Something Stronger Than Love

Paige and I stood behind the gates to The X-Factor auditions. I was freaking out inside, while Paige was losing it on the outside. It makes it even worse that we would get live auditions, airing on TV.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Paige jumped around a little.

"Yes," I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mikey and Flynn believe in us."

She nodded and shaked a little. I laughed at her fear. But I also felt bad that I lied to her. Flynn didn't believe in us.

Suddenly, the gates were released, and everyone raced into the building to be the first in line. But Paige and I didnt run. We just normally walked inside, this wasn't only OUR dreams.

We we're all given numbers on our shirts or dresses, Paige and I were numbers 00030 and 00031. So we didn't have many in front of us, and a ton behind. Wow, good luck with that.

Flynn and Michael were here, waiting with us even though they weren't auditioning. They would standing behind stage and watch the performance.

The another person was called, "Number 23!"

I kept my head down extremely tired. But I knew, as soon as I step on that stage, I'll get an adrenaline rush.

I looked up at the audition screen. On it stood the contestant, he had brown hair, a little bit longer than average, and he wore the same features as someone, but I couldn't remember.

Then Simon started asking questions. "Hello. Your name?"

"I'm Liam Payne." He said nervously.

Wait what?! I tapped Paige and pointed to the screen, and her eyes went wide.

I looked around and tried to find his parents, and finally I did, over in that area next to the stage where family watches. I tapped his mother, and she turned around.

"Hello?"

I really wanted to hug her, but she might not remember me, so I shook her hand, "Hello Mrs. Payne, remember me?"

"Im afraid not..." she pursed her lips.

"Toni, Toni June." As soon as I said my name, she went wide eyed. Then she engulfed me in a hug.

"Oh, we were all so worried! When Liam finally got home, he was crying, explaining that you were gone, lost. Harry was the worst. As soon as they see you guys, they'll be so excited." She rambled.

I suddenly came up with the most brilliant idea known to man, "Do me a favor, don't let them know we're here. I have a plan." She nodded, "When do they go?"

"Alexis and Violet are 00028 and 00029. Niall is 00024, Louis is 00025, Zayn is 00026, and Harry is 00027." Liam's dad spoke up.

I nodded and gestured for Paige to follow. We avoided all of our friends, keeping clear so no one would see us.

We hid back in the normal room, watching the audition screen, where Liam was just starting his song. I recognized it by the beginning immediately.

"Now you say your lonely
You cried the whole night through
Well you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you

And now you say your sorry
For being so untrue
Well you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I cried a river over you

Cryyy---- me a ri---ver!"

He had sung the song from the 80s dance. How sweet! But his voice was even better than before. I could tell Paige thought the same.

"Did you know him?" Flynn asked, and for once, he wasn't that drunk that he'd hit me.

"Yea, he was once of the guys from the island. And the rest of the guys are in front of us too." Paige looked so happy, and I probably had the same look on my face, if not, a weirder look.

"Well, that's great! I'm so happy for you guys!" Mikey was his usual awesome self.

"Thanks. Let's watch Liam." Paige said, and we all looked up to the screen in time to see the judges all say yes.

We cheered for him, happy he'd move on. Then the next contestant walked up, Niall. I saw Paige's eyes fill with tears just seeing him.

"Hello." Simon said.

"Hello, I'm Niall Horan." He gave a small wave.

"Nice to meet you, what will you be singing today?"

He breathed in a deep breath, then spoke, "So Sick by Ne Yo."

The judges all gave a nod of approval. But I just couldn't believe Niall was singing the song that came on when we almost kissed.

He started singing,

"Gotta change my answering machine
Now that I'm alone
Cause right now it says that we
Can't come to the phone
And I know it makes no sense
Cause you walked out the door
But it's the only way I hear your voice anymore."

He ended the song, looking quite sad. I hope to god no one asks-

"What's wrong?" Simon asked, looking confused.

Niall sighed, "That song is important between a friend and I. Remember the plane crash from Pennsylvania? Well, my ex girlfriend and one of my best friends were with us on it, and they got separated. I don't think there even alive. Toni June and Paige Smith."

"That's a terrible story, I'm so sorry Niall." Cheryl said. Niall sadly smiled.

"Alright, what do we think?" Louis Walsh asked, turning to look at the three other judges.

"It's a yes." Dannii said.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes." Cheryl smiled politely.

Niall jumped in the air, happy for his dream to come true.

He walked off stage, and Louis walked on. My heart shattered. My ex boyfriend was still alive, and healthy, in the same building as me.

"Hello. You are?"

"Louis Tomlinson. Niall's best friend. Toni was my girlfriend. Liam, Zayn, and Harry are also part of the clan."

God, that voice though!

"Is that your ex boyfriend?" Flynn asked. I nodded, and Paige put her hand on my shoulder.

My whole body was filled with sorrow when Louis announced his song would be "Hey There, Delilah", the song we sang on my birthday.

He began singing immediately, singing Louis and my part,

"Oh
It's what you do to me
Oh
It's what you do to me
Oh
It's what you do to me
Oh
It's what you do to me
What you do to me."

My god, how could he just rip my soul out like that?

"Louis, I feel pity for you losing your girlfriend, but that's not what pulled me in, you are so confident after what you've all been through." Louis Walsh said, making weird hand gestures.

Lou smiled, "Thank you."

"So, I have to say a yes." Dannii said.
"Same." Louis Walsh said.
"Yes." Cheryl said.
"Yes." Simon also said.

Louis thanked them once more, then disappeared on stage, only for Zayn to enter a moment later.

"I assume you're one of Louis's friends. Zayn or Harry?" Cheryl raised an eyebrow, interested in the situation.

