At first we just met a wardrobe where a couple of women took or coats, so I got to have even more time to freak out in as we waited for the boys in another smaller room with other people and loads of champagne that was send around on big silver plates held by fancy dressed waiters.

When I glanced around that room all I could see were men in suits and tuxedoes, sparkling jewelry and high heels, the sound of the clicking noise when they hit the floor filled the room.
I suddenly felt a hand grip roughly on to the sleeve of my dress and I looked down to see that it was Aida’s hand, she had widened her eyes and was breathing heavily.

“Maja, it’s…” she began, causing my pulse to race even faster. “It’s… Alexa Chung.”

She pointed very discrete with a shaking finger over to the corner where my eyes travelled up a pair of very slim legs that disappeared up underneath a dark green dress that reached just below her knees. The green color went so well with the dark brown hair of hers and the 60’s inspired design of the dress made her entire look really classic and elegant, like she would always look on the red carpet.

Alexa Chung had been a style icon for Em, Aida and I for so long, this was really a huge fucking deal and I immediately looked over at the two of them to see that they were struggling to act anything near calm and normal, obviously desperate to do so, since what we were doing right now was quite embarrassing.

“Should we… uhm… introduce ourselves?” I asked them as quietly as possible, but Aida shook her head immediately.

“No!” she hissed. “I can’t do that!”

“Oh look, there are the boys,” Perrie smiled at the door at the other end of the room, snapping the three of us out of our intense star struck state, as we pulled our eyes away from Alexa and instead watched as the boys came through the big and tall door one by one.

Louis was the first one and he headed straight towards his fiancé with a big smile on his face. Zayn, Liam and Niall followed him right behind shaking a few people’s hands on the way.
Man, did they look handsome.

Louis was wearing a simple black outfit, consisting of a black t-shirt, a blazer and some skinny jeans, but he looked absolutely flawless, especially when he showed off his bubbly smile that would always make you smile along with him.

Zayn’s outfit was all black as well, but with a black turtleneck under his similar looking blazer. He always managed to look so beautiful and mysterious, but once you got to know him you would find out that he was one of the most caring persons with the funniest sense of humor, you simply couldn’t help but love everything about him.

Liam stood out a bit from the others when he showed up in a white shirt with a black tie that all looked very classic, but then he had a black leather jacket over it and combined with the beard that he’d been growing, he suddenly looked so manly and bad. His sweet personality with a rather weird sense of humor always reminded me a lot of Em’s, it was clear that they were really a perfect match and even when they were standing next to each other – after he’d kissed her hello – they looked like the perfect couple. Liam didn’t seem to be able to stop himself from beaming down at his beautiful girlfriend, which made Aida and I chuckle quietly to ourselves, it was just so cute.

Niall, that bastard, had chosen to wear a dark grey blue suit with a white shirt underneath.
Well then just fuck me.
Yeah, that’s right, don’t mind me. Don’t mind the fact that you’re literally destroying my ovaries, Niall Fucking Horan.
His blonde hair was just so hot, as it was perfectly messy done – Lou Teasdale had done a great job on that one – and his blue eyes only seemed to stand even more out along with the color of his suit that made his wide shoulders even wider as well. He was just… fucking beautiful. And hot. I wanted to… No, I’m not going to even think of the things that I wanted to do to him.

It wasn’t until his lips touched mine that I realized that I’d been standing with my mouth open.
Way to go, Maja. Your first red carpet event, and then you’re acting like a 14 year old Directioner that had just met all of them for the first time.

I forced myself out of my rather embarrassing state and composed myself enough to smile back at him, even though I mostly wanted to cry. How could anyone around us think that we belonged together? That I was good enough for an insanely good looking, famous and popular pop star like him? His handsome look only made my nerves go even wilder.

“You look beautiful,” he told me quietly while biting down on his lower lip. I almost frowned at his reaction, as it was the complete opposite of how I felt about my look, but I decided against and sent him a smile.

