American Candy

Nirvana wanted to stab her eyes out. She was truly sick of seeing Maize so lovesick. It might have been because she was bitter and secretly wanted to giggle with George. If she heard the girl quietly giggle with Adam again one more time, she was going to lose her chill. She had to give Maize credit, as she wasn’t being the obnoxious, clingy girl she was before the break. She still have her faults, but the girl was much more relaxed now. Nirvana just wanted to find a way to get with George.

George was patiently awaiting the apology he was sure would never come. It had been a few weeks, and still the girl had yet to really talk to him. It was tiring, and he just wanted her back in his life. He wanted the girl that could drive him crazy, make him laugh and just chill with. He liked to just be and with her he could do just that. He wasn’t positive he would get that chance again. The women of Reckless Little Hearts were busting their arses to get the two together. However, it felt like nothing was happening at all.

X was sound-checking her bass when Ross spotted her from where he was standing. He had just walked toward the stage to find George, but he found X instead. He hadn’t really talked to the girl in a while. He watched her as she messed with the strap. She looked like she was having trouble adjusting it and keeping the bass still at the same time. He almost stepped over toward her when she let out a triumph ‘yes.’ She didn’t need his help, and she definitely did not want it.

“Go over there and woo her, MacDonald.” Adam stated, elbowing his bandmate in the ribs.

“I can’t just walk over there and ‘woo’ her, Hann.” He huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, you can.” Adam shrugged. “Do it.”

Ross looked back at X to see her talking to the band's drum tech. He must have been saying something funny because she was laughing. Ross just watched for a moment. He could feel Adam judging him. Ross wanted to say something to his bandmate, but instead he found himself walking toward X. Ross didn’t know what he was going to do, but he squared his shoulders.

“Can we please talk?”

Ross wanted to kick himself for how unsure his voice sounded.

“Sure,” X looked shocked. “I’ll talk to you later, Tyler?”

“Okay,” The tech shrugged before walking away from the pair.

“Go out with me,” Ross said.

“Excuse me?” X retorted.

The tall man chewed on his bottom lip.

“That sounded like a demand. I wasn’t demanding. I...please?”

“You look like a kicked puppy,” She stated matter-of-factly. “Do you really wanna go out?”

“I’m standing here and asking you, aren’t I? That’s indication, innit?”

X laughed and gripped his face in her hands.

“You suck, MacDonald” She stated, leaning up and press her lips against his. He leaned down happily to kiss the girl.

Spencer huffed and looked over at Nirvana.

“That could be you, but you’re being a brat.”

“Ew,” Nirvana sighed, pushing her hair off of her shoulder. “I don’t want that to be me. I don’t want to make out with X.”

Spencer had to roll her eyes at her friend.

“Nirvana, you’ve got to do something about George.” She stated instead. “We’re in Phase Two, and you haven’t done anything.”

“I mean I think I’ve forgiven him. There’s that,”

“That’s not enough and you know it,” Spencer pleaded.

Nirvana did know that it wasn’t enough. She just wasn’t so sure what she really wanted. Everything was much easier when she saw GiGi; she made it seem so easy. Now that she was back, she was second-guessing.

As Nirvana watched X kiss Ross, she felt a terrible pain in her stomach. She didn't know what to call it, but she could stand there anymore. All she thought about was George, and she really didn't want to. Nirvana made her escape as quickly as she could. Her emotions weren’t stable; her control was deteriorating. She moved in the maze of halls and rooms backstage until she found an half-opened door.

The raven-haired girl smacked the door open with her hip, and walked into the room that she knew Lark and Matty were currently occupying. The girl entered the room, and Matty didn’t even move off of the half-naked female underneath him. Lark rolled her eyes as he groaned and hid his face in her neck. He wanted Nirvana to bugger off already.

“Yes?” Lark sighed. She moved her arm so that it was wrapped around Matty’s bare back and effectively hiding the view of her bare chest.

“Fuck it all!” Nirvana yelled, flopping back against the couch opposite of the pair. “I hate this fucking tour.”

Matty made a disgruntled noise and started to bite along Lark’s collarbone. She pinched his flesh in return to get him to behave.

“Why are you being a moody twat?” Matty asked, lifting his face to finally look at the girl. “Just fucking go up to George and be all Nirvana-like and get bloody on with it,”

“Fuck you,”

“I’m currently trying quite hard to get proper laid.” He stated with a blank expression.

