"This seems like a good spot," Rhiannon grins back at me and Alex, stopping at the top of the hill.

We decided last night, after the second show, that for our last day in Chicago we should have a picnic, especially with the weather being nice. After picking up some food, we stumbled across this beautiful park, and it's the perfect place.

I slip the tote bag off my shoulder, which contains our picnic, and take out the blanket I packed to lie on the grass for us to sit on. Once it's laid flat, we get comfortable and I start getting the food out for us all.

"Oh, chips and dip, the love of my life," Alex moans, reaching for the bag of nachos.

"Hey, save some for us," Rhiannon points at the food, before helping me unload the bag.

"You snooze, you lose, girls," they chomp on a nacho.

"Fair dos," I laugh.

Once all the food is out on the blanket, I dig into a chicken and salami sub I bought myself, and steal a handful of nachos off Alex to have with it before they eat them all.

"This is the perfect way to wrap up such an awesome week," Alex mumbles, sprawling out on the blanket.

"It really is," Rhiannon smiles over at them.

"I doubt this week could've gone better," I squint my eyes from the sun, "Well, besides Grayson turning out to be a total dick, and the whole being drugged thing."

Rhiannon cackles, "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh, it's not funny, but the way you said it was."

"If I didn't joke about it, I think I'd cry," I haven't taken a moment to process what happened that night, I know one day I will, but for right now, I'm living in delusion, "I'd say it was still a great week despite what happened. Not only have these arenas been insane to perform in, but being on the road again takes me back to when we toured the UK last year, just on a bigger scale, obviously. I'm loving this tour so much already, guys, we were truly born for this life."

"We definitely were," she bites into a strawberry.

"One thousand percent," Alex nods, "I'm not me without a crowd and my drumsticks."

"Nor me without my guitar," she agrees.

"Well, fortunately for us, we have seven more months of this," and I couldn't be more grateful, "How are the strawberries, Rhi? Better than what we have back home?"

"Don't be silly," she scoffs at my question, "Of course not, however they are still very good."

"Let me try one," I dig into the punnet, picking what looks like the juiciest.

Please don't be sour, please don't be sour.

To my relief, it isn't, and I hum, "Oh, they are good."

"Right? I may just close my eyes and pretend it's summer already," she says, shielding her face from the sun.

"Certainly feels like English summer," I chuckle. It's only sixteen degrees, but to us, this is the first hint of warm weather since last September. It's only early April, so I didn't expect it to be warm in Chicago, but it's a nice surprise, and I'm not complaining about it.

"Where will we be for summer?" Alex asks.

"Europe," I answer with a smile, "Well, we're still in America and Canada for the beginning of June, but after that we're going to the UK, and then onto the rest of Europe. The warm weather doesn't stop there, though, because it's spring when we go to the Southern Hemisphere."

"Oh my God," Rhiannon gasps, "I forgot about that."

"Trust me, I forgot too, it was Carl who reminded me about it during my meeting this morning," I shake my head with a laugh, "He actually forced me to buy some sun cream."

"Oh, yeah, how was your meeting?" Alex turns over on the blanket to give me their full attention.

"Pretty boring to be honest, he just went over next week's calendar with me, like our future flights and what days we'll be using the buses' to travel etcetera. Speaking of, we're driving to St Paul tomorrow, so we'll finally be using them."

"That's good, did he mention when we're leaving and how long it would take?" Rhiannon asks.

"We're leaving at ten o'clock, so not too early, and he said it's a six-hour journey," If I recall correctly, that is.

"That's not too bad at all, actually," she says, opening a bag of Doritos, "I thought it would be longer."

"I won't lie, we do have two trips this coming week which will be spent overnight on the bus," I inform them, "We don't actually fly again until the twentieth when we leave Arizona for San Jose."

Alex gawks at me, "That's ten days away."

"Get used to it," I giggle, "We're using the buses as much as possible, I doubt Grayson will be, though."

"I bet he has a private jet," Rhiannon scoffs.

I hum, thinking it over, "Most likely."

"Are you guys friends now?" Alex asks.

"No," I almost laugh at their question, "I haven't seen him in two days, and when I did, he wasn't exactly in the best of moods. I'm just staying clear of him, it's better for my mental health that way."

"And what about Jack, have you heard from him?"

"Unfortunately so, yeah," I groan, "He wants to make this better, but I asked for time and space, so he's giving me that. We spoke on the phone this morning while he drove home from work, and it was alright, I guess, but I just feel so detached now I'm away from him. I know that's awful, but it's true."

"Don't feel bad for that at all," they assure me.

"Yeah, babe, he's been a cunt to you," Rhiannon says.

"I know," I sigh, "I just feel so guilty, even though I know I shouldn't do. I'm sure we'll be okay in the end."

"You don't have to stay with him, Lia, you deserve better than that," she tells me, "I know you're going to make excuses, but this week is the happiest I've seen you in years."

"It's the happiest I've felt," I agree, "I'm giving him a chance, but I'll be honest, I feel like I'm already checked out."

"That's okay," Alex assures me, "Just don't stay with him if that feeling sticks, it's not fair to you, nor him, as much as I hate to say so."

