"Oi!" Niall shouts, rapping on another door. "Louis are you naked?"
"Yes I am!" Louis' voice replied faintly through the thick wall. "One moment for me to put my trousers on, please!"
Niall smirks at me as I lean against the wall. A full minute later, the door swings open with Louis standing there in full concert garb.
"Why are you wearing that stuff?" Niall asks confused. "The concert's over. Just get into sweatpants or something."
"It seems some hooligan has stolen my sweatpants." Louis blows his bangs out of his face. "I suspect Harry is behind this."
"We're gonna go to him soon," Niall mentions. "If he's got your trousers I'll bring them back to you."
"Thanks, mate." Louis turns to me, folding his arms across his chest and smirking playfully. "So this is the girl that's caused all that Twitter drama. Nice to properly meet you."
"Thanks," I stammer, trying not to shake. On camera, Louis seems hard to please. I've actually been most afraid of meeting him because he seems to have high standards when it comes to the people he surrounds himself with. I can't mess up. That would kind of suck.
"Come in, guys," Louis beckons, turning the knob of his dressing room. "It's so... bleak out in this corridor."
Niall and I enter the room and Louis shuts the door. I suppress a giggle when I notice a pair of Louis' heart-covered boxers hanging off a chair. He notices this and subtly pushes the boxers out of sight.
"So." Louis clears his throat. "Is Niall telling the truth? You two didn't fuck in that lift?"
My face immediately turns the color of that pair of underwear. How can he ask that without feeling some sort of embarrassment?
"Lou, man," Niall frowns at Louis. "Be nice. Erin's cool."
"Sorry," Louis shrugs. "Just wanted to validate it. The fans are thinking the same thing."
"Well we didn't do anything," I blurt. "And even if we did, that's a rude question and you shouldn't have asked it." I mentally smack myself for letting my anger get the best of me. Did I really just sass the sassmaster? What is wrong with me?
Louis narrows his eyes and stares at me for a moment. Retreating back into my shell of a self I avoid his gaze, admiring my freshly-bitten nails.
"I like her, Nialler," Louis smirks. "She's got... something. Shame you two aren't an item."
Relief floods through me. I've just been accepted by 1/4 of the boys I need to impress. Maybe they all like a bit of spunk. Too bad I can't always deliver it.
Niall, Louis and I chat a bit more, mostly about random crap. I make Louis laugh multiple times and, judging by how little he laughs in interviews compared to the other boys, makes me extremely proud of myself. My humor is a sort of acquired taste. People normally have to get used to it before it makes them laugh. In Louis' case, I barely had to make an effort and he just found everything I said to be funny.
As Niall and I leave the dressing room, I bid Louis goodnight.
"I hope to see you around, Erin," Louis waves back. "You made last night's concert much more interesting."
I blush and Niall closes the door.
"That was impressive," Niall lets out his breath like he's been holding it this whole time. I give Niall a quizzical look.
"I mean, he's a bit hard to please." Niall starts leading me down the hallway to another door. "It took me weeks to get him to even smile at any of my jokes while it took you less than five minutes."
"Are you jealous?" I tease.
"Honestly, I am," Niall admits. "But only a bit."
He pauses and looks back at me. We share a smile before he resumes leading me to the door. He knocks on it.
"Liam!" Niall yells. "Liam I want you to meet someone!"
"Come in!" Liam shouts from inside. "But be careful! There's water on the floor by the door!"
Niall opens the door slowly and we sidle into the room. While his and Louis' still had some messiness too them, Liam's is completely spotless. Not clean in the sense that it looks like he's maintained the room; there isn't a single piece of clothing anywhere. Everything is in the opened suitcase upon one of his chairs.
"Erin!" I turn to the right to see a shirtless Liam walking towards me with his arms outstretched. I freeze immediately.
Holy shit mother of pearl lord baby Jesus. Liam Payne isn't wearing a shirt and he wants to hug me. I do a tiny mental jig and look anywhere but at his exposed skin.
"Hi," I squeak as Liam embraces me. Oh dear, what beautiful mitzvah did I do to deserve a blessing such as this? Liam is incredibly warm and I admit I go faint for a millisecond.
"Nice to actually get to talk to you!" Liam exclaims after unfortunately releasing me. "Niall's been talking about you nonstop since Wednesday!"
I blush and push some of my hair back behind my ear. I'm surprised it hasn't fluffed up yet. It's been perfectly straight throughout this whole night. Eh, I'm not one to mess with a good thing.
"It's nice to meet you too," I say quietly. "Your concerts were really great."
