“What am I going to wear?”

This was never an easy question for me. If the answer didn’t immediately come to mind, I knew it would be at least an hour long process trying to find the perfect outfit.

But this was entirely different. No longer was it up to me, at least not for big events like this.

My stylist got to make that decision for me. Sure, I got to put in input, and if I absolutely despised something, I could say no, but she was the one putting the masterpiece together.

Just like for my first press conference. Sebastian wasn’t able to get here with my styling team back for my interview with “Talk of the South,” so I had gotten to make my own decisions there. This, however, was much bigger, and from here on out, my styling team would always be with me.

Styling team . . . that was weird to say.

My own styling team.

The head stylist—the one who basically got the main idea and told everyone else what to do and look for—was a young woman only four years older than me named Jynx. At least that was what she went by.

She was pretty awesome, too. The way she thought my style should be was the “punk rock” look I apparently went for without realizing it, so I was okay with that. As long as I didn’t have to change how I wanted to dress, I didn’t care what she did with my look.

I said that, but then it was time to get my hair ready for the press conference while she looked through the many dresses top designers left for me to choose from. It was so weird to think about, but when Sebastian called designers and let them know I would be attending the Captain America: Winter Soldier premiere with One Direction, so many different designers offered up things that they thought would be perfect on me, that they wanted me to wear. If I did wear them, I got to keep the dress.

That was where it got tricky. After sending me photos of the dresses that were worth thousands of dollars, and letting me decide from there, some were just too gorgeous to choose between. I was easily able to scratch some off the list, but there were a few that I just couldn’t decide between.

And then Jynx came in, took a look at the three I was stuck on, and immediately picked out the best one. It was a bit shorter than I was used to, but the more I stared at the picture, the more I loved it.

So we contacted Sherri Hill, and she set us up with a nearby store that sold that dress so that I could get fitted.

Turns out, One Direction’s attire was going to be based off of mine. I was thrilled to hear that, so the six of us would be wearing different things of black, silver, white, and a blue-purple color.

It was gonna be interesting for sure, but first, I had to get the press conference out of the way.

---

“Everit!”

My name was being called from so many different places that it made my head spin, and I was uncomfortable. I was alone in the front, but standing in the back of the room, hiding to the best of his ability, was Niall. Just being able to see him made things so much better for me.

I honestly didn’t know if I’d be able to do this without him, but at some point, it was probably gonna be necessary.

“Everit!”

I knew I couldn’t really stall this any longer, and the quicker I answered questions, the quicker I was gonna be able to get away so I could get ready for the premiere.

So I picked the first person I saw—a rather tall man with a bit of a belly dressed in a suit and
glasses.

“Um, yes?”

“Many fans and critics alike are worried about the release date of your album,” he said. “They’re worried that it’s just some big joke and won’t actually release until a later date.”

I shook my head. “We actually thought long and hard about this release date. We were worried people would think, but it was just the best time that fit with it begin finished and the tour coming up. The release date is the first. I promise it’s not an April’s Fools Joke. There’s plenty of other things to do that day than joke about the release of my first album.”

Other people started calling my name again, and I just picked a random person. I wasn’t actually looking at anyone, but I pointed towards the center of the crowd, and I figured that whoever wanted to go would go.

A tall, slender red headed woman took her turn.

“Everit, there’s a lot of speculation about the relationship between you and Chris Evans,” she said. “Being invited to the premiere of this movie only adds to that speculation. Can you very clearly define your relationship for us?”

“Uh, definitely,” I said. “Chris and I are best friends, siblings at that. Um, it was kinda instant. I wasn’t entirely sure what to think when we met because we went on a lunch date, but from the beginning, we were both just kinda like, ‘Alright, we’re too far apart in age, and we just don’t really blend as a couple. Siblings?’ And it was just a joke at first, but that’s exactly what we became. He’s like the big brother I never had. Nothing more.”

Another man didn’t wait to be called on before he asked his question. “Can you define your relationship status?”

“I am in a relationship,” I said, briefly glancing back to Niall so I could see what went across his face when hearing me say that. It was . . . pretty exciting, those cyan eyes shining as a huge smile pulled across his lips. Finally, it was here! No more hiding. No more pretending to be something that we weren’t. We were finally free. “It’s not with Chris. It’s not with Luke. It’s with Niall. You know, we’ve been going out these past few weeks, and last night, we just kinda sat down and decided that this wasn’t just some casual fling that would pass. We’re in this for the long run, and that’s what I’m gonna say on that.”

