Unexpected
Chapter 7
As the beat flowed through the stadium, Tess and I cheered and sang along with the crowd. My mother bounced to the music and sang what she knew of the songs. They flashed through What Makes You Beautiful, Kiss You, and One Thing, and then took a break to answer questions submitted on Twitter. A few girls around us screamed as they got their questions answered and received shout-outs from the stage.
While all of this was going on, I caught Harry looking at me and smiling. I pretended not to notice since, chances are, he was just smiling at the crowd.
After a short bathroom break for the boys, they continued the show with Live While We’re Young, Gotta Be You, Moments, and More Than This.
I could tell the boys were getting restless on stage as the concert began winding down. Everyone in the audience cracked their glow sticks when the band began singing Little Things. Louis and Niall teared up a little on stage, as did many of the girls occupying the arena. There was a surprising silence that had fallen over the crowd which lingered even after the last few chords had faded into the night. Although nice, the silence didn’t last very long. It quickly dissolved when the boys began with their last song of the night: One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks). As they sang, images of them in Ghana with the children flashed across the screen behind them, along with clips of the music video they had made for the single.
When they finished, they were panting and sweating, although clearly not tired. Before they left the stage, they answered questions from the audience about their childhoods and their life on tour; they even sang and danced a little by request.
Once their performance was over, they left the stage, a huge round of applause following them. Paul returned to the stage and thanked everyone for coming out to support the boys and send them safely on their way. As the stadium began to empty, Paul pointed to where he told us to meet him at the end of the concert. We nodded, letting him know we understood, and made our way to the side of the room. We had to concentrate hard on making sure we didn’t get knocked over. When we finally got to our spot, we stuck close to the wall, waiting for Paul to come get us and escort us back backstage.
When there were only a few people left talking or exiting the building, Paul arrived, motioning with his hands for us to follow him. We were taken back through the hallway that led from the room we waited in before the concert to the boys’ dressing room. After walking for a few minutes, we passed some girls arguing with security about how much they wanted to meet the boys. The security guards held their ground and refused, so we flashed the girls sympathetic smiles as they asked why we got to meet them. We turned away from them and arrived at the boys’ dressing room.
There wasn’t nearly as much noise as before the concert. Happy voices drifted out into the hallway, but nothing was being thrown around, which was a good sign. We entered and saw the boys seated around the room, talking about the amazing performance they just put on. They were congratulating each other and discussing what they could do differently or better at the next shows.
As we stepped into the room, they all looked up and greeted us.
“Hey! How did you like the show? Did we do well?” Niall jumped up from the couch, clearly still full of adrenaline.
“It was amazing! You boys were great,” I answered. “This is my mom.” I gestured behind me at my mother, who hadn’t said anything since we walked into the room. She reached her arm in front of me to shake Niall’s outstretched hand.
“So nice to meet you, Mrs. Douglas,” Niall smiled. The rest of the boys followed suit and stood to introduce themselves and shake hands with my mom.
When all introductions were finished, we all sat down around the room.
“You boys did very well tonight, I’m proud of you. No one fell off the stage,” Paul said.
“Jeez, Paul, you fall off the stage one time…” Zayn said, somewhat sarcastically.
Tess chuckled at Zayn’s comment. “You were really great up there. I’ve been to concerts before, but nothing like this.”
“I agree,” I chimed in. “Your performance was completely unique. I wish we could come to more concerts.”
As I finished speaking, I saw the boys and Paul exchange glances. Being the good facial expression reader that I am, I could tell they were up to something.
Apparently Tess noticed, too. “What? What was that?” She shifted in her seat, anxious to hear what they were going to say.
“Paul told us you girls are on summer break, yeah?” Louis said, leaning forward a little.
Before I could respond, Tess spoke, “Yeah, we got off two weeks ago. What about it?”
Harry took a breath to say something but Paul beat him to it. “I spoke with the boys and management about bringing you on tour with us until you go back to school. I imagine it would be the perfect way to spend your vacation.”
Tess and I looked at each other, speechless and awestruck. I tried to speak, but when that didn’t work, I just looked at Harry with a questioning look.
“We’d really like for you to come on tour with us. We get lonely sometimes and I get a really good vibe from you,” He said, as if he knew what I was thinking.
