Breakfast

"All set love?" Niall asked happily, wrapping an arm around my waist. I smiled nervously and nodded, tucking my phone into my bag.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

We made our way to the elevators and once inside, I turned to Niall, "So uh, where exactly are we?"

"Fairfax, Virginia. It's the second stop on the Up All Night Tour, well... the US leg of it anyway."

"And I'm on tour with you guys because...?" I looked at Niall who seemed a bit hurt at the question, "N...not that I'm not happy to be here! I just was curious, you know?"

"Well... all the boys had their girlfriends with them during the England leg of the tour, or at least at some of the shows, and it was a bit lonely, and obviously you couldn't tour with us all over Europe." Niall paused and smiled at me, his fingers linking with mine, "So I asked you if you wanted to come on tour with us during some of the American shows."

"Right. Okay, gotcha." I waited a few moments, watching the floors pass by, "Uh, so how did we meet?"

"Oh! Um, well it's actually a bit of a cute sto-"

Ding!

The elevator doors slid open, and the rest of the boys were waiting nearby. I inwardly groaned, I didn't want to have to wait to find out the past five months, but it would probably be on the safe side if the rest of the boys didn't know about my... predicament.

"Fiiiiinaaaaallly!" Louis let out a groan, throwing his arms up for extra exaggeration, "We thought you had eaten A.J or something, Niall!"

"Hey!" Niall pouted and hugged me close, "Of course I didn't!" his stomach grumbled, "I am really hungry though."

"Then come on, cars waiting outside," Zayne said, "Been waiting outside actually."

----
"So where are we going to go eat at anyway?" I asked. I was in the backseat of the car, squished between Niall and Harry; Louis, Zayne and Liam sat infront of us.

"Good question," Niall said, "I...don't actually know."

"I doubt you even care," Harry said, "As long as the place has food."

I laughed at that and Niall could tell I was slowly becoming more comfortable then I was this morning and he smiled and grabbed my hand to hold.

"You." Harry turned to face me, and poked a finger into my cheek, "That is probably the first time you've laughed all morning, are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course. I um, like I said, hit my head so I've just been kinda out of it, you know?" I smiled reassuringly at Harry, who shrugged and seemed to take my word for it. Judging from how he and Louis acted around me, I took a guess that aside from Niall (obviously) I was closest to those two. I was clearly well accepted by the boys, and the thought calmed me down, or at the very least, made the idea of breakfast much more easy to cope with.

We arrived at a small, out of the way diner, one that probably had a menu full of American comfort food - exactly what I wanted.

"Alright guys, there's no paparazzi or fans here right now. So let's eat and get out as soon as possible." Paul said while ushering us out of the car. Niall took a deep breath as he stepped out the car and smiled at me brightly.

"Smells like good food!" he said grabbing my hand and swinging it playfully.

Once we were inside and seated, I glanced at my watch - 9am. I wasn't much of a breakfast person, I preferred lunch-and-dinner type foods.

"I'll ask them if they can make you some chicken strips." Niall leaned over and whispered to me with a smile. I looked at him, surprised.

"How did you..."

He smiled at me, that same sad smile he had before in the hotel room, "Of course I know." he said quietly turning back to his own menu, studying it intently.

I bit my lip, feeling horrible. Niall knew everything about me - and I knew only what I had learned as an on-the-border Directioner. I had none of the knowledge of the girlfriend that I was, or was supposed to be. I let out a sigh, closing my menu and setting it aside. The previous calm I had gotten in the car was out the door and I sat in my seat fidgeting nervously as the waitress came over to take our order.

After she left (and she said it was perfectly fine for me to order chicken - hurray.), Louis turned to me and asked, "So A.J. how have you been? We've all been dying to get you on tour with us. Well. Niall mainly. He wouldn't bloody shut up about it."

"Yeah, he was constantly complaining if Lou and I even made contact with Danielle or Eleanor." Liam grumbled, throwing his crumpled straw wrapper at Niall.

"We couldn't get in a decent snog with Niall sighing all sad and puppylike!" Louis added, "It was horrible."

"Oh like you lot aren't missing your girlfriends right now." Niall said, pouting. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Don't listen to them, you know they're just teasing you. I'm glad that you missed me." I swallowed, "I missed you too!"

Of course, how could I miss someone without the knowledge of the past five months, but I figured that past-Alice definitely would've missed him while he was on tour. So it wasn't atotal lie, right?

Either way, Niall perked up at least the thought, and by the time our food arrived the table was full of chatter that kept my mind off more pressing matters.

"Geez Niall, she eats like you do." Zayne said, looking at us with his fork dangling from his fingers, "I almost don't want to eat anymore."

It was true, both Niall and I were practically inhaling our foods. I felt like I hadn't eaten in ages, well... five months probably. We both looked up cluelessly, a piece of bacon was half in Niall's mouth and I laughed at the sight. I leaned over and snatched it from his mouth and popped it into my mouth.

"Oi!" Niall looked at me in shock, all the boys did.

"Nobody steals Niall's food." Liam said, "You're a brave one."

"And she's the only one who gets away with it." Niall said, "Or at least for now."

"Ooooh! You're gonna get it later to-ni-i-ight!" Harry said from across the table with a cackle. I blushed and threw my napkin at him.

"Shut it Styles!"

After breakfast Paul ushered us back into the van and back to the hotel.

"Alright, we've got an hour before the interview," Liam said as they huddled in the hallway, "So relax for a bit."

Niall and I went back into our rooms and once inside he said he was going to take a quick shower, leaving me alone in our hotel room. I sat down on the bed to collect my thoughts when the door opened. Louis and Harry peeked their heads in before sliding in and looking at me expectantly.

"We need to talk, missy!"