*This chapter takes place 1 week after the previous one.*
Scarlett’s POV
I walked offstage, still glowing from my performance and the comments I’d gotten from the judges. I high fived a few people and wished good luck to the next performer—a lad about my age named Brett. I stopped to give him a hug and left him with a wink. We’d been flirting a bit, but I didn’t really expect it to go anywhere.
I got a great review from my makeup artist, who was practically in tears. “Scar, that was just fantastic. She wiped her eyes, smudging her mascara, and pulled me into a hug. “I really think you can win, honey.”
“I don’t know, Dana.” I smiled and accepted her hug. “I mean, Brett is so good and Up-Down has never been in the bottom two. I’d love to win, but I don’t know if it’ll happen.” Brett, me, and a group called Up-Down were said to be the toughest competition this series.
“Look, girl, you don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re seriously amazing, and I’m pretty sure Tulisa was crying. Stop underestimating yourself! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I look like a hot mess, so I’m going to head to the loo and fix my face. See you later!”
“Bye, Dana!” I called after her, smiling. She always put me in a better mood. I walked over to one of the lounges, humming Ed Sheeran’s ‘Drunk’, the song that I had just sang.
I walked into the lounge, snapping my fingers and dancing a bit to the song that was playing inside my head. I looked over and saw five heads, all male, sticking up over the top of one of the red couches, facing a TV screen where a BBC show was on—some sort of fantasy program. I silently walked over to a table where there were several bottles of water and grabbed one, uncapping it. I listened in on their conversation as I took a swig. “I’m sure it was an A.” One of them said.
“For fuck’s sake, Liam, give over with the A! It was definitely an M.”
An Irish guy spoke up. “It was an S for sure. I swear.” His voice sounded familiar, and I tried to place it. The last week had been hectic, and I hadn’t been able to focus.
“Look, I don’t care that much. Stop fighting. We can ask later.” As he spoke, I finally remembered their voices. I looked to see where the fourth one’s voice had come from, and my eyes latched onto a curly head of hair in the middle of the couch, his arm slung lazily over to his right. Directly to his right was a blond head, and I put two and two together. Harry and Niall, the lads I’d met at the truck stop, were here, in the X Factor studio. I assumed the one of the far left was Louis—the hair looked familiar. I wasn’t sure what to do—I still felt guilty about how rude I’d been to Harry, so I didn’t want to just walk up to them, but at the same time, something about them was just irresistible. I didn’t have to worry about making my decision, however, because Niall got up and went around the couch, making his way over to the table where I was standing. He froze in tracks when he noticed me. “Scarlett?”
“Uh, hi, Niall.” I shifted my feet a bit, looking at the ground before facing him and giving him a smile.
“Was that you singing onstage, just then? He asked. My gaze flitted between him and the heads of the other four, who seemed not to notice that I was here yet. They kept staring at the TV screen. I nodded, and he turned around, grinning. “Hey, I told you fuckers! This is the girl who was singing. Her name is Scarlett. I told you it started with an S!”
I watched them turn around. A huge grin spread on Louis’ face, and Harry’s mouth twisted into a frown, his pride evidently still hurting. The other two—the one with brown hair and brown eyes and the one with black hair and hazel eyes—greeted me with smiles. Niall pulled me into a hug. Louis jumped over the couch and peeled him off of me, wrapping his arms around me instead. “Hey, Lou, it was my turn!” Niall whined.
Louis finally let go and we walked over to the couches. I sat between Harry and Louis, with Niall and the other two on the couch across from me.
The one with brown hair grinned at me. “Hi, I’m Liam Payne.”
The last one gave me a small wave. “I’m Zayn Malik, and I’m very confused. How do you know these three?”
I laughed. “I met them at a truck stop. They kept following me and making noise, and here we are. I’m Scarlett Cross. It’s nice to meet you two, and see you three again. Uh…I know this is blunt, but why are you here?”
Louis laughed and punched my shoulder. “We should be asking you the same thing. Why didn’t you tell us that you were a contestant?”
“It didn’t come up.” I grinned cheekily at him.
