“Doing anything exciting this weekend?” her friend casually asked as she tucked her pencils into her backpack.
“Yeah, actually. Jack’s taking me to a concert.” She responded with mild amusement— not because she wasn’t excited to go, but because she was honestly just exhausted from school and work and life in general. She knew she’d probably get excited once they were actually on their way, but that last day of class seemed to trudge on forever and seemed to be slowly sucking the life out of her in the process. Or perhaps not so slowly.
“Oh that sounds fun.” Her friend nodded and slung her backpack on her shoulder, clearly just as happy for class to be over. “What concert?”
“Uh, One Direction, actually.” She replied, folding her planner and looking up to her friend. Her gaze was met with a laugh, but not a mean one. One that told her that her friend thought she was being intentionally sarcastic. Which, to be fair, wasn’t a terrible assumption as she was known to be quite sassy.
“No but really.” Her friend smiled with another laugh. She returned the chuckle because it was almost just as amusing that her friend thought she was kidding. And she did realize the abnormality of her situation. Finding a “normal,” college-aged One Direction fan could seem shocking, she wasn’t going to kid herself about that.
“Honestly!” Her eyes laughed with her friend. “We’re honestly going to a One Direction concert.”
“Seriously? Oh man, that’s hilarious! I didn’t know you were in to them.” Her friend laughed some more, clearly amused in the best possible way.
“Their music’s catchy and they make me laugh.. what’s not to like?” She giggled back and they both paced toward the door.
“Yeah, and I guess some of them are kind of hot. Not going to lie about that.” Her friend agreed nonchalantly, which made her smile. “Well Jack’s a great boyfriend to take you. Have fun at your concert!”
She nodded as they began to part ways, their next classes in opposite direction. “Thanks! Have a good weekend!”
Was it so weird that she liked One Direction? Most of the time she didn’t care about the stereotype so often placed on them, on the fans, on the whole idea of it—this teenybopper pop boy band image. It didn’t matter what other people misconstrued because that wouldn’t change the fact that she still enjoyed their music and personalities. But sometimes it just got annoying for all the same reasons stereotypes are annoying in other instances. Nobody likes to be labeled, nobody likes it when they’re judged on preconceived notions or false information or cultural norms. And not only did it bother her that people misread the band, but it bothered her they misread their fans. Yeah, sure, there were plenty of crazy, young, screaming fans. But their demographic was actually much larger than just those girls and she wished there was some way to re-brand the image of One Direction fans. So instead of the usual, “Oh, you like One Direction? I would never have guessed, wow. You seem so normal.” she’d get something more normal like, “Oh cool. I don’t really listen to Bruno Mars, but he seems cool.” Why did the response have to be so different just because they were a boy band? If people would just take the time to have a listen and take notice of what they were actually like, they might just find that they enjoy them too.
But it was wishful thinking, and she knew it. She shrugged her shoulders to herself as she began her trek back up the hill to her dorm. In the long run she knew it didn’t really matter. She’d continue to be a fan and enjoy their music and banter and crazy antics no matter the crazy ideas people had about One Direction fans. And if anyone asked, she’d be shamelessly honest about her enjoyment of those five lovable lads because, honestly, what was there to be ashamed of?
Besides, she was pretty sure after this weekend there’d be no turning back in her love for this band. Concerts have a way of doing that, you know—making you fall in love with your favorite artists so much you feel like you can’t ever love them any more. Oh yes, the excitement built with every step towards her room. That night she’d pack and try to stay as calm as possible, fighting to sleep rather than stay awake in excited jitters the whole night. And then—an entire day with her boyfriend and a One Direction concert. She couldn’t wait.
