Stay With Me

My stomach growled loudly as I made my way into the kitchen the next morning. I was dying for something to eat. The last thing I remember eating was the KFC when I landed. The whole time zone thing was screwing with my head. It would definitely take some time to adjust. Hopefully I could get used to the time change before the tour started three days from now. Considering the amount of times I’ve travelled in the last three years it shouldn’t be too hard.

“Morning,” Dan grinned as I walked into the kitchen. “Hungry?”

“Yes!” I cried as my stomach growled again. “What time is it?”

“8:30,” Dan replied handing me a plate.

“That means I’ve been asleep for like 18 hours, holy shit.”

“Jet lag is a horrible thing.”

After breakfast we spent the next few hours just laying on Dan’s bed and catching up from the last month or so. “Dan?” I asked after we’d lapsed into a comfortable silence.

“Yeah?” Dan asked propping himself up on his elbow to look down at me.

“I missed you,” I smiled looking up into those blue eyes.

“I missed you too,” he said tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered on my cheek and my skin tingled where he touched me. I still couldn’t understand why someone I’d known for less than 2 months could have such an effect on me. Our close proximity was driving me crazy, I’m sure he could hear how loud my heart was beating. We lay there in silence for a few moments, just staring at each other. My eyes drifted over his face; from his sky blue eyes to the shape of his jaw.

“You know,” I whispered, not even knowing what I was saying, “we never did have a real kiss.”

Almost immediately I regretted it. What the hell did I just say? Way to go, Rhi, you’ve officially made an ass of yourself in an incredibly perfect moment. My mind flew into hyper drive, listing out all the possible ways he could leave me now after what I just said.

“You’re right,” he whispered back, derailing my inner monologue. I watched him with wide eyes as he drew closer with painfully slow movements, “we’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

Before I could even register what he’d just said, his lips were on mine. What I felt was more than anything I had ever felt before. My whole body was on fire. There were no words to describe it. The room around us fell away and it was just Dan and I. As the kiss deepened I wrapped my arms around Dan’s neck, pulling his body closer to mine.

I didn’t know how long we stayed like that. Days, weeks, months; it wouldn’t have mattered. I couldn’t remember my name or where I was. All I knew was that I never wanted it to end.

“Are you guys still in bloody bed?” Dan and I sprang apart as Max barged into the room. My heart was going crazy in my chest and my head was spinning. Whether that was from the kiss or the fact that we got caught I couldn’t tell. “Shit, sorry,” he said backing out of the room and closing the door.

“Oh god,” I mumbled burying my head in Dan’s chest, “please kill me before I die of embarrassment.” I could feel his chest vibrating under my head and realised he was laughing. “It’s not funny.”

“I think it is,” he said wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him.

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Dan grinned pressing his lips to mine once more. I instantly melted against him, any argument I had was gone.

“We should probably go out there,” I sighed.

“Probably, but I’d rather spend the day here with you, love,” he replied. Goosebumps rose on my skin as he placed a trail of kisses along my jaw to my mouth.

“You’re making this harder,” I whined trying to roll away from him. It was a hopeless attempt though, he just grabbed my shirt and pulled me back; not that I minded really. We lay there for a minute just enjoying being wrapped in each other’s arms.

“Matt, you wanker!” Josh yelled breaking the silence.

“What is going on out there?”

“Probably Fifa,” Dan replied rolling off the bed and holding out his hand. He led me down the hall to the lounge where Josh and Matt were versing Chris and Max on Fifa.

Dan sat down on the couch and pulled me onto his lap; he wrapped his arms around my middle and rested his chin on my shoulder as I relaxed back into him. There was something so safe and comfortable about being in his arms; it was almost like he could protect me from anything. Though I couldn’t help but think about what would happen in a few weeks when the tour was over. I wanted more than anything to just stay here in Surrey with him and the rest of the guys. But, I knew that couldn’t happen. My whole life was back in Irvine with Noah and Glamour Kills. I couldn’t just dump everything I’d spent the last 3 years working for to run away to England. I wanted to, so badly but I could never do that to Marky and to Noah. I just wasn’t that kind of person.

