Serendipitous: Liam's Story

Meeting the Boys

“You’re on my sisters’ walls!” She finally figured it out.  As Jolie realized what she’d said out loud, her eyes widened in embarrassment to her rescuer’s amusement. 

~~~

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I just said that.” Jolie muttered to herself as she closed her eyes. She opened one eye hesitantly but closed it quickly when she saw that he was still looking at her. 

“Are you one of the finalists?”

“Yes, umm, Jolie Whitefield.  And you are… Lou- no wait that’s not right, but I swear, L, L, L, Liam! You’re Liam! Leah's favorite.” Jolie said excitedly.  After figuring out who he was though, she wanted to facepalm.  My god he was Leah’s favorite of the bunch.  Leah pretty much kissed his poster before going to bed every night.

Liam coughed unsure of what to say but gave a small smile.  “Oh, I’m not yours?” He joked but started to laugh when the girl in front of him turned a bright shade of red. 

“Um, well, I guess, I mean,” Jolie shook her head to clear her thoughts and to stop stuttering so much. Where was her vocabulary when she needed it?  “I don’t really know all that much about you guys, and… oh what the hell, let’s just say you’re my favorite too just so I can stop embarrassing myself.” Jolie cringed at her stuttering mess of a dialogue.

Liam smiled widely as he gave a chuckle.  “Its okay, I’m sorry about that. I was just teasing.”

Jolie bit her lip before looking back up at him, really taking a look this time.  His sandy colored hair combined with hazel eyes made him handsome but the deep tender expression on his face told Jolie why Leah and so many other girls loved him. 

“How about I introduce myself and we can just start over, hi, Liam Payne.” He said still smiling.

Jolie briefly scrunched her face before looking back up at him, hesitant smile on her lips. “Jolie Whitefield, it’s nice to meet you.” 

“You too, is this your first time in London?” Liam grinned.

“Yes! But I’ve been dreaming of coming here since I was a kid.  My great grandfather was stationed here when he was a WWII pilot… and that’s was too much information, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, that’s awesome-” Liam was about to finish but was interrupted when another person entered the room yelling for the boys.  “Sorry, I’ll be back.” He nodded in the direction he had to go.

Jolie didn’t, couldn’t say anything back but just watched him join the others.

“Oh my god, you’re so lucky, Liam Payne just had a whole conversation with you.” A girl beside Jolie gushed. 

Jolie just let out a breath, still blushing from embarrassing herself so much.  Well that was awkward, Jolie thought to herself.  And Leah’s going to die of jealousy when she finds out that I just met Liam Payne in person. 

All the girls were gathered in a huddle around the five boys and a well dressed man in his business suit,  not quite fitting in with them; the boys that was.  Jolie however stood somewhat to the back still unsure of herself. 

“Ello girls.” One of the boys started, this one Jolie recognized right away. Anna pretty much talked about him every day and being only in third grade with little homework, she had all the time in the world to stalk him, as scary as that sounded.  With brilliant blonde hair and cherub cheeks, Niall was the boy of Anna’s dreams.  “So I wanted to personally congratulate all you girls for your amazing entries…”

Jolie spaced out a little as she observed all five boys. Jolie noted that they all seem relatively close as they stood with little space between them, indicating both comfort and familiarity. She tried to recall all their names by remembering her sister’s descriptions.  The curly haired one was Harry, that was easy to recall. The tanner brunette had a more exotic name, Zayn, and the last one then was Louis. 

“… first we’re gonna start off on the double decker bus and give you girls a tour around London, how does that sound?” Harry asked as the girls around him squealed. 

Even Jolie gave a gasp of excitement, she’d been hoping she’d get to travel on the double decker buses! 

~~~

All of them sat on the top deck, most of the girls surrounded the boys but Jolie sat in the back of the bus a good distance from them in order to just look around her, taking everything in.

“You’re finally in London,” Jolie said breathlessly to herself in awe of the scenery, as she took in the old architecture of the buildings and the Black Cabs that seemed to zoom past them, driving on the other side.  Not wanting to miss anything Jolie began to take pictures of the street and the people. 

Jolie jumped in shock when instead of getting a view of the Duke of Wellington’s statue, she had a rather up close and personal picture of a nose with a slight bump indicating that the person at one point in time had broken his nose. 

“Sorry did I surprise you?” Liam asked grinning at her.

“A little.” Jolie delicately put her camera down.

“Why aren’t you sitting with the rest of us?”

“Headache starting to develop from the high pitched squeals, which I don’t blame the girls at all. It is exciting to meet your favorite band but with the combination of jet lag, starvation, the noise doesn’t help at all.” Jolie cocked her head to the side as she looked on apologetically at him.

“Oh,” Liam said uncertainly.  “Would you prefer if I left you alone then?”

“No!” Jolie exclaimed causing the boy to look at her curiously.  “I didn’t meant to chase you off. Stay if you would like, just no squealing please.”

“I’ll try to contain my excitement then.” Liam grinned causing Jolie to smile back. 

“This tour today will be brought to you by the one and only- Louis Tomlinson,” Louis said taking over the microphone causing Jolie and Liam to look back to the front, where Louis was all the while hogging the microphone too.  “We will start off by looking around us at all these fancy hotels in Mayfair that I never would’ve even dreamed at staying at, until I joined One Direction.” He said emphasizing their name.  “I would like to start by introducing myself,”

“You already did!” Niall yelled back trying to grab the mic back from him but Louis simply put it out of Niall’s reach.  Jolie laughed when Niall finally climbed on the nearest chair and grabbed the microphone from Louis. 

“Excuse me," Niall glared at Louis who innocently shrugged. "Before I was interrupted, as I was saying.  I think before the bus rolls, we should all introduce ourselves and say one thing we like to eat.” Niall grinned at them.

“Eat?” Jolie asked confused that of all things to introduce themselves, it would be what they like to eat.  Liam who was sitting in front of her just cracked up. “Yeah sorry that’s Niall for you.  Food is his first love.” Liam said still chuckling as the mic was passed around.  Being the furthest two from the front, the mic came to them last.

“Liam Payne and I like to eat chocolate, pretty much any kind.” He said before passing it to Jolie.

“I’m Jolie Whitefield and I can’t really think about what I like to eat the most but can I say what I like to cook the most?”

“You’re the one that can cook?!” Niall asked excited. 

“Um yes,” Jolie answered, looking at Niall unsure.

“Wait then you’re supposed to be in my-” he was cut off when Liam grabbed the mic. 

“I don’t see a problem with that.” He answered her question and cut off Niall.

“Oh okay," She smiled. "Well my favorite thing to cook would definitely be coconut jasmine rice with steamed vegetables, sliced potatoes, and sliced beef in a tender panang curry sprinkled with crushed cashew nuts.” Jolie said making hand motions all the while that made the person in front of her grin. 

By the time Jolie finished, Niall was practically drooling. “You wanna cook for us!” Niall practically chirped.

“Um sure if there’s time?” Jolie questioned, unsure still, not quite prepared for the antics of the latest boy band sensation. 

“We’ll make time.” Harry winked at her causing Jolie to awkwardly laugh with dubious smile.