Wildflower

Up at six am to get ready and get everything in order. Not how I wanted to start my day, but you know, it had to be done. Unless I wanted to go to London and not be prepared, then I'd suck it up.

"Here's one of my credit cards," my dad explained. He handed me his Visa Black Card. "Have fun, but don't go overboard."

My eyebrows shot up. "You're giving me your Visa Black Card?"

He nodded with a chuckle. "I don't want you going over there and running out of cash. Plus, you're my only daughter so I kinda have to spoil you and give you my card."

He'd never given me his black card. Like, ever. I'd only ever heard him talk about it. And I'd only seen it once. This thing was like a legend I'd only ever heard about. But Jesus, I was holding it in my hands now. I felt grown up. I was in the possession of a Visa Black Card. "Uh, thanks," I stuttered. "Thanks, Dad."

"Not a problem." He placed a kiss on my forehead and wrapped an arm around me. "Have fun and be safe. I love you, Princess."

"I'll try, Dad. Love you too."

"Bye Mr. S!" Lulu all but shouted. He shook his head and said, "Bye Caroline. Have fun and be safe. And keep an eye on Veronica for me. Don't let that curly headed fuck mess with her."

She saluted him. "Sir yes, sir!"

Awkwardly glancing at my watch, I saw it was time to almost start going through the security check. "We have to go, Lulu," I spoke up. "Our flight leaves at ten and we still have to go through security."

Our plane left at ten am and it was a nine hour flight. If we were going somewhere in the US that took a nine hour flight we would get there at seven pm, but since the UK is six hours ahead of us, we'll be getting there at one in the morning. Not my ideal flight times, but Niall booked it. I sometimes think he doesn't think things through before he does them.

"So," Lulu dragged out. "Are you ready for this?" My brows furrowed and my mouth scrunched up.

She snorted. "I mean being around Harry. Because we can totally turn around right now and say your goldfish, Sampson died."

"I don't have a goldfish named Sampson, Lulu."

"They don't know that." She shrugged. Shaking my head, I chuckled lightly. "I'll be fine."

At least I hope will be.


I had never felt so awake in my entire life. This place even at one in the morning was pulsing with life. People were talking, running around, pulling their suitcases behind them. It was a mess, but I could tell I was going to love it. London Heathrow Airport was a good first impression.

Lady Justice @VeveDarling
London is always a good idea

It took us all of an hour to find our bags and then we looked around for Niall. We didn't see him right away, so of course Lulu called him. And that was when I finally spotted something. A fairly tall guy that was muscular was holding a sign that said Veve & Lulu in big bold letters. Nudging Lulu in the arm, I motioned to the guy with my head. She hung up her phone and followed me toward the guy, all the while mumbling under her breath at our Irish friend.

"Hi, I'm Veve and this is Lulu," I greeted. "Did Niall send you?"

He nodded. "Yes ma'am. If you'll follow me, there's a car waiting out front."

I just got called ma'am. In a British accent. Que swoon. As soon as we got out to the entrance, I spotted a blacked out SUV idling by the curb. The driver door, or passenger door I guess, opened and out got another guy that resembled the other one. They took our two huge suitcases and threw them in the trunk of the car. We climbed in the backseats and grinned at each other.

"I can't believe I'm in London!" I squealed. Lulu grinned great big. "Me either!" She exclaimed.

Traveling the world was something I always wanted to do. I wanted to take my camera and go everywhere. Rio. London. Paris. Greece. Africa. Tokyo. Australia. Exotic places. I wanted to visit them all. And I wanted to share the experience with someone I loved. But I didn't know when I would come to terms that the person I wanted to share it with was Harry.

I always remember this big notebook of quotes and poems my mom wrote in. Whenever she heard a quote or poem she liked, she wrote it down. This one quote by Henry Rollins was my favorite.

"I beg young people to travel. If you don't have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown, eat interesting food, dig some interesting people, have an adventure, be careful. Come back and you're going to see your country differently, you're going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You're going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It's not what Tom Friedman writes about, I'm sorry. You're going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can't get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of the flight. A lot of people -Americans and Europeans- come back and go, 'ohhhhh.' And the lightbulb goes on."

I have a feeling this would be the start of my traveling. It would be the start of my realization that there's other people in this world. And they have it harder then I could ever imagine. And some of them have it better then I could ever imagine. So I wasn't going to take my life for granted. I was going to cherish every moment of it and document every moment of it. This was going to help mold me into a better person. And I wasn't going to stop it.

