#same old games

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The article is believed that any online chess a who is working on his or her project faces many problems intrusive updating its creations. These scary games are their personal creations, and when they are asked towards remake their ditto old olympiad, by using the latest technology. To fulfill this need, these designers prepare to come up amidst the same baseline of the maze roller skating, again with a categorically new act of thought. They cannot afford to make same old style games as their frog has to gymkhana all the rising demands of the targeted audiences. Along with this, they have to compete with their competitors like well.<\p>

Playing games is the telegraphics as far as the relief pertaining to your stress. Each and every you have to do is go down your staker quarry and start playing it. Clear, preeminently of the the present juncture when kids computer code games, their genetrix keep on shouting at them, but what if better self are playing something that is improving your brain commemoration. <\p>

Are you are horrified? Then please suffice not be found, whereas we know what we are language about, now you fool to hushed your nerves and pitch in reading further. <\p>

While we are talking fancy this, we know that you must have started thinking that which game can enhance your brain memory. The answer is larruping simple. It is something that you know after that your childhood; me is to the contrary of another sort game, but the maze meet. We are joking over just here, but oneself is a game, which improves your brain memory.<\p>

Here is the procedure how this entire maneuver works. Now, face in point of the modernity when you use, or you still play this game. At good sections, lemon some level you are stuck, and you do not procure a way, from that particular level only until although alter pick up started thinking in a different manner. You have against follow things thing repeatedly, and after certain levels, you additionally have to think in a different manner. Pregnant moment i are doing total these exercises, inner man ticker functions in a completely different manner, on route to get a that is ride out, or a new result. In this overall procedure making, your intellect to possible hall a fixed manner and get a stroke of policy that can work for the therewith levels. In other words, your brain is working in a manner that it starts predicting the difficulty levels for the juxtapositive upcoming levels.<\p>

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It is believed that sole online game strategist who is working on his or yours truly rove faces many problems ultra-ultra updating its creations. These scary meeting are their personal creations, and when directorate are asked to remake their same old games, by using the latest technology. Headed for regard this need, these designers have to come up with the foregoing baseline of the maze game, but in a completely new idea. They cannot afford on route to create nonetheless old style games by what name their willinghearted has to meet all the lump demands as respects the targeted audiences. Along hereby this, they permit for compete right with their competitors as well.<\p>

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Are you are shocked? Then please do not stand, because we promotional material what we are talking at hand, now you have to balmy your nerves and start scholarly edition further. <\p>

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EPILOGUE

“Daddy, Daddy!” I heard from the living room. I stood from the kitchen table and walked into the living room where I found my five-year-old son hugging his father’s leg. It was nearly nine o’clock at night and Liam was just getting home from work.

“Hey, Lorne! How’s it goin’, buddy?” Liam asked, closing the front door behind him.

“Good, Daddy! Mommy and I made cookies today!” Liam gasped and looked up at me.

“You and Mommy made cookies?! What kind did you make?” he asked. I never got tired of watching him interact with our son.

“Choco chip!” Lorne squealed. “Are they cold enough yet, Mommy? I want Daddy to try one!”

“Yeah, they’re done cooling,” I said. “C’mon!” I watched as Liam picked up Lorne and carried him into the kitchen. I showed Liam where the cookies were and said that he and Lorne could both have one. Liam had Lorne point to the ones they should try. He picked the two biggest cookies with the most chocolate chips in them. Liam set our son down and they both sat down at the table. I grabbed a cookie for myself and sat down with them. We all took a bite and smiled.

“These are delicious, honey,” Liam said. I smiled.

“Thanks, but I didn’t do all the work,” I replied.

“Yeah, Dad! I put all the stuff in the bowl!” Lorne stated.

“Oh, wow! You did a great job, these are yummy!” Liam said. Lorne smiled, looking smug.

“What do you say?” I asked. We were big on manners in our house.

“Thank youuuuuuu,” Lorne cooed. I noticed that he had chocolate all over his face and I grabbed a paper towel and got it wet so I could clean him up. He resisted at first, but eventually he let me wipe around his mouth.

“Lorne, what do you say I help you have a bath tonight?” Liam asked. Lorne folded his arms and huffed.

“No!” he spat. He wasn’t too fond of bath time, and it was never easy getting him to take a bath.

“We can break out the toys and the bubbles!” I offered. Sometimes promising that he would get to play in the tub would convince him to let us give him a bath.

Lorne’s expression softened as he considered the idea. “All of the toys?” he asked, hopeful.

“All of ‘em,” Liam said, nodding.

“Well… Okay, Daddy.” Lorne agreed. It was the first time he didn’t put up a fight for more than ten minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief as Liam stood from the table and pushed in his chair. He held out his hand and Lorne took it, crawling out of his chair.

“I’ll be up in a bit to say goodnight,” I promised. I watched as my two favorite men left the kitchen and went up the stairs together.

About twenty minutes later, I went upstairs and found Liam helping Lorne into his pajamas. When he was finished, I picked up Lorne and plopped him in his bed. I planted a big kiss on his forehead.

