Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 2

Lauren's POV

The next few days passed slowly. I spent most of my time doing laundry and packing until my room actually resembled a place someone could live again. The morning I had to leave, my mom dropped me off at the airport with my bags.

“We’ll see you for spring break right?” my mom asks as I hug her her goodbye. I nod my head. “Ohhh I’m going to miss you”

“Mom” I joke as she squeezes me tight. “You never do this to Hunter”

“Because he won’t let me,” she says with a trace of humor in her voice. “He gets embarrassed by his poor old mom” I laugh, giving Mom one last hug before slinging one of my bags over my back and grabbing the other’s handle. “I love you. Don’t forget to eat your vegetables” my mom calls after me as I head into the airport.

“Ahhhh you’re here!” Finally!” a brunette girl cries out as I emerge from the airport terminal 5 hours later.

“Hey Steph” I grin as I walk toward the car. She pops open the trunk and I toss my bags into the back. “Thanks for coming to pick me up” I add. She nods her head.

“It was no big deal. It’s been boring without you. Why do you have to live so far away?” Stephanie Ann jokes as I slide into the passenger seat.

“Well not all of us can be California girls” I reply with a grin.

“Truth. Although I’d rather have your guys’ music,” she says with a frown as some over-autotuned song pops onto the radio. She begins to flip through the channels until she finds what has to be the only country station in all of California. “There” she adds with a grin. “Speaking of which, “ she adds thoughtfully. “I heard this new singer over break. I think you’d like him a lot. He’s gorgeous and he sings country.”

“Oh yea?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “Who?’

“Hunter Hayes” she replies causing my eyes to shoot up and I’m overtaken by a coughing fit. Stephanie looks over at me worriedly, before fumbling around, her hand settling on a half-empty water bottle, which she hands to me. I quickly drink half of the water left to relieve the coughing. “You ok?” she asks, glancing at me before focusing her eyes back on the road. I nod, patting my chest, trying to regain a normal heartbeat.

“Yea I’m fine, “ I say. This wasn’t good. I could only hope that she wasn’t the type to get obsessive and research their entire family. Nobody knew about my brother and I wanted to keep it that way. As far as my friends here at college knew, I was an only child.

“But anyways, he’s going on tour soon and I was wondering if you’d want to go to the concert with me?” Stephanie asks hopefully.

“I dunno… I mean… It’s going to be a busy semester. I have a lot of hard classes…” I hesitate, knowing the risks of discover if I went.

“Ohh come on, please!” Steph begs. “You’re the only friend I have who likes country. I don’t want to go alone.” She adds with a puppy-dog face.

“Fine” I agree reluctantly, a smile appearing on Stephanie’s face. It wasn’t a good idea and I knew it, but I couldn’t disappoint my friend.

When we got back to campus, Stephanie Ann drops me off at my dorm and we made plans to meet for dinner. As I walk into my room, I could hear music blasting from down the hall.

“Hey Pey” I say with a laugh, knowing instantly my roommate must be here by the band playing.

“the dimples at the bottom of your spine but they’re Tweetie!” she shrieks, forgetting the song entirely when I walk in. The few friends I had back at home had called me Tweetie for years. I’d had a strange obsession with the yellow bird when I was younger so the name stuck. When I came to college, I’d started introducing myself as that instead of Lauren since Hunter’s fans didn’t know about the nickname.

“Still not over them huh?” I tease Peyton as I set my suitcases by my bed.

“They’re just too perfect” she replies with a grin.

“Uh huh, of course” I say to placate her. She’d introduced me to One Direction at the beginning of the semester and almost every time I walked into the room Peyton was playing it. At least recently it had changed slightly as they’d released a new album or something. Her side of the room was covered in posters and I now knew more about them then I’d ever wanted to know about any band. It wasn’t that they were bad; it just wasn’t my type of music.

“When I finish unpacking, I grab my guitar, plucking a few strings and playing random tunes.

“You should learn One Direction” Peyton says, looking up from her computer. I chuckle slightly before strumming lightly, picking out the chords of the last song Peyton had been playing. Little Things, I think it was called. Peyton’s face lights up and she starts to sing as I play. I hit a snag at the chorus and have to pause a second as I work out the chords before continuing to the end for Peyton. She smiles satisfied as I set the guitar back down, falling backwards onto my bed.

“You should sing along with the songs. You’re always playing, but you never sing.” Peyton tells me.

“Don’t know the words,” I say simply. No need to tell her I don’t sing in public for anyone. Ever.

“Oh come on, you don’t sing the words even when you do know the words” Peyton persists. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not good. I’m horrible but I still sing.” She adds. This causes me to smile.

“I just don’t like to” I say, ending the conversation.

Soon enough, Stephanie Ann was back at the door, hungry for dinner. We head down to the cafeteria, leaving Peyton who said she had some work to do before classes started. That was Peyton, always wanting to be ahead in her classes.

Over dinner, I grew increasingly uncomfortable, as I had to sit there and listen to Stephanie talk about Hunter. It’s awkward to hear my friend talk about my brother like that and even try to get me to agree with her about how cute he was. At least now I had an idea of what I could get her for her birthday. An autographed picture or upgraded tickets to his concert wouldn’t be hard to get. Although, explaining how I got them might be. I discard the idea for now, knowing that if I’m in a rush or need a last minute present, it was always an option. For now though, the less connection I had with him or my YouTube identity the better. And Miley Cyrus thought juggling two identities was hard.

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Dedicated to @StephanieAnn22 who is going to be Stephanie. Picture over there -->

Sorry this chapter is kind of boring. It was just introducing some more characters and getting her back into the right setting. Let me know what you think so far. Vote and comment please :-)