"Aw thanks, love," Liam grins. "Honestly, I think tonight was one of our best yet. But I see your sister didn't think so."
I laugh a bit. "She's not used to staying up so late. She loves you guys, she really does."
"It's a shame we didn't get to meet her as well," Liam pouts. "Was that woman your mum?"
"Yeah that's her," I respond, my cheeks turning slightly crimson.
"She doesn't look like you or your sister," Niall chimes in. "Her hair isn't red."
"Nobody else in my family has red hair," I explain. "My great-grandmother used to, but now Katie and I are the only ones left."
"Well it's a lovely color," Liam says cheerfully.
I thank him and we continue chatting. I try to make jokes but it seems that a few of them fly over his head. I like to consider myself fluent in English and sarcasm but I forget that sometimes other people are not. Other than him not understanding all my attempts at jokes, we seem to get along fine. I compare him to Louis and decide I'm much more comfortable around the former since our conversation was more of a back-and-forth script of quips and jokes. Liam is really nice though and I had no fear of him not liking me, since he seems to be okay with everyone. That's two out of four who've accepted me as a friend of Niall's. Two to go.
I got this.
~~~~~~~~~
"Yo!" Niall shouts for the third time. "Zayn can I come in!" Zayn hasn't said a peep and Niall's getting a bit worried.
"Why don't you just open the door?" I suggest, trying to be helpful.
"What if he isn't dressed?" Niall looks at me worriedly.
I shut my eyes tight. "Nothing to lose, Mr. Horan."
I hear a chuckle and then a turn of a doorknob.
"Zayn?" I hear Niall yell, dragging my temporarily blind ass into the room. "Zayn, bro! You in here?"
No reply comes to Niall. After a few seconds though, we hear a small groan from the corner. I hear Niall's footsteps drift away from me.
"Wake up, Zayn!" Niall insists. Well I guess he found him. "Come on, man. We've gotta be on the road in like a half hour! Erin you can open your eyes. He's dressed."
I gratefully lift my lids and walk over to the pair of bickering boys.
"Ni..." Zayn grumbles. "I don't wanna get up."
"I want you to talk to Erin," Niall says, trying to sound soothing.
"I already met her," Zayn mumbles. "I think she's a wonderful all-around girl and she's perfect in every way. Now please leave and let me get another twenty before we have to spend the night on that dreadful bus."
Niall looks up at me and smirks. "Guess we'll let him rest then."
"He needs his beauty sleep," I say. I hear a little chuckle from the tired boy as Niall and I exit the room.
"Did he actually mean that?" I ask once the door is shut. "Did he like me?"
"Yeah he did," Niall smiles. "He was pretty awake at the time and he doesn't lie."
I grin, satisfied with how this is going. I somehow managed to get on three of the boys' good sides in a span of less than twenty minutes. All that's left now is Harry.
I'm not worried about Harry. I was most scared of impressing Louis and Zayn and since I've done that, this shouldn't be too hard. I really want them all to like me. I can't pinpoint exactly why I do, though. I guess it's partially the fangirl inside me and partially me wanting to be closer to Niall. I feel as though if the people he cares about most remember me, he'll do the same.
"Harry!" Niall shouts. "It's Niall! Can I come in?"
"Yeah, mate!" Harry yells back.
Niall pushes the door open and we enter. Harry's room is just as cluttered as Niall's and Louis' were.
Harry isn't facing us. He is facing away from us and pulling on a pair of sweatpants. I look away because I'd rather not look at Harry's butt without him knowing.
Well, at least in person. The Internet doesn't count.
"Harry," Niall says suspiciously. "Are those Louis' trousers?"
Harry laughs and turns around. "Yeah they are--" He stops when he sees me. "You didn't say she was here."
"Yeah I wanted you to properly meet her," Niall says enthusiastically. "Erin's already met the other boys."
"Oh, okay," Harry says stiffly. "Nice to meet you."
I try to put on my winning smile. "You too, Harry."
"Mr. Styles, you mean," Harry narrows his eyes at me. I stand there unable to think of a sensible response.
"Man," Niall says, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't be a dick. Erin's my friend."
"I bet she is," Harry growls. "You guys probably tell each other every little secret you've got. Then she runs over to her squealing friends and spills everything to them. She doesn't want to be your friend. She wants everyone to know you're friends."
I am at a loss for words. I've been the exact opposite of what Harry just described this whole time. My perfect situation would've been having no one ever find out we even met, but that obviously didn't happen.
"Harry!" Niall exclaims. "What the fuck?"
"You know it's true, Niall," Harry says, glaring at me. "She probably blogged about your whole meeting and bragged about it to everyone she knows. She's soaking up all this attention like a sponge."
My eyes start to feel a bit wet while he talks. Why does he hate me so much? I've barely said three words to him and he's already accusing me of something I haven't done and would never do.
"Come on, Erin," Niall says, grabbing my wrist. "I'll talk to him about this later."
As Niall's leading a shocked me out the door, I hear Harry mumble something having to do with me being an attention whore.
"That's not true," I whisper to Niall once we close the door. "I promise you none of it is. I want to be your friend because I like being around you, not because of your fame."
"I know," Niall reassures me as he pulls me into a hug. "I haven't thought you were. I don't know why he's acting up like this."
"Why did he hate me?" I sniff. "I didn't do anything to him!"
"I don't know," Niall whispers. "I said I'll talk to him about it later."
We stand in the hallway for a couple of minutes, arms wrapped around each other. This is partially a consoling embrace, but also a goodbye hug. I probably won't see him for another few months or so.
As we stand there, I think back to our meeting and how much we've grown to appreciate each other's company. I don't know when exactly this relationship changed from acquaintanceship to friendship but all I can say is that I am immensely glad it did.
"Erin, I am really going to miss you," Niall says without removing his arms from around me.
"I'm going to miss you too," I reply. Who would have thought I would be having this conversation with someone I spent a good three months of my life basically stalking on the Internet? This is one plot twist that even Sherlock Homes wouldn't have seen coming.
"But, Erin," Niall begins. "I want you to know I'm serious about that."
"What do you mean?" I look up at him.
"I don't want you to think I say that to everyone I'm not going to see for a while." Niall moves back a bit so he can look me in the eye. "I'm going to miss you as much as I do all my friends from home that I've grown up with when I'm on tour."
Well that's shocking. I find it odd that in less than a week we've become so close to each other. We haven't even said extremely personal things about ourselves, yet for some reason it feels as though we've let each other know everything.
"Erin, our tour ends in January," Niall says. "Then I'm working a bit in the studio and other places until mid-February. Then I get a week-long break. I want to come visit you then."
Four months is quite a long time to go without seeing a friend. But I guess I'll have to live with it if I want to maintain this friendship I have with Niall. It is definitely one of the strangest relationships I've ever been a part of, now that I think about it. Although similar in age, we have basically nothing in common other than a love of food. And of One Direction, but I think that's a tad obvious.
I feel a buzz and my pocket and am forced to release Niall and open my phone.
"Erin," I hear my mom's sleepy voice from the other side. "Please hurry up. Katie's been out cold since we got here and I think I'm about to join her."
"Okay, mom," I sigh. "I'm coming."
I close my phone and look back up at Niall.
"I'll bring you to the exit." He smiles and holds out his hand. I take it and we head down the hallway.
Niall brings me to a large pair of double doors.
"There's a man outside who will bring you to your car," Niall tells me. "So I guess this is goodbye."
"Not for too long," I smile. "February isn't too far away, now that I think about it. Before you know it you'll be back in New Jersey."
Niall smiles sadly and pulls me in for another hug. We don't move for a full minute. I sigh and reluctantly pull away.
"My mom's exhausted," I say. "If I don't go now she'll just pass out."
"Okay." Niall pushes the door open and points to a man wearing one of those fancy security jackets. "He'll take you to your mum."
I nod at Niall. I'm about to step out the door when Niall swings me around and plants a kiss on my cheek. He blushes slightly and closes the door, leaving me in utter confusion.
As the security man, whose name I learn to be Marc, brings me to Mom, I try to push the butterflies in my stomach back into their respective cocoons.
Niall Horan of One Direction just kissed me on my fucking cheek. Holy poop this is the greatest night of my life. I don't think anything could ever--
Wait. Niall Horan of One Direction? That's who he is to me? I'm seriously fangirling over this? Maybe if any of the other boys did the same thing I wouldn't be reprimanding myself over this, but I'm talking about Niall.
Niall, who I've shared a bunch of secrets with, a bunch of food, and a bunch of time. He gave me a friendly kiss on the cheek, something he probably does with every female he's ever met.
I can't like him that way. It's hard enough with the prospect of trying to maintain a friendship with him when he is constantly many miles away from me. Imagine what it would be like to add a crush onto that missing piece of my life.
As I slide into the passenger seat of my tiny Honda and my mom shakes herself from her tiny driver's catnap, I promise myself that I will not develop feelings for Niall.
I've never been good at keeping promises, though, so we'll see how this turns out.