Monday
After spending the rest of Saturday with Rhys at the coffee shop, I determined I had made at least three friends so far in London, flirtatious James, adorable Sirius, and friendly Rhys.
On Sunday I did nothing more than buy a couple more furnishings for my apartment and meander around downtown London. I also may have or may not have played a game of Mario Kart at James's place with him and Sirius. I also may have teased them and silently marvelled at the Harry Potter fan pun.
But alas the weekend was over and off to work I went.
The embassy was only a fifteen minute walk away, so after stopping for a donut and cup of jasmine tea at Only In London, I was on my way to work.
I walked up to Mary at the from desk to say hello and she grinned merrily, her chubby cheeks reddening.
" Where's Marcus?" I wondered wanting to say hello before my first day of work.
" Oh he went to fetch some coffee for an FSS, Foreign Service Specialist, security is often used for idle things like that," she replied frowning a bit.
Huh. I didn't think there would be that kind thing here. Frowning at the inescapable work-place tyranny, I walked away and headed towards Visa Admin.
Walking into the gigantic room, I was surprised to see it empty with the lights out. I must've been early or something-
" SURPRISE!" The light were switched on and everyone popped out from under their desks. Someone must have inflated some balloons because there were about twenty or so blue and green balloons floating around the room.
Elise walked over to me and said, " Well, we couldn't just let our newest employee start work without feeling welcome!"
I could only manage a feeble, " Uh huh," as I was still very much in shock.
A couple guys and girls came over to us and Elise introduced them all to me, " Oh Blythe these are your new co-workers, Isabella, Ron, Thomas, and Cori." They all smiled at me and the tall gangly blonde one, Elise introduced as Ron said,
"Well, we had to make our youngest and newest co-worker feel welcome."
Curious as to how everyone kept commenting on how young I was, I said, " Well, how young we're you all when you were hired?"
Isabella, a pretty redhead with brown eyes and freckles said, " Well, I was twenty-eight and that was only after translating in Afghanistan for 10 years. "
" I was twenty-five," said Thomas, an average brown eyed brown haired guy.
Lastly Cori said, " I used to be the youngest one hired, but I was twenty-four."
And I'm only twenty...

---

A couple of hours later, I was examining some paperwork from Harrison Daniels, from Bristol. He was trying to get a travellers visa into the U.S but he was missing his vaccine papers. Just as I was about to give a call to him, Elise stumbled through the doorway, waving her hands madly.
" Blythe, Blythe! I have such a surprise for you!"she harped, her voice raising an octave.
Geez. This is the lady Marcus is afraid of?I stared at her bemusedly for a couple more seconds, as she ran towards me, then stumbled with her high heels on the carpet and almost broke her ankle, then again ran towards me again and stopped to grab a macaroon from the box on Ron's desk.
Biting into the macaroon and simultaneously slamming into my desk she said- I'm sorry, screamed, " You get to interview One Direction for their P-2 Visas!"
Blinking slowly I asked, " Is that all?"
Merlin, I'd only been in London for 3 days and I already was going to meet One Direction? Wow, I guess 1D Fangirls do have a reason to scream and get all crazy if they go to London. I used to think it was so stupid, I mean London is huge, what are the chances of actually meeting One Direction? But now...
Elise actually froze. Not the fake kind of freeze, where they pretend to be shocked at you, but the legitimate freeze where you think a mini ice-age secretly happened and killed your friend.
I silently took a pen from my desk a proceeded to poke and prod her for a minute. " Elise, are you okay?"
She shivered a bit, which freaking scared me, as I seriously though she was dead, then she screamed, " WHY ARE YOU NOT FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS?"
She started to pace back and fourth in front of my desk, raising her hands and making wild gestures.
" How can you be so calm! It's bloody One Direction, Blythe! The most popular and wanted boys in the world! Not to mention there're all bloody sex gods too!"
I thought I had just met the worlds real life, Effie Trinket... I zoned out as she chastised me more about One Direction. I looked out the window, and I could see Hyde park right next to the embassy. Aw, there was a cute couple pushing a stroller with an adorable baby in it. The baby started to fuss a little bit, and the mother immediately stopped to pick up her baby. She said something to his husband and he opened the bag he was carrying for a bottle full of milk. He handed it to his wife and she started to feel the little baby.
Suddenly a finger snapped in front of my face.
" Blythe, are you even listening!" Elise glared, her icy blue eyes gleaming.
I sighed and looked to Ron, who was staring at us amused as he held up a phone to his ear.
" Effie- uh I mean Elise, are you a mature forty year old woman or a prepubescent little twelve year old? It's just a group of yes- attractive guys with yes- attractive voices who are coming in for a visa. It's not the apocalypse, so calm down!"
She looked like a freaking chicken who just had her feathers plucked, " I'm only thirty-eight!" She sniffed, then walked away cooly as if she hadn't just been freaking about some boybanders ten-fifteen years younger than her.
" When did they schedule their interview?" I called out after her, still a little miffed at her complete change of personality.
