goodnight to Liam, Louis and Niall. Harry opened my hotel room for me, letting both of us in and locking the door. I dropped my bag to the floor and took my top and jeans off, changing into my pyjama top and some pyjama shorts. I crawled into bed and crashed. I felt Harry’s arms wrap themselves around me as I drifted off.
Waking up the next morning was a breeze. I slept from about one that morning through to midday. Harry was already awake and watching tele with Louis. I rolled out of bed and crawled into the living area. I sat on the floor between Harry’s legs, running my fingertips up and down them.
“Char,” Louis asked. “Do you know why Zayn left to fly to LA this morning?”
“Where’s he going after LA?” I asked, staring at a spot on the floor.
“Can’t say,” I said, turning to shrug my shoulders at Louis.
“Why not?” Harry asked, turning the TV down.
“Not my place to say, sorry,” I apologised.
Harry and Louis grabbed my arms and pulled me into the spot between them on the sofa. They both sat facing me, staring as if I was going to explain myself. I rolled my eyes and stared at the TV. Harry and Louis leant in towards me.
“What do we have to do for you to tell us?” Harry whispered into my ear.
“I am not saying a thing,” I said, smiling to myself. “If Zayn wants to tell you, he will.”
“But you’re not good at keeping secrets,” Louis said, his face almost touching my face. “I bet we can make you squeal before Niall comes up from lunch!”
“I bet before Liam comes up from lunch,” Harry said, leaning to the side so he could see Louis.
“Harry, just warning you now, if you tease me at all, you will receive nothing until after X Factor,” I casually threatened.
“Sorry, Lou, I’m out,” Harry said, leaning back on the sofa and putting his hands up.
“Harry,” Louis groaned. “Don’t you want to find out what Zayn’s keeping secret?”
“Yeah, but I also like having sex with Charlotte.”
“Fine, Char, is it anything to do with the girl he’s been seeing?”
“He’s been seeing a girl?” Harry asked, eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
“Yeah,” Louis and I both said, turning to Harry.
“How did you not know?” Louis asked.
“I’ve never really seen him with the same girl,” Harry replied.
“To be honest, I never knew he’d been seeing a girl until he told me yesterday.” I looked at my nails.
“So, what’s this girl got on Zayn that he needs to go see her for?” Louis asked, grabbing my chin and making me face him.
“She’s pregnant, isn’t she!” Louis smiled. My face dropped for a split second before I was shook my head and smiled. “She got rid of it!”
“Louis, stop talking, now!” I growled.
It feels so good to be back home in the good old UK. The rain welcomed us home along with a couple hundred girls. Before the boys were let off to see some of the fans, I stopped Harry from walking. I grabbed my suitcase off the trolley and turned to him.
“I’ve got to go straight into the office,” I admitted, looking at the floor.
“Okay, well, I’ve got a week off,” Harry said, pulling me into him. He started to play with the strings on his hoody that I was wearing. “I am going to go see my parents and was wondering if you’d like to come up at the weekend. If you haven't got work, that is.”
“Yeah!” I answered a bit too enthusiastically. “I love your mum and sister.” Harry’s mouth dropped slightly. “I mean, sure I’d love to hang out with your family. They seem pretty cool.”
“Hang on, when have you hung out with my mum and sister? Like when I haven’t been there?”
“Ha-ha, um, they came down to see me a couple of times when you were away in America and when the Wanted lads were in Australia.” Harry gave me an unimpressed look. “Oh come on, you want me to not get on with them? They’re like your rocks.”
“As long as you don’t go stealing them from me.”
“Shut up, loser,” Harry teased.
“Poor comeback,” I laughed.
Harry pulled me in close to him. I instantly became breathless. I couldn’t understand how I’d been with him for seven months now and still get like this around him. He rubbed my nose against his nose for a minute or so and finally kissed the tip of it. He placed me back on my feet and kissed my forehead.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Stop fucking teasing me then,” I laughed, pushing him lightly.
“Fine,” he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss.
I couldn’t let go of him. I grabbed his top and the back of his neck, never wanting to be separated from him. I knew I was going to see him at the weekend but how long would I see him after that? Paul was the one to come and separate us. I said goodbye to Harry and headed off on a different route towards the exit.
Lynette had called me just before we got on the plane in Korea, on the way back from Australia. I made my way straight to the office with my suitcase and the feeling of not having a shower for a day and a half. In the taxi to the office, I shoved my hair into a messy bun, retouched my makeup and sprayed myself with deodorant and perfume. I arrived at the office at half 10. I headed straight for Lynette’s office. Jack was sitting at his desk outside her office.
“Hey, Jack,” I said, smiling at him. “Is Lynette in there?” I nodded to her door.
“Yeah, she’s with someone at the moment,” Jack said, not looking away from his computer screen.
“Alright, I’m going to be in my office. Could you buzz me when she’s free?”
“Sure,” Jack finally looked up from his screen. “Oh, morning Charlotte. I didn’t realise you were back today.”
“Yeah, Lynette called me about 15 hours ago to come in as soon as I got back to England. Do you have any idea what it’s about?”
“Yes, but I’m not allowed to say.”
“Go on, Jack. You know you’re my favourite person here, don’t you?”
“Charlotte, I am not saying anything. I could lose my job.” I stuck my bottom lip out to tempt him into telling me. “I’ll buzz you when she’s free,” Jack snarled, turning back to his computer screen.
I huffed my way to my office. It wasn’t very big. It was enough though. I could fit a desk and a sofa in the room. That’s all I needed, right? I rushed my suitcase into the corner of my office and lay down on the sofa. I refused my body to sink into the sofa because I knew I’d be asleep within a minute or so. Luckily, Jack buzzed me just as I was about to drop off. I slapped myself lightly to wake myself up and made my way to Lynette’s office. The door was left ajar so I walked straight in. Lynette had lost some more weight since the meeting before Australia.
“You look nice,” I commented and sat down in the chair opposite her desk.
“Thank you,” Lynette said, turning on the spot away from her filing cabinet. “Anyway, I heard some news that we need to get out as soon as possible. But first, I want you to confirm it.”
“What could I possibly know?” I asked, confusion and panic starting to set in. Please don’t be about Zayn and Gabby, I thought to myself. “I’ve been out of the country for three weeks.”
“Is it true that Zayn has got a girl pregnant?”
“Where did you hear that?”
“No,” I lied, maintaining normal eye contact and trying to keep my heart rate near normal. “Where did you hear that?”
“We have got someone who has got in contact with us with scan pictures.”
“Well, I’ve talked to Zayn a lot over the past three weeks and he hasn’t told me anything about having a girlfriend. So, I don’t know what this girl is bullshitting about,” I calmly argued.
“Charlotte, I know you know something. We have proof that Zayn got this girl pregnant. She has baby scans.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. When did this girl supposedly sleep with Zayn?”
“Zayn slept with this girl while you were all away in Ibiza.”
“He didn’t sleep with anyone while we were away,” I defended. I don’t remember seeing a girl with Zayn while we were on holiday.
“Why didn’t he sleep with anyone while you were on holiday? He’s a single, young lad. He is free to have sex with whoever he wants.”
“Lynette, I’m telling you, this girl is lying,” I snarled. The point was obviously not getting into her head.
“I know you’re lying about Zayn, Charlotte. If you don’t tell me the truth then I am willing to let you go.”
“There’s no need,” I threw the chair back as I stood up. “I quit.”
“You quit your job?” Nathan asked as I walked into the flat.
“How did you find out so quickly?” I asked, heading straight for the kitchen. I filled the kettle and flicked it on.
“Well, there was a tweet about it from 4Music,” Nathan admitted, pulling two mugs out of the cupboard and placing a teabag in each.
I rested my elbows on the kitchen counter and put my hands over my face. I did a half yell/half scream into my palms. I slammed one of my fists into the draining board which caused me to clutch it in pain. Nathan saw how upset and angry I was and just held me in a hug. The kettle finished boiling but neither of us moved out of the hug to sort the tea out. Nathan gave the best hugs. He started to stoke my hair out of comfort.
“Why did they have to be such douchebags in the end?” I was almost in tears from anger.
“None of us knew they were only hiring you for your contacts,” Nathan soothed me. “Look, why don’t you go and lay down in your room and I’ll bring your cup of tea through, yeah?”
I nodded, my head still resting on Nathan’s shoulder. He stepped away from me and lifted my chin to face him. He pulled a stupid face which made me smile. My anger started to ebb away slightly.
“By the way, welcome home,” he winked and ruffled my hair.
“Thanks, maggot,” I teased and went to my room, grabbing my suitcase from the hall.
As soon as I could, I jumped onto my bed. It smelt clean and felt soft. I could feel my eyelids dropping. ‘I’ll only close my eyes for a minute while Nathan sorts the tea out’ I said to myself. I woke up next to a sleeping Nathan and a cold cup of tea on the side. How could Nathan fall asleep during the middle of the day when he’d been in this time zone for the last few weeks? I looked at my stereo speakers. 9:54pm. Oh. Fuck.
“Nath,” I shook him gently to wake him up. He grunted and opened his eyes. “Nath, how long have I been asleep?”
“For about,” he lifted himself up to look at my speakers. “You got home about half one. So not long after that.”
“Thank you for my tea, even though I didn’t drink it.”
“That’s okay; you’d been up for like two days hadn’t you?” Nathan stroked my face. I nodded. “Do you want food?”
“Depends on what you’re cooking me.”
“Cheeky bugger,” Nathan laughed and pushed me. “Will beans on toast do?”
“Cheesy beans on toast would be even better,” I hinted. Nathan hadn’t moved from next to me. He was still stroking my face. “Nath.” His thumb froze. “Go make me food.”
Nathan sat up and rushed to the kitchen. Jay came into my room. He sat down on the end of my bed and rested against the wall.
“Nath told me about you quitting your job,” Jay sheepishly said. “If you need a job back with us, we can try and sort one out.”
“Nah, Jay, honestly, I don’t think I want to go into that side for any career,” I admitted. “I have it as a social life. I don’t want it take up all my life.”
“Fair enough. Have you told Harry that you don’t work for 4Music anymore?”
“Not yet, I sent him a text to say I had some news. I should really tell Zayn first. I mean, he is the reason I quit.”
“Lynette asked me if Zayn had got a girl pregnant. I covered and said no but-”
“Hang on, it’s true he has got a girl pregnant?”
“Yeah, but he’s been seeing this girl for a few months now.”
“He’s seen her since our birthday holiday?”
“He met her months before our birthday holiday. Who are you talking about?”
“There’s a girl going to all the papers about being pregnant with Zayn’s kid. She slept with him the first night we were in Ibiza.”
“He actually slept with a girl on holiday?”
“This is news to you, obviously. Who has he actually got pregnant then?”
“A girl he’s been seeing since April. She’s moved back to New York but last I heard, she was getting rid of the baby. Oh god, I need to phone Zayn.” I pushed myself off the bed and hunted around for my phone. Realising I left it in the kitchen, I ran in and grabbed it off the side. I quickly searched for Zayn’s number through my contacts (saved as Vain Zayn).
Ringing. “Come on, Zayn,” I breathed, tapping my foot with impatience.
“Hello?” Zayn asked, sounding quite cheerful.
“Zayn, good, have you heard anything about anything?” I asked, realising I was acting really vague.
“What would anything be?” He laughed.
“Erm, did you sleep with a girl when we went to Ibiza?”
“Erm, yeah, the first night. Why?”
“She’s telling everyone she’s pregnant.”
“I don’t know; she apparently has scans but I don’t know if they’re real or yours or anything.”
“Right, well, Gabby and I are engaged,” Zayn announced.
I was shocked. I always thought Liam would be the first to get engaged.
“Congratulations,” I smiled down the phone. “And what happened about the ...”
“Baby? She couldn’t go through with the abortion. We are both coming back to London this week.”
“Oh my god, I call dibs on Godmother!” I nearly screamed down the phone.
Zayn laughed down the phone. “Sorry, babe, that’s already been taken by Harry.”
“Harry knows you’ve got the baby?” I asked. I hadn’t actually told anyone that Gabby was pregnant.
“Yeah, I told them all before you flew home. Didn’t they tell you?”
“No, the little buggers. They kept their mouths hushed about this for two days now. I am so going to kill them. I really wanted to talk to someone about it.”
“Well, I’m going to do a Liam in a bit and go on Twitcam to tell everyone my news. Although, I’m going to ring the boys and then my parents first. I’m going to be having a kid, Char.”
“Ha-ha, I’m so happy for you. I’ll let you call the boys and your parents.”
“Being a friend,” Zayn said. I could tell he was smiling. “I’ll see you later in the week.”
“Alright, oh, there was a reason as to why I was calling you. But I can’t remember.”
“I’m guessing you covering my back is why you no longer have a job at 4Music?”
“You’ve been on Twitter then?”
“Yeah, and you’re fans aren’t happy. They want you to be working back on 4Music. I even saw a few tweets saying they wanted you on other programmes, presenting them.”
“I don’t have fans. I have your fans that follow me. But they’re not my fans.”
“Okay, maybe they are our fans. But some of them are part of the Wanted’s fan base. They still want to see you on their TV screens. Anyway, I’m going to go. Thank you, Char,” Zayn repeated and hung up.
I had to see Twitter. While I ate my cheesy beans on toast, I read all my mentions on Twitter. A lot of the usernames had TW or 1D or even both in them. Wow, I had a new found love for these followers or fans or whatever they were to me. 4Music made it out that I was fired. I corrected this and told everyone that I left on the grounds that I was not comfortable with giving out personal information. After a few hours of reading and replying to tweets, I closed Twitter and breathed a sigh of relief. Zayn had tweeted about Gabby and him. I was no longer a secret keeper.
Zayn’s getting married and having a baby. Charlotte will be expecting me to propose soon then. Who would I have as my best man? It would have to be Louis. I have lived with him for the past two years. But Liam’s like our dad of the group. Harry snap out of it. You haven’t even had that talk with Charlotte.
Charlotte had texted me to say she had some news. I tried calling her back a few times but I guess she was sleeping. After leaving the airport, Louis and I headed for our flat. The press hung around for a bit outside the flat. Louis sorted his suitcase out before El came round to see him. She was in our flat for about five minutes before I left with my suitcase. Yes, I was taking all of my washing home for my mum to do. It was that or beg Charlotte to do it, which in the end, she would make me do it myself while she watched.
Before heading back to Holmes Chapel, I made a long detour. I knew I shouldn’t but Caroline had been texting me. Zayn caught me texting back at one point. She really wanted to meet up and chat. After a couple of weeks trying to persuade me, I agreed to meet her quickly before going to my parent’s place.
I’d pulled up at the back of her block of flats. I took the stairs to the second floor and knocked on her door. She answered wearing a flower patterned, short dress with thick, black tights. Why couldn’t she be wearing joggers and a top? She pulled me into her flat and hugged me. I pulled out of the hug after a couple of seconds.
“Thanks for coming round,” Caroline said, smiling at me.
“Yeah, I can’t stay for long,” I said, rubbing my hand on my chin. “It’s a long drive home.”
“You’re going home?” Caroline sat down on the sofa and indicated that I did the same. I perched on the arm of the armchair. “I thought you were coming on the show on Sunday?”
“Yeah, I’m driving me and Char back Sunday morning.”
“Are you on your way to pick her up?”
“No, she has work, so she’s getting the train up when she’s free.”
“She’s found another job?”
“What? She works at 4Music.” I was confused. That’s the only place she’s worked.
“They tweeted that she’d been let go. Did she not tell you?”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to ring Charlotte. That’s obviously the news she wanted to talk about. No answer. My guess was she was sleeping.
“I’m going to get going,” I said, turning my phone on silent for the drive home.
“Okay, I’ll see you Sunday, then.” Caroline smiled and raised herself off the sofa.
I was pulled into a hug again as she whispered “it was nice to see you again.” She planted a kiss just below my ear. Looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t stop her. I should’ve pushed her off me then and there.
Caroline kissed me on the lips.
That moment was the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life.
I was woken by a Jaybird shaking me awake. I punched out, hitting his thigh. He grabbed my wrist to refrain me from punching him again and shoved a phone into my hand. I’d spent a couple of days trying to get my sleeping pattern back to normal. I was supposed to be travelling to Cheshire today. My train was at 2:14pm. I looked at the screen on the phone. It was Jay’s phone. I squinted at him in confusion. Why was he giving me his phone? He was standing in front of me in just some black boxer briefs.
“Hello?” I asked down the phone. It was Harry making sure that I was awake and packing. He stayed up until ten with me last night to make sure I didn’t fall asleep early to be waking up at three in the morning or something. “Harry, I’m going to stay here. I want to spend some time with the boys. Is that alright?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be back on Saturday now. So can I come round then? Or you can come to mine,” Harry suggested.
There was something about talking to Harry that made me feel like the luckiest person in the world. It wasn’t long before I had to say goodbye. He was going out with his family for the day. Jay was waiting for his phone. I threw it back to him and went back to sleep. Not a long sleep though. I had a Tomax attack me.
“Get up, Titch,” Max shook me, rubbing my ear. I groaned and kicked them both to get them off my bed.
“I’m tired, you slags,” I laughed.
Max left the room leaving Tom and me to play fight on my bed. I won by pinning him down on the bed. After being told ‘you stink’ by Tom, I showered, coming back to my room with all the lads in it. Tom had my guitar out and was strumming away. After asking them to leave my room three times, I grabbed some underwear and shorts and went into Nathan’s room to get dressed. I had just pulled on my clothes when Jay knocked on the door and came in. I put some deodorant on and pulled on one of Nathan’s tops.
“I’d do you too,” Jay winked at me.
“Wicked, lock the door then,” I teased. Jay laughed and plonked himself on the bed. “What’s up, Jaybird?”
“What’s the real reason why you're not going to Harry’s?”
“I want to hang out with you lot, like I told Harry.”
“And the actual real reason?”
“That is the real reason, Jay.”
“Promise?” Jay asked. I nodded. “Good girl. Now, come and hang out with us.”
Jay ruffled my hair making the damp curls fall in front of my face. I pushed them all back. Man, I needed a haircut. I joined the lads back in my room. Nathan’s keyboard had migrated into there and they were starting to work on some new songs. I sat myself between Max and Siva. Max’s thumb and index finger found the top of my ear. I leant against him. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.
We were still sitting in Charlotte’s room, playing around with all the instruments in the flat and putting ideas together for new songs. Charlotte looked happy. She was curled up in Max’s arms. Max always wanted a little sister; I guess this was his way of fulfilling that hole.
I’ve heard Charlotte play the guitar, usually when she thinks we can’t hear her when watching TV. I think she has only learnt songs by us, One Direction, Jessie J, McFly and Busted. I’ve heard her play Wonderwall by Oasis and This Song Is About You by Olly, but not really much else.
“Anybody want tea?” Charlotte asked at one point. “And food?” We all put in our requests. “Pizza it is.” She didn’t move though. She grabbed Max’s phone from the bed behind them and opened the Domino’s app. 50 minutes later, our pizzas had arrived. We moved into the living room. This time, Charlotte had snuggled up to me.
Nathan had his arm around me. I felt safe, I felt comfortable. Nathan is pretty much my best friend. I would say brother, but after having kissed Nath a few times, I think that has been ruled out. I love all the boys though. They’re my new family. The boys were playing on the Xbox when Nathan pulled me closer to him. He kissed my temple and then moved his lips to my ear.
“You alright,” he whispered. I nodded, looking into my lap. “Do you wanna chat?” I nodded. Nathan pulled me off the sofa and walked me to his room. I sat down on his bed as he closed the door. He sat down next to me and I snuggled up to him again. “What’s up?” He asked, using his normal voice rather than a whisper.
“Nothing really,” I sighed. “Just feel a bit guilty that I’m not going to see Harry’s family. I just think that it’s his week off and he should spend time with them without me.”
“That’s fair enough. You seem really quiet today though, compared to the last couple of days.”
“I saw something in the paper yesterday that I still haven’t gotten my head around.” Nathan squeezed me. “It looks like an old photo anyway. But, it was just something about him going to Caroline Flack’s flat the day we got back from Australia.”
“I’m sure it’s an old picture.” Nathan rubbed his hand up and down my arm, comforting me. “He’s completely in love with you. He wouldn’t go back to her.”
“Can you explain the picture in the papers?” I asked Harry.
Charlotte was with Max, collecting Zayn and Gabby from the airport. Harry had come back from home and was surprising Char when she got back. Charlotte had cheered up a little bit since seeing those pictures. She wasn’t completely with it. I was covering for Harry. I don’t know why I was covering for him. I suppose I’d rather him tell her what’s going on than me turning her against him.
“Look, I went to Caroline’s for like ten minutes,” Harry replied. “I went in and out the back of her block of flats to make sure no one saw. Obviously that didn’t work.”
“Are you now using another way to get in?”
“No, Nathan, I haven’t seen her since.”
“What happened? Please tell me nothing happened.”
“Nothing happened but it’s not like I would tell you if anything happened anyway. You’d just go and tell Charlotte because you want her all to yourself.”
“We’re not having this argument again,” I spat, leaving the living room.
“Why not? I’m not drunk this time. This time I mean it,” Harry yelled down the hallway. “She loves me, Nathan. She doesn’t want you!”
“Harry, get out!” I threatened. “Get out of this flat. My flat. Our flat. Get out!”
“No, this is Charlotte’s flat too. I’m staying and talking about this until she gets back.”
“Well, you can wait for her outside, can’t you.” I grabbed him by the top and started to drag him along the hallway towards the front door.
“Oh, are you pissed because Charlotte doesn’t love you?” Harry sang. “Is it because I’m doing stuff with her that you could only ever imagine?”
I had a tighter grip on his top. I flung the door open, hearing it bang into the wall behind it. I threw Harry out into the corridor. I slammed the door shut behind him. I hooked the chain into place and walked into my bedroom. I let anger and frustration take over me. The keyboard was the first to crash to the floor. This was followed by a copy of the platinum edition of Glad You Came, a photo of me and Jess, my CD collection, with my hats being the last thing for me to push my fist through and knock them on the floor.
I’ve never been so angry before.
“Nathan?” I heard Charlotte’s voice yell through the flat. “Nathan, open this fucking door.”
I rushed to unhook the chain from the door. Charlotte pushed through with Harry on her tail. He slyly grinned at me behind Char.
“Sorry, Char,” I apologised, seeing how pissed off she looked.
“You chucked Harry out?” She asked, throwing her bag down. “You chucked Harry out of the flat when he has a right to be here when he’s waiting for me. What the hell were you thinking Nathan? What is your problem? I had a brilliant day but had to come home to my boyfriend waiting outside a locked flat. Why the fuck did you chuck him out?”
“I’m not getting into this. If you ask Harry, you can believe anything he says. That’s what’s going to happen anyway.” I grabbed my wallet, phone and keys from the side and walked straight out of the flat. I was heading for a pub and not coming back until I was drunk.
“Care to explain?” I faced Harry, staring him down until he gave in and explained what happened. I was not in a mood to be fucked with.
“Look, he started to get jealous,” Harry explained.
“That I’ve got you,” Harry smiled at me, making me weak at the knees.
“Harry, stop.” I pushed him away slightly so he was at arm’s length. “Why are there pictures of you going into Caroline’s flat?”
“I went to see her to tell her that I’m in love with you.” Harry stepped closer to me. “She kept bugging me so I went to hers before going to my parent’s and told her that I’m too in love with you to ever want anything to do with her again.” He kissed me.
“I promise.” Harry looked into my eyes. I pulled him back into me. “God, I missed you.” It was barely a whisper but I heard it. It put a smile on my face and brightened my mood a bit. “You don’t understand how much I wanted you back in my arms, in bed beside me.”
“I obviously don’t love you as much as you love me then,” I teased, biting his lip.
Harry smirked and kissed my neck. I knew exactly what game he was playing at so I kissed the spot under his ear which turns him from a horny teenager into the guy I’m in love with. It wasn’t long before he was carrying me off to my room.
Harry had gone back to his flat. Jay had come home by now. He’d been at the studio all day recording some bits for the new album. I really wanted to hear some bits off the new album but they were all quite adamant that I wasn’t allowed to listen to any of it. When Jay came home, I was laying in my underwear on my bed. I hadn’t really moved much since Harry left.
“Char,” Jay called out into the flat. “Nath?”
“It’s just me,” I yelled, still not moving from where I was laying. Jay strolled into my room, sitting in the beanbag.
“Where’s Nath?” Jay asked, looking like he was set to sit there for the rest of his life.
“Don’t know,” I huffed, remembering back to earlier on in the afternoon.
“What have you two been arguing about now? What small, unimportant thing? Did he leave a disc in its case wrong?”
“No, he kicked Harry out of the flat when I wasn’t here.” I folded my arms across my chest. Jay laughed and then realised I was genuinely pissed off so coughed to stop himself laughing more. “Apparently he kicked Harry out because he’s jealous that Harry’s got me and Nathan hasn’t. Nathan doesn’t even like me in that way anymore.”
We both heard the front door shoved open. I was first to jump up. Jay took a few seconds to roll out of the beanbag and get onto his feet. I poked my head out of my room to see Nathan on the floor, struggling with his shoes. He was wasted beyond repair. Tom was closing the door behind him. He looked down the hall to see me and Jay with our heads round my door.
“Sorry,” Tom apologised. “I tried to get him in without making too much noise.”
“Oh, look,” Nathan laughed on the floor. “Are you getting back at your boyfriend for cheating on you?”
“Nathan, shut up.” Tom kicked Nathan lightly. “Come on, mate, get up off the floor and get a drink of water.” Tom tried to help Nathan off the floor but Nathan sat there, still struggling to get his shoes off.
“Harry hasn’t cheated on me,” I said, coming to stand in the doorway.
“Oh, wait, no, you cheated on him. That’s right. He probably did cheat on you with Caroline. The sort of thing I could see him doing.”
“Nathan, shut up,” Jay and Tom said together. Both of them were helping Nathan with his shoes. “Did you fucking superglue these on?” Tom added.
“Nah, just leave them on. I’ll sort ‘em in the morning.” Nathan turned back to me. “So, let me guess. He came round to ‘see’ you, had a quick fuck and then left?”
“It wasn’t a quick fuck.” I stood my ground.
“He didn’t exactly stick around until the morning.”
“He’s got to be at the X Factor studios for some filming quite early tomorrow.”
“Is that the excuse he made? Filming with Caroline, is it?”
“Nathan, just go to bed.” I turned away from him, hurt that he’d sink that low just to get a dig at Harry.
“Char,” Nathan said using a different tone to the aggressive, insulting tone he was using before. “He just really annoys me. The way he treats you sometimes. He was a completely different person in front of me when I kicked him out of the flat.”
“Well, at least he keeps the ugly side of himself out of my view.” I turned around to face Nathan again. “With you, I see all of you, and sometimes it can get pretty ugly. I’d rather have someone hide part of himself from me so I only see the beauty than have someone reveal all of him to show how ugly he truly is. I’m on the verge of hating you, Nathan. And I don’t want to hate you.”
Nathan moved closer to me, putting his hands on my arms. Jay and Tom were standing at the sides of the hallway, trying not to move so they wouldn’t cause a distraction. I have to say, they were doing a good job. All my attention was on Nathan.
“I don’t want you to hate me.” Nathan lifted my chin so my eyes met his. “Apart from these losers,” his hand waved to Jay and Tom behind him. “You’re one of my best friends. I can come and talk to you about anything. Well, except slagging off your boyfriend. I have to go to Jay and Max and Tom and sometimes even Siva for that. But I can’t go to them when I want to talk about stupid things that we joke about. Like, who would I go to when I would stupidly fangirl about McFly?”
“Nathan, just go to bed, please?” I asked. “For me?” I added when he looked like he was going to argue another useless point. Nathan contemplated it for a bit and then nodded like a child. “Thank you,” I whispered, kissing him on the cheek.
Nathan held me in the hug for a while. He kissed my shoulder and then let go of me. I pushed him in the direction of his room. He drunkenly fell through his door to reveal a completely trashed room. All three of us (Tom, Jay and me) stood at his door, completely in shock. What the fuck had he done to his room? He didn’t care, obviously, as he found his bed and passed out on top of it.
I think I had a lot to drink last night. I vaguely remember Tom showing up at the bar and having a drink with me. Not sure how long we were there before he shoved me into a taxi and got me home. I think I remember talking to Charlotte when I got in. I was still in the clothes I went out in after having the argument with Charlotte. I still had my shoes on. It looked like I walked into my room and lay down on the bed to pass out. I pushed myself up, sitting on the end of my bed. Eurgh, I felt like I was going to be sick. Or pass out. More than likely it was a combination of the both.
I had my head in my hands, trying to control the nauseous feeling I had. There was a knock on the door so I looked up. This was when I noticed my room was clean and everything was back in its place. Charlotte was standing in my doorway, two mugs of tea in her hand. She pulled off a half smile. Shit, what did I say to her last night? She shook her head and handed me one of the mugs. She sat down on the bed next to me.
“Thanks,” I said. I bowed my head, making sure I didn’t make eye contact. I knew I said something she hated last night. I felt her kiss my cheek. I remembered some of last night. She kissed me on the cheek then. “I don’t deserve that.” She chuckled. “Honestly, I was a dick. You should be slapping my cheek rather than kissing it.” She made a quiet grunting noise and shrugged. “I’m sorry.”
“As long as you don’t be like that again,” she said, sipping her tea.
“I won’t, I promise,” I agreed and we drank our tea in silence.
“Alright, Nath,” Tom called from the kitchen.
The cheek of him. He had a perfectly good kitchen at home and there he was cooking and making a mess in my kitchen. I joined him, flicking his ear as I passed him to switch the kettle on. Jay was out of the flat again and Charlotte had gone to see the girls downstairs. It was just us in the flat. I didn’t realise Tom was here to be honest, and at one point, I was just casually walking around without any clothes on.
“You cooking all of us dinner, or just yourself?” I asked, hovering by the hob while he cooked.
“All of us,” Tom grinned.
“Good boy,” I rubbed his ear, imitating Max.
“Yeah, when Jay and Char get back, we’ll eat. It’s gonna take like a couple of hours in the oven anyway. Do you know where bird’s gone?”
“Pfft, I wasn’t conscious when he left. Back to the studio?” I made us both a cup of tea.
“I thought we always went to the studio together or at least with someone else. Unless Jayne’s doing this so we don’t distract each other and spend less money and time on pissing about.” Tom poured the contents of the saucepan into an oven-proof dish.
“Kelsey not coming for dinner then?”
“You were absolutely wankered last night, weren’t ya, Fly? Kels and I are, well, we’re kinda on a break. I told you all this last night. So, I was thinking, do you wanna do a bit of,” he changed his accent to a posh British accent. “Ye olde hair of the dog?” Slipping back to his normal, Bolton accent, he added, “you know, come out on the pull with me tonight?”
“Nah, mate. I am going to be recovering and watching X Factor. You shouldn’t go out on the pull anyway. Kels is a brilliant girl. Don’t let her go.”
“Says the one who is pushing his brilliant girl into the life of another guy.”
“She’s happy with him. I just want her to be happy. Kelsey’s happy with you. I’ve never known the two of you to ever be genuinely pissed off at one another. I want your relationship, mate. Not with Kels, but with Char. You don’t know how lucky you are.”
Tom looked at his feet. He knew I was right but didn’t want to admit it. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and went into Charlotte’s room. I heard him apologise to Kelsey and sort things out. How come when it came to other people’s love life, I could sort things out, but when it came to my own love life, I was completely useless? I regret not telling Charlotte how I felt about her when she came to the Birmingham date on our arena tour.
I should’ve told her that I was in love with her.
“You’re the biggest mug in the world right now, Nath,” I told myself.
I was in my happy place; in the arms of the guy I loved. Okay, in the arms of one of the guys I loved. Okay, one of my happy places. I was in a happy place with someone I love. Harry and I were sat on the sofa in his flat. I had my face resting on his lap and he was running his fingers through my hair as we watched The Hunger Games. We had the fun job of babysitting Lux while Paul and his wife were out for the evening. She was just starting to walk. She was on her feet, hands attached to the coffee table and stumbling around the edges. I was too busy watching her to pay attention to the Hunger Games. I have to give this kid credit, she’s better on her feet than Jay is. Louis was on his belly, pulling himself along after her. Louis had had a couple of beers to drink. This is why he was acting more childlike than normal.
“Lou,” Harry laughed. “When you’re babysitting, you’re supposed to act older than the kid you’re looking after.”
“Technically, you’re babysitting, so I can be a kid as much I like.” Louis stuck his tongue out and started pushing himself after Lux again. She was giggling as she was stumbling away from Louis.
After a couple of minutes, she went to sitting down anyway. I’d lifted my head off of Harry’s lap and slid onto the floor where she was playing with her toys. She crawled onto my lap. I could feel her slowly drifting off in my arms. She felt like she was becoming heavier with every few seconds that passed. I took her completely in my arms and carried her to Harry’s room. A cot was set up in there as she was spending the night with us. I tucked her in and left her favourite cuddly toy next to her. She’d fallen asleep by now and looked incredibly cute. I wanted to keep her.
This was the first proper time I’d looked after her. I’d helped on the odd occasion when backstage and Lux was with us. I loved this little girl. Just over a year old and she was probably the most popular baby on the planet. Every fan wanted to see her and say hello. Of course, for the safety of the baby, she had to be taken straight into any venue.
Harry came into the bedroom to find me sitting in his computer chair, looking over Lux.
I love seeing Char with Lux. Lux looks amazingly cute in Char’s arms whilst Char looks even more beautiful while cooing over Lux. I honestly hope one day, I can give her something like that. I’d love to be the one who raised a child with her. Of course, I’d prefer a little boy, just so I could teach him how to play football and take him out with the other guys. A little girl would be lovely too. She’d be spoilt rotten with outfits and anything she wanted.
“When do you think we’ll be having them?” I asked Char.
“Not for a while,” Char laughed, quietly. She put her hands on my chest and pushed me out of the room. Char checked on Lux for the last time and came out of the bedroom. “I want to be young and carefree for a bit longer before having the responsibility of raising a child.” She further explained.
“You’re completely all over her though.” I smiled at Char and kissed her lips.
Louis had left the flat by now and was going out with Liam and Niall. Zayn was with Gabby, sorting their flat out.
“When would you say you’d get married then?” I asked, not being subtle at all with my digging. “I’m not asking you to marry me, just wondering when you think you’d prefer to start settling down.”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Charlotte leant against the living room door frame. “Morally, I would say that I wouldn’t want to get married until I was like 24 or 25. But I think if I was asked, if I didn’t question it, I would say yes. It’s only if you question spending the rest of your life with a person that you should say no.”
“Well, for the moment, how about we do something that is frowned upon by unmarried couples?” I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me.
I started to kiss along her collarbone. She smiled, enjoying it. I slipped my fingers into the bits on her jeans where a belt would usually go and pulled her over to the sofa. She climbed on top of me as I sat down on the sofa. Char started to kiss from my shoulder, along my collarbone and up my neck to the spot under my ear. Char took my top off, sliding it over my head. Out of nowhere, we both heard Lux starting to cry. She’d only been asleep for about an hour and a half. I volunteered to see her.
Lux was standing in her cot, her eyes red and puffy from where she’d been crying. She absolutely took my heart away. I picked her up and held her against my chest, rocking her side to side to get her to stop crying. I kissed her head and assured her it was alright. Char came in after ten minutes to make sure she was okay. She quickly grabbed her phone from the living room and took a picture of Lux in my arms. I have to admit myself, I looked irresistible in that picture. Lux fell asleep after another five-ten minutes.
“Char, we’ve got to record some stuff for our album next week,” I confessed to Char. “We’re flying out to LA again to record these bits.”
“Again,” Char asked, closing the bedroom door behind her again. “You’ve only been back three weeks.”
“Yeah, apparently the label want us to do a couple more songs for the American album. I’m sorry. We’ll only be gone a week this time though. So you shouldn’t miss me as much.”
“Not like I miss you every time you step out to go to work, appear on a TV show, get on a plane or tour bus or anything.” She was getting a bit defensive. She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned away from me.
“It’s not my fault, is it? So, why don’t we go back to the living room and enjoy the time we have together. Remember, YOLO.”
“Seriously, you’re going to try and bring that back again? We had weeks of it when you and me first got together.”
“Fine, go and make me some food, woman,” I joked, pinching her arse. She turned around and playfully hit me in the arm.
“Make your own food,” she teased. “Make me some while you’re at it.”
I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her back towards me. I took her into the kitchen and placed her on top of the kitchen counter. Even if it was only a week that I was going away, I’d miss this girl like mad.
