When You Know

Murphy lay on her back and stared up at the lighting rig, one leg propped up and the other stretched out so it hung off the edge of the stage. Vinny was lying next to her, an identical position but facing the other way so their heads could be next to each other. They'd barely spoken since his arrival, but Murphy felt as if they didn't need to. She was back in control, everything had gone fine. If anything, it was just proof that the tour could live without her, that she wasn't as needed as she once convinced herself she was. But with that fact, Murphy wasn't sure if she should be relieved or devastated.

'Harry said you crawled out of someone else's bunk this morning,' she cut the silence. 'I thought the entire bus was off limits?'

'It is, I checked those limits myself,' Vinny half joked. 'Harry shouldn't be saying shit though.'

'Leave him alone,' Murphy whined. 'There's only two girls on our bus, and I'm one of them.'

'Is there? Felt more like three,' Vinny turned his head, staring Murphy straight in the eye when she did the same.

'What happened, Vinny?' She sighed. 'I've heard rumours, and you've still not said.'

'Rumours,' he turned his head back, staring at the same lights that had interested his friend so much just moments ago. 'I saw rumours on twitter that your boyfriend is seeing someone.'

'That could be me,' she blushed. 'What's gone on, you never talk about it.'

'What, you want me to darken this all with stories of my failed marriage?'

'It failed?' Murphy sat up. 'Vinny, I didn't know.'

'It's fine,' he copied, having to drag himself up with his elbows. 'Don't have to go into it, you just worry about your Youtuber.'

'Is Ryan...' Murphy hesitated. She'd already assumed Vinny was sleeping with half the tour, that something somewhere had gone horribly wrong with his wife Sarah. The last she remembered of her old friend was him waving them all goodbye as he drove off into the sunset with his pregnant fiancee. They'd gotten married in a private ceremony, so private that even Megan and Murphy hadn't been sent a text message, let alone an invite. She'd had to find out through Instagram, left to fit the pieces together once Vinny begged for a place on the tour just a few hours into the year 2022. It was one thing Murphy would never forget, Vinny finding her on their hotel room floor crying over Harry. If it wasn't for her vulnerable state, she wasn't wholly convinced she would have made room for Vinny to be her tour assistant. Yet she'd just told Harry she loved him, and he'd said it back. It was enough for someone halfway across the world from her boyfriend to agree to almost anything.

'He's my kid,' he nodded. 'She's not mine, not anymore, but he is.'

'Good,' Murphy nodded. 'That's good, I mean, he looks like you, so it was kind of obvious. I'm sorry for asking.' She lay her head back on the stage. 'I know that's shit, but try not to sleep with my entire crew, please?'

'No promises,' he laughed, staying upright to lean over her. 'Back to Harry though, you know people think he's actually dating this other girl?'

'I could be the girl they're on about,' Murphy commented again. 'Why, are you keeping up with his online life or something?'

'Professional curiosity,' he shrugged. 'I don't like him.'

Murphy blinked a few times, taken back by Vinny's honesty. She wasn't sure what to say, whether to ask why or leave him to his speculations. She'd spent an ungodly amount of time watching his videos, reading the comments on his Instagram posts, yet this was the first time she'd heard of any such rumour. Besides, he'd stayed in Vegas to see her longer. Not only Harry, but the entirety of the Sidemen, they were all still there because of her. Surely someone would have made some joke by now, slipped up in one way or another. No, it had to be nothing, of that she was certain.