Torn

I had fallen asleep pretty quickly after texting Harry. I hardly expected a reply. Upon waking up, rather than being awoken by my gentle alarm, I was awoken by a couple of loud voices, and a weight on my bed. I panicked and kept my eyes shut tight, listening.

“Aw hey look, she tidied up after us last night!” A cheery Irish voice commented. I immediately recognised it as Niall's but didn't move, waiting to hear who else was here, in case my text may have worked, even if only temporarily.

“Yeah, we should've done that. After all it was our mess!” Louis chuckled from beside me. I let out a silent sigh. I had hoped the weight beside me might've been Harry, I guess I just wasn't that lucky. It was going to take a lot more than a simple text to repair our friendship.

I felt the bed move slightly underneath me, and a hand rest on my shoulder, a thumb rubbing the top of my arm.

“Hey sleepy head, time to wake up.” Louis whispered, his mouth near my ears. I pretended to 'wake up', with a slight yawn and a bit of a stretch, causing Louis to lean back. I thought I was going to have to fake a shocked look, but apparently my hearing them, did not prepare me for actually seeing the two of them looking so relaxed in my room. I frowned looking between Niall, who had stretched himself out on the sofa, and Louis, who was lying beside me, one hand supporting his head, the other still on my shoulder, a cheeky grin on both their faces.

“What on...? How did you two get in?!” I frowned confused. Niall laughed and waved the spare key card at me before throwing it on the dresser. “Okay, let me rephrase the question, what are you two doing here?” I stressed the keyword, in hopes of a slightly better answer. Louis just shrugged.

“What can we say? We wanted to see our favourite new bestie again.” He grinned widely. I just rolled my eyes, leaning over to turn off my alarm that had just started to ringing. I glanced at the phone. 8am. I heaved myself up, into a sitting position, adjust the pillows to cushion the hard headboard against my back.

“I didn't think I'd be seeing you guys again, let alone this early, especially after last night!” I laughed, grateful I had mostly stuck to non-alcoholic drinks last night, wanting to keep my head clear, just in case Harry changed his mind and came and joined us.

“Aahh, last night was just a light 'let your hair down' kinda night. Not a proper 'lets get smashed' night.” Niall winked.

“C'mon Rox! Up and at 'em and all that!” Louis grinned, jumping up and attempting to pull me up. Both of us ended up collapsing in a fit of laughter.

“Why? Where are we going?” I asked a tad breathless. The two boys exchanged a look and grinned.

“You'll see.” Niall replied from the sofa, pulling out his Iphone. I groaned at the lack of information and got up, digging clothes out of my overnight bag. I left the two boys to it, locking myself in the bathroom to shower and get ready.

I came back out to find both boys sprawled across the bed playing some kind of game, cheering and groaning at intervals. It looked like, out of the two of them, Niall was winning, Louis looked more than somewhat displeased by this. I smiled to myself watching them, before packing away my pyjamas and final other little bits that were still scattered about the room. Once I was packed, I pulled on my coat and grabbed my two key, handbag and overnight bag.

“Come on if you're coming then fellas!” I called opening the door. A loud cheer and just as loud groan simultaneously hit my ears. Niall appeared and bounced through the door with a massive smile on his face, while Louis trudged behind with a face like a black cloud.

“I'm sure you'll beat him next time.” I smiled, pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek. He chuckled a little before pulling away.

“You should be keeping those for Harry.” He winked, heading through the door. I just rolled my eyes, still unconvinced by this entire situation.

As soon as we were back in the foyer, the two of them legged it outside. I just watched them, eyebrows raised, and headed over the desk to check out. A girl who was probably also in her early twenties met me, although a large portion of her attention was on the two gentlemen outside. I handed over my key cards, which she accepted and said goodbye, heading out to join those very same gentlemen. As I did so, Niall looked over, mouth open, ready to speak, up until his eyes landed on my overnight bag and he frowned.

