Chapter Twenty-Seven – ‘Why Do We Keep Hurting?’

Orlando Florida, home too many wonderful attractions and places to go and see, however the main excitement for everyone was the prospect of visiting Disney Land and Orlando resort. Inside every adult is a child just waiting to burst forth! Lacey was more exciting to visit Orlando resort but that was just due to her excitement for Harry Potter and the park they had there. They boys were just exciting because they were boys and they were thinking of all the trouble they could cause and the girls were just looking to have some fun. If the group thought however, that it would be plain sailing now that everything was out in the open, they thought wrong. Remember the last time Lacey and Ollie were fighting the boys locked them in a cupboard, well their fighting this time was a lot worse.

So Lacey had been dying to visit Orlando resort since they opened the Harry Potter world. She was a massive Harry Potter fan – who wasn’t? – And was ecstatic that she was getting to go to the resort. Luckily it was off peak season, so although there were people milling about all over the resort, there weren’t so many people that would crowd the boys and demand autographs and pictures.

She felt like a little kid again, he mind jumping from one thing to the next while her eyes tried to take in everything before her. She wasn’t a massive roller-coaster fan but didn’t want to disappoint the others who were all eager to try the rides. After surviving a couple of what Bradley called ‘baby rides’, Lacey had worked out a technique for surviving the roller-coasters. It was simple really; she got on the ride, shut her eyes and didn’t open them until the ride was over. The rides seemed to get more terrifying the further the day progressed until they were standing before one that Lacey point blank refused to go on. She left the others to what she thought looked exactly like a death trap and explored one of the many gift shops dotted around.

They were nothing like the gift shops you’d find back in England at Chessington World of Adventures or Thorpe Park, there was no bagged candy floss for one thing and for a moment Lacey felt a pang of homesickness. It was all terribly American but in that good touristy way and Lacey found herself taking in every detail of the products so not to spend all her money at once. She must have been shopping for at least twenty minutes when the others finally came back to her. The girls left immediately for the bathroom and the boys all sat down on the seating provided. Jack looked incredibly pale.

“Are you ok Jack?” she asked.

He groaned.

“He was sick, it was disgusting, we are now all scarred” said Silas dramatically.

Lacey laughed “drama Queen”.

“But what is life without a little drama” quipped Silas.

“Quiet” replied Ollie quietly.

All heads turned towards his direction, he hadn’t spoken but two words in the presence of Lacey since everything came out into the open. He had told her he loved her but she hadn’t responded, in fact she’d run away. She couldn’t deal with it right now, it was all too fresh and the previous pain still hurt.

“Right, seeing as Jack isn’t moving anytime soon, you two can go and get some food for us all” said Bradley looking between Lacey and Ollie.

“You’re kidding right” ranted Ollie.

“No, I’m not. Go now” said Bradley sternly.

They both complied but did not go happily, however they were not willing to risk Bradley’s anger.

Lacey sighed heavily as the silence between Ollie and herself grew to and awkward length.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ollie bitterly.

“Nothing” replied Lacey quietly.

“Why did you run?” he asked.

“Can we not do this right now” she said.

“No, I think now is the perfect time, we’re alone after all” said Ollie.

“Fine!” cried Lacey “I wasn’t ready alright. I can’t deal with this right now”.

“You can’t deal with it? I forgave you on the spot for your stupid revenge plan with Tom and you can’t face me when I tell you my feelings” shouted Ollie.

“Look I said I was sorry for the fake relationship plan but I can’t just move on from the past like it was nothing” she replied.

“I’m not saying it was nothing but why can’t you forgive me? I thought we were past this. I said I was sorry, she’s gone, there is nothing stopping us now except your own stubbornness” shouted Ollie.

“Excuse me?! Did it ever occur to you that I no longer hold any feelings for you and therefore no longer wish to be with you? Of course not because you only see things the way you want to. The great Ollie Smith thinks he deserves to get all that he wishes for. You screwed up massively, it was never ok and right now I don’t know whether it will ever be ok again. I’ve never been more hurt by another person in my life, you came crashing into my life and didn’t give me a moment to breathe and then you left without a glance and I had to try and move on with my life”.

“You think it’s easy for me? I swore off commitment for a reason, it’s too hard to cope with while always being in the spotlight. Then I found you and I understood what Bradley meant by the light in your life. I knew it was you and I know I’m a dick sometimes but I worked hard to get you. I’m sorry that Monica came and ruined it all and I’m sorry that I picked the wrong decisions but what if the pregnancy hadn’t been fake? I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t help out with my child. Monica and I would have never worked out because my heart already belonged to you and I would have seen that sooner or later. Why can’t you give me another chance?”

“How many chances am I supposed to give you? If we got back together and things got tough again, would you go off and sleep with another woman? Would you commit to me for real, no strings, and no hidden agendas? You’re growing up, I can see that but change of the mind can only take you so far, I need to see it, I need to be able to trust you again” replied Lacey.

“The difference is, I know I need to change while you’re just stuck in the past with a lot of unpleasant memories. You need to let go of the betrayal and pain you feel and forgive me. Maybe then we’ll come to a point when we can at least be civil towards one another” said Ollie.