Harry and the rest of the 1D lads got back from LA late last night. I was asleep by the time they got back so didn’t go round. I thought they’d want to go to bed instead of seeing me. I left it until the day before I bothered them.
“Hey, Char,” Louis answered the flat phone to me.
“Hey, Lou, is Harry in?” I asked.
I was sat at home, completely bored. Nathan, Jay, Tom, Max and Siva were out at the studio, recording some bits for their next single and album. I was looking for something to do. The girls downstairs had jobs they were at so I couldn’t even hang out with them.
“Yeah, I think he’s in,” Louis said casually. “I don’t know if he’s awake yet.”
I could tell by the way he was talking slowly that he was watching TV. I looked at the clock in the living room. It was half 12. Harry was usually awake by this time on his normal body clock.
“Alright, I’m going to come round for a bit. I haven’t seen any of you for a couple of weeks now. See you in a bit, Lou.”
“Okay, you walking over, yeah?”
“Yeah, Kels has my car today.”
“Alright, see ya in a bit.” Louis hung up.
I checked myself over. After not seeing Harry for such a long time, I wanted to make sure I looked my best. I stepped outside into the grey, December afternoon. It was going to rain on me wasn’t it? I could just feel it coming. I took my time though, walking to Harry’s flat. I could see people’s Christmas decoration through their windows. I’m not a big fan of Christmas. I suppose because it’s a family time of year and I don’t have a proper family anymore. I have the boys but they all have their own family to go home to.
I found myself at Harry’s block of flats. I said a quick hi to the security guy on the door and then took the lift up to their floor. I could hear the ‘ping’ noise echo along the corridor as the doors opened. Making my way down to their flat door, I searched around my bag for my key. Finding it, I let myself into their flat.
The first thing I could hear was the sound of TV still airing Jeremy Kyle. I completely regret letting Tom and Louis bond. Louis was now hooked on it the days they weren’t working. I heard moaning sounds. They were coming from the bedrooms. I wasn’t sure which one but I made my way to Harry’s room. As I walked closer, I could hear Harry. I was thinking of helping him finish off when I heard another moan; a girl’s voice.
I knew it was definitely Harry’s voice coming from his bedroom. I’ve had sex with him an uncountable amount of times to know what he sounded like in bed.
I had my hand outstretched, ready to push the door open. I could open it. Just grab and push the handle down to open the door. My fingers were a centimetre away from the door handle.
That was when he said her name.
I’ve never felt like this before.
“Oh, yes, Harry,” she moaned in pleasure back.
I staggered back against the wall. Louis walked out of the living room, giggling to himself from an advert on TV. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me. His face was in pure shock. He couldn’t get his words out but I’m guessing he was trying to say, “I thought you were,” point to bedroom. “Who?”
I felt tears sting my eyes. Before anymore could be said, I was out the flat, down the stairs and running down the street away from that flat as fast as possible.
I pressed the call button while her text was on the screen. It didn’t even ring before she picked it up.
“I’ll be home in ten,” I promised, hanging up and grabbing my keys from the side in the studio. I heard yells from Tom and Max as I rushed to get to my car and get to Char. I drove home as quickly as I could. I saw her walking towards our block of flats as I pulled up.
“Nathan,” I cried, tears still streaming down my face.
Nathan was holding me at arm’s length. He was looking past the tears and straight into my eyes. His bright, green eyes were filled with worry.
“Nathan, he’s cheating on me,” I managed to get out.
“What?” I asked in shock. I could feel anger bubbling inside of me. I pulled Charlotte into me, giving her the tightest hug I could give. All I wanted to do was protect her; keep her away from any harm.
“They got back last night and had a couple of days off,” she tried to explain. Her face was still buried in my chest. “I called Louis before going round. I wanted to surprise him. I haven’t seen him for nearly two weeks.”
She stopped talking. She went completely silent.
I couldn’t carry on with telling him what I’d just been through. I was completely heartbroken. I didn’t want to relive what I heard. But it’s going to be the only thing that will go through my head for a bit. I don’t think I’ll forget the look on Louis’ face when he realised it wasn’t me in Harry’s room.
“Did you see him with someone else?” Nathan asked, still with his arms wrapped around my body. It felt like he was creating a shield around me.
“I didn’t want to open the door,” I sobbed. “He was saying her name. Moaning her name. He was enjoying it. She was too. I could hear her saying his name. He’s mine, Nathan. No other girl should be saying it like that. Not while I’m with him.”
“Who was it?” I felt Nathan tense up.
“Caroline,” I cried. “Flack,” I added in more of a whisper. Nathan released me from his hug. “Nathan,” I called as he walked over to his car. “Nathan, what are you doing?”
“Go to the flat,” Nathan ordered. He was angry. “I’ll get the lads to come and look after you.”
“Nathan, tell me where you’re going,” I yelled. Nathan ran back over to me. “Tell me.”
“Go inside, please,” he almost begged.
“Where are you going?” I was determined for him to stay.
“Go inside.” Nathan stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Please? I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Nathan, just tell me where you’re-”
“Go inside and wait for the lads,” Nathan ignored me as he made his way over to his car. He sat in the driver’s seat, turned the engine on and pulled out of the car park. I was worried about what he’ll do. I’ve never seen Nathan like this. Never this angry.
This was more than anger inside me now; it was pure hate. Hate for the guy who has made Charlotte break down like this. How could he do this to her? I was going to make him regret all that he’d done to Charlotte.
“Hey, mate,” I snarled down the phone to Max. “Can you lot go and see Char?”
“Yeah, sure mate,” Max answered. “You sound pissed though. Everything alright?”
“Harry is a fucking dick,” I shouted. My phone was in a holder on the dashboard. “Charlotte’s in tears because she walked into his fucking flat to him fucking having sex with Caroline fucking Flack.”
“Mate, don’t do anything stupid,” Tom said in the background. I guessed I was on loudspeaker.
“Just go and be with Charlotte,” I growled.
“Nathan,” Siva said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Honestly, you lot need to get to our flat and see her. She’s completely heartbroken. I’m not letting him get away with making her feel like this.” I was nearly in tears. Talking about him was making me more furious and the hatred for him rose. “Please, she’s in absolute tears. Max, she’s like a little sister to you.”
“Yeah, we’re in Tom’s car, you twat. We’ll be there in ten minutes.” Max sounded out of breath. “We’ll see you when you get back, yeah Nath?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said, hanging my phone up.
I arrived at Harry and Louis’ flat. Thankfully, I’d been here a few times so I knew which flat I was heading to. I banged on the door until Louis answered. I shoved him aside, feeling a slight bit of guilt as he hadn’t done anything wrong. That guilt subsided when I saw Harry. I couldn’t control myself. I hated the guy. My feet were taking me to the spot he was rooted to. My fist went from a clenched ball by my side to a clenched ball making contact with his right cheek. He fell to the floor. I punched him again, and again, and again. Louis pulled me off.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing to Char?” I spat, pushing Louis off of me.
“Nathan, leave the flat now,” Louis calmly said, trying to get me out of the flat.
“Huh, Harry? Why would you do that?” Ignoring Louis’ hand on my shoulder.
“Do what, Nathan?” Harry asked, spitting blood onto the floor.
“Sleep with Caroline.” I growled, anger building up again.
“How do you know about that?” Harry asked, tears in his eyes and a swell starting to form on his eyebrow. Blood was dripping from his mouth. “Louis, did you tell him?”
“Charlotte told me,” I shouted. “Charlotte was here and she heard the both of you. She’s in tears with Max and Jay and the others. How the fuck could you do that to her?”
“I didn’t know she was coming round. Louis,” Harry said facing Louis, pulling himself onto his feet. “Why did you let her in?”
“I didn’t know you were preoccupied. I’m glad she came in. It would mean I didn’t have to lie to her when I saw Caroline leave a couple of minutes ago,” Louis snarled. Louis looked like he wanted to punch Harry too. “I didn’t even know Caroline was here. When I heard the two of you at it, I thought Charlotte had either come round already or you were watching porn. You don’t deserve Charlotte anymore.” And with that, Louis grabbed his car keys and left the flat, leaving me and Harry alone.
“I’m not giving up on her,” Harry yelled, walking to the bathroom. “She’ll forgive me, you watch.”
“She won’t fucking forgive you,” I yelled, following him. “She is in absolute tears. I can’t believe you would cheat on her. Why? You know she’s amazing.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m the first one to cheat. How many times has she kissed other guys? And not just a drunken kiss to Niall and Zayn and Tom that I’ve seen, no, more like a meaningful kiss like she did with you and Olly.”
“Of course, I knew. Olly came to me and confessed. I didn’t say anything because I knew he likes her and they do, well did, have a friendship.”
“But what you’ve done is so much worse. Yeah, she kissed a couple of guys ...”
“... but she never stopped loving you and she knew it was wrong. She came crying to me after she kissed Olly. She felt so bad about it. Sleeping with someone is on a whole different level of cheating. She heard you mo-” I couldn’t say it, “saying Caroline’s name. She heard Caroline saying your name. How heartbroken would you be if you heard me saying Charlotte’s name while I was behind a closed door with her? What about if she was saying my name? How would you feel? I know you’d be doing a lot more to me than I’ve done to you.”
“But you would never have the courage to make a move on her. Because you are a pussy.”
It’s funny how most of the time, the last word to come out Harry’s mouth is something like pussy, penis or other words like it.
Yes, of course, as soon as he said that, I delivered a blow to his jaw. He fell down and knocked his head against the sink which knocked him out. I quickly left the flat, leaving the front door unlocked and slightly ajar. I called Zayn and told him to check on Harry. I sat in my car and watched for Zayn to pull up and run into the block of flats. I stayed a couple of minutes longer until an ambulance had arrived. I drove off feeling slightly happy, but ashamed of myself at the same time. How could I sink that low to put Harry in a hospital? Again.
Max had been cradling me since he arrived at the flat with the rest of the lads. All I wanted to know was what Nathan was doing and where he was. All I could hear in my head was Caroline and Harry. Even when the boys were talking to me, I couldn’t hear them asking me stuff. It was like I had headphones on and the only song on my iPod was the Haroline sex tune. I was made a couple of cups of tea before any of us heard the front door open. I climbed out of Max’s lap and ran to the hallway. Louis was standing there.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. Louis looked like he’d been crying.
“I couldn’t stay in that flat,” Louis spoke, out of breath from running up the stairs. He came over to me and hugged me. “I’m so sorry he did that to you,” he whispered followed by a kiss to my forehead.
“Thanks, Lou,” I sighed into his chest. I leaned away from him slightly, still in his arms. “Nathan didn’t go to your flat, did he?”
“Yeah, I kind of left him and Harry in the flat together.”
“You moron,” I pushed him off of me. “One of them is going to end up in the fucking hospital.” I rushed out of the flat and towards the lift. I pressed the button repeatedly, wishing for it to hurry up.
“It’s broken, Char,” Louis called from the flat door. “That’s why I had to take the stairs.”
I collapsed against the lift doors and cried. Louis walked down the corridor and sat down next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. I placed my head in his neck and cried. God knows what state either Harry or Nathan were in. And nobody was there to make sure they’d be alright. That’s the moment I tried to persuade Louis and Siva to go see Nathan and Harry to make sure one hadn’t killed the other yet. They ran down the stairs.
Jay joined me by the lift. He grabbed my hands and pulled me up. He pulled me into him and kissed me. I pulled away as soon as his lips touched mine. I was speechless. Why was he doing that? Although ... no Charlotte. Snap out of it.
“Took your mind off things, didn’t it,” Jay grinned and winked at me.
“You cheeky bugger,” I laughed, pushing him off me.
Jay took my hand in his and led me back to the flat. He put me back into the arms of Max again and put the TV on. The music channel was still on from when I had it on earlier. What Makes You Beautiful was the song playing. Jay and Tom rushed around to find the remote, completely forgetting the fact you can turn it over by the Sky box or turning the TV off completely.
I took myself out of the room and sat myself down in my room. I looked around. Nathan had insisted I put some decorations up in my room for Christmas. It was most likely I would now be spending it alone in this flat. All I had (decoration-wise) was a snowman on my windowsill and tinsel flung across various objects in the room. Nathan and Jay thought – while they were drunk – that it would be a good idea to decorate my room with tinsel because and I quote “I’m a girl.” At the memory of this moment, a smile spread across my face. I knew I’d be alright in the end; I just had to get through the ride of hate tweets and hate mail that I would receive. I knew that the One Direction management would make this out to be my fault. I bet the Olly kiss comes up at one point.
I was having a bit of a daydream about old memories. There were so many in my life that I loved from just the 11 months of living in this flat.
Another time when Jay and I got so drunk we started a flour fight
The time I walked into the living room while Nathan and Jay were pulling off a dance routine
The amount of times I’ve been woken up by one of the lads or a combination jumping on my bed
The amount of drunken nights where we end up yelling abuse/love at each other before passing out in our own or each other’s beds.
I was snapped out of this daydream state by the front door banging open. I scrambled out of bed and into the hallway. I saw Nathan's bedroom door close shut. I stormed in there, a slight bit of anger inside me.
“What did you do?” I asked, as I walked into the room. Nathan turned around. He had tears in his eyes and was hiding his right hand. “Nathan, what did you do?” I was a bit more sympathetic at the look on his face.
“I shouldn’t have done it, Char,” Nathan said. “I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t let him get away with doing that to you.”
Nathan made his way over to me. As soon as he was within reaching distance, I grabbed his wrist and looked at his hand. It was bruised and slightly swollen with a few bits of dried up blood. I ran my thumb across his knuckles and Nathan winced with a small whimper escaping his lips.
“Nathan, what did you do to him?” I asked, looking into his eyes.
“I may have hit him a few times,” Nathan admitted, breaking eye contact. “The last one was the one that made me realise I shouldn’t be doing it. He kind of went down and hit his head against the sink which knocked him out.”
I accidentally tensed my hand against his bruised knuckles. “Sorry,” I quickly apologised as he yelled in pain. “Nathan, where did this come from?”
“Oh, you know, just from living with you,” he shrugged, casually. I raised his eyebrows at him. “Look, we all care for you, okay? We don’t want you being hurt, and he hurt you.”
Nathan stopped talking. He didn’t look like he was going to explain himself anymore. All I wanted him to say was ‘because I love you’. That wasn’t going to happen, was it!
It was over most of the news; Harry was out of hospital from his head injury. Harry had spun up some story that he and Louis were in an argument, Louis punched him in the face a couple of times then later Harry slipped over in the bathroom which is how he knocked himself unconscious. Harry had tried to call me several times while he was in hospital. Thankfully, the news hadn’t gotten out about Caroline and Harry. I was only getting tweets about Harry hitting his head.
Jay drove me over to Harry’s flat. I knew I needed to talk to him at some point. I couldn’t just ignore what happened for the rest of my life. I was standing outside the flat door. Jay waited down in the car. Could I just walk away and ignore him? It would be a lot easier than talking to him; having to hear his excuses as to why he did anything with her. I knocked on the flat door. Harry answered, quickly followed by Louis running out of the flat.
“I’m so sorry,” Harry apologised to me. “Look, I didn’t mean for it to happen. She just appeared at the door and I missed you and I wanted you here so I could hold you and tell you how much I missed you.”
“But instead you fucked the first thing that came in sight,” I said in a tone which showed I didn’t care. The hurt feeling I had when I heard him and her came back into my body. “I can’t believe you would do something like that. Even after telling me you loved me and only a couple of weeks ago you were saying how you wanted us to have kids and get married. What is going on with you?”
“I do love you, Charlotte.” Harry moved towards me, trying to put his hand in mine. I jerked it away, crossing my arms and not letting sadness appear on my face. “I want to have a family with you.”
“Was that the only time you did stuff with her? I mean, while you’ve been with me.” I changed the subject. I couldn’t bear to have the image of a little Harry in my head. Harry wore a guilty face. “What?” I couldn’t help but let hurt take over my body. “There’s been more than once?”
“I’m sorry, Charlotte. I tried not to but ... I couldn’t help it.”
“I’m sorry, Haz,” I stepped away from him again.
“What, like I’m supposed to ignore you kissing Nathan while we were on holiday and then you kissing Olly about three weeks later?”
“How’d you hear about Olly?”
“Olly told me himself. Didn’t you wonder why he never talked to you again? He told me when I got back from the US in September.”
“You’ve known since then and you didn’t ask me about it?”
“I could tell he was guilty and you were guilty. You told me plenty of times that you love me since then, so why should I question your love for me?”
“Yeah, well, at least I only kissed him. And only once! And you knew about Nathan and me before you got together with me. You knew what happened between us.”
“Yeah, and I knew you wouldn’t ever do anything with him. We both saw what he ended up like in Ibiza. He couldn’t face me.”
“Says the one who has just come out of hospital because of Nathan.”
“It wasn’t because of Nathan. If I hadn’t hit the sink, I wouldn’t have needed to go to the hospital. He would’ve ended up in the hospital.”
“Yeah, and if you touched him, you would’ve had me to answer to.”
“I know I deserved it though,” Harry looked away from me. I followed his gaze to a picture of us from Nathan’s birthday. It was the first night we’d had an actual photo taken of us together. “I love this photo.”
“Put it down, Harry.” I complained. “We’re not going down memory lane.”
“This was the first photo we had taken as a proper couple; over a month after we got together. How had we not had a photo before then? I remember seeing you for the first time in that dress. Your hair was wavy and perfect. Nathan was trying to get on you all night. I heard him say a few times that he wanted a birthday kiss. He was always trying to make a move on you.”
“Shut up, Harry,” I warned. I could feel the anger rising in me again. “You make out like he’s been trying to get on me every second he can get, but he doesn’t. He’s my best friend and all you want to do is tear me away from him.”
“He’s wormed his way into being your best friend so he can find it easier to jump on you as soon as we split up.”
“If that were true, he would’ve ‘jumped’ on me after he sent you to hospital.”
“There’s no way this is being mended. You blew it Harry. You blew it as soon as you kissed her again. Zayn told me how you were texting each other while you were in Australia. No, while WE were in Australia. Under my nose, really?”
“She text me first. I was being polite when I was replying. I only went round to see her to shut her up. But then she kissed me and I kissed her back and I couldn’t help myself.”
“The day we got back from Australia.” Harry admitted, looking down at his feet.
“You’d only just left me a few hours before you went round there.” I couldn’t believe that he was on her within that short amount of time. I felt my whole body go weak. How could he do this? How could he want to be with her so much? I could feel my legs going weak under me. Harry managed to get a hold of me around the waist before I fell.
“I’m not letting you end up in hospital,” he said as he sat me down on the ground. He slid himself down next to me and put his arm around my waist.
No, don’t let him get to you. You came here for a reason. Stick to that reason.
“You have to realise that I am in complete love with you,” Harry pushed my hair behind my ears. “I would do anything in the world to keep you in my arms.”
“No, Harry, I can’t,” I started to say. Harry was rubbing his nose around my nose. “I can’t do this. Knowing you’ve slept.” I stopped again. I wasn’t going to get caught up. I couldn’t let myself get caught up. “Harry, stop it!” He was about to kiss me when I pushed him away. I stood up from where we were sitting. “No, Harry. That charm is not going to work on me. What you did, I can’t forgive you for it. This is it.”
I turned to walk out of the flat when Harry grabbed my wrist, jolting me back towards him. He pulled me into his chest and held me there. I felt a dampness on the top of head. I looked up. His eyes were watery from the tears falling down his cheeks. He wiped them away.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I love you.”
“Saying it doesn’t make me believe it,” I said, still inches away from his face. “It’s over, Harry.”
I felt him completely let go. It was like he let go of all the hope in his body. Tears were constantly falling down his face at this point. I kissed him on the cheek. He held me again. “One last kiss,” he asked. I rested my forehead on his. He whispered something I couldn’t make out. He kissed me; a kiss that said goodbye.
“One last kiss,” I begged. She rested her forehead against mine. “There will never be anyone else,” it was hardly a whisper. I doubt she even heard it but I meant it all the same.
"Charlotte," I told myself. "You need to go out and forget about him. The lads have told you, the fans have told you and least importantly, the media have told you to get out."
It was true. The lads had told me – since the day after I found (or heard) Harry cheating on me – that I should go out and get drunk. I didn't want to get drunk. God knows what I would do if I got drunk. The only way I could keep myself from doing something stupid like take him back was to stay in my room without a phone. I had my laptop, that's all I needed.
I was sat at my desk, searching through online news articles, rereading comments about the 'breakup of the century'. There were some really hurtful comments. Some were glad I was off the scene so they would finally have a chance with their man; some said I deserved it for cheating on him with Olly. I still hadn't found out who told people that.
Anyway, I was reading through these comments when Nathan knocked lightly on my bedroom door, coming in with tea and breakfast. He settled it down on my desk next to me. I was still glued to my laptop screen. I had avoided Nathan whenever I could. I was still slightly pissed off with him for what he did to Harry. Nathan grabbed both of my hands with one of his hands and grabbed my laptop with the other hand. He shut the lid down and slid it between his arm and ribcage.
"You're not having this back," he assured me. "You can have it back if you come with me back to Gloucester for the next couple of weeks."
I sat in silence, pushing the breakfast away from me. Nathan took my laptop into his room. He came back and stood next to me again. I stared at my wall, just so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with him.
"Char, come on." He was eye level with me now. "Look, I'm sorry. I just couldn't let it go. He broke your heart. I couldn't let him do that and then get away with it. I hated seeing you hurt." Tears were gathering on my bottom eyelids. I blinked to try to get rid of them. "Please, I care about you. I don’t want you here by yourself.”
I couldn't blink them back. Nathan instantly had his arms around me. I gave in. I couldn't be mad at him. I was angry that he had the guts to go to Harry's and hit him whereas I stood weak at the door.
"Thank you, Nathan," I softly cried into his neck.
Nathan lifted me off my chair. He sat on my bed and I curled up against him. His left hand was running his fingertips through my hair while his right hand held me in position. Until I stopped crying, Nathan comforted me and kissed my head. We stayed like this until Jay came home, Tom in tow. Jay smiled as he saw us together when walking past my room. I felt Nathan let out a sigh of relief.
"I need to get away." I played with a couple of bracelets he had on his wrist. "Are you sure your parents won't mind me crashing?"
"Course not," Nathan smiled. He kissed me on the forehead, smiling to himself. "They'll love you. I think my sister will love you the most.”
“Thank you,” I kissed Nathan on the cheek.
“Thank you,” Char said and kissed me on the cheek.
I turned my head to face her. I looked into her eyes. I licked my lips and moved my face closer to hers. I could feel her heart race. I was just about to kiss her when we both heard, “Char, I need your gui- oh, sorry, Fly.” Brilliant Tom. Absolutely brilliant. “Char, can I borrow your guitar?”
“Yeah,” she smiled, going a bit shy. She went over to where her guitar was in its case, under the desk. She pulled it out and handed it to Tom. He stood there for a couple of seconds, shifting awkwardly and then ran from the room shouting “I’ll let you get back to your moment.” Both Char and I shook our heads and laughed. She sat down at the desk and started digging into the breakfast I made her.
“I’ll go tell my mum you’re definitely coming now,” I said, getting off of Charlotte’s bed and giving her another hug. I kissed the top of her head.
“Thanks for breakfast,” she shouted as I went into my room.
I was practically screaming on the inside. Why did I agree to going to Nathan’s for Christmas? I’d managed to only use a small suitcase for all my stuff for two weeks. Nathan was driving us back to Gloucester. I was instructed to leave my car in the flat car park. This meant I couldn’t get home as easily. Nathan appeared at my door with his suitcase sitting in the hallway. He was all packed and ready to leave. Jay had left to go home yesterday.
“Come on, we haven’t got all day,” he laughed. I sat back on my bed, crossing my arms and legs.
“If you’re going to fuss, I’ll just stay here,” I threatened. “I’m serious, maggot.”
“Don’t call me maggot, or I’ll start calling you by your middle name.”
“Don’t you dare, Nathan James Sykes,” my eyes widened. I hated my middle name.
“Don’t you set it up then, Charlotte Hester Bailey,” Nathan teased. I rolled my eyes. Ever since he got a hold of my passport, he’s had the best time when telling me off in a joking way. I pulled my moody face. “Come on, Hester.”
“Call me it again and I’ll beat you, Mr Sykes,” I glared at him.
“Hester, hurry up,” he sang as he headed for the kitchen.
I chased after him. He grabbed me by the waist as I went to jump on him. He put me down on the ground, making sure I couldn’t get closer than arms length. I hit him playfully on the arm.
“Never call me Hester, Sykes,” I growled, jokingly.
“Fine, come on Char, otherwise we’re going to be late,” he said, letting go of me and walking out the kitchen, smiling to himself.
It wasn’t a bad drive to Gloucester. I loved being back in the country. Okay, this was the West country and I was more the East country. But it was the country all the same. Nathan saw my face light up.
“Nice to be back in the fresh air,” he asked, steering with only one hand, the other on his lap.
“It’s nice to see fields of green, if that’s what you’re asking,” I grinned at him. “This is where I want to live. A place where you have fields of space to walk the dogs around and take the kids on walks where they can run ahead a bit without you having to worry about them getting hit by a car or getting stolen.”
“Yeah, I wanna move back. Buy a big house. Not a massive house, just one that’s big enough.”
“If you could completely plan your life, how would you plan it?”
“Five bedroom house, three kids, two boys and a little girl, the girl being the middle child. I’d have the girl of my dreams to come home to, where the kids would tell me what they’ve done throughout the day, like their mum taking them on walks with the dogs. Christmas would be a big deal. I’d have all the family around, my family and the girl I end with would have the family she has round. I’d spend hours trying to make the right cake, with wasting most of the cake mix on flicking it at my wife and kids. My kids will be able to play at least one musical instrument each. If they can’t play, or don’t have the enthusiasm to, they’ll take up some kind of sport. Max would be brilliant at training one of my kids in football. I just want a family where we all just love being in the company of one another. What about you?”
He just described what I want. Except I’d love to only have two kids, with the son being the eldest and the daughter being the youngest. “Two kids, husband, three or four dogs, a house to fit them all in, holidays will be a family occasion, with his family. I saw it all with Harry. Yeah, it seems ridiculous that we were only together for 9 months and I could see my life with him but I knew him. I thought I knew him.” I started to think about the good times with Harry. The nights we spent hanging out and watching TV. The days we’d spend hanging out with all the lads. The road trips we went on but would have to cut short because Harry’s management wanted them in to go over stuff. The Ibiza holiday. The night Nathan and I reminisced over the six months I knew them. The America tour. The first time we kissed.
“Charlotte,” Nathan sang. I was completely in my own world. “Hello? We’re here.”
Nathan had pulled up outside a little family house. It reminded me of the house me and my mum used to live in. I threw the car door open and climbed out. Closing the door, I leant against the car. The December air was biting my skin, but Nathan’s house looked so pretty with the lights on. Nathan came and stood beside me. He put his arm on my shoulders.
“Pretty, eh?” He asked, watching my face look over the house.
“Breath-taking,” I replied, sounding like it actually took my breath away. “I didn’t realise how big you were into Christmas.”
“Not that big, we just like spending the time with the family, which brings me to this. You need to come in and meet them.”
“What?” I was petrified. He surely didn’t mean his whole family.
I tried to mask my nervousness. I grabbed my suitcase from the boot of the car and followed Nathan to the front door. It was unlocked so he let us in. We were greeted by his mum, Karen, and sister, Jess. After saying hi to everyone in the hallway, Nathan showed me up to his room. His mum hadn’t changed it since he moved out. Manchester United was all I could see.
“Can I stay in your sister’s room?” I asked, placing my suitcase next to the desk. I glanced at Nathan with a smirk on my face.
“I can get you a spot on the sofa in the back room downstairs,” Nathan laughed, lightly pushing me. I shook my head. “I thought so. Now, should we be polite and go back downstairs. I think mum invited a few old friends of mine. You really need to meet them!”
“Erm, alright,” I said as Nathan gave me no choice. He was dragging me back downstairs. We walked into the back room. A load of people about our age and a few of Jess’ friends were hanging out in there. “No! Amy!” Nath got excited and ran over to a blonde girl sitting on the sofa. She jumped up and gave him a huge hug.
A couple of the people in the room started whispering and looking at me. I made my way out into the garden where Nathan’s aunt was hanging out with one of Nathan’s mum’s friends, Clare. I sat down on the step by their chairs.
“You alright, Charlotte?” Nathan’s aunt, Nikki, asked me.
“Yeah, just a couple of Nathan’s mates were saying stuff,” I shrugged it off. She offered me a drink. “No, thank you. I’m not touching alcohol for a while.”
“Why’s that,” she asked, offering me a bottle of water instead.
“I’m guessing Nathan told you that I was in a relationship with Harry from One Direction.” I paused for a second to get their reaction. Nikki nodded. “Yeah, and you know how alcohol can make you do stupid stuff? I’m avoiding it so I don’t so stupid stuff.”
“What stupid stuff could you do?”
“Take him back. And I don’t want him.”
“Who do you want,” Clare asked with a knowing smile on her face.
“I’m not saying,” I blushed. Nathan came outside with Amy attached to him. I grinned at him. He grinned back.
“Char, this is a mate of mine from SY, Amy. Amy, this is Charlotte,” he introduced us. I nodded at her and she waved.
“Are you the girl who was with Harry?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I shifted awkwardly where I was sitting.
“What actually happened between the two of you? I’ve heard you were cheating on him with Olly and he found out so he broke up with you. But the whole story seemed a bit weird, if you ask me.” She was a chatter. And I wasn’t really in the mood to be talking about it.
Nathan saw this and pulled her back inside. He came back out to me and asked Nikki and Clare to go back inside. He sat down on the step beside me and put his arm around my waist.
“We should’ve come back tomorrow,” Nathan started. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise mum was inviting a bunch of old friends. I haven’t seen most of them for like two years. Amy I’ve seen nearly every time I come home.”
“She likes you,” I commented. “I mean, likes you, likes you.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s been my mate since we were like 11. We’re just friends. Always been just friends.”
“Until you bought me home and now she’s jealous and wants to get on you to prove that I can’t have any guy I want just because I caught Harry Styles’ attention.”
“Where has this come from?” Nathan started to stroke my back.
“Nowhere, I just know that right now, she’s looking out the back room window at you; making sure you’re not kissing me.” Nathan turned around to get a drink out of the fridge outside. “Am I right?” I asked as he turned back around.
“Now, I dare you to lean in to kiss me. She’ll come out to get your attention.” Nathan smirked at me.
“Is this your way of trying to get me to kiss you?”
“No, I just want to prove a point that she wants you.”
“Fine,” Nathan rolled his eyes. He leant towards me.
Sure enough, Amy came out asking Nathan where the toilet was. Of course, she knew. But she insisted he showed her the way. “You gonna be alright?” He asked me.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll hang out with Jess for a bit.” Nathan smiled at me and then kissed my forehead. He helped me up before running after Amy, chasing her up the stairs and showing her to the bathroom.
I could hear her flirting and giggling as I made my way through the kitchen and into the back room where it was just Jess and a few friends left. I sat down on the sofa, resting my head on the back of the sofa and sighing.
“Hey, Charlotte, you alright?” Jess asked. She left her friends and sat next to me. Her friends started to whisper between themselves, risking glances at me every now and then.
“Yeah, do your friends want to ask me stuff by any chance?” I laughed about it, hoping it would make it easier.
“They’ve been asking me questions. I did try to explain that this is the first time I’ve properly met you.”
“What do you wanna know?” I asked Jess’ friends. I looked at Jess and she had a shy smile on her face. Wow, she looked like Nath when she did that. My mouth fell open.
“You definitely didn’t look like maggot, I mean Nathan then.” We both laughed. “So,” I said turning to Jess’ friends who were now sat around me. “What do you want to know? I won’t be telling you anything age inappropriate.” I grinned.
It was quite cool to be hanging out with Jess and her friends. She was like the little sister I wanted, rather than the sister I got. We had a laugh at what I’ve caught Nathan doing. They obviously asked for details on why and how Harry and I broke up. I vaguely went into it. After a while, people realised how late it was getting so started to leave. I went upstairs to find Nathan. He was on the landing outside the bathroom. Amy was still here. He was leaning against the wall and she was leaning against him. I watched as he kissed her. They were only light pecks but he was still kissing her. I couldn’t watch anymore. I walked up the rest of the stairs and into Nathan’s room. I sat against the door so he wouldn’t be able to get in. Not that he even tried.
I don’t know when Charlotte went to bed last night. Amy was making me do a few shots and then she crashed for the night. We were both on the sofa. I woke up just before she did. I looked around the room. She was lying next to me with her makeup smudged on her face. Why did I end up kissing her? She was completely not the kind of girl I’d go for. She was forcing herself on to me. Amy woke up, mumbling to herself about butterflies.
“Amy, mate,” I whispered, gently shaking her to completely wake her up. “Amy, you should go. You look awful.”
“Thank, Nate,” Amy groaned. “Give me a couple of minutes.” She rolled off the sofa and sat up. She wiped around her eyes to get the majority of her makeup smooth. She pushed herself onto her feet, grabbed her bag and kissed me. “I’ll see you after Christmas, yeah? Or is your friend going to be here still?”
“She’s staying the whole time I’m here, and her name’s Charlotte.”
“Whatever, please say your here for New Years.”
“If I am, Char will be here too.” Amy rolled her eyes.
“Can’t you just send her back to London?”
“Leave, Amy,” I ordered. She sighed and pulled me into her. She glanced over my shoulder, smirked and held me in for a kiss that I didn’t want. As I started to push her off of me, she pulled away and winked at me.
What was up with her? I turned around and Char was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching in disgust at how Amy was acting. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the house. She leeched herself on me at the doorstep again. I quickly shut the door. I couldn’t look at Charlotte. Thankfully, my mum came down to cause a distraction between us.
“Who wants tea?” She asked and turned to Charlotte. She led Charlotte into the kitchen. I could hear the kettle being filled up and put on to boil. The stereo in the kitchen was switched on. Mum came back out into the hallway and shut the kitchen door. “Can’t you see that Charlotte likes you? And there you are attaching yourself to that girl,” she whispered.
“Mum, I didn’t attach myself to her,” I complained, feeling like a 14 year old boy again. “She was coming on to me.”
“Charlotte’s not only your flat mate; she’s your friend too. She’s been through a hard break up. You should be there for her.” And with that, my mum went back into the kitchen.
Why does my mum have to be right? I dragged myself upstairs, grabbed a towel from the airing cupboard and went for a shower.
Nath’s mum is a perfect person. She made me tea all day. After she’d spoken to Nathan, he started to act differently around me. He was giving me more cuddles and kissing my forehead and cheek a lot more. When he kissed my forehead for no reason, I cocked an eyebrow at him. He told me jokingly to ‘shut up’ and then pushed me over on the sofa.
Christmas day already? Those four days seemed to rush past. I wasn’t exactly excited on Christmas morning. I wasn’t expecting to see any Christmas presents for me. I expect any that I got from the lads would be under the Christmas tree in the flat. Nathan had moved a pull out bed that was in Jess’ room into his room. Amy hadn’t been seen anywhere near the house since the first morning of being in Gloucester.
I woke up on Christmas morning to the soft sounds of Nathan snoring. He likes to call it “deep breathing”. I like to call his reasoning “bullshit”. I shuffled over to the side of the bed to watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful. His fringe was getting a bit too long and was covering his eyes.
“I’m not asleep,” he suddenly spoke. It scared the crap out of me causing me to fall off the bed. He, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing.
“Screw you, Nath,” I joined in laughing. I climbed back into bed, wrapping the covers around me.
Nathan crawled out of the pull out bed and climbed into bed with me. He pulled the duvet over both of us and pulled me close into him. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. It sounded quite fast. The longer I stayed still, the slower his heart rate became. I started to trace my fingers up and down his chest and stomach. His heart rate increased. I couldn’t help but smile. I had the same effect on him as he had on me. I looked over to the Man U clock that was sitting on the side. It read 4:40am.
“Is that really the time?” I asked Nathan, nodding my head towards the clock.
Nathan looked over and smiled. “Nah, it’s been stuck like that for years.” He reached over to the side and checked my phone. “It’s 7:54am and you have a message.” He handed me my phone.
My heart froze. Well, it beat faster than usual. I pushed myself off of Nathan’s chest, sitting up in the bed. I pressed my phone to open the message.
Merry Christmas. I miss you. Hopefully after New Years we can meet up for a drink sometime? Xxx
“No, we are never meeting up, ever,” I stubbornly said to my phone. I slammed it onto the bedside table next to Nathan.
