"I miss Ireland," Niall whispered to himself.

At least, he'd though he'd whispered it to himself. "I know, buddy. But you can visit home, soon, eh?" Liam smiled at Niall and he smiled back. it still didn't settle the aching in his chest.

The rocking of the bus was hardly soothing, either. Niall felt as if he would never be able to just go home again. No matter what, he would still be "Niall Horan: One Fifth of One Direction." Liam sat down next to him. "You should get some sleep, mate. We'll be in Indianapolis by 5:30 tomorrow. It's ten now. Everyone else is asleep."

Niall looked at him. "Why aren't you asleep?"

Liam shrugged. "I just can't. I never can when it comes to things like this. I'll sleep after rehearsals tomorrow."

Niall smiled. Liam was probably who he was closest to in the group. They were all pretty close, but Liam was always up to talk. "Do you ever think about meeting a fan? But not just any fan, but thatfan. A fan that won't just be another face in the crowd?"

Liam shrugged. "No. I've got Danielle."

"Are you guys back together?"

"No, not yet. I hope we will be soon, though. Why do you want to date a fan? No offense to them, I love them to death, but a lot of them are crazy."

"Yeah, but don't you think that maybe some of them aren't? That maybe they'e, oh I don't know, nice?"

"Well, maybe you'll meet your beautiful girl in Indianapolis. We're sold out, and maybe you'll see her in the front row, or something."

Niall smiled and yawned. "Maybe."

"Niall! Wakey Wakey!" A deep voice and a punch in the arm woke Niall. He pulled his forehead from the window and turned to punch Harry in the hip.

"Hey! That hurt!"

"Yeah, well, so does my arm."

Harry shrugged and walked down the aisle of the bus to get off. Niall shook his head and wiped at his eyes until he could stay awake. He didn't care how many times he had to wake up at five in the morning. He would hate it every time.

When he got out the bus, he looked up at the hotel. It was large, and the car park was fairly empty. Their welcome sign merely said, "welcome," so they hadn't told anyone that One Direction was staying there. As was the agreement everywhere they stayed. Harry turned to look at Niall and smiled. "Come one, mate. Smile. You always look so angry when you wake up. Come on, I'll help you get your suitcase."

They walked over to the tour bus and got their luggage out from the compartment beneath the bus. Pack light. Except for Louis, who was known for buying statues and taking them on planes. "That was one time!" Louis would exclaim.

They stepped into the lobby, one body guard in front, one in back. It was quiet, except for the man sitting at the front desk. He looked up and smiled. "One Direction. Pleasure to meet you. We are expecting you for two days, correct?" They all nodded. "Good." He reached under the desk and got two small envelopes and handed them to a body guard. "The room is the presidential suite on the top floor. Room 459. There are conjoined rooms. Those are the two keys for that, and here," he handed them two extra keys, "are the keys for the conjoined rooms. Feel free to order anything else you need, and call if there are any problems."

Just then, the elevator opened and a girl stepped out. "Hey, Mr. Todds, do you have any-" she turned and saw the boys. The body guards tensed, and she smiled. "Hello. You're One Direction," she stepped forward to greet them, and the body guards blocked her way. The smile faded from her face. "Oh, I get it. I can't be trusted because I seem too calm, right?"

"No, let her through," Harry's voice called out. She stepped back, anyway.

"You don't have to let me through anywhere. Your other fans may mob you, but I'm not other fans. I just wanted to shake your hands, but since I'm just being me and not some freak, then I must be bad. All right. Enjoy your stay here, it's a lovely hotel. Welcome to Indianapolis." She turned away from them and looked to the man at the desk, who looked as if he were in shock. "Mr. Todds, do you have a brochure for any local movie theaters?"

He shook his head and she sighed. "Thank you." She turned to the boys again. "I'll take the stairs, since you guys have so many bags. And I'm sorry if I sounded rude, but I just wanted to shake your hands. I heard you guys have a concert tonight. Good luck."

She stepped through the door to the stairwell, and the boys stood there quietly.

"Well, I kind of feel like shit," Harry whispered.

"Don't. I'll go talk to her," Niall said. He dropped his bag and headed to the door of the stairwell, then he turned to the body guard following him. "Alone. I'll call if I need anything." He patted his pocket where his phone was and ran into the stairwell, up a flight of stairs where he saw the girl. She turned and smiled at him. "Hey Niall. You really didn't have to take the stairs." She waited until he was near and held out her hand. He shook it and smiled at her. "How do you know my name?" She laughed.

"It's pretty much the only thing I know about you. Well, that and the fact that you're from Ireland."

They began walking up the stairs again. "yes, but what part of Ireland?"

"Ah, the land of Ire," she whispered. "I honestly don't know. I don't like looking up information about bands. I used to. I'd look up their phone numbers and everything. I knew their favorite color, their pet's and parents' names. I knew their siblings, everything. But, when you do that, you start liking the person more and more, and you don't know them. Then, there's nothing more to learn, and they don't feel like a person anymore. I don't know about you, but if I were famous, I would want to be appreciated for my music, and have some privacy. I found that waiting to meet someone famous, and then knowing that you'd treat them like a person, is better than spending your days learning everything about them so you can scare them with your frightening never-ending knowledge of them." She looked at him and smiled. "You're cool, Niall. Maybe we can be friends?" He smiled at her.

"Definitely. What's your name?"

She smiled. "I go by many names, Mr. Horan. You can say many things about me, because of this. But, you may call me K."

"Kay? Is that your real name?"

"Ah, look who's clamoring for information, now. Well, no, it isn't. But I'll tell you what it stands for when I get to know you better."

Niall thought she was interesting-looking. Not beautiful, not even old enough for him, but interesting-looking. Pretty, maybe. She had light brown skin, and dark brown eyes. She was shorter than him, and her nose was a little big but it fit her face nicely. She was nice, though. And interesting.

"Can we start to know each other now? I just really like meeting fans."

She smiled and him, and then it faded. "I don't want to be a fan. I want to be a friend. Here, I'll give you my number."

Niall took out his phone and handed it to her. She typed in her number in and put the letter K in the contact's name.

"I'll understand if you can or text with a blocked number. Just tell me who it is, okay?"

"I think I'll use my number. Thanks, Kay."

"You're welcome, Niall. Maybe we can all go swimming later. I promise not to tell anyone you're here."

"I trust ya. I'll text you if we can. We might be too tired. Hopefully we can."

She smiled. She had a nice smile, and she wore braces. She was nice. Not too pretty, but nice.

"Text me, Niall. And apologize to the boys for me. I may have come off a little rude."

"I will."

She went through the door labeled "Four three" and then she was gone. Niall climbed the rest of the stairs (Only two more flights) and opened the door to see a long hallway. There was a door on one end of the hallway, and one door on the other. He went left to see suite 459 and the body guard standing outside. "Hey man," he said. The boys waited inside and they were laughing and pushing each other around. "Niall's got a crush!" Louis yelled.

"No, I don't. But she said she was sorry for being rude. Even though she wasn't. I told her we could maybe go swimming later. And we should give her some tickets. She's really nice."

The boys agreed, and tickets and VIP passes were sent downstairs for the concert the next day, which still had a few seats left. K would be called down to retrieve them. The boys felt better, now. Especially Niall.