Don't Change the Way You Think of Me

**Dani’s POV**

Roxie and I stood in the doorway, watching the scene before us completely dumbfounded. Lily hid behind one of the sofa’s with Brian and Matt, Zacky stood there throwing cake at Jimmy and Johnny who were behind the other sofa. Lily was happily eating a big piece of cake, half of the cake was still at the back of the room, a death bat on it…well half of one. There was cake trailed all over the room, Matt and Brian’s shirts were covered in frosting, Zacky was holding a rolled up piece of paper, hitting the pieces of cake away from them, unfortunately splattering them amongst the carpet and furniture.

“What the fuck is going on?” Larry stepped up behind us, clearly upset.

The guys stopped what they were doing and looked up at Larry. “OH hey, Larry,” Jimmy stuck the cake in his hand in his mouth. “Cake is delicious, would you like some?”

“Boys, private meeting. I’m sorry Dani, but we’ll have to call it a night,” Larry turned to us calmly.

“Am I in trouble?” Lily asked looking at Larry worried.

“Of course not, Sweetheart,” Brian answered before Larry could. “Larry’s just upset with us guys. You go with your mama and Roxie, let’s get them some cake and then you can tell them what we discussed okay?” I raised an eyebrow at Brian and the guys but Lily nodded and he got up walking over to the cake, loaded up two plates and then brought them over to us. “Please don’t leave just yet, we know it’s been a long day and especially after this fiasco, I wanna ask you guys something. Please wait across the hall, we’ll be over in a bit?”

“I would, but we need to get Lily to bed,” I told him, not necessarily coldly, because let’s face it. I found it amusing as fuck, but didn’t necessarily like that they taught my daughter how to have a food fight in the five minutes that Roxie and I were alone.

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about, please? Just…don’t leave yet. There’s the game room across the hall, have some cake, Jason will bring you and Roxie a beer and some milk for her and we’ll be over in like five minutes.”

“Okay, we’ll wait. You have five minutes,” Roxie interjected, clearly disappointed in the boys as I was. “It’s really getting late though, she needs to get to bed soon.”


All the guys kinda looked a little sheepish, knowing that this was a situation they took too far. “Come on Lil,” I called to her.

She looked up at Zacky who smiled at her, “Go on Lil, we’ll see you here shortly.”

“Oh kay,” she sighed and got up walking over to us as we went to the game room.


**Brian’s POV**

So I swear it wasn’t my fault. I got to the room with Lily and we cut the cake. We gave her a piece, then when Zacky was getting some cake, he accidentally spilt it on Jimmy. Jimmy, being Jimmy, of course wanted to make a game out of it. He started throwing cake at Zacky, who came over by Matt and I. I got Lily settled behind the sofa, out of the line of fire just as Johnny threw cake and hit me square in the chest.

I threw cake but missed, so sat next to Lily, taking cover. Matt was trying to stop the fight and caught cake in the face/chest and decided to take cover with us. Zacky was the one fighting back with Johnny and Jimmy, treating it like fucking dodgeball.

It was only when Larry yelled “What the fuck is going on in here?!” that I realized Roxie and Dani were standing in the doorway looking completely dumbfounded.

Jimmy took the cake that was in his hand, “Oh hi Larry!” he stuffed the cake in his mouth. “The cake is delicious, do you want some?”

“Boys, private meeting,” he then turned to Dani. “I’m sorry Dani, but we need to call it a night.”

Fuck no, you’re not going to make this her fault. “Am I in trouble?” Lily asked quietly beside me. She looked as though she were gonna cry.

Way to go Larry, you dick. “Of course not sweetheart, he’s upset with us not you.” I smiled reassuringly at her. “Let’s get your mommy and Aunt Roxie some cake, then you guys can go across the hall and we’ll talk to them shortly about what we discussed okay?”

I went over to the table and loaded up two plates with cake and took them back to Roxie and Dani. “Please don’t leave yet,” I pleaded with them. “We want to do one more thing for you guys.”

“I gotta get Lily to bed soon, it’s getting really late,” Dani pulled away slightly. Fucking Larry. This was gonna be a good fucking night. I thought to myself. YOU ARE MARRIED. My conscious screamed at me.


