The beach was packed. I stood on the cliff steps, in shock, looking at all the people who had invaded my usually peaceful coast. Despite it being English summertime, this part of the coast was always quiet, due to the cold and the rough sea, but today, the masses had decided to flock to my holiday spot instead of Cornwall. I huffed, and plodded down the rickety stairs in a red crocheted top and a wraparound white skirt which flapped in the biting breeze. I fought my way through the throngs of people, trying to find my best friend who had left me earlier to get a spot on the sand.
Upon finding Rey, I stretched out on the ready laid towel and soaked up what little sun there was, closing my eyes and blocking out the world. Until Rey spoke.
"So I found out why there's so many people here..." she stared at me with a huge grin on her face, expecting me to show interest.
"Go on."
"You'll never guess who's coming to town tonight?" Her smile was even wider now, like a cheshie cat, and she kept nudging me until I shrugged. "Ugh fine I'll tell you. It's Harry Styles!"
"Yayyy." I said in the flattest tone I could muster, before closing my eyes again.
"Em, Harry Styles? My idol?" She looked so crestfallen I almost felt bad. Almost.
"I'm sorry Rey but you know I don't like him. I'm happy for you though." I sat up, slowly coming to the conclusion that I should end this conversation before she asks me —
"You're coming with me! I got us both tickets." She winked, back to grinning triumphantly. "And you can't say no, I go to everything with you.
I groaned, sinking back down until my head thumped on the ground. Of course I'd go with her, but doesn't mean I'd look forward to it.
"Yessss! Love ya lots Em." I was tackled into a hug and despite the concert looming, I laughed along with her. She shot up all of a sudden. "Ember, we need to go — what am I going to wear? And we need to do our makeup!"
"But we only just got here —"
"It doesn't matter! I'm about to see Harry freaking Styles! Let's go."
And with that, I was dragged from my sunbathing spot, and pulled from the beach, back to our apartment.
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After taking a shower and drying my naturally straight hair and bangs, I went to get ready in my bedroom. I was planning on wearing something casual, but Rey was determined that we'd both look presentable. She'd laid out black flares, a turtleneck crop top, a leather jacket and some of her gold jewellery which she never let anyone borrow until now.
"Get dressed, then I'm doing your makeup!"
"Seriously Rey? He's not even going to see us. And even if he did, I'm not trying to impress him." I almost barfed at the thought.
"Aww come on Em. I want us both to look bomb. Just think of the Instagram..." I laughed and rolled my eyes as she wiggled her eyebrows, knowing she'd won.
An hour later, Rey had finished my makeup: a simple winged liner, a dusting of gold eyeshadow and a neutral toned lipstick. She herself was ready, sporting a Harry Styles oversized tee with a belt and ripped jeans. I scrunched up my nose at the outfit choice, but unperturbed she just stuck her tongue out at me. We were ready to go.
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We entered the huge building and the sounds of screaming fans and thumping bass immediately filled my ears. We walked to our places near the front of the crowd, having to fight past violent teens with huge signs of Harry's face on them, and once arriving, Rey switched on fan girl mode.
"Rey?"
""What did you say?" She shouted back, cupping her ear.
"I'm going to get a drink." I was being loud, but she still couldn't hear, and just shook her head at me. So I pointed at myself, then mined drinking and pointed towards the bar.
"Ohhh ok. Get me one!" She said, forgetting about me soon after and dancing to the bass.
I threaded amongst the fans, but was stopped by a wall of bodies when Harry came on the stage, the shrieking rose to a higher decibel, signs were shook, and one woman shouted: "I've been to every single one of your concerts! Please notice me!"
"Stalker." I hissed at her, finally breaking through the tide to the bar. I held my head, taking a minute to recover and started when I noticed the bar tender looking at me.
"Not a fan?" He asked, smirking slightly.
"No. I'm just here for moral support."
"Very brave of you." He smiled at me sympathetically. "What can I get you?"
"Two beers please."
Five minutes later, I was back with Rey who was screeching along with 'sign of the times'.
"Just stop your crying
Have the time of your life
Breaking through the atmosphere
And things are pretty good from here
Remember everything will be alright
We can meet again somewhere
Somewhere far away from here..." She grabbed my arms, and began a strange ritual of jumping and screaming, swinging me along with her as went. I tilted back my head, still refusing to sing, and let my body go.