Why did he have to say he missed me? I leant against the bedroom wall, breathing deeply to calm myself down. I closed my eyes to help myself relax. I felt Nathan’s hand reach out and hold mine. A couple of tears left my eyes. I wasn’t going to be angry on Christmas day. I wasn’t. I climbed back under the covers with Nathan. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up so my head rested between his neck and collarbone. I managed to drift off back to sleep.
Nathan was already dressed and fussing with his hair when I had come back into the bedroom after showering. I had roughly towel dried it, but it was still a bit damp and hanging down my back. I still had the towel wrapped around me. Nathan stopped fussing with his hair and made his jaw drop in the mirror.
“Fuck off,” I laughed, throwing the towel I dried my hair with at him.
“I can’t help it,” Nathan grinned. “There’s an extremely beautiful girl in my room, and I can’t quite believe it.”
“What that you’ve actually got a girl in your room?” I teased, sitting down on the bed. “The first girl in your bedroom and you’ve got a girlfriend.”
“I haven’t got a girlfriend,” Nathan rolled his eyes. “She’s just a friend.”
“Uh huh, and how many friends do you normally go around kissing?”
“Well, that’s the first time I’ve kissed her so I’m going to go with two.”
“Two?” I tilted my head to the side.
“You don’t count as a friend now?”
“We’ll see how today goes, yeah? Then I’ll see if you’re my friend still.” I winked at him and stuck my tongue out. “Now, out of the bedroom. I want to get dressed.”
“I think you should stay like that,” Nathan winked, grinning at me as he left the room.
I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself. The biggest flirt in the world. Pretty sure I wasn’t going to end up with him now. What was going on with him? I quickly got dressed and dried my hair. I didn’t bother with any makeup or actually styling my hair.
Nathan came back in around half an hour later. I was looking at myself in the mirror. He stood behind me pulling stupid faces. I shoved my shoulder into him to stop making me smile so much.
“Good, you need to smile.” His reply was. I turned around so I was facing him. “I love it when you’re smiling,” he smiled at me. He stepped towards me, making my heart beat a million miles a second inside my chest. His right hand reached down to my left hand and our fingers entwined. My breathing shortened. He moved even closer to me. His left hand found the side of my neck. He was finally making his move. I grabbed his top and pulled him so we were nose to nose. He pulled me up so that our lips touched.
I looked into Nathan’s eyes. They had a shine that I hadn’t seen in a while. He had a smile that creased his eyes. A genuine smile. I found myself copying the smile. How could I have missed out on months of this? Nathan wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him again. He picked me up and I lifted my feet out of the way. He carried me to the bed. He started to kiss down my jaw until he reached my neck. That’s when I saw Jess standing at the door with a grin on her face and a phone in her hand.
“I should take a picture, shouldn’t I?” Jess teased.
“Jess, don’t,” Nathan threatened. Jess looked at me. I shook my head.
“You’re lucky this time, Nathan,” she jokingly scowled and ran downstairs.
I couldn’t help but giggle. Nathan was still on top of me. He kissed me again before looking into my eyes. We were distracted by Nathan’s phone ringing. “Sorry,” he screwed his face up. He climbed off the bed and picked his phone off the desk. “Tom?” He asked me, showing me the screen. “Hello mate?”
“Hello, Fly,” Tom cheered down the phone. “Did you get any good presents?”
“You do realise that we’re all doing our presents when we get back for New Year’s right?” I laughed. Tom is such a child.
“Yeah, I know that. I was just wondering if you unwrapped anything in bed this morning.”
“No, I didn’t.” I smile spread across my face.
“What’s he saying?” Charlotte asked, looking stunning on the bed.
“Asking if I unwrapped anything in bed this morning. And I know exactly what he’s asking.” I laughed.
“Tell me,” Tom chanted down the phone. “Tell meeeeeeeeee. Kelsey wants to know too. We need to get everyone in on this call.” Tom started pressing buttons down the phone. “Hang on, Nath.” More buttons pressed. “There. Hello, everyone.”
“Merry Christmas.” I heard Jay’s voice.
“Merry Christmas,” came Max’s voice. “Shell said hiya.”
“Nareesha and the family say merry Christmas.” Siva chimed in with his soft voice.
“Nath, you still there?” Tom asked.
“Yeah, mate. Are we really doing this? We’re seeing each other in like a couple of days anyway.”
“Come, Nath, tell them all what you got for Christmas.” Tom sounded like he was jumping around in excitement.
“I haven’t unwrapped anything yet, in fact, Tom, you interrupted that.” I winked at Charlotte. She smiled at me, shaking her head. She mouthed ‘you bastard’. I grinned at her.
“What did Tom interrupt exactly,” Max asked. I could tell he was grinning to himself too. “Did you get your birthday wish for Christmas?”
“Nathan,” Charlotte started moaning from the other side of the room. “Come back to bed!”
“You’ve got Char in bed?” Jay asked, and started squealing like a little girl.
“She’s on my bed and she’s been sleeping there but we haven’t ... just leave me alone. It’s Christmas. The only time I can get away from you lot.” I joked, laughing afterwards.
“Did you finally make a move Nath?” Siva asked.
I smiled. I had the biggest smile on my face. I looked over at Charlotte. She was hiding her face, but I could see the redness of her cheeks. “Let’s just say, this Christmas will be a memorable one.” And with that, I hung up on the guys. I turned my phone off and slid back onto the bed, taking Charlotte into my arms and not letting go of her. This time I wouldn’t let her go.
“Why can’t we stay, Nath?” I moaned, lying on his bed in his mum’s house. “We get food cooked for us here. Really nice food. And I love your sister; she’s wicked and like a little sister I want.”
“Char,” Nathan laughed. “Come on, if you want us to have the flat to ourselves, we have to leave now. Jay gets back in the morning.”
I pulled my phone out of my pockets. I searched through my contacts for Jay’s number. I pressed dial and it started to ring. It rang a few times before he answered.
“Hey, Char,” he answered.
“Fancy not coming home until Friday?” I asked, winking at Nathan.
“Aren’t we meeting up tomorrow night?” Jay asked. “Like, all of us?”
“Erm, yeah, but me and Nathan want to have the flat alone for a bit.”
“I thought that’s why you’re going back today?”
“Yeah, but you’ve experienced his mum’s cooking, right?” Jay made a noise of approval. “And I don’t want to leave.”
“Go home, Char,” Jay laughed. “I bet the sex with Nath will be better than Nath’s mum’s cooking.”
“How would you know that?” I giggled. “Personal experience? I knew Jaythan was real!”
“Shut up, Char. Anyway, if we’re fangirling right now, I’m completely shipping Chathan. I was always shipping Chathan.” Jay laughed down the phone because I responded with ‘awwwww’. “Now, go back to the flat and show him the night that he should have got months ago.”
“In your bed, right?” I teased.
Jay went through some ground rules with me, which I completely ignored, and said goodbye. Nathan and I said goodbye to Jess and Nath’s mum; thanking her for having me over Christmas. I put our suitcases in the boot of Nath’s car while he said another goodbye to his mum and sister. It was cute how he was over them. He walked up to the car and put his arms either side of me.
“Ready for the drive back to good, old, polluted London?” He asked, kissing me lightly on the lips.
“Meh, I don’t have a choice, do I,” I teased, biting my lip. I got into the car. Nathan slid into the driver’s seat, waved goodbye and drove off.
Two and a half hours of singing our heads off to Olly Murs. Nathan was starting to get sick of it by the end so he started changing the words. When listening to I’m Okay, he changed the words to I’m Not Gay. It didn’t seem too long before we were back in the flat. We left out suitcase on the floor in the hallway and made our way to my bedroom as it was closest. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other.
I have waited for this for nearly a year. My hands just wanted to work my way along every part of her body. Sure, I’ve seen her plenty of times in her underwear. But seeing her walk around in her underwear is nowhere near as good as being up close and feeling it under your fingers. I just wanted her.
For an unknown reason, I became aware of the surroundings. Thoughts came into my head. Harry had been doing what I was doing with her right in this same bedroom, even in this same spot. I stopped what I was doing. I sat up on the bed.
“What’s the matter?” Charlotte asked, putting one hand on my thigh, the other on my arm.
“Sorry, my minds thinking of other things,” I apologised and went back to kissing Charlotte.
“Is it things to do with Harry?” She scrunched her face up, waiting for the answer.
“Yeah, I’m sorry; it shouldn’t have even come up. But I just can’t shake the thought out now.”
“Well, there is another room we can use,” she winked.
Char grabbed me by the hand, leading me to my bedroom. I stopped her in the hallway, leaning her against the wall next to my door. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. I took it all in; her body, her hair, her eyes, the smile she wore on her face, the way her hands were holding on to me. How could Harry fuck things up with her?
She pushed herself onto her toes and kissed me. My arms wrapped themselves around her so she didn’t have to support all her weight on her toes. I held her against the wall, wanting her so badly. “Let’s go into your room, then,” she whispered, brushing her lips against mine, teasing me.
I honestly couldn’t be any happier or more in love with a person.
It felt so good to watch Charlotte sleep beside me. I could watch her all day. She looked so peaceful. She was lying on her front, face turned towards me. Her left hand was supporting her cheek against the pillow while her right hand was still holding (very loosely) my hand. Her fringe had fallen in front of her face while the rest of her hair was in a mess of loose curls against her pillow. She started to stir slightly. I moved closer to her. I kissed her and she kissed me back.
“Morning, beautiful,” I said as she squinted at me. A smile started to creep across her face. She quickly hid her face under her arms. I laughed. I never knew she could be so shy. She took her right arm away and I could see her face again. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her on top of me.
“Morning,” she giggled back.
“When did you start going all shy?” I asked, never seeing this side of her before. She shrugged and smiled again. I pulled her close into me and kissed her again.
As much as I love my family, it’s nice to be in the comfort of your own place. Tia and Jake were in their travelling boxes as no one could look after them (well, check up on them) while I was away at my parent’s house. I put them down on the floor while I searched for my keys. I think I took them home with me. Knowing my luck I either left them in the flat or left them at home. Great! I spent a while looking for them. In the end, I just felt behind our door number and found the spare key hidden behind the number 8.
I took my stuff into my room, letting Tia and Jake back into their tank. I was back quite early, not expecting Nathan to be up. Even if he was, he might be slapping his thigh to himself, not wanting to be disturbed. I grinned to myself, thinking back to the interview that Nathan threw – what’s best to describe as – a hissy fit when I told the interviewer that that’s what he does in the shower.
I made my way to Charlotte’s room. I knocked and threw the door wide open to see a bed that wasn’t slept in. That’s when I heard her – obviously enjoying herself – behind me. I made my way quietly over to Nathan's door. I heard them both enjoying themselves.
“Go on, my son,” I shouted.
“Mate,” Nathan complained.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I really hope that wasn’t their first time together. That would make things a bit awkward.
“Oh god.” I was so embarrassed. I climbed off of Nathan and hid my face with the duvet.
“Mate,” Nathan complained. I could hear Jay laughing outside the door. The twat. I did laugh though.
“What are you laughing at,” Nathan asked, a smile on his face. I knew he wanted to laugh too.
“The fact he’s cheering you on.” I couldn’t stop giggling.
“Are you going to come and say hi? Or am I going to have to come in there and give you a hug?” Jay asked, still behind the door.
“We’ll be out in a bit,” Nathan said. “Put the kettle on will ya?”
Jay said something back but we were too busy not listening to care. Nathan pulled himself on top of me and the world outside that bedroom was irrelevant.
“You cannot go to a party dressed like that,” I laughed.
I was lying on Charlotte’s bed while she was showing me outfits for Zayn’s birthday party. She was currently standing in front of me in my EPIC top with some half-leg joggers on. Zayn had told us all to go smart casual. I shook my head at her.
“It’s smart casual,” she argued.
“The only smart thing about it is the heels you’re wearing.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I don’t want to go,” she stropped, kicking her heels off and sitting on the bed.
I knew why she didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to go because of the same reason but Zayn was our friend. Char and Gabby had formed a strong friendship too.
“You can’t let him be the reason you don’t go,” I said, kissing the tattoo on her foot that she got with her friends on her 18th birthday. “You’re going to have to see him in a place like this at some point.”
“He’s got a new girlfriend,” she mumbled.
“You’ve got a new boyfriend,” I argued. “I think it will be more painful for him to see you with me than for you to see him with her. Who is it anyway?”
“I don’t actually know. I think it’s some girl who he met at a gig just after Christmas. Niall had told me a little about her.” She started to play with the bottom of my top she was wearing.
I took a hold of her ankles and pulled her over to me. I held her in my arms. It tore me up to see her upset about another guy but he was the first guy she proper fell in love with.
“I shouldn’t be like this,” I said, pulling myself away from Nathan and mentally slapping myself. “I’m sorry. I just ... I don’t know.”
Nathan moved off of the bed and stood in front of me. “It’s hard to see someone you love or loved with someone else. I know what you’re feeling.”
“Who was she?” I asked, knowing he was talking from experience and not just something one of the others had said to him.
“I’m looking at her,” he winked. I felt myself go red and I pushed him playfully. “Come on, we need to get you into an amazing outfit.”
“I think I should take this one off,” I spoke as I took my top off. “And just see what happens from there?” I winked at him as I stepped closer into him.
I saw him think about this for a split second before he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the bottom of my neck. Making his way up to my ear lobe, he stopped for a moment to whisper, “or we could sort out an outfit for tomorrow.” He pulled away and opened my wardrobe, pulling out various dresses I had. That fucking tease!
“Happy birthday, Zayn.” I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Zayn cheered. He leant closer to me and whispered into my ear, “Play nice.”
“I’m always nice,” I whispered back.
“You know what I mean. Nicole’s lovely and she’s already said that she’s anxious about meeting you.”
“Who says I’m meeting her?”
“It’s a small party. You’re bound to meet each other at some point. And if Nathan and Harry can play nice with each other, you can too. Harry’s smitten with her.”
“He was smitten with me,” I started to argue but Zayn gave me a threatening look so I stopped in my tracks. I grinned at him and moved on to saying hi to Gabby.
Gabby took me into the kitchen where, thankfully, no one was in. Gabby and Zayn had moved into a house just outside of London. It caused Zayn to have an argument with their management but as Gabby was 3 months away from her due date, they agreed that they needed more than the flat they were living in. The kitchen itself was big and I fell in love with it. Screw all the stuff that happened with Harry, I wanted this kitchen!
“Gabby, you have to tell me, do you know what the sex is yet?” I asked Gabby, already getting my hopes up for a little girl.
A smile was on her face. “You’re going to have to wait until it’s born,” she teased.
“Gabby,” I whined. “I want to know what to start buying for the little person. The baby needs loads of outfits.”
“I’m not telling you, Charlotte. Now, do you want a drink?” Gabby opened the fridge and started listing a bunch of drinks they had in there. I ended up having a glass of wine and after a few more minutes of whining and bugging her, she finally gave in. “We’re having a little girl.” I screamed.
“She’s going to be spoilt by me.” I smiled.
We joined everyone else outside and that’s when I saw Harry with Nicole. He had his arm around her with a Corona in his free hand. I wanted to hate her. I wanted to scream at her and make her life hell but she looked too cute and nice to even throw a mean facial expression at her. He hadn’t seen me yet and he was acting all cute with her. For some reason, I felt happy. Gabby walked down the steps and into the patio area. I stood at the top, looking down to Harry. She was saying something to make him laugh and smile. He kissed her and rested his forehead against hers.
“Nice view,” Tom piped up behind me. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “How are ya?”
“I’m good,” I smiled. “I’m happy, you know.” I looked back over in the direction of Harry. “I’m surprisingly happy.”
“Good, don’t make him unhappy though.” I looked at Tom and he nodded to Nathan. I turned to face Nathan. He was joking around with Kelsey.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I smiled to Tom, which caused him to ruffle my hair. I grabbed his arm and pushed him off of me, laughing while I did. I ran down the steps and over to Nathan, glass of wine still in hand, and jumped into his arms. “Hey,” I kissed him.
“Is that your second glass?” Nathan joked as he took the glass out of my hand and placed it on the table.
“No, I’ve only had a sip. I’m just full of energy,” I grinned.
Nathan put me back down on the ground. I saw him quickly glance over in Harry’s direction just before he kissed me again. This time it wasn’t just a peck, it was more passionate. “You bastard,” I grinned between kissing him. I knew exactly what he was doing, but I was too weak and wanted him too much to stop him. Eventually he stopped and I shoved him lightly to tell him off.
“Char,” Louis cheered from the top of the steps leading to the patio. “When did you get here?” Oh dear, drunk Louis was here. I love drunken Louis but tonight wouldn’t be the best time for drunken Louis to appear. “I miss you, babe.” He pulled me into a hug.
“I miss Louis, too,” I said as he rested against me. “How much have you had to drink already?”
“A lot,” he giggled. “Have you met Nicole yet?”
“Not yet. I’m sure I’m going to meet her now though. Especially if you, Mr Tomlinson, have anything to do with it.”
“NICOLE!” He shouted, pretty much in my ear. “Come over here.” Nicole looked at Harry who pushed her over to me and Louis. She looked nervous. “Nicole, this is Harry’s ex-girlfriend, Charlotte. Char, this is Harry’s now-girlfriend Nicole.”
“Hey,” I smiled. She smiled back. Louis left us alone and staggered over to Harry who was watching us. I raised my eyebrows at Harry. I faced Nicole again. “Sorry about Louis. Also, Harry’s watching us like a hawk,” I joked, trying to ease the tension. She smiled.
“Yeah, he was worried about how’ll you react to me being here,” she looked at her feet, avoiding eye contact with me.
I felt like I was towering over her. I must’ve been about half a foot taller than her. She looked about Harry’s age but there was something about her that made me think she might’ve been a little bit older.
“Relax,” I said, nudging her lightly. “I’m not going to bite your head off.”
She laughed and looked to relax a bit more. “Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous being around not only you, but everyone.”
“They’re all lovely and will welcome you with open arms,” I said in a quieter voice, turning so I was standing next to Nicole and we were both facing everyone. “They did for me so they should for you. How’d you meet the boys anyway? Niall said it was at a gig in New York.”
“Yeah, I was actually shooting them,” Nicole started to explain. She explained how Harry had spotted her and invited her back to their hotel to look at the shots. We started to chat about the first impressions we got of each of the boys. Harry didn’t like the fact that we were enjoying talking to each other, like he suspected I was going to either tell her something or gather information to tear her down. I wasn’t; I wanted to be mean and horrible but seeing him happy with her made me want to be the exact opposite. Damn you Nicole for being so nice.
“Char, Jay, you ready to go?” Nathan called from the back door of Zayn’s house.
I’d managed to go through three bottles of rose, alone. Jay, Max, Kelsey, Louis, Niall, Danielle and Eleanor were tipsy or drunk along with me. Louis and Eleanor were staying at Zayn’s for the night. Jay and I were sitting on the floor of the patio, rolling a ball between us. Max and Kelsey were on the floor next to us, pulling faces at each other.
“Char, I can see your knickers,” Jay giggled to himself.
“No, you can’t,” I laughed back, bending down to the floor to check. I was wearing skinny jeans. “Douchebag, you can’t see my underwear.”
“I got a good view of your cleavage though,” he drunkenly winked, which looked more like a slow motion blink.
“Char, Jay,” Nathan called again. “Are you ready to go home?”
“We’re having so much fun with the ball though,” I complained.
“And looking at Char’s cleavage as she bends over,” Jay giggled.
I threw the ball at his head. It bounced off and hit Max in the stomach. Max rolled over and couldn’t stop laughing. Nathan came over to us and helped me up. He then proceeded to help the others up and half-carried Max inside to Michelle. Kelsey fell into the arms of Tom. Harry was in the living room, sitting on the sofa with Nicole on his lap.
“Hey,” I called to them both in the corner. “We’re going now. See you around, yeah?”
“Yeah, Char?” Harry asked, moving Nicole off his lap and onto the sofa. “Can I have a word with you?”
“Sure, see ya, Nicole,” I waved. She waved back and rested her head against the back of the sofa, closing her eyes. Harry walked me out of the front door and over to Nathan’s car. I rested against the front passenger door. “Yes, Mr Harry Edward Styles? You requested a personal meeting with me?” Harry smiled at how ridiculous I was being.
“Char, thanks for being so nice to Nicole,” he smiled. “It means a lot. She hasn’t exactly had the best welcoming from Louis or Niall. They’re still pissed at what I did to you.”
“The past is the past. I’ve moved on, you’ve moved on.” There was silence between us.
“Nathan’s lucky,” Harry mumbled, kicking the gravel with his feet.
“If Nathan’s lucky, you were lucky.” I pointed out. “Harry, go back to Nicole.”
“Go back to Nicole.” Harry stayed rooted to the spot. “Harry!”
“Can’t we talk about any of this?”
“No, just leave me alone, okay? Go back to Nicole, be happy and stay away from me.” I felt like crying. Harry was still standing next to me. I didn’t want someone to leave me alone as much as this. “Please?” I begged.
“Okay, sorry,” he said, hugging me. “I’m sorry for everything,” he added in a whisper before walking back to the house. Nathan and Jay walked out through the front door. They yelled a final bye to everyone before shutting the door. I wiped a tear away from eye and turned around to lean over the car.
“I am calling shotgun,” I called over to Jay. He replied with sticking both of his middle fingers up at me.
Nathan collapsed on the bed next to me. He reached into the cabinet next to his bed, pulling his inhaler out. Taking two breaths of it in, he relaxed. I started to giggle to myself.
“You’re going to be the death of me, one day,” he breathed, trying to slow his breathing back to normal.
“Oh come on, like you don’t love the fact I can make you like that,” I smiled, pushing his fringe out of his face. “I don’t hear you denying it.”
Nathan pulled me into him, kissing me lightly on the lips. I could hear a faint buzzing noise. Nathan turned over and looked for his phone. I started to do the same.
Last night, the lads went out for a few drinks. Nathan and I had drank quite a bit between us and ended up coming home and ripping each other’s clothes off. I found my jeans and looked in the front, right pocket to pull out my phone. It was my phone ringing. I didn’t recognise the number but answered it anyway.
Charlotte tilted her head as she looked at the number on the screen of her phone.
“Hello?” She asked. “Oh, hiya,” she relaxed and started to pull on underwear as the person the other end started to speak. She took the call into her bedroom, leaving me sat on my bed by myself. I grabbed some boxers and slid them over my feet and up my legs.
I could hear my phone starting to go off. I hunted around in the pile of clothes for the trousers I wore the night before. I found them and pulled out all the pockets, looking for my phone. Jayne was calling. I answered and spoke to her for a few minutes. Charlotte had come back into my room. She had a bit of a disappointed face on. She caught my eyes and smiled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, standing up and pulling her hips towards me. She didn’t look up from my chest.
“I didn’t get the job,” she shrugged, trying not to act bothered by it. “There are plenty of other jobs.”
“But that’s like the 20th job that’s turned you down in the past couple of months.”
“It’s been the 9th job in three weeks, Nath. Don’t exaggerate.” She laughed.
I lifted her chin so her eyes had to meet mine. I couldn’t believe I had to tell her this news after she’d been told she didn’t get the job. “We, the band, have to go to LA for a couple of weeks,” I said. “We’re shooting the new video and going to record a couple more songs for the next album.”
“Which song are you releasing next?” Char asked, a genuine smile was on her face. “I hope it’s Chasing The Sun. It would be an awesome follow up to Glad You Came. Even if Glad You Came came out nearly two years ago now.”
“Yeah, it is,” I smiled, kissing her. “You going to be alright by yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ve done it plenty of times before. Plus, I am going to be looking after Lux a few times, so that will keep me pretty busy.” She kissed me and left me to go and have a shower.
I didn’t want to tell her that the director was X again. She’s already commented on the videos we’ve previously done with him. She’d said that it seems all about the girls and how to make us more appealing rather than being ourselves and messing around like Lose My Mind and Gold Forever. I don’t know how she’ll react if I have to kiss a girl in the shoot. Do I leave it until after we shoot the video and then tell her, or do I mention that it might happen and get her reaction out of the way before shooting? I threw myself back on the bed, groaning at myself in frustration.
“I’ll see you in two weeks, yeah?” I said to Char at the airport. I couldn’t let her go. Okay, I’d left her plenty of times before and it was hard to say bye, but never this hard.
“Yes,” she rolled her eyes. “Now, go otherwise they’ll leave without you.”
“And then I’d have to stay with you longer, and I certainly don’t want that,” I joked, laughing as Char pushed me away lightly. I pulled her back into me and kissed her again. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you more,” she said, her eyes becoming glossy from what I could guess as tears starting to overcome her. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said and kissed her again. I kissed her nose, her forehead and just ended up kissing all of her face while she laughed. I stopped when I heard Martin shouting my name to get on the flight. “I’ll call every day,” I yelled back to Char. She blew me a kiss as I walked out of sight.
Now to sit on a plane for over 11 hours without having signal on my phone.
I’m going to miss him like mad. I was a little annoyed that he didn’t tell me that Director X was directing the shoot for Chasing The Sun. Jay let it slip to me. I’m not bothered if he has to kiss another girl. Like any girl, I’d rather he didn’t but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he did. It is work. I mean, how many guys did I have to flirt with when working for 4Music.
As soon as Nathan was out of view, I left the airport and made my way home. Lux was being dropped off to stay with me for a few days. Niall agreed to come over and help whenever he could, which was comforting.
“So, the concept of the video is vampires,” X started to explain. “You’ll be bitten by a girl each.”
“Is there any kissing?” Jay asked. The exact question I was thinking.
“Some of you yeah,” X said, smiling at Jay’s reaction. X went on to explain the whole storyboard of the video. It was good. A bit different to the previous ones. But all of them were a bit different.
Kelsey and I had an agreement; if I had to kiss a girl for work, I was allowed to. Other than that, I wasn’t allowed to stray. I didn’t want to. She’s my world that girl is. We’ve had some rough patches but what couple doesn’t?
I looked over to Nath and he looked a bit uncomfortable whenever the idea of kissing another girl comes up. Everyone knew of Siva’s morals on kissing other girls in videos. He refused from day one not to kiss another girl just to up the sex appeal in the video. Max and I have always been up for it.
“Right, we start filming later this evening. I’ll see you on set later,” X finished off and shook our hands.
We left the meeting room and made our way down to the minibus that took us everywhere. I took the back seat and called Nathan to sit next to me. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he sat down and started to text Char.
“Mate, you’re becoming whipped,” I laughed.
“Says he,” Nathan joked back.
“You alright there, Fly?” I asked, remembering how he looked in the meeting room.
“Yeah, just ... it doesn’t matter,” he shrugged it off.
“Come on, talk to Tomtom.”
“I don’t know how Char’s going to react if I kiss a girl.”
“She’s seen you kiss plenty of other girls before. Why don’t you call her in a bit and talk to her? I bet she’d rather hear it from you before we start shooting than seeing clips of it all over the internet.”
“True, but what do I say? ‘Oh hi Char. We’re going to start filming tonight and I’ve got to kiss a girl who’s a sexy vampire. Oh look, I’ve got to go and kiss this girl now. Love you, bye.’ I can’t do that.” Nathan turned to look out of the window. I felt sorry for him.
“Don’t get yourself down about it, okay? I’m sure she’ll be fine. If she isn’t, she’ll talk to Kelsey about it and I’ll hear,” I joked, causing Nathan to smile slightly.
“I don’t want to lose her again. This time I’ve got her and if I let her slip, I don’t know if I could cope.”
“Call her and tell her then,” I said, grabbing his phone off of him and pressing the call button next to her name. The phone started to ring so I handed it back to Nathan.
Nathan lowered his voice while he spoke to Charlotte. I moved forwards a couple of seats to sit with Max. He had his hood pulled up and was starting to nod off. I grabbed his shoulders and yelled in his ear, causing him to jerk his arms out and hit Jay next to him and the seat in front of him. I laughed and Max turned around in his seat.
“I’ll get you back for that,” he laughed. “You wait, Parker.”
“You have got a hot girl there, Fly,” Tom said to me. “How did the chat with Char go?”
To be honest, I hadn’t actually told her. “Yeah, good,” I shrugged to Tom.
“You didn’t tell her,” Tom accused me. “Mate, when she sees you kissing another girl and finds out you knew you were before it happens, we might see another side to her.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Parker,” I laughed. “She won’t be mad. She’ll make me feel guilty though. I know that.”
“Be honest with Titch,” Max joined us. “I don’t want to see the both of you argue.”
“I haven’t lied to her,” I argued.
“You haven’t exactly told her everything. Does she even know X is directing this video?”
“No, I forgot to mention that.”
“Actually,” Jay piped up from the other side of the room. “I may have told her that he was directing.”
“Did she say anything about it?” I asked, making my way over to stand in front of him.
“Not really,” Jay tried to think back. “All she said was ‘oh’. Nothing else.”
“Shit,” I said. Char going into a rant was better than her only saying ‘oh’. We weren’t even allowed our phones on set. Martin and Kev had a hold of them. I ran over to Kev as X called us all back into position.
This scene was where we were getting intimate. There were three or four cameras set up for the group scenes. I had around an hour of dancing with the girl before they started to focus on the individual filming. Siva was first. His was over and done with quite quickly. Max was next. He got straight into kissing the girl. Although, by the end, she was starting to look a bit bored. Jay was next. You could definitely see both him and the girl were enjoying themselves. It was my turn next.
“So, Nathan,” X started to direct. “You’re dancing with her. When I say, you’re going to start dancing a bit closer and then I want you to kiss her. You, Katie, will pull away slightly and bite his neck. We’ll do the bit with the teeth in once we have the shot without teeth.”
It took about ten takes before X knew something was up. He pulled me out of the room and we walked outside. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag.
“What’s up Nathan?” He asked, blowing the smoke away from us.
“I love the concept of the shoot,” I complimented him.
“I don’t know how my girlfriend’s going to react to all the kissing.”
“Yeah, she hung out with us when you directed Lie To Me.” I went to pull my phone out of my pocket but realised I didn’t have it. “I haven’t got a picture on me. But she was joking around with us a lot between shooting.”
“She didn’t have a problem with you making out with a girl then. I’m sure her view hasn’t changed.”
“We weren’t together then. She was with,” I stopped myself from saying Harry’s name. “She was with someone else then.”
“How long have you been with her, then?”
“Just over three months now.”
“So, what we’ll do is make it look like you’re about to kiss Katie.” X finished his cigarette, dropped it on the ground and put it out. “Then she’ll pull away and bite you. That way you’re not kissing her.”
I agreed but all I could think about was the other ten takes where I had been kissing her. At least, hopefully, they won’t be used. X and I went back inside. It took only a couple of takes to get the shot. Then we had to film Katie’s shot with the teeth in. She got it in two.
“So, where are we going to celebrate wrapping our shoot?” Max asked us all.
“I think bed,” Nathan laughed as he climbed onto the minibus.
“I second that,” Siva followed Nathan.
“Mate, we’ll go out tonight, yeah?” I patted Max on the back and also climbed into the minibus.
Max pulled a moody face and wore it all the way back to the hotel.
“Come on Nath,” Max banged on his hotel room door. “Your hair looks pretty enough. We want to go out.”
Kelsey and Nareesha had flown out and met us at the hotel. Nathan finally opened the door and joined us in the corridor. I handed him my driving license while I had my passport in Kelsey’s bag. Jay had managed to get a couple of the girls’ numbers from the video shoot and they were going to meet us at the bar. As soon as we got to the bar, Max ordered that we do some shots. The girls turned up just in time. Jay had already picked out the one he was taking back to the hotel room. Funnily enough, it was the same girl that he was with during the shoot.
As the night went on, we all progressively became more and more shitfaced. Kelsey had turned into some sort of horny teenage girl and wanted to be attached to me the whole time. I had no problem with this, but all I could see was Nathan sitting with Nareesha and Siva, not really getting into things. The blonde he was shooting with sat down on the sofa next to him.
“Hey, Nathan,” Katie said as she sat down next to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a bit drunk,” I said, not being able to focus on anything. I looked up and she was smiling, seeing how drunk I was.
“Should we get you home then?” Katie asked, placing her hand on my arm.
“Yeah, I’ll wait until one of the boys is going to head home though.” I looked over to Tom. He and Kelsey were all over each other. This made me miss Charlotte even more.
“No, I’ll walk you home, or put you in a taxi. Which one?”
“Really, it’s okay. I’ll just convince Jay he wants to go back.” I stood up, swaying and trying to regain my balance. “Jay? Wanna head back to the hotel?”
“Nah, you go back. Get someone to take you home though.” Jay shouted back, immediately turning back to the girl he was getting on.
“See, even your band mates are telling you to. Come on, I’ll get you back,” Katie said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the bar.
“Look, Katie,” I said and stopped her before the taxi pulled up. “I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her right?” Katie spoke softly as she stepped into me. Next thing, she’d pulled me into her and kissed me. A load of guys with cameras started shouting stuff at me and taking pictures. Flashes of light were blinding me as I pulled Katie off of me. I really didn’t need this.
I sighed as I sat down on the sofa next to Niall. Lux had just been picked up after I’d looked after her for three nights. Niall had Twitter up on his laptop. I looked over and saw some of the Twitter Trends going on.
“Hang on,” I said as he scrolled down. “Go back up. Did I just see Nathan as a trend?”
Niall scrolled up and we both saw as a Worldwide trend that Nathan Sykes was trending. Niall clicked on it. The tweets were about him kissing some girl. I thought it was pictures from the video shoot. Niall clicked through all the pictures that were linked with the tweets. They were all pretty much the same.
“Char,” Niall hesitated. His face slowly turned to me.
I knew what he was thinking. They didn’t like photos that would be taken at a video shoot. In fact, they didn’t look like they were on a video shoot. There were paps in the shot. My phone was in my bedroom. Without noticing, I’d walked into my room and picked up my phone. There were six missed calls from Nathan. The last time he called, he obviously left a voicemail. He sent me texts to ask him to call him as soon as I could. I dialled 121 and held the phone to my ear.
“Charlotte,” I heard Nathan’s voice. He sounded worried and drunk. “Charlotte, ignore everything you see. I’m sorry. Honestly, I didn’t kiss her, she kissed me. I told her that I had a girlfriend and I definitely didn’t give her any reason to come on to me. I mean, if she thought I was actually interested when we were shooting, she definitely got her wires mixed up. I promise you, I didn’t want any of this to happen. You should’ve seen me. I didn’t want to kiss her during the video shoot. But, they wanted it for the video shoot. I’m not going to be kissing her in the actual video anymore. That was cleared up. Charlotte, please call me as soon as you get this, or the texts. I need to know you know I’m telling the truth. Call me as soon as you get this. I don’t care what time it is. Call me. I love you so much. I’ve let you go once. No twice. I can’t let you go again. Was it once? Or was it twice? Anyway, please call me as soon as you get this. Okay? As soon as you get it. I love you. Bye.”
I hung up before all the options for the message were listed. I made my way back to the living room. Niall was still scrolling through Twitter. He saw my face as I walked in and immediately shut the lid of his computer down. He got up and hugged me.
“I’m sorry, Nialler, but could you leave?” I asked, holding back tears as much as I could.
“Are you sure? I can stay here as long as you like,” Niall offered, still holding me in a hug.
“Please, Nialler. I need to be alone,” I pleaded.
Niall understood. He grabbed his laptop and put it into his bag and grabbed his phone from the coffee table. He gave me one last hug and kissed my cheek. “Call me if you want to talk,” he said before he walked out of the flat. I locked the door behind him.
I was alone in the flat. I could cry without anyone knowing.
“I can’t believe you got a flight over here to spend your spring break with me,” I said to Nicole as I made her breakfast.
It seemed weird that I had the whole flat to myself now. Louis had moved into another flat with El. It was about time that they moved in together.
Nicole had flown here for her spring break. She got in at the airport late last night and crashed after a couple of hours of chatting. She was sitting at the kitchen counter. She’d bought her laptop in with her and had a bunch of photos she’d taken on one half of the screen and Twitter up on the other half. I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Wait, scroll to the top of Twitter.” She scrolled. “Click on Nathan Sykes that’s trending.” She clicked. There were a bunch of pictures of Nathan kissing another girl.
“You said that Nathan was with Charlotte, yeah?” Nicole asked, clicking on the images to make them bigger.
“Yeah, when were these posted?” I asked, kissing Nicole on the shoulder.
“This makes me seem like the worst boyfriend in the world,” I started.
“Who says you were my boyfriend?” Nicole grinned at me. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Well, I don’t think you travel across an ocean for just any guy, do you?” I kissed her. She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, would you mind if I go check on Char? Just to make sure she’s okay?” Nicole pulled a face as if to say that she didn’t particularly want me going over there. “Look, I don’t have to. I can just call her to make sure she’s alright, or send one of the others to go check up on her.”