"That must have hurt," I laugh, knowing how much Alex hates Jack, "And trust me, I won't, I'm better than that."

"Want another strawberry?" Rhiannon offers.

With a smile, I dig into the punnet, "Thank you."

"What shall we do after this?" she asks, munching into a sandwich, "It's a lovely day, we should stay out."

"Ooh, can we go to the zoo?" Alex gasps, suddenly sitting up, "Hear me out, there will be cute animals."

"I'm sold," I shrug, happy with any plans we make.

"Yeah, me too, why not?" Rhiannon asks, "It might be fun, I may even buy a toy animal from the gift shop."

"Now, that's what I like to hear," Alex grins, "It's not too far from here... I may have checked earlier."

I laugh, "We'll finish our lunch and head over."

"Oh, fuck, yeah, I almost forgot about my sandwich."

"There's no rush," I assure them, "We have all day."

So, that's what we do; we take our time eating the food we have remaining, dispose of our rubbish in a bin, and then leave for the small stroll to the Chicago Zoo.

🎶 🎶 🎶

"My poor feet," Rhiannon whines, limping beside me clutching a small elephant teddy.

"My feet are also dead, Rhi, I can't wait to get to our room and eat this pizza," I'm in charge of carrying the food back today, and when we round the corner, I let out a large sigh of relief, "Finally, we are at our hotel."

"Thank God for that," she replies, "Alex, I hope you know we're not going to the zoo in every city we visit."

"I do, don't worry. It was fun, at least," Alex points out, lugging a large lion over their shoulder, "And free."

"That's true, but you did just spend like one hundred dollars on that massive thing," she points to the lion.

With a giggle, I look at the lion, "We can use it as a pillow on the bus."

"See, it's multipurpose," Alex grins at Rhiannon.

We climb the stairs into the hotel lobby and head straight to the elevators, where one is empty, so we don't have to wait. We ride it to the fourth floor, and walk to room 413.

Once we're at our room, I hand Rhiannon the food, so I can get the key out of my bag. I quickly swipe the card and push open the door, wincing at the mess that greets me.

"What time are we leaving here again?" Alex jokes, walking in behind me.

"We'll do it later," I shrug it off, "Do you think we'll make a mess of every hotel we stay in?"

"No doubt about it," Rhiannon puts the pizza down on the table in the corner.

It's not easy to keep a room for three people tidy, not when we're living out of suitcases, but it's an organised mess, at least. If we were to stay longer than two days at a time, then we'd unpack and settle in, but because we're always coming and going, there's simply no point.

"What shall we watch?" I grab the remote, turning on the television, "I fancy a film night, what about you guys?"

"Ooh, that'll be nice," Alex agrees with me.

"I'd like that. Can we watch Little Women? The one with Florence Pugh in it," Rhiannon clarifies.

"Yeah, I'm down for it," Alex nods, "Are you, Lia?"

"Um, duh, of course, I am, I love that film."

"Let's get into this pizza, I want to see if the hype is really worth it," Rhiannon chuckles, lifting the lid on the box.

While she plates up our pizza, I search for the film on Netflix and we then get comfortable on my king-size bed, the middle one of three in this large room.

Apprehensively, I take a bite of the deep dish pizza, and my eyes flutter closed with a moan, "Oh, my God."

"This is so fucking good," Rhiannon gasps, "Why didn't we have this sooner? We're leaving in the morning."

"We really should have," Alex takes another bite.

With a giggle, I get comfortable and start to watch the film while eating away at the pizza. Halfway through Little Women, I grow restless, so I climb off the bed and find my nail varnish in my bag, to reapply what has chipped off.

"Are you okay down there?" Alex asks, leaning over the bed to see me sitting on the floor, peeling off my socks.

"I'm good," I reply, "I'm still listening to it."

They chuckle and go back to the film, leaving me to paint my nails, which takes up a good bit of time to perfect. I let my toes dry and move onto my fingers, being careful when using my left hand, as I'm not ambidextrous in the slightest.

"Done," I say, mentally patting myself on the back.

"They look so pretty," Rhiannon says, "Have you got a pink varnish in that bag of yours?"

"Do I look like someone who wear pink?"

"True," she laughs, "Forget I asked."

I join them back on the bed, slipping between my friends and I sigh, "I love you both so much, I hope you know. I can't imagine being on this tour without my best friends, and I'm so grateful you're doing it with me."

"You're getting soft on us," she smiles over at me, "I love you too, Lia, we always will."

"Yeah, we're a team," Alex nudges me, "Bands stick together.

"Well, apart from One Direction," Rhiannon adds.

I whine at her, "Don't remind me, it's still a sore subject almost a decade later."

"Sorry," she giggles, lying her head on my shoulder.

~~~~~

A/N

Hello, filler chapter, but it's a sweet one!!

SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATES!!! I'VE BEEN BUSY AND A BIT WRITERS BLOCKED!

Hope you enjoyed, and you got to see more of the bands friendships with each other <3

If you did enjoy, please vote and leave some comments ! x