“I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.” ― John Green, The Fault In Our Stars


I was walking out of my hotel that Thursday afternoon into the absolutely freezing air of London. It was the first day I was meeting the guys of One Direction. In the two weeks that had passed since Simon told me about opening for them, everything had been a blur. Christmas and New Years has come and gone too quickly.

I brought my sunglasses down from my head to cover my eyes; I walked side by side of my brother, Luca. There were a few paparazzi outside, snapping photos.

We got to the car quickly and we were on our way to the restaurant where we would be having lunch with the guys.

My brother sighed and leaned his head against the head rest, “This jet lag, Mika. Don’t like it.”

I smiled at him, “This is awesome, though! London, man!”

He snorted and looked out the window, “But…sleep.”

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the shoulder lightly, “You love it, too. Don’t lie to me.”

He turned his head to me and pushed his sunglasses up to his head, “True,” he said and ran his hand through his dark blonde hair. Everyone said Luca looked very model-ish, I guess. He had dark blonde hair, and blue eyes. Crazy blue. Like looking into clear water blue. He was also six foot two inches, so that added to it too, I guess. I may or may not have been jealous.

I looked outside the window and watched the scenery pass by me. We had gotten into London the night before, it was my first time and I hadn’t had the chance to explore yet, which was something I was incredibly excited to do.

We pulled up to a seriously fancy restaurant. I looked over to Luca and he gave me a blank stare.

“What is this place?” he asked.

I shrugged, “No idea, this is where Simon said we were gonna meet him and the band.”

He groaned, “God, this place is legit going to be hundreds of dollars for a meal.”

I laughed, “Pull that card out, Luca.”

He chuckled, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

We opened our doors before the driver could get out and open them for us.

We walked in and gave the host Simon’s name; he led us into a back room, a private dining room.

“Mika! So glad you’re here!” Simon said standing up from his chair and coming over to us, “Luca, nice to see you again as well,” he said shaking my brothers hand then he one armed hugged me.

“Come on, have a seat, order anything you want, it’s on me,” he said before returning to his seat.

There were five sets of eyes on me at that point. I knew all of their names, of course. Even before I was asked to go on tour with them I had known of them. But the fact I was going to be with them for months on the road, I felt it would make sense to look up some sort of information about them.

Harry’s hair was pushed back a bit so that it wasn’t directly falling in his face, Louis had some stubble growing, and had a beanie over his hair, Niall had his hair styled upwards, Zayn’s hair was flat against his forehead, and Liam had his styled with some gel holding it up.

I smiled and waved at them, Luca did the same.

“Boys, this is Mika Rowan and her brother Luca. This is Harry, Louis, Niall, Zayn and Liam,” Simon said, introducing us.

“There are the two open seats next to Harry,” Simon instructed.

I walked over to the empty seat next to harry and took off my leather jacket and placed it on the back of my chair, I took a seat and checked out the room. It was very fancy to say the least. Not somewhere I would ever go on my own accord.

“You alright, love?” Harry whispered to me.

I looked over at him and smiled, “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just…a little uncomfortable.”

“Why?” he asked curiously. He looked genuinely interested in what I was going to say. I liked him already.
He didn’t seem snobby or anything like that which was nice.

I shrugged, “This restaurant is…pretty fancy. I’ve never been anywhere like this.”

He laughed lightly and looked at his plate, “I can understand that. Not exactly my type of place either but Simon insisted.”

I laughed and nodded, “Got it.”

“I like your accent,” Louis said from the other side of Harry, “It’s always refreshing to hear another type of accent. Get bored of these blokes accents,” Louis finished with a smile at the other guys.

“Aye!” Zayn called from across the table, “Maybe we get tired of your accent!”

“What about me?” Niall said, “I’m the Irish one, I get sick of hearing your accents, mines the only fun one.”

I looked over at Liam who was laughing, Simon had a smirk on his face, “Now now children, we don’t want to scare Mika away before this tour even starts, do we?”

“Cheers!” Liam said with a laugh.

The waiter came in and handed all of us menus, and then took our drink orders. I opened the menu and was instantly confused.

I looked beside me at Luca and saw that his eyebrows were pulled together and confusion too.

“Everything alright over there, Mika?” Simon asked already having his menu back on his plate.

I looked up at him and saw that everyone and turned their attention to me, “Huh, yeah. Just curious, do you always pick the fanciest restaurants in town to go to?”

The boys all laughed as Simon chuckled, “She’s right mate! I can’t pronounce most of this,” Niall said to Simon.

Liam laughed harder, “Ni, if you can’t pronounce this then maybe you should head back to class, yeah?”

Niall scowled at him, “Shut it.”

Simon was laughing along with us now, “What food is it that you prefer then, Mika?”

I shrugged, “I’m more of a pizza or burgers kinda girl. I don’t think I’d be too fond of this English Pigeon. No offense! I mean, I’m sure this place is great and all I’m just saying-“

“I think I’m in love with this girl, Simon. Truly,” Louis said as he got up from his chair and came over to me, “let’s just go to the pub, yeah? Simon here can stay and eat the pigeon and we’ll eat normal food!” he said as he sat on Harry’s lap so he could face me.

Simon laughed as the waiter came in, “I’m so sorry, I think we’ve changed our minds. I’ll pay for the drinks, yeah?”

The waiter looked confused but nodded nonetheless, “Of course, right this way, please,” he said leading Simon out the door.

“Where are you staying, love?” Harry asked around Louis.

“We’re at the SoHo Hotel on...um. what street is that?” I asked turning to Luca.

“Huh, Richmond Mews Dean Street,” he answered.

“Yes! There’s that little pub around the corner. Great food, no one really bothers you too much,” Liam pointed out.

I nodded, “Yeah, I mean, that would be awesome.”

“Settled, I’m starving, let’s go then,” Niall said standing up.

I smiled and stood up too, I put my jacket back on and threw my purse over my shoulder and followed Niall out of the room.

“Jesus, you’re as fast as Niall. You hungry too?” Zayn asked with a laugh.

“Starving!” I called over my shoulder.

Niall stood by the front doors and smiled when he saw me walk up, “Hey, how are ya?”

I nodded, “Really good. But hungry, so I’m excited for this pub.”

He laughed, “Ah, you like to eat too, yeah?”

I shrugged, “Not trying to brag but I can go through a medium pizza by myself.”

He threw his head back and laughed, “Eventually we’ll have a pizza eating contest, Mik. There’s a really amazing place in Chicago, God my mouth just filled with saliva just thinking about it.”

I laughed at how intense he was about it, “I feel that you would probably beat me severely.”

He shrugged and smiled at me, “We’ll have to wait and see, yeah?” he said with a wink.

I nodded, “I guess so.”

Notes

Chapter 2!!!!

So excited for this story!