“Just like that?” said Lacey.

“Just like that” repeated Ollie.

They bought food in silence and returned to the others. No more was said on the topic for the rest of the day, though each had a lot to think about.

Bradley was pleasantly surprised that they both returned unharmed as a small part of him had worried what would happen with both of them alone together.

*--..--*

Even though everything had been resolved and things were out in the open, Ollie still held a dislike towards Tom. He’d never actively sought out information about one of their musicians before and knew a lot of facts about Tom that he wished he didn’t. However, Ollie had assumed that Tom would resign and leave after the fake relationship between him and Lacey was exposed. Ollie wasn’t that lucky and Tom remained, it soon became obvious that there was no chance of getting their old drummer back as he’d taken leave for personal reasons. Ollie was stuck with Tom and though he didn’t like him, he didn’t want to do something to get Tom to leave for fear of upsetting Lacey.

Still that didn’t mean he couldn’t glare menacingly at Tom when no one was looking. The problem was that Tom still spent a lot of time hanging out with Lacey. Ollie knew Lacey and Tom were friends but did they have to be such close friends? With Tom always around the corner it was hard for Ollie to sneak in some alone time with Lacey. Having said that, alone time with Lacey wasn’t something he was getting far with anyway, everyone seemed determined not to allow him to hurt her in any way. Though the boys had said they’d help him win her back they weren’t going to let him hurt her in the process.

So he was stuck with Tom until the tour finished. Still he was only temporary and that was something Ollie really held onto.

“Hey Tom, what’s got you smiling so much?” asked Jack who was sitting next to Ollie.

This once more reminded Ollie that he needed to stop drifting into his thoughts so much.

“I got some really good news” replied Tom.

“Oh yeah, you going to share this good news or is it another secret?” teased Jack.

Tom glared at Jack playfully “I just had a meeting with Ian; he likes what I’ve been doing as the drummer. Proper impressed he was, anyway he offered me the job permanently”.

“Well done mate!” said Jack “so you’ll be with us for the rest of the tour and beyond then”.

“That’s the plan, Ian said we’d review in six months’ time, just to make sure I was still happy etc.” said Tom.

“That makes sense, well this is a happy occasion, you think we should celebrate or something?” said Jack.

“Maybe” replied Tom.

Ollie just glared at him.

“Are you alright there Ollie, you look a little red” said Tom.

Ollie clenched his fists together “I’m fine” me managed to get out.

“Hey have you guys seen Silas this morning? I passed him on my way in, he looked really nervous about something” said Tom.

“No I haven’t seen him” said Jack.

*--..--*

Silas found that his palms were sweaty and his voice felt like it was stuck in his throat. He’d never felt this way before and was starting to wonder if what he was about to do was a good thing at all.

Silas knew his persona in the group was to be the joker. He didn’t mind as it was something he was good at, but it did mean that people often thought he couldn’t be serious. He could be serious, he could be very serious, and this was a serious moment for him.

He’d had his fair share of girls, everyone in the band had – well except Bradley but he was so in love with Elena that there was no room for anything else – but he was now fed up with the endless dates where the conversation usually stayed around how much money he had and how much the woman could gain from being linked to him. Now however he was ready to ask out the girl that he couldn’t stop thinking about. For him this was a big thing, he thought he’d managed to keep it hidden from everyone but of course someone found out and managed to help push him from his shell.

He walked up to her; she was, for the first time, dressed down for the day and had no make-up on her face.

“Hey” he said as he came up beside her.

“Hi” she replied.

“Listen I’ve been thinking, would you, maybe, like to go on a date with me?” he asked.

She looked at him a moment, shocked by his words and he started to panic thinking of the coming rejection and wishing he’d just kept his mouth shut.

“Yeah, I’d like that” she replied smiling.

Silas grinning letting out a long breathe of air, he could relax now, well until it was time to plan the date. Their stay in Orlando was good for him, it was the place he finally found the courage to ask Jenny out. 

Story No.9:

Dear readers,

I have not abandoned you – though you might think I have – we have had a whirlwind of a couple of stops and barely had time to lay our heads down at night.

We have been staying in sunny Orlando – the boys had four concerts to play here – and we girls have been enjoying the warm heat. We did have time to have some fun of our own. We were all excited to hit the theme parks, to behave like little kids again and in Jack’s case: puke up after a roller-coaster.

The funniest part of our stay in Orlando was when we were at Disney, the boys really wanted to go to the Haunted House, bravely suggesting that they’d be there to support us girls if we got too scared.

Thrill rides are always fun and this one was no exception, from the rooms to the ride to the ghosts, we were jumping at every corner. However the surprise came from macho Bradley when a ‘Spector’ appeared in the ride carriage he was sitting in. He screamed like a little girl for the rest of the ride and refused to talk to any of us for an hour or so. It was hilariously funny to see him so scared, every time we make spooky ghost noises; his face gets a little red. I’m just waiting to see who makes Bradley crack first so I can watch when he punches them!