Chapter 30 ~ Liam

“Oh, look at him. He’s smiling!” Louis shouts when I come back to the dressing room where we’re getting ready for an interview. “I bet my arse that conversation went well.”

The lads around laugh at Louis and I just shook my head without being able to get rid of the silly grin plastered on my face. I’m just happy that things are fine again with Darcy, that we talked through this and we can move on. We do not have a relationship to envy, God knows how hard it is to be in a relationship, even more when one in the couple is always as busy as me, but we do our best to make it work.

And to add more happiness, Darcy told me about her Mum’s new plans and how excited she is about it. I’m so happy for them. Now Lizzie and Darcy will have their mum back, Darcy will be able to go to uni and have a normal life. She won’t have to fill in a roll that she is not supposed to yet. This news is great for everyone.

“It certainly did,” I answer taking my seat in front of a mirror. Soon, Lou is by my side doing my makeup. Ugh, I’ve always hated to say that. I feel like such a girl. “Everything is fine now.”

I took a glimpse of my friends and I see them all smiling at me. I told them, generally, that Darcy and I had had a fight and that she wasn’t picking up her phone. They were as worried as I was, until she called me back and I left running to reach my phone. I fell in the way and, of course, laughed their arse off at me.

“Great! ‘Cos if you break up with Darcy, that meant I can’t see Lizzie anymore and I can’t take that,” Harry commented offhandedly and I looked at him with eyebrows arched. “Of course I never doubted you were going to fix this,” he adds quickly after seeing my expression what makes the lads laugh again.

“Stop laughing! You don’t wanna appear on live television with a make up all messes up, do you?” Lou warns us and we all stay still. “Better. Once I finish, you can laugh all what you want. In the meantime, stay like this.”

We all obey and soon we’re ready to go into a new interview. This is the first one I make since I ended in the hospital and I’m sure there are going to be many questions about that. I sigh deeply when I hear one of the men working for the show motioning and telling us to go on stage now. We walk calmly, waving with big smiles to the audience in the studio. As previously indicated, we walk to the sofa in the middle of the studio with two chairs behind where Zayn and I will sit.

This is one of our most frequent problems: Sofas are never big enough. One of the cons of being five boys in one single band.

The host, Jamie, form a new TV show shakes our hands whilst the audience calms down so we can start the interview. “Well, well, it seems like this kind of reception never fails to you all, doesn’t it?” Jamie says offhandedly and we all smile. It is true; our fans are never quiet. “With so many screams and proposals, I’m sure you don’t have insecurity issues,” he ventures and we chuckle.

“Nah, we still have the same insecurities than any other boy,” Zayn answers and we all nod. Having so many fans boosts our egos for sure, but it will never solve all those issues that come with being human.

Jamie laughs and it’s certain that he will not insist on the matter, though he doesn’t believe Zayn. “Well, we’re glad to have you here. And you, Liam. I know you were in the hospital and in a break for that last few weeks. How are you feeling now?”

“Much better, thank you very much,” I reply and I look at the camera as well to show my gratitude to all those who have been worried about me too. “It’s all under control now and I’m ready to fully come back to what I love the most.”

“That’s such a relief. All your fans have been really worried. We all have seen the support on the Internet.”

“Our fans are the best,” Niall says with a huge grin and we all nod in agreement. “And we are the happiest to have Liam back. It’s never the same if one of us is not around.”

Jamie and all the audience aww at us and just to make it more dramatic, we all hug. Well, Harry, Louis and Niall hug on the sofa and Zayn and I pass our arms over each other’s shoulder. “Aww, aren’t you all cute? No wonder why you have so many girls at your feet. But some of you are taken, am I mistaken?” We only smile. “So, who of you are officially single?” Jamie asks and Niall and Harry raise their hands causing screams from the audience. “You know girls, you still have two more to pick from!” Jamie jokes and we laugh. “But I’ve head Liam went off the market only recently.”

“You’re right,” I confirm and I hear the murmurs of disappointment.

