Home H.S

Chapter 24: Make this feel like Home (Pt. 2)

I SNAPPED OUT of my slumber as quickly as I could and answered the phone call, my heart still pounding. It wasn't only the fact that she was calling, that dream left me anxious and preoccupied.

We spoke briefly, but I managed to quickly confess that I was jealous, that I missed her and even got a bit emotional towards the end. If she had given me three more seconds, I would have probably told her that I loved her hopelessly and maybe even propose.

Geez! I wished I had a little more experience in that whole being-in-love situation because even while drowsy, I sounded desperate. She agreed to keep in touch with me which I thought was progress; her tone was still somewhat distant and made me wonder if we were on the same page. I put my negatives thoughts aside once more and decided to get excited because she called me back and that had to mean something.

I curled back under the covers and drifted peacefully back to sleep.

*

THE ACTUAL TOUR started four days later in Cardiff and luckily went much better than in my nightmare.

When we arrived in Austria for the third date of the tour, Jennifer joined us. For the first time in our band history, Niall was the only one that had a real relationship and was even getting married. It was surreal. He had always been the eternal bachelor, a bit like me but worse because I had a couple of girlfriends here and there while he played the field and I got all the bad press. The fact that Louis and Eli had broken up was hard to believe, and then, Sophia and Liam were on the rocks too. Not to mention that my love life was pathetic and nonexistent.

The following weeks were very busy travelling across Europe, performing and doing interviews. We were used to having that rhythm while on tour and the adrenaline that ran through our bodies kept us going almost unstoppably. Being on stage becomes rather addictive after a while and I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but we were starting to feel the exhaustion of almost five years of that nonstop lifestyle of touring and recording almost in a loop. After Zayn left the band, we grew closer deciding to stick together and carry on.

It worked really well for a while, but I guess the stress from the pressure we were putting on ourselves was affecting us deeper than we were willing to accept. We started talking about taking a break, at least a long vacation. The only one who seemed more reluctant to the idea was Louis, little did he know how much his life was about to change.

Liv and I kept in touch during that time, but not as often as I would have wished. The time difference was not helping us and she seemed somewhat distant, although she always answered when I called her or send her a message. I was pretty much hanging all my hopes on one line she said to me that night at Jack's house: "I like you so much, H." I was back at secondary school apparently, getting excited about a girl who said she liked me.

 The American leg of the tour was approaching and I was expecting we could work things out by then and was also planning a way to surprise her on her birthday. Showing up unannounced was probably what she would expect from me. I had to do something that caught her off guard and impressed her. 

Someone knocked on my room's door, I opened it to find Louis and Liam standing in the hallway, both of them grinning at me.

"We have it, mate!" Liam gently patted me on the chest as he walked past me and into the room followed by Louis.

"This is brilliant Haz! You're gonna love it!" Louis assured to me as he took a seat on one of the chairs in my room.

"What are you even talking about?" Standing in front of them in my boxers, I had no clue what they were so excited for.