“Wait, did you just check out? Is that why you took forever?” He asked, head cocked slightly to one side. I smiled and nodded. He shot a worried look over at Louis, who was also eyeing up the bag, frowning a little.

“Do you have to go home today?” He asked, a little cautious.

“Well that was the plan.” I shrugged, starting to frown with confusion myself.

“You didn't answer the question. Do you have to go home today?” Louis pressed. I shook my head.

“No I don't 'have' to. I booked myself a long weekend off work, because of last night's gig, but I didn't exactly have any other plans so I was heading home today.” I shrugged. Next thing I knew Niall had grabbed my overnight bag and was running down the street. I turned back to Louis, only to find he was following Niall. I groaned to myself, rolling my eyes and hopelessly took after them.

I caught up with the two of them outside the REP theatre, where they were slowed by the smells and treats of the German Christmas market. I smirked, grabbed my bag from a distracted Niall and darted through the growing crowds and into Paradise Circus. The crowd moved slower through here, but I eventually managed to get out, immediately turning right, and plopping down on the steps about halfway down in Chamberlain Square, watching for the two boys to appear. About 5 minutes later they appeared once more. Louis had pulled his hood up, while Niall had stuffed a hat on top of his head, covering as much hair as possible. The two of them had also pulled on sunglasses. They stood at the top of the steps, glancing round, however the crowds covered me, and the two of them headed to the left. I smirked to myself, carried on down the steps and sneaked through a gap between two market stalls as the two of them rounded the corner.

“Hot chocolate?” I offered smiling innocently, nodding my head towards one of the stalls next to me. Niall's eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically at the suggestion. Louis laughed lightly and nodded. I ordered three hot chocolates, two normal, one white, with all the toppings because, why the heck not?! Louis and Niall happily accepted the two normal ones, while I wrapped my hand round the white hot chocolate. I let the guys take the lead again, and followed them as we slowly made our way through the crowds. Despite having disguises on, the two fellas kept their heads down as they fought their way forward. Louis taking the lead, the map on his phone guiding him, Niall keeping close beside me, keeping the three of us together. Louis took a sudden right, dashing through a gap in the crowd. Niall and I missed the opportunity, but thankfully it didn't take long for another gap to appear and we squeezed through and followed Louis down Pinfold Street.

About 5 minutes later we arrived in Grand Central station. I turned to question Niall about it however he was gone from my side. I quickly caught up with Louis, and gently grabbed his arm, attracting his attention.

“We've lost Niall.” I informed him, panic staining the edge of my voice. Louis just smiled and shook his head.

“No we haven't, he's over to the far left, in places like this we try to keep lots of space between us all, so if one of us gets mobbed, the others have a chance of getting away, or at least the crowds are thinner so we can move on quicker.” He explained. I nodded in understanding. It made a lot of sense really. It was a shame for them, but they seemed to be coping quite well with it.

“So exactly where are we going?” I asked curiously.

“To our hotel.” Louis grinned.

“Your hotel.....I thought your hotel was the Radisson Blu?”

“It was, but we moved to a new hotel today. The Crowne Plaza at the NEC.”

“Okay.....why are we going there?”

“Because it's the BBC Music Awards tonight and we're performing!” Louis sighed as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. I rolled my eyes.

“Well I'm sorry for not being such a dedicated Directioner!” I could practically taste the sarcasm dripping from my mouth. It just made Louis chuckle.

We reached the ticket machines, and headed over to two free machines.

“I've got this don't worry.” Louis tried to wave me off my machine, but I was already half way through my selection. I waved my railcard at him.

“Dude this is journey is less than £3, I pretty sure I can afford that.” I brushed him off, popping in my money. I glanced over at his screen, he was still selecting his station. I chuckled to myself, grabbed my ticket and wandered over to Niall who was just heading over to rejoin us. He grabbed my ticket wallet out of my hand, and pulled a face as he looked at my rail card.

“What's up buttercup?” I smiled at his crestfallen face, somewhat amused.