Luckily Aida was the one to keep me from throwing up at that point, since she once again grabbed a hold of the sleeve on my dress.

“Harry is talking to her!” she vigorously whispered to me with her eyes in the most intense shape that I’d ever seen on her. She actually looked a bit scary.

I knew who she was referring to and immediately spotted Harry and Alexa having a cheerful conversation, glancing in our direction every once in a while.

“Oh shit, they’re coming over here!” Aida hissed without her red lips doing one single movement. And true enough, the two of them were on their way towards us and I didn’t even get to compose the panicking thoughts that went through my head before they were standing right in front of us.

Aida got a quick peck on the lips from her boyfriend, still looking completely stunned by the fact that he’d just brought over one of our icons.

“Hi, I’m Alexa,” she smiled and pulled her in for a kiss on both cheeks. “Harry has told me so much about you, Aida.”

“Really?” Aida gushed. Wow, if she couldn’t manage to hide her amazement with the whole situation, no one could. The fear in her eyes had been replaced by the most grateful expression, she did look like her life had just been completed.

“Yes, of course, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” she told her. She seemed so nice. “Love your dress.”

And then she left my friend looking like she could pass out any minute as she went on to greeting Em and I, who she hadn’t met before.

“I’ve heard so many great things about your music and Harry has invited me to all of your small concerts, but I’ve been so incredibly busy each time, I’m really looking forward to hear you some time though!” she smiled at us. “According to your little homemade videos on Youtube, you’re quite talented.”

Seriously? Was I dreaming? Or was Alexa Chung actually standing right in front of us, telling us that she’d been watching our videos on Youtube? Oh my God. Shit. This couldn’t be happening.

“Thank you so much!” Em exclaimed happily, and meant it. She was just as grateful as Aida and I as she stood there with her eyes wide and the most sincere smile on her lips. It really was difficult to believe the words that she’d just said and the three of us were left with the most foolish faces once she had to continue her mingling a few seconds later.

Niall elbowed me in my side with a proud smirk that was very similar to the ones that the rest of the boys were sending us.

“She’s going to turn me in to a lesbian…” Aida mumbled making all of us crack up. God that felt good. For a brief second I actually felt my muscles relax and not being in their tense state that they’d held up the entire evening. Now it was only my stomach that was doing the work out in the most comfortable and relieving way ever.

“Hey Nick!” Harry then suddenly exclaimed happily before hugging a tall guy with messy brown hair.

“For crying out loud…” I heard myself sigh only loud enough for Niall to hear and he laughed in his gorgeous way making my heart melt each single time he would do it, and I was for a short moment pulled away from the intimidating thought of Nick Grimshaw standing right in front of me shaking the rest of the boys’ hands and greeting Eleanor and Perrie before moving on to us three girls with the words:

“Girls! So nice to meet you!”

We each got our kiss on the cheek, his outgoing personality luckily wasn’t a surprise to any of us, since our stalking of him hadn’t exactly been non-existent through the past couple of years.

“You really need to come on my show after Christmas, that would be really cool,” he smiled and I had to grip ahold of Niall’s jacket to make sure to keep myself conscious at the sound of Nick’s holy words.

“We would love to!” Aida said, she’d apparently recovered slightly from Alexa Chung’s appearance a few moments earlier. I wasn’t though and the fact that I could still feel the warmth from his lips on my cheek didn’t make it easier for me to compose my crazy mind, but was only making my knees go even weaker by the second. As if dating Niall fucking Horan wasn’t a big enough of a challenge, I was now forced face to face with some of my biggest idols, when it just came to cool people in general.

Nick and Harry had a short conversation, it was clear that they were really close friends and very used to each other’s company, and it did bother me a bit that he couldn’t just leave quickly, like Alexa had done it, his company made me nervous and even more anxious about this whole event, than I already was. Really frustrating.