" Ask Mary since you're so 'cool' about all of this! " she yelled still walking towards the door.
Sighing, I slunk back into my leather chair. Now, I had to walk all the way to the front office and freaking ask Mary when they were a scheduled to come! I looked at Ron who was still on hold, and said," Is she always like this?"
He nodded remorsefully and said, " Unfortunately."
Not wanting to wait any longer, I purposefully stood up from my desk and strode towards the hallway and then down it to the front office.
" Mary!" I called out feeling a bit silly at what I was about to ask, " When is One Direction coming?Elise just about had a heart attack when I didn't freak out and refused to tell me!"
I saw Marcus at the front entrance guarding against terrorists, looking all strong and intimidating, and was nodding and smiling my hello, when I slammed into what felt like a bloody brick wall. Merlin, I was already saying bloody... That didn't bode well for my Americanism.
I looked up to see an older white guy glowering at me. I gasped and breathed out an apology, but the meanie didn't even say anything to me or helped me up. Instead he continued to glare and said, " How did you know One Direction was here? Who let you in?"
" Um excuse me, but how did YOU know they were coming?" I snapped back, lifting myself off the ground to stand up tall.
" I don't know if you realise this but I'm Paul Higgins." He smiled smugly.
I faked a gasp and started clapping my hands as if I knew exactly who he was. It was so hard to not punch his face in as he deepened his smile with my gasp. " Who the hell is Paul Higgins?" I replied, stopping my act.
" Woah Paul, it's okay! I bet she's just fan who happened to be here too!" A bleach-blonde guy with dark roots and blue eyes said coming from behind ' Paul'. His teeth were crooked and he had braces, but he was still pretty handsome. I stared a second longer than I should have, but that was what it took for me to realise that this was in fact Niall Horan.
" Actually," I replied a little haughty, still pretty mad at the rude attitude I received from Paul, " My name is Blythe and I work here, I'm the one whose going to conduct your interview."
" Oh Really?" Said a cocky annoying voice coming up from behind, to next to Niall. I looked over and my eyes met the one and only Harry Styles. His curls really weren't exaggerated and unfortunately neither were the adorableness of this dimples. I pushed that aside in my mind, Harry styles looks were NOT going to win me over. It had to be his personality.
" Yes, really. I hope you know that this ' meeting'," I glared over to Paul, " isn't helping your interview in any way if you hope to tour in America."
" I'm really sorry, about that, he's rather overprotective over us all, we get mobbed quite a lot by fans and we didn't want to cause a scene here at the embassy." Said yet another member of the band. Liam Payne of course. Gosh, these guys had a real habit of just popping into conversations out of no where.
" Well, if you all hope to tour in America, you'll need all five members of you band present at the interview." I replied primly.
" Yes yes of course, Zayn and Louis are in the loo, they'll be back out in a couple of minutes. " replied Liam, smiling awkwardly.
Feeling a bit bad at my bitchy attitude, I decided to change attitudes, smiled warmly and said, " Well I guess while we wait we can start with some questions, " I gestured towards the seating area and they all followed me like an adorable pop-starish pack of puppies.
Niall was definitely a golden retriever pup, Liam a brown little Labrador, and Harry was one of those little chihuahuas you thought was adorable and nice, but really is snappy and full of themselves.
Um, no offence you know, to any Harry fans...
When we all sat down in the seating area I asked, " Niall, have you ever left Ireland before today?"
Harry snorted and said, " Uh yeah, The X Factor," he gave me a disbelieving look.
Um okay. Hadn't I already shown I wasn't a major fan?How the hell was I supposed to know that? I gave Harry a look and said, " I'm sorry, all those concerts must affected your hearing because, correct me if I'm somehow wrong, but that question was clearly directed towards Niall."
I heard a loud whoop, and turned around to meet a Louis Tomlinson grinning at me madly.
" Harry, now how did you get this bird on your bad side?" He asked.
" By calling me a bird," I responded tartly.
I saw Zayn pop out from behind Louis and give Liam, Niall, and Paul a distressing look.
" Um, okay!" Liam interjected, " Why don't start the interview now, in your office?" He asked eyes wide open and alarmed.
I took a deep breath, and nodded. Why oh why did this have to happen on my very freaking first day? " Follow me and we'll head towards the interview rooms. If you guys are hungry or thirsty are some vending machines outside the rooms." I said calmly, trying to control my anger. It's not their fault that Louis is just naturally annoying and Harry cocky, I chanted silently.
When we arrived at the interview rooms Niall stopped to get three bags of potato chips at the machines. It was awkward to say the least, as he took about five minutes deciding which brands he wanted and then another three minutes as he punched in the codes and proceeded to pull out a crumpled five pound bill. Not to mention the fact that he inserted it only for the machine to reject it, and then had to straighten it. He smiled awkwardly at me, with his crooked teeth as he straightened the bill against the side of the machine.
I couldn't help but smile back. He was Niall Horan? Who could blame me?