“You’re making me feel guilty now,” Nicole said, pulling a sympathetic face. “It’s not that I don’t like Charlotte. She’s nice whenever I’ve met her.”
“But you’re scared I’m going to do what I did to Charlotte to you. Look,” I pulled her towards me. “I really like you. I’m not going to ruin this. But if you don’t want me to go, I won’t.” I kissed her again and took my phone off the counter. I looked up Niall’s number and called him.
“Heya, Harry,” he answered, sounding like he was outside.
“Hiya, look can you do me a favour?” I asked, playing with Nicole’s hair.
“Can you go check on Charlotte?”
“Have you seen the pictures too?”
“Yeah, I can’t get over there, so could you go and check?”
“I was there when she saw them. She asked me to leave about five ten minutes ago.”
“Alright, cheers Niall. I’ll speak to ya later,” I said and hung up. I looked up and was met by Nicole’s face. “Niall left not too long ago.”
“Thank you,” Nicole said and wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. I kissed her forehead and got back to cooking our breakfast.
I could hear my phone ringing from my bedroom. I was still curled up in a ball on the floor in the hallway. I crawled into my room and picked my phone up off the bed. The number was private on the screen.
“Hello?” I answered, trying to sound like I hadn’t been crying.
“Is it true that you and Nathan are over?” The person the other end asked. I hung up.
I wanted to throw my phone across the room but something was stopping me from doing so. It might’ve been the fact I’ve already done this twice already since living with the lads. Another reason could be because I wanted to speak to Nathan. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my chin on top. My phone started ringing again. I answered without looking at the screen.
“Char,” came Harry’s voice. “Are you alright?”
“I’m guessing you’ve seen the pictures then?” I asked.
“Yeah, are you alright? Do you want one of the boys to come round?”
“Nah, I want to be alone for a bit.”
“Okay, let me know if there’s anything you need, okay?”
“Yeah, thanks Harry.” I said and hung up.
I was sat in the same position for a few hours. I switched my phone on silent but checked it every few minutes to see who had called. A lot of private numbers were calling me. None of them left messages. Kelsey’s number appeared on the screen.
“Oi, why haven’t you called Nathan?” She asked. “He’s really upset that he hasn’t heard from you.”
“He kissed another girl, Kels,” I sobbed.
“This is why you need to call him, Char. Tom saw the whole thing happen. Honestly, Nathan is not in the wrong.”
“No one knows I’m calling you. I’m in the hotel room while everyone else is downstairs having breakfast.”
“What time is it there?” I was confused. I thought it was only like midday here. I looked at my phone screen, it read 6:30pm.
“Half ten, I think. Look, I’m going to go join them all downstairs but you need, emphasis on the need, to call Nathan.” I sighed down the phone. “Good girl,” Kelsey added before she hung up.
I called Nathan’s phone. I had to scroll through a bunch of withheld missed calls before I found his number in my recent call list. It rang a couple of times before he picked up.
“Hi,” he breathed down the phone, sounding relieved that I’d called.
“Can you put Tom on first, please?” I asked before he could start explaining anything.
“Erm, sure,” Nathan sounded hurt. There was a lot of whispering which I couldn’t make out before I heard footsteps, a door close and then Tom’s voice.
“Heya,” he said in a lowered voice. There was no background noise. “I really think you should be talking to Nath and not me right now.”
“Kelsey said you saw the whole thing last night,” I said, wanting to get to the point. “So, tell me what you saw.”
“Well, he looked a bit unhappy while we were in the bar last night,” Tom started to explain.
I could see Nathan talking to the blonde he was put with while we shot Chasing The Sun. He didn’t smile much as they chatted. She put her hand on his arm. Kelsey attached herself to me at this point. I couldn’t ignore her. She pressed the right buttons on me. When she pulled away, I looked back over to Nath. He had stood up, swaying slightly and was shouting over to Jay.
“Jay? Wanna head back to the hotel?” He shouted over the music. Jay was all over the girl he had been with on the shoot.
“Nah, you go back. Get someone to take you home though.” Jay shouted back and went back to whispering into the ear of the girl he was getting on.
Nathan’s blonde turned to Nathan and said something before she grabbed his hand. She pulled him across the room and out of the door.
“Kels, I’m gonna go check up on Nath, alright? Just stay here, yeah?” I asked Kelsey. She nodded and sat down on a bar stool, giggling at Max trying to play snooker. I ran out of the bar and saw the blonde calling a taxi.
“Look, Katie,” Nathan grabbed her attention before the taxi pulled up. “I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her right?” Katie said and pulled him into her. She pushed against him as she kissed him. Nathan pushed her off not straight away but as soon as he realised what had happened. I couldn’t see his face but she looked shocked. He turned away from her and headed off in the complete opposite direction of our hotel.
“Nathan,” the paps were calling. “Nathan, have you and Charlotte stopped dating?”
“Fuck off, will ya?” I yelled at them as I rushed to get to Nathan. “And Katie, that was completely uncalled for,” I hissed to Katie as I went past her. I ran up the street to catch up with Nathan. He was calling Charlotte’s number on his phone. He hung up when he’d reached voicemail.
“She’s not answering,” his voice wobbled, on the verge of tears. I’ve seen this boy cry way too many times. “I know it’s about ten in the morning there.”
“Leave her a voicemail and talk to her in the morning,” I said, comforting him by putting my arm around his shoulder. I hated seeing him like this. He was finally happy. Why did Katie have to go and fuck everything up for him? In no way does he deserve to be unhappy anymore.
“So don’t believe anything that says that he’s cheating on you,” Tom finished.
“Bye, Tom,” I said and hung up.
I saw Tom walk in. He had my phone in his hand. He walked straight over to me without making eye contact with anyone. There was no smile on his face. As soon as his eyes made contact with mine, he had a sympathetic expression on. He handed my phone back to me and walked off.
“Tom, what did she say?” I asked. He was halfway down the table by now but I didn’t care who was listening. Tom rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, obviously not wanting to tell me. “Parker?”
“She asked me to explain what I saw and heard last night,” he explained, looking down at the ground. “After, she didn’t say anything; she just said bye and hung up.”
I fell back down into my seat. She’s gone. I did it again; I let her slip. Before I could let anyone see me breakdown, I left the table and ran up to my hotel room.
“Nathan,” Martin shouted outside the door. “Nathan, we’ve got to get to the recording studios.” He banged on the door a few times. “Nathan, answer this bloody door, NOW!”
“Nath, mate,” I heard Max shout. “Come on. We need you there.”
“Oi, can’t we leave him be for the day?” Tom asked the group outside the door. “We all know what he’s going through, so let’s just leave him be.” There was a loud groan from Martin. “Nath, mate,” Tom said under the door. “Call me when you want to talk, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I yelled back to him. “Thanks, Parker.”
“No worries,” he said and I heard him run down the corridor to join the others.
I’d tried to get a hold of Charlotte again but every time it went straight through to voicemail. It didn’t even ring. She’d turned it off not wanting to talk to me. I barely moved from the same spot; face down on the bed with my phone in my hand.
“They won’t split up,” I said to Tom, Siva and Jay in the back of the minibus on the way to the recording studio. “They’re like Ross and Rachel from friends.”
“Yeah, and how many times did they split up?” Tom stated. “He’s really upset about this Max. Remember that rough patch you had with Shell? At least that stayed out of the papers. This won’t. It’s been all over Twitter already and he hasn’t stopped trending. What’s worse, she’s in England by herself with no one to handle this with her.”
“I hope she’s not by herself.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I hope one of the lads are with her.” The first number that came up in my contacts was Harry’s. I kept looking and found Liam and Louis’ numbers next to each other. Who to call.
“Heya,” Louis answered his phone. “How’s America?”
“It’s fine, mate,” I replied. “Can you do us a favour though?”
“Can you go check on Char? She’s by herself and has seen the pictures of Nathan and the slag who jumped on him.”
“Yeah, I’ll go check. I wouldn’t hold your hopes high for me actually getting in the flat and seeing her though. Niall was there when she saw the pictures and she asked him to leave.”
“Yeah, I’ll let you know when I get round there,” and with that, Louis hung up.
Louis hung up before we could tell him that we were in the studio all day until we’d nailed at least one song. This could mean that we were in there until midnight. We weren’t allowed our phones in these studios and had to leave them with security downstairs. It could be morning back home before we know if Charlotte’s okay.
Charlotte still hadn’t switched her phone on. Mine vibrated in my hand for the tenth time to tell me I had very little battery in it. I didn’t have the energy to move a metre to the charger next to me. I managed to stretch enough to grab the end and plug my phone in. Email after email started to come through on my phone as the internet kicked in.
I scrolled through Twitter. Most of the messages were from either people who were glad me and Char were over or saying I don’t deserve to be with her for cheating on her. The real fanmily were sending me messages to say they don’t believe I cheated; that Katie forced herself on me and they wanted me and Char to stay together.
There was a knock on the hotel room door. I ignored it at first. Then they knocked again. And again. And again. They went into a continuous knock until I opened the door.
“Oh my god,” I breathed. “What are you doing here?”
“Mum is going to kill you,” I said as my sister made her way into my room. “How the hell did you get here?”
“I’ve been saving my birthday money for a long time,” Jess said and plonked herself down on my bed. “And mum actually gave me permission to come here and knock some sense into you. What are you doing kissing another girl?”
“I didn’t kiss another girl,” I moaned as I shut the door to my room.
“Okay, well Twitter and Tumblr say completely different. What were you thinking?”
“Look, Katie kissed me, Jess. I didn’t kiss her. Mum’s seen the pictures?”
“Yeah, and luckily she’s too busy to fly over so she got me on the plane and has paid for everything.”
“Hang on, aren’t you supposed to be at school?” I suddenly realised that it wasn’t Easter quite yet.
“I only had a day left, didn’t I? What are you going to do about Charlotte?”
“I’ve tried calling her since this morning. She’s turned her phone off so I can’t get a hold of her. Why? Have you spoken to her?”
“Nope, I thought this was your business. I was going to stay out of it.”
“Yet, here you are, in my hotel room, half way across the world.”
“Well I was going to stay out of it until mum got me on a plane and flew me here.”
“Have you got any ideas on how I can speak to her without getting a hold of her?” I asked Jess. She sat, biting the inside of her cheek for a few moments.
“Has anyone checked on Nathan yet?” I asked the lads while we were down in the bar after a long day of recording.
“Nope, I tried to call him but he didn’t pick up,” Tom said, taking a swig of his beer. “Why don’t you go see him? You are sharing a room.”
I rolled my eyes as the three of them wanted to drink with Kelsey and Nareesha. I made my way out of the hotel bar and across the lobby. I caught my foot on somebody’s suitcase and fell over. I was doing so well at staying on my feet lately. I looked to see who’s suitcase handle was attached to my feet.
“Charlotte?” I was frozen on the ground. “What are you doing here?”
“Erm, are you going to get off the ground?” Char asked, trying not to laugh out loud.
“Yeah,” I said and she offered me her hand. “What are you doing here though? I thought you were in the UK with Niall this morning?”
“Yeah, I managed to get on a plane at 8:50 this evening and have just got here from the airport. I need to speak to Nathan.”
“Shit, Char, do you know what he’s been like today? We were supposed to record all day but he’s stayed up in our room. Did you not get any of our texts or calls?”
“I’ve had my phone switched off since like 8. Well, about midday to your time. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to take me to Nathan?”
“Yeah, but why didn’t you talk to him? Tom said you called Nath’s phone but asked to speak to Tom and you only spoke to Tom.”
“I thought it would be best if I spoke to him in person. He’s my best friend, Jay; I can’t be the other side of two countries and an ocean when I want a hug.”
I pulled her into me for a hug. She stopped talking immediately. I felt her relax in my grip. “Now,” I whispered. “Let’s go get you two back into each other’s arms, where you belong, yeah?” I leant away from her. She looked up to me and nodded, a small smile on her face. I kissed her forehead. “Come on, then.” I picked up her suitcase and put my arm around her, leading the way to mine and Nathan’s room. I opened the door and saw Jess sitting on the bed next to Nathan. “Jess?”
How did I know Jay would be the first one I bump in to in the hotel? The moron tripped over my suitcase. As soon as I heard someone crash to the ground I had a picture in my mind that it was him. He couldn’t believe I was in the same country as them, let alone the same hotel. After questioning the reason as to why I was in the hotel, he showed me up to their room. Jay let us both in, letting himself in first.
“Jess?” Jay asked, looking over to where the bed was. I couldn’t see past him.
“You can’t just ask a girl to marry you like that, Jess,” I laughed. “You have to make sure she wants to marry you first.”
“You’ve been in love for like a year. I’m pretty sure she’d want to spend the rest of her life with you!” Jess said, reasoning why I should propose to Char.
“I’m not proposing before I know exactly, Jess,” I said and I heard Jay coming down the corridor. His laugh was pretty hard to miss. He fussed with the door and walked straight in.
“Jess?” Jay asked, as he looked over to where we were both sitting.
I looked up from my lap to see Char standing behind him. My face dropped. I stood up and walked straight over to her, taking her in my arms and breathing her in. She buried her head into my neck. I felt her hands grab the back of my t-shirt.
“Jess, let’s leave them to talk,” Jay said, dragging my sister out of the hotel room.
Char and I stood there in silence. We just stood and hugged each other. Honestly, I could stay like this forever; just in this moment of knowing nothing was lost.
I was hugging him. He was hugging me back. I was taking in his scent, his heart beat, the way he was holding me. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to let go of him right now. I felt him kiss the side of my head.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I tried to explain to her, but she didn’t listen and I shouldn’t have let her kiss-”
I pushed myself onto my toes and pressed my lips against his. He pulled me into him. I knew we had to talk about it at some point, but right now I just wanted to be with him. A thought then popped up into my head; Jess was here. I stopped Nathan, awkwardly.
“What’s your sister doing in LA?” I pulled a confused expression. Nathan still had his arms wrapped around my waist. He wore a smile on his face.
“Mum sent her over to sort me out. I’m guessing she’s going to be joining us for a few days.” Nathan moved his eyes to the door and then back to me, smiling.
“I knew Tom wasn’t covering for you,” I admitted as Nath led me over to his bed.
“Why didn’t you want to speak to me then?” Nathan sat down and I sat next to him.
“I knew if we got into an argument, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. It was killing me that I couldn’t talk to my best friend. All I wanted was a hug from you.”
“I’ve spent all day up in this hotel room because I thought things were going to be over between us. Tom said that you said bye to him earlier and hung up. I tried to call you so many times after that but your phone went straight through to voicemail.”
“I was on a plane. It was switched off in my bag. You, of all people should know what it’s like to go on a plane and not have contact with people for hours. You’ve spent the best part of -” I was cut off by Nathan kissing me.
I was glad. All I wanted to do was kiss him and make him know that I loved him. Until we both drifted off to sleep, he held me in his arms. I hate to go all cheesy but it was perfect.
Jess had just left Euston station to get her train back to Gloucester. I jumped on the tube back home. I was walking up to my block of flats when I felt my phone going off. Zayn was calling me.
“Hey, mate,” I cheered. “I haven’t spoken to you in a while.”
“Do you have keys to Nathan’s car?” Zayn asked, sounding panicked.
“Yeah, they’re in the flat. I’m just getting back there now. Why?”
“The baby’s on its way,” Zayn half-cried down the line.
“What?” I was surprised, happy, excited and scared all at the same time.
“Yeah, Gabby’s water broke about ten minutes ago. Niall’s busy so can’t drive us and as you’re going to be the godmother now, we thought we’d try you.”
“I’m going to be godmother?” I was nearly in tears myself.
“Char, don’t start crying! Just get your arse over here and take us to the hospital, please?” Zayn asked, again.
“Yes, yes, I will. I’ll be there in about 30-40 minutes. Maybe an hour if I start crying.” I could hear Zayn roll his eyes. “I can hear that, Mr Malik. I’ll be there soon, okay?”
I ran the rest of the way back to the flat, taking the lift and moaning that it felt like forever to get to the ground floor and then to our floor. I had to search for ten minutes to find Nathan’s car key. I ran back down to the car, making sure I had the flat key, my phone and my purse on me.
I couldn’t believe Gabby was going to have her little baby. Zayn was going to become a dad.
“Have they had the baby yet?” Harry asked as he ran into the waiting room with Nicole.
“Nah, not yet,” I said and got up to hug him. I hugged Nicole as well. “You both alright?”
“Yeah, how long have you lot been here?” Harry asked, turning to face Louis and Liam.
All of us were here; Niall, Louis, Eleanor, Liam and Danielle. Zayn was in the delivery room with Gabby. I sat and chatted to Niall while we waited for Gabby to have the baby. Dani and El sat chatting to Nicole. I was a bit jealous that they connected with her more than I connected with them during the nine months I was with Harry.
“Niall, Charlotte,” Zayn appeared at the edge of the waiting room. We all stood up. “Do you want to come and meet your goddaughter?”
I ran over to Zayn and hugged him. “Congratulations,” I whispered to him. Niall hugged him too. Zayn showed us into the room that Gabby was now in. She was holding a little baby girl. I stood next to Gabby and gave her a kiss on the cheek, congratulating her as I did. Niall did the same.
“Well, this is your goddaughter, Lillie,” Gabby said, handing her over to me.
“She’s gorgeous,” I said and Lillie’s fingers wrapped around my little finger. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was so cute and adorable and I didn’t want to let go of her. “Can I take her home myself?” I half-laughed and half-cried.
I passed her on to Niall. He started to pull stupid faces at her. She didn’t have her eyes open but he still acted like she was watching him. I noticed Zayn watching me, a smile on his face.
“What?” I asked, wiping tears from my eyes. “This is very emotional. Why aren’t you in tears?”
“He’s already been through that stage,” Gabby laughed, resting her head on the pillow.
“You’re not supposed to tell people that, Gabby,” Zayn smiled, kissing her on the lips and then on the forehead.
After ten minutes of seeing Lillie, I left and let everyone else see her. Niall came out into the waiting room just as I was about to leave.
“Char,” he called. “Wait up a second.” He walked outside with me. “Are you going to be alright by yourself tonight?”
“Yeah, buddy,” I said, imitating him by sticking my thumbs up and pulling a face. “The lads get back tomorrow lunch time so by the time I’m awake, they’ll be getting back.”
“We could come by and see little Lillie and Gabby tomorrow morning. I’m coming over anyway so I could pick you up.” Niall paused. “I can bring you cake?” He paused again. “I’ll buy you ice cream and chocolate too.”
“Are you going to keep listing a bunch of things you’ll do for me until I say I’ll come with you?”
“Maybe,” Niall grinned. “I’ll buy you Nando’s.”
“I’m definitely in if you’re buying Nando’s,” I laughed. “I’m going to go anyway. I feel like it’s a 1D thing going on.”
“You’re still part of our family,” Niall shuffled around awkwardly. He looked so cute and adorable, like a little puppy. I wrapped my arms around him and gave him the biggest hug. As I leaned away, he leant in to kiss me. I jerked away.
“No, Niall,” I said, trying to act casual and see if anyone saw us. “Firstly, I’m with Nathan and we’ve just had the whole thing about him getting kissed by someone. Secondly, I was with Harry.”
“Yeah,” Niall said and stopped himself. “I’ll pick you up about ten tomorrow morning, yeah?” I nodded and Niall walked back in the direction of Gabby’s room.
“Hello, baby girl,” Charlotte said from the hallway.
Zayn walked into the living room carrying some baby stuff. Gabby followed with Charlotte following at the back with Lillie in her arms. She was three months old now. She was dressed up in a frog outfit. Zayn sat down next to me whereas the girls sat down on the opposite sofa.
“She looks too cute in that outfit,” I said to Zayn.
“Harry got that for her,” Zayn laughed. “He calls her his little Lillie pad. He’s bought too many outfits for her.”
“Auntie Charlotte bought you another outfit yesterday, Lils,” Char cooed and handed Lillie back to Gabby. Char rushed out of the room and returned within a minute or so. She held up a little Varsity jacket with 1D on the chest.
“Char, that’s really cute,” Gabby said. “It’s a bit big for her though isn’t it?”
“Yeah, she can wear it in a few months. But come on, she had to have it when that’s her daddy’s signature thing.” Char took Lillie back in her arms and started playing with her.
“Are you sure you’ll be fine looking after her for the weekend?” Zayn asked the both of us.
“Yes, mate,” I said, slapping him lightly on the back. “You and Gabby need a rest. Char’s looked after Lux a few times.”
“Alright,” Zayn sighed. He walked over to Char and knelt down so he was eye level with Lillie. “Bye, baby girl.” He kissed her head.
Zayn kissed Lillie’s head. He was the sweetest dad I’ve ever seen. My heart instantly melted. Gabby kissed and fussed over Lillie before she got up to leave. I think they both must have said goodbye to Lillie ten times each before they eventually left the flat. I sat on the sofa with Lillie on my lap for ages. Jay finally woke up just after midday, coming straight into the living room.
“That was a fucking good sleep,” Jay announced as he strode in, wearing nothing but some tight boxer briefs.
“Jay, language!” I said, covering Lillie’s ears and pulling her into my chest. “And put some clothes on. You’re going to traumatise her!”
“Shut up,” Jay laughed. “Hello, little baby.”
“She has a name,” I laughed as Jay lifted her into his own arms.
“Hello little Lilliepop,” he cooed over her. He started to sing I’m a little teapot. “You’re a little teapot, short and stout. Here is your handle.” He moved her arm to put her hand on her hip. She didn’t move it back as she was mesmerised by him singing. “Here is your spout.” He moved her other arm. “When you fill your nappy up, we hear you shout. Change your nappy, clean you out.” She gurgled and smiled. Jay pulled some more stupid faces at her. “Uncle Nathan wants a cuddle now,” Jay told Lillie.
Jay handed Lillie to Nathan. Nathan started to pull stupid faces at her. What is it with guys and the need to pull stupid faces at babies? Nathan laid down on the other sofa. He had Lillie resting on his chest. Her thumb found her mouth and she started to suck. I found myself just gazing at Nathan. Seeing Lillie falling asleep on his chest made me want him more. Nathan caught me staring at him and winked. I rolled my eyes at him. He is such a flirt.
“I think she’s completely fallen asleep,” Nathan whispered to me.
“Can’t hear you,” I teased. “The tele’s on too loud.” I only made up this excuse as I knew the remote was out of reach and he didn’t want to wake up Lillie.
“Yeah, you can hear me,” Nathan smiled. “Come here.” He beckoned me over to him. I didn’t move.
“I don’t want to disturb that look. It’s a gorgeous look for you. You need more pictures of this on the internet.” This led me to a brilliant idea.
I took my phone out of my pocket and pressed the side button to switch it into camera mode. I took a picture of Lillie sleeping on his chest. I took another one, and another one, and another one. I took one of just her on his chest. Nathan grabbed a hold of me around my waist and pulled me onto the sofa. He gently moved Lillie onto my chest and took my phone off of me. He took a couple of pictures of Lil on my chest.
“We should really put her in her cot rather than taking pictures of her,” I whispered.
“But you look even more gorgeous with her on you,” Nathan said and kissed me.
Nath took Lillie into his arms while I rolled off the sofa and stood up. I took Lillie back and put her in her cot in the spare room. I stepped out of the spare room and closed the door, being met by Nathan as I did. He pushed me against the door, putting both of his hands on it either side of my head. He kissed my lips and moved his right hand down to my hips, pulling me closer to him. He moved his kisses to my jaw and then started to kiss my neck.
“You two really need to get your own place,” Jay commented as he walked from the kitchen to his bedroom.
“Why don’t you move out?” I threw back.
Jay spun around while he continued to walk. “I was here first,” he grinned and winked, closing his bedroom door behind him.
“He’s right,” Nathan whispered in my ear. “We should find our own place.” He kissed my ear lobe.
“Yeah, we can look in a bit,” I winked and pushed him in the direction of his bedroom.
“I don’t want you to leave again,” I complained.
Nicole had come over to stay for a couple of weeks before she went off and did a shoot in New York. I hated the feeling I got every time she had to leave. We were currently sitting on the sofa in my flat. She was curled up on my lap while I ran my fingers through her hair.
“You know I have to,” Nicole said, nuzzling into my chest. “I have an apartment I’m paying for so I need to do shoots to pay for it.”
“What if you moved here?” I suggested.
“What?” Nicole said as she leaned away from me to see my face. I don’t think she could quite believe it.
“Move in with me, Nicole,” I offered. “Come on, it’ll be great. You won’t have to worry about getting money for rent or arranging flights to go to shoots from here to across America.”
“It’s not as simple as just staying here, Harry,” she smiled. “I have to get a Visa. My friend will have to start paying for full rent and I don’t know if she can afford it on that apartment. So we’ll have to give notice on leaving and that could be more money because it’s before our contract-”
I kissed her. “I’ll sort out any money issues, even if I have to give your friend the money for your load of the rent until the contract ends.”
“I can’t just leave my friend to live by herself while I fly over here and move in with you.” Nicole stood her ground.
“Okay, so you don’t want to move in with me. That’s cool.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to move in with you. Hang on, why do you want me to move in with you so badly, Mr Styles?”
I was in shock. He loves me. I love him too but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. The smile on his face kept getting bigger every time I tried to get over the shock of him saying it to me. I mentally slapped myself before I finally managed to get out, “I love you, too.” I smiled as he pulled me in closer to kiss me again. He then proceeded to lift me off his lap and jump around the living room, dancing to himself. I couldn’t help but laugh at him until he pulled me up and started making me dance about with him.
“I didn’t say I’d move in with you,” I joked and he stopped dancing for a second.
“But you love me and that’s all that matters in the world right now,” Harry said and flicked the TV on to an MTV channel. He took me back in his arms and started dancing around again.
“I don’t want to live in a house, yet,” I said to Nathan as we were looking through listings for places to live together. “Getting a house is like saying ‘I want to start a family.’ And I’m putting my foot down!”
“If you get a small house, it doesn’t say you want to start a family,” Nathan argued back. “You honestly want to move out of this flat, to move into another flat?”
“Yes, because I like living in flats. A house feels lonely.”
“A flat feels lonely if you’re by yourself.”
“Nu-uh, you have people making noise above and below you.”
“You have people living either side of you.”
“You do in a flat. Well, here we have the weird guy who lives opposite us.”
“That doesn’t really count,” Nathan said and started to do an impression of him.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his impression. He had managed to get it spot on. “Don’t make me laugh. I’ll wee myself,” I warned Nathan. He continued to do the impression, getting more ridiculous as I continued laughing. “Stop it!”
Charlotte left our room and ran to the bathroom. She returned a couple of minutes later with a fake moody face on.
“I just about made it, Nathan James,” she huffed, throwing herself onto the bed. “Make me do that again, I will make you feel pain.”
“How’s that?” I asked and crawled on top of her.
“Well, take in where my knees are at this moment.” I looked down between us. Her knees were between my legs. I rolled over and pulled her on top of me. “That’s unfair,” she said and sat up. She pulled me up so that I was sitting upright. One of her hands was on the back of my neck and the other was resting on my chest. She gently kissed me.
“Have you two finally stopped arguing about a new place and found something you both like?” Jay called from his room.
“We should really keep looking,” I whispered to Char. She rolled her eyes. “Come on, when we move into our own place, we can do that as much and as loud as we want. You know, unless we move into a flat.”
“I’m not moving into a house, yet, maggot,” Char teased and climbed off of the bed.
“So, eventually you want to move into a house?”
“Yes, but not yet. If we decided we wanted to settle down, I’d consider it.” Char looked at me over her shoulder from the desk. “You know, if the house was good enough for me.” She winked and turned back to my laptop.
I rolled off the bed and put my arms around her. I kissed her cheek and took control of the computer mouse. “We’ll look at both flats and houses, yeah?” She nodded next to me. “Wicked,” I mumbled into her neck and kissed her. I felt her shiver. I kissed her again and the same thing happened.
“What’s that?” Nathan asked, kissing my neck again causing me to shiver again.
“I don’t know, but it’s weird and nice and,” I said, closing my eyes as Nathan did it again. Lillie started to cry. “And you should stop because Lil is crying and someone should go see her.”
“Let me,” Nathan said, quickly kissing me again. He walked out to see Lillie.
I picked Lillie up out of her cot. I rested her against my chest as she calmed down slightly. I took her into the kitchen to sort out some food for her as it was about feeding time.
“What should we give you, eh?” I asked her, flicking the full kettle on. I made my way to the fridge and opened it. “What has uncle Jay bought to eat? There’s beer.” I pulled a beer out of the fridge. “You shouldn’t be thinking of that until you’re at least 15.” I placed the beer back. “What about some cold pizza from a few days ago? No, you can’t have that.” I shook my head. I heard a laugh behind me.
“You’re completely ridiculous,” Charlotte laughed. “If you feed her anything other than her baby milk, I will rat you out to Gabby.”
“Auntie Charlotte’s being a meanie.” I closed the fridge. “Should we start calling her Hester again?”
“Don’t you dare, maggot,” Char laughed and made faces at Lillie. She started to make up Lillie’s milk. After a few minutes, she tested it on her wrist and then handed me the bottle. “I’m going to go look at flats,” Char smirked and ran out the kitchen.
“Look at houses, too,” I yelled to her. “Now to fill your belly,” I said, placing the bottle gently into Lillie’s mouth.
That’s a nice flat; ctrl and click. That’s another nice flat; ctrl and click. Another flat; ctrl and click. And another; ctrl and click. I think I had about 20 tabs open at the top of Safari. All of the tabs were of nice flats I could find. No houses. Nathan had finished feeding Lillie and had put her back to bed before coming back into our room.
“How’s it going?” He asked, picking the laptop off the desk in front of me and sitting on his bed. “Flat. Flat. Flat. Flat.” He was clicking through the tabs. “Flat. Flat. Flat. Flat. I see a pattern here.”
“We could cut these down to say five? And then we could look at houses next,” I suggested, seeing if he believed me.
“Or you only want to look at flats. How about,” he patted the bed next to him, “I look at houses now while you choose flats on your laptop.”
“Send me the link to all 20 of them, then,” I grinned at him.
“I’ll go get your laptop from the living room while you make a shortlist of the ones you like most on here.” Nathan got off the bed and headed for the door. “And don’t,” he said turning to face me in the doorway. “Don’t just pick the pretty ones. Look at the area they’re in and that.”
I rolled my eyes once Nathan had disappeared out of sight. He reappeared a couple of seconds later with my laptop in his hands. He opened the lid of my laptop as he sat down on the bed. I suddenly remembered the last thing I was doing on my laptop.
“I’ll use my laptop,” I said, grabbing the laptop out of his hands and shutting the lid.
“What was that for?” Nathan asked, reaching for my laptop. I placed my hand on top of it.
“Could you make me a tea, please?” I pulled my puppy dog face.
“If you tell me what you’re hiding,” Nathan offered. He took his laptop out of my hands and was lifting himself on top of me. “What are you hiding?” He had his face close to mine, stroking his hand up and down my side.
“That won’t work, Nath,” I said, keeping my hand on top of my laptop. He smiled and kissed me. He kissed my neck, however this time I didn’t shiver. He made to put his hand in my hand but I didn’t move it off my laptop. Nathan rested his forehead on my forehead and for a split second, I thought I was looking into Harry’s eyes. I closed my eyes tight shut.
“Did I hurt you? I’m sorry,” Nathan said and pushed himself off of me.
I opened my eyes again. “No, you didn’t,” I said. “Why would you think that?”
“You looked like you were in pain. You shut your eyes really tight and scrunched your nose up.”
“No, I wasn’t in pain. Just something completely different popped up in my head and I wanted it out.”
“Has it got something to do with what’s on your laptop?”
“No,” I lied, sitting up properly now that Nathan was completely off me.
Okay, you’re wondering why I’m being so protective over my laptop. Well, before Nathan woke up this morning, I was browsing through old pictures of me and Harry. Yes, I know I shouldn’t be doing it. I’ve had the lecture off of Jay when he caught me this morning. That’s the reason the pictures would still be up on the screen when the laptop loaded. Jay walked into the room and saw me flicking through them in the photo gallery on the laptop. I then realised he was in the room when he said “Nathan’s grown his hair.” That’s when I closed the lid down and put it to the side. I didn’t want to get into that discussion with Nathan later.
“Alright, were you looking up something crude and disgusting that you’re too embarrassed to let me see?”
“Yes, I was reading some fanfics about Jaythan. You know, seeing if we could get him involved.” Nathan’s face dropped and a smile spread across mine. I tried to hold the laughter back.
“Jay,” Nathan shouted. “Char wants it on with you.” Nathan stuck his tongue out and winked.
“You fucking,” I started before Jay appeared in the doorway.
“Hey, Char,” Jay winked and tried to pull a ‘sexy’ pose against the door frame. I burst into laughter. One, because of pure embarrassment. And two, he looked really awkward trying to be sexy.
“I’m sorry. I do not have the seriousness in me after looking at ... Jay, what the fuck was that pose?” I managed to get out between fits of giggles.
“That was me being,” he threw himself against the door frame again. “Sexeh.”
“Oh dear god,” I laughed again. “My stomach hurts. Oh my god, I’m in so much pain!” I couldn’t stop laughing though.
Nathan rolled his eyes while laughing at me. “I’ll make you some tea to calm you down,” he said, forgetting about the laptop situation. As soon as I heard the kitchen door shut, I opened my laptop up. It took a minute or so to load up and for the pictures to come up on the screen. I closed the window and closed the laptop again. Nathan brought my cup of tea in to me. He placed it on the side and kissed me. He quickly grabbed the laptop and opened the lid up.
“It’s gone,” I smiled, picking Nathan’s laptop off the floor.
I think Nathan had dragged me around four flats today and two houses. We’d been up since half 7 and it was now around half six in the evening. I was nearly falling asleep in the car of the guy who was showing us around these places. My head was resting on Nathan’s shoulder. He did try to put his arm around me at one point but that made it uncomfortable. He sulked for about five minutes before he let me put my head back on his shoulder.
“We’re here, Char,” Nathan whispered in my ear as the car pulled up a driveway. I lifted my head off his shoulder. He was looking out at the house. I looked past his happy face and saw the house. My mouth instantly dropped.
Okay, everything I said before this moment went completely out of the window. We climbed out the car and were standing in front of a five bedroom, detached house in the outskirts of London. There was a long driveway up to the house with a pretty front garden. We were led into the hallway which was completely wood flooring. The stairs were on the right side of the hallway and led up to a landing. To our left was the living room and to our right was a small bathroom, with a toilet, sink and shower. Directly in front of us was the dining room which led to a kitchen to the back right of the house. The living room stretched the entire length of the house with French doors leading to the garden. The garden was patio flooring outside the living room and dining room with a decking area outside the kitchen. Next to the decking area there was a raised fish pond. The rest of the garden was grass. It was big enough to have everyone round for a big barbeque and party. The kitchen was massive. I rested my upper half of my body on the island in the middle.
“I think I could live here,” I said and hugged the counter.
“Where you belong, yeah? In the kitchen?” Nathan joked. I pulled an expression which could be described as me saying “oh no you didn’t!” “I’m joking, beautiful,” he laughed and kissed me.
We headed upstairs next. We looked around the master bedroom first, which was amazing. It had a nice big en-suite with shower, double sink and a toilet. The second bedroom was next. It shared an en-suite with the third bedroom. The fourth bedroom was on the right of the stairs and was the smallest on that floor. There was a main bathroom next to the fourth bedroom too which had a corner bath, toilet, sink and dressing table in it. The fifth bedroom wasn’t really a bedroom but it looked more like a room you have for the kids. It was in the loft area and was the area of half the house; the other half was for storage. It had massive floor to the tip of the roof windows along the back of the house. I sat down at one of the windows and looked out into the garden.
That was the moment I completely fell head over heels in love with that house.
“It’s a shame you don’t want a house,” Nathan smiled, standing by one of the other windows. He was looking out into the garden too. “I suppose we’ll have to look at the other houses and flats we’ve got left to look at tomorrow.”
“Nathan, why did you have to show me this one?” I asked. “This is perfect for a couple of years time. But I’m not even 22 yet and you’re only just 20. Let’s face it, we won’t be having kids for a couple of years yet. And we’re not going to find a house like this.”
“That’s why I’ve already bought it.”
“What?” I asked, shocked and completely breathless. “You’ve bought this house?”
“Yeah, I knew this was the house I wanted to end up in,” Nathan walked over to where I was sitting. He sat down behind me, putting his legs either side of me and leaning me back into him. “Remember when I was driving you to mine back at Christmas before we got together?”