I looked at my mom with hope in my eyes and a smile on my face. She studied me for a moment and looked at Paul.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Douglas, they’ll be in good hands. I’ll make sure to keep them safe and if at any time you decide you want them home before the end of the summer, just give me a call and I’ll get them the earliest flight home.”
My mom looked down at the floor for a moment, thinking. Tess and I watched her, waiting for an answer. She sighed before she said anything.
“Well, Chloe, you always knew how to talk your father into things better than I did, how do you suppose we tell him you’ll be touring America for the summer?”
I felt my smile grow significantly wider and hugged my mom. “I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”
“Tess, go call your mom.”
Tess jumped up from her chair and headed into the kitchen to call home.
I smiled at the beautiful boys I’d be living with for the next few months while my mom and Paul exchanged phone numbers and other information that might be necessary.
After a few minutes, Tess bounced back into the room, a mile-wide smile plastered across her face. “My mom said it’s alright, she just needs Paul’s number.”
“I’ll call her later and give it to her,” my mom told her.
“This is perfect! We’ll have two beautiful fans touring with us. We might even have a few surprises,” Harry said with a wink.
I smiled, acknowledging his cheeky actions.
“Wait, what about clothes? We only brought enough for a few days.” Tess looked between my mom and Paul.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ve already arranged for a flight from here to Chicago and back for you tomorrow morning. We’ll be here a few more days so you’ll have enough time to go back and pack what you need,” Liam said.
“You boys really do think of everything, don’t you?” I asked, surprised that they had already planned for us to fly home tomorrow. “You didn’t even know we were going to be able to tour with you, why did you book a flight home and back for us?”
“I had a feeling you’d be able to join us,” Zayn piped up.
“Mrs. Douglas, you have the option of coming back with the girls and flying home by yourself in a few days on the flight that was arranged by the people behind the contest, or you can fly home with them tomorrow and send them back on their own. If you chose to send them back on their own, I will send someone to pick them up at the airport.”
“I think I’ve had enough excitement for a while, I’ll fly home with them tomorrow and let them come back on their own.”
“Are you sure, Mrs. Douglas?” Tess asked from her seat across the room.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Besides, I’m sure you girls would enjoy flying by yourselves. I’ll be fine at home. I need to tell Chloe’s dad what’s going on anyway.”
“What time is our flight?” I asked. I don’t think Tess or Mom would have even given it any thought until morning when they were rushing around getting ready for a flight they knew nothing about.
“We’ll send for a car to pick you up at 10:30, the flight leaves at 11:30. I’ll give you a wake-up call around 9. Is that alright?” Paul answered.
I nodded and checked my dying cell phone. “Mom, it’s almost 11, we should probably head back to the hotel and get some sleep.”
She looked at her watch and agreed with a small nod.
“I’ll call my driver back for you,” Paul said, stepping into the hallway.
I looked at the band, who were whispering quietly and glancing over at us. I saw Tess was watching them, too. They seemed to be too involved in their conversation to notice we were watching them.
Harry looked up and made eye contact with me. He quickly looked away when he realized his mistake and continued conversing with the rest of the band.
“A-hem,” Tess fake coughed to get their attention. All five boys simultaneously turned to look at her. She raised her eyebrows in question but got nothing in return. They just turned back around, said a few more words, and settled into their seats as if nothing had happened.
“So,” Zayn began, “What do you do for fun?” His eyes flicked between Tess and me.
I shot her a confused glance and she responded with what we normally do over the summer and on breaks: swim, play tennis, and work at a local camp.
I was still thinking about what the boys could have possibly been discussing so secretively when Paul walked back in.
“Your ride is here. Harry, Zayn, could you escort the girls and Mrs. Douglas out to the car?”
“It would be our pleasure,” Harry said, getting to his feet. He shot me a cheeky smile and opened the door. Zayn followed beside Tess and my mom trailed behind, asking Paul a few more questions before we left.
Shortly after leaving the room, we heard distant screams coming from behind us. They began getting louder so we all turned to take a look. About 20 girls were charging down the hallway after us. The must have gotten past security when they saw us leave the dressing room.
