Niall’s view:
“Hey you can't sleep forever!!” The loud banging and slamming of doors wouldn’t stop. The kitchen was being used to its full extent. I couldn’t fall back asleep but I couldn’t will myself out of bed either.
“Niall!!” Someone else shouted. It was too early to tell their voices apart.
“No.” I groaned back. I didn’t want to get up. I shifted over to see the tiny clock read 3:00. It can't be three in the morning so that leaves afternoon. I slept that long?? I used that as my motivation to stand up and walk downstairs without any real clothes on.
“Whoa, Niall maybe something to hold back… the… erm… stiffy next time.” Louis covered his eyes. I looked down and saw what he was talking about showing clearly. I grabbed a blanket off the loveseat and wrapped it around myself like a cocoon. I squinted to see Louis, Eleanor, Harry, Jericha, and another girl I have never met before in the kitchen.
“Morning.” I whispered a bit embarrassed I showed myself to Eleanor and someone I have never met. Then I registered who was here. “Jericha??” I asked looking clearly at her.
“Afternoon.” She giggled.
“What are you doing here??” I asked.
“Harry asked if I wanted to hang out. He said you would be up soon.” She smiled and the look she gave me after was priceless. She was having fun with him and liked him a lot. So this means I have two choices right now. I freak out and take her upstairs so he can't have her or I let him win and leave the house.
“Well, I'm going to head out.” I said walking to the stairs.
“Niall, you should stay.” She said.
“C’mon Niall.” Harry said wrapping an arm around Jericha. If he kept his mouth shut I might have said yes but the fact he was doing this to hurt me I was done.
“No, I have other things to do.” I rushed to get dressed to get out of the house. As I was coming down the stairs Jericha was going up and stopped me.
“Thank you.” She said grabbing my face and planting a very friendly kiss on my lips. When we pulled apart I actually had a bit of clenching in my stomach. “He is off your back now. So I hope you can get this dancer.” She patted my shoulder and continued on up the stairs. I licked my lips and smiled. As I made my way to the door everyone watched me.
“Call or text if you need anything.” Louis smiled at me whilst handing Eleanor some drink. I nodded and got into one of the nicer cars we had here. I drove around and didn’t know where to go. I mean I didn’t have any place in particular, just where I end up at. I found myself at the studio looking for Liam.
“Niall??” I turned around hoping not to see any fans or anything. Luckily I found Gordy.
“Hey, have you seen Liam??” I asked him.
“Yeah, he's this way.” I followed Gordy and saw a group of people talking with Liam and they all looked a bit frustrated.
“Niall??” Liam asked when he noticed me.
“Hey, what's going on??” I eyed everyone else.
“Just details for the next show.” He sighed.
“Do you want to take a break??” I asked him. He looked at everyone and the papers everyone held.
“Yeah.” He smiled. He and I walked away with Gordy and Jacob in tow.
“So is this all you have been doing??” I asked.
“Yeah. At some point I was going to surprise the residents. Want to do that with me??” He asked sitting on a counter and drinking some water.
“Sounds fun.” I smiled.
“So did you see Harry??” He awkwardly asked.
“Yeah, he and Jericha are getting on well.” Even though I didn’t like Jericha as anything more than a friend, it still made me jealous and mad he had to have her. He clearly only wanted her because he thought she was mine and I was fed up with it.
“I thought you set them up??” He asked.
“I kind of did.” I smiled.
“Well, I'm glad you are moving on and doing something nice for him.” Liam was either really naïve or really stupid.
“She is good for him.” I was evil laughing mentally right now because this plan was falling perfectly into place almost too perfectly.
“How about we see how the residents are doing.” Liam hopped off the counter he was sitting on and waited for me to indicate I was ready. I showed that by pushing off the counter I was leaning on. I followed him closely and found double doors that said residents. Our show was for everyone around the America's so the people that don’t live in L.A. are able to stay in little bunks in the resident’s area. When all five of us were on X Factor UK, we stayed in a place just like it. It was neat to share a room with a friend and someone who shares a love of singing with you. Our show pays for them to have four meals and all the essentials one would need whilst being away from home.
“Liam.” Someone pointed at him when he walked in.
“Hey guys.” He waved and smiled. A lot of the girls to try out for our show were fans. It was cool but the ones that took it professionally really caught our attention.
“Nialler!” Some of them smothered us a bit.
“We wanted to check out how everyone was doing. So how are you??” I smiled at their excitement. There was a chorus of answers and Liam was already talking to groups and listening to what they were saying.
“So when does one on one coaching start??” Someone asked.
“Soon. First we are going to have another round of singing where we will get rid of a few who just don’t live up to their first audition. Then from there it's one on one.” I answered.
“How much time do we get for one on one??” Something tells me these people didn’t just want to sing, maybe that’s just my famous side speaking.
“Not a lot so it's going to be business and nothing more.” They all laughed. People started to leave as I talked to individuals and moved around.
“Janice.” She was beautiful. She stuck her hand out instead of a hug like everyone else had done. I took it and sat down with her.