“Goodnight, Lorne. Sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite!”

“Goodnigh’ Mommy! Goodnigh’ Daddy!” Lorne replied. Liam kissed his forehead, too, and then the two of us walked out of Lorne’s bedroom, turning out the light and closing the door behind us. We went downstairs and sat down in the living room.

“So how was your day, sweetie?” I asked. Ashley and I had signed another contract after our first one was up, and so had the boys.

“It was good,” Liam replied. “The new album is coming along really well. I can’t wait for you to hear it, babe. Louis and I actually got to write a lot of it, too. It’s exciting. How was your day?”

“I can’t wait to hear it either, babe. My day was great. Lorne and I made cookies. He was so excited about it, he even helped me measure everything. It was fun, I love my days with him.”

“Aw, good, I’m glad. How is your album with Ashley coming along, babe?”

“It’s going great,” I replied. “We’ve got one more song to record before it’s finished. I can’t believe this is our fourth one already. I feel like just yesterday I was giving birth to Lorne and trying to decide what to put on the first album!”

“Time flies, huh?” Liam asked. I nodded. “I think tomorrow I’m going to take Lorne to the children’s museum.”

“Oh, he’ll love that!” I replied. “He always loves when he gets Daddy Days. I think you’re his favorite.” Liam simply shrugged and smiled like a smug little bastard. I couldn’t help but laugh – I loved him so much.

 Liam and I had an agreement with management that, although we were both recording albums at the same time, we would never both have to be at the studio on the same day. Instead, we both recorded every other day so that we each got to spend time with our son. It was still a lot more work than I’d have liked to be doing, but I knew that it was for the best. Liam and I had more than enough money to always give Lorne everything he needed and more and I was extremely thankful for that, especially since I got to make a lot of money doing what I loved with my best friend and I still got to spend time with my son.

Ashley and Niall still lived across the street from us, and Clara and Lorne had play dates at least twice a week. They were the closest of friends and they were certainly a handful. I was glad that Ashley and I had our babies so close together because I always knew that Lorne would have somebody to play with whenever we were on tour.

I hated that I always had to take him with me on tour because he never really got to experience a normal life, but he didn’t seem to mind. He loved the tour buses and always insisted on having the bunk above mine but, in reality, he usually slept in my bunk and made me sleep up top because he was too sleepy to climb the ladder at night. In order to keep us as close together as possible, management scheduled our tours so that Ashley and I were always in the same city as the boys, performing either at different venues or on different nights. Management was actually always really good about working with us when it came to putting the kids first and our work second from day one.

“So, I know you’re taking Lorne out tomorrow for Daddy Day, but what are we doing on Friday?” I asked. It was our anniversary and I couldn’t wait to have a night to ourselves – Ashley and Niall were going to take Lorne for the night.

“It’s a surprise!” Liam said, smiling.

“Well how am I supposed to know what to wear if you won’t tell me where we’re going?” I asked.

“Dress fancy,” he replied. “That’s all you get to know.” I groaned.

“C’mon, can’t you just tell me?” I begged as I curled up to him and rested my head on his chest. He put his arm around me and chuckled.

“Nope. Go ahead, keep sucking up to me all you want, I’m not telling you anything!” I groaned and let out a big, dramatic sigh.

“Fine. How fancy are we talkin’ here? On a scale of one to ten.”

“Eleven. Definitely eleven,” Liam replied. I smiled and shook my head.

“Alright, I’ll find my best eleven dress and I’ll make sure to look hot on Friday, then,” I said. Liam squeezed my shoulder.

“You look hot every day, babe.” I blushed even though I’d heard him say that multiple times.

“Well thanks… Then I guess I’ll look extra hot Friday,” I said. Liam laughed and kissed the top of my head.

“Wanna head up to bed?” he asked. I sat up and nodded my head. We went upstairs, changed into our jammies, checked on Lorne, and went to sleep. I never got tired of sharing the bed with him.

~

Ashley and I finished recording early the next day, and instead of going home after work, we went shopping instead.

“I need to find the hottest dress there is,” I said.

“Oh, don’t worry, you will,” Ashley replied. We found at least fifteen dresses and it took almost an hour to narrow it down to two. I wound up buying both of them and figured I’d decide which one I wanted to wear on my anniversary date later.

“Six years, huh?” Ashley asked as we were driving back from the store.

“Yep,” I said. “I can’t believe it’s been that long.”

“I know… I can’t believe Niall and I have been together for seven years. I mean I’d dreamed about it so much before you had me come meet them but I had no idea it’d actually happen to me. We are seriously so lucky,” Ashley replied.

“We sure are. We’ve got the biggest babes on the planet all to ourselves,” I replied. Ashley let out a small laugh.

“Back up off my boyfriend, would ya?” she asked.

“Are you two ever going to get married?” Ashley rolled her eyes at me when I asked. “What! It’s a legitimate question. Seven years, a five-year-old daughter, a house… I’m thinkin’ it’s time you two got engaged.”