"I'm Zayn." The charming boy smiled. I missed that smile. "Toni was my ex girlfriend a while back. But we broke up when her friend lied to her and told her I cheated, so yea."

"Nice to meet you Zayn, would you like to tell us what song you're singing?" Simon asked.

"Let Me Love You by Mario, acapella." He said, then cleared his throat and started singing.

"You're the type of woman
Deserves good things
Fistful of diamonds
Handful of rings
Baby you're a star
I just wanna show you you are

You should let me love you
Love you
Ooh. "

The crowd was roaring, his voice was truly amazing. Cheryl had the look like "Whoa!" on her face.

"That was amazing! Automatic yes!" Dannii yelled, her mind blown.

Zayn laughed and smiled as the other three judges said yes.

Zayn thanked them, then walked off. I turned to Paige, she was crying so hard, Thank god she wore waterproof mascara. I wanted to cry so bad, but I stayed strong.

Then it happened. Harry walked onto stage. I burst into tears. My heart just did backfield seeing those curls and dimples again. I couldn't wait to see him face to face.

Harry was crying his eyes out on stage, and that only made it worse for me. Mikey noticed that I was bawling my eyes out seeing him, "What's wrong?"

"H-Harry was m-my best friend. I loved him so much. We were closer than b-best friends." I cried out.

I turned back to the TV. Cheryl was so concerned, she was truly intrigued by this whole plane crash crew thing, "Harry! What's wrong?"

"Every time someone says her name, I think of the ladt words I heard her say." He turned to the side to look at the boys. "She said you all meant the world to her."

"How do you know she said that?" Simon asked.

"Long story short, we're really close." He swallowed hard, then said, "Should I start my song? Stevie Wonders, Isn't She Lovely?"

The judges nodded, and Harry started.

"Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love." He sang the song that he sang to me in his room, and that made me whimper loudly, he's freaking killing me right now.

"The fact that you sang acapella really gave us a chance to hear your voice, and I love it. Yes." Louis Walsh said. "Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes." Cheryl smiled a lovely smiled, and Harry jumped like Niall, then walked off stage, wiping tears.

Paige turned to me as I bawled the fuck out of my eyes, and Flynn and Mikey comforted me, saying I should be strong. Yea, I was surprised that Flynn was nice too.

Violet and Alexis strutted on stage together, both with tears in their eyes.

"Hello." Violet shyly said, she was wearing pants. How tomboyish of her.

"Hello, Violet and Alexis. Which is which?" Dannii laughed.

They introduced themselves and smiled a little, wiping tears.

"We'll be singing Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood together." Alexis announced.

They were singing Paige's favorite song. Awww.

They began, Violet starting,

"Right now
He's probably slow dancing with a bleach blond tramp
And she's probably getting frisky
Right now
He's probably buying her some fruity little drink
Cause she can't shoot whiskey."

Alexis then sang,

"Right now
He's probably up behind her with a polestick
Showing her how to shoot a combo
And he don't know."

They joined together,

"I dug my key into the side
Of his pretty little souped up four wheel drive
Carved my name into his leather seat
I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights
Slashed a hole in all four tires
Maybe next time he'll think before cheats."

They sounded wonderful together, I never thought the would sound so good.

That was wonderful ladies, what made you choose that song?" Dannii asked them.

"Paige loved that song." Is all Violet said.

"Well, I see you two being a duo in the future. I think it's a yes." Simon said.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."

We were up next, but I had a plan. Liam's mum ran on stage, down to the judges, and requested something. They all nodded, and she ran backstage again.

Louis Walsh asked, "Can we have Harry, Zayn, Louis, Niall, and Liam out here again?"

All five boys walked out not stage, hugging the girls and each other. This was when the plan started. Paige and I were handed microphones, then Paige started singing our auditions song.

"I saw you standing in the middle of the thunder and lightning
I know you're feeling like you just can't win, but you're trying."

It would appear that ghosts are singing, because you can't see us, but we started walking into stage quietly, and we went unnoticed by the group on stage. I was still bawling my eyes out.

I started singing, using my full voice, the one only Niall knew. Not the one everyone else knew.

"It's hard to keep on keeping on, when you're being pushed around

Don't even know which way is up, you just keep spinning down round down. "

As soon as Paige heard my real voice, her eyes went wide, she didn't ever hear this side of me, but Niall did. He turned around and looked at us, then started flipping shit.

Paige and I sang together, her doing the low part, and me doing the high part.

"Every storm runs runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs runs out of rain."

At the end of the chorus, all of them turned to look at us, and they screamed, running to us.

But Harry stayed back. And I knew exactly why.

When the group hug was over, I walked past them all, and walked slowly to Harry, as he did the same. We got closer, until we met in the middle and embraced in a blissful, long overdue hug.

I refused to let go, and whispered in his ear, "I missed you so fucking much."

"Don't scare me like that ever again!" Harry exclaimed.

The crowd was awwing like a tv show, and we parted, turning to the judges, all of us holding hands in a line, Paige and Harry on each side of me.

"That was a truly astounding entrance you two made. How do you all know each other?" Simon asked.

"I'm Toni June, and this is Paige Smith..."

Cheryl immediately stood up, then walked onto stage, hugging us all. She really must've felt for us.

"Honestly girls, you sound amazing. Beyond amazing in fact. But for all four of you girls, both of you groups are missing something." Simon said, "I think you girls should join into one band."

I screamed in my head, then Paige said it out loud, "That's what we planned to do on the island!"

"And the boys planned on being a guy group." Violet actually spoke.

"Great, all of you are now in two groups. I'll see you next week." Simon said, shooting us off stage.

I honestly just cant believe I found my best friends.

Notes

How's that? Dat reuniting dou. So cute.

Q: Your thoughts on Flynn?

Q: Do you think the girl group will do well?

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