“Hey, are you okay?” Dan’s warm breath on my neck sent shivers down my spine.

“Yeah, fine,” I smiled pressing my lips to his.
“You sure?” He asked frowning at me.

“You’re cute when you frown.”

“Really?” He grinned kissing me again.

“Mhm,” I mumbled against his lips.

“Aww,” Chris cooed putting his hand on his heart, “so cute.”

“Shut up, mate,” Dan replied kissing my cheek and wrapping his arms around my torso. I linked our fingers and relaxed back into him.

For the next hour I just sat with Dan’s arm wrapped around me and watched the other 4 play Fifa. Josh and Max were the most competitive; if Josh lost Max did everything in his power to make fun of him for it. They were horrible to each other the whole time.

“Are they always like this?” I asked while they were yelling and swearing.

“Oh yeah,” Matt replied. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Josh’s phone ringing stopped them from fighting, finally. “That was Rob, he wants to meet for lunch to discuss some stuff for the tour,” Josh explained after he’d hung up.

“Where are we meeting?” Max asked.

“It’s up to us.”

“Nandos?” Dan and I asked at the same time. I gave Josh my best puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I asked feigning innocence.

“Like that!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grinned.

“KFC!”

“Not again, Matt. We had KFC yesterday,” Max groaned.

“So?”

“You guys are hopeless!” Josh cried pulling out his phone. “Rob, hey mate, it’s Josh,” he explained our dilemma and asked Rob to decide. “Okay, see you then,” Josh hung up. “Nandos in 10 minutes, let’s go.”

“Yes!” I cried high fiving Dan and poking my tongue at Matt.

“Fuck you,” Matt replied as we followed Josh out of the flat. We all piled into the van and headed over to Nandos.

Rob explained what was happening what days and how it was happening while we ate. I zoned out most of the time, occasionally catching snippets of the conversation that were important. He filled me in on who I’d be working with and how all the merch was sold before and after shows. It sounded like a lot to do but after working on a bunch of tours before this one I had a pretty good idea on how everything was run.

There was something about touring that I loved. I think it was a mixture of travelling the world, meeting awesome people and making some of the most amazing friends. I had a feeling this tour would be my favourite so far.

“You ready to go, love?” Dan asked breaking me out of my reverie. I nodded and followed him out of the restaurant and into the cool English air. I shrank back into my hoodie and stuffed my hands into the front pocket as we made our way to the van.

“What do you want to do tonight, love?” Dan asked once we were inside.

“Eat junk food, watch movies and snuggle with a cute boy,” I replied flopping onto the couch.

“The junk food and movies I can do, as for the cute boy thing, let me give Max a call.”

“Ha, you’re so funny,” I said pulling him onto the couch. As soon as he was next to me his lips were on mine. Our lips never parted as I pushed him back so he was lying down. I straddled his hips as Dan ran his tongue along my bottom lip; I parted my lips to allow him entrance. My whole body felt light as our tongues danced. He placed his hands on the small of my back and pulled me closer. I flattened against him trying to get our bodies as close together as possible. His hands rested just under the hem of my hoodie as if waiting for me to push him away, after receiving no objection from me he slowly inched his hands further up.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Dan whispered against my lips as his hands rested against my sides. The heat from his hands spread making my whole body feel warm. Unable to speak, I nodded and kissed him again. He moved his hands further up my torso until they were flat against my stomach. A gasp escaped me as Dan ghosted his hands down my sides; he gripped my hips suddenly and tugged me closer. His lips crushed mine as he held me against him. I tugged at the hem of Dan’s shirt. I needed to feel his skin against mine.

“Rhi,” Dan put his hands over mine, “not yet,” he whispered smiling up at me.

“Okay,” I replied kissing him again.

“Are you sure?” He asked looking up at me and placing a hand on my cheek.

“Of course,” I smiled, resting my head on his chest.

We spent the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch watching old Disney movies, drinking beer and eating way too much pizza. Everything about being here felt right and I owed all of it to Marky.