In the middle of July, London was quite warm. Too warm for Lillian Nora Wilde to wear black jeans and a blazer over a short sleeved blouse. But she had to do it. Not knowing what the people at Syco Entertainment expected, she had dressed for business.
Why was she even there? She’d finished University about a month ago and now had an interview with Syco Entertainment. Her mother had helped her a lot. A couple of years ago, she’d worked in the entertainment industry which had been their reason to move to London when Lillian had just been four years old. She’d remarried and when she’d become pregnant three years ago, had quit her job to be a full-time Mom. Still, she had her connections and one of her friends was only too happy to give Lillian a chance.
At three in the afternoon she was finished with her interview. Three different people had been sitting in front of her, asking one question after the other. She’d come prepared, of course, but some of their questions had surprised her. They’d told her to wait a moment, and they’d let her know their decision.
One look at her phone showed two new messages, one from her Mom and one from her best friend Mary, asking her how it had gone. The corners of her lips curled up into a smile. It was so typical of the two of them. It was a wonder that Mary wasn’t sitting next to Therese and the twins, waiting anxiously for a phone call.
Lillian pulled the compact mirror out of her purse and took a look inside. Bright green eyes were staring back at her, halfway covered by her glasses, so she pushed them up again. God, she was nervous, but she’d never admit it out loud.
When she’d just taken the band out of her hair to re-do her ponytail, the door opened, which made her wear her dark brown hair open, falling straight down to her shoulders. It was still parted on the left and the strands were framing her face the same way they had done before.
Slowly she got up from the chair, looked at the three people and gave them a smile that didn’t show the uncertainty and nervousness she was feeling inside. The man in the middle, who’d introduced himself as Paul Higgins, smiled warmly at her.
“After a conversation of five seconds, we decided that you have the job,” he said, giving her an even bigger smile. “You’ve got really good grades, your projects so far a great and your ideas have blown us away to be honest.”
Lillian’s eyes widened. Were they serious? She’d brought a portfolio with everything she’d worked on during her time at University and what she’d done in her free time. Good that she’d been able to come up with something when they’d fired their questions at her.
“From now on, you’ll be working with me. I would appreciate the help, that is, if you want the job…”
“Are you kidding me? Of course I want the job!” It broke out of her. Her hands flew to her mouth, her cheeks reddened and she averted her eyes. Damn, she hadn’t wanted to show her happiness like this, but it was like her body, her mouth had acted by itself.
Paul Higgins chuckled before he dismissed the other two people. When he turned back toward Lillian, he said: “Welcome on board. From now on, you can wear more casual clothes. You don’t need to dress like that unless it’s an important meeting or something. And even then, casual clothes are usually okay. Oh, and please call me Paul, not Mr Higgins.”
“Then, please call me Lilly. Most people do anyway.” Lilly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had a job, she’d earn her own money, and more than she’d earned at the bakery and stuff, and she didn’t have to be dressed like this all the time.
“Well get your contract ready, so you can sign tomorrow and we can get started. Would you like to meet the people you work with now? I have a meeting with the guys about the movie premiere.”
“You mean right now?” Lilly was panicking a little. This was a lot for a day that should have only been a job interview.
“We can wait, if you want to, but I thought you’d like to know.”
“Of course, sorry. I was just a bit shocked. So much is happening right now.”
“I know what you mean.” Paul grinned at her, before he took her by the elbow and lead her along the corridor. “The sooner you meet them, thee better, so you know who you’re dealing with.”
Lilly didn’t want to ask who he was talking about. She already knew that it was more than one person. The closer they got to their destination, the more curious she got. When they finally stopped in front of a door, she could hear loud laughter from the inside. The door was firmly shut, but she could make out at least three different people laughing.
“Ready?” Paul asked, letting go of her elbow. His smile, his warm eyes and the fact that he’d given her the job, reassured her that she could do this, so she nodded. Before they entered, though, Paul told Lilly to wait a moment, so that he could introduce her properly.
“Paul!” one of the boys exclaimed as soon as he stepped inside the room. “You’relate!” His voice was really deep, and Lilly thought she’d heard it before.
“Give the man a moment to breathe, Harry. He probably has a god reason for being late.”
“I do, as a matter of fact. I had a job interview.”
“What? No, you can’t leave us, Paul.”
“No need to panic, Niall,” Paul said with a laugh. Damn, he loved those boys. “I was interviewing someone to help me with the tour and other events, and she got the job. She’d outside waiting to meet you.”
“Well, what are you waiting for, then?” Harry asked irritated and walked past Paul to the door. He opened it wider, coming face to face with Lilly, who’d been waiting as instructed. Her eyes widened, when she saw him in front of her, and recognized who he was.
One Direction. The band she’d be working for and with was One Direction. To be honest, she didn’t know that much about them, only that they had been on The X Factor, and had become more and more successful, taking over America as well. There were certain things you just knew without even being a fan of them, and Lilly definitely wasn’t a fan. She knew some of their songs and listened to them occasionally, but apart from that, she didn’t know that much. Okay, there were stories, she’d heard from her friends, gossip and stuff, but she didn’t really care about that. There was always so much that was made up, that she didn’t want to know about it. She’d recognized Harry, but apart from him, she could only say who that Zayn guy was. Man, she had a lot of research to do once she got home.
“Hello!” Harry grinned at her while offering her his hand. When she took it, he slowly pulled her into the room, closing the door behind her. “I’m Harry, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” She quickly remembered her manners, letting go of his hand. “I’m Lilly.”
It was Paul’s turn to clear up the situation, not only for the boys, but for Lilly as well. She needed to know at least a little bit about the schedule. “Okay, we’ve got the movie premiere in about a month. Until then, Lilly will help me plan a couple of things around the tour and she’ll go to America and Canada with us.”
“What?” Lilly re-adjusted her glasses and looked at Paul.
“Yeah, I forgot to mention that so far, didn’t I?” Paul scratched his head, while the five boys kept a watchful eye on the girl in the middle of the room. “You’ll get all the details and papers tomorrow, but you’ll come to the States with us, since we need you on tour.Hope that’s not a problem for you?”
“Not at all, I’m actually looking forward to it.” She’d only been to America once before she’d started University, but she’d loved it there. It was a great opportunity to discover new places. Places she’d read so much about in all the books she owned.
“Good.” Paul crossed his arms over his chest. “Harry has already introduced himself, so that leaves these four.” Paul gestured towards the sofa where the rest of the band was seated. “These are Niall, Zayn, Liam, and Louis. Guys, this is Lilly. Treat her just like you treat me, and we’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure you want us to treat her the same way we treat you?” Liam asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
“Well, maybe a little better than me.”
“That’s what I thought,” Liam added with a grin and got up. He stepped up to Lilly and smiled at her. “It’s nice to meet you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Paul may not be able to help you, since we know a lot more about everything that he does.”
“Liam’s right.” Harry stepped next to Liam, throwing an arm over his band mate’s shoulder. “Just be yourself and we’ll work well together.”
“Okay,” Lilly said slowly, a little overwhelmed with the whole situation. The boys were nice, just a little bit too much on a day where a lot had already happened.
“Okay, let’s leave it at that for today.” Paul approached Lilly pushing the two boys aside. “Come back tomorrow around two and I’ll give you everything you need as well as your contract. If you have any questions, here are my contact details, so just call me.”
He handed Lilly a card and led her towards the door. She thanked him again, waved to the boys with a smile, and left the room. When Paul turned around, five curious boys were staring at him, all of them now seated on the sofa.
“So, what do you think?” he asked them. He hadn’t told them that he’d been looking for someone to help him out. He liked managing the tour, but he could use the help so he could concentrate on the security issues a little more.
“She seems really nice,” Niall answered. “But how old is she?”
“She’s twenty-one, finished University this year. No, she’s not too young. Just look at her documents.” He handed them the portfolio Lilly had given him earlier. “I think she fits in perfectly.”
Liam took the portfolio, since he was sitting in the middle now, and opened it. Together they looked through everything, and Liam nodded in the end.
“You know more about his than we do, but this looks good. We trust you.”
“You better,” Paul said with a grin, before finally starting their official meeting where they’d talk about the movie premiere and some other things. This had to be done, after all.

