As It Seems

Ch. 14- There Was Always Something About You

A few short hours later, I was awoken by the loud laughs of two boys. I could easily tell that the laughs were from Michael and Ashton, who were making fart jokes.

“That’s lovely” I said in a groggy voice. I sat up from where I was laying down across the couch. I noticed that the spot that once held Ashton was now filled with a pillow from a spare bunk. It’s not hard to guess which boy put the pillow there.

“Morning sunshine!” Michael said in a sing-songy tone. I rubbed my eyes as they tried to focus on the sights around me, both boys sitting at the table area eating the cookies we had baked earlier. I guess Ashton took them out in time. Or maybe it was Michael. I don’t know. “More like… good afternoon sunshine! It’s 5:00. At night.”

“Are we there yet?” I skipped the talk of the time and only focused on where we were in our road trip.

“Actually, yes.” Ashton cut in. “Almost, anyways. We’re about ten minutes from the hotel. Cookie?” He held the plate covered in my cookies out for me to take one. I happily accepted, grabbing a small one from the side.

We got to the hotel not too long after, and I quickly found our managers, making sure I got my own key this time. Alainey and I went up the elevator together and into our room, which already had our luggage placed neatly on the closet floor. I plugged my phone into the charger connected to the wall, took my hair out of the braid it was in, and flopped down on the bed.

To the right of me, Alainey was sat on the other bed, giggling away at her phone. I had no idea as to what the subject of her laughter was, but it wasn’t unusual for her. Probably some cute guy who was flirting with her via Twitter.

About 5 minutes in to enjoying my comfy bed, I heard my phone vibrate. I unplugged it quickly to find a text from Niall.

I wanna go to the Mall Of America! Who’s in?

I noticed it was a group text with basically everyone on tour. I wasn’t doing anything, so I decided I’d go. I typed my reply and hit send within 30 seconds.

My phone instantly blew up with other peoples replies, some accepting and others declining. Surprisingly, most people declined.  I had always thought of the mall of America to be a famous place that I’d think everyone would want to visit. I guess I was wrong.

I quickly got up, put a little more makeup on, changed into cuter clothes, and threw my vans on, all in 5 minutes. Alainey, of course, took a bit more time perfecting her mall ready look.

We met the group in the lobby and left through the back, all of us fitting in one car. There was only 7 of us, including Alainey and me. We got there pretty quickly, our hotel was probably only about 10 minutes away. The mall was even bigger in person than I’d pictured it. It was like every teenage girls dream. Endless rows of stores with cute clothes everywhere!

When we walked in to Forever 21, we decided to split into groups. Niall, of course, declared he was hungry, and wanted to go to the food court. Luke and Ashton agreed with Niall, and of course, Alainey wanted to follow Ashton, proving that she still in fact felt something for him. Not a surprise. Harry and Louis said they’d stay with me in Forever21 for a while to shop around, and then we’d all meet up in the food court in about 20 minutes.

As the other group left the store, I decided I wanted to venture over to the sparkly section, which was bigger than I could ever dream of. I loved sparkly clothes, it was my thing.

“So, Caycay.” Louis said nonchalantly, calling me by a random nickname like he’s known me for years. “Can I call you Caycay?” I nodded with a little giggle. I already felt really close with Louis. He’d probably be the one I’d turn to for advice if he wasn’t so close with Harry. And what if he had something to say about the whole Harrainey thing? I mean, I clearly couldn’t just come out and say ‘Hey I really like your best friend’, could I? That would be really awkward….