I wake up a little earlier than I have to so to pass the time I grab my phone and check the news online. I'm yawning as I scroll through the site but I almost choke when I see the headline, 'One Direction Caught Smoking Pot [Watch Video]'.
I quickly put my headphones into my phone and press play. I don't believe what I'm seeing. It's Louis and Zayn in the back of a car smoking and joking about getting caught by the police. And Louis is recording it.
This is not happening! This is not happening! It must've been last week after the show in Rio. We ended up taking different cars to get back to the hotel. Louis and Zayn went off into one car with some of the crew and I went into the car in front of them with Harry, Liam, and Niall.
I am going to kill those two! I already have to deal with so much right now, I don't need a PR scandal on top of that.
"Harry," I shake the sleeping boy next to me.
"What?" He grumbles but I know he senses my urgency.
"You have to see this. Tell me I'm dreaming and this isn't real!" I tell him and give him my phone.
He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and then opens one of them to watch the video. "Oh shit!" He sits up, definitely more awake, and continues to watch. My heart is racing. This is awful. "What the fuck were they thinking?" It's like Harry read my thoughts.
I'm shaking my head in disbelief. "This is not happening right now. This is a nightmare!" Don't get me wrong I really don't care if they smoke but they have young fans that look up to them. Young fans that will care.
"What are you going to do?" Harry asks me. Of course I have to clean this mess up some how.
"Serious damage control," I say. "After I kill those two."
I grab my phone and get out of bed, and barge into Louis's room. I turn on all the lights and tell him, "Get up."
"No not yet, Nicole." He jokes.
But I'm furious. "This isn't funny Louis. Get up." I say in a harsh tone.
He realizes I said his full name and I'm not laughing like I usually do in the mornings when I try to wake him up. He sits up and asks, "What's wrong?"
I hand him my phone for him to watch the video. At first he has a confused look on his face, like he's not sure what he's watching and why I woke him up for this. But it doesn't take long before he understands clearly and the blood drains from his face. "Fuck." He breathes.
"Yeah Louis! What the fuck is that?" I say, asking about the video.
"I, I don't know how this got out. Zayn and I were just joking around and I thought it would be funny to record it and watch it the next day. I have no idea how anyone else got a hold of this." He tries to explain in a panicky tone.
"How could you be so stupid? You should know better!" I shake my head. "You have young fans who look up to you. I don't even dare look on twitter to see what they're saying."
"It's not a big deal," Louis tries to reason with me. "It's-".
"To me and to you and to the older fans, no it's not a big deal. But you have kids looking up to you. Young kids, Louis! They watch your every move. Do you know how disappointed they'll be? They adore you and then you go and act like an idiot!" I put my head into my hands and try to breathe. "Fuck."
"I'm sorry okay? It was stupid and I shouldn't have video taped it. I just, I didn't think anyone would ever see it." He pleads.
"I don't even know what to do," I shake my head.
Then my phone starts to ring and my heart begins to race when I see who's calling. Management. Louis sees it too and his eyes go wide. He's shaking his head telling me to not answer it. But I have to. It's my job.
I take a deep breath and step out into the hallway.
"Hello?" I'm so nervous.
"Nicole can we see you in our office as soon as possible please? We have some things we would like to discuss." They ask me. Well it's more of them telling me to come in instead of asking me.
"Sure. Yes. No problem. I'll leave right now." I stumble out.
I end the call and walk back to Harry's room to get dressed.
"Did you yell at Lou?" Harry laughs.
"Management called. They want to see me right away." I tell him, ignoring his previous question.
His face instantly fills with concern. "Did they say why?" He and I both want to know if Management has seen the video. Guessing by the serious tone of the call, I'm guessing they have.
I put on my shoes and throw my curly hair into a ponytail. "No they didn't say. Although I have a pretty good idea why."
"Do you want me to come with you?" He asks me.
"No Haz it's your day off. I'll be back later. We're probably just going to sort all this out." I reassure him.
I park in the Syco Entertainment office parking lot and show the front desk my pass before they let me up to another floor. I let an assistant know I'm here and then I wait. I wait for what seems like hours but that's probably because I'm so nervous about what is going to happen.
