Want You Bad (Louis Tomlinson fan fiction) [completed]

Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

“We’re finally done with the album that seemed to take forever for us to create!” Chase cheered as we exited the recording booth after recording the final song. We had recorded twenty-five songs for this album, and the label was going to decide the final cut, which was going to be fifteen songs and maybe a couple bonus tracks, which we would choose if the songs we loved weren’t chosen for the album. I was just happy that Tammy and everyone else would quit hassling us to be in the studio every day. It had taken us around three months to record everything, re-record things the label didn’t think were suitable, and all that typical nonsense. The songs Garrett and Delia had written were all amazing, and it turned out Chase even had a couple written that we decided to record. I was the only member of the band who hadn’t written anything for the album, but songwriting was never my strong suit, so it was excused.

I hadn’t seen Louis in three months, and the weekend trip he made to LA before Tammy locked us down in the studio was not long enough to tide me over. He and the guys in One Direction had been busy in the studio as well, so neither of us had any spare time to jet off for a few days, and long hours in the studio for both of us meant physical and mental exhaustion and super conflicting schedules. So yeah, things had been a little rough for us, but we didn’t give up on our relationship. Delia poured us all glasses of celebratory sparkling grape juice—Garrett was doing a wonderful job with his sobriety, still going strong after 5 months of being out of rehab. I definitely gave credit to Lacey for most of that, though. After a couple months, she and her kids had moved in with Garrett, and I felt like their constant presence was a reminder to him to stay on the right path. He had admitted to me to almost drinking a couple of times, but he had never given in, which I was grateful for.

“Alright,” Delia said once everyone had their glasses. “I would like to make a toast. I want to thank all of you guys for being my best friends and coming along with me on this wicked journey we all decided to take part in all those years ago. I couldn’t imagine any other people being by my side as my dreams come true, and I love you all. To friendship!” We all cheered, touched our glasses together, and took a sip.

Chase held his hand up. “I also wanna say a few things. I honestly never thought we would finish this album with everything life was throwing at us, but I’m so glad we’ve done it. I’m more proud of this album than I have been of anything else I’ve ever done in my life. I’m also incredibly grateful that we’ll finally be out of Tammy’s crosshairs for a while. To freedom!” Another round of cheers went up.

Garrett lifted his glass in the air. “I know none of you want to say it, but I was the major reason that this album took so long for us to record, and for that I’m truly sorry. But I want to thank all of you for believing in me and sticking with me through all my bullshit. I fucking love all of you more than you can imagine. To sobriety!” We cheered and drank again.

I shrugged my shoulders as my bandmates looked at me. “I don’t know, I think you guys said it all. Friendship. Freedom. Sobriety. Those are the things that have gotten us through this together. I say that’s what we name the album.” Everyone chimed in their agreements and I lifted my glass. “To friendship, freedom, and sobriety!”

--

“Natalie Reed, I’m calling to let you know that I am on my way to your apartment,” Louis’ honey-coated sandpaper voice came through the speaker of my phone.

“What?”

“Yeah, babe. I told you I’d visit once both albums are done, now I’m visiting.”

“But I didn’t know your album was done! Why wouldn’t you tell me? How long do I have till you’re here? I look awful!”

“I’m sure you look fine, love. And it’s a secret when I’ll get there.”