[Author's Note] This is my first attempt at the fan fiction and romance genres, so I apologize in advance if it's pretty bad! If you like it, don't forget to vote, and maybe even comment! Thanks, guys :)
Also as a side note, I will try to update this story every Friday, so keep an eye out for new parts!
-Meric
Chapter 1
I was jolted awake by the loud sound of the tour bus' squeaking brakes as we came to a stop in the parking lot of our gig in Los Angeles, CA. Golden sunlight filtered through the windows as my green eyes fluttered open.
"Everybody up," Paul, our security guard, said. Mild sounds of stirring soon followed his instructions.
"Alright, Alright," Louis replied. "We're getting up." I watched him stand up and stretch out, his muscles flexing under his loose white t-shirt as he pulled his long arms behind his head before heading to the loo. Liam popped off the La-Z-boy next to the sofa I was laying on like he'd been waiting to get up for hours. I could hear the muffled sounds of Niall and Zayn getting out of the bunk beds in the back of the bus. Too lazy to do the same, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. We'd been in the states for almost two months, and I still hadn't gotten used to the time differences. I missed the familiarity of England; all the travel was exhausting.
"Hazza, it's time to wake up," I heard a deep voice coo as a warm hand rubbed my back gently.
"Go away," I grumbled, snuggling my face deeper into the fold of the couch cushion.
"Come on, Haz," the voice said again. "Wakey, wakey." I rolled over on the couch to see Liam towering above me, his deep brown eyes and soft features comforting.
"Can't you just leave me to sleep?" I asked, my voice no longer hindered by the fluffy cushion.
"No," Liam responded, with a stern edge to his voice. "We've got a lot to do today. We've got a meet and greet session scheduled for 11:30, and a concert this evening. You need to start getting around. It's already 10 o'clock." I clumsily sat up, rubbing my eyes. Liam wandered off to go change his clothes and get ready, while I just sat there with my head in my hands. The constant hustle and bustle of this life was not something I enjoyed. The money was fantastic, and the fans were amazing, but I never in a million years thought that I would ever be this tired. The shuffling of feet and clanging of doors caught my attention as Niall appeared from the back room of the bus still in his pajamas. His blond hair stuck out at odd angles, and his eyes were barely open as he reached into a short cabinet to grab a box of cereal. The tinkling sound of small pieces of crisp wheat hitting a ceramic bowl filled the room, before Niall took the bowl and sat down at the built in table.
"Are you as tired as I am?" I asked him. When I received no response, I looked up, tousling my dark, shaggy curls out of the way so I could see him. I about fell off the couch laughing to find that Niall was passed out asleep in his bowl of cereal. "I'll take that as a yes."
**********
I laid awake all night waiting for my alarm to go off. Today was the day that I, Rae Dawson, was finally going to meet One Direction! I was both excited out of my mind and nervous that I would be awkward. When the beeping of the buzzer told me it was 7 o'clock in the morning, I eagerly hopped out of bed to go take a shower. I quickly washed and toweled off. I had laid out my clothes the night before after trying almost every clothing combination I had in order to save time. I made sure everything was perfect before curling my long, brown hair and doing my makeup. This had to be perfect.
"It will be perfect," I said to myself as I popped out of the bathroom and grabbed my copy of Up All Night. I bounded out of my room and down the stairs to get breakfast before rushing out to the car. I didn't want to be late to the meet and greet.
**********
After helping Niall clean up his cereal mess, I rifled through my luggage to get fresh clothes out. I pulled out my grey Ramones t-shirt, and black denim jeans, and headed toward the loo. I got there to find that Louis was still in there, probably asleep where nobody could yell at him.
"You almost done in there, Lou?" I called through the door. A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a sleepy looking Louis.
"Why'd you have to interrupt my nap, mate?" He asked, a smirk on his groggy face.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, your majesty," I joked, a smile playing at the corners of my mouth.
"You filthy peasant," he replied, utterly serious as he slid past me out the doorway heading for the kitchenette. I slipped into the bathroom to change my clothes and brush my teeth. Looking into the mirror to check my teeth for remaining particles of breakfast, I looked pointedly at my disaster mess of hair. At least our stylist can fix this, I thought to myself before heading back out into the kitchen area.
"Is everyone almost ready?" Paul called to us from the couch in the front of the bus where he was sitting.
"I think so," Liam called back. Surveying the kitchen, I noticed that everyone was already out here except for Zayn.
"Hey, Zayn," I called into the back room. "You coming out here sometime today?" Before I could step down the small set of stairs into the kitchen, Zayn burst out of the back room, throwing open the sliding door.