“Yeah, we were talking about what we wanted,” I replied, looking up at him.
“Well, since then, I’ve been looking for the perfect house. You got me thinking. And I finally found this one and I couldn’t let it go. Hopefully, I’m with you when we move in here properly so that I can see our kids running around, in that big garden, with their friends.” I couldn’t help but smile while he talked. I didn’t want to admit it but I was thinking the exact same thing. I don’t think I could bring myself to move into a massive house like this yet though.
At nine, we realised we’d been sitting there for the best part of two hours. Nathan suggested that we get a taxi home as we’d told the guy showing us around that he could leave without us. Before the taxi pulled up, I turned to Nathan and put my arms around his neck.
“Thank you,” I said and kissed him.
“For what?” Nathan asked, kissing me back and smiling.
“I was taken the first night you moved in,” he said and kissed me like he’d never kissed me before.
With more passion and spark than I’d ever felt for him before.
“What number is it again?” I asked Kelsey. She was half asleep in the passenger seat of my car. She was supposed to be giving me directions to Nath and Char’s new house as the Sat Nav broke just as we left the flat.
“27,” Kelsey said, jerking up slightly to respond. “So, they’re not moving in to this house? They’re finding a flat to move into for the time being until they’re ready to settle down in the house. Is Charlotte crazy?”
I laughed. “No, she doesn’t want to feel grown up yet. Anyway, the house is being set up to be our studio for a bit so we can spend days in there away from everybody and write.”
“You hate me that much?” Kelsey smiled which caused her sunglasses to rise up slightly.
“I can’t stand ya,” I laughed.
It looked like we were the first to pull up. I parked my car next to Char’s Audi and we knocked on the front door. Nathan pulled open the door and I went in for a hug. Nathan hugged and kissed Kelsey on the cheek. Kelsey headed for the kitchen to find Char while Nathan started to give me a tour of the house. When we reached the kitchen, he grabbed two beers from the fridge and showed me upstairs. He’d already moved his piano into one of the bedrooms and Charlotte’s electric and acoustic guitar were set in the corner. Nathan sat behind his piano and started fussing with the keys. I picked up Char’s acoustic guitar.
“Happy birthday,” Kelsey squealed as she ran into the kitchen. She attacked me with a hug and kissed me on the cheek. “22; you’re getting old.”
“Ha-ha, shut up Kels,” I laughed. “You’re older than me. And Tom’s even older.”
“Who’s coming round today then?”
“You two, Max, Shell, Siva, Nareesha, Jay and the girl he’s starting to see called Lani. Then Gabby, Zayn and little Lillie, Louis, Liam and Niall are coming over. And Harry never got back to me but from what I heard, he’s sorting some stuff out with Nicole over in America at the moment.”
Kelsey’s mouth dropped as she took in how I spoke about it. “You’re not happy about...” she drifted off the subject as Nathan and Tom walked into the dining room.
“And here’s the kitchen,” Nathan was saying as he walked in. He kissed me on the cheek as he headed for the fridge to get a couple of beers out for him and Tom. “I’ll show you the studio.” They both left the room.
“As I was saying,” Kelsey turned to face me. “You’re not happy about Harry moving on.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, laughing nervously. “I’m happy he’s found someone he really likes. I’m happy he’s treating her well.”
“Snap out of it, Char. It’s you and Nathan who are meant to be together. Harry’s supposed to end up with someone else.”
Yeah, I know she was right. Niall had told me that Nicole was looking in to getting her visa so she could live over here. Whenever I tried to talk to Harry about anything, he either completely ignored me or would answer very basically. It felt like he didn’t even want to be associated with me anymore. He stopped coming to parties where all of us were getting together. Luckily, Niall still hung out with me from time to time and Zayn was always inviting me round to see Lillie and to hang out if Gabby went back to New York for a week with Lillie to see her parents.
Liam, Louis and Niall showed up not long after. Danielle had to fly over to the US for a couple of weeks for a dance rehearsal thing. Eleanor was on holiday with some of her friends for a week. So the boys were by themselves. Louis and Liam joined Nathan and Tom upstairs and we could hear a lot of music going on. Kelsey ran upstairs to join them. Niall put his arms around me and gave me a tight hug.
“Happy birthday,” he said and kissed me on the forehead.
“Thanks, Nialler,” I blushed lightly. “How’s your new girlfriend?”
Niall instantly blushed and couldn’t stop smiling. “She’s not my girlfriend but Kiara is amazing,” he managed to say in the end. “I always hoped I’d end up with a Directioner. But she’s not one of the crazy ones, thank god.”
Charlotte obviously thought of me like a little brother since the beginning. I still remember the first time I met her; I didn’t know what to expect to see before she opened that flat door. The first day we hung out and played on the Xbox, I knew I’d fall for her. Not fall completely in love with her but fall in to some kind of fascination. I would have liked to have fallen in love with her and get her to fall in love with me, but let’s face it. I’m not Nathan and I’m not Harry. I haven't got the green eyes, I haven’t got the brown hair and let’s face it, I haven’t got the looks in general.
When she joined me, the rest of the 1D lads and JLS at Harry and Louis’ flat for dinner that first night, I thought I might have a chance with her. Even talking to Harry while she and Louis were playing on the Xbox for a bit, I thought I had a chance. I knew I shouldn’t have told Harry I liked her. Harry hadn’t really made a move on her until I said that I was starting to like her.
That’s part of the reason why I can’t stand Harry right now. Not only did he make more of an impression on her, he fucked her over. Char’s one of the closest friends I have. I can be more my weird, Irish self around her. Harry absolutely hated the fact that I was still so close with her. He hated that Zayn had made me godfather and her godmother instead of Harry still being godfather to Lillie.
I would really like to be friends with Nicole but with the situation I’m in, it feels a bit uncomfortable. Nicole is lovely; she’s really sweet and friendly but I don’t think I could refrain myself from punching Harry if he cheated on her. I really hope that he’s learnt from his lesson and treats her the right way and spoils her. Well, from what he’s said to me, it sounds like she’s moving over to England to move in with him.
Standing in Char and Nathan’s kitchen, looking at Char, I felt exactly how I felt in the hospital the day Lillie was born. She looked gorgeous and happy then and she looks the exact same now. In fact, she looks even happier. Now, looking back over the last 18 months or so, I realised that no one would be able to have Char’s heart like Nathan does. Thinking back before she even got together with Harry, she seemed to have a pretty big crush on Nathan. I know she didn’t want to let anything happen as she’d only really started living with them.
When Charlotte and I met up between her catching Harry cheating on him and Harry getting out of the hospital, I remember how upset and torn up she was. Not only had Harry cheated on her with his ex, Nathan had gone over there and punched Harry and sent him to hospital. She was so angry and upset by the both of them that she didn’t know who else to call up and cry and vent to. She ended up making her way to mine and she stayed for the night. I could’ve kissed her then and made a move but there was a part of me that knew she wanted to be with Nathan; that she admired the fact that he went to Harry’s flat and hit him. All I did that night was act like a friend and let her cry on my shoulder and make her food and tea. How right was I that she wanted Nathan? The moment I saw a picture of the two of them kissing in the paper, I felt so happy for her.
I then remembered the morning that she found out that Nathan had kissed another girl; or should I say that another girl kissed him. I remember watching her face completely drop and her body collapse within itself. It was like watching something crumble from the inside. All I wanted to do right then was put my arms around her and hold her until the world was good again. When she asked me to leave so she could be by herself, I really didn’t want to leave but I knew she’d have a reason as to why she didn’t want to be around anyone. I was surprised when Harry called me just after I left her flat to ask for me to check up on her. I didn’t think he really cared about her anymore.
I just really want her to be happy. I wouldn’t let her be unhappy. The Directioners had finally left her alone now. They gave her quite a bit of grief about “cheating on Harry” even though it was the other way around. Management had told us that it was less harmful for the story to be her cheating on him than the truth. Harry and the rest of us had more to lose from losing fans than having fans throw hate at her. Luckily, she’s quite strong when it comes to strangers. She didn’t let them get her down that much. I guess having Nathan, and Harry moving on quite quickly, she had her mind concentrating on things other than what the fans had to say.
Louis, Liam, Tom and I were in the spare room, messing around on the instruments still. Everyone else was downstairs starting to drink and the barbeque was going in the back garden. The only people left to arrive were Max and Shell.
I looked out the window to see Max waving at me from his car. Great! Char’s birthday present was here. I ran down the stairs after telling the others to come downstairs too. I rushed over to Max’s car and lifted the little Border collie puppy out of the car. Char had no idea she was going to be getting a border collie. I think it was one of the first things I knew about her; her favourite dog was a border collie. We’d finally found a flat that we both liked and I made sure it was a flat we could have dogs in.
As Max, Shell and I made our way into the house, I had the nameless Border collie in my arms. I placed it into a box I hid in the cupboard under the stairs. I felt really bad because he pulled a sad looking face as I placed the lid on top. I’d made holes in one side of the box and placed that side facing me so that Char couldn’t see in. I got Max to get the cake off the side and take the cover off. He pulled his lighter out and lit the candles. He headed outside first, starting everyone off singing happy birthday. As soon as Char realised what was going on, she went red, covering her face with her hands and wanting to hide. I had the biggest grin on my face. Every single second, she has to do things which either remind me why I’m in love with her or give me another reason to be in love with her.
I stood beside her and put my arm around her waist, still holding the box in my hands. As everybody stopped singing, she stopped hiding her face and shyly smiled at everyone.
“Blow the candles out, then, Titch,” Max said.
“I swear, if you push this cake into my face, I will bottle ya,” she threatened, jokingly.
As she bent over to blow the candles out, I whispered in her ear. “Make a wish,” and she closed her eyes shut for a second before blowing them out. Once they were all blown out, she looked at me.
“I’ve got everything I need,” she said and kissed me.
“Cheesy,” I sang and kissed her nose. “Anyway, here’s your present from me. I know you said you didn’t want anything from the others, so they’ve bought us furniture for the house. But enough about them. Here you go,” I said and offered her the box.
Char pulled a suspicious face before reaching for the box lid. She kept eye contact with me and pulled the lid off. Only when the puppy had moved did she look down. Her mouth dropped slightly and she had frozen as she was. The lid dropped out of her hand and she looked at me again. Her hand went to her mouth.
“Hey,” she managed to get out to the puppy and lifted it out of the box. “How are you little...” She drifted off.
“Guy,” Max said. “Me and Shell have been calling him Rocky, haven’t we, Rockster?” Max fussed over the puppy for a bit before placing the cake on the table we had set up outside.
“Yeah, he’s not being called Rocky,” Char laughed.
“Yeah, he’s not having that name either,” I said, knowing exactly what was about to come out of her mouth.
“But I love the name Sammy for a Border collie.” Char picked the puppy out of the box and was carrying him in her arms. “Well, I’m not calling him Rocky.”
“How about Snoop then?” Max asked. Charlotte didn’t say it out loud but she told him to “fuck off.”
“Call him Roger,” Jay said, his arm wrapped around his new girlfriend, Lani.
“Ha, no!” I laughed. “He will be bullied at the park for that name! Mr McGuiness, I’m ashamed. You’re usually good at coming up with names.”
“What about Harry?” Nathan suggested. He was trying to mask a smile I gave him a death stare. “It’s a good thing that look doesn’t kill me.”
“Why don’t we call it Katie?” I jabbed back.
“Because he’s a boy, not a girl.”
“Well, you never definitely knew that about Katie, did ya?” I laughed. I put the puppy down on the floor. I stood back up and was met by Nathan’s arms around my waist. He turned me around so I was facing him.
“We wouldn’t call Teddy that,” he said, only a couple of inches away from my face. “It would be giving Katie a compliment.” I smiled. Nathan quickly kissed me before joining Max on the barbeque.
Teddy. I kind of liked the name for him.
“Tom, you wanna head out front and have a fag?” I called to Tom across the garden.
“Yeah,” he replied and ran over to join me.
We walked round to the front garden so we were away from Lillie. I’d already told Shell that when we were going to have kids, I’d give up smoking. She doesn’t believe me, but I will put everything into showing her how much I want our kids to be healthy.
“You nervous about the wedding, mate?” Tom asked, lighting his cigarette up. I pulled one out of my pocket and he lit it too.
“Not as nervous as I thought I’d be,” I said, taking a long drag. “Anyway, when are you popping the question to Kels?”
“We talked about it last night actually. Neither of us can be bothered to get married. Well, I wanna marry her but she can’t be bothered with planning it all and making a big fuss. So, I’m gonna buy an engagement ring anyway, ask her and then we can just get married at the registration office and then have a big piss up at a venue after.”
“You never know, she might change her mind after mine and Shell’s wedding in a couple of weeks.”
“She might. I’ll do whatever makes her happy. Call me whipped, but I know you’d do the exact same thing with Shell.”
“Is she pining for a baby yet?”
“No, actually. But none of us lot have kids yet. I want to see Seev have a kid first. He really needs to ask Nare to marry him. Their kid is going to look like some Greek fucking god, won’t it!” Tom cackled. I could actually imagine Nare having some God-looking baby; Siva’s cheekbones, jaw and lips while it had Nare’s eyes. “What about you? Thinking of having any kids yourself yet?”
“I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about it. Especially after seeing Shell making a big, old fuss over Lillie. But I don’t know if she’d wanna yet.”
“Well, maybe you could ask her now,” Tom looked at his feet and kicked the gravel around a bit. I looked behind us and Shell was making her way over to us.
“Heya, gorgeous,” I wrapped my arm around her and kissed her forehead. “Get bored?”
“Nah, I just missed you,” Michelle smiled at me. “Erm, Tom, could you leave us to talk for a bit?”
“Yeah, sure, babe,” Tom said, quickly finishing off his cigarette. He grinned at us both and went back to join everyone else.
“What’s up?” I asked, finishing my own cigarette and putting it out in my lager can. “You alright?” The look on Shell’s face was a bit worried. I pulled her into me and kissed the top of her head. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
She looked away, avoiding eye contact with me. “Max, I’m pregnant,” she looked back into my eyes and there were tears. She didn’t look upset though. She looked happy. I think me grinning like an idiot made her smile a bit more about it. “You’re going to be a dad, Max.”
I had no words to explain how I was feeling. I picked her up and span her around. I put her back down on the ground and kissed her.
Shell and Max came back into the garden. They were looking happy and like they’d been crying. Max put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her into him, kissing her forehead as he did. I saw him whisper “I love you” to her.
“We’ve got a big announcement,” Max said, placing his hand into Shell’s hand. Everyone’s attention was on them. “We’re going to be parents.”
Everyone burst into a round of congratulations.
Max was going to be a dad. Max was going to be a freaking dad! I really can’t wait to see Max with his child. Son or daughter, it doesn’t matter. He’ll be cute and lovely with either of them.
“How far are you along, Shell?” I asked as I hugged her.
“9 weeks,” she said, not being able to wipe the grin off her face. Max couldn’t either. They were so sweet.
“You’ve got the ring, right?” Nathan asked me down the phone as I got ready to pick Kelsey up from K2K.
“Yes, yes I’ve got it,” I said, checking my pocket for the millionth time. “I can’t find my car keys or my bank card though.” I continued to search and eventually found them in the living room next to the flat phone. “Got them. Anyway, I’ll let you know what she says.” I hung up on Nathan.
Kelsey was just about to finish a session at K2K. This was her life. The dream she achieved. I was so proud of her and this is how I wanted to do it. I wanted it to mean the world to her, getting engaged and spending the rest of her life with me. What better way than to start it at the place that means the most to her?
I was dressed up in a tux. I’d managed to keep it hidden for the past couple of weeks. I pulled up to the K2K London studio and I could hear that the class was still going on. I locked my car, putting my keys in the inside pocket of the jacket. My bank card was already in there. The ring was in its box in my trouser pocket. I checked again to make sure it was still in there. I opened the door to the studio and Kelsey instantly had a smile on her face. She was a bit confused as well, but the fact I turned up in tux in front of all her students made her smile. She finished the class and ran straight up to me after dismissing them. Her students didn’t leave though. She kissed me and I placed her back on the ground.
“Why are you all dressed up, Tomtom?” She asked.
“Well,” I let go of her and bent down on one knee. Kelsey’s students all gasped and some of them let out a little “awww.” Kelsey had her hands over her mouth in shock. I pulled out the box from my trousers. “Kelsey Hardwick, from the moment I met you and we had that stupid talk about fizzy Vimto, I knew you were the girl for me. You’ve been there through thick and thin. I couldn’t imagine another girl being by my side. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, on that note.” I opened the box to reveal the ring I’d bought from Tiffany’s when we were in New York. “Kelsey Hardwick, will you do me, Thomas Anthony Parker, the honour of marrying me?”
Kelsey stood there for a few seconds, completely frozen in the same position. I heard her trying to speak. “Of course,” she managed to whisper. “Yes, yes I’ll marry you Thomas Anthony Parker,” she said in a louder voice when she managed to get her voice back. I took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. Thank god it fitted perfectly. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. “I love you, Tomtom.”
“I love you too, Kelsey Belle.” I kissed her back. I had one arm around her back and swept her legs from under her. I carried her in the bridal position out to the car. Kelsey Ann brought Kels’ stuff outside for her. I honestly couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.
“Kelsey said yes to Tom,” Nathan yelled to me across our new flat.
I was lying on the floor in the bedroom. The carpet was so soft and fluffy that I found myself just lying down on it, slightly caressing it. Teddy was curled up next to me. He wasn’t quite asleep but I think he was drifting off. I heard footsteps down the hallway, heading to our room.
“Did you hear ... why are you on the floor again?” Nathan laughed, standing at the doorway.
“Come and lay down, seriously,” I said, stroking the floor next to me. Nathan laid himself down on the floor, turning his head so he was facing me. “How comfy is this?”
“Now I can see why you’ve been spending so long making love to it.”
“I have not been making love with it,” I giggled. “That would be so weird.” I sighed. “First Max and Shell are getting married next week. And they’ve got a baby on the way. Now, Kels and Tom are engaged. Next it will be Siva and Nare getting engaged -”
“Yeah, that’s happened already,” Nathan casually said.
“What?” I asked. I would say I was completely shocked but we were all waiting for it to happen. They’d been together for like six years now. “When did this happen?”
“Erm, a couple of days ago now. I swear I told you.”
“Does this sound like a person who knew about it?”
“It’s okay, I told them you said congrats to them too.”
“They’ll all be expecting us to do something next. Don’t get any ideas, Nath.”
“I won’t. We’ve only just got our own place.” Nath wrapped his arm around me and pulled me over the carpet towards him. He kissed me, rolling me on top of him. I couldn’t help but smile.
Teddy jumped on top of us. He started to lick my face. I’d pushed him off me a couple of times before he started to lick attack Char’s face. She started to giggle. We both knew why he was doing this.
“I’ll take him out,” I offered knowing that it would be easier for me to shove a pair of trackies and a top on than for her to get completely dressed. It wasn’t long before Teddy had gone to the loo and I was back in bed next to Char. She’d placed a pillow over her face and only had the sheet on the bed covering what she thought was necessary to be covered. I tilted my head as I looked her, confused as to why she had a pillow on her face.
“It’s cold on the other side,” Char said, opening her eyes and smiling at my reaction.
“You weird child,” I laughed.
“I’m not a child, I’m old!”
“You’re only just 22! You’re definitely not old.” I kissed her on the nose. “Anyway, aren’t you going for your final fitting of your bridesmaid dress tomorrow?”
She hid her face and made an inhumane sound underneath the pillow. “I’m going to look like a potato next to Kels, Shell and Nare.”
“You might do to others, but you never will to me,” I laughed at her being a moron. “Unless, you know, you get your face mashed up.”
“Oi,” she said as she lifted the pillow off her head and hit me with it. “That’s mean.”
I laughed at her. Her mobile started to ring on the floor where she was lying before. She climbed out of bed, taking the sheet with her to cover herself up and sat back down on the floor, picking her phone up.
“Hello,” I answered my phone.
“Hi, Charlotte Bailey?” The person the other end asked.
“Hi, this is Christopher from Capital FM. We’re holding our Summertime Ball in a week and I was wondering if you could host it for us? Our original host pulled out a couple of hours ago and a few of the acts have requested you to be host.” Christopher explained.
“Wembley stadium, Sunday 18th August.”
“Yeah, I can make that date,” I said as I gave a thumbs up to Nathan.
“Okay, have you got a pen and paper on you so I can give you all the details?” I quickly grabbed a pen from the bedside cabinet and a scrap piece of paper from the bin. “I’ll email you everything anyway but I’ll give you the main details now.”
I spent another half hour or so on the phone to Christopher. I had another job. Okay, it was a one off but it still was another job offer. And with Capital FM. Christopher said a few acts had requested me to host it. When I’d finished on my phone, I quickly googled the line up for the gig. Olly Murs, Tinie Tempah, Katy Perry, Lana Del Ray, Adele, JLS, Rizzle Kicks, Ed Sheeran, and others along with a special guest that would be announced during the event. Okay, I could have a guess at who would request me. I wondered who could be the special guest. I knew the lads weren’t playing as it’s Max and Shell’s wedding a week after and they would be too stressed to handle a gig as well. There was one band but I was pretty sure they wouldn’t do the Summertime Ball. Or would they?
I was standing with Christopher, going through the running of what was happening today. Everybody was going through sound checks right now and I was practising hosting in between their sets. I still hadn’t been told who the special guest was. I had heard they’d arrived but no one was telling me who they were.
“No way,” I heard a familiar voice behind me. “Char, what are you doing here?” I turned around and was nearly rugby tackled by Olly. “I haven’t seen you in like a year.”
“Yeah, I know,” I grinned back at him. I pulled him in for another hug. “You’ve lost weight haven’t you?” Olly raised his eyebrows at me. “Not that you were fat or anything. You just look more toned.”
“Yeah, well, after Harry told me not to come near you again, I decided to keep my mind off things by working out.”
“Well, it’s doing you goo- Harry said what?” I was confused. I thought Olly and I had stopped talking because the kiss had made things awkward.
“Err, never mind,” Olly said, starting to walk off towards the stage. “I’ve got to go to sound check. Catch up with you later, yeah?”
I shouted after him but he had disappeared on stage before I could say anything else. If this was true, I’m going to kill Harry. Christopher came back over to me and went through the rest of the day with me. Olly finished his sound check and went off to hang out with JLS. I was taken on stage to sort out all my bits. The last band was setting up their stuff for their performance. I glanced at the drum kit and on the base drum, the 1D logo was on the skin. I turned back to Christopher.
“Erm, is the headlining band One Direction by any chance?” I asked.
“Yeah, we were kind of leaving that until last minute with you as we didn’t know how you’d react to Harry being here.” Christopher spoke carefully with his words.
“I don’t have a problem with them. I mean, I see them all the time as I’m Zayn’s baby’s godmother. But does Harry know I’m here?”
“He didn’t ask who was hosting so I don’t know if he’ll know you’re here.”
“I’m finished now, right?” I asked Christopher. He nodded and said I was free to do what I wanted until the show actually started.
I ran off the stage, jumping down the last few steps and crashing into Niall. “Sorry, Nialler,” I apologised but looked around for Harry.
“Why are you looking for Harry?” Niall asked, holding me by the shoulders so I faced him.
“How did you-” I started to ask before Niall cut me off.
“You’re looking around all of us and he’s the only one who’s not here yet. Don’t worry, we’ve told him your here.”
“I need to speak to him,” I shot at Niall.
Char looked slightly hurt as she said “I need to speak to him.” Why was she so desperate to talk to Harry?
“Why?” I asked, tilting her chin so she looked at me.
“He’s a twat,” she snarled. “Who is he to ruin my friendship with Olly? Yeah, we kissed, but that doesn’t mean we were going to get on each other.”
Oh, she found out about Harry threatening Olly to stay away. I wondered when she was going to find out about that. We’d all been told not to say a word about it.
“Char, leave it be. Harry should be here in a second so please go find someone else to hang out with,” I asked and led her over to where some of the other acts were hanging out.
“Go on,” I said to Nicole. She was stood just on the edge of the backstage area. I’d managed to persuade her to apply to shoot for the show today. She got the job. “You’ve done the rest of the artists doing sound check. Now you have to shoot us.”
“Fine,” she rolled her eyes at me. “As long as you promise not to photobomb every one this time.”
“I can’t promise that, but I’ll try,” I suggested and grinned at her.
Nicole smiled and shook her head jokingly. I kissed her before Paul started to yell at me to get on stage. I whispered “I love you” to her and ran over to the others. We completed our sound check without any major problems. Liam’s microphone kept cutting out every now and then so he had to try with about three different ones before they found a good one. Nicole was in her shooting mode. She didn’t make eye contact with any of us; mainly focussing on getting the shots she needed to get. I tried to photobomb all her photos but Paul was yelling at me to pay attention and actually do the choreography properly.
Once we were finished with sound check, Nicole hung out in front of the stage. I was rushed off to have something to eat before the nerves kicked in. As soon as my nerves kicked in, I found it difficult to eat anything without feeling sick. We went into the canteen area and I immediately saw Char sitting with Olly and the JLS lads. My blood boiled. Okay, it happened about a year ago now, but the fact that Olly made a move on her made me want to hit him.
“Hey,” I said as I walked up to them. Olly immediately took his arm off the back of Charlotte’s chair. “You excited about today?”
“Yeah, mate,” Oritse said, smiling as he took a drink of water. “I still don’t think anyone knows you’re headlining today.”
“No, we had to keep it quiet so that we didn’t get massive groups of fans taking over the stadium. They can get aggressive.”
“Well, Liam’s just tweeted about it,” Niall said, already with a plate stacked with food. He took the seat next to Char and turned to chat to her.
“Yeah, I’ll see you in a bit,” I said to them all, looking mainly at Char. She completely avoided eye contact with me; only making conversation between Niall and Olly. “Char, can I talk to you?”
“Surely you can say it here?” Char said with a slight smirk on her face.
“Char, please?” I didn’t want to say anything in front of Olly. Char rolled her eyes and stood up. She followed me out into the corridor. “Why are you hanging out with Olly like that?”
“Like what Harry? Like friends?” She asked, crossing her arms in front of her stomach. “He told me why he never spoke to me after we kissed. How could you? He was just a friend. How could you threaten him?”
“He was trying to get on you! How would you feel if ... if ...”
“If Caroline kissed you while you were drunk? Or that she kissed you while you were sober. Oh wait; she did that! And more,” Char spat.
“But Olly’s still trying to get on you!” I tried to argue.
“Look Harry, I’ve moved on to Nathan and you’ve moved on to Nicole. You don’t see me commenting on every little thing you do so don’t comment on mine. Olly is just a friend. He will always be just a friend. You couldn’t see that but I know Nathan does. And yes, I told Nathan about it when he first got back from Australia. He knows that it meant nothing to me; that it was a drunken mistake. So, please just leave me alone.”
“Char, I just don’t want you to fuck everything up again.”
“Me fuck everything up?” She raised her voice. I heard the canteen quieten down a little. “I’m sorry, are you starting to believe the lies your management made up? You were the one who cheated on me!”
“You didn’t have a career at that point.” I argued back. “You had nothing to lose!”
“Oh, compared to you. Just because I haven’t got millions of fans across the globe, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve got more to lose, Harry! Yeah, you’d lose more if you hit rock bottom, but let’s face it. You will never hit rock bottom. You always have fans that stand up for you. If the truth came out about why we actually split up, you would have less hate thrown at you than I would. Do you know how many of your fucking “fans” told me that I should kill myself because I was causing you so much pain? Do you know how many of them told me I was an ungrateful bitch, slag, whore, you name it they called me it. There was a week where I spoke to no one. No one. I cried. I cried so much because of what they were all saying.” Char started to have tears build up in her eyes.
Why did he have to make me feel like this? I hated him so much. I really hated him. “I only let myself have that week to be like that. I wasn’t wasting any more of my time on getting upset by you. I still got a lot of hate tweets and that but I ignored them. I put on a strong front and pretended like I was okay.”
“Well, you were okay,” Harry snarled back at me. “You moved on to Nathan pretty quickly.”
“Oh, fuck off!” I said and pushed past him, no longer hungry for anymore food.
“I told you he was always trying to get on you. You didn’t believe me but it was true.”
I turned around in the corridor to face him. “You knew exactly how he felt about me before we got together.”
“I thought he would back off, but he still treated you like his fucking princess.” Harry came closer to me.
“He treated me exactly the same. And he didn’t treat me like a princess. He treated me like a friend. You treated me like the girl you were fucking for the nine months we were together.”
“That’s not true.” Harry looked hurt. He shook his head. He lowered his voice. “That’s completely not true.”
“... You treated me like the girl you were fucking for the nine months we were together.” Char spat at me.
Was that really how she felt I treated her? The way she said it made it feel like she’d taken a knife or a dagger and plunged it through my gut.
“That’s not true,” I started to shake my head. I moved closer to her. “That’s completely not true.” I lowered my voice and noticed how quiet the canteen and the corridor were. “I mean every word I said to you. I honestly did love you.”
“No, don’t do this, Harry,” Char said and stepped away. “Harry, don’t fuck me about.” She continued to back away.
“No, Char, look, I completely regret everything. I wish I’d never texted Caroline back. I wouldn’t have gone to hers, I wouldn’t have kissed her and it wouldn’t have led to anything. I wish I’d never fucked things up between us.” I wiped the tears from my eyes before anyone could see them fall.
Char didn’t say anything. She looked into my eyes and shook her head. She bit her lower lip, refraining herself from crying or saying anything else. She turned around, ran up the corridor and around the corner. The same corner that Nicole came round a second after Char had disappeared. Nicole had a look of disgust on her face as she ripped the necklace around her neck off. The necklace I bought her the day I asked her to move in with me.
“Nicole,” I called. She walked straight up to me. I saw her fist curl up in a ball. She swung out to hit me. I let her. It was more powerful than I expected. I fell to the floor where she threw the necklace at me. I deserved it. I am such a dick.
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have punched him. He was about to go on stage in front of something like 90,000 people. He had a few hours; it should be fine by then. Or swollen so much he won’t be able to sing. Do I go back to him and apologise or do I keep my distance? No matter what I do, I’ve got to stay to shoot the gig.
I realised I was still carrying my feet along the corridors backstage. I had my camera in my bag on my shoulder. Between swearing at myself and swearing at Harry, I heard someone crying. I followed the sound until I reached Charlotte. I stood there for a second not knowing whether to be annoyed at her just because she’s making Harry like this by being here or whether to feel sorry for her because of what Harry brought up when they were arguing. I started backing away when she looked up.
Why was I crying over him? I was so pathetic. I’d managed to find a corner that I could fit in and hide myself. I had my knees under my chin and my arms wrapped around my legs. I heard someone walk nearby and track their footsteps back to where I was. I left it for a second thinking they’d move on but I didn’t hear them leave. I looked up and was met by Nicole looking a bit confused with herself.
“You don’t have to be nice to me,” I said, wiping the tears off my face with my cardigan.
“No, I don’t,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to think.” She sat down next to me and put her arm around my shoulders.
“Honestly, go speak to Harry,” I urged her.
“I punched him.” She looked down into her lap where her hand was resting. “I moved over here for him and he does this. How did you stay with him for so long?”
“He can be really sweet and lovely. I gave up on him on the first proper argument we had. We had arguments before but not like when he slept with Caroline. That’s why you should get back to him.”
“He still really cares about you. It sometimes feels like he cares about you more than he cares for me. Like, for example, when Nathan and that other girl kissed, all he wanted to do was go round to yours and make sure you were okay.”
“Did he ask you if it was alright first?” I asked.
“Erm, yeah. I kind of asked him not to.” She glanced at me to see if I was pissed off or not. “Only because I didn’t know if he’d do to me what he did to you. He told me about the real reason you two split up on our third date, I think.”
“He’s told you more than he’s told the fans. That’s one thing you should give him.”
“Can I ask you one question?”
“Ask me as many as you want,” I offered. Nicole started playing with her bag.
“Do you remember the first time he said he loved you?” She asked, still playing with her bag.
“Yeah, are sure you don’t want to ask about something else?”
“No, I just need to know. Did he mean it?”
“Yeah, has he not told you he loves you?”
“Yeah, he told me a few weeks ago. He wanted me to move in with him and I asked why he was so desperate and he told me he loved me.”
“And you’re living with him now, right?” I asked and Nicole nodded. “That’s one step ahead of what we were.”
“You never moved in together?”
“Nope,” now I was fussing with anything I could get into my hands. I glanced at Nicole. She was giving me a questioning look. I sighed. “He was always out of the country and I was so close to Nathan and Jay that I didn’t want to move out. Harry didn’t want to get our own place because he would hardly be there. We just made excuses not to live together.”
“But you and Nathan have moved in together,” Nicole said, rubbing my back. “Not only do you have a flat together, Nathan went and bought you a house.”
“How do you know all this?” I asked, smiling that she knew her stuff.
“I do talk to all the 1D boys. Liam and Zayn told me all about the party you had at your house for your birthday. Sorry we couldn’t be there.”
“Hey, no problem. Niall said you were sorting out stuff for moving here. I really think he loves you. He’s probably scared that you’re not going to take him back.”
“Well, after I punched him, I did kind of throw my necklace back at him.” She saw my face asking her to explain. She threw her head back against the wall and sighed. “He got me this necklace after he told me he loved me and asked me to move in with him. He said if we were to break up or anything, if I gave him the necklace back, that was my way of saying it was over.”
“Go and get the necklace back,” I said, standing up and turning to Nicole. I grabbed her wrists and pulled her up. I kept a hold of her wrists and half-dragged her back to the canteen. We were met by Niall.
The canteen was silent. All we could hear were Charlotte and Harry yelling at each other. It sounded like most of the shouting was coming from Charlotte, even if she sounded on the verge of tears. All of sudden, the voices were lowered. I walked over to the door and stuck my head out. Harry was close to Char.
“I honestly did love you,” Harry said to Char.
“No, don’t do this, Harry,” Char said, stepping away from him. “Harry, don’t fuck me about.” She kept backing away from him.
“No, Char, look, I completely regret everything. I wish I’d never texted Caroline back. I wouldn’t have gone to hers, I wouldn’t have kissed her and it wouldn’t have led to anything. I wish I’d never fucked things up between us.” Harry wiped his face but Char continued to back away from him, shaking her head before she turned around and ran. All of sudden, Harry shouted out Nicole’s name. I thought he was shouting the wrong girl’s name when I saw her, fist clenched, walk up to Harry and smack him round the face. She threw something at him while he was on the ground. She ran off too.
“Harry,” I said, running over to him and bending down. “Harry, what the hell were you doing?”
“Can you go and get Nicole, please?” Harry asked. He sounded like he was going to cry. I agreed to find Nicole.
“Nicole, Harry really wants to see you,” Niall said, slightly out of breath from running to look for her. Niall looked sheepishly at me and then back to Nicole.
Nicole sighed. “Where is he?” She asked. Niall put his arm around her and led her in the direction of Harry.
I decided to kind of blend into the background. I’d eaten lunch so I headed back to the stage area as the crowd started to fill the stadium.
“Now, we’d like to welcome back on stage a very good friend of ours,” I announced.
“We would?” Louis asked me. The rest of the lads also shot me confused looks.
“Charlotte, can you come and join us?” I asked through the microphone.
“What are you doing?” I heard Paul saying in my earpiece. The lads were asking the same thing.
“Trust me on this,” I reassured them.
“Why is he asking me to go up on stage?” I asked Christopher as he started to set me back up with my earpiece and handed my microphone back to me.
“No one knows. Just don’t fuck up,” Christopher said and nudged me in the direction of the stage.
I was welcomed by some boos and some cheers. I walked over to the lads, trying to place myself between Niall and Zayn. Harry pulled me in between him and Liam. I put a fake smile on.
“What are you doing, Harry?” I asked through gritted teeth.
The music for What Makes You Beautiful started to play. All the lads became quite confused but played along. Liam nearly missed the moment where he was supposed to start the first verse.
“Harry, tell me what the fuck you’re doing,” I started to sing in tune with Liam’s verse.
“Everyone else in the stadium can see it,” Harry sang to me. “Everyone else but you.”
They all joined in with the chorus. I tried to look for Nicole in the front but the only photographer I could see was a young lad. When Zayn’s verse started, Zayn grabbed my hand tight and pulled me forward to start walking down the runway through the crowd. When Harry’s bridge came up again, Zayn pulled me close to him.
“We don’t know what he’s doing, Char,” he said. It was loud enough for me to hear. The chorus kicked in and my cheeks were starting to hurt from the smile I had on my face.