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"Hello everyone!" Harry panted, and everyone in the audience swooned, including Rey, who leant against me for support. Except me of course. "So I have a nice surprise for you tonight!" He paused for breath again. Can this guy get to the point?! "You see these plastic balls I have here?" He held up a half blue, half pink ball, about the size of a golf ball and let everyone take a good look before throwing one into the crowd. "There are only a limited number of these. Whoever catches one can bring themselves and one other person for a meet n' greet with me backstage!" I heard a whoop from towards the back of the room, presumably from whoever had caught the first ball. "Good luck!" He shouted flinging a handful of them into the frenzied crowd.
About four of them came our way. I saw Rey jump over someone on the floor and reach her hand into the air towards on of them... and... she was blocked from my sight by a gaggle of people searching the floor. I felt a sharp tap on my shoulder. A miserable looking Rey had snuck up behind me.
"Aww Rey, I'm sorry you didn't get one." All of a sudden, she looked like she was trying to suppress a grin.
"I'm not, look!" She held up a pink and blue ball to the light.
"I see someone over there has got one!" Harry pointed towards Rey, and she once again swooned and fell onto me. "That's all for tonight folks! If you have a ball, come to the VIP section and you will be let in. Thank you, I love you all!" He blew several hundred kisses and backed away, until he had disappeared from sight.
"Come on Em, quick! I want to be the first there."
We were not. There were roughly about twenty people there already, and a few more had come in since we'd arrived. A burly security guard lead us down a corridor, and outside into an enclosed garden space with lots of seats and a board you could take photos in front of with the names of Harry's albums on it.
"Yo Rey, I'm going to go stand over there for a bit if that's ok? It's going to be manic once Harry comes in, and I don't want to meet him anyways."
"That's alright don't worry. I'll text you when I'm done. I can't believe I'm about to meet Harry Styles!" She began to skip away, but turned around and blew me a kiss at the last second.
I chose a bench near the back of the area, and pulled out my phone. I had a new text message from an unknown number, and just as I was about to open it the door Rey and I had just come from opened and Harry Styles emerged. I sighed as the screaming started — this was going to be a long wait.
My message said: "Hey Ember it's Will? You gave me your number a while ago. Just messaging to see if you wanted to meet up with me and my brother next week for a catch up? Let me know x"
I could feel my brow furrowing. Will was one of my mum's friend's son, and we had played together constantly when we were younger. He used to be my best friend, and in all honesty I'd had a major crush on him. They'd moved, and we only met up occasionally from then on, the last time I'd seen him was last year, when we were both home from uni and coincidentally seen each other in town. I'd given him my number and waited for him to text, but he never did. I felt someone approaching. A shadow fell over my phone.
"You look upset. Anything I can help with?" I looked up. Harry Styles stood above me.
"No, I'm good." I made a point of looking back down at my phone, hoping he'd take the hint and leave, but instead he thumped down on the bench next to me.
"I'm terribly sorry if this sounds rude, but do you not want a photo?" I set down my phone, but still stared ahead, watching a distant Rey lovingly smile at a photo she'd just had printed off for her.
"No thank you." I said again, my voice bland.
"You don't say much do you. Not a fan?" I snapped my head to look at him, but he didn't look hurt or offended at all. In fact, he seemed quite amused.
"Not particularly." I reached for my phone again, but didn't go on it.
"What's your name?"
"Ember. Yours?" I congratulated myself on a bland comment well delivered. He found it funny, chuckling to himself and smirked at me, his head tilted to one side.
"I'm going to need more than that. A last name, a number?" I stared blankly at him, my phone dangling from my limp hand.
"A number? Wow subtle." I couldn't imagine why he'd want my number, and he clearly hadn't gathered that I really didn't like him but I decided to be bold. "If you can find me I'll give you my number." I winked and strode off towards Rey, completely ready to go.
"Hey girl! Ready to leave? Harry disappeared somewhere and I don't think he'll make another appearance so we can go."
"Thank you. Do you fancy pizza?"
"Yes of course I do." We walked in silence for a while until Rey smothered me in a big hug. "Thank you so much for coming with me today Em, I know it wasn't fun for you."
"Anything for my bestie. But now you seriously owe me pizza."
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Thank you for reading my first chapter! Please vote and comment <3