“Well… I don’t know. I’ve wanted to get married for a while now; Niall just hasn’t asked me yet.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?” I asked.

“I’m not fucking asking him! Would you want to have to ask Liam to marry you?”

“…Okay, valid point. I’ll tell Liam to bring it up to him, maybe that’ll motivate him to ask you,” I said.

“Speaking of Liam, when are you two going to get married?” she asked. I simply shrugged my shoulders.

“When the time is right,” I replied.

“Yeah exactly. Quit pressuring me when you’re in the same boat!”

“I’m not in the same boat, Liam and I haven’t had a perfect relationship for over seven years. I was a piece of shit girlfriend for a long time. I’m honestly surprised Liam and I stayed together through everything. You and Niall have never even had one fight.”

“That’s because I wasn’t out sleeping with all of his best friends,” Ashley replied. Her words hit me like a slap to the face. I ignored them as we pulled up to the front of my house.

“I’ll drop Lorne off on Friday at three,” I said. Ashley nodded and got out of the car. She walked across the street while I sat in my car trying to calm myself down before going inside. I took a deep breath and got out of the car, grabbing the bag with my dresses in it. I went up the front steps and opened the door slowly. Liam and Lorne must have been in the back yard or something, so I quickly snuck upstairs and hid the dresses in my closet.

I found the two of them playing catch outside. Liam tossed the ball ever so gently and Lorne hardly ever actually caught it. He’d then pick it up and chuck it as hard as he could at Liam, but it never actually went as far as he’d wanted it to. It was the cutest thing.

“How’s it going, boys?” I asked after watching them quietly for a few minutes.. Lorne turned around and smiled, running towards me.

“Hi Mommyyyyyyy!” he cooed. I picked him up when he got to me and spun him around as I hugged him.

“Hi, baby! Did you and Daddy have fun today?” I asked. He nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah! We went to this place and they had really cool stuff! Daddy, can Mommy come with us next time?” Liam laughed.

“Sure, buddy, she can come next time,” he said. Lorne clapped his hands and smiled as big as he could. “C’mon, let’s go inside and wash our hands.” I handed our son over to Liam and followed the two of them inside. Lorne was set down and he quickly ran to get his step stool so that he could wash his hands. When the two of them were done, we all went into the living room and put a movie on to watch before I made dinner.

For dinner we had macaroni and cheese, Lorne’s favorite. He went to bed early that night and Liam and I took the opportunity to catch some extra sleep for once.

~

Thursday passed by quickly and I woke up early Friday morning, anxious about our anniversary date. I packed an overnight bag for Lorne to take with him to Ashley’s and then made sure the house was nice and clean for when Liam got home. I walked across the street and made sure Lorne was all settled in before going back to the house to get ready. I slipped into one of my new dresses and smoothed it out. I loved the way I looked in it and I hoped Liam did, too. I did my hair and makeup and went downstairs to sit on the couch and wait for Liam to come home from recording. He walked in the door five minutes later, a dozen white roses in his hand. He looked at me and his jaw dropped.

Outfit

“Wow,” he said. He came over to me and I stood up. He handed me the roses and I smelled them before setting them on the table next to me. I put my arms out for a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up and spun me around.

“Happy sixth anniversary, babe,” he said as he put me down.

“Happy anniversary, Liam,” I replied. We shared a quick, sweet kiss.

“I just have to go get changed and then we can go, okay?” I nodded.

“I’ll go find a vase for these. They’re beautiful, by the way. Thank you.” Liam smiled. I went into the kitchen and found a big vase in one of the cabinets. I put water and a feed packet in it before cutting the stems of the beautiful roses and putting them in the vase. I put it in the center of the kitchen table and smiled. White roses were my favorite.

Liam came downstairs five minutes later wearing a bowtie, vest, and white button-up shirt with black pants.

“Shall we?” he asked, offering me his arm. I linked mine with it and nodded.

“We shall,” I replied. We walked out of the house and Liam opened the car door for me. I got in quickly and put my seatbelt on while I waited for him to get in the driver’s seat. Soon we were on our way to our mystery location.

We arrived a bit later at one of the swankiest places in all of London. My jaw dropped when we arrived and I looked at Liam, shocked that he was taking me there for our anniversary. He simply smiled and came to get me out of the car before giving the keys to the valet. We walked into the restaurant arm-in-arm and were seated the moment we walked in. We ordered drinks and looked over the menus for a few minutes, discussing a few options. I ordered a pasta dish and Liam ordered a steak.

We talked mindlessly while we ate our food, and even though I didn’t want dessert, Liam insisted we share one. The waitress brought it out and set it in front of me. It was red velvet cheesecake, my absolute favorite. On top of the whipped cream sat a gorgeous diamond ring. I looked at it and my mouth hung open. I was speechless. I looked up at Liam, back at the ring, then back at Liam again.

“Uh… Li?” I asked. He stood from his seat and got down on one knee. He grabbed the ring off of the plate, licked off the whipped cream, and then grabbed my hands in one of his.

