"Happy Birthday Michael! Happy Birthday, Michael!" The German fans chant loudly and scream at the top of their lungs when we get out of the van and walk into the hotel lobby.

Michael lags behind us, shouting thank you's behind him and hugging a couple of the fans. His twenty-first birthday is tomorrow and the celebrations have already kicked off around the world. This morning he had opened his hotel room door to a mountain of birthday gifts right in front of the door and no one knew how it got there.

Michael's bodyguard shuffles him in as the crowd gets thicker and everyone starts to push towards the entrance, the barricades merely holding them back.

Luke eyes the doors nervously, "I hope no one gets hurt again." He mutters, shoving his hands into the pockets of the leather jacket he's wearing.

"Me too," I say and a little shiver runs down my spine. My sun dress only has spaghetti straps so I slip on the cardigan I have with me over myself. I feel like people are shooting daggers into my skin. The number of rude comments has not lessened but increased every time Luke puts his hand on the small of my back when we wade through crowds of fans. I didn't expect it to, though.

"We have a meeting with Feldy," Ashton announces, running a hand through his hair.

"I'll see you later?" Luke looks down at me, shifting from one foot to another.

"Yeah. We'll be getting some work done on the costumes upstairs. Call me when you're done." I lean up to kiss him on the cheek and he squeezes my hand. The screams outside the doors of the hotel get even louder all of a sudden.

Shit.

I quickly step into the elevator as soon as the doors open and press the button for the tenth floor. I see Luke grin at my nervous expression and hurry to leave before the elevator doors shut. I smile to myself and sway a bit to the elevator music.

Yes. Me. Swaying to elevator music like the love struck fool I am.

The past two weeks have been hectic, full of planning and travelling and truckloads of jet lag but the quiet, stolen moments with Luke at the end of the day made it all worth it. We talk about the most random things and he tells me the weirdest stories from all their times on tour. There are quite a few disturbing ones that should never be spoken of in front of children or elderly people.

We haven't fought either, not even once and everyone keeps watching us with curiosity when they think we aren't paying attention.  It must be strange for them, not seeing us at each other's throats.

The days don't feel as long as they used to now either with all the things we have to keep up with. My anxiety levels decrease with every touch and smile and kiss from Luke and the darkness around the edges softens a little during his presence.

The elevator door slides open with a soft ding and I silently walk through the fancy carpeted corridor looking for my shared room with Montana.

Usually, when I'm in a hotel I crave the comfort and luxury of it all but now, we have all come to the conclusion that there is no place like home and the feeling of sleeping in your own bed is indescribable.

I sigh at the thought of my bed that must be collecting dust back in New York and the rest of the apartment that I always kept squeaky clean. The thought of dust makes me want to throw up as I step into yet another clean and sterile hotel room.

Hearing the shower running in the bathroom I spot the clothes already scattered on the bed "I'm here!" I call to Montana and hear her say something in reply but it's muffled by the sound of the shower. The two of us have been sharing a room alone as Addy wanted nothing to do with me and preferred to room with Ashton instead. The thought of Addy shoots a wave of pain through my chest and I sit on the bed with a huff, putting my head in my hands.

I have tried countless times to talk to her but she acts like I have burned out of existence. Finally, Ashton told me to give her some time, that he is talking her through it. It hurts me that she is trying to shield herself from twenty years of friendship. What did I do to her that was so unforgivable? Why was she letting Ashton do the talking for her? I'm her sister.

The bathroom door opens and I lift my head out of my hands, pulling the band through my hair to loosen the ponytail. The steam from the shower wafts out as Montana shuffles into the room in a bathrobe, wrapping her short hair in a towel.

"I need a bath. Not a shower. A really, really long bath in my bathtub back home." I sob and she comes to sit next to me.

"Tell me about it." She groans lightly and digs through her bag for a tube of moisturiser. Her tone is a bit off, probably because of the all the jet lag. I lightly unwrap the towel from around her hair and start to dry it for her. She goes still and turns to look at me, a sad expression crossing her face.

