4                              Charlotte POV             Day 2 of Tour: On the Road

A thin strip of sunlight peeked through my eyelids. I groaned, turning away from the small window. The sounds of morning tried to wake me; but I stuffed my head under the pillow in protest. A huge jolt from under the wheels sent me flying up a few inches off of my mattress. I yelped; my arms flailing out to cushion my fall. I hit the bed and then rolled onto the totally uncomfortable floor.

“Ouch,” Zayn winced in sympathy. He hooked his hands under my arms and hoisted me up as if I weighed nothing.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. I rubbed at my eyes in attempt to wake myself up.

“Hey gorgeous,” Niall said. I looked over to the kitchenette to see him and Louis eating bowls of cereal. They were watching Sunday morning cartoons. Louis waved at me with his milky spoon.

I yawned, “Good morning.” I looked out of the window at the sun sitting pretty in the middle of the sky. “Where are we?”

“California,” Louis munched. “I think, anyway.”

I nodded, walking to the cupboard and pulling out the entire box of Lucky Charms. I sat down next to Niall; my legs swung across his lap as I stuffed handfuls of sugary marshmallows into my mouth.

“Can I have some…?” Louis reached over to take a few pieces. I swatted his hand away. “Woah, sorry I asked!”

“Don’t mess with Charlotte’s Charms,” Liam laughed as he walked into the room. I smiled and nodded childishly. “How did you sleep, love?” He asked me.

“I slept fine, thanks for asking.” Louis said with a tiny grin.

Liam rolled his eyes, “Charlotte: how did you sleep?”

I smiled, “Great, thanks.”

Harry sauntered into the room with a loose towel wrapped around his waist. He plopped himself down on the couch and started to type away on his phone. A lollipop stick was pointing out of his mouth and his hair hung in a wet mop in front of his eyes.

“Seriously, man?” Liam scolded. “Put some clothes on!”

Harry shrugged; his eyes never leaving his cell phone. “Charlotte doesn’t care; do you, love?”

I kept my gaze on the TV. “Not really,” I answered honestly. His looks didn’t really faze me like they used to. Niall was the only one I was interested in. But the fact he wasn’t wearing anything did seem rather awkward; since I had never actually seen a naked man before. And I was a bit reluctant to let Harry be the first.

Liam sighed and gave up on the subject. He sat down next to me and reached into my Lucky Charms box and took a huge mouthful.

Louis noticed this right away. He dramatically threw his spoon into his bowl; making the leftover milk splash up into Niall’s face. “HE GETS THE CHARMS?!?” He demanded.

Niall used his sleeve to wipe his wet face. “I guess she likes him more,” He smiled.

Louis made a pouty frown, “Aww- I thought we were buddies.” I sighed and dipped the box of cereal in his direction. He perked up and took a rather big handful, “Thanks Charlie Watts!”

I raised a brow. “Who?”

From over on the leather couch Harry flipped his phone around to show me a picture on the screen. “Rolling Stones,” he explained. I leaned away from the breakfast bar and squinted at the display. I nodded.

Liam shifted uncomfortably next to me. I looked over to see him pushing Niall’s bowl away with the tip of his pinky finger. A dark blue plastic spoon was resting in the middle. Niall smiled and got up to throw his and Louis’s Styrofoam bowls in the trash.

“We’ll be hitting a rest stop here soon,” Eagle’s deep voice said over the loud speaker. “I’ll be filling up the water tank. You boys can stretch your legs or whatever.”

I stood up and walked over to the beds. “I’ll get dressed,” I called over my shoulder. Rummaging around in my small drawer I pulled out a white women’s Nike shirt and clean underclothes. Inside the bathroom I unbraided my hair. It fell over my shoulders and down half of my back in a thick mess of dark brown. I sighed and just left it as it was: deeming it beyond saving. After I brushed my teeth and checked my phone for any messages; I put on deodorant and my favorite cinnamon scented perfume.

The bus came to a jerky halt. I braced myself against the small door of the bathroom as the brakes squeaked to a complete stop.

“Zayn! Charlotte! Come on we’re here!” Liam called. I left the bathroom and saw Zayn napping on his bed.

I rested my hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. “Zayn,” I sang. “Zayn wake up.” He groaned and rolled away from me.

