“Please?”
“No.”
“Please, Paige?”
“Nope.”
“Come on! The VIP tickets and backstage passes I bought were expensive!”
“Nope. I’m not going.”
“Ugh! Who else am I going to take?”
“You have plenty of other airhead fangirls to choose from.”
“But you’re my only friend.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Oh, come on! It’s one night!”
My best friend Darcy and I had been arguing about this since school ended. Now we were at my house and I was trying to eat my bowl of Lucky Charms cereal peacefully, but she wouldn’t shut up.
“It’s only one night, Paige,” Darcy continued. “We can do whatever you want next weekend.”
I sighed. “When is this concert exactly?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“But that’s a Saturday night.”
“And…?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t go, Darcy,” I said, sarcastically sad. “I have to walk the neighbors’ dogs bright and early Sunday morning.”
“Then go to bed as soon as we get home from the concert,” she said.
I exhaled slowly, trying not to explode in frustration. “I hope I don’t regret this… Fine. I’ll go—“
Darcy screamed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
I threw her a fake smile. “Now please explain everything we’re going to do so I know what to wear.”
“Well, we’re going to go out to eat first; then we’re going to go to the concert; then we’re going to get a backstage tour by One Direction themselves!”
I let my now-soggy cereal fall of my spoon, and it plopped into the bowl. “Great. I’m going to have to pry you off of Harvy the whole time, aren’t I?”
“It’s Harry,” she corrected. “Harry Styles.”
“Oh, whatever!” I got up and put my bowl in the sink. “What’s so important about this stupid concert anyway?”
“It’s their first real concert in America!” she said. “And it’s in our own city! Isn’t that amazing?”
“Darcy, we live in New York City,” I said, unimpressed. “Of course their first concert is here.”
Her smile faded. “Tell me again why I am friends with you?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I told her with a sarcastic grin.
She rolled her eyes and groaned. “See, this is why I’m your only friend.”
“I could make more friends if I wanted to,” I said defensively.
She huffed. “Yeah, right.”
“I could!” I insisted.
“Prove it.”
“I will.”
Her face lit up. “Fine. In order for you to prove it, make friends with a guy from One Direction.”
I started laughing, but stopped when I saw her serious face. “Wait… you’re not joking?”
“Nope,” she said with a smug grin. “Either they give you their number or they ask you for yours.”
I tapped my finger to my chin in thought. “What’s the bet?”
“Hrm… Let’s make it interesting,” she said. “I know! Loser serves the winner breakfast every morning for a month!”
I smiled. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”
She squealed. “Ah! This is so exciting! Tomorrow we are going to meet One Direction!”
I gave her a look. “Are you going to stay here in the kitchen fangirling or are you going to join me in the living room to watch a movie?”
She stuck her tongue out at me, but followed me into the living room.
My house is fairly nice; my dad is a doctor, so we are pretty well off. Most people don’t know that, because we don’t like to flaunt around our wealth. I have a nice car (I got my license almost two years ago on my sixteenth birthday). Our two story house is simply but elegantly furnished. We have an underground pool in our back yard that goes seven feet deep. On the second floor, we have several guestrooms for when our large family visits from Kentucky (they are all crazy), and there is a door that reveals stairs that lead to the roof. I’ve never gone up there and probably never will; I’m not fond of heights. Mine and my parents’ rooms are on the first floor. Yes, my parents are still happily married. However, my dad is a doctor and my mom is an author. They spend time with me whenever they aren’t working, which isn’t very often. My dad is either at the hospital, or trying to get a few hours rest before he has to return to the hospital. And my mom is always shut up in her room or on the back patio, engulfed in the story she is currently working on. But I don’t complain. My life is a lot better than others’, and I know a lot of kids that complain about their parents being around too much.
That’s where Darcy comes in. See, her parents are super over-protective. They never let her do anything. We quickly became friends after she realized that she could spend most of her free time at my house where there is little adult supervision. We have tons of fun swimming, talking, pulling pranks on the neighbors… I’m glad I moved here.
My family (just me and my parents) came here to New York City from a smaller town a little ways off. We had a nice house, yes. But the hospital there was not good, nor did it pay my dad what we desired for our income. The only friend I had there wasn’t a good friend at all, either. She was always doing bad things and blaming it on me, getting me into a lot of trouble. And with my parents not being able to be around much, they couldn’t handle it. So we moved. And thank God we did. I first came here when I was a freshman in high school. I also got my first boyfriend that year, but that was quickly over. (It’s not a sorrowful break-up story or anything. I was just insecure and too naïve to realize that I was dating a boring, uncaring guy.) I haven’t had a boyfriend since. But I don’t mind. My life is pretty good. I guess I’m content waiting for the right guy to come along.
But my life was about to get a hell of a lot more interesting.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
“Wake up! Wake—up!”
I forced my eyelids open to see Darcy’s face hovering over me. “Whaaat?” I groaned.
