Two Can Keep a Secret if One of Them is - Season 1

Episode Three - Chapter 13: Spotlight

Louis’ POV

I yawned as shivers ran down my spine. I didn’t get much sleep at all last night; I had the feeling you get when you’re crazy excited but nervous and you can’t sleep. I knew our fans had been working hard at voting, and we owed everything to them if we won these awards tonight. I buttoned up my shirt when I felt hands come from behind and around my waist. It was Eleanor. I smiled and kissed her forehead. “I’m still so proud of you, even if you don’t win tonight.” She said leaning up and kissing me. I was so lucky to have her. She was my support rock through everything I was going through with the lads. I looked at myself in the mirror, analysing my look of the night, as she walked away to go get ready as well. 

The lads and I arrived on the red carpet to thousands of screaming fans and probably double the amount of paparazzi trying to get a million dollar picture of us. We walked over and were pushed through the fans that had waited eagerly for our arrival, the boys and I did stop to get a few pictures with them so that at least made their day. It was quite difficult being in the spotlight at times like these...one wrong move and the whole world would be looking down on you. Judging. I stood there as the lights flashed in my eyes thinking about Harry’s comment to me last night. Every flash reminded me of the headlights of the car...every shout of my name was like a warning coming from all angles, yet I still didn’t know where to look. “Louis, did you bring your girlfriend Eleanor? Louis, how are you coping after the accident? Louis! Louis, over here! Louis could you please give us a smile?” They had so many questions, a few I didn’t even know how to respond to. I smiled and nodded at as many as I could. I didn’t feel quite okay, I was nervous and confused, but I couldn’t let it show. I felt a nudge in the side of my ribs realising Harry was smiling awfully widely. Right, I needed to smile...I was in the spotlight. After what seemed like forever with the paparazzi and press, we finally made our way into the Staples Center, along with other celebrities who I would’ve only dreamt about meeting. P!nk was sitting three seats away from us, which I thought was totally out of our league. I was honoured though, and wasn’t really sure how to carry myself around these high-profile people.

“Mr Louis Tomlinson!” a familiar voice came from behind me in a thick English accent. I turned around to find a colourful bright beauty standing there smiling. “Miss Cher Lloyd! What are you doing here?” “I was invited silly! Couldn’t let my boys go without wishing them luck!” She said giving me an awkward hug before continuing to hug the rest of the boys. What was she really doing here? She wasn’t nominated...no offense. The sweat started dripping down my forehead when she had struck a conversation with Eleanor, who eventually moved up a seat for Cher to sit. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, and I now didn’t know whether I was nervous about the VMA’s or about the girl collaboration behind me.

Before I knew it the time had come to announce who won the first award the lads and I were nominated for. I looked around at Harry who was one side of me, and Liam on the other side. They were both dead quiet. Next to Liam was Niall, who was as jittery as ever, holding his fingers crossed like his life depended on it. I felt hands rub on my shoulders behind me...Cher’s not Eleanor’s. I froze. “And the nominees for Best Pop Video are...” The names rung in my head. There was no way we’d win being surrounded by all these names. I told myself not to be disappointed and to expect it because we were really the new kids on the block. It was an honour just to be invited to the VMA’s, let alone perform and win an award. “One Direction!” Niall flew up and did a high sky jump, whilst I heard Harry and Liam’s manly “YES!” fly out of there mouths...Zayn sat there with his fist in in the air, probably just as surprised as I was. One Direction? Was that the winner? Wait...that’s us...that’s me! We won a VMA! The boys and I pulled into a sincere group hug before we made our way to the stage. It was all such a blessing, and nothing could ruin this night now! Our fans were legitimately the best in the world for doing this for us. 

I was still buzzing as the lads and I finished our thank you speech and walked off backstage to go get changed for our performance. This was to be one of our biggest performances yet. “Look at what we’ve achieved!” Niall said still jumping up and down like the leprechaun he was. We all gave each other individual hugs before we went into our dressing rooms with separate compartments. I began to take my black blazer off, thinking about what Cher and Eleanor would be talking about now, whilst the lads started singing in preparation for our performance. At that moment my phone rang. “Hello?” “AWARDS. AREN’T. THE. ONLY. THINGS. ONE. DIRECTION. WILL. BE. WINNING. TONIGHT.” a loud deep monster like voice said over the other end and hung up. I frowned as the phone beeped into my ear. Suddenly, the lads went extremely quiet and the door to my compartment in the dressing room opened with a loud bang causing me to drop the phone and yell a manly scream.