“Is this the girl we’re talking about?” Jamie asks showing a picture of Darcy and I from one of these days we went out. It’s the same day we went ice staking with Lizzie and Harry as well. In the picture I’m holding Darcy’s hand and she’s laughing at something I said. At the back you can see Harry carrying Lizzie over his shoulders.

It is a cute picture.

“Yes. She’s Darcy. She’s just a normal girl I met in a signing,” I add because I know the fans will love that.

As expected, all the audience screams in excitement at my words. “Oh, the dream of any fan! See, girls? It is possible!” The audience screams even louder, if that’s possible. “And this little girl isn’t her daughter, right? Because that has been on the tabloids quite a lot.”

“No, she’s Lizzie!” Harry answers for me. “She’s Darcy’s little sister.”

“Well, that certainly makes everything clear. And tell me, lads, what can we expect from you in the future?” Jamie asks and from then onwards, we talk only about the band and the things we have planned for the future until our time is over.

We leave the stage with many screams and the promise to come back at the end to perform our last single. When we are backstage, Zayn passes his arm over my shoulder giving me a brotherly hug. “You did well in there.”

“Yes,” Harry supports. “Telling them about Darcy just being a normal girl surely will make her more loved by the fans. Well done.”

I smile. The fans have already accepted Darcy, but it’s never bad to say some more nice things to get more fans on her side.

“And it was so good to have you with us again!” Louis adds joining to Zayn and I’s embrace. “How can we be One Direction without our Daddy Direction? Impossible!”

“Plus, they always tried to put us all on one sofa and I need my space, mate,” Niall protests and I chuckle.

“Well, I missed this too. I’m glad to be back as well.”

“Next time if you take a break, we are all taking one as well,” Zayn states solemnly and the other lads nod in agreement. “We’re all in this together.”

I close my eyes when I realise of the sentence that Zayn has uttered. Of course Louis is not going to let it pass and he starts to sing the old song from High School Musical. For him, it will never get old. And it’s worse when Niall and Harry join him.

“Are you going to dance with them?” I ask Zayn and he shakes his head with an arrogant grin.

“Nah. I have too much swag for this kind of dance,” he replies and that makes Louis stop.

“Liar. It’s just because you don’t know the choreography,” The Doncaster boy accuses and Zayn fakes shock and pain.

“Of course not, I just don’t dance.” And that sentence lead to another High School Musical song.

Could it be that Louis still remembers all those songs? Apparently he does, though I think he is making up the choreography, because I don’t remember moves like those in the movies. And somehow, Harry and Niall still follow him in this silly dance.

Yeah, most certainly I missed our craziness behind the stages. All the stupid things we do to kill time while we wait. It was just three weeks, and I know I needed that time to recover and everything, but I’m really happy to be back. After all, doing this, being in One Direction is what I love the most. There’s a reason why this is not only my job but my life.

Another reason to keep taking care of myself, because I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose the band and my friends over my health. I still can do it, I’m going to do it.

“You know, we still have half an hour to kill. We may as well join them,” I suggest and Zayn looks at me as if I’ve betrayed. “Oh, c’mon, it’ll be fun!”

I push him to where Louis, Harry and Niall are dancing and I try to join them, learning the steps but at the end we just do whatever we want, including Zayn. People have gathered around us, laughing at our antics but we’re used to this already so it’s fine.

Incredibly, Louis remembers almost all the songs from High School Musical, the three movies –yes, I’m really impressed– and he makes us dance and sing quite a few. He even gets Lou to dance with him pretending she is Gabriella Montez.

I really missed all this!

By the time we go back to the show to perform, we’re already exhausted but really pumped up and we spread that to the audience. Jamie ends up jumping with us on stage and even singing. Yeah, he’s not going to be the sixth member of One Direction though he dances better than all of us together.

After that show with Jamie we have more things to do, like working on the third album, more interviews and stuff like that. A lot of people are interested in interviewing us as I just came back. Obviously, my health and what happened are frequent questions, and it remains like that for a long time.

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Dedication to @amethystmae24 and @em_star24 because of their birthdays and to @luv_2_Write for being the first comment on MS and here the last few chapters.

Bel, xx