Niall’s view:
“Niall, we’re coming back to L.A.”
“Harry, why?” I was enjoying myself and really liked being alone.
“Liam talked to Simon and our scheduling is way ahead and he wants to keep it that way. So tomorrow in the morning we’ll be at the house. We won’t wake you but around 8:30 Simon wants us to meet at the usual conference Centre. Also Liam misses you.”
“Yep, miss you too.” Not really.
“Well we’re getting packed and will head out to the flight soon. Just a few more hours and we will be with you. We want you to know we care about you.” The phone shuffled and I heard yelling.
“We are always here for you Niall. If you feel like you can’t take it anymore we will help life get better.” Louis said. Then the phone shuffled again.
“We are always here and will seriously help you when you need it. All you have to do is ask.” Zayn said before it shuffled again.
“I will let you go, since you want time alone and everything.” Liam hung up. Ok, that did make my heart ache a bit for my best friends. I miss them but when I can barely stand anyone at the moment, time alone becomes my best friend. I set the phone down on the table and took another giant fork full of ice cream. Even when Liam isn’t here I just use forks, life is just that much easier. My phone rang again, it said Justin Horan.
“Hey.” I answered with a mouthful.
“Some friends and I are going out tonight. I figured I should at least invite you.” Justin said with a small annoyance in his voice.
“I'm good. Thanks for the invite but the lads are coming in tomorrow and we have a lot work to do after that, so I would much rather just stay at home, maybe next time.” I wasn’t lying. I'm more of the stay at home type. Big dates aren’t my thing. I love the spotlight but every little bit of time I get to just sit and watch TV means so much more. I have learned to appreciate the little things through all the big things. Cheesy I know but I really do. I set down the ice cream container and picked up my phone again. I looked at it for a minute then unlocked it to text Justin. I told him I'm coming and asked him where I needed to be at, he texted back with an address. I knew where that was because it was only a few blocks down from my house. I put away the tub I was eating out of and went straight for a shower. I cleaned up a little nicer than I would have if it was just a normal crowd. I have this jealousy towards Justin. He tries so hard to look nice for other people because he cares about their opinion, but the thing is, I don’t. The first time I met Selena I could tell she was being nice only because I knew Justin, now she likes me but that’s another thing. I always have to impress people personality wise. I'm tired of always trying, but in this business people care, so in return you have to. I went to my closet and put on a nice blue letterman jacket and Jordan’s I went to Liam’s bathroom for his straightener. I dabbled with it for a minute then realized my hair was pretty straight with or without a straightener. I was as good as ready; I drove to the address slowly. I didn’t know what to expect really. It could be a couple people hanging out or a full on party with celebs. Once I turned left to the right street I noticed cars heading up this long drive. I noticed one car was Justin's and followed him up the drive. Once the house started to appear you could hear the music and the party lights gleaming through the house. Liam called me.
“Hey, I know you are probably having the time of your life but I just wanted to call you without all the other guys around. So how is your vacation going?” Liam genuinely cared.
“Great, I'm actually going out with Bieber since he's here in L.A. I'm kind of busy.” I said parking my car along the drive way where everyone else was. I saw a lot of celebrities heading to the house so it was one of those parties.
“Good. I hope you two have fun. Niall don’t party too hard. We have too much to do tomorrow and we don’t –”
“Yeah, yeah, okay, bye.” I rushed and hung up. I didn’t want to hear rules and restrictions from anyone. I slid out of the car and made sure it was locked before walking away. I put the keys in my pocket and took all the necessary steps to make sure I had my wallet, keys, and phone in safe places so I couldn’t lose them. Once I walked through the door I looked around. It was a nice mansion with some tiny decorations around. No one would pay attention to them but I did. People pushed passed me to get to another room. This party was crazy and already out of control. I looked around for a clock. I found one reading 8:30. It wasn’t even ten and people were drinking. I found my way to the kitchen to find Justin mixing some drinks.
“Hey, I see you found the place alright.” He said looking at me as he poured something into two cups.
“Yeah, it’s hard to miss.” I looked around again to see the kitchen counters full of things.
“Well, Jessica is having her adult party down stairs and she said Claire could have a small party. Enjoy yourself.” Justin smiled and handed me a drink of some sort.
“Wait, did you say Claire, as in –”
“Claire Elizabeth Chasez; she’s my fill-in musician. She’s around here somewhere, just look for her.” He said then headed off. I was on a mission to find her. If she is here I can at least start talking to her. I started to walk to the living room and someone passed me and ran into my shoulder, I dropped my drink but shrugged it off. I pretty much walked in a circle back to the kitchen without finding her. I made myself another mixed drink and started the search again. I walked outside and didn’t find her around. I headed up stairs. When I was up there people smiled at me and we tapped our cups together so we took a sip at the same time. No one here was sober. I didn’t find her so I headed down stairs to keep looking. All of a sudden someone started doing flips and before I could react they hit me right in the back of the head. I felt my head go hot, before I knew it, everything went black. When I woke up I was in a bed upstairs. People tend to do that when you get in the way of their partying.