I know it's not my fault that the video got leaked. But it's my job to take care of the guys and make sure nothing bad like this happens. But I'll fix it, like I always do. It'll blow over soon enough.
"Nicole, they're ready to see you if you'll follow me," the assistant tells me.
Rubbing my sweaty palms on my pants, I stand up and follow close behind her, trying to steady myself. She gestures towards a big door and I thank her as she walks away. Taking one last deep breath, I open the door and step inside.
"Nicole, please have a seat," a man from Management says and points to the only open chair.
I sit and look at them all and say, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," another man states. "It has come to our attention that a particular video is being circulated concerning some of the boys of One Direction. It appears that in the video they are smoking an illegal substance and making inappropriate jokes. Have you seen this video?" He narrows his eyes at me.
I swallow hard before responding, "Uh yes, sir, I saw it this morning. I'm so sorry about that. It was unprofessional of them to record the video. I assure you that they have no idea how the video was leaked, but I will talk to them about this."
"And where were you during this time, Nicole?" A woman asks me.
"Well it was after a show in Rio and the place was mobbed so we just piled into the cars. I happened to be in one car with Niall, Harry, and Liam. Zayn and Louis went into the car behind us. I was completely unaware that this incident had happened." I tell them the truth.
"I see. But isn't it your job to watch all of them and keep them all in line and focused on their busy schedule?" The woman questions.
"Well yes I suppose," I say. "But I mean there are five of them and only one of me. There's only so much I can do."
There's a pause. I look at each of them, my heart pounding like crazy. They don't look too happy.
"Hmm. This whole thing is very disappointing." One of the men say. "It reflects badly on Syco."
"I apologize that this happened. But don't worry I will fix this." I nod to them.
"Oh that won't be necessary," the man shakes his head.
I'm confused, "Why not?" That's part of my job, I handle publicity scandals and fix anything bad that the boys may do.
The man just gives me a small smile, "That is no longer your job," he tells me. "As of now, you no longer work for One Direction. You may be excused." He goes to stand up like he's already onto the next thing.
"Excuse me?" Did I hear that right? "I don't work for them?"
"I'm sorry but we've decided to let you go. We don't think you're the right fit for this job anymore. Maybe it's just too much to handle for such a young girl," he shrugs.
"But I've been doing this for four years now. You can't just fire me for one bad incident!" I raise my voice.
"Nicole, it was your responsibly to keep track of every single boy in that band. It is clear that you can't handle that so we are letting you go. Your time here at Syco is finished. I'm sorry." He tells me before following everyone else out the door.
I stand there in disbelief. I was just fired. How did this happen? I'm completely stunned.
I head back to the hotel, still shocked by what happened. I don't think it has sunk in that I no longer have a job. I no longer get to travel the world. And I no longer get to spend every day with my best friends. I didn't realize how much my job meant to me. It's my entire life. What am I supposed to do now?
I enter the hotel in the back door, not in the mood to deal with fans or paparazzi. I go up the elevator and to the floor we are staying on and enter my room. I usually just stay in Harry's room so just all my clothes and anything extra of mine or the boys' goes in here. So it's kind of a mess. But I make my way through to the closet and grab my suitcase. I pause for a minute, letting everything sink in, before I start grabbing my clothes to pack them because I guess I don't know what else to do at this point.
"Oh you're back!" Harry says, coming into my room. "How'd it go?" He asks me. I turn to face him and he instantly knows something's not right. And then he sees my open suitcase full of clothes. "What's wrong? What happened?" He comes up to me.
I can't hold it in any longer. I start to cry and I can't stop. I can't even speak so I just let Harry put his arms around me and hug me close to him. He soothingly rubs my back but I can sense how concerned he is. "Shh it's okay. Can you tell me what happened?" He gently asks me.
I pull away from Harry so I can see his face and he wipes my tears away with his thumbs. "They, they told me it was my fault and it was my responsibility to watch all of you. They said it was too much for me to handle so they, they-" I can't even get it out.
"They what?" He asks. His brow is creased from worry and concern.