“Shit…” Zayn muttered. I felt Harry grab my arm and pull me into an empty room around the corner. Zayn pulled Tess in after him and slammed the door behind her. He quickly turned the lock on the door and sank to the floor next to it.
“They never leave us alone, do they?” Harry said, laughing.
Zayn agreed, smiling.
“How long do we have to stay in here?” Tess asked, sitting in one of the chairs in the room.
“Shhh,” Harry said, pressing his ear up against the wall. I could hear screaming fans still in the distance, slowly making their way toward the hallway outside our room.
Harry turned to us and put his finger up to his lips, a sign for us to be quiet. He turned out the light and I heard him sit down against the wall. Since I couldn’t see, I sat down next to him.
“Harry,” I whispered as quietly as I could. “Why did you turn the lights out?”
“Because if they’re smart fans – which, most of them are – they’ll look under the doors of the rooms to see which ones have lights on. The ones that don’t, they’ll most likely leave alone. The rooms that do, they’ll try to get inside. Now we just have to be quiet until they leave.”
I nodded, even though no one could see me.
We waited in the room for a few moments as the screams grew louder. When the girls turned the corner and found the long hallway empty, they stopped in their tracks.
“Look under the doors, see if there are lights on inside any of the rooms!” I heard one of the fans tell the others. I was quite surprised at how Harry had predicted this exact strategy.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned it off so it wouldn’t make any noise if I got a message. Tess did the same across the room.
We could hear the girls coming closer, jiggling doorknobs and apologizing to people in the rooms they explored.
As they neared our room, I felt Harry scoot a little closer to me, possibly to get farther away from the door.
Soon enough, fans reached our room and tried the doorknob. We all held our breath, staying as quiet as possible.
“This one’s locked. Do you think they could be in here?” Another voice came from the hallway.
“There’s only one way to find out,” a girl with a deep voice answered.
Within seconds, they began pounding on the door with their fists. I jumped at the noise and Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed, making me relax instantly.
“It’s not going to open like this. Does anyone have a bobby pin?” Some girl asked from the hallway.
“I do,” answered someone else.
The girl closest to the doorknob began picking at the lock with the accessory. I watched the door closely, silently praying she wouldn’t be able to unlock it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” A deep voice bellowed.
The doorknob immediately stopped moving as security guards arrived to take the girls away.
I sighed a breath of relief when I heard the girls start complaining. We didn’t move until we heard the voices fade away, back down the hallway from which they came.
Zayn stood up and flicked the lights on. I realized Harry hadn’t let go of my hand yet. Tess saw my fingered entwined with his and raised her eyebrows. I stood, letting go of his hand.
Harry unlocked the door and peeked out into the hallway.
“Is is safe to leave?” Tess asked, rising from her chair.
Harry nodded and led us out of the room.
“Well, there you go. This is what our life is like. I hope you don’t mind running and sometimes hiding from fans because it’ll happen a lot this summer,” Zayn said from behind me.
I thought about it for a minute and decided it would be totally worth it, especially if it meant Harry would hold my hand more.
“You weren’t too freaked out, were you, love?” Harry asked, as we exited the stadium.
I felt myself blush and thanked everything for it being dark outside.
“No, it wasn’t that bad. Kind of thrilling, actually,” I responded.
“Well, just in case it gets out of hand, I plan on keeping you close to me this summer,” He said, winking.
I felt my face get even hotter and really became thankful for the lack of sunlight.
He opened the door to the limo and helped me inside. I thanked him as I climbed in.
“Let me know how you are on your way home. I want to make sure you get there safely.” He handed me a folded slip of paper.
I unfolded it to find numbers. A phone number. Harry Styles’ phone number. I looked up at him and saw him wink again.
I smiled and thanked him as he shut the door to the limo. As we pulled away from the venue, I couldn’t stop smiling. I tucked the paper safely into my purse and didn’t speak to anyone until we got back to the hotel.
I took a quick shower when we got to our room, changed into my pajamas and told Tess and my mom, who were watching a movie in my mom’s room across the hall that I was going to go to bed early.
I shut the door to my room and got comfortable in bed. I fell asleep thinking about what an amazing day I had.
And I got Harry Styles’ phone number.