Claire’s view:
“Justin!” I said as he gave me a hug.
“Yes Claire,” He handed me a drink.
“I told you no drinking.” I laughed as pinched my cheek.
“But I don’t want to be the only one.” He pouted and grabbed my waist.
“I have too much to do tomorrow. Besides how am I going to teach you if you're hung over?” I pushed his hands off.
He grabbed my hand and held it to his face.
“Justin, I'm not arguing about this.” I said seriously. He was definitely a stupid drunk. He wouldn’t stop touching me. We were outside where the party wasn’t as intense. Some people were out here to smoke or just relax. Justin was sitting on the lawn next to me around the fire. He moved my head so I could see his face.
“You are beautiful.” He gazed at me with glossy eyes.
“Justin, I think it's time I get you back to your hotel.” I stood up and pulled him off the ground.
“Can’t I stay with you?” I didn’t like the sound of that, even if he was a friend, people who are drunk tend to do stupid things.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I shrugged him off.
“But if you drive me to my hotel you will have to walk back.” He had a point. Something told me he was only acting drunk. His voice was fine and he was able to walk on his own. The only thing was his eyes were red and puffy. As we reached the living room one of my favorite songs began to play.
“My name is Olly nice to meet ya can I tell ya baby, look around there’s a lot of pretty ladies.” I mumbled along.
“Go play!” Justin threw me out to the middle of the living room where the piano was. Drinks covered the surface; I could barely see my reflection on the shiny finish. I didn’t mind it because I did love the songs chorus. He was dancing along in front of the piano; we were causing a big scene. Everyone stopped to watch us together. We did have this brother-sister chemistry when we played. Everything seemed to fall into place. We were the kicker of the party as everyone cheered us on. Once the song ended Justin just realized the crowed and started to laugh it off. Everyone told him he was great and I was too. The occasional person asked if we were together and we both denied that we were and laughed about it more. Just because we were that great of friends everyone was fair to assume something more but we couldn’t be more, besides he wants Selena back and I really didn’t like him like that. We walked to the door that led downstairs and when we got down there it was the same thing going on but with older people. We found Jessica talking to some older guys and we walked up to them.
“Claire, how’s the party?” She asked normal. Good, she hasn’t been drinking.
“Great, I'm just about to clear people out but I was wondering if Justin could stay.” I asked. It was awkward because I never asked my dad for anything it was usually a demand or statement.
“Yeah, he can stay. The guest bedroom is clean so he may stay there. Do you want help getting people out?” She asked.
“No, it won’t be that hard. Thanks. You just enjoy your company.” I smiled looking around at people.
“We’re almost done. All we need to do is figure out who can drive.” She laughed and walked away. I grabbed Justin's arm and walked around with him following. I told person by person they needed to head out and soon enough there wasn’t anyone left. Justin was ready for bed because he slowly nodded off and then once his head dropped he'd wake back up.
“Come on.” I said pulling him up the stairs. “You can stay in here.” I opened the guest bedroom to find puke all over the bed. “Are you serious, what’s the matter with people, there’s a trashcan right there.” I pointed about two feet from the end of the bed.
“A lot of people do Claire. I mean it was a pretty wild party.”
“Well you can’t sleep in here.” I shut the door and walked down the hall to mine. I really hope nothing happened in there. I opened the door and flicked the light. My black sheets were still in place and nothing was touched. Whew.
“Am I staying in here?” He looked at me.
“Yeah, this is my room. I’ll be up in a minute I just need to clean some.”
“So we’re gonna’ have to sleep together?” Justin asked skeptical.
“You’ll be on the floor, so get changed into what you are wearing before I get back.” I laughed as I walked down stairs. Jessica was now on the middle level of the mansion as her guests left out the front door.
“I thought I should call it a night since you and Justin are sleeping here.” She smiled.
“Thanks. Erm… the guest bedroom was used by someone so Justin is just sleeping in my room. I hope that’s ok and I’ll clean this up.” She was started to clean up my mess.
“No, you sleep. I’ll clean this for you, and that’s fine.” She laughed, knowing the brother sister relationship remaining between me and him.
“Are you sure?” I question.
“Claire, of course I'm sure.” She looked at me.
“I meant about cleaning.” I laughed hard.
“Oh yeah that too, now go.” She pushed for me to let her do it. I smiled at her, which she translated as a thank you and then left up to my room. Justin was lying in the bed, sound asleep. I slipped my clothes off and hopped wearing pants and a t-shirt. As soon as I got comfortable faced away from Justin I felt him push his back against me.
“Goodnight.” He whispered.
“Goodnight.” I whispered back. We definitely had a strange relationship.

Notes