He rolled his eyes, and Liam piped up. “To answer your first question, we’re here because we’re a band. Our name is One Direction.” Realization dawned on my face. Countless people had mentioned One Direction throughout my time here, I had just never bothered to look them up. I heard that they had gone on Series seven, and I had started watching at eight. “We started here, on this show, and Simon wants us to play for the judging later. We’re signed with Syco.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard your name, I just never looked it up.”
Liam smiled. “I hate to cut this short, but we have to go to a meeting with one of the producers. It was nice meeting you.” Zayn and Liam stood up and started filing out of the room.
I stood up, stretching my back a bit, and tugging on the end of my skirt. Louis waved bye to me and followed the other two. Niall pulled me into another bone-crushing hug. “Don’t you disappear again, Scarlett. Meet us after the show. We’re going to dinner, and we’re going to sneak you out so you come with us.” I laughed and agreed. I watched him leave and turned around to find Harry staring me in the face. Oh, right. He hadn’t left yet.
“Hello, Scarlett.”
“Hi, Harry. Look, I’m sorry about being so rude last week.”
“It’s whatever.” The look in his eyes betrayed that it was far from ‘whatever’.
“Yeah, I just haven’t really had a good experience with relationships—”
He cut me off. “No, you thought I just wanted to fuck you.” He said it bluntly, and it took me a moment to come up with a response.
“Of course not.” I managed to say, although he had seen right through me.
“Whatever. It’s what most people think.” He pushed past me and towards the door. I grabbed his arm before he could leave. “Look, Harry, I’m sorry, okay? You’re right, I did think that, but I’m wrong, aren’t I. Let me make it up to me. I’ll buy you a drink tonight.”
He spent what seemed like an eternity searching my eyes with his own. His mouth finally twisted into the smirk that had been on his face when I first met him, and I found myself grinning. “Okay, Scar. Sure.” I let go of his arm and pulled him into a hug.
“I’m glad I got to see you again. Good luck, Harry.” He smiled at me and left, whistling a bit as he went to find the others.
I knew that I was supposed to go back out for my second performance, so I waited through Brett’s comments from the judges—all fantastic, of course—and Up-Down’s performance. They sang ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay, and they absolutely killed it. It was amazing. I sighed. I couldn’t help but think that I would be going home. There was one other performance, a woman a bit older than me, who was named Elise Lane. It was really between her and I on who was going home, and, personally, I thought she was a far better singer. Her voice just soared whenever she sang. I shook my head and clapped after they finished, high fiving them.
I ran back to my dressing room. The other three acts were going to perform, and then I was closing out the show. I hadn’t meant to stay too long talking to the lads, but I’d gotten distracted, and now Dana was going to yell at me. When I burst through the door, she looked at me and relief washed over her face. “Scar! There you are. Oh, damn, I was worried.” She lifted up a walkie talkie. “Yeah, I got her. You can stop looking now.” She turned back to me and guided me to a chair, where she started putting makeup on me. “You can’t just run away like that! What if I hadn’t found you! You know you’re supposed to have a different look for this song.”
I grunted and would have rolled my eyes if they weren’t closed so she could put on eye shadow. I wasn’t changing outfits, as that wasn’t really my style, so I was sticking with the white lace dress that I’d worn for the previous performance, and my hair still straightened down my back. Dana was giving me a darker eye look for this one, however, as she wanted me to look ‘fierce’. I had simple white flats on—I was going for comfort, as I was so nervous this round. I went through the song I was singing again in my head. With help from my mentor, Nicole, I’d chosen ‘Skyscraper’ by Demi Lovato as my second song. I didn’t like it as much as my first one, but she’d said that it would be good, and I trusted her.
She finally finished and I sprinted back out over to the stage. I got there just in time to see Brett start his song. I had wanted to wish him good luck, but I was sure he would do great even without my hug.

***

“You’re the best young artist I’ve heard in a while. I think you’re going to go really far.” The words echoed through my head and I smiled. I had just finished my performance, and I had, as Brett said, “Nailed it to the wall.” I was walking with him now. We had managed to escape the managers, and were trying to get rid of our post-concert jitters. Right now we were somewhere in the maze of dressing rooms.
“Seriously, Scar, that was amazing. I know you liked the first song better, but I think that was your best performance so far.” I elbowed Brett in the ribs, grinning at him.
