Niall’s view:
“That two faced sh –”
“Niall James Horan you better choose your next words wisely!” Liam yelled. It was two in the morning and no one was sleeping. We all were trying to stay awake to question Harry when he gets home.
“Calm down Niall, it's probably another model.” Louis handed me food. I simply pushed it away. Now was not the time to eat. I was going to kill him if he was with her. This was his plan all along; he was going to help me out, then get close to her himself. Smart, cheeky Harry pulled one over on me. I'm not surprised because I’m so dumb.
“Besides she wouldn’t date him.” Zayn said with a half-smile.
“What makes you say that?” I shot back pissed, worried, scared, and most of all hurt. It’s one thing if he dates a girl I like, I usually just say hey I guess it wasn’t meant to be if Harry got to her first but he knew about Claire, he knew I liked her and was afraid to talk to her, and he knew he was going to get close to her before me. That’s the same old possessive Harry; you can't have anything better than him.
“Because I have talked to her about her upcoming fame and everything; she told me she doesn’t want to date anyone. I think I'm going to bed because chances are Harry got a hotel for this model.” Zayn waved everyone off as he headed up the stairs.
“Well, Zayn has a good idea. I'll second that.” Liam said setting down the paper.
“Louis?” I asked, wanting somebody other than me to rip Harry to shreds when he gets one foot in the door.
“I got your back.” He said wrapping an arm around me. We fell back on the couch together and he turned on the TV.
“Thanks.” I said.
“Look I think I know how much you like her. It was the same thing with El. Harry introduced us and from there it was like a dream. I just know Harry doesn’t have the heart to take her away. It's like you called dibs.” Louis reassured me by giving me a squeeze and ruffled up my hair. I did feel better after that. Just not top notch like I wanted to.
“So what's on TV?” I asked changing the subject.
“Nothing good, we should watch that robot movie.” Louis said as I got up.
“You mean Real Steel?” I asked him.
“Is that the one with Hugh Jackman?” He asked.
“That’s the one.” I smiled and grabbed the case. We scooted close together on the couch. Most people would think it's gay but we frankly just don’t care. Anyone of us has had or has a relationship with a girl so we know. Sometimes I wonder about Harry but then again like tonight he is with a girl. We watched the movie and Louis fell asleep but I was completely restless. I couldn’t help but see images of her and Harry swirling in my mind. Not the dirty ones where they’re doing stuff, but the cute ones where he is holding her, kissing her, and the fans adore her. It just is happening and I can't stop it. Finally sleep managed to grab me and pull me under, but of course my dreams resembled the majority of my thoughts.
“It’s time to get up!” Liam said bright and smiley.
“Is there breakfast?” I asked, still sleeping.
“Yeah, it’s on the table. I'm going to pick out your clothes.” Liam removed himself from the living room in which Louis and I were sleeping.
“Is Harry home?” I asked shooting off the couch. Louis grabbed the blanket and covered himself again.
“No, he never showed up, like I said hotel.” Zayn said at the table.
“Oh.” He spent the entire night with ‘Her’. What am I supposed to think now? I bet they slept together; Harry doesn’t stay the entire night unless they slept together. With my shoulders slumped I flopped into the chair with a plate of food in front of it. I slowly ate and read skims of the paper on the table.
“Look, I'm going to call him and get answers.” Zayn said leaving the table. I continued to eat and read about football, American football.
“So your clothes are on your bed. Today is an easy day, I'll go over it when everyone is here and present. For now you may get changed and come back down.” Liam smiled. I did what I was supposed to and took my leave. I was able to hear Zayn yelling into his phone at someone through the walls. It was most likely Harry. I was mad at him and I am not letting this go easy. I made it to my room and by the time I got to the bed to see my outfit I was fuming. Harry’s an arrogant jerk and I don’t think I can forgive him easy. I put on the regular jeans that are loose fitting around my legs but hug my butt nicely. Then I took off my shirt to put on the plain black one. The shoes he chose were my black and white Vans. I looked plain enough for casual wear but nice enough to do business in. I hopped down the stairs to see a pissed Zayn, a sleepy Louis just eating, and a chirpy Liam ready to talk.
“So since everyone is here,”
“Not everyone.” I grunted under my breath. Liam looked at me and sighed to continue.
