Chapter 15                Charlotte POV             Day 15 of Tour: On the Road

I rolled over in my bed.

Bed?

My eyes flew wide.

I was on the tour bus.

I remembered everything that happened the previous night. In fact, it all gave me a headache.

After I danced with Ray and his friends I went to the bathroom. I checked my phone, seeing a bunch of missed calls from my mom. I hadn’t heard from her all week. I tried to call her back, but the reception was awful. So I slipped out back, using the employees’ only exit.

While I was out there I saw a few other people. And just as I was about to pull out my phone someone came up behind me and snatched my purse. I just stood there in shock for a moment. Once I realized what had happened I was running down the street after him.

We ran for blocks, really. I had to stop. I looked around, seeing nothing familiar. I had no clue whatsoever where I was. I asked a few people but no one was willing to help me out. Finally some random stranger ended up pointing me straight ahead. That little old lady sent me on a wild goose chase in the opposite direction.

I wandered down Koval Lane, which was where I found that casino. I asked the man to let me in, but he called me an underage bitch and sent me off. I ran away when he sent for security.

Then I walked across the street to that 7 Eleven. I waited there for what must have been an hour. And soon enough Niall came. He ran up to me, I fell, and I may or may not have called him beautiful…

Well; I remembered everything up to the point where I passed out in Niall’s arms-

Niall!

I sat up straight and swung my legs over the side. I noticed my bandaged ankle. I slowly stood myself up on one foot. The bus shook alive underneath me, rumbling across the highway to Nebraska. I peeked up into the bed above me, where Niall still slept like a handsome little baby.

I smiled to myself.

Then I went to each of the others’ beds, spying on every one of them. Zayn was cuddling with his pillow. Harry had his legs where his head should have been. Louis was snoring up a storm. And Liam looked pretty exhausted. He slept in his clothes from the day before.

I was relieved to see all of them. I had missed them the previous night.

I looked down at what I expected to be my dress from the last night. It wasn’t. It looked like someone had changed me into a pair of fuzzy green pants and a Snoopy shirt while I was sleeping.

I checked the time: twelve thirty.

Deciding to let the guys sleep I hobbled into the bathroom to take a shower. I felt sticky and grungy from the night before, caked in sweat and dirty rain water.

I scrubbed away any stiff hairspray with about a gallon of shampoo. I smiled when I saw a brand new conditioner container with a little note tapped to it:

Here you go, Hemming. All yours. – Hazza

After I felt squeaky clean I hopped out. My pink towel was hanging where it always did; on the golden rack in between Louis’ green and Liam’s yellow one. I brushed away at my teeth, using my One Direction electric toothbrush. I absentmindedly wrapped my long towel under my arms like a dress, tucking in the corner by the freckle on my chest. Looking around the itty bathroom I realized I had forgotten to grab clothes.

“Shit.” I mumbled behind a mouthful of toothpaste.

I sighed, setting my toothbrush on the counter. I rinsed my mouth with a tiny Dixie cup.

I stared at the locked bathroom door.

“Clothes. I have to get those clothes.” I told myself. “They’re all sleeping… no one will see me in my towel…”

I set my hand on the knob, turning it counterclockwise…

Someone turned it with me.

Before I could even think the door flew open. I panicked, not knowing which boy was going to end up seeing me in my towel-

“CHARLIE!” Louis whisper screamed my name.

“Louis!” I mimicked.

He threw his arms around my neck. “Oh my GOD! We were so worried!”

“Why?” I coughed, his strong biceps squeezing my windpipe.

Louis pulled away. His eyes stared at me. “Umm… maybe because you were MISSING.”

“Nothing bad happened…” I crossed my arms over my towel covered chest.

Louis gave me a tiny smile. “That’s good. We were so worried.” He stopped to let out a big sigh. “I’m sorry, Charlie the Unicorn. We should have been with you-”

I shook my head. “It was my entire fault, Lou. I wandered off. I was being stupid.” Louis opened his mouth to retort before I beat him too it. “I would love to continue this conversation, buddy. But maybe after I get dressed…?”

He looked down at my outfit. Laughing, he stepped out of my way. I thanked him with a smile before walking over to my bed.

I pulled out my outfit and returned to the bathroom. When I came out again Louis was busy making us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

“Those look yummy,” I said. The breakfast table chair squeaked as I sat on it.

A wad of peanut butter was tossed into Lou’s mouth. “Uh- Duh. Because I’m making it.”

I laughed, “So sassy!”

“You know it!”

Someone’s footsteps creaked into the room. “What do I know?” I turned around to see Harry yawning; his eyes squinted shut. Sleepy voiced Harry finally noticed me. His dimple deepened. Without thinking I ran up to him. I threw my arms around his neck, standing on my tippy toes to reach him. He didn’t hesitate to hug me back.

Louis made a dramatic whine from the kitchen. “I guess I’ll make another sandwich.”

Harry pushed me off of him suddenly. I put my weight on my left foot, staring up at him. “You scared the shit out of me last night. Don’t you ever do that again.”

“Okay… Sorry…”

“EVER.”