“Lovely, really, Lark. You really know how to pick them,” Nirvana shot her friend a look. Something in Lark’s face told her that she over-stepped, but Nirvana didn’t apologize. She couldn’t; it wasn’t her nature. Forgiving George was her capacity, and that was ridiculously hard.

“What do you want?” Lark asked instead.

“I’m not sure,” She shrugged. “I’m really sick of seeing Maize. I want to punch her. X and Ross are annoying me, and George won’t look at me in the eyes. And for fuck’s sake Matty can you not rut against my best friend while I’m talking? Dammit,”

Matty finally snapped, lifting his head to press a hot kiss to Lark’s forehead before he moved off her her completely. Leaving the girl exposed, he turned on his heels and left the room. He didn’t put his shirt or shoes back on, opting to leave them on the floor. Lark’s arms moved to cover her chest.

“Can you hand me my bra?”

Nirvana rolled her eyes.

“He’s pissy,”

“Well we haven’t really had sex since Wednesday,” Lark shrugged, slipping her bra back on. Nirvana was surprised when Lark didn’t instantly put her shirt back on. She usually hated showing any party of her body, especially the scared ones.

“It’s been three days,”

“I know,” Lark sighed. “Are you okay?”

“No!” Nirvana yelled, exasperated. “I hate it this all. I really do, Lark,”

Lark furrowed her brows and leaned forward.

“You’re not thinking about quitting are you?”

“Are you insane?” She questioned. “I wouldn’t do that to our band. We’ve worked too damn hard for everything we have.”

“Good...I was just making sure,” Lark shrugged. “What are you going to do about George?”

“I don’t know. I think I want him to leave me alone.”

“Just yesterday you wanted to fuck him?”

“So? I can change my mind.”

“Van…” Lark trailed off. “Come on… let’s go get some alcohol,”

“Fine, but I’m not buying it.”

“Of course you aren’t, Matthew is,” Lark stated.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be even looking in my direction for the next couple of weeks.” Nirvana sighed, standing up and looking over at her friend.

Lark laughed and dug in her back pocket. After a moment the silver-haired girl held up his credit card.

“He’ll never know,”

“You’re evil... I love you,”

“I know,” She smirked before slipping back on her shirt. “Come on,”

Nirvana just smiled. She would never, ever turn down free wine.



“LOUIS WILLIAM!”

Louis Tomlinson beamed at his pregnant wife as she ran toward him. He opened up his arms wide and braced himself for her body to be slammed into him. Ash wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled herself as close to him as she could possibly get. He wrapped his arms securely around her shoulders and pressed a loving kiss on her forehead.

“Hello, love,”

“I missed you,” She sobbed suddenly, and he just rubbed circles into her back. He was use to her pregnancy emotions, and he hadn’t minded all that much. He was excited that they were expanding their family with another baby. “Where’s my baby boy?”

“With H,” He laughed, looking over her head. “Hey, Spence,”

“Louis.” She stated. “Where is my husband?”

“I left him to do all of the heavy lifting…”

“With a toddler?” Spencer nearly screeched.

Louis playfully rolled his eyes at her.

“Of course I didn’t, she’s with Harry as well.”

Spencer sighed and put her hands on her hips.

“What am I going to do with you people?”

Ash finally emerged from Louis’ chest and looked between two of her favorite human beings.
“You’re going to love me,”

“Sure,” Spencer stated affectionately. “I want to see my husband and my sweet little girl.”

At that moment a three year-old Annabelle made her presence known when she ran into the dressing room. Spencer thanked God that the other bands were far away or else her daughter might have had some questions. Spencer was not ready for that one yet.

“Mum!” She cried, throwing herself at her mum’s legs.

As quickly as Spencer could, she swept her daughter in her arms. Annabelle really was the light of her life. Spencer didn’t know that it was possible to be so in love with another human being that wasn’t Liam. And this girl, the gorgeous two and a half year old with pale blonde ringlets was the most perfect little girl that they got to create. Affection blossomed in her chest as she pressed kiss after kiss onto her daughter’s face.

“Princess, do not run away like that again!” Harry bellowed, walking into the room with Will on his hip. “You could have properly gotten hurt!”

