The Height of Fame

Chapter 11

The last week of the first leg of tour goes smoothly. I continued to sneak out of our hotel room every night and meet up with Connor to have our movie nights with beer and our pens. The two of us have gotten pretty close, which Dani has noticed and she hasn't stopped giving me crap about since she did. 

On nights that we don't stop at hotels, Connor got his security guy to buy me mini bottles of vodka and tequila for me to hide in my bag on the bus. It's what's been helping me get through the mounting pressure which always seems to be building. We got mobbed twice more by paparazzi and fans but both times I had a solid buzz going and I handled it a lot better than the first time. 

We got back to Nashville yesterday morning and our parents threw us a celebration party. Our album hit the number one spot a week ago and has been solidly sitting up there since. All of us spent the night in our giant backyard listening to music and hanging out with our closest friends while Mike and our dad manned the grill. 

I roll over in my bed, which I missed more than I thought imaginable, searching for my ringing phone. I find it at the bottom, tangled in the sheets. 

"Hello?" I sleepily mumble into it. 

"Dude are you still sleeping? It's almost one. We're supposed to go to Jackson's place." 

It's Taylor. And she's right, I'm late. Since these next three days are supposed to be days off, I skipped the Adderall and for the first time in what feels like weeks I slept more than two hours. I pull my phone away and look at the clock. 12:48. 

"Are you outside?" I ask, rushing out of bed. I run to my closet and grab a pair of jeans and a hoodie. 

"Yes sleeping beauty." 

"Okay, give me five minutes." I hang up before she can complain and run to the bathroom. Thankfully Dani isn't locked in there and I quickly throw my hair in a bun, get dressed and brush my teeth. I run back to my room and grab my shoes, yanking them on as I go down the stairs. 

"Lauren?" my mom calls from the kitchen. I swear in my head. 

"Yeah?" 

"Where are you going?" 

Knowing that my mom hates shouting across the house, I walk to the kitchen where she's sitting at the table, doing work on her laptop. 

"Taylor and I were going to hang out because she was working yesterday," I explain. She looks up from her laptop. 

"Okay, will you be home for dinner though? We only have you girls back for a few days and we wanted to spend as much time together as possible." 

"Yeah, I'll be here. What time's dinner?" 

"Seven o'clock. Don't be late. Joey and Nick are hitting another round of growth spurts," she says. 

"Sounds good mom. Love you." 

"Be careful!" she calls out after me. I rush out the door and run over to Taylor's Nissan. 

"Five minutes?" she says as I get in the car. 

I reach over and hug her before buckling in. 

"Just drive. That was the first time I've slept in three weeks okay?" 

"Dang, do you have any uppers left?" 

"Little less than half the bottle. But Connor took some, it wasn't all me," I say gripping the door. Taylor's driving is definitely not one of her strengths. 

"Oh," Taylor says smiling. "I forgot you have a boyfriend now." 

"He's not my boyfriend," I say defensively. Despite there being obvious chemistry between the two of us, neither him or I have made a move to be anything more than friends. 

"Whatever. I'm just saying what I read in the magazines," she says casually. 

"What? " I groan and sink into the seat. "When did that get printed? Why did that get printed?" 

"Yesterday. I read it at work. Why are you complaining? He's hot." 

"Okay, not the point. Can we not talk about this?" I ask. 

"Fine, but if anything happens I want details." 

"You'll be the first call I make," I say as she pulls into Jackson's parking lot. 

"Which building is it?" Taylor asks.