Promises

"Lou, we're fine," I repeated. "I've just got a stuffy nose from allergies and she's colicky. Nothing to jet home for."

"Can a lad not be worried about his fiancé and newborn daughter?"

With the phone cradled between my shoulder and ear, I skillfully patted Adelaide's bum as she slowly but surely fell asleep in the Moby Wrap I was wearing and stirred the caramel I was making. "Yes, but—"

"No buts," he stated. "I'm going to be up your arse about the baby and you, as long as I'm gone. The lads make fun of me now. They say I get all mopey when you don't call or text and when Addi's asleep and doesn't get to see me."

I softly laughed. Harry and the others had taken it upon themselves to snap photos of him being all mopey and send them to me. They were adorable. Of course I saved all of them, and then showed them to Addi. I had a one sided conversation with her about how much of a drama queen her Daddy was and how I hoped she didn't take after him. All she did was coo at me.

"I'm pretty sure we're coming out in a month or so," I said. "When you're in the states. Is that when you're in the states?"

"We aren't in the states until June. I can't wait that long to see you guys." He sighed. It made me sigh. The thought of not seeing him for that long made me want to curl into a ball and have myself a nice cry. I couldn't raise our daughter on our own. I mean, I could, but I didn't necessarily want to. No one wanted to. Being a single parent was hard. This was his job and he didn't want to leave us behind, I knew that, but it didn't change the fact that I was practically a single mother.

"We can Skype," I mumbled. "Addi can't be packed around like that all the time. She could get sick and someone could see her."

The paparazzi had yet to get a picture of her. Same goes for the fans. No one had said anything else about letting them see her. After my blow up on Harry in Glasgow they all sort of just dropped it cold turkey. Harry and I had spoken since then but it was still tense. I hated that it was like that.

"Hey, I have to go. This caramel is done and I have to put it on the cupcakes before it hardens. I love you Tommo."

"Love you too. Bye." I hung up and quickly, but carefully, poured the caramel into a squirt bottle and then poured it over the chocolate banana cupcakes. Hopefully I can get these four dozen cupcakes in their boxes and safely to the bakery without ruining them. And without Addi fussing. I got them all put in the boxes and then took a sleeping Addi out of the Moby Wrap and put her into her carseat. She didn't even stir when I did that. If it's one thing my daughter was good at, it was sleeping through anything.

I've got four dozen cupcakes I'm bringing to the bakery so be watching. I've got Addi with me too.

I can't believe you actually made the bloody cupcakes.

Yay! I miss her chubby cheeks!

You just saw her yesterday, Vi. And shut up. I'm going stir crazy here. You know how I get.

Not waiting for a response, I packed the cupcakes out to my car and put them in the boot. Once that was done, I made sure Addi's seat was secured in the base and backed out of the garage. There were a few paparazzi blokes hanging around across the street even in the steady rainfall just waiting to catch a glimpse of us. It got quite ridiculous to be honest. I was being watched at all times. If I did even the smallest thing wrong, they'd know about it and blast me to the world.

"Imbeciles."


"Vi, are you seriously not back there helping them bake?" I questioned. She was standing behind the counter on her phone.

Addi was sat behind the counter in her carseat and I grabbed Vi by her shirt collar. "Jenny, will you watch her for a sec? She's asleep so she should be good." Jenny nodded, her pitch black hair swaying as she did so.

When we finally made it in the kitchen, I gave her a good shove. "Quit fucking about on your phone and work," I snapped. "I'm not paying you to sit there and do nothing."

She went to retort, but I was already on my way out of the kitchen. I told Jenny I had to run to my car to get some cupcakes and then I'd be back. The rain was still coming down, but just a mist now. Opening the boot, I stacked the four boxes and held them with one arm while I shut the boot door with the other. The bell above the bakery door dinged and it slammed shut behind me. Jenny jumped up from behind the counter with a frazzled face. My eyebrows shot up.

"These are an order the Lang family," I spoke, eyebrows still raised. "They're coming to pick them up for a party in an hour. They paid ahead of time so they're all good."

She nodded, her face tinged pink. "O-Okay. Th-thanks."

"Not a problem," I spoke slowly, eying her. "See you lot later." With that said, I picked up the carseat and made my way to the door. I noticed the cover that shielded Addi from the outside world was slightly unzipped. More then usual.

"Scarlett! Over here!"

"When are we going to see your daughter?"

"How old is she now?"

"Can we take a quick peak?"

"Not today," I replied. "When Louis and I are ready, you'll be the first to see her."

Lie. I just lied through my teeth. But if it'll get them off my back, then I didn't care if I lied. They were lucky Addi was alseep because next time she might not be and I'll end up snapping. And it wouldn't end well. The bands management would get all pissy with me like they did the boys when they did something they weren't supposed to. But they didn't own me. They couldn't tell me what to do and what not to do.

I wasn't a part of One Direction. I didn't get paid to go up on stage and sing songs to crying girls all the time. I was my own person and always would be.

"Are you missing Louis?"

"How's tour going for the lads so far?"

"Are you worried Louis might cheat on you while he's on tour?"