"Is everything alright?" I question, stopping to examine her face. Her eyes are a little bloodshot.

"Yeah, everything is fine." She rapidly says, blinking a couple of times.

"Your eyes are red. Were you crying? Come on Monti, look at me." I lean forward a bit to get a good look at her face that is staring down at her hands.

"No. It's red because the shampoo ran into my eyes." She says but I'm not buying it.

"You are such a bad liar." I chuckle, trying to lighten her mood.

"I guess so. But really it's just the jet lag kicking my ass. I miss home." She leans her head on my shoulder tiredly, throwing the tube of moisturiser onto the bed behind her back, too lazy to move and slather it on.

"Fuck this. Don't want to moisturise for anyone today." She says and we both burst out laughing.

"Who needs smooth legs anyway? We're kinda hot aye." Montana shakes with laughter, mumbling into my shoulder

"God that song was everywhere last year."

"I liked it," I say.

"Of course, you did." She snorts and we have another fit of laughter.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask her once the laughter ceases.

"I'm just—really tired, Sierra." She sighs tiredly and drifts off with a sad tone, shuffling backwards on the bed. She throws her head down on the big fluffy pillows, yawning.

"You should probably change. You'll catch a cold." I say but she mutters an "I can't feel worse than this." I stand up and move to the side of the bed, untucking the edges of the comforter I cover her already still form with it. I adjust the pillow under her head and she snuggles closer to it.

"We will be okay..." She whispers sleepily and falls into a fitful sleep.

---

I prick my finger on the needle I'm using to sew a Pokemon patch onto Michael's jacket when I hear a click at the door and Calum barges into the room. I drop the jacket we have spent a week designing onto the floor with a yelp.

"Is she here?" Calum questions loudly and comes to a halt when he sees Montana fast asleep on the bed.

"Can you keep it down!" I hiss at him and pick the jacket up off the floor. I will never know how they always have access to our hotel rooms. Why do they think it's okay to barge into females rooms like this?

"What do you want?" I ask but he doesn't reply. He is staring at Montana's motionless figure and clenching and unclenching his fists like he is in agony.

"Are you alright?" I stand up and go closer to him so the sound of my questions doesn't wake her up.

"I—I called her phone about fifty times." He looks at me, his face a little flushed and hair standing out in all directions.

"She has been asleep for the past two hours, she was very tired," I say and catch the corner of Calum's lips raise a little at my comment.

"I thought she le—tell her to call me—when she wakes up. Please." He says hastily and barges back out just the way he came in without a goodbye or anything. I trace his path back to the door with annoyance and shut it close. Making sure it's locked from the inside this time.

I fish for my phone in my handbag and check for any new texts from Luke but there are none. Where was he? The meeting must be done if Calum had time to barge in here. Should I text him? I didn't want to be a clingy girlfriend. I made that mistake once...

"Girlfriend?" I whisper to myself and scrunch my nose.

I'm not his girlfriend. We are... significant others... Do significant other's text each other a lot?

Oh, screw this. I decide to not bother him and turn the volume up in case he calls and leave it on the table, going back to finish Michael's birthday gift.

---

*beep* *beep* *beep*

An alarm goes off and I wake up with a start, looking around through the slits of my eyes.

Why am I on the floor?

"Sierra? Why are you on the floor?" Montana asks groggily, silencing the alarm and sitting up in bed, she still looks half asleep.

"I was working on the floor and must have fallen asleep while finishing the jacket." I yawn into my hand and grab the tiny container next to me so I can put all the needles and pins in it.

"What's the time?" I ask, standing up to put Michael's jacket into the black gift box so I can take it down to be steamed into perfection before I give it to him.

Montana groans and squints at her phone. "Six in the fucking morning." She whines and rolls onto her pillow, face first.

I leave her be and rush into the bathroom with my toiletries and a change of clothes. I hear a phone ring and Montana answers, it's probably Calum because she sounds pissed. I forgot to tell her that he came over last night.

