Burned {h.s. / n.h.}

Chapter 2

"Hello, everybody!" the boy with the curly hair yells out to the crowd through the mic. Cheer instantly pour through the room, especially from the girls, from histhick British accent. "Are you having fun tonight?" Cheers. He smiles delightfully with dimples that could melt any girls' heart, even Charlie. "Awesome, awesome. My name is Harry Styles, this strapping young lad to my left on guitar is Niall Horan, and we are One Direction!" Immediately, the room is filled with music. I have to say that I'm impressed by them. They aren't singing crappy pop music that will last for a summer and fade out of style; they're singing raw lyrics with guitars, drums, and a sound that is a mixture of Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, Alt-J, Boxer Rebellion, and, most of all, The Black Keys.

As they're singing, it takes me a moment to realize that Connor was just talking to me.

"Georgia?" I hear him say.

"What?" I answer with a confusd look on my face. I'm obviously really into this music. Why is he trying to talk to me?

"I said, 'they're good aren't they?'"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you."

"Yeah, I noticed," he says. I can't tell if his tone suggests annoyance or playfulness because of his quick glance up towards Harry on stage. I also look up at him quickly, noticing he now has an acoustic guitar in his hands as well as the blonde boy Niall. Stage crew brings out two stools for them to sit on and moves their microphones in front of the stools. Harry steps back to take a drink from his beer with his back facing the crowd. I can't help but notice the way his black shirt clings to his muscles.

I turn my attention back to Connor, who is staring at me, and just smile in response.

"So, we're going to slow it down a bit for our last two songs," Harry says, instantly grabbing my attention again.

"This is one of our favorite songs of all time," Niall says with an Irish accent. "I'm sure everyone has heard of it. A lot of our favorite artists like to remake this song. So, here it goes."

"I Can't Make You Love Me," Harry chimes in, and they're guitars begin a beautiful slow rhythmic strumming. The rendition is so beautiful. They sing it with such sadness so moving that some of the people around me have watery eyes. When they finish, they're applauded loudly. Smiles adorn their pretty faces.

"Alright. The next song we wrote with one of our good friends. You may or may not have heard of him; Ed Sheeran --

Niall is immediately cut off by cheering. I can't help but be one of them. I'm in love with Ed Sheeran.

"Ed Sheeran is a genius!" I say to Connor. He seems pleased that I turned to talk to him.

"I guess you've all heard of him then," Niall laughs. It's a wonderful sound, full of an indomitable happiness. "Well, we sat down with him and wrote this song. We really love it just because it hits so close to home. You know, a lot of girls out there are self-concsious, but they shouldn't be. So, we wrote this for all of the girls out there who don't realize just how beautiful they really are."

I listen closely to the lyrics, loving them. The tempo is easy to sway with, their harmony is arguably perfect, and the chords, though simple, are beautiful. When they finish, they say their thanks you's to the crowd, and Harry does something I'm not expecting at all. He walks up directly in front of me and tosses his guitar pick towards me. Some girl standing next to me tries to snatch it, clearly desperate for his attention, but I manage to catch it. He smirks at me, turns on his heel, and makes his way off the stage, glancing over his should one last time to look at me before he disappears backstage.

"That concert was sick!" Oliver yells after Alt-J leave the stage from their encore

"You're telling me!" I grin back at him, high off of the endorphins from such an amazing show. Although, my mind immediately reminds me of the curly hair, dimples, and green eyes as my fingers brushed against the guitar pick nestled safely in the pocket of my skirt.