It was coming up to Harry’s solo. He held my hand and pulled me into him. I looked into his green eyes. Just like that, just for the moment, everything went out of my head. “Baby you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,” Harry sang. He pulled me in closer; our noses touching. His forehead rested against mine. I was starting to remember everything good that happened between us. I couldn’t pull myself away. “And when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell,” Harry finished singing. I blacked out. The next thing I remembered was pulling away from Harry, chucking my microphone down and running off stage.
That couldn’t have just happened. I took my earpiece out and handed it to a member of the crew. I didn’t stop running after that. I ran to my dressing room, grabbed my stuff and made my way to my car. I placed my bag on the passenger seat and heard my phone vibrating. I pulled it out of its compartment in the bag.
“Titch, you need to explain,” Max said before I could even begin to say hello. “Just be thankful that Nathan hasn’t got a phone with Twitter on at the moment. Why am I seeing pictures of you and Harry kissing on Twitter?”
“Because I’m a twat,” I said. I couldn’t cry; I just felt numb. “He did what he always did and I couldn’t pull myself away. Please keep Nathan busy and away from Twitter and Tumblr and anything that could have the pictures on.”
“I’ll try my best, Titch,” Max said and hung up.
I shoved the car key into the ignition but didn’t turn the engine on. I sat forward, holding my stomach and resting my head on the steering wheel. How could I fall into the same trap? I was angry at myself. It wouldn’t have been as bad if it had happened in the corridor earlier. But the fact it happened in front of 90,000 people made it 90,000 times worse. 90,000 people with cameras and phones. Something that can happen within a second can be captured, spread around the world in minutes and kept there forever.
I turned the engine on in my car and looked around me to pull away. Nicole was standing in front of my car. I could tell by the look on her face that she’d seen what happened. I turned the engine off and climbed out of my car.
“Nicole, I’m so sorry,” I apologised as I walked up to her. “I don’t know what happen-”
Her hand came to my face. My cheek was stinging. “You were the one who told me to take him back,” she said.
“I know,” I sighed. “That was .... That was nothing, Nicole. I don’t even know what happened.” I couldn’t quite look her in the eye. After telling her that he was in love with her and then he did that – we did that – I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. I felt too guilty. “If I were you, I’d go speak to him.” I turned away from Nicole and sat back in my car.
I watched as Nicole headed back into the stadium. I pulled away and took the long way to drive home; putting off Nathan for as long as I could bear.
I pulled up outside our block of flats. Nath was presumably in as his car was still in its parking space. Grabbing my bag off the passenger seat, I climbed out my car, shut the door and locked it as I headed towards our building. I reached our flat and let myself in. Teddy didn’t run up to me. I looked around the flat.
“I guess Nath took him out for a walk,” I said to myself.
I suddenly had the feeling that I was completely alone. All I could hear was my footsteps on the wood flooring. I couldn’t hear anything from upstairs or below. It was silent and I felt alone.
“Looking forward to the wedding?” I asked Max. He came round with his and Shell’s pug, Winston. He insisted we took the dogs for a walk.
“Yeah,” Max replied, a massive grin on his face. “Just hopefully nothing goes wrong in the next week.”
“Mate, everything’s sorted, ain’t it?”
“Yeah, but you don’t know if everything will run smoothly until the day. If Tom gets up and says anything stupid at the ceremony, I will turn around and punch him.”
“What if he still has feelings about that kiss?” I laughed.
“That was one time and it was us being stupid. Everyone who knows it happened knows it was nothing.” Max couldn’t help but laugh.
Yes, the boys did have a Tomax moment. It was very early on, when the band first started. Max and Tom got on really well since we all first met as a formed band. We decided to have a house party a couple of days after we moved into the first house. Max and Tom disappeared for a few minutes only for Jay to find them kissing each other in Tom’s room. The next evening, after everyone had gone home, we absolutely terrorised them. Max said he had no problem with people knowing; he didn’t have a problem with a drunk kiss but he knew he wasn’t gay for Tom. Tom piped up and kept saying “I’m not gay!”
“Honestly, mate, I don’t think he’ll say anything,” I said. “He’s excited that he’s best man and you allowed him to give a speech at the reception.”
“I’m gonna regret that later.” Max laughed.
We continued to walk around the park. Teddy was running up to anyone that was willing to say hello to him. We did get him at a late stage of his puppyness. He still looked like one but he was four months old so he wasn’t tiny. But now, he had all his jabs and that so he could see other dogs.
Teddy absolutely loved Winston. They’d play with each other and chase each other. They were like our little kids. When we were out in public, Winston was the well-behaved one who would walk nicely beside anyone who was walking him, whereas Teddy would start off well and then as soon as we get to the park, he’d want to chase and play with anything that moved.
Max and I found a bit of grass to sit down on. Max let Winston off his lead. Winston trotted around for a minute or so before placing himself between me and Max. Teddy wasn’t allowed off so he lay down and rested his head on my lap. I stroked his head and his tongue flopped out of his mouth as he started to pant lightly.
“Have you heard from Char at all today?” Max asked.
“She text me earlier to say that a bunch of acts were happy she was there,” I said, pulling my temporary phone out. It was an old Samsung so I had no Twitter and no Facebook. “I think she’s happy to see Olly again. She mentioned that Niall and Zayn and that were the secret headliners.”
“Really?” Max pulled his fake shocked expression.
“I’m guessing she already told you?”
“Saw it on Twitter,” he said casually.
“Who announced it in the end?”
“Dunno, I saw pictures of the gig on Twitter.”
“Wicked, can I have a look?” I asked, reaching my hand out for him to give me his phone.
“My battery’s nearly dead, mate,” Max said while he hovered his hand over his pocket.
“Why are you being so protective over your phone?” I asked, confused as he usually wasn’t like this.
“I’m not. Look, just leave it.” Max said, standing up and putting Winston’s lead back on. Teddy was instantly up on his feet with his tail wagging.
I stayed sitting on the ground. Max shifted around awkwardly on his feet. He looked around and saw something that caught his eye. Next thing, he’d pulled me up onto my feet by grabbing my arm, and was pulling me in the direction of home. Halfway back, I looked behind us and noticed there were a couple of paps following us.
“Nathan!” They started to shout. “Oi, Nathan!”
“Ignore them, mate,” Max said, still with a grip on my arm.
“Nathan! What’s the situation between you and Charlotte?” One of the paps started to shout.
“What are they talking about?” I laughed. I managed to get out of Max’s grip and turned around. “We’re still together. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“She was seen kissing Harry Styles at the Summertime Ball,” a pap said, constantly taking pictures.
“Several thousands of people saw it happen on stage,” someone said. “There are pictures all over the internet.”
“Is this true, Max?” I asked, feeling numb from the pain. “Is this why you wouldn’t let me see the pictures?”
Max avoided eye contact with me. How could she? After everything with Katie, she went and did this. Max put his hand on my back and tried to get me to walk away. I pushed his hand off me and took a tighter grip on Teddy’s lead. I saw a taxi heading our way so I stuck my hand out to call it over. It pulled up and I climbed in.
“Sorry, buddy, I can’t let you bring the dog in,” the taxi driver said.
“It’s just round the corner,” I argued and gave him my address. The taxi driver sighed and started to drive. The taxi pulled up to our flats. I handed him a fiver and made my way inside. Teddy was let off his lead once I’d closed the door to the block and he automatically headed straight for the lift, waiting at the door for me.
The lift seemed to take forever. How could Char kiss Harry? How could he kiss her when he had Nicole and he knew Char has me? “Nathan, you don’t know what happened yet,” my head said. “Find out before you start making assumptions.” But what if he grabbed hold of her and kissed her until she could push him off? I can’t believe he kissed her. How dare he! “Nathan, it could have been her,” my head spoke again. She wouldn’t be the one to kiss him, surely. Oh god, what if she did force herself on him? What if he was the one who had to push her off? Did either of them push away? What about Nicole; did she see?
The voice in the lift announcing its arrival on the sixth floor knocked me out of my train of thought. Teddy ran ahead to the front door of our flat. It was unlocked. Char was back. I followed Teddy into the kitchen, thinking he was going to head straight for her. Instead, he wanted a drink.
“Char?” I called out. My throat felt dry and my voice was crackly because of it. I swallowed a few times to moisten it. “Char?” I called out again.
The first place I looked was our bedroom. The wardrobe cupboard door was slightly open. I threw the door open and she was huddled against the back. Her arms were around her knees and she looked up at me. She had the same expression that a little kid has when they know they’ve done something wrong and they’re waiting for you to yell at them for it.
“How could you?” I asked. My hand was still gripped on the door handle.
“I’m so sorry,” she whimpered. “I don’t ... I ... what ...” she broke down.
I couldn’t see her like this. But I was so frustrated and angry with her, Harry and even myself that I couldn’t bring myself to comfort her. Without saying anything, I grabbed a bag from the floor next to her and started to pack.
Nathan bent down towards me. I thought he was going to comfort me; tell me everything was alright and that he was there. Obviously not forgive me as I knew he was pissed off and hurt but I thought he’d wrap his arm around me. I thought he’d act like he did when I’d told him what happened with Olly. Instead of comforting me, he reached for one of his bags. He took it over to the bed and started to pack some things.
“Nathan,” I cried. “No, please, don’t. I’m honestly sorry.”
“I’m gonna go stay at the house for a few days,” Nathan explained without looking at me.
“What about the wedding?” I asked. I didn’t want him to leave. “Nath, please don’t leave.”
“I’ll see you at the wedding,” he said.
Nathan finished packing and zipped the bag up. He grabbed his laptop off the desk and slid it into its case. He placed the strap over his shoulder. Nath turned to face me.
“I’m so sorry, Nathan.” Tears were stinging my eyes. “Just please don’t leave me here.”
“I’ll see you at the wedding, Char,” Nath said. I could see it was hurting him. He looked into my eyes one last time before he grabbed his bag and headed towards the door.
“Nathan. Please. Just stay.” I was begging now. “Nathan!”
Nathan grabbed his keys off the side, opened the door and left. I was alone again. Teddy nudged my leg with his cold, wet nose before he let out a whine. Even he knew that Nathan leaving was a sad thing.
I ran from where Nathan had left me to his and Char’s block of flats. Winston was struggling to keep up. The paps followed me. At least they’d stopped taking pictures. I was about to walk up to their block when Nathan blew the door open. I saw his laptop bag on his shoulder and another bag in his left hand. The paps instantly started to take pictures.
“Do you have any respect?” I snarled at them. I turned in Nathan’s direction. “Oi, Nath,” I shouted and ran over to him. “Where are ya going?”
“To the house for a few days,” he answered bluntly before throwing his bag into the boot of his car. He placed his laptop down carefully.
“What about you and Char?” I held the boot open, refraining him from shutting it and leaving.
“We’ll see,” he shrugged. I couldn’t make out if he was more hurt or upset. “Max. Let me go.” He was pleading slightly.
“Just as you promise me something,” I asked. He nodded. “Don’t give up.”
I let go of the boot, knowing this was going nowhere. He slammed it shut and sat in his car. I stepped back as he pulled out of the car parking space and drove off. I picked Winston up off the ground and carried him inside of Char and Nath’s block. I let myself in to their flat as the door was unlocked. I put Winston down on the ground and headed straight for the main bedroom. The wardrobe cupboard door was open. I looked in and Char was huddled together with Teddy licking the tears off her cheeks. I sat myself beside her and held her in my arms. She burst into a new set of tears. I kissed her head and held her still. I’m not too sure how long we stayed like this.
I’d retreated back to my spot in the cupboard. Teddy joined me and as I started to cry, he edged closer and began to lick the tears falling down my cheeks. I started to smile. But the person I wanted to shout out to, to get him to see this, was currently in a pissed off mood, driving to our house. After a couple of minutes, I heard the front door close. I tried to say Nathan’s name but my voice got caught in my throat. I heard footsteps until they got to the bedroom. Max stood in front of me, watching Teddy lick my face. Max sat down next to me and wrapped his massive, musclely arms around me. I burst into tears again. He kissed my head and held me.
“Tomtom?” Kels shouted from the living room.
“Yeah, babe,” I yelled back. I was in the kitchen making tea.
“Erm, can you come and tell me if these are old pictures?” She asked as I carried our mugs to where she was sat. She turned her laptop to face me.
There were pictures of Harry with his arms around Char. Her arms were by her side and he was kissing her. I noticed in the background of some of the pictures that they were taken at the Summertime Ball.
“They were definitely taken today,” I said, pointing out the Capital FM logo along with the Summertime Ball logo in the background.
“What is Harry doing? It looks like she’s being kissed by him, right?” Kelsey asked.
“Yeah, are there any videos?” I asked, sitting down. Kelsey shrugged. “Can I borrow it for a bit?” Kels nodded and handed me the laptop.
I logged on to the band’s Tumblr account. There’s one blog that Jay and I know about and we know she has all the facts. She only posts pictures and videos; she rarely posts just text posts as they are not proof. I clicked on her ask button and typed:
Hey Emma. There are a bunch of pictures
of Char and Harry. Have you got any
It was a minute or so before a reply came up in the inbox.
Yeah sure, Tom. Here’s a bunch.
Mind me asking why? – Em x
I want to see who’s in the wrong – Tom x
A few seconds later, Emma replied:
Okay. From the looks of the videos, Harry
instigated it but Char didn’t pull away for
a second or so. My friend went so I’ll have
more info later. If you need/want it. – Em x
Cheers Emma. You’re a babe and one of
the most helpful people I know. – Tom x
Emma didn’t reply. I had a feeling she was saving that message. We had an agreement that I would leak information to her – it was always information she was allowed to leak when I gave her the go ahead – in return, any news or gossip she had, she would tell me without a second thought. I’ve met her a few times and she’s a lovely sweet girl who loves all of us. She doesn’t have a favourite as she says “it’s unfair to choose one over the rest of us.”
I watched all the videos she linked me to. I watch how Harry called her on stage, how they started singing, how Zayn acted like a brother and took her away from Harry for a bit. I then saw Harry – during his solo – pull Char into him. She looked confused. Then as he pulled her in closer and you saw their eyes meet, it looked like they were back in their couple stage again. He rested his forehead against hers as he sang “and when you smile at the ground, it ain’t hard to tell.” He pulled her in and kissed her.
He arms were still limp by her sides for a second – literally a second – before she pushed him off her, threw the microphone on the ground and ran. I watched this happen on all five links Emma had given me. I grabbed my phone off the coffee table and dialled Nath’s number. Jay answered.
It felt so nice to finally have somewhere I could go and practice my drumming without being yelled at by the neighbours. I was hanging out in Char and Nath’s house. One of the bedrooms was set out as a recording area, another bedroom had Nath’s piano and Char’s guitars in, and the smallest bedroom had my drum kit in.
I was slamming away, practising Last To Know when I heard a car pull up outside. It was Nath’s car. I went downstairs to meet him.
“I’m not in the mood for talking, mate,” he said, grumpily as I opened my mouth. He went straight upstairs and the door to the master bedroom slammed shut. I left it an hour before I knocked on the door. There was no reply but I walked in anyway. Nathan was lying on the King size bed. He wiped his face before turning to face me.
“What’s happened Nath?” I asked, lying down on the bed next to him.
“Harry and Char kissed,” he mumbled.
“What? How do you know that?”
“A pap told me,” his voice started to wobble slightly. “Then Max pretty much confirmed that he’d seen the pictures.”
“Have you seen the pictures?”
“No, I don’t want to. I’ve seen them kiss a million times; I do not need to see them kiss again.”
Nathan went silent, trying to think of a good enough reason. He went to start an excuse but stopped himself before any words left his mouth. He was saved by his phone starting to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“Jay? I swear I called Nath,” he started, confused by my voice.
“You did. He’s kind of gone mute.”
“Right, can you tell him that I got some videos off of Emma and it shows that Harry started the kiss and Char pushed him off after like a second. It’s like the Katie kiss but without the alcohol.
“But with the history. But yeah, I’ll tell him.” Tom hung up and I handed Nathan his phone. “Tom’s been watching videos Emma has sent him.”
“Who’s Emma?” Nathan asked. I completely forgot that it was only Tom and me that talked to her on Tumblr.
I quickly explained the whole Emma situation. “Anyway, people sent videos to her. And Tom watched them all and said that Harry instigated it all and although Char didn’t stop him, she did push him off after a second.”
“She didn’t stop him from kissing her!” Nathan growled.
“Mate, no offence, but do you not remember a few months ago? You weren’t exactly in a rush to push Katie off. And how guilty did you feel?” Nathan mumbled something into the duvet. “And where’s Char right now?”
“At the flat,” Nathan replied properly.
“So, she didn’t stay there?” I asked and Nathan shook his head. “I think you should go home and talk to her.” I rubbed him on the back.
“No, I’m gonna stay here. Clear my head until the wedding,” I said.
In reality, I didn’t want to have the talk of what happened with her. She’d get into tears which would make me want to hold her in my arms. How could she kiss him though; even when she knew what he is like?
Jay decided, after an awkward couple of minutes silence, that he’d leave me be. I was glad. All I wanted to do was have a day or so to myself and think. Think if Char and I should be together.
“I’m gonna leave now, yeah,” Max said.
We were standing in the hallway. I had latched myself onto his chest, not wanting him to leave. “Come on, Titch. I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go to Manchester before the big day to make sure the house is all set up for the reception.” Max pulled my arms away from his chest. He bent down a little so he was eye level with me. “Titch, Seev and Nare are bringing you up the day before the wedding. Now, because you and Nath,” he hesitated. “Right, because of your situation, you’re staying in one of our spare bedrooms instead of sharing a hotel room with Nath.”
“Thanks, Max,” I said and stepped away from him. Max wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in to kiss my head.
“See you the night before the wedding, Titch.” And Max left the flat.
A couple of minutes after I watched Max’s car leave the car park, there were a couple of knocks on the door. I looked through the peep hole to see Harry standing there.
“Go away, Harry,” I said, not opening the door.
“Char, can we just talk?” Harry asked.
“No!” I realised I sounded like a child.
“Look, I’m just going to stay here until we talk.”
“Charlotte, please let me explain.”
“I’m not stopping you but I won’t listen.” I walked towards the kitchen and slammed the door shut. I stayed in the hallway, sliding myself down on to the floor.
“Char, I shouldn’t have done it,” Harry started. “I was an idiot. I wanted to get you on stage to thank you for hosting today and then the band started and we couldn’t stop them. And then I was a twat by playing along with what the crowd were expecting. I don’t know if they were expecting it but it’s what I felt they wanted. I don’t even know why I would do it; you have Nathan and I had Nicole.” He paused for a few seconds.
Did he just say “had” instead of “have”? No! Nicole couldn’t have. I was about to say something when he spoke again.
“But we were there, in the moment. As soon as I’d looked into your eyes again, I was gone. I was yours. I couldn’t pull myself away. Char, please just answer your door.” There was a pause. “Charlotte?” He yelled.
“Oi!” A new voice yelled. “Leave her alone.” The voice grew closer. “You ruined their relationship. Do you know that?” It was Jay. I heard something slam against the wall beside the front door.
I jumped up from where I was sitting and skidded into the door. Teddy had run from his bed in the bedroom to my side as I unlocked the door and threw it open. Jay had Harry pinned against the wall.
“You’ve fucked things up twice now,” Jay snarled at Harry. Harry looked genuinely scared. His face had gone white. “Now you need to fuck off. For good!”
“Jay!” I half-shouted. “Get off him.” I walked up to Jay and pulled his hands away from Harry. I placed myself between the two of them. There was about an inch between mine and Jay’s body and no gap between mine and Harry’s.
“You can’t just let him get away with it,” Jay panted. The adrenaline finally caught up with him and wearing him out.
“Jay, just get in the flat,” I said. I pushed him away from Harry and in the direction of the door. “Now.” I added as he opened his mouth to say something.
“Thank you,” Harry said once Jay had made his way into the flat. I moved away from his body only to be pulled back into him. He turned me around and hugged me.
“You need to leave,” I said. I pulled away from the hug. “Seriously, you need to leave.”
“I made a mistake, Char. I need you.” Harry moved closer to me; tucking my hair behind my ear.
“No, Harry. We’re not supposed ... to ... be. Harry, no!” I pulled myself completely away. “I’m with Nathan.”
“I’ll do anything to make sure Nathan and I stay together.”
“But you wouldn’t even give me a second chance. He went and kissed a girl and you forgave him. I went and did something stupid and begged for us not to break up and you still went and ended us. Why? What possible reason is there for why you didn’t try to get us back-”
“Because I knew I had someone better,” I burst out. Harry was so shocked, he jumped back slightly.
“You knew you had someone better?”
“Tell me one thing, did you ever love me?”
“Yes, but as soon as you slept with Caroline, I knew it could never be us that ended up together.”
“Because you loved him.” The way Harry spat the word “him” made my blood boil.
“Leave.” I said and walked in to the flat, only turning to call Teddy in. Teddy growled at Harry until Harry had reached the lift and stepped inside. “Good boy,” I laughed, picking Teddy up and giving him a cuddle.
Char closed the front door and locked it. She joined me in the living room, sitting down beside me but not getting close enough to hug her. She put Teddy down in the gap between us where he stuck his happy face in mine, trying to lick me. I picked him up, fussed with him and then told him to get in his basket. He jumped off the sofa and trotted back to the main bedroom.
“Char, are you alright?” I asked. Her hand was resting on the sofa so I placed mine on top of it. She looked at my hand and then at me.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “I know why you’re here.”
“Why’s that?” I grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Either you’ve seen the pictures yourself or you’ve spoken to Nathan.” She turned over her hand so her fingers and my fingers fitted together.
“Both.” I squeezed her hand. She looked up from our hands with a look of shock. “I was drumming at your house when he came in. He doesn’t know what to do with himself.”
“Did he mention anything about...” Char paused for a second. She sighed and continued. “About splitting up?”
“No, but I think he’s just going over a few thoughts. He’s not telling anyone anything. He wouldn’t speak to Tom on the phone. Siva’s tried to get hold of him and it went straight to voicemail. I don’t know if Max has tried talking to him.”
“Max has been here.” Char looked back to our hands again. I started to trace a pattern on her palm with my thumb. “He was with Nath when Nath found out.”
“How are you feeling about it?” I let go of her hand and put my arm around her, leaning her against me.
“I feel so guilty,” she replied. She lifted her legs onto my lap and rested her head on my shoulder. “He’s my best friend and when I’ve had an argument or split up with a guy, I just want my best friend. I can’t do that now.” She sighed, rubbing her head into me.
For some reason, this was really turning me on. I had to think of something else. I needed to. I had Lani. Oh god, I wish Lani was here now. “I can get Zayn or Niall over if you want,” I offered.
“I need Nathan. I just want him to kiss me and tell me everything’s going to get better.”
I lifted her head up. I shouldn’t be doing this. I leant down to her and softly put my lips against hers. She jolted back slightly for a split second before pushing against me. I pulled away from her, still an inch or so from her face and said, “Everything’s going to get better.” I smiled and gave her another peck on the lips.
“What just happened?” Char asked, looking completely confused.
“I was being a friend.” I winked and flashed a grin. “Nothing about this is said outside this moment, agreed?”
“Agreed,” she said, blushing.
Oh dear god, why was I acting like such a girl around Jay? I mean, it’s Jay for crying out loud. He’s just a mate that I can have a laugh with. Why was I blushing? He was still grinning at me. That stupid, cheeky grin that manages to win hundreds maybe even thousands of girls over.
I pushed him away from me. He laughed and I rolled my eyes. “Want a drink?” I offered. “Non-alcoholic.”
“Spoilt sport,” he teased. “Yeah, I’ll have some water, please.” I walked into the kitchen and Jay followed me. I pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and handed it to him. “So, what’s happening with hotel rooms?”
“I’m staying in Max and Shell’s house,” I shrugged. “I’m just going to hope that Nathan doesn’t get drunk and take someone from the wedding back to that hotel room.”
“Or hopefully, he’ll see how stunning you look in your bridesmaid’s dress and won’t be able to keep his han-eyes off of you.”
“You were going to say hands, weren’t you, Jaybird?”
“You’re obviously hoping that’s what’s going to happen.”
“Shut up,” I laughed and hit him playfully in the stomach. “Anyway, how do you know I’ll look stunning in my bridesmaid dress?”
“Max and Shell may have shown me some pictures of you, Kelsey, and Nare in the dresses. It really suits you. And makes your arse look amazing.”
“Oh my God,” I hid my face with my hands. “Why are you looking at my arse, Bird?” I moved my fingers slightly to find him trying to peer at my arse. “Oi, stop it!” I laughed and covered my bum with my hands.
“Aha-ha, I’m just trying to make you feel uncomfortable. Hopefully by the wedding on Saturday, you’ll feel comfortable with everyone looking.”
“No one will be looking, you douche.”
“Nathan will be,” Jay said, opening his water and starting to drink. I didn’t argue anything back. Just a small smile appeared on my face. “And you know it,” Jay added, quietly.
“So, are you gracing me with your presence all night or can I kick you out now?” I asked, re-opening the fridge and pulling out a can of Pepsi Max.
“I’ll let you have a night to yourself. But I’m bored and hyper so I’m not leaving just yet. Do you want to watch a film or something?”
“Anything but Avatar,” I laughed as I watched his reaction. “Oh come on, Bird. How many times have I watched it with you?”
“Like, hardly ever,” he said, putting on his American accent. He switched back to his normal accent. “Okay, anything but Avatar or Star Wars.” I was about to open my mouth to say ‘Back to the Future’. “Or Back to the Future!”
“That’s not fair! Fine, we’ll just have to watch Gamer.”
“What? That’s a great film.”
“Because of Gerard Butler.”
“Well, he’s all macho and irresistible.”
“VETO!” Jay yelled as he walked out of the kitchen and headed for the living room.
We were listing off films to each other, shouting veto every time. Whichever film one of us suggested, the other wasn’t in the mood for it or didn’t like the film. I was lying down on the sofa with my eyes closed. Before we could choose a film, I’d managed to drift off.
“Children of Men?” I asked, looking through Nath and Char’s DVD collection. “Char, Children of ..” I looked up to see Char with her eyes closed and deeply breathing. She’d fallen asleep bless her.
Teddy had joined us and was lying on the sofa in the gap between Charlotte’s legs and the back of the sofa. I stood up from where I was sitting in front of the bookcase full of DVDs that Nath and I had built when they first moved in together. I went to Char and Nath’s bedroom and grabbed one of the blankets from the cupboard. I placed it over her, lifting Teddy out of the way while I did. I placed him back down where he was.
“See you later,” I whispered to Char and kissed her forehead. She stirred a little but didn’t wake. I made a slight fuss of Teddy before leaving and locking their door with her key, sliding the key back under the door once I’d locked it. I really hoped Nathan forgives her and takes her back. She needs him to.
“Thanks for driving me up here, Nath,” Nare said as we pulled up to Max and Shell’s house.
“Yeah, no problem,” I mumbled.
Nare ran up to the door and banged her fist against it. Shell swung the door open and pulled her in for a hug. She and Nare ran off up the stairs and into a bedroom. I followed into the house, closing the front door behind me. Max was watching a City match on the TV.
“You alright, Nath?” He called, not taking his eyes off the screen.
“Yeah, is everything alright with Shell?” I asked as I sat down next to him.
“Yeah, I think she’s just panicking slightly over the dress and is it going to fit and blah blah blah. I stopped listening after a couple of minutes. Thanks for driving Nareesha up.”
“Yeah, I was coming up anyway. It was hell along the M1 though. It took us five hours to get here.”
“I think you need a beer. But you can either wait until half time or go and help yourself out the fridge.”
“Cheers, mate,” I said, patting him on the leg and standing up. I made my way into the kitchen and opened the fridge up. I pulled a Corona out and closed the door. Winston was waiting the other side of the fridge door, scaring the shit out of me. He was panting and looking really pleased with himself. “C’mon, Winst,” I said and patted my leg for him to follow me back to the living room. I sat back down next to Max.
“You staying here tonight or are you going to the hotel?” Max asked me. The match had reached half time now.
“Staying at the hotel,” I said. “I think Nare’s staying here until Siva drops Char off tomorrow.”
“Yeah? And have you spoken to Char at all?”
I shook my head, taking a high interest in the label of my Corona bottle. “I don’t know what to say. I feel like I should apologise for walking out, but in reality, she should be apologising to me for kissing Harry. I just don’t know what to do.”
“How many times did she apologise when you were at the flat?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I didn’t exactly keep count.”
“But she said she was sorry?”
“Yeah, she said it a bunch of times but I feel like she didn’t mean it. Like she was just saying it to try and keep me there; trying to get me to forgive her.”
“Maybe she did, but she’s still missing you like mad. And I know she’s really nervous about seeing you at the wedding on Saturday.”
“I’m nervous too. All I’ve been wanting these past few days is to go into the next room and put my arms around her but obviously, I couldn’t.” We went silent for a moment. I let out a growl of anger. Anger aimed at myself. “Why couldn’t I have told her how I feel before Harry moved in on her? None of this would’ve happened.”
“We regret a few things in life, Nath. For you, this is just one of them. It’ll work out. She hasn’t gone to anyone else. And it’s very clear that she only wants you.”
“Yeah, clear enough that she went and kissed her ex.” I huffed, taking a swig of my Corona.
“Oi,” Max snarled, turning to face me. “You don’t know what she’s been like the past few days. You haven’t listened to her side of the story. Have you even seen the videos of the two of them on YouTube? It shows how much he was influencing her, how much he was the one pulling her in. Yeah, she didn’t push him away until their lips had touched but she still pushed him off her instead of going along with it in front of that many people. You need to talk to her.”
“Alright, I’ll wait until the wedding.” I surrendered and put both my hands up.
“Good boy,” Max said and wiggled my ear. I brushed him off and started to try and wiggle his ear but he was having none of that and smacked my hand away.
Ugh. I sat with my sports bag open on the bedroom floor. I was supposed to pack for the two nights we were staying up in Manchester. I’d packed underwear and pyjamas but was struggling with what to actually wear while I was there. Technically I only had to pack one outfit as I’m going up there today in the clothes I’m wearing (knee length denim shorts, a Chasing The Sun top a fan made for me, and my cream converses), I’m wearing the bridesmaid dress most of tomorrow and I only need to pack the outfit for travelling home on Sunday. Michelle and Max were heading straight on their honeymoon on the Sunday evening for two weeks. I was jealous that they got to spend two weeks in Hawaii whereas the rest of us were stuck in horrible England.
“Trackies and a top?” I asked Teddy. He was watching me from his basket the other side of the room. “Trackies and a top it is.”
“You’re going to be wearing something nice on the trip home,” Seev said at the bedroom door.
“Fucking hell, Seev,” I jumped, falling back on the floor. “You scared the living daylight out of me.”
“Ha-ha, maybe you should learn to start locking your door then.” Siva came and sat next to me.
“I thought I did lock it.” I pulled a confused face. “Where’s Nare?”
“She went up there with Nath yesterday. So, come on. What are you wearing on the way back?” Siva stood up and went over to the chest of drawers. “And you’re not allowed to even pack any trackies in your bag,” he added just as I was about to say something.
“I can just wear these shorts again, couldn’t I?” I suggested.
“How long have you worn them without washing them?”
“Not long,” I said and then tried to remember the last time I’d washed them. “Just before my birthday.”
“That’s nearly four weeks, you dirty tramp.” Seev laughed.
“I ain’t no tramp!” I said. “That does not suit me.” I laughed. “I’m not a tramp, Mr Kaneswaran!”
“Right, we’ll put this purple top with this skirt and you can choose whether you pack leggings or tights. Pack some nice flat shoes too.”
“Shouldn’t it be Nare doing this, not you? When did you turn into a girl, Seev?” I teased.
“I’ve always been a pretty princess,” he smiled and span around like a little ballerina. “Now,” he said in a more serious tone. “Pack! I’m leaving in ten minutes. If you’re not ready, you’re getting the train.”
I chucked the top and skirt in my bag. I grabbed a pair of nude and a pair of black tights and placed them in the side compartment of the bag so they wouldn’t snag. I packed a pair of black flats and at the last moment before I left the room, decided to pack my leggings just in case. I joined Siva in the living room. Teddy followed me out. Siva took my bag off of me and carried it down to the car.
“We need to drop Teddy off at Niall’s first,” I grinned at Siva.
“Aww, poor Teddy’s going to have to stay in London while we all get absolutely slaughtered.” Siva started to pull faces at Teddy.
“Alright, Seev. Don’t scare him,” I laughed and sat down in the car.
Four long hours later and I had thrown myself down on to the bed I was calling home for the next couple of nights. My bag was by the door and I couldn’t be bothered to move. All I wanted to do was sleep and not think about the day ahead tomorrow. Max told me as I walked in that I’d just missed Nath. Nath decided that he’d head back to the hotel before me and Siva arrived at the house.
“Char, you alright?” Shell’s voice came at the door.
“Yeah, Shell,” I replied. Shell opened the door, walked over to the bed and sat crossed legged on the bed next to where I was lying. “Looking forward to tomorrow?”
“I’m really nervous,” Shell said, fiddling with the duvet. “I know everything’s going to go perfectly but a part of me is absolutely shitting bricks.”
“Oh my God, Shell,” I giggled. “I can’t believe those words came out of your mouth.” I was finding her saying “shitting bricks” absolutely funny. She started to giggle too.
We physically couldn’t stop giggling at each other. We were clutching our stomachs, crying with laughter. Max walked into the room after about ten minutes of this. This set us off on a whole new wave of giggles. He tried to ask us questions but we found everything hilarious. He gave up on us in the end and retreated back to playing the Xbox.
We managed to stop giggling after a while; mainly because our cheeks and stomachs were sore from it all. We just hung out on the bed chatting for a couple of hours before we realised we were both hungry and made our way downstairs. Max was still playing Xbox in the living room. Shell led me into the kitchen where she picked up the Domino’s menu and picked up her phone.
“Babe,” Shell shouted. “You still going to be here for dinner? Or should I just order pizza for me and Char?”
“Nah, I’m going out with the lads,” Max yelled back. “Tom’s picking me up when he drops Kels by.”
“Do you think Kels will want pizza?” Shell asked me.
“Shell,” I looked at her seriously. “Do I even need to answer that?”
“No,” Shell said and giggled. “Nare won’t be over until later.”
“And she won’t be hungry because Siva’s taken her out for dinner.”
“Texas BBQ chicken and ...” she searched through the menu for another one she thought we’d all fancy. “Meat Feast?”
“Perfect with me. I’ll text Kels quickly,” I said and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. I text Kelsey and she replied within seconds. “Yeah, Kels is fine with that. They’ll be here in about 20 minutes she said. Just the other side of Manchester.”
“Right,” Shell said, starting to dial the number for Domino’s. “MAX!” She shouted. “Tom’s gonna be here in about 20 minutes. You should really get packing your stuff to take to the hotel with him.”
We both heard Max swear before he ran upstairs and started to pack some overnight stuff. Shell started to giggle to herself as she was ringing Domino’s. She ordered the pizzas as quickly as she could and hung up. I could hear Max running around upstairs, wondering why the hell he was running when he had about fifteen minutes. Shell still had a massive grin on her face.
“What have you done?” I asked, now mimicking her smile.
“I hid all the tuxes,” she laughed. I started to laugh too. Max was obviously running around trying to find the tuxes to take to the hotel for all the lads to change into before the wedding tomorrow.
“He’s going to kill you when he finds out you hid them,” I laughed.
“He’s got to find them first,” Shell smiled.
Tom and Kelsey arrived before Max could find the tuxes. Tom kissed us both on the cheek and ran upstairs to help Max. Shell and I pulled Kels into a hug. We could hear Max panicking but trying to keep it quiet so Shell couldn’t hear.
Where the hell are those tuxes? I remember keeping them in the wardrobe in the room Char’s staying in. Shit! I can’t have lost them. I rushed around upstairs, packing everything I would need for the night. I didn’t want to forget anything and send Tom over for stuff in the morning. But I did need to find those tuxes. Maybe I didn’t put them in that wardrobe. Maybe I put them in one of the other wardrobes.
I checked mine and Shell’s wardrobe and they had our normal clothes in there. I checked the other three spare rooms; including the one Char was staying in. Did I leave them at the tux shop? Maybe I was meant to collect them today. No, I remember bringing them back from the shop; Tom helped me.
No! I couldn’t have left them in London! No, I couldn’t have. No, Shell’s gonna kill me if I have. I was stressing over losing/forgetting the tuxes when I heard Tom and Kelsey at the front door.
“Tom, mate,” I shouted from the top of the stairs. “Can you come up here a second?”
