Time really flew by while I was on tour. I barely had time to do anything but sing and sleep.

"Alex!" Lindsey practically screamed at me through my computer screen.

I gave a wave and giggled as Ashley rolled her eyes.

Ashley had been home for about two weeks and was finishing up her senior year there, instead of in L.A.

"How's life?" I asked, flopping back on my bed.

"Boring." Ashley said.

"Yes, very, very boring." Lindsey nodded in agreement.

"But it certainly must not be boring for you." Linds added quickly.

"Uh, no, just extremely tiring." I grinned.

"I think you mean amazing. You're constantly surrounded by adoring fans and five of the most gorgeous guys on the planet. You poor soul." Lindsey winked.

I laughed and we chatted a bit more until I was too sleepy to talk anymore.

"Only two weeks til' you're here." Ashley said before I clicked out.

"I know. We're still having a sleepover, right?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Mhm." my friends chimed in unison.

We'd planned that on May 1rst, Lindsey, Ashley, my other best friend Brianna, and I would have a sleepover.

"Great. Love you guys!" I clicked out of the window and fell asleep in minutes.

April 25th. Only a few more days until we were in Baltimore.

Buzz buzz. "Hello?" I picked up my phone.

"Hey!" Joy greeted me.

"Hi." I smiled and leaned back in the cab I was in.

"Hey, would you want to do a song with the boys a couple nights this week?" she asked.

"Sure. We'll have to rehearse together then, huh?" I said.

"Mhm. I think we've decided that you'll join them for I Want and One Thing."

I grinned. It's almost as if they'd asked me what two of my favorite songs off the album were.

"Right. Send me the rehearsal times, please."

"On it." she replied and hung up.

The assorted times for rehearsals arrived a few moments later.

"Great." I grinned, half at the message and half because we'd finally gotten to the next concert destination.

"Only two more days." I grinned into my phone.

"I know! I'm so excited to see you, sis." Rena squealed.

Oh, sometimes she acted exactly like a 17 year old.

"Same here." I smiled and turned right as a stage director was trying to motion for me to get on stage.

"Sorry, I'm at a rehearsal. Text me later with the place we're catching lunch at."

"Okay, bye!"

I shoved my phone into my pocket and scrambled into place onto the stage.

"Preoccupied?" Harry smiled from his spot to the left of me.

"Just with my sister. No big deal." I smiled.

We went through the songs like we had been for the past two days and then I'd go back to whatever hotel we were staying at while they practiced their other songs. I had individual rehearsals before our mixed rehearsal, which was probably for the best considering the boys had trouble getting up earlier in the morning.

This had basically been my life, repeating over and over again, for almost a month.

That night I plopped down on my bed and was about to dial Lindsey's number when there was a soft knock on my hotel door.

I walked over to the door, still in my coral shorts and a white off the shoulder top, and opened it.

No one was there but a tiny white note sat on the ground.

I rolled my eyes and picked it up, opening up the multiple folds.

We're playing Mario Kart. Ready to lose? x Harry

I checked my watch. Only 8:30. I had a couple of hours to spare.

I walked towards the elevator and wondered what had possessed them to try to play Mario Kart again.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. A jazz song echoed in my ears as I traveled up.

Ding.

I strolled down the hall and knocked on the boys door.

"Hiya!" Louis yanked open the door.

I gave a wave. "Harry realizes I'm sort of amazing at Mario Kart, right?"

I stepped inside and Louis closed the door behind me. "Mario Kart?" he cocked his head to the side.

"Harry told me that he wanted you to try a cake he made."

"He told me that he was making you a sweater." Liam said, sitting on the couch with his laptop, probably on twitter.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm here, anyways."

"Yay!" Niall ran up behind and pulled me into a hug.

I grinned and laughed.

"You're weird." I smiled at the Irish boy.

"It's just love. Young love." Louis patted Niall's shoulder affectionately.

"Oh, yes. I can see it between you two." I grinned and retaliated but a little blush crept up into my cheeks.

Louis grinned and Niall just rolled his eyes.

"So, are we playing Mario Kart or what?" I asked, still confused as to why I'd been brought here.

"Hey!" Harry bounded into the room and threw his arms around Louis but looked at me.

"Ready to lose at Mario Kart?" I rocked back and forth on my heels.

"I don't feel like playing Mario Kart anymore." Harry sighed.

"Oh, but Harry, you might have actually made it to higher than twelfth place this time." I smirked.

"For your information, I was in tenth the last time I played." he glared at me.

"Good job." I grinned.

"What shall we do then?" Louis asked as he checked his phone.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Oh, where's Zayn?"

"He's getting ready for some interview." Liam answered.

"The boy takes at least an hour and a half to get ready."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, back to what we're doing. What are we doing?" I repeated Lou's question.

"I think we should watch a movie." Liam said.

"Or we could get something to eat." Niall said.

"I think we should.. go shopping." I said.

"Where?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. There's got to be a mall or something around here." I shrugged, but realized that everyone probably knew we were here.

We were currently in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I vote food." Niall raised his hand.

"I vote getting food and then watching a movie." Liam raised his hand too.