The fact that we were told to get ready to go out on the red carpet literally a second later just added to the nerves.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine,” Niall half chuckled in my ear as he probably noticed my uncomfortable mood as I kept drying off my hands against the fabric of my dress, in order to keep them just a tiny bit sweat-free, but without the slightest bit of success. I felt embarrassed to even hold my boyfriends’ hand and when he noticed my hesitation when we were about to follow a brave Em smiling up at Liam as he told her something I couldn’t hear, he immediately wrapped his arm tightly around my waist instead.

“You need to relax, there’s nothing to worry about,” he told me in a harsh tone that made me look in to his eyes. They were calm and comforting as usual. They made my racing pulse slow down, my muscles relax and my mind forget everything else around us that involved anything or anybody else than this guy right in front of me. “Okay?” he asked me with an encouraging, yet slightly commanding, expression. I couldn’t do anything but nod.

Em’s behavior made me feel anxious again though, as we were standing right behind them at the door. Where the hell did all that courage and confidence come from, girlfriend?! Jesus Christ, she was like freaking Barbara Palvin. Just even more beautiful. I stared right in to the perfectly made open back on her dress, she had a freckle on the middle of her spine that I hadn’t noticed before now. God damnit, even her fucking freckle was perfect.

I quickly glanced back towards Harry and Aida who were standing right behind us. Aida looked like she shared the same kind of panic as me, which actually was a bit comforting. For once she wasn’t the one holding a huge amount of confidence, just knowing that she and I were in the same boat made me feel a lot better.

“Why do we have to stand in a specific order?” I asked Niall when a guy with a headset commanded Em and Liam up in the front of our little row.

“It’s something about what the press will think. Liam and Em does seem to be the couple that our fans are most fond of, and we can’t follow them right behind,” he told me which was really confusing, so he continued: “Presenting the last three single guys’ girlfriends in one night can be a bit much to a lot of fans, so Paul wanted us to do it… you know, gently, or something.”

Even though his words seemed a bit insane, I knew exactly what he was talking about. As a fan – and now also girlfriend - I had experienced the extreme reactions that news like these could be received with. So when we were told not to go through the door until after Zayn and Perrie I just stood and waited, very impatiently though, since I was so fucking ready to get this over with. I couldn’t wait till I was able to sit down and enjoy the show that was prepared and the boys’ performance, my feet and mind were killing me.

“You need to believe that you look hot,” Niall suddenly whispered quickly in my ear, when I hadn’t been able to follow his orders and relax a bit. But his choice of words made me widen my eyes at him.

The loud man with the headset then told us to go inside and I felt my stomach turn.

“I’m serious, those stockings make me want to fuck you,” he mumbled on our way in and I was so shocked by what he said that I didn’t notice the flashes and shouts being thrown at us at first, when we entered a big room and stepped out on to the long red carpet that was laid out in front a mass of people with cameras and microphones and recorders.

“Niall!” I exclaimed swatting his arm which made him laugh loudly. I loved that he’d been able to make me think about something else the second where I was about to run in the opposite direction, back home to my apartment and cuddle up under the covers. That way I hadn’t had any time left to throw up in and stain my white dress. Instead I actually managed to think clearly for a second and put my hand on my hip with my legs closely spaced together as Niall’s arm around my waist stopped me from walking any further down the carpet and instead turn towards all those blinding flashes and pose for the cameras.


At first you don’t smile, Eleanor’s voice told me inside my head and I had to struggle to compose the grin that Niall had caused to my lips the moment before. I quickly took a deep breath and prepared my calm face to turn it towards the flashes as well, after taking one last glance at my boyfriend’s eyes to find the last bit of peace and comfort in them that I knew I would need.


I did the best I could. I had no idea how long they would keep taking pictures and when I was supposed to begin to smile at the photographers, but I discovered that I didn’t have to think about anything too much. A light squeeze on my hip from Niall’s made me look at him briefly, he had an acknowledging smile on his face which made me feel incredibly proud and a lot more confident and I turned back towards the flashes with a smile that I for once didn’t have to force on my lips. I was finally feeling fearless. All thanks to the blonde Irish guy standing right next to me.

Notes