Liam’s POV
I was relieved when it was over. I loved any gig, but I couldn’t wait until we were back doing our own performances. Free from any restrictions and left to our own antics. I’d dedicated the song to Varshitha like I’d promised. I wasn’t going to let some bitch of a sister make me break a promise.
“C’mon mate, loosen up. We’re going out tonight to celebrate being back in the states,” Harry says, slapping my back before his hand returns to the buttons on his shirt, barely in the room when he pulls it off.
“Where’re we going?” I ask, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he begins rooting through his suitcase for a different shirt.
“There’s a concert tonight at a club. Up and coming artist. A Jay-Z type. Seemed to be the type of music you’d like. Thought it might be something you’d be interested in.”
“Yea, actually that sounds really cool.”
“Great,” he says with a grin as he pulls on a black t-shirt. “Now go get changed, I’ll talk to Paul and convince him that it’s ok.” I slide off his bed and head back to my room, changing into a clean set of clothes.
When I’m ready to go, I meet Harry and Cal in the front lobby. Louis and Zayn were hanging out with their girlfriends and I’m not sure what Niall was doing, but he hadn’t wanted to come. We get to the club and we’re taken to the VIP section. There’s a pretty loud bass echoing throughout and the lights were dim. We weren’t 21, but we’re given drinks anyways while we wait for the main act to start. Perks of being an international pop star.
The guy comes out onto the stage and I turn away from Cal and Harry as I listen to him perform. He had a steady beat and the drinks were flowing freely. I was soon lost in the sway of the music and turned my attention to the crowd around him. It wasn’t really dancing music, but that didn’t stop the people from moving along. The regular area looked gross. Beer was being splashed out of cups and the sweaty crowd was tightly packed like sardines. My eyes land on one person in particular and my eyes widen as I realize it was Elodie. I watch as she throws back her head in laughter when one of the people next to her whispers something in her ear. She seemed different than earlier. The bitchiness was gone and she seemed so at ease with herself. It was almost captivating to watch, until I remembered just how awful of a person she actually is. I finish my drink and set it down on the table beside me, letting my finger trace around the edge of the glass. My eyes are unfocused as I watch her move. How did she get out without security? I pull my eyes off her and look around the club as I pick up the new drink set in front of me, taking a sip. I smile against the glass as my eyes land on a guy in the corner. Looks like she wasn’t completely without security, although it didn’t seem like she realized someone else was here. A couple more minutes, and I’m able to pick out two more people who looked out of place here. I continue to watch her, unable to stop as she moves to the music. At some point, she looks up and I see her looking in the direction of one of the security. She whispers something to one of the people next to her and a couple seconds later I watch her slip through the crowd. I follow her with my eyes until she gets to the bathroom. I force myself to look away, not wasting my time watching a door as I turn back to Harry and Cal’s conversation. It’s not until the concert is nearly over that a commotion back on the floor catches my attention. The guards were pushing their way through the crowd, towards the bathroom. I search the crowds and I don’t see her and it hits me she must have escaped somehow. Why did she do things like that? What was the point of escaping security or making a fool of yourself in front of the paparazzi? That girl was crazy.
Elodie’s POV
I don’t know how they found me last night. All I wanted to do was listen to a concert and they couldn’t even let me do that alone. It drove me crazy, always being watched. I couldn’t give a fuck about cameras and stuff. They could follow me or watch me all they wanted. But the damn security detail. I often wished I’d been born to a different family. One not so involved in the political sphere. Back before he won the election there hadn’t been secret security, but I was always being watched in case someone wanted to harm the senator by hurting me. It was also a lot easier to escape unnoticed from our house back in New York than it was to escape the White House. I didn’t have to pay off maids or cooks to look the other way back then. I just had to go out my window and down the tree. But now…
Anyways, I managed to escape through a bathroom window and meet up with my friends a half hour later in an alley a couple blocks down to continue our night. I didn’t worry about getting home. I knew all I had to do was call and I’d be picked up in seconds. It’s not like I’d be able to sneak IN to the White House anyways. I went out at night knowing I’d get caught.