Chapter 7
As the beat flowed through the stadium, Tess and I cheered and sang along with the crowd. My mother bounced to the music and sang what she knew of the songs. They flashed through What Makes You Beautiful, Kiss You, and One Thing, and then took a break to answer questions submitted on Twitter. A few girls around us screamed as they got their questions answered and received shout-outs from the stage.
While all of this was going on, I caught Harry looking at me and smiling. I pretended not to notice since, chances are, he was just smiling at the crowd.
After a short bathroom break for the boys, they continued the show with Live While We’re Young, Gotta Be You, Moments, and More Than This.
I could tell the boys were getting restless on stage as the concert began winding down. Everyone in the audience cracked their glow sticks when the band began singing Little Things. Louis and Niall teared up a little on stage, as did many of the girls occupying the arena. There was a surprising silence that had fallen over the crowd which lingered even after the last few chords had faded into the night. Although nice, the silence didn’t last very long. It quickly dissolved when the boys began with their last song of the night: One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks). As they sang, images of them in Ghana with the children flashed across the screen behind them, along with clips of the music video they had made for the single.
When they finished, they were panting and sweating, although clearly not tired. Before they left the stage, they answered questions from the audience about their childhoods and their life on tour; they even sang and danced a little by request.
Once their performance was over, they left the stage, a huge round of applause following them. Paul returned to the stage and thanked everyone for coming out to support the boys and send them safely on their way. As the stadium began to empty, Paul pointed to where he told us to meet him at the end of the concert. We nodded, letting him know we understood, and made our way to the side of the room. We had to concentrate hard on making sure we didn’t get knocked over. When we finally got to our spot, we stuck close to the wall, waiting for Paul to come get us and escort us back backstage.
When there were only a few people left talking or exiting the building, Paul arrived, motioning with his hands for us to follow him. We were taken back through the hallway that led from the room we waited in before the concert to the boys’ dressing room. After walking for a few minutes, we passed some girls arguing with security about how much they wanted to meet the boys. The security guards held their ground and refused, so we flashed the girls sympathetic smiles as they asked why we got to meet them. We turned away from them and arrived at the boys’ dressing room.
There wasn’t nearly as much noise as before the concert. Happy voices drifted out into the hallway, but nothing was being thrown around, which was a good sign. We entered and saw the boys seated around the room, talking about the amazing performance they just put on. They were congratulating each other and discussing what they could do differently or better at the next shows.
As we stepped into the room, they all looked up and greeted us.
“Hey! How did you like the show? Did we do well?” Niall jumped up from the couch, clearly still full of adrenaline.
“It was amazing! You boys were great,” I answered. “This is my mom.” I gestured behind me at my mother, who hadn’t said anything since we walked into the room. She reached her arm in front of me to shake Niall’s outstretched hand.
“So nice to meet you, Mrs. Douglas,” Niall smiled. The rest of the boys followed suit and stood to introduce themselves and shake hands with my mom.
When all introductions were finished, we all sat down around the room.
“You boys did very well tonight, I’m proud of you. No one fell off the stage,” Paul said.
“Jeez, Paul, you fall off the stage one time…” Zayn said, somewhat sarcastically.
Tess chuckled at Zayn’s comment. “You were really great up there. I’ve been to concerts before, but nothing like this.”
“I agree,” I chimed in. “Your performance was completely unique. I wish we could come to more concerts.”
As I finished speaking, I saw the boys and Paul exchange glances. Being the good facial expression reader that I am, I could tell they were up to something.
Apparently Tess noticed, too. “What? What was that?” She shifted in her seat, anxious to hear what they were going to say.
“Paul told us you girls are on summer break, yeah?” Louis said, leaning forward a little.
Before I could respond, Tess spoke, “Yeah, we got off two weeks ago. What about it?”
Harry took a breath to say something but Paul beat him to it. “I spoke with the boys and management about bringing you on tour with us until you go back to school. I imagine it would be the perfect way to spend your vacation.”
Tess and I looked at each other, speechless and awestruck. I tried to speak, but when that didn’t work, I just looked at Harry with a questioning look.
“We’d really like for you to come on tour with us. We get lonely sometimes and I get a really good vibe from you,” He said, as if he knew what I was thinking.