“Sorry Uncle H,” Annabelle gave her best pout, and Spencer knew that Harry would crumble.

“Daddy?” Will asked, looking up at Harry. “Daddy, I wanna see mummy,”

Harry laughed and sat Will down so that he could run over to his real parents. Will didn’t understand, at two and a half years old, that Harry wasn’t his real daddy. Harry was always around him, and Will just naturally assumed. Roxie didn’t mind because she spent the first year and a half of his life in rehab. Ash was worried that Harry would be weirded out by it and didn’t want Will to call him daddy. Will didn’t agree and refused to call his daddy anything other than that. Uncle Harry just would not do.

“Mummy!” Will stated, reaching up with both hands.

As quickly as Spencer did, Ash picked her son up and looked down at him.

“You’ve gotten so big, Wilbug.” She stated as she pressed kisses to his cheeks. “I missed you baby,”

“Dad said that you still have to stay here. I don’t want you to stay here. I want you home. It’s not fair,”

“I know baby.” She stated, looking over at Harry. “Thank you, H.”

“Anytime,” He beamed and Louis just sighed. “I love him,”

“Thank you,” Ash repeated. “I’m so glad that you’re here,”

“We are too, love,” Louis sighed. “Where’s Payno?”

“He’s getting the luggage properly squared away,”

Spencer smiled down at her daughter.

“Let’s go find daddy,”

“Okay, mum,” Annabelle beamed and waved toward the rest of her extended family. Spencer walked out of the venue to see Liam struggling with several bags weighing him down. He stopped what he was doing when he saw his family. When he didn’t move, Spencer rolled her eyes. When the girl realized that he wasn’t moving, she walked to him.

“Kiss me,”

“Okay,” He smiled goofily and pressed his lips to hers sweetly. “Happy wife, happy life?”

“That’s right,” She winked, pressing another kiss to his lips. “How are you?”

“I’m great! How’s tour, love?”

Spencer rolled her eyes. She was not ready for that can of worms.



“Holy shit,” George laughed, looking at Liam Payne as he entered the backstage area. “What are you doing here?”

“My wife,” Liam laughed, sitting down beside George. “Actually, I’m here on a mission,”

The tall drummer rolled his eyes.

“Another part of the girls’ genius plan?”

“You know, they actually know what they’re doing,” Liam laughed. “I just wanted to talk to you,”

George stretched his long arms above his head and let them fall comfortably behind him.

“What do you want?”

Liam rolled his eyes at George’s Icouldntcareless attitude.

“You know my wife, Spencer?”

“I do. She’s mad fit, mate,”

“Thanks,” Liam chuckled. “She’s the hotter half,”

“Agreed,” George playfully winked.

“Anyway...I married her right?”

“Right….”

The dad leaned back comfortably on the fabric covered couch.

“I absolutely despised Spencer when we first met,” He stated. “We did not get on at all. I thought that she was an arrogant brat. She was just loud and all over the place.”
George laughed, but remained laid back.

“So fucking serious, mate.” He sighed. “I was actually proper taken with Roxie. We even snogged a bit.”

“Roxie’s fit,” He nodded.

“She was also in a relationship.” Liam laughed, remembering the last few years fondly. “She’s better with Harry. Anyway, so there happened just to be so much tension with Spencer. She hated me, and I was sure that I hated her…”

“Yet?”

“Yet I had never loved someone so much in my life.” Liam smiled cheesily. “I loved Spencer so much and I hated it. She was nothing like the woman I had imagined myself marrying. I thought she was mental. I thought that I’d marry someone who went to university….not a woman who pranced around stage half-naked and sceamed in her songs.”

“She’s proper talented.”

“She is. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

George sighed, finally sitting up.

“This is all great, but why are you telling me this, Liam? I hardly know you?”

“Because,” Liam laughed.

“Because….?”

“Because I think that Nirvana is your Spencer,”



“I want him to love me like he loves you,” Roxie sighed, looking toward William and Annabelle playing with chalk in the parking lot of the venue.

Harry’s heart tugged inside of his chest as he looked over at the woman that he loved.

“We can adopt, you know…”

Roxie smiled sadly.

“I don’t know, H. You don’t owe me anything.”

“You’re my future,” He shrugged. “I want a family with you, Rox.”