"Are you lot excited about being here?" The first guy asked.

Who wouldn't be? "Who wouldn't be?" Lulu chuckled. "We've never been over here before, so we're wanting to go to all the tourist spots."

Yoda, I'm telling you. My mind she reads. Yoda, she is.

They both chuckled at that. "Definitely go to Broken Bottle and get some fish and chips. And even a few pints."

"Chips as in potato chips?"

"No, chips as in, uh...french fries. Yeah, french fries."

Lulu, ever the true blonde spoke up. "We aren't able to drink. We aren't old enough."

I couldn't help but laugh. There was no holding it back. It just came out. As it did for the guys. "Lulu, hon," I started, but stopped myself with laughs.

"Love, the legal drinking age over here is eighteen," the second guy spoke. "You're eighteen, yeah?"

Her face turned beat red. "Yeah, we're eighteen," I answered. "Don't let the blonde fool you. She really is eighteen and smarter then she looks."

She swatted at me with a glare. "Bitch."

A smirk made it's way onto my face. "Love you too!"


This house was eerily quiet and ginormous. It was bigger then my moms house. But there were five people living in her house and only one living here. What did a eighteen almost nineteen year old need this big of a house for? And why did it smell so clean?

"I feel like I need to get a bat or something," Lulu whispered. I snorted, quickly covering my mouth. "If someone jumps out at us, I'm not responsible for whatever bodily harm they receive," I whispered back.

We both silently laughed but stopped when we heard something upstairs. It sounded like footsteps. And they were coming down the hallway and now the staircase. We both casually stood there when the foyer light flicked on.

"Why are you calling me, Harry?" Niall slurred. His voice was thick with sleep and that made his Irish accent even that much more thicker. He was in nothing but his skin tight boxer briefs and what looked to be a knee brace on his left knee. "They'll get here when they—" He stopped himself when he saw us, his squinted eyes going wide. "I gotta go. Bye."

"Whaaa?" He dragged out.

"Surprise!" We shouted, throwing our arms up. He just stared at us for a few minutes, then proceeded to slap his face a few times. "Why are you here so early?!"

We let our arms fall down to our sides and shared a confused look. I think that bleach they use to color his hair is getting to him. "Ni, it's almost three in the morning. We got in at one, then when we finally found our luggage an hour later, we found those guys you sent to get us and here we are," I explained.

He shook his head. "Nuh uh!" He exclaimed. "It's only ten!" At his words, a clock sitting in what had to be his living room chimed indicating it was in fact three in the morning. His face fell. "Oh. You weren't lying."

Lulu chuckled. "Why did we come see him first, again?"

"OI!" We both chuckled as he bounded down the stairs and wrapped both his arms around us when he reached us. God how I missed his hugs. They could make any day better. His hugs were what I needed when Harry showed up in my hometown and Gavin beat the crap out of him. His hugs were what I needed right after I broke up with Harry.

"I missed you Niall," I spoke. Lulu agreed. Niall just hugged us tighter. "I missed my two favorite lasses," he replied. "How have you lot been?"

And here comes my fake smile. "Great! My job is amazing and I'm doing fantastic. I just got back a few weeks ago from being on tour with Zack for a few days. So, I've been awesome."

Fantastic and amazing and awesome were overkill. I knew it as soon as amazing slipped out of my mouth. Lulu and Niall knew it too. Their faces said it all. They pitied me. And I didn't want them too. I didn't need their pity. Pity Party for one. And that one was me. No one else.

Lulu cleared her throat. "I've been good. Nothing really exciting happens in boring old Missouri, but you know, I make the best of it."

Without another word, I went in for another hug. Like I said, his hugs fixed everything. He chuckled, resting his chin on top of my head. Lulu said she was going to take our luggage upstairs to the guest room once Niall told her where it was and she disappeared out of sight.

"I missed you, Niallkins," I mumbled. "I really missed you."

His arms tightened around me. "Misses you too, Vevekins," he mumbled back. "Will you be okay? Being around him, I mean."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Guess we'll see." We stood there for a few seconds in silence. "Thanks for everything, Niall. S'what I love you for."

"Don't thank me, yeah. It's what best mates are for." He pulled away to get a good look at my face. "I love you too, Veve and I'll always be here for you. I'm Team Veve all the way."

Ballad Of Bodacious @CarolineJo
@NiallOfficial @VeveDarling Team Veve all the way!!