Chapter 6
As we pulled up to the arena, Tess and I stared wide-eyed out the window, taking in the place. It was a huge stadium with many doors and a ticket booth out front. People were already pouring in, ready to see the biggest band in the world. The limo pulled around the back of the building and Paul ushered us out.
Once we exited the car, the driver pulled away, probably headed out somewhere for a break. Paul led us inside through some double doors and left us in a room while he went to find someone who was in charge and ask how long until the boys got here. There was a small bathroom off to the side of the room so I went inside and shut the door. I needed a few minutes to gather my bearings.
I braced myself against the sink and took a few deep breaths. Once I got my breathing in order, I looked up at myself in the mirror. I fixed my hair, although, despite all of the moving around at the park, it had mostly managed to stay in place. I pulled the lip gloss I put on this morning and re-applied it. I looked myself over very well, making sure I had no wrinkles in my outfit and headed back into the little room. When I entered, Tess was seated beside my mom on a leather couch on one side of the room. She was nervously bouncing her right leg up and down the way she does only when she’s extremely nervous or in trouble. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was from nervousness.
I took a seat in the chair across from the couch, propping my feet up on the coffee table that separated the furniture.
“Chloe, we’re here. We’re in the venue. In an hour we’ll be watching One Direction performing live right in front of us. How incredible is this?” She stood up and began pacing, another nervous quirk of hers.
“I can’t believe it either. You need to just take a couple deep breaths and get yourself together. Stop pacing. That won’t go over well when we meet the boys. I think it’ll scare them off a little if you pace and twitch.”
She nodded and sat back down, playing with her hands. I checked my phone and saw that my dad had texted me good luck. I put my phone back in my purse and examined my nails. Surprisingly, they had all stayed intact and none were messed up. I felt pretty proud of myself for maintaining my appearance.
I glanced over at Tess, who was still staring at her hands. Aside from a few hairs, which perfectly framed her face, which she had deliberately left out of her ponytail, nothing was out of place. Her makeup was still there, perfectly applied. If you hadn’t known she was wearing it, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Her nails were still perfectly painted and her clothes fit her figure amazingly.
I sighed and looked up at the clock by the door. There was only about 45 minutes until the show was due to start. As if on cue, Paul walked back in.
“I have a surprise for you girls, follow me.” He turned and walked right back out the door. Tess and I had become used to him doing this, so we hurried behind him, leaving my mother in the room. She said she needed a rest from moving around and we let her stay. Paul walked fairly quickly so we had to power walk behind him in order to keep up.
He led us down some hallways and through a few rooms, sometimes taking abrupt turns. He stopped once to whisper to a large man with a brownish-gray beard, probably about the concert. After he was done, we walked for about 5 more minutes and stopped in front of a closed door. I could hear people talking behind the door but I couldn’t quite make out who they were.
Just as we were about to enter the room, Paul’s cell phone started ringing. He checked the caller-ID and immediately answered it, holding up a finger to tell us it’ll only take a second. I looked at Tess and shrugged my shoulders.
“Hello, Louis, what can I do for you?” Paul spoke into the phone.
Tess looked at me wide-eyed and opened her mouth in a silent scream. I bounced on my feet a little and waited for Paul to continue.
Almost immediately after Paul finished his greeting, I heard yelling from the phone as well as behind the door.
“No, Louis, don’t do that. You know what happens when you take his food. Give it back before you get hurt.”
There was a loud crash from behind the door. Paul jumped and said into the phone, “Now you’ve done it.” He flipped it shut and shot Tess and me a smile. He turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, motioning for us to go inside.
I found it extremely difficult to move; my feet seemed cemented to the floor. Tess was obviously having the same problem because she remained in her spot. Only when Paul raised his eyebrows in question did we move.
I led the way into the room and looked around. It looked as if there had been a tornado in there. There was a broken vase on one side of the room and an overturned couch in the middle. I looked back at Tess who was also taking in the scenery. Paul shut the door behind us and sighed. He must be used to this because he didn’t seem too annoyed.
After I got over the shock of the disaster, I walked toward the middle of the room. Catching me totally by surprise, three boys jumped out from behind the upside down couch and began shooting us with Nerf darts. I put my hands up to shield my face and Tess squealed and hid behind me. After a couple seconds of being attacked, the boys ran out of darts and jumped out from behind the couch.
Paul was about to say something to them until we heard another crash from behind a door which I assumed led to a kitchen or dining room of some sort.
“Give it back!” I heard an angry voice yell, shortly before another crash.
“No! You’re not the only one who gets hungry!” Another voice responded.
Paul ran into the room and emerged seconds later pulling an upset Niall and smiling Louis by their collars. He shoved them across the room to join the rest of the boys and glared at them. His look must have scared them a little since they stood up straight in a small line with the rest of the band.
“Boys, these are the contest winners. This is Chloe,” he motioned to me, “and Tess.” He let us shake hands with the boys, who promptly introduced themselves, even though there was obviously no need. They all smiled at us as we went through introductions and, maybe it was just my overactive imagination, but I swear Harry’s smile grew a little wider when I smiled at him.