“Okay,” She shrugged, looking back at the toddlers. “He looks so much like Ash.”

“He does,” Harry nodded. “Except he has Lou’s eyes.”

“Yeah…” She trailed off.

Harry was going to speak up, but Maize and Adam wondered up to them. Maize didn’t say anything, only taking a seat on the ground adjacent to the pair. Adam stood awkwardly and looked around toward the kids.

“Hey,”

“Hey, Maize,” Roxie sighed. “What are the two of you up too?”

“I think we’re going to go get some frozen yogurt or something,”

Harry nodded his head and laced his fingers through Roxie’s.

“That sounds nice. We’re babysitting.”

“They reuniting?” Adam laughed.

Roxie made a face and nodded.

“Yupp, they are.” She stood up and walked over toward William and Annabelle. Harry couldn’t help but think about all that he was giving up by choosing the incredibly woman in front of him. She was speaking with the two and Will was playfully tugging at Roxie’s hair. What Roxie didn’t know was that Will was rather enamored with the girl. He babbled about her and wanted to cuddle her all of the time. Harry might have been biased, but he knew that Roxie would have made an excellent mother. She would have been perfect. The bitter thought about never having that with her made him angry.

“Can we go with you?” Harry asked. “They might want a treat,”

“And go to sleep?” Maize laughed. “Sure….what do you say, Adam?”

Adam shrugged, something that he had been doing much more of.

“Why not?”

So it was settled.



Matty finally was able to wrap his arms securely around Lark. After they were so rudely interrupted by Nirvana earlier, he’d been in a rather sour mood. He kicked things and wrote moody poetry. He had to distract himself from marching back into the room and tossing Lark over his shoulder. He would have if had not been for Adam and Maize distracting him. He couldn’t seem to figure out the pair, and it really bugged the hell out of him.

Lark was worried about Nirvana. She really wanted to please Matty, but her friend was hurting. Something twisted inside of Lark’s gut, telling her that things were about to get worse than they currently were. It was important for the two girls to have their bonding time, even if they just sat in silence. That’s what meant the most to the girls. They just got each other.

“Dammit, Larkin,” Matty sighed. “Are you seriously thinking right now?”

“Would you rather me not think, Matthew?”

“You could give me some attention, yeah,” He stated. “Why in the bloody hell is this happening so bloody often?”

Lark chewed on her bottom lip. She wanted to tell Matty. She wanted to tell him how much somethings just made her upset. She wanted to tell him that sometimes he made her so uncomfortable. She wanted to tell him all about John and why he was still important to her. But she didn’t because she wasn’t ready. She didn’t know if she ever would be.

So Lark played the part. She lifted her head to press her lips to his. She pretended that she was comfortable; that she wanted to fuck Matty all of the time like he did with her. She faked emotions until they became real. She used her mouth until she forgot. Lark pulled everything that she had until she was able to enjoy herself. Matty pretended not to notice. He pretended that he didn’t know her well enough to see it. He pretended that it didn’t sit right that they were intertwined until after they had finished. He pretended that he didn’t love her, and she pretended that she was fine.
Matty lazily drank from his bottle of wine that Lark had bought with his card earlier. He wish that he was more angry than he was, but he enjoyed the look of joy on the girl’s face. Lark was curled in on herself beside him. He looked over at her and stared. He was taken back by how young she was once more. Sometimes Matty tended to forget their age difference. He forgot that she was just eighteen years old.

“Lark?”

“Hmm?”

Matty had nothing that he really planned on saying.

“You’re fit,”

Lark’s heart clenched tightly and fought the urge to scream. She almost responded with a snarky comment when there was a pounding on the front door. Lark didn’t move. She cuddled closer to the bed and refused. She felt too exposed; unnerved. Matty very quickly picked up on the fact that she wasn’t moving so he put on his joggers and moved toward the door.

“I expected Lark,” Nirvana stated, looking up at Matty.

“She’s inside….” He trailed off, noticing that the girl seemed to have been crying. “Come in,” He said against his better judgement. He turned and followed the raven-haired girl into his hotel room. When they got back to Lark, she was dressed again and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Nirvana?” Lark stated, standing up and looking at her best friend.

“I can’t…” Nirvana trailed off, wrapping her arms tightly around her best friend and sobbing.

Matty didn’t know what was happening.