“So you are country I assume.” I smiled looking at her boots. She laughed and nodded. “Well I know nothing about country music so I'm excited to learn.” I felt happy talking to her. Actually not just her, everyone here seemed happy to see just Liam and I so it felt rewarding. I was actually happy helping everyone. I did however keep my eyes open for a short blonde. I saw people walking around in groups and a few people strumming guitars but not her. One of the boys on my team came up and joined Janice and I.
“Janice your kids are here.” He smiled as she brightened her expression with pride.
“You have kids??” I asked caught off guard. I guess it's normal to have kids but it didn’t really hit me until this point that some of these singers aren’t just doing it for themselves.
“Would you like to meet them??” She asked uplifting.
“Bring them here.” I loved kids. They always made me smile so when Theo was born I knew I was going to be the best uncle. I felt good about it until I left him alone and Greg wanted to kill me. Denise hasn’t trusted me alone with Theo since, and I don’t blame her. She was gone and I looked up at the boy with black hair in front of me. “So who’s team are you on??” I asked him starting a mini conversation whilst she was gone.
“Yours.” He laughed.
“Cool.” It was awkward talking to him for whatever reason.
“You're –”
“Sonic James.” He responded.
“That is a cool name.” I said standing as I caught eye sight of Janice bringing in her kids.
“Cool enough not to remember.” He joked. I think. He was serious when he said it but I chuckled hoping to get the joking atmosphere.
“Who is this little lady??” I asked as I picked up a little brunette with pigtails. She was old enough to know who I am but young enough to not freak out badly.
“That is Shae, and this is Tyler.” She was holding a boy young enough to gurgle.
“Shae is a pretty name.” I said in a baby voice.
“Sonic here.” She just willingly handed Tyler over to Sonic without thinking about it.
“Do you to know each other??” I asked.
“Yeah, we go back.” Sonic smiled tickling Tyler.
“How’s so??” I was genuinely curious about the contestants now.
“I'm friends with his mother.” Janice informed.
“And my old babysitter.” Sonic added.
“That’s really cool. I'm glad you guys have someone to talk to whilst here. It can be tough being alone in this industry.” I handed Shae to her mother. “I really should get to know some others here but I hope to see you around.” I waved off. After I found Liam singing along with a crowd I dipped out. Gordy and Jacob followed us everywhere but when we went to see the contestants they disappeared. This was the worst day off I have ever taken. I was bored and had no idea how to stop the urge to just sleep. I wasn’t even tired, that’s the worst part about it.
As I was sitting in the car doing nothing I looked around outside. It was a fair day. The sun was out but the day had a bit of a nice breeze. I started the car and pulled onto the road. As I drove to the bypass I passed the busiest park in L.A. Every nice day there is there isn’t one person that doesn’t stop by. Kids played and mothers talked. It was an animal friendly park so there were a few families with their dogs. Maybe I should get a dog. Who am I kidding Liam would take it to the pound before I even got to train it. Then again would I have time to train it?? I took a few turns and ended up at the liquor store Jericha usually works at. I looked around the neighborhood and noticed everything was run down and scary, even at day time. I saw a few kids in shoddy clothes playing with a worn down football. Well proper terminology in America would be soccer ball. I parked my car and one by one a few of them noticed me and stopped to stare. When I got out the girls of the group fangirled and whispered. I waved and some of them swooned. I walked across the street to their group.
“Are you Niall Horan??” One of them barely asked.
“Yeah, are you fans??” I asked looking at them. The guys of the group didn’t look impressed, but we never really expected guys to like us.
“Yes. We absolutely love you.” One gushed.
“What are your names??” I asked to be polite.
“I’m Michelle, this is August but we call her Troyer, and that is Anna.” Michelle was the one to talk more.
“You guys like football??” I asked looking at the boys still tossing it around.
“Yeah, do you want to play??” Anna whispered.
“Don’t be stupid Anna he is probably really busy.” Michelle scolded.
“Hey, hey, no reason to be mean. Actually it is my day off and I have been looking for something to do all day.” I smiled at Anna who looked at the ground.
“Well in that case do you want to hang out with little ‘ole us??” August asked. That’s a really different name but I'm guessing she doesn’t like it, so her friends call her Troyer.
“I would love to.” I smiled at them.
“Jasper, Tyler come here.” Michelle commanded. They respected it and walked over to the four of us.
“This is Jasper.” Troyer pointed to a kid with really dark hair and skin. His clothes were all black and had holes.
“This is Tyler.” Michelle pointed to a complete opposite of Jasper. He had lighter skin and blonder hair than me. He was wearing lighter clothes but they still had some scuff to them.
“Hey. I'm Niall.” I smiled. They were nice about it and nodded back but didn’t say anything.
“We have enough for even teams.” Troyer said.
“I want to be on Niall’s!” Michelle raised her hand.
“Ok Michelle and Niall with…” Troyer said.
“I'll go.” Jasper said.
“That leaves us.” Tyler and Jasper threw the ball up and the game started. I was always shit at football and to be showed up by street kids was actually fun. They were all clearly younger than me. I would put Tyler as the oldest at 16.

Notes