I finish up in the bathroom and rush back out, picking up things that are lying around and shove them into our bags.

"I asked the hotel to send in someone to put up the piñata by seven. Can you make sure they don't break it before the birthday boy even sees it?" I ask Montana and she straightens up in bed, pulling the covers that are tangled around her body.

"Holy shit! I completely forgot it's his birthday today." She panics and rushes over to her suitcase, rummaging through it for some clothes.

"It's okay. Everything is in place. I'm going to get the jacket steamed and I'll bring Michael here."

"Okay! I'll wake everyone else up." Montana says behind her shoulder and rushes into the bathroom.

I grab my phone and key card and put them in the pockets of my black denim overalls. I run a comb through my hair and carefully take the box from the table and walk towards the bathroom. "Calum came by last night. He was a bit—agitated." I lean against the doorframe, supporting the box on my hip.

Montana's toothbrush stops midway and she looks at me in the mirror. "Yeah. He just called me."

"Is everything alright between you two?" I raise an eyebrow. She nods vigorously, her bob swaying back and forth. "We're fine."

"Is this about him smoking?" I ask her. She told me they fought over it while I was away and he was being a little distant afterwards.

"No. He quit for his own good...well, sort of." She shrugs like she couldn't care less and continues brushing her teeth.

"I'm here for you. If you need to talk." I give her a reassuring smile and move the box to my other hip.

"I know babe. We are fine, really." She insists again and I let it slide. She would have told me if something was wrong by now so I'm going to save the prying for some other time.

----

"Mikey?" I call as I spot a head full of spiky black hair attached to a boy eating breakfast at a table in the furthest corner of the room. My stomach growls with hunger at the smell of warm breakfast but I'm on a roll here and there was no time to stop.

"Sierra!" Michael turns to locate my voice and grins when he sees me.

I skip up to him with all the pure joy I can muster and throw my hands around his neck from behind.

"Happy Birthday!" I cheer and lean to the side to kiss him on the cheek.

"Thank you, doll face." He chuckles and turns around to hug me.

"You're my first physical wish of the day." He says and I grin even harder.

"That makes me so happy you have absolutely no idea." I let go of him so he can sit back down and finish his breakfast. I sit down at the table from across him and quickly take a picture of the birthday boy while he is looking down at a text on his phone.

"How does being twenty-one feel?" I question.

"I got another pimple on my forehead. That's about it." He jokes, making me laugh out loud. I cover my mouth and look around the hall to make sure I didn't disturb anyone.

"Luke is still asleep. We got in at three in the morning." He sighs and rubs a hand over his eyes.

"Three? Then how did Calum show up in our room?" I ask, curiosity taking me over. I look down at my watch as Michael shovels some more scrambled eggs into his mouth. I have ten minutes to get him up to our room.

"He wasn't at the meeting, to begin with, said he wasn't feeling well." Michael shrugs like it's all normal to him. I tap my fingers on the table impatiently, waiting for him to finish his food.

"Why do you look nervous?" Michael raises his pierced eyebrow at me.

Busted.

"Me? I'm not! Just didn't get much sleep." He nods slowly as if registering this in his brain.

"Couldn't sleep without Lukey?" He snickers.

"I'll let you make fun of me since it's your birthday. Now, are you done with the food?" I ask him impatiently and his eyes widen.

"Okay miss 'I'm up to something' calm down." He sips his orange juice, an eyebrow still raised at me.

"I am calm. I want to show you something."

"Show me a good time?" He smirks and bursts out laughing at my horrified expression.

"No!" I say exasperated and stand up, moving his plate away.

"I'm not done! Where—" he starts to complain but I grab his hand and make him stand up.

"Just come with me," I grin and pull him after me all but skipping out of the room with excitement.

A/N:

Happy 19th birthday to my everything, Lucas Robert Hemmings.

- Rhythmwithlove