Up All Night ➸ One Direction [ EDITING as of June 2020 ]

8 : The Ellen Degeneres Show!

Chapter 8 : The Ellen Degeneres Show!

My palms were sweaty. My nerves had taken over, but my excitement was ten times it. I didn't really understand why I was nervous when I had been waiting for this moment all my life. Deep down I felt like something was going to happen, but I did my best trying to toss the feeling out and enjoy this moment.

If it's even possible, I was more excited than I had been when I first met Barney or got my first Barbie doll. My idol was on stage and here I am just a few feet away from her. Ellen started a conversation with the boys except I was too into my thoughts to hear.

"Zayn's accent is sex to my ears," a girl whispered to my right.

I grinned, holding in my laughter that threatened to come out. The brunette's face was serious as she gaped intently at the boys.

Giving my attention to Ellen, I finally listened in on their conversation.

"So, who's the flirt in the group?" She wondered, crossing her legs.

They didn't hesitate to point at Harry who raised his brows in wonder. "I-what, me?"

The crowd laughed at that, Ellen along with them. "I mean, what else do you like to do besides asking random girls to marry you?"

"Uh?" He cast a confused glance at her statement before continuing, "well, I do like to be nude."

By the look on his face, he appeared to be really proud of that one. Those on the stage went silent as the crowd erupt into laughter. No one expected that to be his response. Do they usually share that information in interviews?

"I came across this photo on Twitter and... well... just take a look. I'm sure you have a reasonable explanation for this." Ellen turned to the large screen behind her. On cue, a photo of Harry proposing to me appeared on it. I wanted to melt into my chair.

Harry chuckled softly. He didn't tear his eyes away from the screen. "I do have an explanation for that. We were trapped in a store-"

"Uh-huh."

He laughed harder. "We were, I promise. So we decided to play a game to impress the paparazzi. Me being my brilliant self had the idea of proposing to our friend we met that day. She said yes, by the way."

"He's so distraught that he forgot she said no," Liam snickered beside him and Harry frowned.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Too soon?" Ellen inquired. She cleared her throat. "Well, I have a remedy for that with Superman in the building!"

The picture on the big screen shifted to show Louis' Superman photo of him tearing his shirt open to reveal the logo.

The boy doubled over at the sight of himself, laughing hysterically.

"If he wasn't there, I don't think Zayn would have made it. How tragic would that have been?" Ellen wondered, the photo of an 'unconscious' Zayn now on the big screen.

Ripples of laughter had befallen the crowd with the photos and the commentary. Once everyone calmed, she turned to them seriously again, the screen returning to the photo before. "Anyway, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you guys. I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering. Each of you tweeted about a girl the other day." Ellen stood up, grabbing a notecard from the cameraman. Sitting back down, she skimmed through it before looking at them. "Her name is Ella Strauss?"

My blood went cold as anxiety flooded me.

Zayn was the first to respond, shooting me a quick glance. "She is the girl we met when we were trapped in a store at the mall. After spending a few hours with her, we thought Ella turned out to be a cool person. We had fun with her."

The others nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"Oh, how old is she?" Ellen asked.

They looked at each other, trying to form a response, but they only shrugged.

"We don't know. Never asked her," Niall told her.

"Would any of you date her?"

My eyes widened at the question.

A few of them smirked, glancing my way before looking at Ellen again. I've never felt so uncomfortable in my life. A long silence filled the room. The only thing audible was a few words the audience shouted, egging the boys to answer. My palms were now a waterfall.

"Uh, she's actually in the audience. We invited her to the show," Liam said.

I died, again. Staring at the boys, I slowly shook my head no. Unfortunately, they didn't even look at me.

Ellen's face lit up. "Really? Ella Strauss, come on up here!"

I pinned myself to my seat, refusing to get up there. The boys motioned for me to go up, averting everyone's gaze to shift to me.

Thoughts of what they'd think of me for not going up there resulted in me forcing a smile on my face. Begrudgingly, I stood up and pushed myself to head to the stage while the audience clapped behind me. A chair was brought out for me to sit beside the couch where the boys say. I made myself comfortable and took in the sight of Ellen. I waved once, smiling while taking her in.

This isn't really happening.

Is it? I wanted to pinch myself.

"Welcome to the show, Ella." She greeted me. "How are you feeling right now?"

"Um," I thought for a moment. "A mixture between nervous and excited."

She nodded her head in understanding, her cool blue eyes never leaving mine. "But the fact that you've got five gorgeous boys as friends now is cool, right?"

I grinned and looked to the boys beside me sitting against the couch. Harry wagged his eyebrow while Louis leaned in to ruffle my hair. I gently slapped his hand away and turned to Ellen again. "They know how to have fun, I'll tell you that."

"What kind of fun?" Ellen asked.

My cheeks inflamed. "Not like that!" The dirty-minded people of today. After this, I can't wait to shove my head in a box.

Louis lightly patted my back and laughed while doing so. I shot him a glare.

"It's okay we know exactly what you meant," she told me, winking.

I facepalmed.

"So, boys, what do you hope will come out of this friendship?"

"We don't know. Ella is a friend we picked up along the way and hope to continue to call her that no matter how busy we are. We're going to enjoy the time we spend with her now and in the future," Liam said, looking at me every so often as he spoke.

"She's part of the One Direction family now, no matter how much she hates being in the spotlight," Louis spoke up.

The audience awed. I smiled at them. The nerves and anxiety washed away at that point and I enjoyed every moment.

"That's absolutely beautiful. Now, that's all the time we have, but we've got another treat for you." Ellen told her audience. "One Direction will perform another hit off their album Up All Night. Ladies and gentlemen, One Thing!"

The audience cheered. Getting off the couch, the boys grabbed the mics that were handed to them. The music started playing and within seconds, Liam started to sing. The audience clapped to the rhythm and some mouthed the words. I turned in the chair to look at them as they performed. The song took off and they grinned as they sang together, shooting me a glance every now and then.

I danced a little in the chair, not minding the cameras or the people. I probably looked awkward, but I didn't care as the music filled my ears.

I could only wonder what would happen within a couple of hours or days from now with us. What I did know, I was going to follow their footsteps and enjoy the time we spend together. My boring life has a little spice to it because of Zayn, Harry, Liam, Niall, and Louis. Amazing group of boys with amazing personalities.

[Edited 24 June 2020]

If you could only listen to one One Direction song for the rest of your life, which would it be?