Jo and I watched the rest of the concert from the sidelines, enjoying it just as much as we had from our seats. After the encore, the boys joined us backstage, and we hung out in the green room. We agreed to meet up at their suite in a couple hours, so Jo and I snuck out to my car, disguised in two of Harry's oversized sweatshirts so as not to attract attention to ourselves.
Once we were safely in our hotel room, I sat down on the sofa while Jo went to fix her hair. When she reentered the room, still wearing a huge smile, tears were streaming continuously down my face and I sniffled quietly, not wanting to break down completely. Her face immediately changed to an expression of concern. "Stells, what's wrong?"
"I just—I—don't—don't—want him to—leave—" I lamented quietly, finally letting my emotions sink in all the way. I succeeded in keeping the sob out of my throat but my shoulders and chest heaved uncomfortably. I breathed slowly in and out, calming myself, but the tears continued to flow. I had finally admitted to myself that Jo and I were leaving in the morning, and I probably wouldn't see Niall again for a long time. The very thought sent a fresh wave of tears down my face.
Jo sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. We stayed like that for a while, and I took comfort in her embrace. About thirty minutes later, someone knocked loudly on the door, and we heard Louis shout from the other side, "Let us in! We've got pizza!" By this time I was horizontal on the sofa with my head in Jo's lap while she was combing through my hair with her fingers.
"It's open!" Jo yelled in the general direction of the door, and I stood up quickly, making myself dizzy. I put a hand to my head and walked unsteadily toward the bedroom. I closed the door rather loudly behind me, seeing the boys looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I went to the bathroom, hoping to compose myself, but seeing my tear-streaked face in the mirror only brought on another crying fit. I fell on the bed, hugging myself and willing myself to calm down so I could go hang out with everyone.
Get a grip! I mentally yelled at myself. Don't sit here crying while your best friend and boyfriend are sitting out there! I hopped rather unsteadily out of the bed and went to the bathroom, where I washed my face of all the makeup and salt water. By the time I was done, my puffy eyes were the only signs of my meltdown.
About five minutes after the boys arrived, I reentered the room with an only-somewhat fake smile plastered on my face. Jo and the boys were huddled on the two sofas, hunched over and talking in low voices. When they saw me enter the room, they immediately sat up straight and the room was filled with an awkward silence.
"Hello love! Do you want to go…?" Niall asked me, trailing off at the end and gesturing toward the door.
I smiled at the way he somehow knew I needed to get out of the room. I nodded but held up one finger, implying that I wanted to say something first. "I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything tonight. All of you. Jo and I had so much fun—no, seriously!" I inserted, as Louis and Liam rolled their eyes. "It really meant a lot. So thank you."
"No problem, loves. It was our pleasure," Louis said kindly, with his characteristic grin. I smiled at him before I went to sit on Niall's lap. I felt his arms wrap around my waist instinctively, but something felt off. It took me a moment to realize that everyone was staring at me.
"Um…did I walk in on something?" They way they were all sending me shifty glances definitely made me uncomfortable.
"Well Jo was just telling us—" Louis began, but swiftly cut off when Jo sent him a death glare. Had Jo told them that I had been crying? It certainly seemed so. I didn't want to blow up the situation, but I made a mental note to grill Jo about it later.
"Uh, okay then. I can just go…?" I made to untangle myself from Niall, but he just gripped me tighter.
"I'll go with you," he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear. He shot Louis a nasty glance as we stood up and walked toward the door.
We sat in my car for a while, just talking, before we decided to go back to the beach. Not the same beach from earlier, but a nice stretch of shore only about ten minutes from the hotel. I spread out a blanket from my car on the sand and we laid there and talked for about an hour or two. We talked about the concert, about my high school, about the X Factor, about the other boys and Jo, anything but our ever-approaching deadline. After a while, I had forgotten what I had been crying about in the first place.
At about one in the morning, we stripped down into our underwear and went swimming in the deserted water. By the time we returned to the hotel, we were both soaked and shivering, huddled together under the oversized blanket and wearing nothing but sweatshirts and underwear.
Thinking Jo and the boys would still be in our room, we headed to the boys' room to get some clothes for Niall before we went to find the others. However, when we opened the door to their penthouse suite, the five of them were cuddled together on the sofa, watching a movie on the big screen. They all stared at us with eyebrows raised, taking in our strange appearances.
"We went swimming, but didn't think to bring a change of clothes," Niall said in response to their questioning looks.
"Aw man, I want to go swimming! Why don't we go down to the hotel pool?!" Zayn asked excitedly, looking around at everyone. "It's not fair that you get to keep Stella to yourself all night," he said, addressing Niall.
We all agreed that a late night swim would be fun, so we met down at the pool, Niall and I wearing swimsuits this time. The gates were locked, so we had a laugh climbing over them into the now unlit pool. The dark water was a little creepy, but nonetheless, we all swam the length of the pool several times, being loud and obnoxious. When we finally settled down together in the shallow end, I ended up talking with Liam and Louis.
"So what were you guys talking about earlier?" I asked the pair of them.
"When?" Louis asked with a slightly too innocent expression.
"Oh you know what I'm talking about!"
"We seriously weren't talking about anything of importance," Liam responded.
"If it wasn't important, then why can't you tell me?"
"We can't tell you…because we can't! So there!" Louis grinned at me, almost mocking my anger.
I stuck my tongue out at him and turned to Liam. "I thought we were friends!" I complained jokingly, batting my eyelashes at him.
"We are friends, doll. But we can't tell you because it's a surprise. Just leave it at that." He proceeded to dunk me underwater, successfully changing the subject by starting a water fight.
It was about three o'clock when we decided to head back up to the rooms. Niall stretched his arm around my shoulder and I wrapped mine around his waist. "Do you want to stay in my room tonight?" he asked me quietly. I nodded, not wanting him out of my sight.