“Please, we’ll have Jason bring you and Roxie a beer, and some milk for her. Please just wait for me, five minutes?” I looked into Dani’s eyes, but it was Roxie that interjected.

“Okay, we’ll wait. You have five minutes,” she told me eyeing me suspiciously and disappointedly.

I nodded as a thank-you as they coaxed Lily to go with them across the hall. Fuck. Please wait for me.

I closed the door and looked back at the guys, who were eyeing me with suspicion. Larry quickly dismissed it and looked at each of us pointedly. “This is unacceptable. You ALL know that. Especially when you have a child present that isn’t one of your own,” Larry scolded us in true Larry fashion.

“But we don’t have kids,” Zacky stated the obvious.

“Exactly, which means you don’t get to act like a bunch of baboons around kids,” Larry answered him. “This is how mishaps happen, how bad press gets started. Do you guys realize that she is the daughter of a journalist, one who is writing an article on you all? Do you realize that if this leaked that it would ruin your reputation? Just because she’s a nice girl doesn’t mean that she won’t write what a negative influence you all were after the show.”

“I don’t think she’d spin it that way,” I stuck up for her.

“Yeah, and who says that it’s bad press? All of our fans know we like to have fun!” Jimmy stuck up for us.

“Larry, I get that you’re mad at the mess, but it will get cleaned up,” Matt reasoned with him.

“Besides, it’s not as though she’s some stranger,” Zacky said shrugging.

“Yeah, she didn’t once fan girl on us although she’s clearly a huge fan,” Johnny said.

“Guys,” Larry sighed and ran a hand through what little hair he had, clearly frustrated. “Just get this cleaned up, get to the hotel and settle down for the night.”

“Will do,” I responded knowing we’d irritated Larry badly tonight although I couldn’t tell what made him more mad. The antics, or the fact that we had made friends with a journalist. We’d always been warned that not all press is good press and he was just looking out for us as a manager.

When Larry left the room I looked at the guys, “So we’re getting rooms at the Marriot?”

Matt nodded, “Yeah, and now we kind of have to pay for the girls’ room. That was a shit show.”

I nodded, “We need to have someone ride with them to get them checked into their room.”

“Why don’t you go? You seem to be the one that they’re more comfortable with and you didn’t have anything to do with the fight,” Zacky reasoned with me.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind helping clean up,” I shrugged looking at them.

“Yeah, we got it Gates. Go ahead,” Jimmy encouraged me, knowing that I liked Dani. Fucking hate that he can read me.

“Alright, see you guys there soon,” I told them and grabbed all of the souvenirs for Lily before walking out into the game room.


**Dani’s POV**

Roxie and I were just getting ready to leave with Lily when the door opened, “Hey.” Brian said as he walked in.

“Hey,” we said in unison.

“So, that didn’t go as planned and we know it’s late. We’d like to pay for your hotel,” he said sincerely looking at us.

Roxie eyed him suspiciously, “Not that we’re saying no, but why?”

I looked at him curiously as he met my eyes, “Because we feel bad for Larry blowing up and we know that it’s a long drive back to Huntington. We’re all getting rooms at the Marriot, we’d like to cover your expenses.”

Roxie looked at me and I met her eyes, “You really don’t have to do that, we were gonna get a room there.”

“We have a block of rooms ready to go, we’re willing to double up to make enough room for you guys,” he told us as though it were a done deal.

“Can I sleep with Zacky?” Lily asked rubbing her eyes.

I laughed and shook my head picking her up, “That would be a question for Zacky baby.”

“Let’s get her to the hotel before she passes out,” Roxie nodded at me.

“I’ll ride along, we’ll get you guys settled in a room, the rest of the guys will be there later,” Brian told us, his answer appeasing Lily for the time being.

“Okay, Rox we’ll just grab your car in the morning,” I told her matter-of-factly.

“That works, they won’t tow it will they?” she asked concerned.

“No, we’ll leave word with the staff to make sure it stays where it is,” Brian said taking out his phone and sending a quick text.

“Alright then, let’s go.” I smiled at them as Lily laid her head on my shoulder.

Notes

Sorry for the short chapter, next one will be longer.