“So, um, what should I do?” Lori asked Harry as he started to his dressing room.
The rest of the boys had already gone into their dressing rooms and Lori had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. All the dressing rooms were next to each other in a long hallway backstage. Each boy was supposed to go do sound checks or whatever and Lori didn’t know where to be.
“Well, if you want you can hang out in my room while we do all the stuff before the concert. We should be gone for maybe two hours or so and then we have to get hair and make-up and wardrobe. Then the concert will start.”
“Okay I guess I’ll just stay here.”
Harry opened the door and turned on the light. He took a quick peek inside and put his finger to his mouth, signaling Lori to stay quiet. Both of them entered and Lori saw there was a baby sleeping in a crib in the corner of the room. There was the classic vanity with light bulbs around the mirror, a rack of clothes that were for the concert, a couch, a coffee table, and a small cooler filled with drinks. Lori pointed to the sleeping baby with a confused look.
“That’s Lou's, daughter, Lux. Lou is our stylist. I guess she’s rooming with me today. At least you’ll have company, don't worry she's a sweetheart. Well, I got to go to the stage I’ll be back later.” Harry blew a kiss in the direction of the crib and headed towards the door.
“Wait, what should I do if she wakes up?”
“Just hold her and rub her back.”
And with that Harry left Lori in the dressing room. Not knowing what to do, she quietly walked over to the crib to get a quick look at the baby. She was small, calm looking, and had light blonde hair and chubby baby cheeks. A pink pacifier that had the One Direction symbol on it was in her mouth. Lori smiled at the sweet, innocent looking child and went to go sit on the couch. As she sat down, her phone buzzed and she took it out to see who had texted her. It was from her friend, Christine.
Hey, how’s work?
Lori hesitated telling her about what had happened today. She knew she would react by screaming and telling everyone even after swearing she wouldn’t. Then she would probably ship her and one of the guys together and ask Lori to set her up with one of them which she would refuse and this would cause a huge fight.
Boring as usual. What are you up to?
Going to the One Direction concert! <3 It sucks you don’t have tickets, we would’ve had THE best time.
Yeah it does. Maybe next time they’re around.
After Lori sent the text Christine didn’t reply. ‘She’s probably too busy getting all dressed up for the concert. If she knew where I was she would hate me with jealousy.’ Lori chuckled to herself and started surfing the web with her phone. Facebook was pretty dead so she decided to look up fan fictions for random fandoms. Eventually this got boring so after reading a few stories that were beyond cliché she just read the magazines that were left on the coffee table.
While she was reading an article about Brooke Hogan’s wedding baby Lux began to stir. Lori held her breath as her body went tense, hoping she wouldn’t wake up. Loud cries came from the baby’s small lungs. At first, Lori thought if she left the baby in the crib she would go back to sleep, but after a minute of continuous crying Lori knew she wouldn’t go back to sleep for a while. She got off the couch and headed to the baby. Lux’ s screaming red face made Lori feel sorry for the little one so she picked her up and started slowly bouncing her up and down while rubbing her back like Harry told her to. Lori murmured sweet, comforting words to her and Lux began to warm up to her. When she officially stopped crying Lori smiled at the baby who returned it. Confidence building, Lori sat on the couch and played peek-a-boo with her for a while. The baby laughed and laughed, especially when Lori would tickle her or blow on her tummy. Everything seemed natural to Lori and she loved playing with the baby. They spent the rest of the time playing with each other until Harry came in.
“She woke up on her own,” Lori said immediately.
“You got her to calm down?” Harry asked in disbelief.
“She wasn’t so bad. Were you sweetheart?” Lori asked in a playful voice to the baby.
“That’s incredible. Usually after a nap she can make quite a fuss. Nice work candy shop girl.”
“Kids have always been easy for me. Just a lucky talent I suppose.”
Harry took Lux from Lori and lifted her into the air. She smiled, but once Harry brought her back down she reached for Lori.
“What is this?” Harry said in disbelief.
“Haha! She loves me more than you now.”
“No! This can’t be. You trained her to do that while I was gone, didn’t you?”
“It’s natural love I tell you. Maybe it's just a girls sticking together kind of thing.”
Harry gave Lux to Lori and then he flopped down on the couch, pretending to sob. Lori raised her hand and Lux gave her a high-five.
“Should we try to make him feel better?” Lori asked Lux. The two girls sat on the couch. Lori leaned Lux down to Harry’s face and she kissed his cheek. He looked up and smiled, but then it turned into a perplexed look, like he was thinking hard about something. “What?” Lori asked.
“I’m trying to decide which one of you is cuter.”
“I think the winner is obvious,” Lori said while bouncing the baby on her lap.
“Hmmm. It’s a tie, there’s no way to choose between the two of you.”
Just then a young, beautiful woman with silver, wavy hair came in with a few other people. She seemed to be in her late twenties. Harry got up and went over to the chair in front of the vanity. Lou started doing her magic.
“So who’s this?” Lou asked, keeping her eyes on the mirror.
“Hi, I’m Lori. The guys sort of kidnapped me here with them.”
“You joined us with your own free will,” Harry interjected.