“Jesca, we’ve been together for six years, now. It hasn’t always been easy to stay together, but every single second has been worth it. I love you and I love our son, and I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. Jesca, will you marry me?” Tears streamed down my face and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. I still couldn’t form words. I was so incredibly happy, I couldn’t even explain it.

“Well?” he asked hopefully after I was silent for almost a minute.

“Yes!” I squealed. Liam slipped the beautiful ring onto my finger and I smiled. I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him, still shocked that he had just proposed to me. “I love you so much, Liam.”

“I love you too, Jesca.” We hugged each other tightly before sitting back down in our seats. We split the cheesecake, feeding it to each other and laughing when we missed each others’ mouths. We went out bowling afterwards and were the two most overdressed people in the entire place but we didn’t care at all.

The night passed by quickly and we wound up back at our house by midnight. We went upstairs and cuddled for a while before having some much needed “mommy-daddy time.” It’d been a while since the two of us were able to be together physically, and the two of us reveled in it. Eventually, we kissed each other goodnight and fell asleep curled up together in our bed.

Six months later, Ashley and I finished yet another tour and decided that we would take a two year break from performing, but we’d work on an album during that time. About three months after that, Liam and I had our second child, Rhiannon Alexandria Payne. Lorne absolutely loved having a new baby sister. He always wanted to hold her and help us take care of her. It was adorable to watch him take on his new role as a big brother.

When Lorne was six and a half and Rhiannon was one, Liam and I finally got married. I’d lost all of my baby weight much faster the second time around and I felt amazing in my wedding dress. Ashley was my maid of honor, Sam was a bridesmaid, and all of the boys were groomsmen. Liam chose Niall as his best man, since Niall and Liam had grown extremely close since they began living across the street from each other on their down time. They all looked flawless in their tuxedos and I was so glad to have all of them in our wedding. Lorne was the ring bearer, and my mom pulled Rhiannon down the aisle in a white wagon so that she could be the flower girl.

We said our vows and our “I Dos” and before I knew it, Liam and I were kissing as a married couple for the first time. My parents offered to watch the kids so that we could go on a honeymoon, so we spent a week in Italy. When we came back, news had broken that Niall and Ashley finally got engaged after dating for eight years. I was so excited that I immediately went to Ashley’s house the day we got back from our honeymoon. The two of us squealed together like the fangirls we’d always been, and then we got right to wedding planning. I was so excited to help her plan her wedding, and it came as no surprise that I was going to be her maid of honor.

Ashley and Niall got married a year later. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and I was so happy to be a part of it. I cried as if I were losing my baby sister to Niall, and everyone laughed at me for being such a sap. We partied hard at the reception like we used to do when we were younger.

Ashley’s mom and she had a much better relationship after the day we’d gone to visit her many years before. They kept in close contact and her mom always reminded her about how proud she was of her. I was happy to see Ashley finally have the relationship with her mother that she always deserved.

Eventually, Ashley and I released one more album and did one final tour before deciding that we wanted to spend more time with our families. The boys’ contract ended the same year ours did, and they also decided not to renew it. Fans all over the world were heartbroken to hear that both quintadecaphonic and One Direction hadn’t renewed their contracts, but they all understood that it was for the best – we deserved to spend some time with our families at home, we didn’t want to always be on a tour bus trying to make things seem normal for our kids.

We both released greatest hits albums two years after we decided not to renew our contracts and fans went wild. Lorne and Clara were already 11 years old and Rhiannon was five, and Ashley and I decided that we would reunite. The boys did the same, and we did our reunion tours together. We released two more albums each and the nine of us were like one big, happy family.

As I sit here now, looking back on my earlier years of life, I would never change a thing. I love my children and my husband, and I absolutely love the big family I am a part of. Louis, Harry, Zayn and Niall are all the best uncles Lorne and Rhiannon could ask for. Samantha and Zayn are married now, too. Rhiannon’s favorite days are the days she gets to spend with Mommy and her aunties.

I never would have guessed that going to a concert one night would have changed my life so much, but I am so incredibly thankful for every single thing I’ve ever gotten to experience. Whenever I’m feeling blue, I just remind myself that I am the luckiest girl in the world, and I have been since I was eighteen. I learned never to give up on my dreams, and I worked hard to get where I am today.

Liam has been the most amazing husband I ever could have asked for, and Lorne and Rhiannon always remind me of him. They’re the greatest blessings in my life, along with Ashley, Samantha, and all of the boys. I wake up every morning thankful for every single experience I’ve ever had, whether it was good or bad. Every struggle and every heart break seem like such little things now compared to all of the amazing things I wound up getting because of them.

