I walked into the restaurant to meet my brother and the other boys. To say I was excited was a bit of an understatement. Louis begged me not to leave him, threatening to verbally assault on Harry when I left and saying I'd regret missing all of the excitement. Even though Paul told me I wasn't allowed to leave; I informed him that I was not his problem and promised that if I got attacked by the media, I wouldn't sue. I needed to see my family. I needed to be around normalcy again. Life with One Direction was fun, yes. But they weren't The Wanted. They weren't weird like my boys were. They didn't sing me 22 when I refused to wake up. They didn't yell at me when I took too long in the shower. They didn't play awful pranks on me. They didn't know me like my boys did. They just weren't The Wanted.

I saw them sitting in a corner table, laughing. Nathan had chop sticks hanging out of his mouth and I'm pretty sure Jay had like 10 straws in his cup. I grinned and walked over to the table.

"I'm here now! Everyone can stop wondering if I'm alive!" I shouted, probably loud enough that everyone in the restaurant heard.

"SOPHIA!" They cheered in unison.

I sat down in between Tom and Nathan and leaned to rest my head on Nathans shoulder, "I missed you guys."

"We missed you too Sophie! Those dumb One Direction boys have stolen our girl! We're a little bitter 'bout it honestly!" Siva said. His smile was one I hadn't seen since the day he saw his mum and sisters in Belfast. It was an 'I missed you' smile. I was an actual reason for their happiness.

"I know you are! You bitter bitches." I grinned and Jay nearly choked on his beer.

"What are we doing tonight? You staying with us?" Jay asked, hopefully.

"We're drinking! And no, I only have a day pass to leave the complex. Paul said that it's too dangerous for me to be out and about with all of the press right now."

Max grinned, "Did you sign a contract?"

"Um.. no. I don't recall signing a 'contract'. Why?"

"Well then, fuck 'Paul'. Who even is that?" Max asked.

"Head of security. I can't do that, he hates me enough as is. Says 'the drama has followed you all since she got here'." I stuffed some asian noodles into my mouth and made a sour face.

"He sounds like a blast. Well Martin loves you, adding to the reasons you should come on tour with US." Nathan said, squeezing my knee.

I smiled at the familiar touch., "What gave you the impression I wasn't going on tour with you?"

"Through the grape vine I guess.. Heard you were considering another British boy band?" Tom folded his hands and cupped his face, waiting for an answer.

"What grape vine?!" I asked, getting slightly aggravated at the fact that they were clearly beating around the bush.

"Well, Nathan heard from Emily, who heard Eleanor and Leah chatting about it, who I guess heard from Harry, who heard from Louis, who I'm assuming heard from you." Siva blindly filled in the blanks for me.

"Tour isn't for a few months. I haven't made a decision. Let's talk about something else." I pleaded. It wasn't that I was avoiding talking to them about it. I was avoiding thinking about it myself. I didn't want to be without Louis for 8 months, but I couldn't bare being without the boys for 8 months either. It was a lose/lose situation. I wasn't making a decision until I absolutely had to.

"Why don't you just admit you don't want to go with them and we can never speak of the awful topic ever again." Nathan laughed to himself, probably trying to make light of a conversation he hated.

"Awe babe, you'd miss me too much?!" I poked his cheeks and he groaned.

"I'd be fine, for your information. You on the other hand wouldn't last a week! You'd call and say 'If I hear What Makes You Beautiful one more time I'll slit my throat! Buy me a plane ticket to meet you guys!'" He did his signature 'Sophie' voice and I smiled. Even though I complained about them constantly, I've grown accustomed to being around them. Like I said, they're my family.

I rolled my eyes and tried to hide my complete happiness. Just yesterday I thought to myself that I was meant to be with the 1D boys, but this was home. Home was wherever my boys were. I now knew I was going to have to tell Louis I wasn't going on tour with him, and that was going to suck.

---

We finished eating dinner and headed over to a pub on the block. It was slightly rundown. Total dive bar. Which I loved, it was simple and full of alcohol, no blaring music, no screaming fans. What more could a girl ask for?

Nathan sat next to me at the bar while the others danced with a bunch of middle aged women. He put his arm around my shoulder and sighed, "I've missed having you on our pub crawls. Remember two years ago when I wasn't old enough to drink and you were going through a period of sobriety and we had to chase all the guys back to the hotel because they were so drunk?"

