Pretty Venom |N.H|

20

June 12.

I woke up to several missed texts from last night.

I cried until my eyes burned. Until I could build up the strength to tell myself that I was being stupid. Letting Niall's words have such an impact on me is stupid and it only proves his point.

When I heard everyone come onto the bus after the show, I quickly turned to face the wall of my bunk, my back facing the aisle, shutting my eyes to pretend I was asleep. I didn't want to explain to anyone what had happened and I needed time to filter through the story so my father wouldn't say anything to Niall about it. Although he is to blame, I don't need my father making it any worse.

I fell asleep shortly after that.

When I woke up this morning, my father didn't ask any questions.

I had six missed text messages from Harry:

Where were you during
the show?

Is everything alright?

You're starting to worry me.

Will you text me when
you see these?

I'm sorry if we did
something.

Goodnight. I'll talk to you
in the morning.

Then there were two from Louis:

JJ where were u?

Everything ok?

I tossed my phone back down, ignoring the messages.

'JJ'?

I grabbed my phone again and unlocked it to reveal the messages again, half-smiling at the nickname Louis had come up with for me.

I guess they did notice.

Around ten in the morning we checked into a hotel in Chicago.

This was probably the nicest hotel we've been in so far. It's definitely the nicest I've ever seen.

The lobby is beautiful.

The floor is tiled intricately with a white and black marble, the detailing on the walls so gentle that I can see the strokes of the paintbrush used to decorate.

The elevators are see-through, allowing a total view of the interior from the outside. There are four placed in the center of the hotel so you can walk around them. They look like a tube.

I took myself to my room. Usually our rooms would all be around each other, but because this hotel was almost booked out and absolutely massive, we're all scattered across the hotel in our rooms.

We're in Chicago for three days. Today we have a free day, tomorrow a show, and another show the day after.

To pass the time, I sat at the window of my hotel room, looking below to the people carrying their bags through the lobby. I noticed there were many rooms and small shops inside the hotel, and my eyes wandered onto the people inside.

I could see a bar down the lobby as well as a gift shop holding all kinds of Chicago merchandise.

I might have to stop in there to grab something for my siblings.