"I like Liam's idea." I said.

"Me too." Louis and Harry said in unison.

"I can't believe you all want to go to McDonald's, of all places." I mumbled as I stopped at an intersection.

"What about that place?" I asked, pointing to a cozy looking diner.

"Oh, yeah!" Louis said beside me.

No one in the back protested so I pulled into their parking lot.

We got out of the car and walked into the diner, where they seated us in a booth.

Harry and Louis sat in a booth, with Liam, Niall and I across from them.

We all ordered cheese burgers and a couple orders of fries.

"This is my new favorite restaurant." I said as I ate one of the fries.

"Alex, can you get up? I need to go get a few more napkins." Niall said.

"Oh, sure." I said. I got up and he walked over the the counter.

We talked for a few minutes about the tour and everything, and then I got up again when Niall came back.

"Where are your napkins?" I asked as he sat back down, empty handed.

"Oh, they..were out." he said awkwardly.

I raised my eyebrows at him but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmm, okay."

We discussed what movie we'd watch when we got home, and despite much protesting for a animated movie from Liam and I, Louis, Niall, and Harry decided we'd watch some horror movie.

"Please you guys?" Niall begged.

"Fine, if you'll just shut up." I nudged him in the ribs lightly.

Our waitress came to clear our stuff up and then walked away.

I waited for her to return with our bill but she just hovered by the counter.

"Um, I'll be right back you guys." I said after waiting for ten minutes.

"Excuse me miss." I said to the woman at the counter.

"Yes?"

"Uh, you never brought our check over." I said calmly.

"Oh, that young man took care of it already." she pointed to our table.

"Which one?" I asked.

"The blonde." she said as she scrubbed at the counter.

"Right, thanks." I said and smiled.

"Niall. Why did you pay already?" I asked as I sat back down.

"Aw, thanks mate." Liam smiled before Niall could answer. "We owe you."

"I could have payed." I said.

"Nope." he grinned at me, clearly realizing how annoyed I was that he'd payed.

"I hate you." I leaned on my chin.

"That's why we're watching a horror movie." he smirked at me.

I grumbled and got out of the booth, following Harry and Louis who had already gotten up.

"Hey!" a girl said behind me. "You're Alex Barren!" she squealed.

"Oh, yeah. Do you want a picture?" I asked her, smiling.

"Yeah." she grinned.

"Maria, can you take our picture?" she called to her friend who took her camera.

I stood beside the girl who looked about 15.

"Thanks." she grinned, her friend standing beside her.

"No problem." I grinned and noticed Niall was waiting a step or two behind me.

The girl's friend, Maria, was staring at him as if she'd just got hit by a bus.

"Do you want a picture with him?" I asked her, laughing.

She slowly nodded and Niall grinned at me.

I took their picture and the girl I'd shared a picture with smiled at me.

"She's a huge fan of theirs. Are you two dating?"

"Um, well, I mean.." I said as I handed the phone back to Maria.

Niall had clearly overheard because he looked just as blush-y as I probably did.

"Not yet." Niall smiled a tiny bit and the girls giggled.

"Well, you'd make a super cute couple."

"Um, thank you?" I raised my eyebrows.

We walked out of the diner and made our way to the car.

"Why on earth did we have to watch that?" I asked as the credits of the movie began to roll on the screen.

"It was so good. You didn't like it?" Harry asked.

"Are you kidding me? I nearly peed my pants like four times." I answered.

"That's disgusting." Louis scrunched up his nose.

I giggled and got up.

"I'm going to bed before a guy with an actual chainsaw cuts open my stomach and eats my intestines." I held my stomach.

"Okay, see ya tomorrow!" Liam shouted from the kitchen.

"Bye!" Louis and Harry said in unison.

"See ya." Niall gave me a quick wave and a flash of a smile.

I walked back to my hotel room, looking behind me every so often for signs of a serial killer.

"One. More. Day." Lindsey had left me the message earlier in the morning.

I giggled and put my phone in my pocket and grabbed my bag. We had just had a great rehearsal and I was about to leave.

"Alex!" Niall ran up behind me. They had a five minute break and then their separate rehearsal.

"Yeah?" I asked, throwing my bag over my shoulder.

I looked behind him and saw Zayn, Louis, and Harry a few feet behind him.

"I was wondering if you would want to get lunch or something tomorrow, after the concert?" he looked at the ground and then met my eyes.

I felt a bit bad. "I'm sorry. I already have plans for lunch."

"Oh," he said. "Okay."

"But listen, maybe I can see if you can come too." I blurted out.

"It's alright. You don't have-" he began, but I saw a slight flicker of a smile.

"It's just my sister. She'd love to meet you anyways. You're the perfect representative for...them." I pointed to the other boys who were trying to see who appeared to be putting marshmallows in their shoes.

"Alright." he laughed and I held back my own giggles.

"I'll see you tomorrow at lunch then probably." I waved and headed off to my hotel for a much-needed nap.

"Alex!" Rena pounced on me as soon as we'd set foot in the restaurant. It was a small Chinese place that Rena and I'd always gone to as kids. It was sort of our spot now, and we'd always go to it when we got together.