"They fired me!" I blurt out and his eyes go wide.
"WHAT?!"
"I tried to tell them that I could fix it but they told me it wasn't necessary because I no longer work for you guys or for Syco." Now I'm crying even harder.
"They can't do that!" He almost shouts. "We want you here. They know that!" He's fuming.
"It's not our choice Harry. They are my bosses, not you. Well they were my bosses. Oh my god what am I going to do? I love this job!"
He looks at me like he's the one that is in the most pain out of the two of us. He hates when I'm hurting. I know the feeling because I feel the same way with him. I notice the determined look on his face as he draws his brows together and his hands clench into fists.
Harry looks at me one more time before he storms out of the room. I follow him afraid of what he's going to do. He barges into Louis' room and starts yelling at him.
I run in after him, eyes wide. "Harry stop!" I try to tell him but he just ignores me.
"Do you know what you've done?!" Harry yells at him.
Louis puts his hands up defensively, "Woah man, calm down. What's going on?"
Harry points to me, "Nicole had to go talk with Management about your fucking video and they fired her because of your fucking stupidity!"
Louis looks at me, "They fired you?"
I just look down and nod, feeling sad once again.
"This is all your fault! She is my best friend and the best thing to happen to this band. You just had to go and ruin it! I cannot believe-" I interrupt him.
"Harry, stop." I say sternly. "It's not his fault, he didn't know. It was all just a mistake." I turn to Louis, "Honestly Lou, I don't blame you, or Zayn."
"Nicole, this is not okay." Louis says. "I am so sorry! They can't do that can they?"
"Of course they can do that, they're in charge!" Harry snaps.
The other three boys come into the room, probably because they heard the yelling.
"What's going on?" Liam asks.
"Louis and Zayn's little video got Nicole fired!" Harry says harshly.
"What? Why?" Zayn asks very concerned.
"Okay Harry you need to calm down." I tell him and then turn to the others. "I talked to Management today and they think that the responsibility to manage all of you is too much for me to handle so they said they had to let me go." I tell them.
"They can't do that!" Niall exclaims. "That's not fair to you. To us."
"Well they did and what's done is done." I say.
"Okay wait. There has to be something we can do." Liam says calmly, trying to figure this out. Then he snaps his fingers and says, "Simon!" Referring to Simon Cowell.
"Yeah!" Niall says. "Let's talk with Simon. He loves Nicole, there is no way he would be okay with this."
Liam is already FaceTiming Simon before Niall finishes what he was saying. We all wait patiently hoping that he picks up.
"Hi Liam," Simon answers and then sees all of us staring back at him on the other end. "Oh hello everyone. Is everything alright?"
Louis explains the situation and he and Zayn both apologize for causing such a mess.
"I am disappointed in you both for even recording that video in the first place. But I understand that you are young boys that want to have fun. We will send out an apology on behalf of the whole group. As for you Nicole, there is no way in my right mind that I would let Management fire you. You have kept these boys in line for four years and one little incident isn't going to change that. I will speak with the Syco reps right away and get your job back. Unbelievable that they would even consider that!" Simon tells all of us.
"Oh my god! Thank you so much Simon! I appreciate that so much." I say. I feel like I might cry I am so happy.
I look at Harry and the rest of the boys and see looks of relief on all of their faces.
"You're welcome. I'm about to go into a meeting but keep me updated on how the tour is going. And Nicole, keep up the good work. God knows these boys are a handful." Simon chuckles before we hang up.
"Nicole I am so sorry that this even happened in the first place. I feel terrible that it almost caused us to lose you," Zayn looks at me and apologizes.
"Seriously Nicole. We would never do anything to jeopardize your job or our friendship. We are so lucky to have you and I promise we won't take that for granted again." Louis chimes in.
"Aww I love you guys," I smile at all of them. I feel like I can finally breathe now that everything is going to be okay. Harry squeezes my hand quick and smiles at me, relieved as well.
"Group hug!" Niall says and we all laugh and put our arms around each other. I take a moment to appreciate what a great life I have. I'm the lucky one. I have five of the best friends I could ever ask for.