The Cookie Girl (One Direction)

Chapter 9

   Once, when I was ten, I was riding my bike back from school on the last day of term. Since I was so excited to get home and start my holidays, I had ridden across a road without looking around, and I was nearly run over by a huge petrol tanker.

   The chaos that followed afterwards had scarred me for life. The screeching of brakes, the frightened yells of the people nearby, and even the multitude of curse words that had flown out of the truck driver's mouth.

   For the past eight years, whenever someone had asked me to tell them about the most frightening moment in my life, I had told them that story.

   Now, as I sat in the hotel lobby, I decided that this moment was much more frightening than anything else I'd been through.

   My hands were sweaty and I found myself wiping them on my black jeans every few minutes. I was jumping at even the softest sounds around me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to bring my heart rate down to a safe pace.

   Ten minutes. Ten short minutes, and I would be out on the streets, pretending to be madly in love with Harry Styles. I was certain that today would be terrifying; screaming girls, flashing cameras, and absolutely no privacy.

   How did the boys do it every day of their lives?

   "How are you feeling?" Harry asked, returning from the vending machine with two bottles of water. He tossed one to me, but it slipped through my fingers as soon as I caught it and landed on the ground with a thud. "That bad, hey?" Harry asked sympathetically. He picked up the water bottle, then he knelt down on the ground in front of me so his eyes were level with mine.

   "I'm honestly so scared, Harry," I said, barely managing to raise my voice above a whisper. "This could go massively wrong."

   "True," he nodded, "but it could also go massively right."

   "What if I'm not believable enough?" I asked, my voice shaky and panicked. "What if the fans see straight through me? Or what if they get jealous and throw eggs at me again?"

   "That's not going to happen, Cas."

   "But what if it does?"

   Harry placed his warm hands on my cheeks and looked straight into my eyes, his expression calmer than I had ever seen it. "Cassie, listen to me," he said firmly. "You'll be perfect today. People will believe you. They'll believe us. And do you want to know why? Because we've already convinced them that we're in love. We could go out there today and barely speak a word to each other, and as long as we were holding hands, they would say we're a perfect couple. Do you understand me?"

   I didn't answer him at first, but as his words sunk into my head, I realised he was right. "Yeah," I finally whispered. "Yeah, I understand."

   "Good," he smiled, dropping his hands to his sides. His face returned to its usual cheeky expression, and I couldn't help but smile with him. "Now, are you ready to go?"

   "Is it time already?" I squeaked. "Harry, I really don't―"

   "Cassie," he warned me, and I let out a sigh.

   "Okay, okay." I stood up and brushed myself off, and when Harry rose to my side and slung his arm over my shoulder, I felt a little bit more of my fear fade away.

   "Let's do this," he grinned, leading me to the front entrance. When we reached the doors, though, he stopped and pulled his Wayfarer sunglasses off his shirt collar. "Here," he said, twisting to face me and slipping them over my eyes. "You'll need these."