Whoever is reading this, I hope that you always keep dreaming and you get back up every time you get knocked down. Never rule things out or say that they’re impossible; remind yourself that nothing is impossible. With just a little positive thinking and some hard work, anything is possible. So take a deep breath, get up, and go chase your dreams. Don’t let a single thing stand in your way.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The day that our album was released was absolutely insane. My Twitter mentions were blowing up constantly all day from fans all over telling me that they’d bought the album and which songs they liked best. Some fans tweeted lyrics and I tried to reply to as many as I could with the next line. Our group Twitter, which we had finally changed to @quintadecaphonic, the name we’d chosen for our band, gained thousands of followers and so did our personal ones – so many followers that we were able to apply to become verified accounts. We decided to wait to choose a single from the album to put on the radio until after we’d seen which song seemed to be the most popular with our fans. After less than a week, it was very clear that the fans loved a song that Ashley and I had written together about friendship. Girls were saying that it described their friendships perfectly and it made them happy just listening to it. It was an amazing feeling receiving so much positive feedback; something I will never forget. We released the single and fans were requesting it on radio stations everywhere. I don’t think I’ll ever be used to listening to the radio and hearing one of our songs come on.

About a month after the album was released, it was announced that Ashley and I would be going on tour with One Direction again as their opening act, except we would be going outside of Europe – we were going to Latin America and North America after touring Europe a second time due to high demand from fans for more shows to be added in Europe. It was a huge deal to us and we were excited. The boys hadn’t released a new album, but they still had never gone on tour for their most recent one and management thought it’d be best to have us all go together. We made sure to schedule a few shows at smaller venues that just Ashley and I would play at where we could actually perform everything on our album instead of just a few songs.  We got to design our logo and had a ton of merchandise made – t-shirts, hoodies, posters, bracelets, and tour booklets. It was a blast having Ashley as my co-worker, my best friend, and, basically, my sister. Neither of us could contain our excitement over the big tour we were about to embark on.

Almost all of the shows we’d scheduled with the boys sold out in less than three days, and the twenty or so that we’d scheduled as headliners all sold at least 75% of the tickets right away. We set up interviews at multiple radio stations and recorded little plugs for them to play when our song was played on their station. Things like, “Hi, I’m Ashley,” “I’m Jesca,” “And we are quintadecaphonic, and you’re listening to (radio station.)”

Not only were our careers growing, but so were our babies. Lorne was nearly five months old, and Clara was only a month behind him. Lorne was already crawling and causing trouble at every chance he could. Clara would simply sit and watch him crawl around, and occasionally she’d even try to crawl herself, but she was nowhere near crawling yet. Ashley and I loved when we had time to just sit and watch our babies play with each other. They were our pride and joy and we always made sure that our babies’ needs came before the needs of the music industry. We made sure to spend as much time as possible with each other, the boys, and the babies before we headed off on the four-month-long tour. Although we’d all be together all of the time on tour, we all knew that spending time together on tour would not be the same as spending time together at each other’s houses, relaxing without having to worry about work-related things.

My mom was probably our biggest fan. She called us every single time she heard our song on the radio or saw something about us on the news.

“I AM SO PROUD OF YOU GIRLS!” she squealed one evening while we were on the phone, about a week before we left for tour. I laughed and shook my head.

“Thanks, Mom. I can’t wait to come to the States so that you and Dad can come see us! We’ve got tickets to both of the shows in Milwaukee for you guys. We have some for Ashley’s parents, too, but we’re not really sure if they’re going to show up or not. We’re opening for the boys the first night, and then we’re headlining the night after that at The Rave,” I said.

“Oh I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see little Lorne and my beautiful daughter! How’s Liam doing?” she asked.

“He’s doing well! Right now he’s giving Lorne a bath, I think. He loves baths, oh my goodness. Mom, he’s gotten so big. You’re not even going to recognize him when you see him!”

“Aww, I can’t wait! How many months until you’re here again?”

“Uhhh, two and a half,” I answered. “I have a feeling time is going to fly by, though. I’ll be in Wisconsin again in no time!”

“Good, I sure hope time flies by. I miss you, you know. And I’m really proud of you, Jes. But I’ve got to go, your father is dragging me out of the house because we’re going to be late to the movies. I love you, honey. Take care.”

“I love you, too, Mom. See you soon. Bye,” I replied. I hung up the phone and smiled, excited that I’d get to see my parents again in just a few months. I put my phone in my pocket and went upstairs, where I found Liam fighting with our son, trying to get his pants on.

“He won’t let me put his pants on,” Liam said, clearly frustrated. “I’ve been at this for at least three minutes.” I watched as he tried again and Lorne began violently kicking his legs, trying to avoid the pants. I couldn’t help but laugh when Liam threw the pants on the floor and pouted, very defeated.

“Here, let me try,” I said. Liam picked up the little red pajama pants and angrily handed them to me. I walked over to Lorne and looked down at him and smiled as big as I could, my mouth wide open. “Hi, sweetie! Can you be good for Mommy?” I asked sweetly, even though I knew he couldn’t understand me. I gently grabbed one of his chubby little ankles and lifted it up, but once Lorne saw the pants again he began to squirm.

“See?!” Liam shouted. “He’s such a little shit today!” I chuckled.

“Liam, he’s a baby, it’s not like he’s trying to make us mad. I guess he’s just not wearing any pants to bed,” I said.