“You don't look like a serial killer.” He pouted, handing back the wallet. A louder-than-intended 'ha!' fell out of my mouth before I realised what had happened.

“Sorry Niall, I promise I look more like a serial killer on my driving licence.” He instantly perked up, and looked at me hopefully but I just shook my head. Not a chance was I handing over my provisional to these two. Instead I wandered over to the large boards opposite to track down our train. We had ten minutes to navigate ourselves to platform 12a. Checking the two of them were with me, I led them through the masses towards the platform.

20 minutes later we had arrived at Birmingham International. We hopped off the train along with a rather large mass of teenage girls. Louis and Niall visibly swallowed. I pulled them through to the other platform and we headed up the platform, in the opposite direction of the girls. Reaching the first class entrance, I led the guys up the steps and into the station. Unfortunately for us, the barriers were working so there was still a mass group of teenage girls (with a few guys scattered amongst them) our side. We ducked down behind the wall round the stairs. Louis pulled his phone out and rang someone called Toby, after an urgent 5 minute chat, in which it became clear Toby was either management or security, Louis handed the phone over to me. I frowned confused but took the phone, playing with the cross on my necklace as I placed the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Roxy, hello.” A gruff sounding voice replied. I couldn't tell if the gruffness was normal or if it was just because the owner was stressed. “I'm Toby, I'm part of One Directions management. Apparently you're coming with the boys to the hotel?” I glanced over at Louis and Niall who were watching me intently, a slight fear in their eyes.

“Uh, yeah, apparently so. If that's okay?” I replied, my voice becoming quieter with nerves.

“Yeah, yeah, you're not the first girl the guys have brought to a hotel, you'll hardly be the last.” Toby brushed off the question. “Now I need you to take this phone and hand it to whoever is on the barrier got it?”

“Yes, sir.” I replied, wetting my lips a little, letting go of my necklace so I could use my hand to stand up. I kept my head down, the phone tightly pressed to my ear as I walked over to security at the barrier. Once I was up, my free right hand went back to playing with my necklace. Nervously I approached the member of security closest to me. A woman in her mid-40s, who's dyed brown hair was tied up in a ponytail.

“Um, excuse me, I have a gentleman on the phone who would like to speak to you?” I held out the phone to her. She looked at me suspiciously but took it saying hello. There were lots of nods and affirmations before she said goodbye and handed the phone back. The entire time I stood there awkwardly, looking round at the grey surroundings. The seats with backs that were laid at such an angle that you'd be almost horizontal, leaflet holders stuffed with leaflets, and more people than I'd ever seen in the station before. Once she handed the phone back, Toby instructed me to take him back to Louis. Louis spoke to him for a few minutes longer before hanging up. He informed us their security team were on the way, we just needed to hang on for another 5 minutes.

Right on time the security woman I'd spoken to, fetched us from our hiding spot and led us through to the barriers were a team of six, large, burly security men stood waiting for us. Their presence had drawn the attention of everyone in the surrounding area, and the screams were pretty deafening. As soon as we were through we were quick marched through the station, along the walkway, through the exhibition centre, and alongside the Genting arena before we arrived at the Crowne Plaza hotel. We were whisked straight inside, past the large mass of girls screaming the boys names, through reception and straight into the lift. At this point, four of the security team left us, staying guard in the entrance while the other two accompanied us upstairs. Upon reaching the room, Louis knocked on the door, before pulling me between him and Niall so I was stood directly infront of the door. My hand went back to my necklace again, as we waited for someone to answer the door. After a few minutes (and several loud knocks and calls from both Louis and Niall), the door was eventually opened.

It was those green eyes I noticed first. They reminded me of the first blades of grass that pushed through the snow, reminding us that winter wouldn't last forever, spring was on it's way, it just took a little time to prepare itself before arriving. While the reminder was lovely, I could still feel that winter breeze that emanated from every other part of his body.

Notes