Next month was the Teen Choice Awards. One Direction hadn't been seen or heard up until then, but on the night of the show, they were there, all dressed in Hope's favourite outfits on them. Harry and Louis in tuxes (holding hands like they were each other's anchors), Niall in his favourite leather jacket grimly smiling for cameras, Liam in his blazer, tears already falling, and Zayn, wearing the jacket Hope always used to sleep in. Not one of them was without heavy bags under their eyes. They didn't answer any questions, just walked into the auditorium.
One Direction did not win any awards. A new artist won all the awards they were up for. A younger artist. A happier artist. A man who was not nursing a broken heart back to health.
And then it was time for the Choice Artist of the Year. The award Hope had been nominated for. A smiling celebrity presented the award, first taking a few cracks at how wonderful this year had been, and even singing an off-key version of a Justin Bieber song. Then, she opened the award.
"And the Choice Artist this year goes to," she took in a deep breath, before looking sadly at the cameras. "Hope Malik."
At first there was silence, as the boys slowly got up and started to walk towards the stage. Then, Ed started cheering. All of a sudden, Kaylee and Luna were standing up next to him, whistling and screamed. A few more people stood up. And then the entire audience was standing up, whistling and cheering, as the boys smiled, shuffling up onto the stage. The cheers quieted to a respective silence as Zayn took, the award, and looked at the audience, his mouth opening, only ghosts of words coming out. His eyes were filled with tears, as he looked at the award, and at the pictures behind him, of Hope laughing and singing.
"Hi." He finally managed to to choke out. "Thanks for the award. I, um, thanks." He ducked his head and went to stand by the boys.
Niall stepped up next. "I would say that Hope is still right here in this room with us, but she's dead and that line is crap and I wish I could change that. But I can't and this award is as close as we're gonna get to having her back." He chuckled sadly. "That and her stupid catchy songs." The audience laughed as well.
Finally it was Louis's turn. He slowly walked up to the mike, Harry following slowly.
"Hope Malik was absurd. Crazy, immature, stupid, sassy, and unconditionally in love with my best friend. (Who, by the way, loved her just as much, if not more). She hated it when people called her short, and the hardest I ever saw her cry was when she realized she probably wasn't going to live long enough to see the next season of that one anime show she always watched.
"Her jokes made no sense, just like her style (I mean seriously. Silver hair? How old do you want to look?) and her driving was horrible. She knew where she was going, it just may take her two hours more than she expected to get to the final destination. And the videos! She couldn't go a day without making a video of some kind and sharing her life with the fans. 'They threw away their social lives for us Louis.' She would always say. 'We owe them this much.'
"Those were some of her flaws. And god, I could go on forever about all her imperfections, but I won't. Instead, I'll tell you about the good things in her.
"Hope Malik was short, but it made her approachable. Her videos saved lives, and she genuinely cared about ever person that she met. Somehow, silver hair looked good on her, and her style made her stand out in a crowd. She may have been horrible at directions, but she never gave up. That's why we loved her. Because she never gave up on anything. Not even us. Not even when she realized just how horribly broken we all were, how close we were to falling apart, she came along- this little girl with enough sass to kill a person- an fixed us. Made us happy again, after Hope came along, it was like a big, happy family. Hope is the reason I can hold my boyfriend's hand in public. Hell, because of her, we got to see Zayn Malik in love. In love!! You may have not gotten to see this, but let me tell you, he was a mess before her. And then all of a sudden, he was smiling and laughing and even making a joke about the weather every now and then. It was like One Direction was One Direction again.
"So thanks Hope. I know, wow. I actually thanked you. But I did it because you made us whole, and I'll never be able thank you enough. " Louis's tears fell faster, as his hand clenched around Harry's. "thank you."
He turned to face the picture on the large screen.
"Thank you."
Her eyes were open in the picture, the last laugh encased in them for eternity.
"Thank you."
He whispered once more before allowing Harry to lead him down from the stage.
Hope won three other awards that night, the Best Dressed award, the Top Song award, and the Most Played award.