“Harry, what did I say about kidnapping people before concerts? You can’t just take whatever you like. She isn’t a free sample.” Everyone laughed even the baby.
“But she’s really good with Lux. Actually she stole her from me; Lori, leave the baby and get out.”
“Lux likes her more than you? Ha-ha! No wonder you’re in such a mood.” Lou turned to Lori. “He’s so protective over her, but he gets jealous too. Better watch out. I’m Lou, by the way.”
“She probably only likes me because I smell like chocolate.”
“And peppermint,” Harry added.
“Why do you smell like chocolate?”
“And peppermint,” Harry added in a fake angry tone.
“I work in a chocolate shop in the park. That’s where they kidnapped me from.”
“We did it to save you,” Harry said.
“What were you saving her from exactly?”
“Fans,” Harry and Lori said in unison.
“Ah,” Lou said in understanding.
The three talked throughout the make-up and hair process. When she was done with Harry Lou came over and hugged Lux. She snuggled her and twirled her around and then gave her to Harry.
“Do you mind if I keep her in here until I’m done with all the other boys?”
“No, of course not.”
“Thanks Love,” Lou said before kissing Lux’s cheek and then leaving.
Harry and Lori played with Lux until the baby got distracted playing with one of her toys. Both of them sat on the couch and watched the sweet child. He looked over at Lori and smiled.
“What are you doing tonight?” Harry asked Lori.
“Um, nothing I think. Why?”
“Me and the lads are going to a party after the concert. Would you like to come?”
“Hmm, where’s it at?”
“A club, I think it’s named Reverse. The party’s at 9.”
“Is it just like a party party or is there like something going on?”
“Just a party party.”
“Okay, I’ll go,” Lori said smiling. “But, I have a problem. I don’t have a ride. Could I possibly get a ride with you guys?”
“Yeah, sure. How did you get here without a car though?”
“The bus, I don’t have a car.”
“So after the concert we’ll head there.”
“Is it okay if I wear this?”
Harry liked her look, it was edgy and sexy, but at the same time it could be cute. He nodded. “You like David Bowie?”
“Yeah, he's one of my favorite artists. His song Heroes is amazing and so is Fame.”
Harry nodded in agreement. “You have really good taste in music.”
“Thanks, so do you. It actually surprised me you had good taste, no offence.”
“Hey now, just because I'm in what most people call a 'boyband' doesn't mean my taste of music is awful. We'll be riding in the same car we came in.”
“That’s cool. Hey, how old are you?”
“I’m nineteen. Don’t worry, we’re allowed to be in a room alone together; we’re both considered ‘adults.’”
“Yeah right. I’m convinced somehow the older I become the more immature I get.”
“The older I become the cheekier I get.”
“That I believe. So when does the concert start?”
“At 7:30. Are you gonna watch from back stage?”
“Yup. Hey you wanna do me a huge favor?”
“What am I going to be doing?”
“My friend, Christine is going to be in the audience tonight so I was hoping maybe you guys could give her a shout out?”
“Sure. Would you like to come on stage with us when it happens?”
“I don’t know. No, I’ll just stay backstage. She might get mad if she finds out I’m here with you guys.” Lori giggled at the thought of her friend becoming extremely jealous that she was hanging out with One Direction even though Christine was a way bigger fan than she was.
“Do you want us to say your name then?”
“Um...no. She’ll ask for details of how I got you to give her a shout out and then I’d have to tell her the whole fan mob story and then she’d try to ship me with you or one of the other guys and then she would gossip around and brag her ‘best friend’ was going out with a guy from One Direction and then she’d want me to hook her up with one of you guys and everything would just become very difficult and I don’t want to put you guys through that.”
Lori took a long breath and Harry stared at her, trying to comprehend everything she had thrown at him.
“What does ‘ship’ mean?” he asked and Lori responded with a quick laugh.
“She’ll put us as a couple and tell everyone we’re dating.”
“I think I’d be okay with that.”
“Well the story of us meeting would be perfect for the press. ‘Ordinary girl saves One Direction. Harry falls in love instantly.’”
“No, I think they would come up with something more catchy like ‘Harry Styles dates girl who saves his life.”
“I didn’t really save your guys’ lives. Just there at the right time.”
“You should take some credit. At least you didn’t fangirl in front of us.”
“Hey, I don’t fangirl.”
Harry gave her a skeptical look, but Lori simply returned it.
“Liar,” Harry finally said.
“I just think I’m incapable of screaming and squealing and fainting over celebrities.”
“What about Taylor Lautner?”
“He’s overrated, but I bet he's nice in person.”
“Not a big fan of Twilight?”
“Potterhead all the way!” Lori said with a prideful smile. “Maybe if it was someone from a fandom I'm completely in love with then yeah I'd probably fangirl.”
Before Harry could say anything else a bald man with a headset on poked his head through the door.
“Time to start Harry.”
“Got it. Hey, where’s Lou?”
“Here I am,” Lou said as she walked through the door. She picked up Lux and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for watching her, you two.”
“It was fun,” Lori replied.
Harry got up and started towards the door. He looked back at Lori. “Well come on now. Quit doddling, we’ve got to go.”