“You weren’t supposed to meet them until after the concert but they arrived a little early. And I suppose you were a nice distraction for Louis and Niall.” He laughed a little at his own joke and flipped the couch back over so he could sit.
“Yeah, about that,” Niall glared at Louis, “where’s my sandwich?”
Louis smiled mischievously and patted his stomach. “That was good, buddy, thanks!”
Niall growled and jumped at Louis, knocking him to the ground. Paul shot up faster than I’d ever seen anyone move and separated them before Niall could do any damage. Zayn pulled Niall from Paul and took him into the kitchen.
“I’ll make you TWO sandwiches, how’s that?” I heard him tell Niall as they walked away.
“Thank you, Zayn,” Niall said quietly, obviously still upset that Louis had taken his original sandwich.
“Louis, I told you not to do that. Now he’s upset. You’re the oldest, you’re supposed to keep arguments from happening, not start them.” Paul scolded Louis and shoved him down onto the couch.
“Sorry, Paul, I was hungry.” Louis shrugged.
“Next time, make your own food, you lazy – “ he was cut short by Liam.
“Now, Paul, you know what happens when you get all worked up. Just let it go.”
Paul sat down and sighed, putting his head in his hands. “You boys are such a handful,” he muttered, to no one in particular.
Zayn poked his head out of the kitchen. “Does anybody else want anything while I’m in here?” Harry and Liam shook their heads, Louis said no. Zayn looked at us questioningly and we both politely declined, saying we had eaten recently.
Zayn turned back into the kitchen where I caught a glimpse of Niall sitting at a table eating a sandwich.
“So,” Harry began, taking a seat and motioning us to come sit next to him. “Where do you girls live?”
I took a seat next to him and Tess sat on the other side of me.
“We live in northern Indiana,” Tess answered, leaning a little closer so she could see Harry better.
“We haven’t played there; maybe we should get some gigs there.” He turned to look at Paul who shrugged. “How old are you?”
“I’ll be 17 in a few months,” I said. “Tess turned 16 in May.”
“Do you have jobs?” he looked back and forth between us, waiting for an answer.
“No, not at the moment.”
“I have a job,” he said, grinning at his obvious statement.
“Duh, you have a job. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now,” Tess responded.
I looked at her and frowned. She looked at me and shrugged.
“Boys, we need to get you backstage to warm up, the concert starts in 20 minutes.” Paul stood up and walked into the kitchen to get Zayn and Niall. Once everyone was back together, we left the room.
Making our way through the hallways, I walked between Harry and Liam, Tess on the other side of Liam next to Zayn. Paul led us backstage first to drop the boys off so they could start with the warm ups.
Right before we left, Harry piped up, “You’ll come back and see us after the concert, won’t you?” I looked at him to see him smiling at me. I looked at Paul with hope and he nodded.
“We’ll come see you,” I responded, smiling.
“Good, I’ll be waiting.” He followed the boys over to a man who was supposed to be helping them warm up.
Why didn’t he say ‘we’? I couldn’t help but ask myself this question as Paul led us back to the room where my mother was waiting.
“How’s that for a surprise?” Paul asked just before we walked into the room.
“That was incredible. Do the boys always argue like that though?” Tess asked.
“They’re pretty rowdy.” He opened the door and I went to get my mother. She had turned the television on and was watching the news.
“Mom, the concert is going to start soon, are you ready to go?”
She turned the T.V. off and stood up. She grabbed her purse off of the table and followed us out the door. Even though we were already in the building, we had to go around front and show our tickets.
We followed Paul out the door we came in through and around to the front of the building. We passed a few girls arguing with the security guards and presented our tickets at the window.
After we were verified to go in, Paul led us straight to our seats which were close to the front. He handed each of us a pair of ear plugs and a glow stick for when they sing Little Things.
Paul left to go backstage after telling us where to meet him after the concert ended.
A few minutes after he left, Paul appeared on stage.
“Hello, New York! How are you all?” The answer was a round of shrill screams which prompted us to put in our ear plugs.
“Wonderful! We have a great show prepared for you tonight, I hope you enjoy it! Now, to introduce you to the performers.” He turned to one side of the stage and the boys emerged, waving and smiling and jumping.
“Please welcome Harry, Zayn, Louis, Niall, and Liam!” Another round of screams was produced by the audience and I found myself screaming along.
“Boys, give them the best show of their lives.” Paul gave them each a pat on the back and a warm smile before heading off stage.
“We are so proud to be here on our second world tour! Thank you all for coming. You are all so amazing.” Harry began to speak to the crowd which erupted with more screams and applause when his slow, melodic voice bellowed through the speakers.
“Be sure to get your questions in by tweeting our One Direction twitter account so we can answer them for you later in the show,” Niall added.
I saw a few people pull their phones out and send in a few last minute questions before they began the concert.
“Are you ready?!” Louis moved toward the front. The nose of the crowd must have been answer enough for them because music began blaring from the speakers.
Right before they began singing, Harry’s eyes found me in the crowd. He smiled his warm smile and winked. I looked beside me at Tess to see if she’d noticed but she didn’t. I looked back up at the stage and Harry was still staring.
I felt as if I was in a dream.