“Okay!” I laughed. He ruffled my hair like an annoying big brother would do.

My loud giggling must have woken up Liam. Because in four seconds flat he was out of his bed with two feet planted firmly on the ground.

Those two feet started to walk towards me.

I loved Liam.

But he could be… intimidating.

Would he be mad? Did he hate me now? Oh God he hated me. He hated me and I was going to be sent home.

I nervously glanced back at Lou. He gave me a weird face along with a shrug.

“Come here,” Liam’s husky voice made my head turn towards him.

I did just that, limping on my foot.

When I had gotten directly under Liam’s chin he looked down at me. His jaw was set tight, his fists clenched at his sides.

“He hates me.”

Something made him smile.

“Come here,” he said sweetly. Liam wrapped both of his arms around me. He kissed the top of my messy haired head, rubbing my back like he always did in his hugs.

“You’re not… mad?” I asked in awe.

Liam pulled me out at arm’s length to inspect me. “Oh no. I’m very mad.” He took a deep breath. “But I’m also happy.”

“Oh,” was all I had to say to that.

Louis came in with his quirky humor. “Great. Now I have to make another sandwich.”

Liam still viewed me curiously. I watched my reflection in the dark pupils of his eyes, seeing my stringy straw hair sitting untouched.  

“What happened last night?” His voice was low and almost secretive like. Something about his tone gave me a pit in my gut.

“I was lost.” I explained with wide eyes.

Liam looked behind me at Harry, who watched our conversation intently. Hazza got the point and turned on the TV, turning his attention to that. Liam took my small dainty hand in his manly one. He led me over to the couch, far enough away from the other guys as to not be heard.

I was curious as to what all of this was about.

A sigh escaped his lips. “I know you might not want to talk about it, but I need to know what happened last night.”

I blinked. What on earth was this boy on?

“Umm…” His intense gaze stopped me. “Liam I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Tell me who you left with last night.”

My jaw dropped. “You mean like… ‘LEFT’ with?”

He made a weird face. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

I raised my voice. “You mean like, “LEFT” with? Like I “LEFT” the party to bang someone?”

I swear I saw Liam cringe. “Yes. That’s what I mean, like it or not. I need the truth. People are saying you and some guy headed out of the party late last night.”

“Andy,” I shook my head. “I didn’t leave with anyone.”

How could he even think that? Did he really think I would do such a sick thing? My cheeks fired up with angry

Liam stared at me without any reply.

Maybe I needed to repeat it to him.

I leaned into his face, a respectful three inches away from our noses touching. “I’m still a virgin.”

In reaction to what I said Harry did a spit take from the other side of the couch. His milk was splattered all over the floor… and Louis’ sandwiches.

“AWW COME ON!” Lou shouted. “I HAVE TO MAKE MORE!” He slammed the jelly container down on the table in protest. “I quit. You all can make your own damn sandwiches.” He stomped off into the bedroom.

“LOU!” Harry called after him. “I’m sorry! Please make me food!” He chased after Louis.

Liam stared at me. I saw doubt flash across his face.

“Why don’t you believe me?” I asked him.

“I do, I do believe you.”

He wasn’t lying.

“Fine. But you had the nerve to even think I would do that…” I trailed off; the idea of me sleeping with some random douche gave me chills.

“I was going off of what I heard.” Liam took my hand. “Maybe, maybe you were taken. I didn’t know.” I tried to avoid those eyes I loved so much. “It still makes me sick to think about it.”

I smiled a little. “Yeah, me too.”

He sighed of relief. “That’s good.”

I giggled.

Liam looked at me, all lovey-dovey like. “I was really worried about you last night. I missed you.”

“I missed you too. I was pretty freaked out, believe it or not.”

“So what did happen last night?”

I started my story with my mom’s phone call. He listened on intently, his hands holding on tightly to mine. I ended on Niall finding me outside of 7 Eleven… minus the embarrassing part with me being all loopy.

“Niall and I brought you back to the hotel. We had to load you on the bus before we went and picked up the boys from some random café.”

I twirled a piece of my hair. “So I was unconscious the entire time?”

Liam blinked. “No. No you were talking. Slurring, but still talking. You needed to be heated up, plus you were pretty dehydrated.”

My heart sped up nervously. “Umm… did I say anything… weird?”

Liam’s lips turned upright. “Yes.”

I widened my eyes. “What did I say?”

Liam dropped my hands to pull up the sleeve of his shirt. “You were very impressed with my muscles,” He flexed them proudly.

Whelp. It wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, and you went off on poor Matthew. If only he had been here to see it.”

“That’s not too bad,” I reassured myself. “Anything else?”

Liam thought about it for a second. “You did refuse to go to bed without those two stuffed toys of yours. Niall had to dig through about twenty suitcases to find them.”

I blushed. Was I really that stupid?

“That’s bad…” I groaned.

“Niall thought it was the dang cutest thing. I’m just glad I didn’t have to do it,” Liam joked with a laugh.

I smiled.

“But the weirdest of it all; the recital of the fifty states and all of their capital cities.”

“I know the capitals?” I gaped.

“You sang an entire song about them!”