I looked at my mom with hope in my eyes and a smile on my face. She studied me for a moment and looked at Paul.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Douglas, they’ll be in good hands. I’ll make sure to keep them safe and if at any time you decide you want them home before the end of the summer, just give me a call and I’ll get them the earliest flight home.”
My mom looked down at the floor for a moment, thinking. Tess and I watched her, waiting for an answer. She sighed before she said anything.
“Well, Chloe, you always knew how to talk your father into things better than I did, how do you suppose we tell him you’ll be touring America for the summer?”
I felt my smile grow significantly wider and hugged my mom. “I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”
“Tess, go call your mom.”
Tess jumped up from her chair and headed into the kitchen to call home.
I smiled at the beautiful boys I’d be living with for the next few months while my mom and Paul exchanged phone numbers and other information that might be necessary.
After a few minutes, Tess bounced back into the room, a mile-wide smile plastered across her face. “My mom said it’s alright, she just needs Paul’s number.”
“I’ll call her later and give it to her,” my mom told her.
“This is perfect! We’ll have two beautiful fans touring with us. We might even have a few surprises,” Harry said with a wink.
I smiled, acknowledging his cheeky actions.
“Wait, what about clothes? We only brought enough for a few days.” Tess looked between my mom and Paul.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ve already arranged for a flight from here to Chicago and back for you tomorrow morning. We’ll be here a few more days so you’ll have enough time to go back and pack what you need,” Liam said.
“You boys really do think of everything, don’t you?” I asked, surprised that they had already planned for us to fly home tomorrow. “You didn’t even know we were going to be able to tour with you, why did you book a flight home and back for us?”
“I had a feeling you’d be able to join us,” Zayn piped up.
“Mrs. Douglas, you have the option of coming back with the girls and flying home by yourself in a few days on the flight that was arranged by the people behind the contest, or you can fly home with them tomorrow and send them back on their own. If you chose to send them back on their own, I will send someone to pick them up at the airport.”
“I think I’ve had enough excitement for a while, I’ll fly home with them tomorrow and let them come back on their own.”
“Are you sure, Mrs. Douglas?” Tess asked from her seat across the room.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Besides, I’m sure you girls would enjoy flying by yourselves. I’ll be fine at home. I need to tell Chloe’s dad what’s going on anyway.”
“What time is our flight?” I asked. I don’t think Tess or Mom would have even given it any thought until morning when they were rushing around getting ready for a flight they knew nothing about.
“We’ll send for a car to pick you up at 10:30, the flight leaves at 11:30. I’ll give you a wake-up call around 9. Is that alright?” Paul answered.
I nodded and checked my dying cell phone. “Mom, it’s almost 11, we should probably head back to the hotel and get some sleep.”
She looked at her watch and agreed with a small nod.
“I’ll call my driver back for you,” Paul said, stepping into the hallway.
I looked at the band, who were whispering quietly and glancing over at us. I saw Tess was watching them, too. They seemed to be too involved in their conversation to notice we were watching them.
Harry looked up and made eye contact with me. He quickly looked away when he realized his mistake and continued conversing with the rest of the band.
“A-hem,” Tess fake coughed to get their attention. All five boys simultaneously turned to look at her. She raised her eyebrows in question but got nothing in return. They just turned back around, said a few more words, and settled into their seats as if nothing had happened.
“So,” Zayn began, “What do you do for fun?” His eyes flicked between Tess and me.
I shot her a confused glance and she responded with what we normally do over the summer and on breaks: swim, play tennis, and work at a local camp.
I was still thinking about what the boys could have possibly been discussing so secretively when Paul walked back in.
“Your ride is here. Harry, Zayn, could you escort the girls and Mrs. Douglas out to the car?”
“It would be our pleasure,” Harry said, getting to his feet. He shot me a cheeky smile and opened the door. Zayn followed beside Tess and my mom trailed behind, asking Paul a few more questions before we left.
Shortly after leaving the room, we heard distant screams coming from behind us. They began getting louder so we all turned to take a look. About 20 girls were charging down the hallway after us. The must have gotten past security when they saw us leave the dressing room.
