Settle Down with Me: Chapter 6

EMILY'S POV
I walked down the hall in a good mood, being with Harry and Louis was leaving me on an almost high feeling. I grabbed my phone out of my sweater pocket and checked the time quickly before beginning to turn the small corner to get to my room. Just as I was about to look up I walked directly into something hard, I shot my head up to see Liam rubbing his chest. I felt my cheeks turn pink as I dropped my mouth open, of all the boys I could walk into it had to be Liam.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention!" I squeaked.
"Its fine, you alright?" He asked with a smile as he placed one hand on my shoulder. I nodded yes and stared at his brown eyes, they looked sad but not as tired as the day before.
"You alright?" I questioned as he locked eyes with me. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me another small smile.
"Girl trouble?" I asked sarcastically, he laughed and nodded yes as he dropped his arm to his side.
"They're all bad news" I winked, trying to get him to laugh- it worked. He chuckled quietly and looked down at his feet.
"Well I should probably get going" I said slowly as I began to take a step sideways. He smiled once again and I placed one hand on my hip quickly before letting it fall.
"I just wanted to say sorry for not being exactly friendly to you, you've been nothing but nice! So I'm sorry" He said seriously. I pet the top of his neat little curls and smiled before turning to walk down the hallway again.
"See you later!" I called over my shoulder as he waved goodbye. I checked my phone again and sighed at the time, I was going to be late for my call. I ran the rest of the way to my room and closed the door shut. I flopped onto the sofa and called my agent Martha. She answered quickly and scolded me for being late before she began to really speak.
"So I sent that audition clip to the producer of the movie you wanted the other day" She said happily. I squealed in response and began to gush on the idea of getting the role.
"I'll let you know if I hear anything, how's the show going?" She asked in a business tone.
"Really good, they boys are lovely" I said inspecting my thumb nail.
"Stay focused you! You need this to get your name out" She said seriously, I could imagine her sour face.
"I am focused!" I defended myself. She began to scold me some more and explain the details of some other scripts she wanted to audition for. I declined politely because I only wanted to focus on the one she sent a tape in for. After a few more minutes of polite conversation I hung up the phone and moved to my made bed that looked brand new and sunk my head into the pillow.
That afternoon was spent at rehearsal once again, and so did the next few days. We all went to the studio, practiced the boring work, came home and then started all over again. I had bonded with the boys even more, particularly Harry and Louis and I continued to try to get close to Liam and he seemed to want to get to know me better. I had started to spend most of my evenings with some of the boys, or all of them together. Tonight was Friday and Niall was helping me try out the video diary. He picked me up at around nine o'clock from my room and walked with me down to the media room.
We turned the sharp corner and I scurried to the glass door and turned the knob quietly, Niall followed in behind me and turned on the lights. The whole room became brighter and I saw a small setup of a big blue backdrop, chairs and a camera on a stand. I walked over to the chairs and sat down into one as I watched Niall play with the camera.
"What do I do?" I asked him, clicking my heels together.
"There's questions on the floor- answer them if you're nervous" He said as the camera started to record. He ran to sit beside me and cleared his throat before he looked at me silently.
"Ready?" He asked happily, I nodded yes and waited for him to start. He began to introduce himself to the camera and then he introduced me, I waved to the camera awkwardly and listened to him talk about the past few days- perfectly at ease.
"We got our own official microphones today, tell everybody what you got Em" Niall said nudging me.
"Mine was bedazzled, it's covered in pink sparkles" I said with a shy grin.
"She's the only one who gets a special one!" Niall said in his thick Irish accent as he poked me in the arm. I continued to answer Niall's questions and spoke about what I did in rehearsal. We told a few stories about what happened behind the scenes.
"She's like our new mum" Niall joked.
"These boys are slobs!" I said quietly pointing at Niall with my little finger. We finished up what we had to say and waved goodbye. Once Niall had shut off the camera I let out a big puff of air from my chest. I thanked Niall for helping me and we got up to leave. I hooked onto his elbow as we walked down the halls to the elevator. He asked me small questions until we were back outside my door once again.
"Night Niall" I said opening my arms for a hug. He walked into them and squeezed me tightly before giving me a peck on the cheek.
"Night babe" He said before he started to shrug down the hall towards his room.
LIAM'S POV:
I was sitting on the couch reading angry text messages from Danielle as Niall walked through the door, shrugging his shoes off on the rug. He greeted me happily, which I returned with a slight nod. He walked over to the sofa and ripped my phone out of my hands.
"Hey!" I said looking up at him, feeling confused.
"This stops now!" He yelled at me, pocketing my phone. I stood up and started to dig my hands into his pockets to get my phone back but he ran away from me so I had to chase him around the room. I called for him to come back but he was faster than me and continued to swerve around the furniture.
"You need to go out and find someone new to talk to!" Niall yelled as he ran around the kitchen table.
"Go spend time with Emily or the lads! You've barely even talked to her since we met; she probably thinks you're a jerk!" Niall said again, this time in a serious tone.
"You really think that?" I asked, standing still.
"Maybe, I would if I were her" He said staring at my sad face.
"Yeah me too" I said running my hands through my slightly curly hair. I dropped my head into my hands and walked to grab a sweater; I slipped on a pair of shoes and walked up to face Niall. I held out my hand and asked for my phone as he placed it into my palm.
"You're not runnin' away are ya?" Niall asked me from across the room.
"Nope, I'm going to go be polite" I told him simply as I opened the heavy door.
"She's in her room, I just dropped her off" Niall laughed, I waved my hand as a thank you and shut the door behind me.