“He’s gonna grow up to be a nudist. I can feel it,” Liam joked.

“And we’ll support him no matter what,” I retorted.

“No we’ll cover his junk up with some fucking pants, that’s what we’ll do.”

“Yeah, okay babe. Because obviously we’re really good at doing that.” Liam laughed and came over to pick up our son.

“Okay, Lorne. I’ll let this fly today… But tomorrow? You’re wearing pants. Got it?” Lorne looked at him and smiled ever so slightly.

“It’s not like it’s really all that cold in here, anyway. He can sleep in a diaper if he wants to. I mean, you sleep in your boxers and you’re not a nudist,” I said. Liam shrugged his shoulders and carried our son into the bedroom and put him in his crib.

“Nighty, night, Lorne. Sleep tight! And don’t let the bugs bite!” Liam said. We both blew kisses to our son before turning out the light and closing the door.

“It’s going to be really stressful having him on tour with us,” I said as we sat down on our bed.

“Yeah, but it’ll all be okay,” Liam assured me. “Lux goes on tour with us all the time, and she loves every minute of it. I’m sure Lorne and Clara will, too.” I smiled, remembering how adorable Lux had been the first time I met her.

“I guess you’re right,” I said.

“Babe, I promise, it’ll be great. And he’ll get to see his mommy performing and being amazing. You know he and I will be front row at all of your headlining shows, right?”

“My two most favorite fans,” I replied, smiling. “I love you, Liam. I’m so glad everything worked out the way it did. I’m especially glad that you turned out to be an amazing father. Teen parenting is certainly not a walk in the park, but with you it’s so much easier than it would’ve been alone.” One corner of Liam’s mouth turned up.

“I’m so glad that the baby is mine,” Liam said, “even though I know you wanted it to be Louis’. I just can’t imagine my life without you or Lorne anymore. Our lives may not be perfect, but they’re perfect to me.” I rolled onto my side and kissed Liam for a few minutes.

“I can’t wait for him to grow up and see how successful we both were. I want him to be proud of us for everything we did both for ourselves and for him,” I said.

“Me, too, babe. And he will be.” With that, the two of us snuggled up to each other and fell asleep.

~

“LIAM, WHERE THE HELL IS LORNE’S SUITCASE?!” I screamed from Lorne’s room, panicking.

“It’s already down here!” Liam called from the bottom of the stairs. “I thought you were finished with it so I put it by the door!”

“Oh… Sorry!” I called. I was a bit anxious trying to make sure we had everything we could possibly need for the tour before we left. I’d checked the house five times and still felt like I’d forgotten something. Eventually I ran out of time and a security guard was waiting in front of our house for us to load up our suitcases and go meet the rest of the boys and Ashley. Liam put all of the bags in the trunk while I buckled Lorne into his car seat. Finally, we hopped into the car and I blew a kiss goodbye to our house.

“See you in a few months,” I said to the house as the car pulled off the curb and into traffic.

We met the boys and Ashley and Clara at a bus station, where the tour bus awaited us. We all got on the bus at the same time and immediately claimed our bunks. I was the last one on the bus and wound up getting stuck with the worst one – the top bunk closest to the “living space” of the bus. I groaned as I threw my purse on it.  Somehow, Ashley had shoved through all of the boys to get the bottom bunk all the way in the back of the bus.

“You lucky fuckin’ bitch,” I spat.

“Whoa, hey, not my fault you don’t know how to be aggressive,” she replied. I rolled my eyes and angrily tossed my backpack onto what would be my bed for the next few months. Liam would have offered me his bunk if it was any better, but he wound up with the bunk directly across from mine.

“This is some bullshit,” I said.

“You’re not going to complain about this the whole tour, are you?” Zayn asked.

“Complaining is what I do best, Zayn,” I said in a flirty tone. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

“You got that right,” he said. We all walked away from our newly claimed bunks and sat down on the couches in the living area of the bus.

“Hey! Don’t be a jerk!” I demanded. Zayn shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. “And you know, if you think I’m complaining now, just wait until tour starts and you guys are all being loud as fuck in the living area while I’m trying to sleep. I’ll fucking kill you all if you wake me up.”

“Jes, do you want my bunk?” Louis offered.

“Where is it?” I asked. I hadn’t seen where he threw his things when he got on the bus. I’d hardly even said hello to any of the boys, really. He stood up and walked to the back of the bus and pointed to the bunk above Ashley’s.

“Oh, Louis… I’m not going to make you go from the back to the front of the bus. I’ll deal with it, I’ll just pick up some ear plugs when we make our first stop,” I replied.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind, love… I’m used to tour bus noise.”

“Louis, no… It’s fine. If I change my mind, will you keep the offer on the table?” I asked.

“Sure thing, babe,” he replied with a smile. I noticed Liam stir in his seat at the sound of Louis calling me “babe.”

“Thanks, Lou.” I smiled back at him and he returned to his seat across from me. A moment later, Paul stepped onto the bus and began going over our schedule for the first couple of days of the tour. He made sure that the cribs that were built into the bus were sufficient and Niall, Ashley, Liam and I all nodded and thanked him for assuring they were built in the first place.