“Shit…” Zayn muttered. I felt Harry grab my arm and pull me into an empty room around the corner. Zayn pulled Tess in after him and slammed the door behind her. He quickly turned the lock on the door and sank to the floor next to it.
“They never leave us alone, do they?” Harry said, laughing.
Zayn agreed, smiling.
“How long do we have to stay in here?” Tess asked, sitting in one of the chairs in the room.
“Shhh,” Harry said, pressing his ear up against the wall. I could hear screaming fans still in the distance, slowly making their way toward the hallway outside our room.
Harry turned to us and put his finger up to his lips, a sign for us to be quiet. He turned out the light and I heard him sit down against the wall. Since I couldn’t see, I sat down next to him.
“Harry,” I whispered as quietly as I could. “Why did you turn the lights out?”
“Because if they’re smart fans – which, most of them are – they’ll look under the doors of the rooms to see which ones have lights on. The ones that don’t, they’ll most likely leave alone. The rooms that do, they’ll try to get inside. Now we just have to be quiet until they leave.”
I nodded, even though no one could see me.
We waited in the room for a few moments as the screams grew louder. When the girls turned the corner and found the long hallway empty, they stopped in their tracks.
“Look under the doors, see if there are lights on inside any of the rooms!” I heard one of the fans tell the others. I was quite surprised at how Harry had predicted this exact strategy.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned it off so it wouldn’t make any noise if I got a message. Tess did the same across the room.
We could hear the girls coming closer, jiggling doorknobs and apologizing to people in the rooms they explored.
As they neared our room, I felt Harry scoot a little closer to me, possibly to get farther away from the door.
Soon enough, fans reached our room and tried the doorknob. We all held our breath, staying as quiet as possible.
“This one’s locked. Do you think they could be in here?” Another voice came from the hallway.
“There’s only one way to find out,” a girl with a deep voice answered.
Within seconds, they began pounding on the door with their fists. I jumped at the noise and Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed, making me relax instantly.
“It’s not going to open like this. Does anyone have a bobby pin?” Some girl asked from the hallway.
“I do,” answered someone else.
The girl closest to the doorknob began picking at the lock with the accessory. I watched the door closely, silently praying she wouldn’t be able to unlock it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” A deep voice bellowed.
The doorknob immediately stopped moving as security guards arrived to take the girls away.
I sighed a breath of relief when I heard the girls start complaining. We didn’t move until we heard the voices fade away, back down the hallway from which they came.
Zayn stood up and flicked the lights on. I realized Harry hadn’t let go of my hand yet. Tess saw my fingered entwined with his and raised her eyebrows. I stood, letting go of his hand.
Harry unlocked the door and peeked out into the hallway.
“Is is safe to leave?” Tess asked, rising from her chair.
Harry nodded and led us out of the room.
“Well, there you go. This is what our life is like. I hope you don’t mind running and sometimes hiding from fans because it’ll happen a lot this summer,” Zayn said from behind me.
I thought about it for a minute and decided it would be totally worth it, especially if it meant Harry would hold my hand more.
“You weren’t too freaked out, were you, love?” Harry asked, as we exited the stadium.
I felt myself blush and thanked everything for it being dark outside.
“No, it wasn’t that bad. Kind of thrilling, actually,” I responded.
“Well, just in case it gets out of hand, I plan on keeping you close to me this summer,” He said, winking.
I felt my face get even hotter and really became thankful for the lack of sunlight.
He opened the door to the limo and helped me inside. I thanked him as I climbed in.
“Let me know how you are on your way home. I want to make sure you get there safely.” He handed me a folded slip of paper.
I unfolded it to find numbers. A phone number. Harry Styles’ phone number. I looked up at him and saw him wink again.
I smiled and thanked him as he shut the door to the limo. As we pulled away from the venue, I couldn’t stop smiling. I tucked the paper safely into my purse and didn’t speak to anyone until we got back to the hotel.
I took a quick shower when we got to our room, changed into my pajamas and told Tess and my mom, who were watching a movie in my mom’s room across the hall that I was going to go to bed early.
I shut the door to my room and got comfortable in bed. I fell asleep thinking about what an amazing day I had.
And I got Harry Styles’ phone number.
6/16/13