When Lilly had left the building, she just texted her Mom and Mary that she’d got the job, and tell them all about it tomorrow. Well, her Mom got the details as soon as she got home, but Mary would have to wait till the next day. After all, Lilly still had a lot to do today, a lot of research.
“I’m really happy for you, pumpkin,” her mother Therese said, hugging her fiercely. “America, huh? I’ll definitely miss you.”
“I don’t have all the details, yet.” Lilly took off her blazer and kissed her twin brothers on their heads. They were just eating the cupcakes Lilly had made this morning. “And for now I have to look some things up, get information on the people I’ll work with.”
“Have fun.” Therese watched her daughter run up the stairs to her own “apartment”. Lilly still lived with her Mom and her step-Dad, but she had her own area upstairs with a bedroom, living room and bathroom. They only shared the kitchen. This gave her some sort of privacy and she had more than enough room to spread out her current projects.
Once upstairs, Lilly put her blazer away, took off her blouse and pulled an old, oversized sweater over her head. This was much better than the tight clothes from before. She fired up her notebook while she walked over to her window and opened it. She got a notepad and a pen before she settled down in her favorite chair, notebook in front of her, and started writing.
First of all, she jotted down things about the band itself, their history, their albums and songs, videos, appearances and concerts. When she looked at a couple of things about each boy, she turned up the volume a little bit and listened to their albums, getting a feel for their music. Of course, she’d known some of the singles, but now she listened to each and every song. When she was finished, she watched their X Factor auditions and performances, especially impressed with Liam’s will to come back two years later and try again.
“Okay,” she eventually said to herself, looking down at her notes. Now she knew a whole lot more about the people she’d be working with. Not so much about the boys individually, because she wanted to get to know them herself. Yes, she had prejudices, but she’d give them a chance to prove her wrong. Everybody deserved that whether they were celebrities or not.

Notes

Okay, this is my first ever One Direction fanfic. I've written and published a couple hockey ones on here. It hit me out of the blue toi write this fic, so here we are.
This chapter is probably longer than the following chapters will be. I'll try to post frequently, but I don't know how much time I'll have once University starts up again.
Let me know what you think, what you like and don't like. Suggestions are always welcome.
That's it so far, so I hope you'll enjoy reading this.

P.S.: Don't take everything too seriously, like tourdates etc. After all, this is a work of fiction :)