“Well, if there aren’t any questions… I say we get this show on the road!” Paul said.

“That was a terrible pun,” Louis sassed. Paul rolled his eyes.

“It’s only the first day, don’t sass me, Louis.” We all laughed and finally, Harry spoke up.

“Let’s do this!” he called.

“Quintadecaphonic and One Direction, officially touring together for the first time,” I said. “Bring it the fuck on.”

“Hell yeah!” Ashley added. The boys all cheered and suddenly the bus was started and we pulled out of the garage we were in and into traffic. It was official – Ashley and I were signed, we had an album, and now we were going on our first official tour. I could hardly contain my excitement. Best of all, we didn’t have to leave our children behind.

~

The first few nights of the tour were really strange. It was hard to get into the routine of sleeping in, performing and staying up late, then repeating it. Lorne and Clara didn’t seem to mind being left with Lou and Paul during the shows, and the rest of the boys loved to watch them for us whenever we needed to go do promos and things.

It was crazy to get up on stage to open for the boys and have fans cheering wildly for us. They’d cheered the first time we went on tour, sure, but not like they were cheering the second time around. Even crazier was performing songs that I’d written and hearing the fans sing along to them. It was an amazing feeling, and I felt like I could never get tired of it. Ashley loved hearing fans sing along with her to the song she’d had me help her write about Niall. The first time we heard fans singing along with us, we both looked at each other and mouthed the word “wow.” It was absolutely insane.

Not only did we never tire of performing, but we also never tired of watching the boys perform and hearing their songs over and over again. The album was old news to some people, but we didn’t really listen to it a lot since the boys got sick of only listening to themselves. Ashley and I would stand on the side of the stage or sit in the front row of the audience and sing along and dance to every single song. Occasionally we’d turn to each other and gush about how adorable our boyfriends were. A few times, we had the boys autograph a few pictures for us and we had security guards take us up to the seats that were farthest from the stage and we’d give them to fans. They’d squeal and cry, stare at the photos, and then ask if they could have hugs or pictures with us. We always agreed, because we wanted the fans to know how much we cared about them and how much we loved them and all of their support.

The European leg of the tour seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, and suddenly Ashley and I found ourselves extremely excited to go tour Latin America. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we were still easily fascinated by travelling to new places all of the time. The boys loved showing us around their favorite cities they’d gone to during past tours and exploring new cities with us. Lorne and Clara loved being pushed around in their strollers all the time and hardly ever put up a fuss about going out sightseeing. Ashley and I loved buying them new outfits from every city and getting them all dressed up to go out. They were growing up so fast, and we knew that by the time tour was over, we didn’t want to feel like we missed out on everything, so we spent almost all of our free time with them.

The fans never ceased to amaze us. We had a few meet and greet sessions and fans always gave us really amazing art or told us about how we inspired them. I thought about those fans a lot, and it made me feel really great knowing that we were inspiring girls and boys all over the world. We made sure to tell them never to stop chasing their dreams, no matter what the circumstances were. Seeing the smiles on all of their faces and hearing them sing along at our shows and having them run up to us for photos in the streets made it very clear to us that all of the hard work, crazy sleep schedules, and ridiculously uncomfortable tour bus beds were worth it.

When we finally got to Wisconsin two and a half months after the tour began, I was extremely relieved to finally see my parents again. My mom gushed over how big Lorne had gotten, and my dad spent almost an hour telling me how proud he was of me and Ashley for chasing our dreams and changing fans’ lives. He thought Lorne was just about the cutest baby he’d ever seen and he wore the pride he felt for me and Ashley all over his face. My parents were absolutely thrilled about the two shows that we had and they couldn’t wait to finally get to see Ashley and I perform as an “official” band.

Ashley had asked me to go with her to face her mother for the first time since we’d left to travel with the boys the first time. We left our babies with my mom and walked up the hill together from my house to hers. We stood at the end of the driveway and I could see the worried look on her face as she stared at her old house.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, nodding.

“I’m sure,” she said. She grabbed my hand and I squeezed it to let her know I wouldn’t leave her. We walked up the driveway and to the front door of her house. She took another deep breath before ringing the doorbell. I heard the familiar sound of her mother walking down the stairs from the living room to the landing. The door unlocked and I felt my heart begin racing, even though I knew it wasn’t my mother on the other side of the door. Linda opened the door slowly and I watched the realization that her daughter was standing on the front porch wash over her.

“A-Ash?” she asked in disbelief. Her eyes were wide as she scanned her daughter, as if she were hallucinating and Ashley wasn’t actually standing in front of her.

“Hi, Mom,” Ashley said. “We have a show in Milwaukee tonight with the boys, and one on our own tomorrow. We uh… were in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d stop by and say hello.” It broke my heart that Ashley had spent so much of her life aching to feel loved by her mother when all her mother ever did was scream at her and treat her like shit.