And in the morning, my dad would yell at me, give me a slap on the wrist, and send me on my way only to have to repeat it the next morning. This morning, when I’m ushered into his office, he’s looking even more tired than usual. I can’t tell if it’s from the stress of his job, or if it’s from the stress of having your 18-year-old daughter evade the guards assigned to watch her. Not that it really mattered to me.
“You couldn’t have given me a break for one day could you?” he asks with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks down at his desk. I don’t respond and eventually he looks up at me. Probably to see if I’m even paying attention.
“You’re taking your sister to the One Direction concert tonight.”
“What? No! She just saw them yesterday,” I protest.
“And she wants to go again and see their actual concert,” he says calmly.
“Can’t you just have Marcus go with her?”
“He’s busy with other things. Their security team will keep an eye on you, but they’ll be busy with other things. I need you to take care of your sister. We’ll send a team to collect you after the show.”
I have to bite my lip to hold back the growl of frustration. Some bubblegum pop band was the last place I wanted tonight and my mind immediately begins to weigh the pros and cons of ditching out tonight. Pro I wouldn’t have to go see some stupid boy band. Con, my dad had been hinting at another boarding school and this might just send him over the edge. Pro, I could do whatever I wanted to tonight. Con, I really didn’t want to wear some stupid uniform for how many weeks it took until I was kicked out of a new school. Pro, my ears would still be intact the next morning. Con the alcohol withdrawal from the first couple days there would be complete shit.
“Fine” I growl. I had to pick my battles and this wasn’t worth getting sent off to the middle of nowhere for.
“Good,” he says dismissively and I turn on my heels, stalking out of his office. Now I was stuck going to some prissy concert with a bunch of screaming children. Joy. I’d rather inject battery acid into my veins. Even worse was the time she insisted we go at. The concert didn’t start until 7:30 so why the hell would we arrive at a quarter to 3? Was the band even here yet? Luckily, we didn’t have to wait outside with the other crazies. We were escorted in to the backstage rooms where we were officially handed over to the band’s security team. Presidential perks. Time passed, and I watched as Varshitha fidgeted around on the couch. I got the feeling we’d just been shoved into a spare room until the concert or whatever started. Nobody was coming in or out and it was fairly empty. I was going to die of boredom.
“Wait here,” I order Varshitha as I stand up and walk to the door.
“They told us not to leave,” she tells me. As if I didn’t know that.
“Yea, which is why you’re going to stay here,” I reply, opening the door and looking either way before slipping out into the hall. We had backstage badges so I wasn’t worried about being kicked out of the area, but I didn’t want someone to find me and force me back in that room. I needed a smoke. It takes me a bit, but I eventually locate an emergency exit and I slip out the door, setting a rock in the door jam to keep it open. I pull out a pack of cigarettes, taking one out and putting it to my lips. I’m just shielding the flame from the wind as I light it, when the door opens more. Fuck, I’ve been found. I think before someone steps out. I breathe a sigh of relief, taking the cigarette between two fingers as I recognize the person. It’s the one in the band with the cheekbones. What was his name? It was something exotic.
“Mind if I bum one?” he asks, nodding his head to the cigarette in between my fingers. I nod, pulling the pack back out, letting him take one before offering my lighter. Once lit, he takes a long drag before leaning his head back against the wall and letting the smoke out.
“Thanks,” he breathes. “I saw the door open and hoped someone was out here I could bum one off of. My girlfriend is trying to get me to quit,” he says as if I’d asked for an explanation. I nod my head, returning my own to my lips as I breathe in the fiery smoke. We don’t say anything else and I like the fact that he’s fine with silence. Some people just couldn’t shut up and I generally ended up wanting to sock them in the face. I’d hate to have to do that to him. Might mess up those cheekbones. Someone else sticks their head out the door and I don’t recognize this person. Probably security or a stagehand or something. He seems surprised that there’s more than one person out here as he looks between Zayn and I.
