Stay With Me

“Don’t go!” I cried grabbing hold of Josh’s arm and trying to pull him back in the house.

“Lauren, we’ve been over this! I can’t not go, I’ve got a commitment to my band and I can’t just give it up. I’ll call, text and email you every chance I get” Josh sighed; he dropped his bags and turned around stroking the side of my face.

“Josh I don’t want to be all alone in a big house. Josh, I don’t want you to go” I looked at the floor tears spilling out of my eyes.

“Lauren” Josh growled, “Don’t ruin it. I can’t stay I’ve told you. I offered you a place on the bus but you said no”

“Just go then” I yelled over dramatically, the guys were staring at us from the bus, some with
sympathetic looks and others with smirks.

“God, time of the month is it?” Josh smirked. OH GOD. My eyes widened when realisation hit me, I hadn’t had my period yet and I was due three weeks ago. “What’s wrong?” He asked concerned when he noticed my worried face, the tension between us immediately died.

“Nothing, don’t worry” I gave him a convincing smile, “I’ll talk to you later Josh”.

“Look, if you want to come out at any point in the tour just tell me” Josh smiled; he pulled me into a tight hug and pressed his lips to my head, “I love you”.

“I love you too Josh” I grinned standing on my tip toes and pushing my lips against his in a short kiss.

I watched as he loaded his stuff on the bus, while he was doing that Matt, Dan and Max rushed over to me also wanting goodbye hugs. “Bye Matt, don’t have too much fun without me” I chuckled wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly.

“Bye Lauren, don’t miss me too much” He gave me a cheeky smile and skipped back to the bus.

“Bye Dan, I don’t expect any drunken calls at 3am saying you’ve been locked away, be a good boy” I smirked, he rolled his eyes and pulled me into a warm hug.

“Bye munchkin, don’t masturbate too much over Josh”

“Oh haha Daniel, aren’t you funny” I said rolling my eyes.

“Sure am” He cheered before skipping off much like Matt had done a couple of minutes ago. I turned to Max and gave him a small smile.

“Oh Max, I’m going to miss you” I sighed, he opened his arms for a hug which I gladly accepted, I held onto him tightly.

“I’m going to miss you too honey” He muttered, I felt his lips press against my forehead, “I love you”.

“You too”

Max ran off to join the others on the bus leaving me to watch as they pulled out of the drive way and drove off for a year. A whole year without them, this was not going to be fun. I knew they were doing local shows in that time but it still wouldn’t make up for a year away, I knew at one point I’d be out on tour to join them. The phone started to ring inside the house bringing me out of my daze, I dashed over to it and picked it up, “Hello?”.

“Hey Lauren! It’s Jack and Alex! You probably don’t remember us because you were pissed off your tits yesterday” A chirpy voice said from the other line. That was when I realised how much my head hurt, I winced in pain and inched the phone away from my ear.

“Not so loud. Yes I do remember you” I chuckled, “you were the guys I randomly ate quiche off of”. They burst out laughing as I recalled that memory. “What’s up?” I smiled and walked over to sit on the sofas in the living room with the phone in hand.

“Bored. Want to come meet us?” Alex replied, I looked at the clock and noticed it was 9.

“Sure, where shall I meet you?” I asked, I stood up and walked into the kitchen looking for food. I grabbed a pop tart out of the cupboards and started to eat it.

“We can pick you up if you want?” Jack questioned.

“Sure” I gave them my address before hanging up to get ready. I ran upstairs and turned the straightners on while I found some clothes to wear for the day. I grabbed some black patterned tights and put them on before pulling some black high waist shorts over the top. I started to dig through my wardrobe trying to look for my jumper, “aha!” I cheered when I found it; I pulled it on and then looked at myself in the mirror. It’d do. I caught sight of my wedding ring on my finger and sighed. I was missing Josh already. I ran the straightner through my hair and quickly applied some makeup to my face.

I heard the doorbell go and ran downstairs grabbing my bag and some shoes on the way; I opened the door and balanced while pulling my shoes on. “Hey” Alex and Jack smiled at me.

“Hey guys” I greeted, I walked out the house and locked up.

“Nice place” Alex commented looking at the large house in awe, “Aren’t you lonely?”

“Very” I sighed; we got in the car and started driving around the town looking for a place to go.

“Let’s go to the beach! It’s warm enough!” Jack giggled; Alex and I nodded our heads in agreement.

“Wait, I don’t have a bikini”

“Oh we’ll stop off at the mall and get you one”

“Shopping centre Jack, we’re in England” I grinned; he rolled his eyes and pulled up outside the shopping centre. We got out the car and walked in having a look around random shops. I managed to find a pink and black leopard print bikini in hot topic, which looked surprisingly okay.

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“Alex! Hold the towel still! I don’t want anyone seeing my boobs” I cried, I quickly pulled my bra off and replaced it with the bikini top. “Sorted” I smiled jumping around the towels with a smile on my face, “can someone put some sun cream on me?”

Jack nodded and grabbed the sun lotion before pouring a generous amount on his hand and then rubbing it into my skin. Once he’d finished he threw the lotion to the side and started building a sand castle with the buckets and spades we had found in the back of his car. I lay on my stomach letting the sun tan my back. I loved my skin, it tanned so easily. I was able to lie in the sun for a couple of minutes and end up looking like I’d spent a week exposed to the bright sun.

My phoned started to ring next to me, I looked over to see Jack and Alex happily building a sand castle together. “Hello?” I answered picking my phone up.

“Hey baby”

“Josh” I smiled, I started to twirl my hair between my fingers, “How are you? Did you have a safe journey?”

“I’m good thanks sweetheart; we’ve just finally arrived at the venue. We all really miss you” Josh gushed; I could tell he was excited to be back on the road. “How are you? Are you lonely?” Josh asked.

“I’m great; I miss you guys too though! Nope, I’m not lonely at all; I’m lying on the beach right now with Alex and Jack. I’m building up a tan, so it’s more than likely I’ll be nice and brown when you next see me” I giggled.

“Aw, I’m glad you aren’t on your own” Josh said, “Well, I have to go for sound check”.

“Okay, I’ll speak to you later. Love you” I spoke into the phone.

“Love you too” He replied before hanging up. I chucked the phone down onto the towel and crossed my arms under my chest.

“Holy shit your back is brown” Alex gasped; I looked up at him and squinted at the bright light, “Look Jack”. Alex pointed to my back and laughed when Jack also muttered a holy shit.

“RACE YOU TOO THE WATER!” I grinned before scampering to get up and sprinting to the water.

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I threw my bags on the sofa and collapsed next to them, I’d only just got home from the beach and it was now nearing 9 o’clock. I was absolutely shattered but I needed to do something before I went to sleep. I went through a carrier bag I had gotten from Superdrug and clasped the item I needed. I stared down wondering what I would do if it gave me a certain answer.

I stood up and paced towards the bathroom, my palms becoming sweaty causing me to nearly drop the object a couple of times. I closed the door and locked it even though I knew no one was home to walk in on what I was doing. I opened it and placed it on the counter staring at it, I was scared shitless.

“It’s now or never” I followed the instructions carefully and left it in the sink while it processed the answer. I played with my fingers while nervously waiting. I looked at the clock to see that two minutes had past and my future would now be known on the stick in the sink.

I picked it up carefully and studied it.