The end where I begin

C h a p t e r 46

Danny's POV

We had just landed in Dublin again and had collected our suitcases. It felt good being back in Dublin again after weeks away from everybody. At the arrivals we were met by a bunch of fans greeting us as we were heading towards the exit. We all stopped and talked to them for a while before taking the last pictures and signing some stuff for everyone before we headed towards the bus which was taking us directly to a hotel near the venue. It was still early in the morning and our gig here in Dublin wasn't until 9pm so we had loads of time before our sound check as well. We all had our families here but technically we were still on tour so we decided to keep distance until we finished the show tonight. From that moment we officially had some time off before we were starting our world tour. This time we chose to go a few places in Europe and far away and loads in the UK before starting over again in February with another UK tour and then take it all over the world from March to June. Then we would go straight into festival season and probably book a few more shows for autumn to wrap it all up and go back into the studio. This is how we usually did it and it worked well for us.

We all got into the bus and sat down in the seats and we took off. About 30 minutes later we arrived at the hotel not that far from home. We got checked in quickly and went to our rooms to get some sleep. We had been up almost all night and we were really tired by now. The gig ended late last night and so did the after party. Then we headed to the airport and were left with no sleep there either as there were kids crying on the plane. I crashed down on the bed and turned on an alarm to wake me up again in a few hours.

*After the sound check*

'How are ye holding up Dan? Ready for tonight?' Mark said as he flopped down at the couch in the dressing room.

'Tonight's gonna be great! Nothing better than to play in Dublin. I've heard fans started queueing at 3am for this gig.'

'Yeah that's true. I spoke to some of them, they had tea for us.' Glen said enthusiastically as he walked into the room with a bag full of tea bags placing them on a table.

'Perfect. Does anyone else want a cup?' Mark said getting up from the couch and took the bag of tea from the table. Glen and I nodded and Mark left the dressing room to see if he could find a kettle to borrow. We usually had one in our tour bus, but we didn't take it to the venue so if we wanted tea we had to go hunting for a kettle which apparently was easier said than done. Mark came back 20 minutes later beaming like a proud kid with a kettle in his arms.

'How did ye manage to get that? Ye didn't steal it did ye?' Glen asked.

'Of course I didn't. My stealing days are over. I found some fans outside and asked if they could go get us a kettle. They gladly did so I gave them some money and they bought one, just like that.' Mark said shrugging his shoulders as Glen and I cracked up. We didn't see this coming at all, or maybe we did. Kinda typical Mark.

'That's priceless.' I said as I was finally able to breathe again. Glen was still chuckling as he had sat down on the couch with a hot cup of tea that Mark just made. He gave me a cup as well.

'I think we need to post a selfie of us with the cups and the kettle for the fans now.' I said pulling up my phone and turning on the camera. The lads gathered around the kettle and we took the picture and posted it on Twitter. And of course we wrote the story behind it. People didn't really seem surprise that Mark did this, me neither really.

'So is Lauren coming?' Glen asked changing the mood in the room. I hadn't spoken to her at all since the day we had the huge fight and she texted me saying we weren't over. It sure as hell felt like it though. I had texted her a few times to check in but she hadn't even replied to them so I just gave up. I know she said she needed time, but maybe not from the minute she texted me. I still wasn't sure if she would come here tonight or not. I had invited her many times and told her what to say to the security when/if she arrived so all I could do now was to hope. I hoped she would be here, but still I didn't. I knew that the fight would be a subject the minute we would meet again, but I couldn't wait to see her either. It has been so long without her now and I really miss her even though I still have a lot to sort out for myself.