“Zayn, you’re needed in the dressing room,” he says looking at the guy next to me. Hmm I preferred the name Cheekbones. “And you,” he says, turning to me. “Are you supposed to be out here?”
“Yes” I retort watching a flicker of annoyance cross his face. He knew I wasn’t but he’d asked anyways. He should have expected my answer.
“You should get back to wherever you’re supposed to be,” he responds as Zayn grinds out the cigarette. I roll my eyes, making no effort to move, instead taking another drag.
“I’ll see ya,” Zayn says as he steps through the door. “And thanks again.”
I nod my head and the two of them disappear from view as the door returns to its half open state. I only stay out a couple more minutes, long enough to finish off the cigarette, suddenly feeling bored of waiting out here before I slip back inside. I also didn’t want to risk that guy sending security to collect me. I wander around the halls a bit, peeking into closed rooms and going down deserted hallways. I really just didn’t want to return to the boring room. I wasn’t keeping track of time, but some time later a security guy spots me turning the corner.
“Hey,” he shouts after me, jogging to catch up. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere. We need to get going,” he says, an annoyed expression on his face. He begins pulling me down the hall until I yank my arm from his grasp, shooting him an annoyed expression of my own, returning to walking at my own pace. I can tell he’s frustrated, but I really couldn’t care less as we meet up with my sister and some other security guy waiting in the hallway outside the room. She’s glaring daggers at me as we approach but I just shrug, allowing them to lead us to wherever it is we’re going next. We’re led into a mostly empty arena and seated in the front row. A couple seconds later, I jump in surprise as a scream rips through the arena. I look back in the direction of the noise to see a stampede of a hundred girls or so running towards us. I’m tempted to drop to the ground in the fetal position to avoid them before I realize they’re just running for seats and we aren’t actually going to be trampled. The band comes out a bit later to another scream and they begin fiddling around with their instruments, playing a few songs for the crowd. I take them in, noting that the drummer was actually pretty attractive. I wouldn’t mind hooking up with him in a club. I wonder if he was single… I’m distracted from my thoughts when a scream roars through the crowd and I look off to the side to see the boys emerge onto the stage. If the girls keep screaming every time something happens it was going to be a long night… They sing a couple songs and then let the girls ask questions. Varshitha doesn’t get a chance and I can tell she’s disappointed, but she really just needed to suck it up. She got to see them and actually talk to them yesterday. Finally we’re once again herded, with the rest of the girls this time, to another room for the Meet and Greet. Again, I don’t know what the point of us doing this was since Varshitha had met them the other day, but here we were, waiting in line for god knows how long. If only it was for Chris Brown or something. Then it might be worth it. We finally get to the front of the line and she rushes towards the boys who return her smile as they recognize her. I step to the side, beside the photographer and out of the picture.
“Aren’t ya gonna take the picture with us?” the blonde one says with a distinct irish accent. I shake my head. There wasn’t a chance on earth I’d do that. My friends would never let me live it down.
“Aww c’mon babe,” Curls says trying to woo me over with that dimpled smile. He oozed confidence and I could understand why people were drawn to him but it wouldn’t win me over. I shake my head again. Cheekbones seems to understand where I’m coming from and gives a nod while Shorty and the Leprechaun didn’t seem to care one way or another. Curls shrugs, turning his attention back to Varshitha while the one I’d talked to yesterday shoots me a disapproving glare. I roll my eyes at him and his frown deepens as the picture’s taken.
“Oh sorry, I wasn’t looking at the camera, could you take another please?” he says, snapping back to attention as he looks at the photographer. Wow looks like we got Mr Polite over here…The photographer obliges and he leans down to hug Varshitha as the picture is snapped. He shoots me another glare over Varshitha’s shoulder as she walks over to me and we’re led out again. What was his problem?
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Yay an update! Hope you all like it so far. She's met the boys now. What do you think? She doesn't care much about knowing their names if you've noticed. I'm sure you all can guess which is which. If not... then... idk what to tell you..
The picture is of what they ended up wearing to the club.
Let me know in the comments what you think of everyone so far. And don't forget to vote! :)