Stay With Me

“Joshua!” I snapped grabbing his hoodie off the banister and putting my hands on my hips. Five seconds later he ran down the stairs buttoning his shirt up and buckling his belt. “It’s about time” I smirked thrusting the hoodie into his arms and sliding my hand in his as we walked out the door.

“So what exactly are we doing today?” Josh chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his neck with his spare hand. I rolled my eyes and smiled up at him, he was so forgetful, we had spent all night talking about today.

“We’re going to find a venue for the wedding silly” I smiled, he gave me a quick grin and pecked my lips gently before jumping in the limo and pulling me onto his lap. His parents were already in the limo with his grandma, Max, Matt and Dan. Chris had a job to do today, which meant he sadly couldn’t be here today. Who am I kidding? Whip out the champagne!

“Is that my hoodie?” Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No...” I grinned. De ja vu. “I would never take your hoodie without permission” I gasped faking a sad expression, he smirked at me and rolled his eyes before getting back into a conversation with Max, Dan and Josh.

“Are they my trousers?!” Max randomly questioned, I giggled and pouted at him.

“No...”

“They are aren’t they? And that’s Matts hoodie” Max grinned, I nodded with a smile and they both chuckled before going back into depth about something I wasn’t interested in. “So, we have a gig coming up soon” Max said, “I think it’ll be good. I’m looking forward to getting back on the road, we need to promote this new album so it’s not going to be as laid back as before. One year touring the world with my best friends, what’s better then that?” Max smiled leaning his head back against the seat and closing his eyes as if he was dreaming about it.

“Wait, one year on the road? We’re going to get married and then you’re leaving for a year?” I frowned, Josh sighed and gave me a look that screamed ‘leave it until we get home’. “No Joshua, I want to know now. Are you leaving once we get married? How long do I have with you after we get married?” I questioned.

“Yes, i’m leaving for a year. And i’m leaving the morning after our wedding” Josh whispered, I stared at him, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to tell you”.

“Well, it’s not your fault, atleast you’re doing something you love” I mummbled removing myself from his lap and sitting on the seat next to the window.

“Don’t start now” Josh warned. I frowned at him and crossed my arms over my chest with a pout on my lips, “please just wait until later Lauren, we don’t even know what’s happening. You might have to come with us if you’re going to protest to me leaving so much”.

“I don’t wanna go. Chris hates me” I whined, Josh frowned ghosting his lips over mine.

“You know that’s not true” He whispered pressing his lips against mine, I pushed mine back passionately, Josh grinned against my lips and put his hand on my hip before his dads coughing brought us out of the kiss, “Sorry dad”. His dad just rolled his eyes with a laugh and cuddled up to his wife.

“It is true, Chris hates me and I don’t know why. You’re his band mate, you should know what’s wrong with him. Ask him or something, I don’t want to speak to him. I’m scared he’ll beat me up and throw me in a puddle to die”

The limo pulled up outside a large castle making all of us gasp in sync as we stared out the window in amazement. “This is gorgeous” Elizabeth gasped laying her manicured hand over her heart. We all climbed out of the car and stared at the grounds of the castle in shock, it was absolutely beautiful, I don’t think i’ve ever been drawn to such a place before. The gardens were covered in red and white roses which would fit in well with the wedding colours, and the granite gazebo had golden drapes decorating it.

I looked towards the guys and noticed they all had a small smile on their face which allowed me to know they approved of the castle. We walked inside the castle and was greeted with a small looking woman in her late thirties. “Hello, i’m Karen, i’ll be showing you around the castle” He introduced with a small wave, we all smiled back and muttered small hello’s some of us even waving. “Okay, this is the main room, this is where the bar and dance floor will be” She smiled, and walked us into a large room with a high ceiling and blood red walls. I gasped and squeezed Josh’s hand as he grinned at me.

“It’s... it’s so...WOAH” I gushed, the woman chuckled at me and started to point out all the features of the room and said which bits we were able to change to fit our theme and colours. “JOSH! I WANT IT” I whined, he smiled and kissed my hand before looking at his parents.

“Are you sure? I can pay for it now guys, but there are plenty more places around that you can look at before making a decision” Paul said, I looked at him and nodded my head fiercly. He smiled and went to speak to the woman about prices and dates while we were left to explore.

“UP AHEAD MAX” I called jumping on his back, he bucked under my weight slightly before standing tall and carrying me towards a spare room. “I like this room, it’s pretty. If I was a princess I would live in here” I grinned, all the guys burst out laughing causing me to raise my eye in wonder.