Like I figured, more and more cameras went off as more and more people had questions to ask, but this wasn’t supposed to be about Niall and me. I figured it would, and I was more than happy to answer some questions, but I was so worried about the real truth coming out.

Niall and me had been Niall and me for a long time.

I decided to just pick another random person and go with it. While the woman asked her question, I took a large gulp out of my water bottle and perked up my ears so I could hear her question exactly.

“There’s a lot of buzz around your new video for you single Decode,” she said. “Can you explain to us exactly what that video is about?”

“Yeah, um, the song itself is about a girl who has fallen passionately in love, and it changes her life,” I said. “It’s not just a simple good change. There is risk and consequence along with it. It’s not happy go lucky from then on out, and in the music video, that’s exactly what I tried to capture. Everything around her is crumbling, and nothing will ever be the same . . . and she steps out into the thunderstorm that is the chaos of her new life, and just when she thinks she’s alone, the love of her life holds his hand out and gives her an umbrella—her shelter from the storm.”

Some people looked genuinely surprised, but others just had more questions. I decided to stick to my random picking system and picked a man standing towards the back.

“Miss Everit, can you tell us about the single that’s releasing later today?”

I gave him a small smile and nodded. “Definitely. It was a hard decision which single to release next. I swear I got into so many arguments with management and the producers about it. They wanted me to release a different one, but I was so set on this one. I wanted it to be the single, so eventually they were like, ‘Well, you have free reign here. We’re just here for guidance. Do what you want.’ So I decided to release one of the duets, the one that really just stuck out to me. I’m not supposed to talk too much about it, but we think you guys are gonna like it.”

More questions were shouted out at me, all of them pretty much involving the same thing: was this the duet with Niall?

I glanced back at Niall and loved the grin plastered on his face. Of course he knew it was the duet being released tomorrow, but I was given strict instructions. Do not give out information regarding who it’s with or what the name is.

“This is a question off the subject, since you seem to be avoiding the questions about the single!” a woman managed to yell over the rest of the questions.

My eyebrows rose. “Yes?”

“Why did you dye your hair red out of what seemed like nowhere?”

I laughed. “Actually, I wanted to dye it blue. I decided one day that it was time to change the way I fully wanted to, and Kiley and Madi actually thought it was a great idea. We all went the same day, and I told my stylist, ‘We wanna dye our hair.’ I wanted to do blue, Kiley wanted to do purple, and Madi wanted to do pink. My stylist vetoed all those ideas and convinced us to get red. Kiley did her bangs, Madi did her tips, and I was like, ‘Screw it. Do my whole head.’ So she added the glowing streaks back in, because apparently that’s my trademark look, but now my hair is red. So that’s pretty much the story of that.”

“What do you plan to do in your free time while on this tour?” another man asked. “And do you know if you’ll share a tour bus with anyone?”

“Well, Michael has already told me that any spare moment I have, I’m gonna being playing PS4 with him,” I laughed. “As far as the bus goes, I’m not sure. We haven’t really been over all that. As far as all that goes, I just kinda do what I’m told and just marvel in the fact that crap, I’m going on tour with One Direction in a worldwide stadium tour. I mean, that’s pretty much how it is. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. It’s so incredible.”

Niall surprised me when he pushed himself off the wall and cleared his throat. People who knew he was there looked to him while others looked very surprised at the sight of him.

I knew what that meant, but I hadn’t realized I had been here half an hour. Those questions didn’t seem like they took that long anyways, but I wasn’t gonna protest. With a smile and a quick thank you to everyone who had come out, I stood from the table and hurried towards the back.

He was just full of surprises, though. I thought he would grab my hand and pull me along, but before grabbing my hand, he grabbed my face and placed such a delicate kiss on my lips that I felt my heart actually rupture in my chest.

Flashes went off everyone, and the people started asking questions directed at both of us, but we didn’t care. When Niall pulled away, after a few moments of the wondrous kiss that took my breath away, he gave me a huge smile and laced our fingers together.

“Come on, princess,” he whispered, and he began pulling me along behind him. “Let’s go get ready for tonight.”

I swear to you, I would’ve followed after that boy if he said let’s go get ready for mass homicide. At the moment, I didn’t care where we were going. I just wanted to go wherever he was.

Notes

The lyrics are from We Can Go Anywhere by Jesse McCartney. :)

Here's a link to Everit's press conference attire. :) Gotta show her support. :D

Let me know what you think! I know it's mostly filler, but it gets sorta cute at the end. :) Hope you enjoy. :D