It was hard to believe that I was back in Baltimore after so many months.

"Hey!" I hugged her.

"This is Niall." I gestured to the blonde-haired boy who stood beside me.

"Nice to meet you. Hope I didn't scare you too much on the phone." she grinned at him.

"Only a little." he smiled back.

Rena took the lead and sat us at a small square table for four.

"You two look a lot alike." Niall said as we sat down.

I looked at Rena and raised my eyebrows. I certainly didn't see it. She had a cute bob dyed a deep golden blonde and she was only about 5'3 while I had long dark brown hair with a few lighter highlights and was taller than her at 5'5. We had about the same color skin, mine only a bit tanner. My face was also dotted with freckles, all along my cheeks and the bridge of my nose, but my sister's was smooth and freckle-less. The only noticeable thing we shared was our brown eyes.

"Everyone always tells us that." Rena smoothed out her hair.

"We don't get it." I said.

A waiter came to take our order right as we began talking about the tour.

"So, how's it been?'' Rena asked as she handed the waiter our menus.

"Really good." I said and Niall nodded in agreement.

"Nothing bad's happened?" Rena leaned her chin on her hand.

"Nope." I shook my head.

"Well, that's good." she grinned.

"Mhm. How about you? How's work?" I asked. ''Rena's an interior designer." I said to Niall before she could answer.

The waiter brought back our drinks.

"Really good. I just did some work for this garden-obsessed woman. She wanted her whole living room to look like a conservatory. I thought it'd look horrible, but it turned out to look amazing."

"That sounds cool." I grinned and sipped on my coke.

"Mhm." she nodded. "So, Niall, tell me about yourself."

Niall shifted in his seat. "Um, well, I'm from this place in Ireland called Mullingar. I'm in One Direction.."

I laughed. "He's trying, he really is."

Rena smiled at him. "Any brothers or sisters?"

"Oh, I have a brother named Greg." he said, relaxing a bit.

"What about a girlfriend?" Rena asked, clearly enjoying this.

"Nope." Niall said and I watched as he again nervously squirmed in his seat.

"And how'd you become a member of One Direction?" she asked.

"Um, well I auditioned for this show-"

"X-Factor, right?" Rena interrupted. "Now I remember. Alex tried to explain this all to me, like, a year ago, but that's all I remember."

Niall gave me a cute smile and I tried my best not to look too embarrassed.

"Well, we all auditioned separately, but they didn't think that we were good enough apart, so they just put us together into a band." Niall finished.

"Oh yeah!" Rena exclaimed. "I remember now. Alex was totally in love with you all as soon as she heard about you-" Rena stopped talking when I shot her a death glare.

"I mean she wasn't obsessed or anything. She only had a couple pictures of you guys hanging up in her room. Didn't you make a shirt too, Alex?"

"I might have." I mumbled.

"I didn't know you were that big of fan. I thought you just bought the album because we were going on tour together." Niall smiled.

"I sort of became a fan after I heard Viva La Vida." I shrugged.

"That was a fun song to do." Niall nodded.

"Well, it sounds like a lot of fun, being in a band and all." Rena smiled.

Niall nodded. "It is. We're all really good friends."

The waiter brought over our food and we chatted about what was going on in Baltimore at the moment and what we could all do tomorrow on our free day off.

"I think that we should go to the aquarium." I said after I'd finished my sweet-and-sour chicken.

"I think that'd be all cool." Rena agreed. We had gone there as little kids and she knew how much I loved it.

"Do you think everyone would be up for that? Then we could just hang out in the inner harbor area."

"That sounds fun." Niall grinned.

"Cool."

"I'll be right back." Niall said, getting up.

"Don't you dare try to pay." I said.

"I'm just going to the bathroom." he rolled his eyes at me.

"He really, really likes you." Rena whispered after he'd walked away.

"No he doesn't, Re." I said.

I wish he did, but I doubt he did. I mean, sometimes he'd act like he did and after everything that happened when the Meghan chick had visited I had pretty high hopes that he did, but it was probably just a stupid crush. I mean, who could actually, legitimately like me?

"Yes, he does. He's been staring at you, like, the whole time."

"You're crazy. He does not like me as anything more than a friend."

"Yes he does."

"No. He doesn't." I said flatly.

"Mhm."

"Nope."

"Yeah."

"Uh-uh."

"Jeez, Alex. If you don't tell him you like him back he's going to start to think he should give up."

"What? I never even said I like him." I said sharply.

"But you do." Rena grinned, clearly not phased by my tone.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, I do." I admitted. No use fighting over this with Rena.

"You should tell him, Alex."

"But what if he doesn't like me back?" I barely got it out.

"He will. I can see it every time he looks at you." she gave me a sweet smile.

Niall walked back over to the table, making a silly face as he passed behind Rena.

Oh gosh.

Hey dahlings :) So, I hope you like this chapter. I'm so excited to write the next chapter. I've litereally been planning it out for weeks. SO- hopefully I'll update again within the next three days? Yesss, hopefully :) If not, have a great weekend. Tell your fathers you love them, okay? Love you all :D

xoxo

Alex