See. That right there. That set me off. Once Addi was secured in the car, I shut the door and quickly turned to glare at the small group of men. "Do you lot ever know when to keep your mouths shut? Because to be honest, none of what goes on with us is any of your bloody fucking business," I spat. I opened the driver door, then looked over my shoulder at them. "One of these days, you'll say the wrong thing to the wrong person and you'll end up getting hurt. But by all means, keep prying into others peoples lives because you don't have one. Top knotch work, lads. Spectacular. We're all very proud of you."


"Scarlett! Over here!"

"When are we going to see your daughter?"

"How old is she now?"

"Can we take a quick peak?"

"Not today. When Louis and I are ready, you'll be the first to see her."

"Are you missing Louis?"

"How's tour going for the lads so far?"

"Are you worried Louis might cheat on you while he's on tour?"

"Do you lot ever know when to keep your mouths shut? Because to be honest, none of what goes on with us is any of your bloody fucking business. One of these days, you'll say the wrong thing to the wrong person and you'll end up getting hurt. But by all means, keep prying into others peoples lives because you don't have one. Top knotch work, lads. Spectacular. We're all very proud of you."

I've come to the conclusion that paparazzi are absolute dicks. They need to get proper jobs. And I may or may not need to take a few lessons on how to control my anger. Breathing techniques were on the top of my list. At least that's what everyone kept telling me to do if a situation like that ever came up again.

But let's be honest. That video was all over the interweb by now. It had probably been around the world more times then I can count. The moment those stupid pricks posted it, fans had probably reblogged, retweeted, and shared it more then a thousand time. I was getting looks from random people at the market. My face was on the cover of a magazine. A bloody magazine. And just for blowing up on a few low lifes.

"I wish I could've seen their faces!" Rossy exclaimed. "I'm quite cheesed off to be honest."

I hid my face in the couch pillow. It was a little embarrassing actually. "Well don't me," I mumbled. "Someone will have my head on a platter before the days over."

She chuckled. "But that was so awesome! I would never have the lady balls to do that."

Sitting up, I blew my hair put of my face. Lady balls or not, it sucked. Having a loud mouth had it's pros and cons. Right now, I was scolding myself. The cons were more prominent now then ever. With Addi I would really have to watch my mouth. Maybe those anger management classes were what I needed. As a matter of fact, they were looking pretty good to me right now.

"Hey, have you been at the bakery when Jenny's been working?" By now I was a master at subject changes. She gave me a half nod with a shrug. "Yeah, why?"

"Well earlier today I had to take cupcakes over there and I had her watch Addi. When I came back in she jumped up from crouching behind the counter and was acting strange," I explained. She popped a crisp in her mouth and thought about it. It took her a while to finally answer, but when she did I couldn't help but sigh.

"Well," she started, swallowing what was in her mouth. "She's always talking about how much she loves the lads and how she's been to every one of their shows around here. I heard her on the phone telling her mates that she couldn't wait to catch a glimpse of them."

My eyebrows shot up.

"She may be mildly obsessed with One Direction."

Well no shit. I wouldn't have guessed. "What if she got a picture of Addi and like, sells it to The Sun or something?"

"What?" That's what I was thinking too. But at this point, anything was possible.

"Her carseat cover was unzipped when I got her from behind the counter. What if Jenny took a picture and tries to sell it?"

Her face went from confused to hard in one second. Oh god. She's going into overprotective big sister-slash-auntie mode. That's never good. Even if she won't do what she says she's going to do. "I'll kick her arse. Not even joking, I'll punch her in the throat," she practically snarled.

I couldn't help but laugh. That was what I needed right now. A good laugh. Addi cooed as she swung back and forth in her swing. As soon as we got home from the bakery, it took all of thirty minutes before Rossy came barging in. She started hollering about the video and how much of a badass I was. I was confused. That was until she showed me said video. It was cringe worthy.

"Make sure to have someone tape it." I chuckled. "We could post it on YouTube."

Did I seriously just watch a video of you going off on paps?

A groan sounded from me. Rossy raised her eyebrows on question. "Louis just text me."

"Want me to talk to him?" She asked. I shook my head. "It'll just make him mad. I'll do it."

I had a perfectly good reason to do that.

Good reason or not, management is up my ass about it. You should've just kept your mouth shut. They know how to push people's buttons. That's what they do for a living.

Without saying anything, I turned my phone and showed Rossy what he said. When she finished reading she scoffed. "What a fucking twat."

Management shouldn't be worried about it. They don't MANAGE me. I'm not theirs to MANAGE. I am in no way a part of the band so they can't be cheesed off that I said that. It would be a different story if they were my management. But they aren't. Tell them to bugger off.

"Tell him to shove off."

"I pretty much did. See." I showed her the text I sent and she started cracking up. "Way to go, Scar!" She held up a fist and we knuckle bumped like the nerds we are.

"Just know that if Louis leaves me, I'm coming to live with and you'll have to support me and keep me out my depression like state."

She snorted. "I doubt that he would leave you, but if it makes you feel better, I'd take you in and take care of you."

At least I knew she'd always be there for me. Even if I was being a dramatic idiot. We acted like complete and utter idiots when we were together. If either of us fell, we'd be too busy laughing our arses off to help the other up. That's how best mates were.

"My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."
—Henry Ford