Saving Grace

Chapter 1: Linnea

“Mum. Dad. I promise to protect her with my life just like you protected us,” I said fingering the necklace that held my parents’ wedding rings around my neck. It was all I had left of them. “Please watch over us and keep us safe.”

“Who are you talking to?” an unfamiliar voice asked from behind me. I whirled around in shock to see a brunette boy looking at me. Something about him was oddly familiar. “The front door was unlocked. We are supposed to be rehearsing here today?” I looked at my watch and cursed. My walk had taken longer than I expected. I was already behind by an hour.

“I am so sorry! I will start prepping the stage now!” I raced off in a panic. I hate being late for anything, and this job was incredibly important to me. I couldn’t afford to lose it. I opened the stage doors and raced up to the stage making sure the floor was clear. “Are you guys going to need lights?”

“Ummm….I don’t know,” the boy said. “Sorry. Li usually knows this kind of stuff. I just wanted to let you know that the lads will be a little late. There was an incident involving Liam and a spoon.” I stopped and looked at him closer. Liam? Spoons? The lads? Where had I heard this all before?

“I’m sorry, but what is your name again?”

“I never said,” he replied with a grin. “Harry. Harry Styles.” I reached into my pocket pulling out the worn flyer and spreading it out in my hands. There was the same brunette boy who stood smiling at me.  “Are you okay?”

“I—I—I think I’m having a panic attack.” He looked over at me concerned.

“Can I do something to help?” I shook my head no. I had panic attacks quite often, and the only thing that seemed to help was deep breathing and reminding myself that all was calm.  [AN: I actually do have panic attacks. I don’t have as many as I used to when I was younger, but I have developed methods to deal with them. My last one was almost a year ago so yay!] “Do you want me to call someone?”

“No,” I stammered out before crashing to a sitting position on the stage floor. It was okay Linnea. You could get out of this. All is calm. All is right. You are okay. Ten minutes or so later my breathing had steadied enough for me to open my eyes and look around. Harry sat next to me watching me closely.

“Oh good,” he said with a soft smile. “You’re okay. I was afraid I was going to have to call someone.”

“Sorry,” I said with a blush. “It’s just when I’m stressed and then something unexpected happens I can freak out.”

“Unexpected?”

“Like when a member of One Direction shows up at my job.”

“I thought maybe you were just taken in by my startling good looks or something. So are you a fan?”

“No, but my little sister is.” He seemed upset by my reply. Wait a minute there Lin. Stop seeing things for what they aren’t. “So you guys are using this space to rehearse?”

“Uh…yeah,” Harry replied his cheeky grin back in place. “We have a big show coming up, and we want to get everything right.”

“So what happened with the other lads to make them late again?” I asked.

“It’s a long story,” he paused. “Actually it’s not really that long of a story. Lou and Nialler chased after Liam with some spoons, and he crashed into Zayn accidentally tossing his favorite mirror off the balcony.” I giggled and he smiled over at me.

“So when will they get here?” I asked suddenly curious to meet them all.

“They texted me while you were freaking out over here. They stopped at some little café because Niall was hungry like always. So we have some time before they get here.”

“Then I should finish setting up,” I said rising to stand. Cute boy or not I needed to focus on my job so I didn’t get fired. “I’ll go get you guys some mikes.”

“Let me help you please?”

“I don’t know Harry.” If my boss knew a client was helping me with setup there would be hell to pay.

“Please call me Hazza or Haz. Everyone does.”

“Okay, but I can handle it myself, Haz.”

“Well I am a gentleman and I insist—“ he broke off and looked at me. “I never caught your name.”

“Linnea, but you can call me Lin. Everyone does.” He nodded. “And I can handle setup. I do it all the time.”

“Too bad,” he said marching past me to the backstage area. “I’m helping Linnea.” Normally I blustered when anyone called me by my full name because only my dad used to call me Linnea, but I was okay hearing it come from his mouth. His slow deep voice made my name sound like heaven. I could listen to him talk all day. “Uh Linnea?”

“What?” I asked waking up from my daydream state. Harry stood there waving a hand in front of my face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I hope.

[AN: How cute was this for me to write? Gosh I love co-writing!]