We both giggled. After both of us had calmed down Louis and Harry came back in. Together they finished all six sandwiches just in time for Zayn to wake. He gave me a knuckle bump and what I would call a body slam hug. He said he missed me; all while stealing a huge bite of my sandwich which he preferred over his own. I rolled my eyes.

I was tucked under Liam’s arm sitting on the couch. In the corner of Zayn’s IPad I saw that the time was about one. I sighed, continuing to read a book on the app I had downloaded. When was Niall going to wake up?

I flicked my finger across the screen, turning the page. The TV still blared with Friends reruns, and Louis was still shouting at Harry for “robbing him of his sanity”.

My eyes scanned the words on the electronic page, taking in every one of them.

“A boy, I think from District 9, reaches the pack at the same time I do and for a brief time we grapple for it and then he coughs, splattering my face with blood. I stagger back, repulsed by the warm, sticky spray. Then the boy slips to the ground. That's when I see the knife in his back.”

“Boo.”

“Ahhh!” I scream, throwing the tablet off of my lap.

Everyone erupted into laughter.

“Not funny!” I shouted at them.

“Hey baby.”

I looked into the face of the person who scared me.

“Niall!” I squealed and I stood up to hug him. After a few seconds I pulled back, just far enough to give him a slap on the cheek. “Niall!” I said in a scolding tone, much less excited this time. “Thanks for scaring me half to death.”

He shrugged. “Payback.” He took my face in both of his hands and pulled me up to kiss him. Dozens of fireworks danced behind my eyelids.

“You guys are blocking the TV!” Zayn yelped. “I wanna see if Chandler and Monica end up together!” A pillow hit my butt.

I shot him a playful glare. “They do. And spoiler alert; Ross and Rachel become a thing.”

“NO!” Zayn covered both of his ears. “You ruined EVERYTHING!!”

I giggled and sidestepped out of his way. Niall followed.

“Thanks,” Zayn perked up. He continued to play with Harry’s bouncing curls.

Niall leaned up against the wall, holding my hand. “I’m sorry about last night…”

I interrupted him.

With a kiss.

His eyes were open wide in shock. After a few seconds he melted into me. Niall set his hand on the small of my back.

“Wow. Charlotte really wants Niall to take his clothes off now.”

“What?” I sputtered.

Once again the entire bus was laughing at me.

“Sorry,” Liam caught his breath. “I forgot to tell you about that one…”

I looked over at Niall; my cheeks were burning red. “Did I seriously-”

“Yeah. You asked me to take my clothes off… twice.”

“Twice?!”

Niall laughed, “You don’t remember?”

“No! I’m so stupid!” I felt the urge to either laugh or cry.

“No not really. Niall is pretty toned, to be honest.” Harry joked.

Niall pretended not to hear him, but the blush that painted the apples of his cheeks was a dead giveaway.

He was just too stinking cute.

“Come on,” I took his hand. “Let’s leave these guys to their TV show.” He smiled as I drug him into the other room. “I think I need to clear some things up…”

Niall came into the small room after me, casually closing the curtain to block out annoying sounds. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” I cleared my throat around the words. My boyfriend went into his drawer to find some clothes. I sat myself down on Liam’s made bed. “Liam told me something…” I stared at my hands that were folded in my lap.

“And what was that, love?” Niall asked. He rummaged around to find a matching sock.

“Actually he asked me. He asked me about last night.”

How was I supposed to tell him I didn’t sleep with anyone? Talk about AWKWARD.

Niall knew I was uncomfortable. “We don’t have to talk about last night, if you don’t want to.” His face avoided mine. He looked… hurt.

“No, Niall I want to talk about it. That’s just it. Nothing weird happened like you all thought. My purse was stolen, I got lost, and then I sprained my ankle. I never… I never, you know… like you thought.”

Niall paused. I watched for some sort of reaction.

Finally he curled his lips in. He nodded, almost to himself. I knew he was thinking about something; something that he preferred not to. Both sets of his hands were busied in pulling his shirt up over his head. The look stayed all throughout the entire outfit change. “Niall?” I said his name quietly. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Frustration was written across every one of his features; from the way his eyes went wide to his hunched shoulder blades.

I walked over to him. I set my hands on top of his, pushing them away from the buttons. He huffed irritably as I swiftly fixed his shirt.

“What’s wrong?” I said calmly. “Are you mad?”

“No. Or yes. Hell, I have no clue.” He laughed at himself in a mocking sort of mean way.

“It’s okay,” I reassured. “Talk to me.” I rested my hands at the top of his chest and waited.

Niall hesitated. “Last night was hell, Charlotte. I was so angry I didn’t know what to do with myself. And all this time I thought some dirty bastard got his hands on you. The only thing I keep thinking about was you and… someone else.”

I rubbed small circles with my palms. “But none of that happened.”

“I know.”

“Niall. Niall look at me.” He trailed his eyes from the ground to my face. “You’re still my last first kiss.” I proudly showed him my wrist, the bracelet he gave to me still cuffed.

His scowl twisted into a happy grin, remembering that conversation way back when. “You too, cutie.”