“Okay, then. Continue with your nap, I guess,” I thought to myself. I shrugged and left him sleeping.

The rest of the band was waiting for me just outside of the bus. The sun beat down in comfortable rays and the air was pleasantly warm. I stepped onto the rocky path and smiled up at the boys, “What do we do now?”

Liam looked to the small roadside gift shop. “We could go there,” He pointed.

“Sounds fun,” I replied.

Niall looked over at me playfully. “Race?” I raised a brow. “I won’t hurt myself this time, I swear,” he laughed. I reluctantly nodded. He lined up next to me; his size ten shoes almost touching my sevens. His blue eyes glanced over at me; sizing me up. I glared at him playfully.

“Ready- set…” Louis hollered. “GO! GO!”

Niall took off fast; kicking up rocks. I laughed and started after him.

“Keep your eyes on the road, Horan!” I teased when he glimpsed back at me. He smiled and did just that.

Our path switched from dirty driveway to plush green grass as we neared the little shop. I could almost feel Niall’s proud smile as he realized he was going to beat me. “Hell no,” I huffed under my breath. I pushed my legs as hard as I could and pounded the ground with my tiny feet.

“CHALIE WINS! CHALRLIE WINS!” Louis laughed hysterically as I skidded onto the front porch of the store. Niall was only a foot behind me; and was there to help balance me when I lost my foot work and stumbled.

“Good game,” I smirked proudly.

“You got lucky.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “That was pure skill.”

Liam and the others came up behind us at a relaxed saunter. Niall bounced ahead and swung the door open for me.

The shop was tiny and well kept. There were road snacks, card games, DVD’s, and a whole wall of car air fresheners. Not a single person was in sight; including employees. Harry stuck his hands in his pocket and wandered over to the snacks with Niall at his heels. I found myself in front of a stack of coloring books.

I heard Liam walk up behind me. “We should get one of these,” I said.

“Whatever you want,” He smiled.

I started to sort through the stack. There were a lot of easy color by numbers and a few Dora the Explorer jumbo books. I bit my lip and flipped open the pages of a few; considering my options. My wandering eyes landed on a fat Disney edition. I excitedly picked it up and smiled at the cover.

“Pens or crayons?” Liam asked from the other side of the aisle.

“Crayons.”

I tucked the coloring book under the crook of my arm. Taylor Swift was playing on the crackling radio overhead as I made my way over to the small cosmetics section.

“Tell Me Why,” Louis shouted at me.

I shot my head up and wrinkled my brow at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I know that you see what you’re doing to me, TELL ME WHY!” He added.

It took me a moment to realize he was only mimicking the Taylor Swift song. I rolled my eyes and giggled lightly. “Oh, Tommo…” I sighed. He left the makeup aisle to go find something more interesting.

I continued to explore the collection of lip products sitting in front of me. Picking up a cherry Chapstick; I remembered Kelly.

“You okay, babe?” Niall said. I quickly set the Chapstick back down on the shelf and turned to smile at him. He raised a questioning brow and opened his mouth to say something.

“I was just thinking about getting some lip gloss,” I said. I looked back at the display. “I lost mine in Paul’s car.” He came up next to me and set his right hand on the small of my back. “This one’s pretty,” I picked up a light pink and showed it to him.

“I like this one,” Niall grabbed my favorite shade of red and set it in the palm of my hand. It was a soft color with a tint of rosy pink. I twirled it around in between my fingers; flattered that he had remembered my favorite color.

“They have movies here! Nialler get over here!” We heard Harry call.

Niall took me by the hand. “COMING!” He shouted back.

Harry was crouching in front of the DVD display. He turned his head towards us as we neared, “What should we get?”

I tried to focus on the tiny printed titles and instantly regretted not putting on contact lenses that morning. Niall used his hand that was wrapped up in mine to point at one of them. Harry slid it out from the stack; nodding in approval.

“What is it?” I asked, standing on my toes to see the label.

Harry faced it towards me. “Grease,” he told me.

I smiled and started to search the movies for another. I immediately found one of my favorites. “Oh!” 

“Whatcha got?”