“How old are you?” Matt chuckled. I stuck my tongue out at him childishly before tapping Max’s sides with my feet and convincing him to charge at Matt. In the end, we started to play tag, which basically meant I was always being chased because I was a girl and supposedly easier to catch. I fell on the floor out of breath and spread my body out.

“Dude I think we killed her” Dan mummbled pushing my side with his hand.

“Too much exercise, need cake”

Everyone burst out laughing including myself, the guys flopped down on the floor and started having a conversation about tour and how they wanted me to come along. I wasn’t sure, I had so much in my life the guys didn’t know about, and I wasn’t about to let them find out everything about me either.

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I grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in my mouth, Max turned around and pulled a face causing me to spit it all over Josh with a laugh. I sucked my bottom lip in and looked at Josh who just cringed and pushed the popcorn onto Dans hair. Josh and I were curled up on the large sofa with Max at my feet. Matt and Dan were sitting romantically close on the floor beneath us with a blanket covering their bodies. “This movie is so sad” I whined, to save a life was currently playing and we were only a couple of minutes through it.

Josh sighed and wrapped his arm around me bringing my body closer to his, he kissed the top of my head making me smile. “It’s alright baby girl” He sighed, I could tell he was smiling, he always smiled when he called me that. I turned back to the TV just in time to see a funeral playing, I knew it was a funeral for someone that had commited suicide, I blinked back the tears desperately trying to steady my breathing, “you okay Lauren?”. I shook my head and tried to pull out of Josh’s arms, he wouldn’t let me go and was instead pulling me into a hug.

“Josh, I need to be alone. Let me go” I sobbed, he craddled me into his chest whispering soothing words into my ear.

“What’s wrong?” He questioned his fingers running through my hair, “You can tell me”.

“No Josh, I can’t. I don’t want to talk about it” I cried finally managing to get out of his grip and run upstairs. I slid through my bedroom door and collapsed on my bed in tears. I couldn’t handle this, I never could, ever since they both died I had been an emotional wreck.

“Lauren” Matt paced into the room and closed the door quietly behind him, “Oh god, don’t cry sweetie, come here” He whispered laying down next to me and wrapping an arm securely around my waist.

“I miss them so much” I cried turning around in his arms and crying into his light grey shirt, which was probably now a dark grey due to my tears.

“Who do you miss?”

“My dad and El” I sobbed, he gave me a frown almost as if he was asking me to continue and explain into more depth. “When...When I was 10 my dad... my dad killed himself... It was my birthday...” I took a deep breath before continuing, “He just... he seemed so happy Matt... always smiling... never got... got angry. He loved me” I smiled while taking a break “He hid it so well... He read me a book every night, tucked me into bed and then kissed my head, I was his Lala. I can’t even remember why he called me that! Damn it Matt! Why can’t I remember?!” I screamed starting to sob harder.

“It’s okay to forget things Lauren, it’s been nearly 6 years now. Just relax” He sighed kissing my forehead.

“I was in my bedroom after my friends had left, it was about 3am, I had heard my mum and dad go to bed. I needed a drink so I st...started to walk out of my room, I walked towards the stairs and Matt, he was just hanging there” I cried even harder, “Just lifeless, I could tell he wasn’t there, his eyes were dull, they always sparkeled Matt. I screamed loudly, my mum ran out and she just stared at him, she hasn’t been the same since” Matt rubbed my back soothingly.

“Who’s El?” He mummbled, I could tell he was hesitant in asking.

“She was my best friend. We were out for a run one day, she told me she found a new place for us to go, baring in mind it was 7am and I never usually went for a run I couldn’t be bothered to argue. She dragged us to some abandoned house” I shivered at the thought of the run down, hazadous building, “She climbed the stairs until she reached the roof and waited for me. She leaned over the edge looking down, I thought she was being clumsy at first but when I pulled her back her cheeks were coal coloured with makeup. She frowned, telling me she loved me and I was her best friend. Then she just jumped Matt, right in front of my eyes, my best friend jumped 40 ft to the ground below kiling herself”.

Matt gasped and wrapped the blanket around us tighter. “Baby, it’s going to be okay I promise. You have 4 people that care about you more then anything right here” he said, I nodded my head and closed my eyes wishing I could fall asleep without the repeating nightmares.

“There’s more...”

“There is?” He asked shocked, I nodded my head against his chest. “Well, you get to sleep and i’ll speak to you in the morning sweetheart. I nodded again and closed my eyes before falling into a deep sleep, one that hopefully wouldn’t be filled with bad dreams.