When he was finally done I opened a door leading out of the hall way, into one of the interview rooms. They all sat down on leather couches stretching alongside the room and I took a seat myself. " Okay, I understand you all are applying for P-2 visas into the U.S. for your tour. I haven't checked all of our individual paperwork yet, as it is customary to interview the applicants first. The following will just be some basic general and traveling questions- to you know, make sure none of you are serial killers," I chuckled a bit trying to warm the atmosphere.
Niall, Liam, Zayn, and thankfully Louis returned my smile, but Harry just sat there staring at me in a sort of glum way.
" Where did you all live, previous to The X Factor?" I asked.
" Mullingar," chirped Niall.
" Wolverhampton," said Liam.
" Bradford," Zayn said.
" Doncaster," said Louis in a funky, what he thought was an American accent.
Lastly, Harry said, " Holmes Chapel , Cheshire."
"Okay, now how many to times have you left you left England, minus Niall, to travel?" I asked.
They all answered accordingly and the interview went rather well, meaning it was very boring.
Towards the end I decided to ask some weird questions, since- well, I was bored. " How many times would you say you all have slept in the same bed?"They all started at me like I belonged in an asylum, but none answered so I decided to ask another weird question. " Do you guys prefer bacon chocolate or chocolate on bacon?"
Louis of course was the first one reply and winking cheekily said , " Of course bacon chocolate darling, why chocolate on bacon is only for country people!" In a ridiculously posh British accent.
Liam smiled and took the opportunity, deciding that it was a good thing I was joking around and not insulting Harry. " We've only all slept together three times. Four if you count the incident in Liverpool."
Niall choked on a chip and his face started to turn red when Zayn, bursting with laughter, slapped him on the back successfully beating the chip out of Niall. It landed on the floor with a nasty welch and we all stared at it.
Harry finally warmed up and started to chuckle saying , " Niall mate, what was that?" In a joking manner.
I started to giggle and Harry looked up towards me revealing his dimples. I blushed slightly and looked away, intent on not embarrassing myself in front Harry Styles.
" Well I think this interview is at its end," I grinned, " You all should be fine as long as your paperwork is in order. I suspect you'll all be touring in America, stealing the hearts of many girls in no time."
" Well that's a relief, I though you hated us," Liam admitted, face turning a rosy pink.
" No, I just don't like your music, but that's hardly enough of a reason to purposefully reject your visas, not to mention unprofessional."
" You don't like our music?" Louis asked a puppy dog pout on his face.
" Not particularly," I admitted, with a rueful smile.
In one simultaneous movement, they all sighed and looked down to the floor. It was actually kind of freaky. I would have laughed but they each looked so heartbroken...
" I'm sorry?" I said/asked.
Zayn looked up with a small, understanding smile," It's okay love, I guess it's time we start to realise to not every body likes us."
"Well, that's not true," I contradicted, trying to make them feel better, " I mean, I like you guys for you, minus one, " I said looking in Harry's direction," You guys are all attractive guys with good voices. Not to mention that you all are as down to earth as you appear in your interviews,minus one, " I said, once again looking in Harry's direction," You shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise. No one on Earth has any reason to not like you you except for your music. And please, not everyone liked Michael Jackson, but look at how successful he was," I concluded feeling slightly proud regarding my inspirational speech.
They all lifted their heads from the floor and were smiling, well everyone but Harry, he still had a glum expression on. Probably a bit grumpy that I wasn't just going to push aside his cockiness and melt at his sexiness. Wait - who said sexiness? I didn't!
" Wait a minute," Louis said, ruining the moment, " You didn't like Michael Jackson?" He asked shocked.
"Er, no?" I said.
" I think I've figured it out lads!" Louis said excitedly." I think you have an aversion to pop music!"
I chuckled and said, " Well I could've told you that."
" Then what kind of music do you like?" Liam asked a curious expression on his face.
" Alternative I suppose, rock, metal, indie pop,and indie rock. I also like dubstep, house, and techno music, but not mainstream like Skrillex."
" So... You don't like mainstream stuff?" Niall asked an adorable confused expression on his face.
" Well, I think it's just a coincidence really. It's not like I go out of my way to hate every mainstream thing. That's way too hipster for me. But you know, being hipster is kinda mainstream now so... Gosh! You guys are confusing me now!" I laughed.
" So what brought you to London, I think it's obvious now that your American?"asked Zayn.
" What is this, Twenty Questions?" I asked chucking a bit, " The interview ended like ten minutes ago! You guys should be going now, and I," I looked at my watch," should be getting back to work now."
Liam of course apologised many times and as he was shooing the guys out of the interview office, he smiled once more and said, " We'll be in touch? Call us if any paperwork is out of order!"
" I will," I replied and smiled. Even though I didn't particularly like Harry, I did like his band mates.

Notes

Side note: in a you know, less Capitol way, I picture Elise like Effie up here...
I'm not yet quite sure if I want to make this a Harry&blythe story or niall&blythe. Whichever comes naturally I suppose.
Chapter 3 unfortunately won't be updated as soon as this one was :/