Skylar's POV:

I glared at Piper.
“Why’d you have to call her that?” I asked angrily. “You know what she’s going through right now, and you shouldn’t push her!”
“I know she’s not eating, but that’s hardly an excuse…” began Piper, but I cut in.
“She’s not just being anorexic you know. She’s seeing Ethan again,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and swiveling to look at her straight-on. “I thought you knew.”
Piper looked surprised.
“Really? Ethan? Again?” she asked, flabbergasted. “I had absolutely no idea…”
She put her head in her hands and sighed.
“How could I have been so blind?” she said, almost to herself. “I should have seen it coming…”
I patted her on the back.
“It’s alright. I’m her sister, so I would know,” I said reassuringly.
Scarlett and Lucy had retreated to their own bedrooms – it was kind of late, already ten – so it was just me and Piper.
“I’m just so worried about her,” Piper said. “And my frustration with her is getting to me. I keep telling her to stop being so reckless, but she won’t listen. I hate telling her what to do, but if I don’t she won’t know her own boundaries.”
I nodded. Reagan had always been the problem child in our family. Me and my younger brother Nathan would often get away with tons of stuff just because Reagan would be acting out. I’m not saying I ever did anything illegal, but stuff my parents wouldn’t approve of anyhow – staying out after curfew, having sleepovers when I wasn’t supposed to, those kinds of things. I’ve never been one to cross the line, and I wasn’t going to start just because my parents were too busy dealing with Reagan.
Piper sighed and looked up at me.
“You’ve been great, Sky. Really. You’re handling this all really well,” said Piper.
“Thanks, Pips. You’re doing the best you can, and that’s good enough for me,” I said, drawing her into a hug. I’m a touchy-feely kind of person, and I loved giving hugs. Piper knew this and hugged me back.
“Thanks Sky,” she murmured.
I pulled away and grinned at her.
“So…you didn’t go over what you’re going to do in our big sabotage,” I said slyly. I hoped she didn’t think she could get away so easily.
She shrugged.
“I don’t know. I might just be friends with Louis and that’s it,” she said, not looking me in the eye. I punched her. I knew that she was lying.
“Ow!” she exclaimed. “What was that for?”
“Cause you’re lying!” I said, punching her again.
“Ow! Okay, maybe I like him just a little bit. But he doesn’t like me, so…” she sighed, looking away. She had such a sad, forlorn look on her face that I just had to say something.
“He was talking to you the entire time at dinner! He didn’t even notice Lucy back at the studio! He’s totally into you!” I said.
“He has a girlfriend,” she said, as if ending the conversation. She stood up and smiled sadly at me. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
As she was leaving, I called after her.
“You like him more than a little, don’t you?” I said.
She stopped, looked down at her shoes and sighed before straightening her back and walking into her room.
I sighed and checked my phone. I had no new messages, a few hundred new followers on Twitter, and no new voice mails.
I decided to tweet something quick: “Just went out to dinner with @OneDirection! Was super fun!” Even I could detect the false cheer in my tweet as I pushed the “send tweet” button. I turned off my phone and sprawled on the sofa, sighing. Today had been so exhausting, I couldn’t even imagine what tomorrow was going to be like. Erick had sent us all a message that we were going to practice filming tomorrow, just so we’d get the hang of it. I was not looking forward to it.
My phone buzzed then, and I picked it up to see a new message from Niall. We had all exchanged numbers at the restaurant, (somehow Scar already had Harry’s. I don’t know how she did. I told myself to remember to ask her next time I saw her). I hadn’t expected them to text me at all tonight, but I guess they were, because there was Niall’s name glowing on my phone screen.
I slid the unlock button on my phone to see what he said.
“Hey, wondering if any of you guys wanted to come down to our apartment for a little bit to hang???” he had texted. I glanced around me. Everyone had retreated to their rooms, but I figured I could ask.
“I’ll ask everyone else, hold on,” I replied. I then got up and knocked on Piper’s door.
“What?” she asked, poking her head out of the door.
“Niall wants to know if any of us wants to come to their apartment and, y’know, hang?” I said awkwardly. I noticed Piper had changed out of her outfit and had put on sweats and a tank on. She had removed her makeup, but because she was Piper, she still looked stunning.
“Omigosh, yes!” she said, running into her room, leaving her door ajar. Piper’s room was so neat and tidy, so different from my room, which probably still had clothes strewn all over the floor still.
She grabbed socks and pulled on her sneakers before glancing up at me.
“Should I…should I be more dressed up?” she asked quietly.
“Nah, you look fine. In fact, I’ll change into my comfy stuff so that it won’t look weird,” I said, smiling. Piper threw me a grateful smile, then went back to tying her shoe laces.
I ran into my room and grabbed my yoga pants and baby tee off the ground from this morning. I quickly took off my makeup, pulled on my Nike athletic sandals, and then hurried to the living room. Piper was sitting on the couch, phone in hand.
“Yeah, Louis just texted me the same thing. Did you ask the others?” asked Piper, looking up.
I glanced down the hallway. Everyone else had their doors closed – Reagans had a piece of paper taped on it that said, “DO NOT DISTURB”, and I could hear Scar snoring.
“No…but I don’t think Reagan wants to be bothered, and Scar’s asleep…I’ll ask Lucy?” I said. I knocked on Lucy’s door, and I heard a groggy, “Coming,” before she opened the door.
“God, why are dressed up like you’re going somewhere?” she asked sleepily. “I just fell asleep.”
“We’re going to the guys’ apartments. I figure you don’t want to come?” I asked.
She nodded, trying to keep her eyes open.
“Go one ahead,” she said, waving me away. I walked away and she closed the door behind me.
“Alright, we’re good to go,” I said as I came back to the living room. Piper nodded and got up.
“You ready?” she asked me nervously.
“Ready,” I replied, though I knew secretly I wasn’t. I had no idea what we were doing, but it felt great.