“Thanks. I just felt so…confident. Looking out at the crowd, at the judges, all of them looking at me like they knew I was going to do well. But don’t even get me started on your song. That was, like, the best.” He had sang ‘1000 years’, and had, as I had said earlier, “smashed it”.
“Whatever. Let’s stop talking about how good we were. How was it going back home last weekend?” He looked at me expectantly. I hadn’t gotten a chance to really talk to him since I’d gotten back, due to rehearsals, and he had been pestering me about it in the few moments I had seen him since then.
I sighed. “It was okay. My parents wouldn’t let me in the house, so Ethan, Jake, and I all went out for ice cream, and then we went to Jake’s flat and just hung out. I slept there. I went back to the house, before I left, but when my mom opened the door and saw me, she just slammed it in my face.”
He put an arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Scarlett. They’ll come around. Once they realize how good you are.”
I nodded and we kept walking in silence, his arm still around me. My parents hadn’t been in favor of me dropping the semester and trying out for the show—in fact, they had threatened to stop talking to me if I did. When I had gone through with it, they hadn’t broken their promise. My mom wouldn’t answer my calls, wouldn’t let me in the house, wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence. Growing up, they had stressed that education was the most important thing, and when I had let something take precedence over it, they had been beyond angry. Thankfully, my little brother Ethan and my older brother Jake hadn’t been. Ethan was in seventh year, and Jake was going to University of London, so I stayed with him in his flat on breaks. My friends—both the new ones from the show and the ones from uni—kept telling me that my parents would eventually stop being angry, but so far, they’d shown no signs.
“Did I mention that you look beautiful?” Brett asked after a while. He gave me a small smile.
I grinned. “You hadn’t. But it’s always nice to hear.” On a whim, I leaned over and kissed his cheek, leaving a faint mark with my lip gloss.
“Oh, so that’s all I get? He teased, looking over at me. I bit my lip slightly, and all of a sudden he stopped walking and pulled me towards him, so we were standing facing each other. His arms were around my waist and he was smirking at me slightly.
“For now.” I answered playfully, absentmindedly locking my hands behind his neck. My heart was beating faster and faster. All the flirting we’d done had been very light, nothing to this extent yet.
“For now? What if I said that I think you’re amazing?” He tugged me a little closer to him, and leaned towards me so that our noses were touching.
I didn’t stop to think what I was doing, to consider whether or not I really did want to kiss him. I’d had boyfriends before, and was certainly experienced in this department and many others, and it was just the logical progression of things. A boy flirts with you, he pulls you into that little embrace where his arms are around your waist and yours are behind his neck, and you kiss him. Simple as that. “Then maybe that’s not all you get.” Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I started to lean in. We were just about to connect when I heard Niall’s voice.
“Scarlett? Scarlett, where—oh. Am I interrupting something?” I turned and saw him standing awkwardly at the end of the hallway, his hands in his pockets. I pulled myself away from Brett. I answered “No.” at the same time as he said “Yes.”
Niall looked back at me. “No, it’s fine.” I repeated. Brett sighed and slumped his shoulders. Niall’s gaze flitted between him and me.
“Uh, well, Scarlett, we were just going to go for dinner now, so I came to find you…you can bring your, uh, friend, if you want.”
Brett shook his head. “No, it’s fine, I’ll stay back.”
I turned to look at him guiltily. “Are you sure?” He nodded. “I’ll see you later, then, right?”
“Sure.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, making him crack a smile. “Bye, Scar.” I waved goodbye to him and walked over to Niall, who led me the opposite way from where Brett and I had come from.
“So…” He spoke up after a moment. “That was Brett, right? Brett Daniels? The competition.”
“Yeah.” I answered, staring at the floor. Half of me wished that Niall hadn’t interrupted, and the other half wasn’t sure if I really wanted to kiss him. I sighed.
“Are you guys…you know. Together?”
“No. I mean, we’ve been flirting and stuff, but that was actually the first time anything had happened.”
“I’m sorry I interrupted you.”
“Don’t be. I don’t know if I actually wanted it to go anywhere. Maybe you saved me.”
He grinned. “Well, that’s certainly something I like to hear. We’re going to meet the rest of the lads in the parking lot. I’m sneaking you out the back entrance. I think we’re headed to a pub; Liam’s choosing.”