I laughed, nearly falling off of the bar stool. Siva ended up sleeping in the closet, Jay was crying because Tom cut a chunk of his hair off, and Max got his eyebrows shaved off in his sleep. It was the night to beat thus far. It was also the first night that Nathan and I really developed feelings for eachother. The first night we kissed. The first night he told me he loved me. It was one of the best, and definitely craziest nights of my life. I grinned and poked him in the chest, "How could I ever forget! Max's eyebrows have never looked the same!"

I rested my head on his shoulder he sighed, "What happened to us Sophie."

"What do you mean?" I pretended to act clueless. But, I wasn't clueless. I knew exactly what Nathan meant. What happened to our almost relationship. What happened to my commitment to their band. What happened to me. What happened to everything. Honestly? I had no idea. But I couldn't not give him an answer.

"I needed to grow up. I needed to move out of Max's shadow. I need to be my own person Nathan.." I whispered. I looked up at him hopefully, searching his eyes for some sort of response.

"I understand Soph. I just didn't realize growing up meant moving on."

I didn't want tonight to be sappy. I wanted it to be fun, "I could never move on from you all. You'll always be my favorite boys!"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the make shift dance floor. He was groaning like a whiney teenager. He couldn't stand dancing, which made it all the more fun. I grabbed his hands and placed them low on my hips. We were swaying to the music and after a couple of minutes, he actually looked like he was having fun. Siva was hollering at the both of us, screaming about us being the cutest couple ever. Nathan blushed and moved his hands up higher on my hips, farther away from my ass. Nathan has always been the good guy, no matter how badly he wanted to act like he wasn't. That was my attraction to him. He reminded me of Connor. Being slowly corrupted by my bad girl persona. The night we both regretted so much was just that, a regret. Nathan wasn't a cheater and he would never steal a guys girlfriend. Even if it was someone he hated. Even Louis. I giggled at his clear discomfort and guided him back over to the group at the bar.

I looked up at the Heineken clock hanging on the wall and groaned. It was 1230. I needed to leave.

"I gotta go guys" I smiled and took the last swig of my beer.

I received a chorus of groaning and whining.

"I'm sorry! I said I'd be back by midnight and I'm already late." I looked down at my phone and had a missed call from Lou.

I kissed each of their cheeks and left.

---

I got out of my cab in front of the complex and saw Paul tapping his foot impatiently.

"You do understand that I don't get to go home until everyone is safe inside, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not your problem Paul, you don't have to wait up for me."

He unlocked the door and gave me a fake grin, "No but Louis is, and if you didn't show up he would've gone looking for you."

I ignored him and walked to Liam's apartment. He and Louis were asleep on the couch, the TV was playing the opening credits for Step Brothers. It was adorable. Louis was drooling on Liam's shoulder and Liam's head was leaned back on the couch, mouth wide open. I smiled to myself and walked over, tapping them both lightly. Their heads shot up and they looked at eachother, pretending to be confused that they feel asleep that way.

I smirked, "Tired?"

Louis rolled his eyes and got up, "You're late. You said you'd be home at 12. It's like 1."

I smiled and kissed him, "Got carried away with time. Sorry baby."

He rolled his eyes again and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around him and allowed him to carry me to bed yelling to Liam, "Night Liam!!"

"Night you two!"

He threw me down on the bed and kissed me again, "You taste like alcohol and smell like a dirty bar."

I kissed him again and hummed, "You taste bitter and smell like jealousy."

He scoffed and brushed my hair out of my face, "You think you're so funny don't you?"

Truth is, I did think that was funny. So did he. He pulled me into his chest and curled up against my body. I turned to face him and smiled mischievously.

"What are you looking at!" He grinned, catching my contagious happiness.

"You... I want you." I whispered.

His eyes went wide and I kissed him with more need and passion then ever. Safe to say, Louis got me that night, and it was perfect. Better than with Nathan, better than I'd ever expected possible. But also leaving me with so many questions. Biggest one being: Who am I going on tour with next year.

Notes

hi guys, so I don't normally do this but today is an exception. I'm currently reading The Way We Are and I seriously suggest everyone read it. It's an amazing story. The plot line is unique, you fall in love with the main character, it's not cookie cutter, and I just really fucking love it. Please read it because I don't understand why she doesn't have a ton of subscribers because it's honestly that good. xx, elle