Chapter 9:

Niall Horan was my boyfriend. My brain was frazzled and if Josh hadn't been pushing me, I would have completely froze. It all made sense now. The way he was so protective over me, the way his eyes always lingered on me, the way he was so torn up about me not remembering. It's like everything clicked. 

I let my long brown hair fall in front of my face as my mind reeled, the fans yells still clear in my ears. I felt like I was discovering things about someone else's life. There was no way I could have a boyfriend and not know. Much less, a boyfriend who's a popstar. Why didn't they tell me? Why didn't Louis tell his own sister? Why wouldn't ANYONE tell me? 

"Brook, you okay?" Josh asked in my ear, pulling me back into reality.

"Uh, yeah, but would it be possible to talk to you when we get back to the hotel?" I questioned as he pushed me to the car.

"Course, you sure you're okay?" Josh asked again as we reached the van. The boys had already left.

"Yeah, just realized something." I reassured him.

A smile made its way to my face as I formulated a plan. Revenge is sweet.

*****

"I thought you knew!" Josh seemed genuinely shocked that I hadn't known about Niall.

"Nope, I put the pieces together. I can't believe they didn't tell me though. I mean.. I don't know how to react to this. No one understands how frustrating this is for me! I have no clue what the fuck is happening with my life right now. I feel like I'm trying to live someone else's life. The fact that no one will be straight up with me is the worse. Why can't everyone just be honest with me?" I said through clenched teeth, my hands clenching the pillow from the couch tightly. I felt a reassuring rubbing on my back.

"A lot has happened in the last few years, I think they're scared of overwhelming you. If they told you everything at one time, it'd stress you out. They're trying to think of you. Some of the things that happened affected them just as much as it did you.. They don't want to have to relive it and they most definitely don't want to make you go through it all again." His voice was reassuring, I felt better being able to rant to him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" I asked quietly after a small break. "You know, the reason I'm here? I know that my mum didn't want to tell me, just the thought of it made her choke up. And I know Louis isn't gonna tell me.. And I don't know the others well enough.."

"You know I would, Brook. But to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what it was that happened. No one likes to talk about it.." Josh trailed off, giving me a sympathetic look.

"No, it's okay. I understand." I sighed, knowing it'd be a while before I would find out what happened and why I was touring with them.

"Just try to see it from their point of view. Niall lost his girlfriend in a way, it's hard for you, it's hard for him. Think of what it's like for him." Josh pointed out, and I had to concede he had a point. "Now, did you just want to complain to me or did you need something?"

I started playing with the fringe on the pillow, a smile spreading across my face. "I just wanted to rant." I laughed.

"Well, that's what I'm here for." He winked.

***Niall POV****

"Where's Brook?" I questioned Louis as I collapsed onto the couch in Liam's hotel room. He was doing a twitcam off on his desk and Harry and Zayn were out partying. 

"Either in her room or with Josh." Lou said distractedly, looking quite interested in his MacBook.

"What are you doing?" I asked, already foreseeing the answer.

"Talking to Jules. She says hi." Lou grinned at his girlfriend's name. I couldn't help but feel my stomach drop. Juliet and Louis were perfect for each other but I had never felt jealous of them before. I had Brook. We had always had each other. Even before we were dating we could depend on each other. But now she didn't remember me. She didn't know who I was, what we had done together, how many obstacles we had to go through together. 

I quickly shook off all those thoughts and smiled at Louis, not that he noticed. He was completely entranced by his girlfriend. Their story was pretty awesome. They met on the Internet, she was a massive One Direction fan. We had all been a bit hesitant about the whole thing, but they ended up being absolutely perfect for each other. They refused to date the first time we went on tour and it took another year for them to finally get together. 

"How she doing?" I leaned against the couch and eyed the boy who was grinning to himself. 

"Good. She's flying out next week, she wants Brook to meet her again." Lou commented, his eyes flitting to mine momentarily.

"Awesome." I tried to sound happy. Louis eyes narrowed at me and I knew he didn't believe my fake happiness.

"Hey!" Brooks's voice drifted from the entrance of the hotel room.

"Hey Brook! Alright guys, I'm gonna head off. Goodnight!" Liam signed off his twitcam and soon the two entered the living room thing. Brook wheeled herself in front of us and crossed her arms. Liam looked worried as he fell onto the couch next to me.

"I have to talk to you." Brook started off and I knew immediately that this wasn't good. Brook always said 'I have to talk to you' when she was pissed. If she asks to talk to you, it's a totally different story.

"Uh yeah, okay." Louis cleared his voice and I knew he sensed trouble as well.

"You all left out a very important detail of my life." She pointed out. I felt myself freeze. "I would have really appreciated it if you had told me I has a boyfriend."

My heart started beating erratically, my palms started to sweat. I knew it wouldn't be a good thing if she found out from someone or something else. I knew I should have told her.

"Josh is a really nice guy, why wouldn't you tell me I was dating him? He's an absolute sweetheart and I can't imagine the pain he went through knowing I didn't know we were dating." Brooklyn said completely seriously. My heart stopped as the love of my life said those words. Her eyes met mine and her eyebrows raised, as I'd waiting for me to tell her something.

"You're not dating Josh." Lou stuttered unsurely, looking at me for help.

"I know." Brook replied, arms crossed and glaring at me.

"How'd you find out we were dating?" I said once I had cleared my voice. Liam looked extremely uncomfortable and Lou looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.

"The fans. But did you seriously think I was so dense I wouldn't find out? Why didn't anyone tell me!" She almost yelled, anger clear on her face. "I'm so fucking tired of this, do you not understand how frustrating this is? I'm starting to think it would be easier for me to just go home."

"No!" I said immediately. "You can't leave."

"Yeah, well the reason I was staying was so I could learn everything and hopefully remember. But with everyone keeping things from me, it'd easier for me to just go home." Her voice was no longer on the verge of yelling but her des were welling up. It killed me. Absolutely killed me. I just wanted to pull her onto my lap and kiss her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But I couldn't.

"You can't leave now. I don't want you to leave." Louis spoke the words the three of us were thinking. She pushed her hair behind her ear and looked at us. Our eyes met and I felt the familiar bubbles in my stomach. Those green eyes bore into mine.

"I don't know what to do, to be honest. Am I supposed to break up with Niall?" I took a deep breath, I could say it came as a surprise. I knew the second she found out, us breaking up was a large possibility. "I don't want too, but I don't know him.. I just.. I don't know what to do." 

"We're here for you, just don't leave. We need our tour sister. Plus, you were so excited about Australia, you need to do all the things here you planned." Liam spoke for the first time.

"I hate having to ask this, but what did I want to do?" Brook sighed, leaning back on her wheelchair and looking at us. 

"Go surfing, go bungee jumping in New Zealand, hold a koala.." Liam trailed off, eyeing Lou and I for the other things she had out on her list.

"We're heading out on a boat later." Louis chimed in.

"Listen, I'll stay with you guys for a week. One week. If I still can't remember anything, I'm going home. Niall, I'd really like it if we could start off as friends. I'm a bad girlfriend, literally knowing nothing about you." A small smile made its way to her lips as she looked at me. 

"Sounds good, love." I smiled back at her.

For the first time since the accident, I felt we were finally on the road to get our Brooklyn back.