“Okay. I need to grab my purse, can we stop by my dressing room?” He nodded and I hummed the song I’d just sang for the judges a bit. Niall and I walked in silence through the maze of hallways. We turned a corner, and somehow were at my room. I ran inside while he waited and got what I needed. I emerged to find him still standing there, studying a poster on the wall. As we started walking again he spoke up. “You were amazing, you know.”
“Thanks. I love being onstage. The crowd, the lights…there’s no better feeling.”
“I know what you mean. But, seriously, you’re a fantastic singer. This is going to sound really blunt but…actually, no, never mind.” He shyly rubbed the back of his neck as we continued walking.
“What’s going to sound blunt, Niall?” I looked up at him expectantly.
He bit his lip slightly and released it. “Okay, so I know we just met, and all that, but I just thought that it would be really fun to sing with you sometime. I know, I know, it’s stupid.”
I laughed. “That’s not stupid. It sounds really fun. We should.”
He grinned. “Thanks. It’s a really strange request, I know, but I love singing, and you have an fantastic voice, and through your whole performance all I could think was that I really want to do it with you.” I stifled a laugh at his word choice, and I saw his eyes widen and a blush color his cheeks. “Um, not what I meant. Although you’re very pretty.”
“Oh, shut up, Niall. And just for the record, I would love to.” I saw a cheeky grin spread across his face.
“Out of curiosity, which of those two things—you know, the duet and the ‘doing it’—are you referring to?”
I tried to hide the blush that came to my cheeks at his flirting. I’d had to get used to guys doing it as of late—I’d been out at more clubs and bars with my being on the show, and I was getting a lot more attention than I used to. Last year, as a shy bookworm who never wore anything higher than the knees, I wouldn’t have flirted back, just shrugging off the compliments and running back to my room to study. But this Scarlett, The X Factor Scarlett who happened to be wearing a very pretty dress and had sustained a major confidence boost, thought up something to say back to him. “Well, I was talking about the duet, hotshot, but you never know.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Shut up pervert.” He laughed and we finally reached the back entrance. He glanced around, checking for people—I was amazed that we hadn’t seen anyone yet, but he had taken us through a secret back way that I hadn’t known about—and opened the door. It opened into a small car park that could only fit about six cars. I saw the four lads that I’d met earlier leaning against a black SUV, and a larger man in all black talking to them. Louis was obviously telling a joke, based on the way Liam and Harry were listening intently and laughing, and Zayn was talking to the man and smoking a cigarette. I screwed up my face for a moment before mentally chastising myself. I didn’t like the act of smoking, but I tried not to judge other people.
Liam seemed to notice the two of us first, and waved a bit. We walked over to them, Niall’s hands in his pockets, mine clutching my purse. “Hey, Nialler. Hey, Scarlett.” He said as we reached the car. It occurred to me that it might not be the wisest idea to get in a car with five boys that I just met, but I shook it off. An internationally renowned pop-singing boy band can’t be kidnappers/murders/rapists, can they?
Hopefully not.
Liam’s greeting us seemed to alert the other lads of our presence. Zayn flicked his cigarette a bit, showering ash onto the ground. “Hey. Took you bloody ages, mate.”
Niall grinned and pointed at me. “This one was hard to find. I interrupted her in the middle of—”
“Stop it right there, Niall.” I said and playfully elbowed his ribs. I noticed Harry looking at us, his eyebrows raised, his gaze flitting back and forth between the two of us before finally settling on me. I smiled at him.
“Hi Harry. Hello, Louis.” I greeted the both of them. Louis grinned and Harry’s mouth finally twisted into a smile. He didn’t take his eyes off me.
Louis ruffled Niall’s hair a bit. “Sorry we had to send this wanker to look for you instead of someone who wouldn’t fangirl so much. He offered to do it, and then he gave the puppy-dog eyes. None of us can resist the puppy-dog eyes.”
Niall blushed and shot a look at Louis, who only grinned mischievously. “I wasn’t fangirling, Lou. She’s just a really good singer.”
“Whatever, Ni. Let’s just go. I’m hungry and I want to get piss drunk.” Louis whistled a bit and opened the door of the car, clambering into the backseat. Liam was about to follow him when he looked over at the man who had been standing at the car. I had forgotten about him.