“We’re going shopping for the concert tonight!” she cheered, jumping on my bed and crushing my legs.
“Darcy!” I whined. “Get off, and I might be able to get up!”
She jumped off the bed, and I sat up. “Do we seriously need to go shopping for an outfit?” I asked.
Her mouth gaped open. “Paige! You’ve never questioned a reason to go shopping!” She pulled on my arm, making me get out of bed.
I thought about it. She was right. I was always looking for a reason to shop. I said, “Well… I could use a few new outfits for my wardrobe…”
She smiled. “Yay! I knew you’d come around! We’re going to have so much fun tonight!”
The corners of my mouth turned up into a smile. Maybe she’s right. She would drag me to this concert tonight whether I wanted to go or not. So I might as well make the most of it.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
My ears rang from the thousands of screaming girls. Darcy’s parents had dropped us off three hours early, but there were still many people in front of us. However, I was feeling kind of excited. I was wearing one of the new outfits I bought: a cut off shirt with a smiley on it that had a moustache, dark skinny jeans, and gray Vans. Darcy was also wearing a new outfit: a floral blouse, faded boot cut jeans, and a pair of white wedges. We had both curled our hair, but mine was put in a side messy braid that fell down my shoulder. Darcy’s hair was shorter than mine, so she just left it curled.
Finally, we made it into Madison Square Garden. The seat numbers on our VIP tickets were in the front row, and Darcy was jumping in excitement.
One everyone was squeezed in, music started to play, and smoke filled the stage. When it cleared, five boys were revealed. The crowd roared. I admit, the boys were pretty cute.
I leaned over to Darcy and shouted so she could hear, “What song is this?”
“What Makes You Beautiful!” she shouted back.
I turned by gaze back to the stage, studying the boys. One in particular caught my eye. He had big brown eyes and black hair that was short on the sides but long and gelled up stylishly on top. I kept my eyes trained on him every song. Whenever he had a solo, I closed my eyes and listened. I admit, he had an amazing voice. Maybe Darcy wasn’t as airheaded as I thought.
The blonde haired one announced, “This is our last song for the night. I hope you’ve had as much fun as we have!” His Irish accent made me laugh to myself.
The last song was a slow one. An acoustic guitar played in the beginning. My eyes stayed fixed on the dark-haired boy. As they began to sing, they came to the edge of the stage and ran along to touch peoples’ hands. The Irish boy and black-haired boy came to our side. Darcy screamed and held up her hand. I found it ridiculous, so I crossed my arms, refusing to hold my hand up. When they passed by, I looked up at the dark-haired boy. His eyes met mine, and he stopped singing. But he quickly looked away, jumping back into the song. I shrugged it off and enjoyed the rest of the concert.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
A security man led us backstage. “Just wait here and the boys will be out in a second to give you the tour.” He left us alone.
Darcy turned towards me. “Ready to get some boys’ digits?” she asked.
“My fun-mode is on, and my phone is ready,” I confirmed.
She nodded quickly, either from having too much caffeine or being excited. Or both.
A few minutes later, five boys came out. I discretely searched for the dark-haired guy and spotted him partly hidden behind the others.
“So you’re Darcy and Paige?” the curly-haired one asked. He had nice eyes I noticed.
“Yes!” Darcy said. “I’m Darcy.” She batted her eyelashes. He was obviously her favorite.
“And I’m Paige,” I said with the warmest, friendliest, most non-fangirl-ish smile I could muster.
“Well, if you don’t know us already, let us introduce ourselves,” the boy in a striped shirt, suspender, and red skinny jeans said. “I’m Louis.”
“I’m Niall,” the Irish one said.
“I’m Harry,” the curly-haired boy said.
“I’m Liam,” another one said with a Bieber-like hair cut.
The black-haired guy was silent. I don’t know if he was even paying attention to what was going on.
“That’s Zayn,” Louis whispered. “Don’t mind him. He, uh… isn’t very social.”
“Well!” Nial said in his cute accent, slapping his hands together. “Let’s get on with the tour, shall we? That way, ladies.” He motioned which way to go.
Darcy happily skipped onward. But I sauntered back a little so I ended up towards the back of the group. I looked at Zayn, and he met my gaze for a second before looking away, just like he had done on stage. I wondered if he recognized me.
“So your name is Zayn, huh?” I asked, trying to make conversation.
He nodded but continued to stare at the ground.
“You know, if you like looking at the floor so much, just take a picture. It will last longer,” I lamely joked.
For a split second, the right corner of his mouth twitched up. But it quickly returned to its original set line.
I inwardly groaned. What would it take to get this boy to respond?
Liam gave me a look that said, ‘Just give up.’ I shrugged in response.
“Alright, girls,” Louis said. He abruptly stopped walking, making me run into the back of Harry’s head.
“Ow,” I muttered.
Harry turned around and asked, “You okay?”