"Vas happening?" He called to all of us, looking sharp as always. I was taken so off guard by the sudden outburst, I jumped, tripping over my own two feet and falling down the stairs. I landed hard on the floor facing the ceiling. I laid on the floor stunned for a few moments, breathless.
"You okay, Haz?" Liam stood up from the table to come help me up off the floor.
"Yeah," I responded. "I think so." I grabbed Liam's outstretched hand and stood up off the floor before going to sit on the couch next to Paul.
"When everyone's finished," Paul began, standing up off the couch, "we'll head over to Ms. Teasdale's area. It's almost a quarter until 11 o'clock now, and the meet and greet starts at 11:30, so we need to get going." Just as he finished speaking, Liam, Niall, Louis, and Zayn cleaned up after themselves and put their shoes on to go to hair and makeup.
**********
The drive into downtown L.A. was a nightmare to say the least. The traffic was horrible. The roads were narrow, and crammed with commuters going to work, since it was, after all, only a Friday. My phone buzzed as it sat in the passenger seat of the car. I picked it up to see what the text said when I stopped at a red light.
From: Mom
Love you, Rae. Have a good time, and be safe :) x
I smiled to myself after reading the message, but I decided not to reply. Upon reaching the arena, I was directed through long lines of traffic towards a parking lot that was about half full. It was a good thing I got here early, I thought. After quickly parking, I hopped out of my car and began the long trek to the door of the arena. My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out of my pocket to see a notification for the meet and greet to start in 15 minutes. This is going to be so exciting, I thought eagerly as I walked into the arena.
**********
After suffering through hair and makeup, I mentally prepared for the fans to come into the back room at the arena. An elderly janitor was still setting up the tables and chairs for us when I went into the room, and I decided to help him with his work while the rest of the lads finished getting their hair done.
"Is there anything that I can help you with, sir?" I asked the man. He turned to me, and his eyes widened in shock.
"Well, young man, you should still be getting ready," he replied. "I can finish up in here. It's alright." He turned back to his work slowly, his small frame visibly aching as he unloaded the chairs off of a rack in the corner of the room.
"Please, allow me to help," I said, walking over to help him retrieve chairs from the rack. "I might be popular, but that doesn't exempt me from a little manual labor."
"Well, thank you, son," the old man responded. "I really do appreciate it." The old man handed me chairs and told me where to put them as I quickly carried them around to where he instructed. I checked my watch before grabbing another chair, and I realized that there were only a few minutes left until the meet and greet officially started, and the screaming would begin.
**********
I arrived in the main portion of the large building with only a few minutes to spare before the meet and greet would officially start. I sat in the seat that my ticket instructed me to sit in, and waited. A small voice came on the intercom in the arena, but I couldn't catch all of what it was saying over the incessant chattering of all the people. I guessed it must have been something instructing people to take their seats as most of them soon sat down. A large, dark haired man walked onstage, and began tapping his microphone to see if it was on as the crowd of fans quieted.
"Hello everyone, how are we all doing today?" The man had a pleasant voice, but something was off about the way he stood when he said it, as if he really didn't care if there were any truth to the words he was speaking. "I just wanted to let you all know that we are ready to start the meet and greet, and we will begin letting all of you back shortly, so be patient with us. Are you excited to see One Direction?" A huge volume of girls stood up and started screaming like banshees and waving around their posters that they intended to get signed.
"Alright then, I'll go see how things are coming along, and I'll let you know," the man, who I was beginning to think may have been the coordinator of the event, said. This is it, I thought before noticing that I'd begun to bounce up and down with excitement.
"We're going to go ahead and head in now," said the man, who had reappeared onstage without my noticing. I filed into the line of women, heading backstage to meet the band. We were taken into a room that appeared to be a very large conference room. It had blood red carpeting on the floor, and ecru walls. There were tables and chairs set up all over the room for us to sit in while we waited in line to meet the boys. After we'd all been seated, a door to the left hand side of the room opened, and the five members of One Direction entered. Much of the crowd that had gathered stood up and cheered, raising their posters and screaming.
**********
The screaming had begun. Many of the young girls had stood up to yell and wave at us from their seats. I nodded at Paul to start letting girls come into our area, a group at a time, from behind the gate a few feet in front of our table. Most of them would bounce up to the white clothed table and ask us to take a picture with them, or sign their poster, which was easy enough. I looked up for just a moment and caught a glimpse of a beautiful girl with long brown hair trying to get a look at us. As the line moved along, and she reached the gate, I could see all of her. She was dressed in a white and blue striped tank top with a cropped black jacket, light mint colored skinny jeans, and pink Toms. Her hair perfectly framed her long, slender face, and big blue eyes. I'd never seen anyone so beautiful before. The girl kept looking at the ground and then toying with a chain that hung around her neck. I found myself wondering if she already had a boyfriend, because I knew I would want to see this girl again. I was distracted by her, unable to take my eyes away from her; unable to concentrate on anything except how stunning she was.
**********
I could see all of the boys clearly now as I approached the gate where security was letting people in. I stepped up and waited my turn. Harry was on the nearest end of the table, followed by Louis, Zayn, Niall, and Liam. They were all much more attractive in person. Their skin was more vibrant, their voices sounded more resonant, and their personalities showed more of who they really were than when they were on camera. I stood there feeling like I was staring, and nearly drooling before the large man in front of me opened the gate.
"You can go in now," the man grumbled as he held the gate open for me to pass through. I slowly made my way up to the table where the boys were sitting. I tried desperately not to bounce and scream like a fangirl. It was hard to breathe as I neared the table, meeting the boys in person for the first time.
"Hey there," a deep, raspy voice said. Harry. This was surreal; it was nothing like I'd imagined it would be. It was a million times better. I honestly thought that I was going to faint in front of everyone before I could reply. Here I was, standing in front of my idols. I couldn't remember all the things I'd practiced saying in front of the mirror. The reality of the situation in this room wiped my mind clean.
"Hi, Harry," I choked out. A huge smile spread across his beautiful face, revealing his pearly white teeth and two small dimples. "How are you doing?" I could feel my cheeks redden almost immediately. Instantly after I'd said that, I wanted to smack myself in the face. It sounded so stupid. I almost would have rather said nothing at all than that. He must get that question so many times a day, I would find it hard to believe if he didn't get tired of answering it.
"I'm doing wonderful," he replied smoothly. He didn't seem to notice the how silly I sounded, or how nervous I was. I loved the sound of his voice. It almost didn't matter what it said. The slow, deep tone was amazing just to listen to. My eyes grazed themselves on all of him. It was only then that I noticed how exhausted he looked. I could tell that Harry was putting on a great deal of show for all the fans, reinforcing his peppy 'cupcake' image. I set down the CD that I'd brought, and Harry picked up his sharpie off the table to sign it.
"We're such a handful," I said, finally finding my voice as Harry signed my copy. "You guys are amazing, and we just want to show you as much support as we can, but It sucks that we, as fans, get so caught up in ourselves and our obsessions that we forget that you're people too. So, on behalf of myself, and the rest of the fandom, I'm sorry for that." I genuinely wasn't sure what had come over me to say that. Who was I kidding, I wasn't sorry for openly loving this amazing person; I couldn't help that I was so moved by his talents and accomplishments. What was wrong with wanting to shout it from the rooftops?
"You're very kind," Harry smiled slightly, looking up at me and genuinely perking up. If looks could kill, I know I would have been dead on the spot. "It does bother us sometimes, but we really do appreciate all the support that you guys give us." Harry sounded a little rehearsed at first. Clearly he'd had time to think about his response since this obviously wasn't the first time that a fan had said it. He kept referring to the groups' feelings about the fans, but not his own, and it made me nervous. "I think the pros of our fans' enthusiasm far outweighs the cons. Everything is worth it. It means a lot to have so many people that care about us." Harry passed the CD down the table so the others could sign it before sliding down in his chair slightly, straightening out to reach into his pocket. He pulled out his iPhone and opened a new contact page. "Would you mind giving me your autograph?" I was floored. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open. This was Harry Styles, asking me, Rae Dawson, for my phone number.
"I would love to," I said, still in utter shock. He handed me his phone and I typed in my name and phone number quickly, my fingers powered by the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. I checked the number for errors three times before handing the phone back to him to make sure it was correct.
"Thanks, love," he said, with the world's biggest smile plastered to his face. "I'll text you sometime; I'd really like to see you again." His smile sent shivers up my spine. It was hard to ignore how he made me feel in that moment. Harry tousled his dark brown curls as he laughed again, and I moved along.
**********
There she was, the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid my eyes upon, and she was standing right in front of me. My mind had blanked. I couldn't think of anything to say. I wanted to know her, and more than by what color her undies were. That didn't even matter to me anymore. If I could just spend every moment by her side, it would be fine with me no matter what we were doing. It was strange; I'd never felt this feeling. It was like trying to put together a puzzle, and happily going about your work until you find that there's a piece missing. You'd never know it from looking at the box, but as soon as you're realize it not there, you wonder why you didn't notice in all that time. At that moment, I realized that she was the missing piece. It seemed like everything else made sense. As soon as she was gone, I missed her. I felt like a shoe without laces; a sentence without spaces. I waited until we'd finished the meet and greet before pulling out my phone again. I searched through all my contacts until I found one that I didn't recognize. Rae Dawson. That must be her, I thought. Here we go. I sent her a message.
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