As I walked down the hallway slowly I thought about what I would say to Emily, or rather where we would go. I dragged my feet until I was almost at the end of the hallway. I spotted her room number and began to pace outside, I ran my hands through my hair again. I didn't know why I was so nervous, I barely knew her but she seemed to always be there- happy and laughing. It had been too long since I've been around a girl who was almost always happy; whose laughter was so contagious that everyone around her has to laugh- it's like a reflex. I convinced myself that I was being a chicken and knocked hard on the door twice. Once I had finished I immediately swiped my hand away from the door and took some more deep breaths. I waited for about a minute, I was just about to walk away when the door slowly cracked open. I smiled as Emily's nervous eyes looked at me; I waved shyly as she gave me a happy smile. She stood in the open doorway in a pair of grey track pants and a hooded sweatshirt, with pink wool slipper boots. I greeted her as nicely as I could and started to make awkward conversation, she spoke to me just as she always had- with a happy bubbly tone even when I was making no sense.
"Did you want to come in?" She asked, gesturing to her room.
"Actually I was on my way to get some frozen yogurt, I wanted to know if you'd like to join me?" I asked with as much confidence as I could. I watched a small smile fall onto her sweet face and she stared at me, her eyes were such a dark brown they were almost black.
"Sure!" She said finally and closed her door with her key in her hand. She shoved the plastic card in her sweater pocket and followed me down the hallway. I watched her walk, a happy bounce in her footsteps. She was quiet as she walked, smiling like a little kid. I asked how she was, and how she liked the award show experience. She took the hint and started to talk about all of her feelings and how she was really nervous and missed her family until we got to the elevator.
"So where is this frozen yogurt?" She asked me, crossing her arms over her chest casually.
"Down stairs in the dining room, I found it yesterday" I smiled at her stepping closer to her side. I felt relieved when she didn't move away, simply dropped her arms so our elbows were touching inside the small shaft. The lift stopped at the lobby and I allowed her to leave first as I stepped out and into the big open room.
"This way" I said gesturing her forward; she followed close behind me as I made the trip to the large dining area. The room was dark but it was supposed to be open all day and night so I turned the knob and was thankful that it wasn't locked.
"Are there any lights in here?" She whispered, grabbing onto the back of my sweater lightly. I felt around the walls until I found a switch and brought all the light back to the room. I looked around and saw the machine that I wanted, I offered Emily my elbow which she took happily and walked over to the buzzing machine. I grabbed two cups; I gave Emily hers and showed her how to work the machine. She giggled happily as she filled her goblet with strawberry yogurt, while I filled mine with chocolate. I waited for her to finish and dusted sprinkles on mine. She held out hers and smiled as I dusted hers with the pink sprinkles. She thanked me happily and grabbed two spoons; she gave me one and jabbed the other into the pink dessert. Once we were finished I led her out of the room and back to the elevator, we ate spoonfuls of our yogurt on the walk back.
"This is so good!" She said with a happy moan, my eyes widened at the sound I had to eat a bite to control myself.
"Glad you like it" I said smiling at her as we were nearing her room. We stopped at the door and she immediately invited me inside, I hesitated but decided to listen to Niall's advice and followed her inside. I took my shoes off at the door and went to sit with her on the loveseat. She continued to eat as she asked me questions about the band and my family. I answered them all honestly and asked some questions of my own. I laughed at all of her stories and listened to them intently, I wished she would talk forever- everything she said was interesting. Her eyes lit up when she talked about her best friend and some of the crazy things they had done recently, I now understood why all the boys liked her so much. When she spoke it felt like being hypnotized in a trance. I didn't realize she had finished and I was just staring at her like a fool.
"You alive?" She joked, waving a hand in front of my face. I laughed and apologized as I asked another question about her career. She told me how she got her first part and talked about her co-stars for a little while.
"I really liked your film, the lads and I went to see it" I said shyly as I took a bite of my yogurt.
"Really? That's so nice, thank you!" She gushed as her cheeks turned pink.
"Are you always this nice?" I blurted out and instantly regretted it. Her eyes look confused and she tried to think of an answer.
"I guess so?" She laughed awkwardly, shrugging her shoulders. I apologized once again and asked about her relationship with Harry and Louis.
"They're really cool, I feel like I have two big brothers- and I've always wanted one so it's happy days" she smiled at me, I couldn't help but smile back- she was contagious. After a few seconds of quiet she took her spoon out of her mouth and took a scoop of my chocolate from my cup. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed slowly; I laughed at her serious face and tried to understand what had just happened.
"Thief" I laughed and poked her flat stomach.
"I still like my strawberry" She said simply. I grunted in disbelief and stole a bite of her yogurt to taste the difference. She grunted her disapproval as I swallowed; it was delicious- just as good as mine.
"That's good" I said pointing at the goblet.
"Mine!" She said defending it with narrow eyes. I raised my hands in defeat and finished off my snack. Once it was completely empty I walked across the kitchen to throw it in the trash. I looked at the clock and saw the late time. I turned to see Emily fiddling with a couch cushion, her eyes starting to close slowly.
"I should leave so you can go to bed" I said apologetically, she smiled at me from the couch and waved me off.
"It's up to you- I barely sleep anyways" She said quietly. I looked at her feeling confused and asked why. She explained that she is barely ever by herself and she gets lonely. I nodded knowingly and said that I got lonely sometimes too.
"I hug my covers" I told her honestly. She laughed politely and stared into my eyes again like she had earlier. I decided I needed to leave before I got too caught up and kissed her cheek goodnight. I walked back to my room with a very confused head. Niall had been right about Emily, she was exactly what I needed to get over my sad phase- and that worried me, it worried me a lot.