You wake up abruptly the next morning.  Your eyes shoot open.  You find yourself still lying on Zayn, feeling his chest rise up every time he takes a breath.  A blanket covers both of you and it’s very warm.  One of your arms has fallen asleep as it’s tucked under Zayn’s back while the other is resting on his shoulder.  You smile and close your eyes again, listening to Zayn’s soft snoring.  You feel yourself drifting off to sleep again when you hear Louis let out a loud laugh.

“Shh!” you hear Liam say in the other room.  “(Your Name)’s still asleep.”

“Really?” Harry asks.  “I thought she was up.”

“Yeah,” Louis agrees, “I didn’t see her in her bunk this morning.”

“That’s strange…” Liam says.

You suddenly panic.  Not wanting to wake Zayn, you slowly try to get up off of him.  He instantly flings his arms around you and holds you tight.  You gasp.  Then you realize he’s still asleep, and you let out a quiet sigh of relief.  Zayn’s still holding you tight, but then you manage to cause his arms to slowly slip off you as you lift yourself up.  You stretch your leg out, hastily trying to feel the floor with your toes.  Zayn wakes up with a snort.  You freeze.  He stares at you with wide open, but sleepy eyes.  You put a finger to your lips.  Zayn nods and pulls the blanket off you and helps you out of the crowded bunk.  As soon as you’re out you walk casually out into the main room.

“Ah, there’s my special girl!” Louis exclaims.

He quickly walks over to you and hugs you from behind.  You see everyone else stare at him as if he was crazy, but quickly smile so the others wouldn’t see their suspicion, as it might raise suspicion toward them, instead. 

“Good morning!” Harry says.

You smile at him, but quickly realize your mistake when you feel Liam’s quick glance.  There was an awkward moment.  Louis continues to hug you, smiling, not seeming to be bothered by the awkwardness.

“How did you sleep?” Niall asks.

You glare at him.

“I slept…fine…” you stammer.

“Good,” Niall says before directing his focus back to his breakfast in his lap.

You hear Zayn come out of the back room, but Louis doesn’t seem to notice.  Zayn just stands there, staring at him.  Louis finally stops hugging you when the microwave beeps.  He gets leftover bacon and eggs out of it and begins eating them at the table.  Zayn stands motionless at the door as you walk to the couch and sit next to Niall.  Zayn slowly walks to the table and slumps down next to Harry.  You look at him with concern.  He glances at you, but then quickly looks down at his hands. 

Later, when all of the boys were playing video games silently for the first time, Niall comes out of the back room and joins you on the couch where you are texting your mom, reassuring her you’re completely fine for the billionth time.  You hit send and slip your phone in your pocket, then turn to Niall.

“Hey,” you say.

“Hey,” he says back.

There is a long awkward pause.

“So…” Niall begins, lowering his voice.  “You slept with Zayn last night?” he asks, afraid to look into your eyes.

There is a slight pause as you try to find words.

“Niall…” you say, “it’s not what you think…we were tired, you know?  Nothing happened.”

Niall grunts doubtingly.

“Come on, Niall,” you say, scooting closer to him.

He says nothing.

“You believe me, don’t you?” you ask.

Niall turns to you, looking into your eyes. 

“Yeah, I believe you,” he says with a straight face.

You smile and give him a quick hug.

“Niall, I promise things will be better from now on, okay?” you say.

“Okay good,” he says, smiling. 

That afternoon when you were sitting outside of the bus in a lawn chair trying to avoid any more awkward situations between you and the boys, Louis comes out.   

“Hey!” he says.

“Hey, Louis,” you say.

“So…” Louis says, taking your hand.

You smile as you stand up.

“I was thinking you and I could sneak away for a while?” he whispers.

“Oh Louis, I don’t know…” you say.

“Oh come on!  It’ll be fun.  The other boys won’t even notice us gone!”

You give him a look.

“Okay, so they noticed that one time, but this time we’ll be back before they notice, trust me.”

Louis began to lean in for a kiss.  You know you should stop him, but for some reason you don’t, and your lips almost touch…

“Stop!” a voice says.

Louis spins around, revealing Niall standing a few yards away.

“Leave her alone,” Niall says.

“Hey Niall…” Louis says.  “Why don’t you go play with Zayn?”

Louis turns back to you.  You can’t believe that he would do this right in front of Niall.

“I said…” Niall says, “Leave her alone.”

Louis turns around again and stares at him. 

“What did you just say?” Louis demands.

“She doesn’t like you,” Niall says.

“Who are you to say she doesn’t?” Louis asks, staring him right in the eye.

“She likes me,” Niall says.

“Ha!” Louis blurts out.  “You? Why would she like you of all people?  What makes you so special?  When did you find out she ‘liked you,’ huh?”

“She kissed me,” Niall says.

You gasp quietly and immediately begin making slashing motions across your neck, trying to signal him to stop talking.

“She kissed you!  Oh, I’ve never heard that dream of yours before!”

“It wasn’t a dream.  She really kissed me,” Niall says, ignoring your motions.

“I’m sure she did…” Louis says sarcastically.

“No!  Listen to me, Louis!” Niall yells, grabbing Louis’ collar.  “She told me herself she would come to me once she let all the other boys down easy!”

You face palm, not recalling when you said those exact words.

“The other boys…?” Louis asks. 

Niall slowly lets go of his collar as Louis turns his head back toward you.  You stare back at him, wanting so bad to shake your head to let him know it isn’t true, but you can’t, so you just look at him with sad eyes.  Louis looks back at Niall and nods slightly before going back into the bus.  After the door slams behind him, Niall gives you a look that means “I’m sorry.”  Then he looks toward the ground as he, too, goes back into the bus, leaving you back where you started.  Sitting alone outside, trying to avoid awkward situations between you and the boys…

An hour later, you’re still sitting outside, wondering what it will be like when you go back inside.  Suddenly the door bursts open and Liam stands in it, staring at you.

“Hi Liam,” you say, trying to sound cheerful.

Liam steps out and quickly shuts the door.

“You slept with Zayn?!” he yells as soon as it’s shut.

You stand up. 

“Who told you?” you ask.

“Niall told me everything.  He was crying just now, do you know that?  Why was he crying?  Why was he so upset?  What happened between you two?” Liam demanded.

“Nothing!” you lie.

Liam stands very close to you.

“Tell me.”

“You said Niall told you everything!” you yell.

Liam stares down at you.

“I guess I just wanted to hear it from you.  To make sure it was true.  Sometimes Niall says false things when he’s crying.”

“Well, it’s true,” you say.

You see the fury in Liam’s eyes.  You gasp when you watch Liam make a fist and raise it above his head.  You flinch as it comes down, but are relieved when it only hits the bus.  It makes a loud noise, and all you can hope for is that the boys won’t come out, wondering what the noise could have been.  Liam looks at you, shakes his head, and goes back into the tour bus, leaving you alone again.