Tom quickly kissed Shell and Char on the cheek and then joined me in mine and Shell’s room. His face went into shock when he saw my panic-stricken face.
“What’s wrong? You’re not having second thoughts again, are ya?” Tom asked. He stood leaning against the back of the door.
“I lost the tuxes. I thought I brought them up here on Monday but I can’t find them anywhere and Shell will go mental if I’ve lost them or left them in London and what if we can’t find them? We’ll have to call off the –”
“Max?” Shell called from downstairs. “You going to get going soon? Nare’s nearly here.”
“Erm, yeah, soon,” I shouted back. I lowered my voice to Tom. “Tom what do I do?”
“You definitely sure you brought them to Manchester?” Tom asked, he’d moved over to the wardrobe and started moving everything that was hanging up. “Nice jacket, Max.” He laughed.
“Tom, mate, I’m serious. I don’t know where they are.” I was proper panicking now.
“Max? Tom?” Shell asked as she opened the bedroom door. “You alright?” Kels and Char appeared behind her, both trying to hide grins on their faces.
“Erm, honey, Shell, babe,” I stuttered.
“Can you not find the tuxes?” Shell asked. Her face fell into shock.
“Yeah, he thinks he left them in London,” Tom stepped in. I shot him a glare. As if he just ratted me out. Tom shot me a confused face. “Mate, you were taking forever to tell her. I saved you about five minutes.”
Shell was trying to stifle a giggle. She didn’t do it very well. Kelsey and Char were in fits of laughter out on the landing. Shell couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into a fit of giggles like her and Char were having earlier. She was bent over and managed to get herself downstairs and into the cupboard under the stairs. I followed her, wondering what the hell she was doing. She pulled out the four tuxes. I shook my head at Shell and clamped my mouth shut. She was still having small giggles escape her mouth.
“You rushing around trying to find them and panicking makes you look really cute, babe,” she said, pulling herself up from the floor and wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Yeah, and you’re going to be the death of me, Shell,” I said, placing my hands on her waist. I pulled her in close to me and kissed her. I could feel her smiling. “I guess when I next see you, it will be down that aisle?”
“Is that a question Mr George?” She asked, leaning away from me slightly.
“If you’re planning to be a runaway bride, then yes, it is a question.”
“Ha-ha, I will definitely be seeing you down that aisle.”
“Brilliant,” I said and kissed her again. I lifted her over my shoulder while picking the tuxes off the ground. “Tom!” I shouted up the stairs. “Let’s go. I’ve got the tuxes.” All three of them made their way down the stairs.
“I’ll see you looking stunning in your dress tomorrow, yeah?” Tom said to Kelsey. He pulled her into him and kissed her passionately for a few seconds.
Char stood awkwardly on the bottom step of the stairs. I put Shell down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I said to her before kissing her on the lips again.
“Yes you will, Mr Maximillian Alberto George.” Shell smiled as she said my full name. I mimicked her smile. She was the most gorgeous, amazing, stunning, nicest girl I have ever met. I kissed her again and unwrapped myself from her.
“Char, could you help me carry these tuxes out to the car?” I asked Char. She rolled her eyes and dragged her feet over to me. I handed her two of the tuxes and walked outside to Tom’s car with her. She opened the car door and hung up the tuxes just inside. I walked to the other side of the car and hung the other two tuxes up. Char started to head back inside. “Oi, not yet you don’t.” I said and ran round the back of the car and wrapped my arms around her.
“What are you doing, Max?” She laughed into my chest.
“Have you given up?” I asked, still holding her into my chest.
She sighed and looked up to me. “I’ll never give up,” she said, knowing exactly what I meant.
“Good girl,” I said and rubbed her ear. I kissed her forehead. “Everything will get better,” I added in a whisper. She smiled weakly before Tom came over. She let go of me a second before Tom picked her up by the waist and lifted her off her feet, spinning her around.
“Everything will get better,” Max said just after he kissed my forehead. I smiled at him.
“I hope so,” I thought. Seeing Max and Shell and then seeing Tom and Kelsey made me miss Nathan that much more. Max let go of me slightly and I heard Tom walking over. I let go of Max just before Tom wrapped his arm around my waist, lifted me up and span me around.
“We’ll talk to Nathan and give him a good beating tonight,” Tom said as he put me back on my feet.
“Good beating with alcohol?” I asked as Tom put Max’s bag in the boot.
“There may be alcohol involved,” Tom grinned. I rolled my eyes. “Look, Char, we don’t want him chucking you away for something we all know you regret and know that it wasn’t completely your fault.”
“Tom, we’ll just leave him be,” Max said from the passenger door. “I know what he’s thinking at the moment so let’s not do anything to change it.”
Max shot me a knowing wink. I smiled to myself knowing everything was going to get better. I joined Kelsey and Shell on the doorstep as we waved goodbye to the boys. Tom beeped his horn a couple of times as he pulled off the drive.
The pizza came, we ate, we drank some wine, and we giggled and chatted until we felt it necessary to go to bed to get enough sleep for tomorrow. There were only three beds in the house as Shell and Max were leaving the other spare room to be decorated for when the baby arrived. Kelsey decided she’d sleep in the same bed as me.
I’d changed into some shorts and a tank top when Kelsey walked in after brushing her teeth in the main bathroom. She’d also changed into some pyjama shorts and a tank top. I was taking my makeup off in front of the mirror. Kelsey came and stood behind me and started to pull faces in the mirror at me.
“Kels, you look ridiculous,” I laughed. “You can tell you’ve been hanging out with Tom a bit too much.”
“Why’s that, babe?” She asked and pulled some more typical Tom faces.
“Because you’ve mastered his facial expressions,” I giggled. I finished wiping my makeup off and threw the makeup wipe into the bin.
“Tom is gorgeous so I must be gorgeous for pulling faces just like him,” she laughed. She grabbed one of my makeup wipes and started to attack her own face. “I’m so excited about tomorrow though. Finally Shell and Max are tying the knot.”
“Yeah, I’m really excited for them too.” I sat down on the bed and pulled one of the cushions on to my lap.
“You and Nath are going to be fine.” Kelsey finished wiping the little makeup she was wearing off her face. She joined me on the bed and wrapped her arms around me. “If Nathan doesn’t take you back immediately once he sees you in your bridesmaid dress and with your makeup and hair all done, then I’m going to have words with him.”
“No, Kels. Just let him take as long as he wants.”
“Tom said that Nath’s been really pining for you.” Kelsey was now pulling the duvet back and climbing underneath it. I copied and propped my head up on my hand, sticking my elbow into the pillow. Kelsey did the same so we were facing each other.
“I don’t really know what I’m thinking now. I really miss him and I know Teddy misses him. But there’s part of me which is really nervous about meeting him after having nearly a week apart from him. Especially when the last time we saw each other, it wasn’t under good circumstances.”
“I’m sure it will all be fine tomorrow. And if it isn’t, there’s Max’s brother to have some hot, meaningless wedding sex with.” Kelsey turned over and started to go to sleep.
“You’re awful, Kels! He has a girlfriend,” I laughed and threw my head onto my pillow.
I heard Kelsey giggle. “That shouldn’t stop you,” she continued to giggle. I lightly pushed her shoulder. We chatted about meaningless, stupid things until we both drifted off to sleep.
“Come on, Shell.” Nareesha was shaking Shell awake.
We were all stood in her room waiting for her to get up. She needed to shower before her hair or makeup could be done. And all that needed to be done before she could get in her dress, have pictures taken and get married.
“Who’s the photographer for the day?” I asked, stifling a yawn from leaving my mouth.
“I think it’s two people shooting the wedding,” Kelsey said. “A girl and a guy. The guy is going over to the hotel to shoot the guys and the girl should be here just before the makeup artist and hair stylist come round.”
“I want to sleep,” Shell suddenly groaned from underneath the pile of duvet. “Why did we have to organise the wedding to be ridiculously early?”
“Shell, it’s ten o’clock now,” I laughed. “The wedding’s not until four.”
“It takes me only like an hour to get ready.”
“Well, we’ve all got to get showered, hair done, makeup done, dressed and photos and have something to eat and that before we go. Now, get up, schlag!” I grabbed her feet and started to drag her out of the bed.
Shell screamed and grabbed onto the bed sheet. Eventually, we had all showered and changed back into our pyjamas ready for the makeup artist and hair stylist to sort us out. The photographer arrived about ten minutes before the makeup artist. I opened the front door to see Nicole standing there. My jaw dropped before I let her in. I was a bit nervous as I felt like part of the reason as to why her and Harry broke up.
“Char, I need to just say that Harry was a bit of a douchebag,” Nicole said as she set up her camera. “I don’t want you thinking it’s your fault.”
“I was the one who got you to take him back after me and him had that argument,” I tried to argue across.
“But I was the one who stupidly took him back when he was clearly in love with you still. Anyway, Harry’s gone a bit MIA lately. Louis rang me a few times to see if he’d collected his stuff from the apartment.”
“I hope he’s alright. When did anyone last see him?” I was a bit concerned.
“Apparently I was the last to see him. But there were pictures in the paper of him heading to your apartment.”
“Yeah, he came round on Sunday evening. Nathan had left by then and so had Max. Harry tried to explain himself. Jay came along and threatened him though and I asked him to leave.”
“That makes you the last person to see him.”
“He must’ve gone back to your flat.”
“I didn’t get back to the apartment until late so I’m guessing it was before then. His passport is missing. I’m surprised he managed to just disappear.”
“That’s strange,” I commented. The doorbell rang. “I hope he’s okay.” I walked away and answered the door.
Deb, the boys’ makeup artist, and Nick, the boys’ hair stylist, were standing at the door. We all hugged one another. Nick was starting on my hair as Deb started on Kelsey’s makeup. We all took it in turns of swapping between Nick’s chair and Deb’s chair. I was finished first, then Kelsey, Nare and finally Shell.
Shell looked amazing with her hair in soft curls. The top half of her hair was all pinned up. I envied her for looking so beautiful. Nicole was taking shot after shot. For the first time, I looked at the three girls and honestly felt like I wasn’t worth walking into that church with them. Well, even being in the same church as them.
The ceremony was beautiful. Max looked amazing in his suit. Tom looked really cute and proud to be standing next to him. Max’s brother, Jack, looked weirdly hot in his. Next, my eyes fell on Nathan. He took my breath away. Our eyes met only for a second before both of us darted to another side of the church. The smile on my face grew slightly bigger. I decided to keep my eyes set on Max as I walked down the aisle. He gave me a look to say ‘look at Nathan, Titch’ but I ignored him.
Kelsey, Nare and I were standing in our places at the front of the church. The music for Shell to walk down the aisle started up. I glanced at Nathan and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of me. I saw Shell enter the room from the opposite side of the church. We could see her enter before Max could. I quickly looked at Max. That’s the best thing to watch at a wedding; the reaction of the groom as his future wife enters the room in her wedding dress for the first time. The expression he wore on his face as his eyes fell upon Shell was just a look of pure love and adoration.
I got a little bored during the actual ceremony. I decided I’d look around the church at all the painted glass images. I got on to a train of thought that started with the last supper, moved on to the Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Up, the cute couple in Up, how they got married, how she couldn’t have kids, how much I cried at that, thinking about children, what would Shell and Max’s baby look like ....
I was pacing the hotel room floor. I was dressed in my tux. I’d finished in my hotel room and made my way to Tom’s room. Max stayed in there after drinking a bit too much the night before. We’d already had his stag do back in June so I couldn’t understand why we needed to go out that night too.
“Come on, mate,” I said to Max as he’d just got out the shower. “You do realise we’re supposed to be at the church in like an hour right?”
“Don’t panic; I’ve only got to get dressed.” Max said and smiled. “Oh wait, I should really do something with my hair,” he added sarcastically and looked in a mirror. He rubbed the top of his head. “Done!”
“Funny, mate,” I scowled. “It’s half two in the afternoon. How could you lie in until this late?”
“Well, if you drank as much as we did,” Tom piped up. “Then you would be like us too.”
“If you drank as much I did, you wouldn’t be like this.” I pointed out.
I left the hotel room to find Jack. He was ready. His girlfriend was nearly ready. I went off to Siva’s room and he joined me as we went to see Jay and Lani. Lani was wearing a deep purple dress. Jay looked nice in his suit. I think Siva and Max did feel a bit gutted that Max didn’t have them as his groomsmen. But he and Shell decided that they’d only have three bridesmaids and groomsmen each. Of course, that was simple for Shell but Max had to narrow it down for us. He chose Tom as his best man because let’s face it; they’re the closest out of all of us. Jack had to be a groomsman as it was his brother. He chose me as he thought of me as a little brother.
I hung out with them until they had to get a taxi to the church. They left at ten past three. I made my way back to Tom’s hotel room. When I walked in, Max was just finishing off putting his tie on. We arrived at the church at quarter to four. Shell and the girls were expected to show up at four. We made our way in before the girls’ car pulled up. I suddenly became nervous. This would be the first time I’d seen Char since Sunday.
We took our places at the front of the church. The music started as Nareesha walked down the aisle. She looked stunning and I saw Siva’s jaw drop. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell his jaw dropped. Char was next. She looked amazing. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I saw her eyes dart from Max to Tom to Jack and then she looked at me. We caught each other’s eyes and looked in different directions. I looked back to see that the smile on her face had gotten wider. How could I have not seen or spoken to her since Sunday? I miss her. I miss her so much. Standing here now is just reminding me how much I want to hold her in my arms. But that wouldn’t exactly be appropriate in the middle of Max and Shell’s wedding.
Throughout the whole ceremony, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She didn’t pay attention. I knew she wouldn’t. She was staring at the windows. She suddenly snapped out of her daze when the organ started playing again. Max and Shell left the church together. We all followed them out. Max and Shell climbed into the wedding car and we waved them off. The groomsmen were taking one car back to the reception being held at Max and Shell’s house and the bridesmaids were taking the other car. Char, Kels and Nare all hung out for a bit before they joined Shell and Max at their house. Tom, Jack and I decided we’d stay too.
I saw Char make a beeline to Jay and Siva. Nareesha was already in Siva’s arms.
“Bird,” I squealed as I jumped into Jay’s arms. He kept me lifted off my feet and kissed my cheek.
“See, I told you you’d look amazing,” Jay said, placing me back on my feet.
“Hey, Nath,” Jay said and smiled at Nathan.
“Heya,” Nathan said. His hands were in his pockets and he was kicking the gravel around beneath his feet. “I got a bit bored in there.”
“Yeah, I nearly drifted off at one point,” Jay said. Nathan turned to face me slightly, waiting for a response to his statement.
“Char,” Kelsey yelled from the car. “Wanna head back to Shell’s?”
“Erm, yeah,” I yelled back.
Part of me wanted to leave but a bigger part of me wanted to stay. I didn’t move from the spot. I kind of turned slightly to leave but stopped when I had faced Nathan. He looked down at the ground and then slowly flicked his eyes up to meet mine. He was looking at me from under his fringe. I smiled at him and blushed a little. Why did he have to act so sexy? Especially as now I had to leave him to travel about 20 minutes across Manchester.
I looked away from Nathan and saw Kelsey staring at me. I rolled my eyes and snapped out of the ‘Char and Nathan silent talking’ world and into the real one. “Sorry, I’ve got to go,” I said, apologising to everyone but only looking at Nathan. Thanks Kelsey. Thank you for ruining a perfectly good moment just then.
Oh god; the speeches. Shell’s speech was lovely and cute. Kelsey was classic Kels. Max’s was all lovey-dovey until the end when he went all ‘dad jokes’ on us.
“Now, when I first met Max, I thought he was going to be my right hand man,” Tom started. This caused the Wanted lads to burst into laughter. “Oh, shut up, you lot.” Tom laughed. Everyone else was just confused. “Anyway, I thought he was going to be the one who would help me get girls. Well, we had over a year together where we helped each other get the girls, didn’t we? But Max decided he’d fall in love with Shell. I will admit, I was a bit jealous. But I’d seen how in love he was with her and decided she was worth losing him to her. Not that our love for each other died. We’ve still got the best bromance in the world.”
“Get on with it, Parker,” Jay shouted from the next table. Everybody laughed.
“Anyway, Max, I love ya man and you picked a right corker there. Shell, make sure you look after my best mate. If you don’t, I’ll find ya and cut ya hair off.”
Shell chuckled as Tom sat back down in his chair. Jack gave a very brotherly speech. He talked about when they were younger and all the previous girlfriends Max has had. It got a little awkward at one point but it worked out in the end. Nathan’s speech was next.
“I remember when Max and Michelle first got engaged. They’d only been together for 6 months and I asked him how he knew she was the one he was going to marry and spend his life with. His reply; ‘when you’re in love, you just know.’ Since then, all the lads have been trying to set me up. They’ve constantly failed. But the love I see between Max and Shell is truly inspiring and I finally understand what Max said about knowing who you want to spend your life with, even in a short amount of time. I’ve finally found that. I just hope I haven’t completely mucked it up.” I looked over to Char. She was staring at her lap but I could see a smile on her face. She glanced up quickly and met my eyes. Her smile grew wider. She then blushed and looked back to her lap. I realised I was smiling myself and that all the lads were waiting for me to finish. “Here’s to Max and Shell.” Everybody raised their glasses. “Don’t let me be a godfather to your kid. I’ll probably give it the worst advice, worse than what Tom could give it.” Everybody laughed. Tom even laughed until he finally realised what I said, which caused everybody to laugh a bit more.
“We’d like to welcome on to the dance floor for the first time as husband and wife,” the DJ announced. “Mr and Mrs George.”
Max and Shell made their way onto the dance floor. Their song was I Need You Now by Olly Murs. It was really cute. They were just nose to nose pretty much the entire time they were dancing. Tom and Kelsey joined them on the dance floor after a minute or so. Siva dragged Nare, Jay danced with Lani, and Jack danced with his girlfriend. Everybody seemed to be coupling off.
I saw Nathan standing by himself at the edge of the dance floor. I heard a cough in front of me and looked to see one of Max’s cousins offering me his hand. He must’ve been about 10 or so. I smiled at him and took it. He put his hands on my waist and started to dance with me. Bless this little kid, he was really cute. I darted my eyes over to Nathan but he’d disappeared.
“Excuse me, sir,” Nathan appeared at the little kid’s side. “Do you mind if I cut in?”
The kid was reluctant to move for a second. He gracefully let Nathan cut in but scowled as he made his way back to his seat. Nathan grabbed my left hand and spun me around. I giggled as he dipped me. He lifted me upright again and pulled me close to him.
“I’m sorry,” he said to me. “I should’ve listened to what happened rather than assuming you’d kissed him and wanted to be with –”
“Nathan,” I started. “I shouldn’t have been so easily swayed into moving into him. As soon as he grabbed my hand, I should’ve stepped away and left the stage. I’ve never regretted something so much in my life. I completely know I was in the wrong. I’m so sorry. I’ve really missed you over the past few days.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Nathan pulled me in closer to him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said as Nathan pulled me into him. Our mouths were just millimetres apart for a few seconds before he pulled me closer and kissed me. The butterflies in my stomach went absolutely mental inside me. I heard a cheer from the lads and the girlies and I could tell Nathan had heard it as I felt him smile.
We were in our own little world for a while. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face and I noticed Char couldn’t either. I couldn’t stop kissing her face. I noticed she couldn’t keep her hands off of me. I don’t think the flow of champagne helped either of us. We weren’t drunk. Well, I was nowhere near drunk. I may have been a little bit tipsy but I could handle myself and I was fully conscious of everything that was happening; I was just a bit merry. Char was a little merry too. Maybe a little bit merrier than me. Other than Shell, we were the most sober out of us lot. Shell obviously couldn’t drink as she was pregnant so Max drank her champagne and had a few beers for himself.
It was getting to half 11 maybe even midnight. Anyone who had young kids had left by now. Anyone with young, teenage kids were thinking about leaving soon. Char and I had sat down at a table. She’d kicked her heels off and was letting her feet stretch. I looked over at Jay, Tom, Siva, Max, Nare, Lani and Kelsey. They were all singing and dancing on the dance floor still. Winston had made his way onto the dance floor where Kelsey picked up his front paws and started to dance with him.
“I am shattered,” Char whispered in my ear. “I could really go to bed right now.”
I turned to face her and she had a grin on her face. I kissed her and she winked as I pulled away. She picked up her heels from beside her and grabbed my hand. She subtly dragged me away from everyone and into the house. We made our way up the stairs and into the spare room I’m guessing she was staying in until the next day.
Char pulled me into the room and closed the door. She leaned against it and pulled me by my tie, closer towards her. I lightly ran my fingers from her wrists, up her arms, down the sides of her body, across the lower half of her back, down her dress until I reached the bottom of her dress.
Okay, I hadn’t had that much to drink. I’d had like four glasses of champagne and a glass of rosé. There was something about Nathan in a suit that I just couldn’t get over. We’d made our way up to the bedroom I was staying in. Once I’d closed the door, I leant against it and started to pull Nathan closer to me by his tie. He ran his fingers from my wrists along me until he reached the hem of my dress. He put his hands underneath my dress and squeezed my arse cheeks as I pulled him completely against me. He started to kiss my neck, nibbling lightly as he did. I lowered my hands down to his trousers, unbuckling his belt and unzipping them. He pulled away from me at this point.
I could feel Char’s hands making their way down my body. We shouldn’t be doing this in our friends’ house. We should be doing this properly. I felt her unbuckle my belt and starting to unzip my trousers. I pulled away from her. She pouted slightly.
“Look, how about we do this right,” I suggested as I zipped up my trousers.
“What about this isn’t right?” Char asked, a smile appearing on her lips. She played with my belt buckle.
“You know, not in our friends’ spare bedroom.” I nodded to the bedroom behind us. I did my belt back up. “How about you get your stuff together and we take ourselves and maybe a bottle of the champagne back to my hotel room? Well, our hotel room.”
“Are you really worth travelling for like half hour to have a shag?” She asked herself. She still had a stupid smirk on her face. I couldn’t believe she just said that out loud either.
“Oi,” I said, pushing her back into the door.
“I’m joking. Of course you’re worth it.” She laughed. “And more,” she whispered. “You’re worth travelling 11 hours on a plane just to be in your arms.” She wrapped her arms around my waist. I hugged her. “All my stuff is in the sports bag by the wardrobe,” she said as she looked up to me. “Oh, and –”
I cut her off by pressing my lips onto hers. “Carry it yourself,” I whispered. I pulled her away from the door. I winked at her and left the room.
“Cheeky bugger,” she yelled with a slight laugh in her voice.
I chuckled to myself too and made my way back to the party. Char made her way down to the rest of us with her sports bag in tow. She placed it down on one of the seats near the back of the marquee. She walked over to me – her heels were back on her feet – and placed her hand in mine. I squeezed her fingers.
“Shell,” Char called. “Max!”
Shell skipped over to us whereas Max kind of staggered over. They stood in front of us expectantly.
“We’re going to make a move,” I said as Max put his arm around my shoulders. He was supporting himself more than giving me a comforting gesture. “Char’s staying in the hotel tonight so you don’t have to worry about her tomorrow.”
“Alright, mate,” Max said as his finger and thumb found my ear. It was an annoying habit he had.
“We’ll see you when you get back from Hawaii, yeah?” Char asked and hugged Michelle.
“Yeah, you two have a good time tonight,” Shell winked at Charlotte and squeezed her arm slightly. Char replied with a grin on her face.
We said goodbye to the rest of them before swiping an unopened champagne bottle from the kitchen and climbing into the taxi waiting for us out front. I wrapped my arm around Char as the taxi pulled away from the house. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face still.
“Wow,” Char said as she looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window.
The view was magnificent. Okay, it wasn’t the view of London, New York or LA but it was still a view of the Manchester city centre. She leant against the wall beside the window and looked down. We were on the 10th floor. I stood behind Char.
Nathan stood behind me as I looked out at the view of Manchester. He brushed my hair over to one side of my neck. His lips started to trace from my shoulder to the spot behind my ear. He then proceeded to lift my hair up and kiss along my hairline to the other ear. He turned me around and leant me against the window as he kissed along my jaw, on my chin, finally ending up with my mouth.
He pulled me away from the window and sat down on the chair kind of thing at the end of the bed. I lifted my dress up slightly as I made to straddle his lap. I loosened his tie and lifted it over his head. We kept undressing each other slowly until we were in the bed together.
Really? Directioners were still sending hate tweets. I thought they’d get over everything by now. I mean it had been two weeks since Harry kissed me. Harry had been spotted now in LA. I decided for a laugh – as the lads (apart from Max) were all in the studio for the day to finish some stuff on the album – that I’d read some of the tweets.
Some of them were just plain, grammatical errors all over the place; some were people calling me ugly; some were calling me a whore; some said I never deserved to be with Harry. As I scrolled further down my Mentions feed, there were usernames that had TW, Sykes, and even McGuiness in their names. Part of me wanted to retweet these tweets but I didn’t for two reasons. Reason number one – why should I give them the satisfaction of letting them know that I read their hate tweet? Reason number two – I wouldn’t like them to receive what I’m receiving.
To lighten myself up, I went on to Tumblr. Only a few of the fans knew about my Tumblr page. I clicked on my blog page and I found I had nearly 20,000 followers. I saw at the top that I had 100+ messages. Let’s guess who they are from. Hate; hate; hate; hate; hate; abuse; abuse; hate; a death threat; hate; nice message; hate; hate; hate; nice message; abuse; insult; abuse. This carried on in roughly the same pattern. The odd few nice comments were from some of my followers who showed their names. I decided I’d delete the account.
I couldn’t quite bring myself to delete my Twitter account though. I had so many nice messages that I’d favourited. I changed some of the settings and before eventually deciding to delete the account. Why did I need it anyway? The people I wanted or liked to talk to, I had a phone number I could text or call them on.
Without thinking, I grabbed for my phone on the sofa beside me and dialled Kelsey’s number.
“Hey, babe,” she answered. “Are you okay?”
“Can we go on holiday?” I asked.
“The two of us. Let’s go to a hotel on the coast of a small town in Europe and sit by the pool and the beach without having to deal with anyone but the hotel staff and each other.”
“Yeah, sure. What about Nareesha and Lani?”
“Let’s invite them too. I just want to get away from England and all the Directioners and some of the fanmily.”
“What did you see? No, don’t tell me. I’ll be over with Subway and chocolate in a bit. I’ll bring Nare and Lans over with me and we can all hang out and book the holiday together.”
“Wicked,” I said, cheered up a little. “Thanks Kels.”
“No problem, babe. Keep the flat door unlocked and we’ll let ourselves in.” Kelsey hung up her phone.
I quickly sent Nathan a text to say the girlies were coming round. I didn’t tell him about us organising to go on holiday together. Kelsey, Nareesha and Lani were all round quite quickly. Tom and Kelsey’s flat wasn’t too far from mine and Nathan’s flat now. Nare and Siva were sharing a flat in the same building as us – this was how we found out about this flat. Lans and Jay were living in the old flat we used to share together.
“Where are you, babe?” Kelsey’s voice sang through the flat. I was sat on the floor in the spare bedroom, playing with Teddy.
“Spare bedroom,” I called out. Nare, Kelsey and Lani all burst through the door. Kelsey knelt down and wrapped her arms around me. “Alright?” I asked and laughed as we both lost balance and ended up completely on the floor. We both laughed as we got up.
The spare bedroom is rarely used. It’s got a baby’s cot/crib set up for when Lillie comes round. I guess it will be used if Nathan or I get asked to look after Max and Shell’s baby. Other than that, there’s only a set of speakers and two sofas set up in that room. We all sat down on the sofas as Kelsey handed me my Subway. I gave her a massive hug and kissed her on the cheek.
“So, why do we want to go on holiday?” Nare asked. She dug into her Subway.
“Because I need to get away from the fans,” I vaguely explained. “How do we get away from the fans? We get away from the boys.”
“How do we get away from the boys without them gripping on to us?” Lani asked.
“Send them to the house for a week. Aren’t they filming for their next video when Max gets back?” I asked.
“Yeah, Max and Shell get back next Monday morning at about 3am and then they’re all flying to New York Tuesday at around midday,” Kelsey said. Her mouth was half full of chicken breast Subway.
“Kels,” I laughed. “No speaking with your mouth full!”
“Sorry,” she said and swallowed. “Anyway, where are we going?”
“We could go back to Ibiza?” I suggested. “You know, Lani wasn’t with us last year. And we can drink, lounge by the pool and get away from all 13/14 year old Directioners all we want.”
“All you want,” Kelsey smirked. I stuck my tongue out at her. “How long are we going for?”
“A week?” Nare suggested. “We’ll get back about the same time as the boys if we leave in a couple of days.”
“Nah, let’s say 10 days or two weeks,” Kelsey quickly said.
“Why so long Kels?” I asked.
“Yeah, Kels,” Lani teased. “Thought you’d wanna get back to Tom quickly.”
Kelsey wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out unimpressed. “Tom smells and I want to spend as long as possible with you lot.”
We all laughed and started to chat about where we should be definitely going. Once we’d finished lunch, I grabbed my laptop from the bedroom and googled various travel agents.
Ibiza. 14 nights. Kelsey, Nareesha, Lani and we invited Nicole. No boys. No fans (or very few).
We’d just booked the holiday and had the confirmation e-mail come through to my account when all four of the lads came into the flat. I placed my laptop on the floor beside the sofa and all four of us girls sneaked over to the door. We stuck our heads out slightly into the hallway to see the back of Tom go into the living room. Nare and I quietly made our way to the living room door, hiding either side of it. Kels and Lani went into the kitchen to hide behind the door.
“Nathan? Tom?” I pretended to shout. “You want drinks?”
“Erm, yeah, please,” Nathan replied. They all shouted their orders to me.
“Nath, Tom, can you come help me?” I asked, trying to hold a few giggles in.
They went silent for a couple of seconds before yelling “yeah, alright.” I heard them pull themselves off of the sofas, still chatting to Siva and Jay. Tom was first through the living room door. Thankfully he was still facing Siva and Jay while he walked out. We jumped out and screamed. Tom’s reaction caused him to scream like a girl too and hit Nathan in the stomach as he flung his arm back. Nare and I both burst into laughter. As I was nearest to him, he grabbed me by the waist and picked me up. He took me into the bathroom and placed me in the bottom of the shower cubicle. He turned the shower on the coldest setting and turned it on. Panic ran through my veins until I realised that the shower was switched off at the isolation switch. I started to laugh before Tom realised. He started to throw a tantrum until he realised why I was laughing and reached over quickly to flick the switch on. Freezing cold water fell on me. I screamed from the shock as it hit my face. In an attempt to slap it away from hitting me, I ended up hitting my elbow into the wall of the shower. I grabbed it and started to giggle. Nathan came into the bathroom and turned the shower off at the unit and the isolating switch. He squatted beside me with a smile on his face.
“Don’t try and scare us again,” he smiled.
I grabbed his top and pulled him into the shower cubicle. Thankfully, our shower is big enough for the both of us to sit in the bottom of. Well, I was in a ball with my legs leaning up against one of the sides. I pulled Nathan in and he landed with his arms either side of me with his legs below his knees sticking out of the shower. I rolled as much as I could onto my back. Nathan was having to support himself on his hands otherwise he would’ve come crashing down on to me. I still had a hold of his top and pulled him closer to me.
“Eurgh,” Nathan smirked as he pulled away. “I’m not kissing you. You’ve got the lurgies!” He stuck his tongue out.
“What are we; five?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows.
“Seven actually,” Nathan said as he rolled his eyes. He flicked his fringe out of the way.
“Oh, go play with your Lego,” I laughed and pushed him off of me. He grinned at me and left me to get myself out of the shower. I will admit, it was difficult, but I managed.
I was completely soaked through. I quickly popped into our bedroom and stripped off. I pulled on some dry underwear and another pair of shorts. I pulled an old baggy top out of my pyjama draw and shoved it on. I joined everyone in the lounge, placing myself on Nathan’s lap.
“So, I hear you’re ditching us for a couple of weeks,” Nathan said, kissing me on the cheek.
“Yeah, because we hate you all so much, we wanted to get away from you,” I smirked.
“Good, we want you lot gone too,” Tom grinned. “Scaring the shit out of me. I could’ve died.” He tried his best to flick his hair out of his face.
“Babe, it works better if you have hair to flick,” Kelsey giggled. She ruffled his hair. Tom grabbed her wrists and play wrestled her to the floor.
“So, what’s the real reason?” Nathan whispered in my ear. I looked into his eyes for a second before darting them to my lap. “No, you didn’t,” he said with a sympathetic tone. I looked away from him and smiled at Kelsey and Tom on the floor. “Come on,” Nathan whispered. He stood up, causing me to slide off his lap. I quickly got my feet under me so I didn’t fall onto the floor.
Nathan held my hand and led me into our bedroom. I sat down on the end of the bed as he shut the door. He joined me on the end of the bed and put his arm around me.
“Why did you look?” Nathan asked and kissed me by my ear.
“For a laugh,” I said, quietly. “I thought it would cheer me up to see people being really pathetic or even to see some of the fanmily write nice things. There were very few nice comments. It was mainly Directioners and now I wish I hadn’t looked.” I could feel myself getting more upset. I wasn’t going to cry.
“I’m not standing for this,” Nathan said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and loaded Twitter up.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I tried to reach for his Blackberry but he stretched it out of reach.
“I’m not letting them get away with upsetting you.”
“Nathan, don’t have a go at them.” I tried to stretch and grab his phone but his arm was too long. “Nathan.”
“Fine,” he said. He locked his phone and put it back in his pocket. “Go and join the others. I’ll be in there in a sec.”
“Do not have harsh words with your followers.” I said.
“I won’t have harsh words with them, I promise,” I said. I wasn’t going to have harsh words. I was going to do something to them that is a lot harsher.
I kissed Char on the forehead and she made her way out of the bedroom. This is the third time that the Directioners and some of the fanmily have acted this way; sending harsh words to Char when they shouldn’t be. I sat at the desk in the bedroom and opened my laptop. I opened Safari and clicked on the Twitter bookmark.
@NathanTheWanted: Do you know what I don’t appreciate? Bullying. Whether it’s in the form of verbal or physical or even when people do it on here...
@NathanTheWanted: Char is really upset about remarks she read on here. I think she’s deleted her account now but she shouldn’t have had to. I know it’s...
@NathanTheWanted: not all of you and I know it’s only the small majority of the fanmily but it’s got to stop. The Directioners need to stop too...
@NathanTheWanted: because of this I am going on strike again. If things don’t improve, I’ll consider deleting my account. Goodbye.
I logged off of Twitter and deleted the bookmark I had saved. I had no reason to go on it now. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned the laptop off.
“I can’t believe you’re ditching me for two weeks to go on holiday,” I pulled a pouty face.
“It’ll be a nice break away from ...” Char left the sentence to hang.
“You’re definitely not coming back to Twitter then?” I asked and fussed with the swimsuits she was packing in her suitcase.
“Not for the moment.” Char stopped packing and sighed. “I really can’t be arsed to pack. Fancy doing it for me?” She grinned at me.
“You wanted to leave, so you can pack yourself.” I grinned back at her. She scowled and threw a couple of pairs of heels into her suitcase. Teddy ran into the room and sat himself at my feet. “Teds,” I said and picked him up. He was getting bigger. Soon he’ll look ridiculous in my arms. “Mummy’s leaving you. She doesn’t love you anymore.” I placed him back on the floor.
Char scowled at me again before turning to Teddy and shaking her head. “I’m not leaving you. I’m just going away for a bit. And I love you more than daddy.” Char smiled. Her eyes flicked to my face so see my reaction.
“But daddy loves you more than mummy does.”
“Daddy’s just jealous because mummy’s getting a holiday and he’s not going anywhere.”
“I’m jealous that you get to spend two weeks with the girls and I’m going to miss you,” I said, placing my hand on Char’s neck and rubbing her cheek with my thumb. “I’m really going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too,” I said and stared into his green eyes. “It’s only two weeks. You’ve gone a lot longer than that before.”
“That was completely different. Completely different.” Nathan pulled me closer towards him.
We stand together for a while. No words are spoken, we just stand and look at each other. A small smile starts to appear on his face. I narrow my eyes and slightly jerk my head a millimetre to question the thought going through his brain. I then figured out what he was thinking. His hand had moved down my neck, brushed my chest lightly before resting on my hips and pulling me against him.
“Mr Sykes, I’ve got to finish packing,” I whispered. Our mouths were a couple of inches apart. That didn’t stop Nathan. He pulled my head to his. “Nathan, I’ve really got to pack. I’ve got to leave in a couple of hours.”