“Oh, Scarlett, this is Paul Higgins, one of our security men. Paul, this is Scarlett Cross, and Niall’s already told you everything we know about her, so there’s not much else I can say.”
Niall whacked the back of his head and roughly shoved a laughing Liam into the car. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you lot, you really do make an effort to embarrass me as much as you can. Just get in the damn car, Liam, and let’s go.” Liam climbed in, followed by Harry. The back seat fit three people, and Zayn had called the passenger seat, so Niall and I were left to be in the middle. He motioned towards the car. “Ladies first.”
I grinned and rolled my eyes and jumped in, sliding over to the far side, him coming in after me and closing the door. I clicked my seat belt into place, and Paul started to move the car out onto the streets.
“Oi, Liam, what pub are we headed to?” I turned around and saw Louis in the backseat, shouting a bit louder than was necessary. I glanced over at Harry, who was still staring at me. I realized that he hadn’t said anything yet. His green eyes locked with mine, mesmerizing me, and I couldn’t look away.
“It’s…shit, what’s that one next to Danielle’s old flat? Lion’s head or something? We’re going to that one. I seem to remember it being good.”
Niall groaned. “That one again, Li? Remember that waitress dropped a tray on me?”
Liam laughed. “Niall, that’s because you were hammered, and you walked right into her. That was your fault, mate.”
Niall huffed. “Whatever. Hey, we were number one in the charts that day. Don’t blame me for celebrating.”
I was still staring at Harry. He was smirking at this point, his lips slightly curled upwards and his eyebrows raised slightly. I felt the stereotypical butterflies flutter around in my stomach before I was broken out of my haze my Louis. I tore my eyes away from Harry and smiled at him. “Hey, Scar—can I call you Scar? It’s a really cool nickname. Anyway, you did really well. You’re my favorite this year.”
I laughed. “Yeah, Louis, you can call me Scar. And thanks. It’s so much fun being up there. Do you watch the show?”
Zayn interjected. He had been talking with Paul about something when he spoke up. “Liam and I do, every week. The other three don’t, as much, this year, but they still pop in and watch sometimes. Oh, and Niall told us about how you met. I have no clue how they didn’t recognize you.”
“Well, you look really different in person than you do on screen.” Niall defended himself. I found it hard to focus on what he was saying while I heard Liam in the background. “You alright, Haz? You’ve been awfully quiet.” I resisted the urge to look at him, and kept my eyes on Niall, who was talking. “…and I know that the makeup has something to do with it, doesn’t it? You have to wear more for TV.”
I nodded, pretending that I’d heard all of what he’d said. “Something like that.” I mumbled. I turned so I was facing forward. I heard the three in the back start to have a conversation, so I started one up with Niall. “So, you’re a fangirl, huh?” I grinned over at him. His blond hair was sticking up every which way and his ice-blue eyes were crinkled around the edges as he laughed a bit and blushed.
“Don’t listen to the lads. We try to embarrass each other. But, for the record, I might have sounded a bit obsessed.”
I raised my eyebrows and smirked at him. “Okay, I realize that I sound creepy. Also, my proposition of ‘doing it’ seems a bit less appropriate now that I sound so…fanatical.”
I laughed. “I think if you refer to singing together as ‘doing it’ it’s going to sound inappropriate no matter which way you put it. And I swear, if you go around after the duet yelling about how you ‘did it with Scarlett Cross’ I’ll have your head.” Talking with him was so easy. We teased each other like we were old friends, even though I’d known him just over a week, and the flirting was so effortless.
“Remind me why I wouldn’t want people thinking I ‘did it with Scarlett Cross’, as you put it? That sounds like it’s quite the accomplishment.” He raised his eyebrows and tried to stifle the laugh that played on his lips.
“Oh, give over, Niall. Stop being such a fangir—” I was cut off by Paul clearing his throat. All the conversation in the car immediately stopped, and I realized that we were idling into a parking space in a small, dingy car park.
“I hate to break up the party, but we’re here.” Paul said, looking at us in the rearview.
Niall grinned at him. “Now we can get drunk.”

Notes

Here's chapter 2!