I dropped Niall’s hand to grab it. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were sitting pretty on the cover kissing in the rain. I smiled remembering every scene of the movie like the back of my hand; having seen it so many dang times. “YES,” Harry said excitedly. He took the movie from me and drummed the front of the case with his fingers enthusiastically.

“I know, right?” I giggled. My feet bounced back and forth.

Harry shook his head up and down vigorously. “This is the best movie ever!”

My boyfriend looked from the curly haired boy and then to my dancing feet and let out a husky laugh. “Calm down, ladies.”

Harry spun around towards him. “I’ll have you know The Notebook has won many awards: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry, MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, BMI Film Music Award…”

“Not to mention Ryan GOSLING!” The teenaged boys regarded me with questioning expressions. “I’m just saying,” I mumbled.

“What about Gosling?” Louis said as he walked over. Harry showed him the DVD. “Again? We’ve seen it so many damn times.” He squeezed past me to the movies. “I want to pick one out,” he said.

“Good luck finding one that beats ours,” Harry said with sass.

“Mhmm,” I agreed with a hum. I held up my hand for a high five: which he eagerly agreed to.

Louis ignored us and shuffled through the movies. He made some sort of happy grunting noise before holding up a DVD high above his head. Forrest Gump was being waved in the air. “Consider it beaten,” he said proudly.

Before any of us could respond Liam started to call our names. I turned and saw him leaning up against the register counter with a bored employee waiting for our business.

“Coming!” I hollered. I took off towards him with my lip gloss and coloring book in hand.

I hummed along to Lady Antebellum as the young man rang up our items. We ended up with three movies, two coloring books, a pack of crayons, five bottles of Smart Water, a disposable Kodak camera, and my lip gloss.

The constant beeping of the register was becoming quite annoying. I walked over to the magazine rack and took a look.

My heart stopped.

Was that…?

OH MY GOD.

“You okay, Charlotte?”

OH MY GOD.

Niall and Louis came over. “What’s wrong?” Niall asked.

I couldn’t stop staring at the magazine.

“My face.”

“Oh Charlie Brown you have a lovely face! You have a great smile and a real cute nose. Your eyes are a little on the big side, but in a good way-”

“No! MY FACE,” I pointed to the cover story of People. “MY FACE is on there, Tommo!” The two boys looked to where my finger was headed. Niall picked up the paper book. “That’s me,” I panicked. I bit down on my lip as hard as I could; heaving large gulps of air through my nose.

“Woah, calm down Charles.” Louis set a hand on my dainty shoulder, “It was going to happen eventually.”

I shook my head, “I didn’t want it to!”

Niall set the magazine back down, facing the cover inwards. “They said good things about you, love! You have nothing to worry about,” He searched my face in a concerned way. Louis dropped his hand from my shoulder as Niall pulled me into his embrace. He rubbed my back with his palm. “You’re okay,” He said calmly. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

Normally an action like that would have made my heart flutter: but I was too concerned with my celebrity debut.

Harry and Liam finally made it over. Louis must have showed them the article, because Harry said, “They got a real good looking picture of you, though!” I pulled my head out from Niall’s neck and glared at him. “They did!” He laughed.

Evil Eagle Trex came storming into the shop. The door flew open wide, his large frame coming up to us. “What the hell’s going on?” He glared at me and Niall, “I hate to interrupt the snuggle party but we have a schedule to keep to.”

Harry cocked his head to the side crossly; his curls bouncing at the sudden movement. “Schedule my ARSE,” He growled. Liam grabbed him by the forearm before he could lunge at Eagle.

“No its okay,” I said softly. Niall let me go before grabbing my hand. “We should get going,” I took a deep breath.

“Stop being a crybaby,” I thought to myself extra hard; making sure it didn’t slip out of my clumsy mouth.

Liam shoved his way past our driver out the door. Harry did the same; his fists clenched at his sides. Niall and I left the shop next… but not before I could quickly glance back at the magazine rack. Another copy of the same People edition was facing out.

There was a snapshot of Niall and me outside of the recording studio under one of the tall trees. It was one afternoon during lunch break. He had been trying to teach me a few simple chords on the guitar; and I was failing miserably. So instead we spent our time kissing. I reread the headlines:

ONE DIRECTION’S NEW LASSIE