“You can take like half an hour out of your packing time if I help you.” He winked and then pushed his lips into mine. I shrugged and kissed him back. My suitcase fell to the floor as Nathan moved me onto the bed.
“I’ll see you in a couple of weeks then,” I said. Nathan had driven us to the airport. Nicole had driven herself to the airport. We were standing near check in. I had my arms around Nathan’s neck whilst he had his arms around my waist.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Nathan sulked.
“Oi, cheer up,” I said and kissed him. “You are going to be spending two awesome weeks with your boys. It will be like the old times before I moved in.” I winked at him and kissed him again.
“Char, we need to check in,” Kelsey said, wrapping her arms around me, just below Nathan's arms.
“Alright,” I laughed as I was wedged in a Nathsey sandwich. I kissed Nathan again and said goodbye.
“Look after our boys, Fly!” Kelsey shouted to him as we made our way to check in. She winked at him and stuck her tongue out.
Nareesha, Lani and Kelsey were sitting up on row 17 in the plane whereas Nicole and I were in row 10. Nicole and I had really bonded over the past couple of weeks. We were both a bit concerned about Harry and decided we’d both try to contact him to make sure he was okay. I felt a bit bad as he answered my call.
We arrived in Ibiza and were staying in the same hotel as last time. The girls questioned whether it was a good idea but I argued that we were staying in a flat that could fit all five of us comfortably. By the time we had arrived at the hotel, it was nearly 9pm. We hurried up to our suite and immediately started to claim beds. I managed to be the first to find the room with the double bed in it and claimed it as mine. There were two other rooms, both with single beds.
“Char,” Kelsey said as she sat down on her bed. “Shouldn’t Nicole get the double bed? I mean, she is the only single one here.” Kelsey had a grin on her face and raised her eyebrows at Nicole. Nicole was sharing the room with her.
“No, I’m fine in here,” Nicole said and turned to unpack her suitcase.
“Come on,” I said and grabbed Nicole’s suitcase. “You’re having the double bed. No arguments!” I said before she could argue an invalid point. I took her suitcase into the double bedroom and placed it on the bed. She came in a few seconds later with a playful scowl on her face.
“I’ll take it, but I can’t promise that it will get used.” She chucked the clothes she had unpacked onto the bed beside her suitcase.
“We can promise you that we’ll get you laid.” I winked as I took my suitcase out of the room just before a flip flop shot past my ear. “Missed!” I yelled and laughed.
“Honestly, Nic, if one more Directioner calls me a whore or an ungrateful slag, I’m going to punch them,” I threatened.
We were sitting by the pool of the hotel. We’d gotten completely rat-arsed the night before and I may have gotten into a drunk argument with a couple of girls in the club we were in. I’m a bit surprised that I remembered it after what I was drinking. These girls were obviously Directioners as they were defending Harry and saying I was a whore who was only after Harry’s money and fame. I obviously started yelling at them and was about to punch one of them when a member of security held me back and took me away to calm down. In the end, I volunteered to leave and go back to the hotel with Nare. Lani, Kelsey and Nicole all stayed out.
“They’ll grow out of it sometime,” Nicole said, nursing a hangover.
“What if they don’t?” I asked a little quieter.
“Char, they will. You’re still friends with Zayn and Niall and that, can’t you talk to them?”
“I haven’t spoken to Louis or Liam since my birthday really, I spoke briefly to Niall at the Summertime Ball before everything happened and when I went to his before and after the wedding. I’ve spoken to Zayn a couple of times but he’s over in New York visiting Gabby’s parents with the baby at the moment. I’m just not close with any of them anymore.”
“Well,” Nicole started before her phone buzzed beside her. She picked it up and read the message on the screen. I saw a smile appear on her face.
“Ooh, who is he?” I asked, knowing from that smile that it was a boy.
“It’s only Niall,” she said as she replied and put her phone back down. She looked at me. I couldn’t see her eyes as her sunglasses were too dark but I could tell she was looking at me. “Char, he’s only a friend!”
“Uh-huh, a friend you want to bang,” I quickly said and stuck my tongue out at her.
“No, seriously he’s only a friend.” I raised my eyebrows at her, not believing her. “Oh come on, Char,” she laughed and shook her head. “It’s Niall!”
“Yeah, who is lovely and cute and gorgeous and single now. And you’re single! I’d say go for it!”
“He’s also Harry’s friend, band mate and they’re like brothers. It would be totally unfair.” She looked straight ahead; ready to ignore anything else I was going to say.
“Fine, nothing will happen between the two of you –” I started.
“Thank you,” Nicole said.
“- unless there is some alcohol and persuasion involved.” I quickly finished.
I rolled off the sun lounger before Nicole could stretch her arm out and playfully hit me. I hit my elbow hard on the floor and clutched it half in pain and half in laughter. She laughed at me and stuck her earphones in her ears and switched her iPod on. She was gone from the world for now. I pulled myself back onto my feet and left her in her own world.
The buffet was open for lunch, so I decided to get some food in me to soak up some of this hangover. I made my way to the unhealthy burgers and pizza slices. As I headed straight for them, I bumped into someone who also had their eye on the pizza.
“Sorry, mate,” I said, grabbing his arm so I wouldn’t fall over.
“No, I’m sorry. I’m the one near-” he stopped midsentence. I noticed his Irish accent and looked up. My mouth dropped.
“Niall?” I asked and he pulled me in for a hug. “How are you?”
“I’m good; could be better. What are you doing in Ibiza?” Niall kept me held in that hug.
“Needed to get away from things.” Niall loosened his arms from around me. I shrugged and turned to face the food. “I need food though.”
“You and I both,” Niall nudged me lightly in the arm. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me over to the food.
We both piled our plates with pizza, chips, and a burger for me, a couple of burgers for Niall. My plate was full and I knew that would be all I’d be able to manage to eat. Niall showed me over to the table he was at with his friends. Once Niall had sat me down and introduced me to his friends, he went back up to the buffet and got another plate of food. He sat back down in the seat next to me.
“I’ve missed you, chick,” Niall said and put his arm around me. He kissed my temple and dug into his burgers.
“I’ve missed you too, Nialler,” I grinned at him and leant over to kiss his cheek. He blushed immediately.
We both ate our platefuls and as predicted, I finished mine and was stuffed. Niall started on his second plate as I saw Nicole walk into the dining hall. I waved to her as she walked up to the buffet to get food. She filled a plate with chips and pizza before making her way over to us. She sat next to Niall and playfully nudged him with her shoulder.
“Hey, stranger,” she said and smiled. “Didn’t know you were here.”
“I didn’t know you were here,” Niall said. He turned in his seat to face Nicole. I smiled at Nicole and raised my eyebrows at her.
“Shut up,” Nicole laughed at me. Niall turned back around to see what I was doing. I silently drank my Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime cider, looking around the dining hall. Niall turned back to Nicole and they started to chat.
“So, how did your date with Niall go?” I asked Nicole as I put my makeup on in her room.
“It wasn’t a date,” she laughed as she finished curling her hair into soft waves.
“Just two friends hanging out with each other?” Kelsey asked. She was sitting on the floor, drinking a glass of wine.
“Yes, just two friends hanging out on the beach together.” Nicole pointed her curling tongs at Kelsey.
“Who you’re also going to hang out with tonight and get drunk with.” I smirked.
“And then will bring him back to this bed.” Kelsey added.
“Because you want to get in his pants.” I giggled.
“I do not want to get into his pants.” Nicole chuckled and shook her head. She had a smile that she couldn’t get rid of.
“And he’s going to let you because he wants you there.” Kelsey giggled. It was half ten and Kelsey had already polished off a bottle and a half of wine.
“Shut up,” Nicole laughed and hid her face on the dressing table. “It’s not going to happen,” came her muffled voice from under her arms.
We met Niall and his friends down in the lobby just after 11 and headed out to the strip. Kelsey was quite drunk and I kept making Nicole do shots.
I looked over to see Nicole dancing with Nareesha and Kelsey. She was enjoying herself and looked happy. She looked over in my direction and stuck her tongue out at me. I laughed and danced awkwardly with the guys.
“You want to get on Nic,” Char sang loud enough over the music so I could hear. “You do, don’t ya Nialler!”
I blushed but thankfully she couldn’t see it. “She’s nice but I can’t because she was with Harry,” I shouted back. Char raised her eyebrows at me and looked unconvinced. “And Kiara and I have just split up.” I grabbed her hand and started to dance with her. “Anyway,” I continued. “Who says she’d ever want to get with me?”
“She spent the day with you!” Char said into my ear. “And she gets a stupid smile on her face and blushes whenever we mention you.” Char pulled away from me to see me smile and blush. “Like that. So,” she moved back closer to me. “As you clearly both like each other, go and dance with her you fool.”
Char started to drag me over to the girls. As soon as I was stood with the girls, Nicole wrapped her arms around me for a hug. I kissed her forehead and laughed as she looked up at me and grinned. I don’t know whether it was because of the alcohol, because we were in the moment or because I really liked her, but I grabbed both of her hands and started to dance with her.
Niall and Nicolle started dancing together. At first he just held her hands as they started to mess around. After a while, her hands were on his chest and his hands were on her hips.
I pulled Kelsey into me. “Niall and Nic are so going to get it on by the end of the holiday,” I yelled into Kelsey’s ear. She turned us around so she could see them.
“They look so cute together,” Kelsey said in my ear.
Kelsey had her ‘how cute is that puppy’ face on for a minute or so before her eyes became wide and her mouth dropped. I quickly turned around to see Nicole and Niall kissing. They both pulled away from the kiss after a few seconds. Niall had a smile on his face. He flicked his eyes away from Nicole for a second and met mine. I had the ‘I told you so’ look on my face. He rolled his eyes at me before blushing. Nicole turned her head to face me. Her eyes widened with realisation that we’d seen them kiss. She turned back to Niall and hid her face in his chest.
Nicole buried her face into my chest. I pulled away from her slightly and tucked her hair behind her ear. I smiled at her and kissed her again.
“Wanna get out of here?” I asked into her ear. She looked at me and shrugged. “Just tell me when you’re ready to leave.” I kissed her forehead and took her hand in mine.
“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” she said over the music. She planted a kiss on my lips before turning around.
Nicole grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the toilets. I sat myself by the sinks whereas she leaned against the sinks opposite me.
“Niall wants me to go back to the hotel with him.” Nicole said.
“Go back with him then,” I encouraged. “It’s only Niall. I mean, you just kissed him.”
“Stop thinking of excuses because you clearly like him and he definitely likes you too. Now, go back out there and go back with Niall.” Nicole just stood and nibbled the inside of her cheek. “GO! NOW!” I laughed and pointed to the door.
It’s Niall’s birthday today so to start the party, Nare, Lans and I were sat at the outside bar at two in the afternoon starting to drink. Nicole and Char were by the pool and sitting close together. They were keeping their voices down. Char was facing away from us but we could see Nicole’s face. It looked like she was trying to persuade her to do something. I sipped on my Malibu and coke while trying to lip read Nicole. “You can’t,” was one of the things I picked up; “be alright” was another.
“What’s up with Char?” I asked Nare and Lans. They both looked over in Char and Nicole’s direction.
“They’ve been like that for the past couple of days now,” Nareesha said. “Since the night Char got kicked out of that bar for knocking one of those girls out.”
“Why did she knock her out?” I asked. I’d gone to the loo while this happened. I’d come back out to find out Char and Nicole went back to the hotel.
“One of those girls started on her,” Lani explained. “Char was sitting at the bar with us and these girls came up to her.”
A night out at a bar with the girls. This night was going to be calm and just about us having a laugh.
“Oh my god,” a girl’s voice said behind me. “Are you Charlotte Bailey?” I turned around and saw three girls standing immediately behind me. “Can we have a picture with you?”
I was a bit confused as to why these three girls – who could be no older than 18 – wanted a picture with me. I smiled at them and apologised, turning them away. I turned back around in my seat to face Nicole, Nare and Lani. Kelsey had gone to the loo.
“Good,” one of the girls spat. “We don’t want a picture with a two-faced whore!”
“You have Nathan,” another one of them said as I turned around to face them. “Why would you go back to Harry and ruin his life?”
“I didn’t ruin his life,” I snarled. “If you find out what actually happened between us, then you’d understand the situation a bit better. Now, could you leave us alone?”
“Yeah, we don’t want anything to do with a worthless, two-faced, fame-grabbing slut!” The last girl snarled.
I couldn’t push away the anger inside of me. They started to whisper ‘fame-grabbing slut.’ It was just about audible for me to hear. I tapped my hands to keep them busy. They wouldn’t go away. Nicole asked them to leave. They smirked and just laughed when she asked.
“I can’t believe Harry chose you over her,” the first girl said, completely ignoring Nicole.
I clenched my fist and hit whoever was closest to me. I didn’t care which one said it; they were all making the comments. The girl I hit fell to the ground, unconscious. The bar tender called one of the bouncers over to escort me out. Nicole came with me.
“We came here to get away from them,” I growled. I threw the rest of my drink back. “I would’ve done the exact same thing as her. So she’s been secretive since then?”
Nareesha nodded. “Nicole won’t let on what’s happening.” Nareesha glanced over to Nicole and Char. “She said that we’ll be told soon.”
“I hate secrets,” I moaned and stomped my feet on the bar stool. “I want to know what’s going on.”
“Kelsey,” Lani giggled. “You’re such a child.” Nareesha started to laugh as well. I let a smile appear on my face. Before we knew it, we were giggling.
“Char, are you alright?” I asked while we were getting ready to go out for Niall’s birthday.
Char and I were the only ones in our room. She was sat in her underwear, straightening her hair. She was straightening her fringe as I sat down on the bed behind her. She met my eyes in the mirror and nodded.
“Be honest,” I raised my eyebrows at her.
“Honestly, I’m fine,” she said and smiled.
Something didn’t seem right about her smile. I decided that for this night, I’d stay sober while Charlotte got drunk. The only problem with this idea was that she didn’t drink anything; she seemed to stay sober for the night. I brought her shot after shot but she either gave it to Nicole or shook her head at me. Throughout the night, Nicole was getting more determined to become more and more drunk. Niall spoke to her but she refused to tell him why she wanted to get drunk. I took her under my arm and dragged her to the loo in the club we were in. I sat her by the sinks and went to the bar to get her a glass of water. I returned and she was sitting on the floor, playing on her phone.
“Nic, what’s going on with Char?” I asked. Drunk people are always good to get stuff out of.
“Honestly, I can’t say anything,” she said, taking the water from me and holding it against her lips.
“Come on,” I smiled and sat myself next to her. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“You’ll find out in a few days when we go back, okay?” Nicole tried to focus on me. She took a few sips of the water.
“What is it about, roughly?”
Nicole just looked at me while she drank the water. She shook her head slightly. She looked really upset. “I wish I could talk to someone about it but I promised I wouldn’t.”
“Promises can be broken, deals can’t.” I elbowed her playfully.
“This promise I can’t break.” A tear ran down her cheek. “I really can’t say anything, Kels.”
“No, don’t cry about it.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into me for a hug. “No, you need to keep looking pretty for when you go home with Niall and give him birthday sex.”
Nicole stopped crying and started laughing. She wiped the tears away from her face and giggled. “You really think he wants birthday sex?”
“Every guy likes sex, especially if it’s their birthday.” I winked at her.
Nicole covered her face and was set off in a fit of giggles. This made me giggle because of her giggling. Char walked into the loos looking for us. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Come on,” she said as she helped both of us off the floor. We led Nicole back to Niall where she danced with him. I kept a hold of Char’s hand and dragged her outside.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“Kelsey, don’t start this tonight,” Char said and went to walk back inside.
“Charlotte, answer me.” I stared her down. She kind of shifted awkwardly around.
Char walked back up to me so she was really close against me. “Kelsey, honestly, don’t start this tonight,” she whispered in my ear. “You, Nare and Lans will find out before we go home, okay?” She took a step back. Her eyes pleaded for me to not continue with this.
“I can’t believe we’re going home today,” I said to Char when I woke up on the Wednesday morning. Char looked at me from her bed. She was biting the skin on the inside of her cheek.
“Kelsey,” she tried to say. Her voice was majorly wobbling. “There’s something you, Nare and Lani need to know before we go back.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, sitting up properly. “You’ve kept it hidden for like a week now.”
Tears were coming out of Char’s eyes. I called Nare, Lani and Nicole into our bedroom. Nicole knew instantly what Char was about to tell us so she walked back out of the room. Char started to explain why she and Nicole had been so secretive lately.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
We’d arrived back in the UK. We made if off the plane, through customs and baggage claim pretty quickly. Nicole had her car at the airport already so she hugged us all and wished me luck. Tom was picking Kelsey and Lani up whilst Siva was picking Nare up. I’d called Max a couple of days ago to ask him to pick me up. He was running late.
“You going to be okay, Char?” Kelsey asked.
I had asked each of the girls not to tell the boys what was happening. I was going to tell Max on the way back to the flat. Hopefully, he won’t fuck things up for me.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’ll be fine, Kelsey.” Kelsey gave me one last hug before leaving with Tom and Lani.
Max managed to turn up over an hour after everyone had left. “Sorry, Titch,” he apologised as he saw me waiting at arrivals. “I was travelling down from Manchester.”
“No problem,” I said and smiled weakly at him. “I need to talk to you. But you have to promise you’ll be more like a big brother to me about it than Nathan’s best mate, yeah? I know it’s a lot to ask but it’ll only be just this one time that I ask it of you.”
“Anything,” Max said, placing both hands on my shoulders. He saw how upset I was getting and pulled me in for a hug.
“Look, I’m more than willing to help but I really think you need to tell Nath everything,” Max said as he helped me load my suitcase into my car outside the flat.
“Only one person needs to know everything and that’s me,” I said. I was becoming more and more numbed. I need to be if I was going to get through this next part of the day. “It seems really selfish of me but I need to. I can’t live this life anymore.”
“All of us will be here, always,” Max said. I smiled at him; a sad smile but a smile all the same. “Thank you,” I mouthed. This time I pulled him into me for a hug. Our last hug.
Everything seemed to slow down. I opened the door to the flat. I found it weird that I wasn’t greeted by Teddy straight away. I shut the flat door, keeping it unlocked. I turned back round to see Nathan pull open the kitchen door. The numbed feeling started to slowly ebb away. No, Charlotte. Stay strong.
Max was picking Char up from the airport. I asked him to before we came back from New York. I wanted to have everything perfect for tonight after not seeing her for two weeks. I was nervously making a fuss in the kitchen. The Chinese had just been delivered and was keeping warm in the oven. Teddy was staying with Jay for the night. Char’s plane was supposed to have landed over two hours ago now. I checked my phone for the thousandth time since the Chinese arrived. That’s when I heard the front door close. I pulled open the kitchen door.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Nathan said. He had a smile on his face as he started to come towards me. I stepped away from him. I saw hurt flash across his face.
“N-Nathan,” I started. I looked anywhere but his face. “I need to talk to you.”
“What have you done?” He asked. From the look on his face, he was assuming the worst.
She’s slept with Harry. She’s realised all the feelings she has for him and wants to go back to him. That’s all I could think it was. How could she go back to him? After everything he’s put her through and everything we’ve been through.
“Nathan, please just know that I’m doing this for both of us.” She started to make her way past me and into our bedroom.
“Char, what is it? You’re starting to worry me.” I followed her into our room.
I’d pulled my biggest suitcase out of the wardrobe cupboard and started to chuck shoes and clothes in. Nathan closed my suitcase. He kept his hand on top of it as I went to get my last couple of dresses out of the wardrobe.
“Tell me what you’re doing,” he ordered. “Char,” he pleaded. “Please just tell me what’s happening. What are you doing? Why are you packing?”
“Nathan, you’re making this harder for me to do,” I tried to say. I blinked back the tears.
“Why ... what ... why ...” he couldn’t figure out what to ask.
“I’m leaving,” I said with all the willpower I could muster up inside me.
My heart stopped. I couldn’t feel my legs which caused me to drop onto the bed. It honestly felt like my world had been ripped away from me. I couldn’t feel the ground beneath my feet and I was struggling to breathe in. Why was she leaving? That’s all I wanted to know.
“Why?” I asked. She ignored me.
I felt like a complete bitch but I couldn’t even think. All I could think about was packing my suitcase with as much stuff as possible. Nathan sat waiting for me to reply.
“Charlotte, answer me,” I begged. “CHARLOTTE!” I slammed the lid of the suitcase down.
“I can’t answer you, okay?” I yelled. A couple of tears fell down my cheeks but I wiped them away. “I don’t want to leave you Nathan, but I have to.” I started to pack again, stuffing underwear and socks into spaces around my clothes and shoes.
“You’re not going back to Harry, are you?” Nathan asked as he stood back up.
“I wouldn’t even dream of it,” I said. I shoved a couple of extra converses into my suitcase. I zipped it up.
“Char, why won’t you tell me why you’re leaving?” Nathan asked. He paused for a second. “Hang on,” confusion set on his face. “Why am I letting you leave?” He closed the bedroom door and spread his arms across to block it. “You’re not leaving this flat! I won’t let you.”
“Nathan,” I could feel my voice starting to wobble. “Please, I need to go. You don’t understand.”
“Because you won’t fucking explain it to me,” Nathan yelled. “If you’re actually going back to Harry, I will kill him. I will actually kill him.”
“Nathan,” I started. “I love you. It was always you and I think you and the other lads knew it was always you.” Nathan had his hand in the pocket of his jeans. “But I can’t live with the constant abuse from the Directioners and some members of the fanmily. I tried to ignore them and I even deleted my account but anywhere I go in the world now, they’re there, shouting abuse and hate at me.” I broke eye contact with Nathan. He moved over to me and stood in front of me. “Going on holiday to Ibiza; it was nearly the end of the holiday season and you had to be 18 to get into the bars and clubs but they were still managing to find me and say really hurtful stuff.” I could feel the tears in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry, I tried to convince myself. I looked up into Nathan’s eyes; there were tears in his too. “I really wish I was stronger than this.” I swallowed. “Please forgive me because I know how much you want to spend the rest of our lives together.” Nathan mumbled something that I couldn’t make out. “But ... I’m so sorry, Nathan.” I couldn’t carry on. I looked down at our hands. He’d wrapped his fingers around mine and his thumb was stroking my palms. I couldn’t hold the tears back.
I couldn’t really remember much after that. All I remember was Nathan not having the strength to fight for me to stay.
I hadn’t realised but we’d entwined our fingers and I was rubbing her hands with my thumbs. Tears started to stream down her face. She looked beautiful. I knew what she meant. I couldn’t help but cry. I pulled her close to me. Our foreheads were pressed together. My tears ran down my nose, onto her nose and down her cheeks. She pushed herself onto her toes and kissed me. I could tell just from that one kiss that it was the last. Charlotte pulled away. Her hand covered her mouth, trying not to cry anymore.
She was gone. I was in the flat alone. I took the engagement ring out of my jeans and held in between my finger and thumb.
I’ll never know what her answer would have been.
3 weeks later – October 2013
“Nath,” I could hear Tom banging at the flat door. “OI! NATH! I know you’re in there.” He banged on the door again. “Nath, we can’t keep saying you’re ill. People are starting to think you’ve left the band.”
I dragged myself out of bed and unlocked the flat door. All four of the lads stormed in. Max grabbed a hold of my arms, lifted me up and carried me into the living room. The flat was a state. Pizza boxes, left over curries, Chinese and burgers were scattered all over the floor and coffee table. I hadn’t showered since a couple of days after Char had left. I collapsed on the sofa. I hadn’t eaten anything for a couple of days now.
“Mate, you need to get a grip on yourself,” Max said as he started to pick up boxes and containers of half eaten food.
“Do you think none of us have been affected by her leaving?” Jay asked.
I hadn’t really thought about that. Jay had also lived with her for over a year. Max was like an older brother to her and I knew he thought and treated her like a little sister. Tom just mucked around with her and loved to pull pranks on each other. Siva and Char weren’t the closest but she always went to him for advice and whenever she needed to speak confidentially with him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, making no eye contact with any of them.
“Come on, Nath,” Siva said, encouraging me to stand up. “Let’s get you showered and dressed. We’ve got a big meeting about the next album and tour.”
“Nathan, are you ready for this tour?” Martin’s voice dragged me out of my flashback to the day Char left me. I couldn’t stop reliving that memory.
“I want to leave the band,” I said. I looked around to see Jay spit out his water, Max drop his phone, Siva sitting with his jaw dropped and Tom fall off his chair.
“What?” Everybody asked, not quite believing I’d just said it.
“Yeah, I want to leave the band,” I repeated. “The fans have driven away the person I love most in the world and I don’t want them to think they’ve won.”
“Nathan, think about what you’re doing,” Martin said.
“We’ll let you properly think about this for a week,” Jayne said sympathetically. “We’ll come back here next Tuesday and talk about it.”
Two and a half months later – January 2014
“Hello everyone,” Jay welcomed at the press conference. “I know you’ve all heard rumours as to why we’ve called you here. And like always, we’ve been completely honest in the past so we’re going to be completely honest here.”
“We’ve come to a group decision to have a year or so off,” Max continued. “Now, we are doing one final gig in Wembley Stadium to the fanmily. We’ve told them everything so they know how to get tickets.”
“So, basically, about just over three months ago now,” Tom started. “We lost someone close to us. No, they didn’t die, they left and we haven’t heard from them since. Some of us haven’t been dealing with it as well as others.” I felt all eyes on me. “But we decided as a group that we’d have time off to deal with some stuff. As you know, Max is going to become a dad within the two months and me and Siva are planning weddings.”
This is why we’ve decided to take a year, or however long is necessary, out,” Siva added. “We hope when we do start making records again, the TW Fanmily will be there, ready to support us again.”
“Hopefully, they’ll never stop supporting us,” Max said. “This caused some of the press to laugh.
“We’re not splitting up and no one’s leaving,” Jay spoke. “I’d just like to put that on record in case anyone starts to think that.”
“Has anyone got any questions?” Tom asked.
I stayed silent throughout the whole press interview.
Two years later – January 2016
“You sure you’re ready to start recording and performing again?” Jayne asked me over the phone.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve written a bunch of songs.”
“Okay, well we’ll get everyone round to your house and we can see what you’ve got.” Jayne said and hung up.
Max and Shell arrived first with their son Connor. Connor was now nearly two. He was born on the 7th March, just after we announced our break from the business. He was walking and chatting complete nonsense now. I picked him up and spun him around in my arms. I placed him back on the floor and kissed Shell on the cheek. Max wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, fussing with my ear before closing the front door.
Next to arrive were Jay and Lani. Jay – after three years of being together – finally proposed to her. She had said yes. Jay pulled me in for a giant bear hug as soon as he’d walked through the door. He placed me down on the ground again. I kissed Lani on the cheek and whispered “congratulations” in her ear.
Tom and Kelsey were next to arrive. Kelsey looked amazing with her golden-brown skin and sun bleached hair. She and Tom had just come back from New Zealand. Kelsey was excited to see me looking happy so ran up to me, jumped in my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. She kissed me on the cheek and then jumped down.
“It’s good to see you lot coming together again,” she said. “I’ve missed you all performing and enjoying yourself on stage.”
“Move over, Kels,” Tom said and pushed her out of the way. “I want to see my boy.” He pulled me into a hug. “You alright, Fly?”
I rolled my eyes at him and playfully pushed him away. I shut the front door and we joined the rest. Siva, Nare and little Lucas showed up last. Lucas was barely four months old but you could tell he was going to look like a spitting image of Seev. However, he had Nareesha’s big, brown eyes. I felt honoured to be his godfather. It really cheered me up. I took Lucas into my arms and made the most fuss I could of him. We all gathered in the living room. Jayne, Martin and big Kev joined us once we’d all had a catch up.
Six months later – July 2016
“Well, you’re playing to a sold out stadium,” Jayne announced as she walked into the studio.
“What?” I replied, quite in shock.
“Capital FM’s Summertime Ball is sold out,” Martin said. He had a grin that stretched from ear to ear on his face.
The Summertime Ball hadn’t had a sold out gig since we last performed back in 2012. Even One Direction couldn’t sell it out. Though to be fair, no one knew they were playing until they were there.
All five of us, Martin and Jayne started to celebrate in the studio. We finished recording for the day and decided to head straight out for drinks. There was a pub within walking distance of Jay’s, Tom’s and Siva’s flats. We headed there.
“Nath, mate,” Jay slurred on the chair next to me. We’d been here about an hour now. “You have to have one drink to celebrate.”
“I have,” I laughed as I pushed the goon off of me.
“Coke doesn’t count as a celebratory drink. Beer, vodka or whiskey does. Do some vodka shots, baby Nath!”
“No, Jay,” but it was too late. Jay had gone to the bar and was ordering shots.
Before Jay could bring the shots over, I decided to get out of my seat and leave the bar. Outside, it was dark now and I stood on the pavement for a bit thinking of a way to get home. I saw a girl looking at me every few seconds out of the corner of my eye. She came over to me, a vodka and coke in her hand.
“You look lost, babe,” she said. She sounded like she had a Bristol accent.
“Just trying to get home,” I replied and smiled at her.
“Well, I have a flat that’s just around the corner if you want to crash there for the night.” She ran her fingers up my chest and then back down, only taking her hand away when she’d pulled on my belt buckle slightly.
I shouldn’t go back with her. God knows what would go in the paper as we’d only just announced that we were coming back to the music business. I looked into her chocolate brown eyes and thought ‘fuck it!’
“Come on, then,” I said and grabbed her hand. She led me back to hers. What was I doing?
“It’s a little girl,” Max cried as he stood before us in the waiting room.
“You got your daughter, you lucky bastard,” I laughed as I congratulated him. He hugged me and kissed my cheek. I jokingly pushed him off me and let the rest of the guys hug him.
“Well, in the light of little baby George being born,” Jay started.
“Little baby Lucy George,” Max cut in.
“Awww, with Lucy George being born, we,” Jay put his arm around Lani. “We are expecting to have a baby.” Jay had a proud smile on his face. There was another round of congratulations.
I was the only one without a wife or without kids. Lani had now fallen pregnant and Tom had told me that he and Kels were trying for a baby. I put on a happy face and really tried to sound excited for everyone.
4 months later – November 2017
My phone buzzed on the carpet next to me.
Tom: Just got back from the hospital. Kelsey’s pregnant. I’m going to be a dad!
I text back congrats. I was the only member now without a kid or going to have kids.
It’s not like I haven’t tried to get over Char; I have. I’ve met several girls but none of them have been close to what Char was like with me. She was perfect to me. Since selling the flat, I could never bring a girl back to mine. I tended to stay at theirs. How could I take someone back to that house knowing that I could only see myself and Char living in it? I couldn’t see myself with anyone else and raising my kids.
I was lying on the floor of my bedroom. I’d managed to get the same carpet we had in the flat. I knew Char loved that carpet and I didn’t want her to lose it when we started a family. I had my eyes closed and was running my hands through the carpet. Teddy came into the bedroom and lay down in front of me. Everything reminded me of her. I couldn’t let go. Teddy, the house, my car, the engagement ring; there was no possible way to let go. I silently let a few tears fall into the carpet.
Six months later – May 2018
Do I still think about her? Every day.
It’s been four and a half years and I still can’t believe that she came home and told me she couldn’t cope anymore. The last words she said to me were,
“Nathan, I love you. It was always you and I think you and all the other lads knew it was always you that I’d end up with. But I can’t live with the constant abuse from the Directioners and some members of the fanmily. I tried to ignore the tweets and I even deleted my account but anywhere I go in the world now they’re there, shouting abuse and hate at me. Going on holiday to Ibiza; it was nearly the end of holiday season and you had to be 18 to get in the bars and clubs but they were still managing to find me and say really hurtful stuff.” Tears started to gather in her eyes. Tears started to gather in my eyes. “I really wish I was stronger than this. Please forgive me because I know how much you want to spend the rest of our lives together.”
“That’s what I was going to ask you tonight,” I thought but I think it may have slightly slipped out of my mouth.
“But ... I’m so sorry, Nathan.” She stopped speaking. Soon after that she was gone.
The boys and I were doing a gig in Cambridge. We were hanging out by the river. Shell, Connor and little Lucy, Nare and little Lucas, Lani and baby Iris, and Kelsey and her bump had joined us for tonight’s show. Connor was playing in the park with Jay. Iris was in his arms. She was three months old now. She had Jay’s piercing blue eyes and his curly hair. I couldn’t believe how big Kelsey was getting. I think Tom said that she only had three weeks left of her pregnancy. I thought she was crazy coming to the gig in Cambridge at this late in her pregnancy. I’ve never seen Tom so excited. I was the only one out of all five boys not to be with anyone.
“Have you chosen a name for little boy Parker yet?” Shell asked Kelsey.
“Nope, we’re going to wait until we see what the little man looks like,” Kelsey said and rubbed her hand over her swollen stomach. Tom leant over and kissed the bump and then Kelsey.
“Nath, when are you going to find a new girl?” Siva asked, being jumped on by a two and a half year old Lucas.
“The right girl hasn’t come along yet.” I pulled some grass out of the ground and fanned it out.
I was right in thinking that Lucas was going to be the spitting image of Siva. He had Nareesha’s big eyes. I still feel honoured to this day that Siva and Nare chose me to be his godfather. I think I always will be. After pulling his father to the ground, he jumped on my shoulders. I crawled on to all fours and started giving him a horse ride around the area we were sat.
I looked up and he was standing a distance away. He was facing me but turning around to face a little boy who was about four or five years old, around Connor’s age. I took Lucas off my back and walked over to Jay.
“Is it me or does this kid look like you?” Jay asked, still holding Iris.
“Erm, I guess he kind of looks a bit like I did when I was younger,” I said.
We then realised that it looked creepy that we were stood looking at this kid. To be fair, Connor was playing with him and Jay was keeping an eye on Connor.
“What’s your name?” The little boy asked, offering a race car toy to Connor.
“My name’s Connor and my dad’s a rock star. What’s your name?” Connor asked as he took the toy from the little boy.
“My name’s Matty. I don’t know my daddy,” Matty stated. There was a sad look in his eyes. “My mummy says my daddy was a good person.”
“Why isn’t your mum and dad together?”
“He didn’t know about me. She said she’ll let me see him when I’m old enough to understand about love. But I don’t like girls, they smell.” Matty wrinkled his nose up.
Jay and I couldn’t help but laugh. I like this Matty kid. He was funny.
“Matty,” a female voice called.
I looked to where the voice came from. She was stood rooted to the spot. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at Matty again. It clicked. Jay grabbed my shoulder. He was as shocked as I was.
“Is that your mum calling you?” Connor asked.
“Yep, she’s beautiful. I tell her all the time.” Matty smiled. “Bye, Connor.”
“Bye, Matty,” Connor said, handing the race car toy back.
“Nathan, don’t just stand there,” Jay said and pushed me forward.
I ran as fast as I could to catch up with Matty and his mum. I nearly tripped over my own feet. I didn’t care if I wouldn’t be able to breathe properly or whether I had an asthma attack. I needed to know this was real. I reached Matty and his mum, stopping her from moving by grabbing her wrist.
“Charlotte,” I tried to say.
I was finding it very difficult to breathe. Max rushed over after me and handed me my inhaler and I could breathe again. I looked into Charlotte’s eyes. She had a slight look of panic in them. How I’d been longing to stare into those eyes again.
“I still love you,” I said. I had my hands cupping her face. My thumbs were stroking her cheeks. She’d put Matty down on the ground by now. He had his arms around her leg with his hand still gripped onto his race cars. Tears were forming in her eyes.
“Nathan, no,” she said. Charlotte started to pull away from me, wiping her eyes dry. She picked Matty up and started to walk away again.
“Charlotte,” I called. “Char, please.” I begged. She stopped in her tracks. She wiped her face again. I could see Matty talking to her and then looking at me. She kissed his forehead and played with his fringe for a moment. “Char, just answer me one thing.” I caught up with her again. She turned around to face me. Matty’s mouth was in a small “o” shape. “Is he ... mine?” I asked.
Charlotte looked from me to Matty and then back to me again. Her eyes darted away from mine and she started to blink quickly. She was trying to hold back tears before she nodded. She bit her lip. My jaw dropped. I don’t really know what I was expecting from her.
But I had a child. I had a little boy.
I placed Matty down on the ground. He put his arms around Nathan’s legs. Nathan picked him up and hugged him. Nathan looked genuinely happy. I thought he’d be angry that I gave birth to his kid and raised him so far without even telling him. But Nathan held out his arm and pulled me into him, encasing me and Matty in his arms. Nathan kissed Matty on the forehead and then kissed me on the lips. He held me against him for a minute or so.
“I still love you too,” I said as he rubbed his nose against mine.