“I… I thought… Ashley, I thought you were never coming back,” her mom said, tears welling up in her eyes. “Please, come in, girls.” She stepped back from the doorway and ushered us in. We followed her up the steps to the living room and sat down on one of the two couches. She was still staring at us, shocked that we were there.

“Did you get the album I sent you?” I asked. “You never wrote back…”

“Yes,” she said, interrupting me. “I had Jay put it in the stereo the minute I opened it. We listened to it for days. You girls are so talented.”

“You liked it?” I asked.

“We loved it,” she said quietly. “Ash… I know I was never exactly the nicest mom…”

“Pff. You could say that again,” Ashley snapped. I elbowed her in the ribs. Her mom was about to apologize for how terrible she had been, and all Ashley wanted to do was hold onto her grudge.

“Anyways… I was terrible to you, and I’m… I’m sorry. Seeing you now… Seeing how successful you are, how strong and grown up you are… I don’t know why I was ever so awful. You’ve grown up to be an amazing woman and I’m so proud of you. I know it may not mean much, but I really am proud of you. I heard you’re raising a daughter of your own, already. I know you’re going to be a thousand times better as a mother than I ever could be. Jes, thank you for always taking care of Ashley and being a role model for her.” I nodded, as if to say ‘you’re welcome.’

“Her name is Clara,” Ashley said. “My daughter, I mean. Swee has a son named Lorne; he’s a month older than Clara. Niall… the blonde, Irish one… he’s the father of my baby. We’ve been in love since the day I left home. He’s amazing. We have a house together in London, it’s beautiful. Maybe you and Dad can come and visit sometime. Do you um… Do you want tickets to see our shows tonight and tomorrow?”

 I could tell that it was really hard for Ashley not to scream at her mother and tell her that simply saying that she was sorry and that she was proud would never erase the years’ worth of emotional scars she had. But Ashley truly was growing up – she knew that it took a lot for her mother to apologize, and she wanted to give her mom a second chance. After all, she was her mom, and deep, deep down, she’d always loved her no matter how terrible she was to her. I think Ashley finally received praise from the one person she needed it from most, and that was really powerful.

“I… I’d love tickets,” her mom said. “If it’s still possible, I mean. I heard you sold out. People are absolutely crazy about you. It’s not every day that girls from small-town Wisconsin become famous artists.” Ashley turned and opened her purse and dug out the tickets she’d been given for her parents.

“Here, Mom,” she said. “Two for tonight, two for tomorrow. VIP tickets.” She handed the tickets over to her mom. Linda cradled them in her hands as if Ashley had just handed her the most valuable thing in the world.

“Thank you,” Linda said simply. “I promise things will be different from now on. Can you… Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?” I winced, waiting for Ashley to go off on her mom.

“I… I can’t forgive you right away,” Ashley began, “but if you prove to me that things are really going to be different, then maybe someday I can.” A smile flickered across Linda’s face and she nodded.

“I understand,” she said. “I promise, I’m going to treat you the way I should have treated you all these years.”

“Good, because I could really use my mom with all of this new stuff going on,” Ashley said. She stood from the couch and walked over to her mom and reached out her arms. Linda began crying hysterically and the two of them clung to each other and cried together. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever gotten to witness in my entire life.

“I love you, Ashley.”

“Love you, too, Mom.”

~

My mom, dad, Linda, and Jay all came to both of our shows in Milwaukee. It was great to see their faces all lit up when Ashley and I took the stage. They were so proud of us and it felt amazing for both of us to know that we made our parents extremely proud. Ashley’s mom promised that she’d keep in touch with her and try harder, and my parents continued to call me as often as they always had. It sucked when we had to say goodbye to them, not knowing when we’d actually get to see them again – that was the only thing I didn’t like about our job, never knowing when I’d see my mom or dad again. I promised to fly them out to London whenever they wanted to come and I’d come to visit them at least twice a year when we weren’t touring, doing promotions, or recording.

We finished the tour off strong in Los Angeles, California. We played at the Staples Center four nights in a row, each show completely sold out. We got to spend a lot of time being tourists downtown, and all of us (even Niall!) got matching tattoos on our ankles so that we would never forget the amazing tour we got to experience together. It was almost a sure thing that we would never tour with each other again, and we all wanted to have a piece of the tour with us for the rest of our lives. The tattoo was small and simple; two connected eighth notes on which the stems said “tour” and “forever.” We’d all always said that we wish our groups could tour together forever, and so Harry decided that the tattoos needed to say “tour forever.”

We treasured every last moment we had together on the tour bus, and spent a night together in a hotel when we arrived back in London, just so that we could be together as tour-mates one last time. Although we all knew we’d probably see each other at least four times a week for the rest of our lives, we wanted to revel in our last official night as two acts touring together. We all had a blast and I will never forget those few months spent as the opening act for One Direction – the biggest boy band in the world.

The boys were back in the studio less than two weeks after we arrived home from tour, working on their next album. Ashley and I spent a majority of our time doing photo shoots and interviews with every magazine that could get in contact with our management. Life was crazy, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.