I nodded and turned my attention back to Louis, who was acting like the leader of the tour. He said, “This is where we get our makeup done.”
I held back a laughed as I gazed upon the salon-like seats and various mirrors. Makeup was strewn across the tables.
“Hey, don’t laugh. It makes us look good,” Niall said, stroking his cheek like a model.
I could no longer contain my laughter. Darcy was laughing also, her face still bright with excitement from meeting the boys.
Niall smiled at Darcy’s laugh, looking pleased with himself. She stopped and met his gaze. He pretended to turn his attention to something else, his cheeks showing a little pink. I pretended not to notice his obvious crush on my best friend. But I felt bad, ‘cause I knew Darcy liked Harry.
“Let’s continue on,” Louis said. He led us inside a different door. “This is the sound room. It has a view of the entire stage via cameras.”
I chuckled and saw he was right. Above various control panels were monitors that showed several angles of the stage. There were men cleaning up the platform. I sat down on one of the chairs on wheel and slid up to a control panel. I tapped on the microphone, and a thudding noise echoed on the stage, making the working men look around in confusion.
I laughed and said away from the mic, “I guess the sound is still on. Hey, can one of you guys make it so that my voice will sound really low?”
“Yeah, hold on,” Harry said, adjusting some controls.
“Wait—we’ll get in trouble!” Liam said. But he had a mischievous smile on his face.
Zayn stood hidden behind everyone, his gaze fixed on the monitors. I swear, I haven’t seen that boy’s mouth open once since the concert ended. It made me want to get to know him better.
“Oh, who cares?” I said adventurously. “I’ll take all the blame if anything happens.”
Harry said, “Ok, it should be working now.”
I held up by hands for everyone to be quiet. I said slowly into the microphone, “I am the voice from above. Drop your mops at once.”
The men’s eyes grew wide, and they dropped whatever they were holding. The boys, Darcy, and I were trying not to laugh as I went on theatrically, “You must go pick up seven ice cream cones and bring them backstage at once!”
Niall couldn’t contain himself any longer and burst out in laughter. The microphone made his laugh ring out over the stage, low and growl-like. The rest of us couldn’t help but burst out laughing also.
One of the men took out a walky-talky and called for security.
Everyone froze.
“Hurry! Under the stage! Now!” Louis whisper-yelled.
Darcy and I ran out behind the boys, and they led us underneath the stage. We sat down under many wood beams. It was dark, and I am deathly afraid of the dark. My body started to shake. I grabbed the hand nearest to me, and I felt shivers go down my spine—and not from fear. Whichever boy it was whose hand I grabbed wrapped his warm fingers around mine, making a zing pulse through me. I felt surprisingly calm, and my breathing evened out.
My eyes finally adjusted to the dark. I followed our clasped hands up his arm and to his face.
It was Zayn.
He looked back at me, the right corner of his mouth starting to turn up into a smile. Almost. His mouth returned to its normal thin line. But I saw it, and I smiled in return. He didn’t let go of my hand, and I wasn’t about to let go of his.
“You alright, Paige?” Darcy asked quietly. She knew my fear of the dark.
She was too far away from Zayn and me for me to see her. So were the other four boys.
“I’m fine,” I answered.
“I think it’s safe to go out,” I heard an Irish accent say. “Maybe we should go out the back way to the van, just in case.”
“We?” I repeated.
“Yeah, we can take you two girls home,” Louis said. “Let’s get out of here.”
I reluctantly got out of my comfortable position and followed them out from under the stage. We carefully hid among the shadows until we were out the back door. Darcy and I were led to a blue van.
“I call shotgun!” Louis exclaimed. He ran into the passenger seat.
The rest of us climbed into the van. Harry was driving, Darcy and I took the middle two seats, and the other three boys took the three back seats.
“So, gals, where do you live?” Harry asked.
We gave him my address, which he entered into the GPS.
During the ride home, the boys talked about how awesome their first concert in America was. They asked Darcy and me if we liked it, and we showered them with compliments. They then went on to talk about how awesome my little prank was on the clean-up crew and talked about how exciting our escape was. All I could think about was how it felt to hold Zayn’s hand.
Sadly, we arrived at my house. The boys gawked at it as Darcy and I got out of the van. I was used to that kind of reaction by now. We started to walk to my house when Louis rolled down the window and said, “Wait! You aren’t going to leave your numbers or anything?”
“Why, you want us to?” I teased.
“Well, most girls do,” Harry said with a shrug with his hands on the wheel.
I laughed. “Is this you guys’ way of asking for our numbers?”
Louis rolled his eyes. “Just give us your numbers already!”
Darcy and I gave them our numbers and reluctantly said our goodbyes. We walked up onto the porch and waved as they drove off.
I turned to Darcy and said, “See? Told you I could make friends.”
She beamed a smile. “Oh, shut up! Let’s get inside and go to sleep! It’s freaking two in the morning!”
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:~:Paige:~: