Paper Birds

Chapter Two ; Kissing a Stranger

“Oh my God. Oh my God, I am so incredibly, uncontrollably excited!”

No kidding. Abby was literally trembling with so much excitement it scared me. Me? I’d rather be trapped in an oven. There were so many people here I wanted to puke, not to mention my out-of-place clothes making me uncomfortable. Abby would go on for months about how I was the only one not in 1D attire. She’s lucky I bothered to put my British Flag T-Shirt on before we went to the concert, which was now covered by a hoodie since it was absolutely freezing. I shuddered at the thought of being here without so many people; all of the hyped up teenage girls were like an organic, love-powered heater. 

“Claire, you’re glowing, and not in a good way. Why’d you have to wear all white at night?” Abby looked at me scornfully, her skinny arms crossed. “Might as well sell you at the glow-stick stand or whatever that thing is called.”

“God forbid me to wear white on this very important night.” Frankly I was proud of my little rhyme, but Abby wasn’t impressed. Sure, I had on a white hoodie, white jeans and white tennis shoes on, but at least it all matches. And it’s my favorite colour. 

When we finally got in, I immediately regretted coming. We were right next to the stage. The huge, black stage where blinding lights would be shining down into our eyes and music as louder than a freight train would blast our ears all the way into the sun. 

“So tell me again why you decided to come with me?”

I blinked, surprised she wasn’t squealing about Niall or Harry or Louis. I bit my tongue, refusing to get into a large rant about Robbie. So I simply replied, “Family issues.” 

“Again?” 

I nodded. Abby knows how touchy my family has been since my mother and father divorced, separating me from my mom and my other two brothers. I now live my dad, Robbie, and Jonah, who is still older than me but a bit younger than Robbie. There's a lot of testosterone in my family, obviously, since I refused to live with my mother. There's a long story that goes along with that, but I always try not to think about it. 

"Well I'm glad you came." She smiled and added, “Believe me, Clairedy, you won’t regret it.”

I shrugged, not really believing her words. Little did I know at the time that she was absolutely correct. 

I nearly staggered over with shock as the spotlights turned on, disabling every power in me to see out of my eyes. I had to blink about twenty times to see the band coming out onto stage, and even then I could only glance at them. Everyone, Abby especially, was screaming their lungs out. It hurt, so, so bad. I wanted to leave right then and there. I hadn’t even noticed that they started to sing and couldn’t even tell what song it was, still getting over not being able to see or hear anything but a ringing in my ears. I put my hood over my head and held my clasped my hands onto my ears trying to block out the noise as much as I could. I didn’t even know how much time had passed since they first started playing.

Finally the screaming had died down a little, but not as much as it would to be comfortable. I glanced at Abby, who seemed to be completely cool with all of the noise and lights, still screaming with a huge smile on her face. Sometimes I wonder how she managed being so happy in a such a horrible place. 

I decided to actually look up on stage. I was shocked to see Louis - is that his name? - staring directly at me. Quickly, I glanced away for a second, but then eagerly looked back at him in spite of myself. It must’ve been my imagination, I thought; he was back singing and staring out into the crowd like he has always been. I sighed and forced my eyes to return to the floor to prevent more pain and covered my ears again, knowing I looked like a miserable hoodlum but I didn’t care. More than anything I wanted to get out of the concert.