“Here is the plan. We go to the studio and I get paperwork I need to do. Then we are going to go to the recording studio and get a tour, after the tour we are going to –”
“I heard tour. What about tour? Do we have another tour?” Zayn asked looking up from his phone.
“No, Zayn, we are touring the studio we will be filming in. We have four days until its game on.” Liam smiled. We all cheered a bit.
“Put your phone away and you will know what is going on.” Louis sassed him.
“Sorry.” He mumbled putting it down.
“So back to the plan, after the tour we are free to explore and meet the workers. We need to get used to the crew at this studio because we will be with them for a while. Louis be nice and Zayn no flirting.”
“What about me?” I asked feeling weird for not getting scolded about something.
“I really don’t have anything for you, Niall. I mean I could say don’t eat too much but that would be stereotyping you.” Liam laughed but no one else did.
“Alright let’s move along.” Louis said obviously for my sake.
“Then it's another free day. Stay at the studio, go out, just stay out of trouble.” Liam instructed. No one said anything or moved. “Ok, so let’s go.” Liam rushed. “The faster we get going the faster we get done!” He hollered at everyone. We then took that as our cue to dispatch around the house. Louis got dressed, Zayn took his phone outback, and Liam headed to the car. I watched as everyone ran about and I stood still. Story of my life, I'm always stationary and seemingly slower than everyone else.
“Horan, we better get going!” Louis yelled as he walked right past me. I realized I needed to live in the now. Moving to the car I noticed everyone except myself, because I was walking there and Harry because he was at some hotel with someone not so random. Today was going to be long. We piled into Liam’s car and we were off to the recording studio. That trip took about twenty minutes. Liam had grabbed three folders and managed to set up some recording dates later down the road. Then we were off to the shows studio. This was a longer drive but after forty five minutes we were there. When we arrived there were several people at our aid. Some fans had figured out where we were and got the word out fast.
“Come on, everyone inside!” One of the shows security guards yelled. There were two people for each of us. As we tried to get in without girls attacking us we did try to wave and smile at them. Once inside everyone was quiet.
“Is it always going to be like this?” One of the security guards asked.
“Sorry about that.” I said for all of us.
“One Direction is in the building.” Someone said into a walky-talky.
“Roger that.” Someone said back.
“So the tour, let’s get going.” Another guy said. There were so many guys and none of them cared to say their names so it was time to number them in my mind.
“The only people you are going to need to know are Ned, Cheryl, Rae, and Colby. Ned is the stage manager, Cheryl is costuming and design, Rae is makeup, and Colby is head of security. While you are here we expect you to have at least one body guard following you around on your tour. Everything is very simple. You won't be coming in those doors every day.”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Zayn asked being smart.
“Did you see what just happened,” The guy leading us around said. “We would much rather bring you in the back way and get straight to the show, it's safer and we can get more done that way. So down this hall you will find your dressing rooms. Since there are four of you we will make sure that when one of you is doing one thing everyone else will be doing something else. Our main goal is to get everyone done and ready as fast as possible.”
“There is a fifth one; he just was too busy to come here.” Liam said trying to cover for Harry. I don’t see why because if it were me I would just let him have it from Simon or Paul. Ok, I'm not that mean, but I wouldn’t cover for him.
“We will make sure he gets caught up.”
“Ned, we have a fifth member that wasn’t hear for the tour, make sure Samantha can give it to him it tomorrow.” A guy behind us said into the walky-talky.
“Roger that.” He said back.
“In here is your makeup room. Rae will take you to security after this. I have to go and make sure everything is being handled.” Guy number one said.
“Hi, I'm Rae.” A girl with scarlet red hair said. Her eyes were as green as Harry’s and she even had dimples to match. She looked no older than Harry either.
“How old are you?” Liam asked skeptical.
“I know, I know, I look super young, actually I am super young but I have been doing makeup for seven years now.”
“So how old are you?” I asked again for Liam.
“I'm fifteen.” She smiled.
“And you are doing our makeup?” Louis was being rude.
“Yes, I have been to schooling and I have done a lot of famous people’s makeup. I'm qualified.” She said as we stopped in front of some doors. “In here is the security room and over here is the stadium.” She pointed to the door on the left, then the door on the right. I was in the middle of the group and followed everyone into the security room. There was a line of tall buff guys in the middle of the room. The entire room outline was just walls of computers and above them were cameras showing different feeds all around the studio.
“I'm Colby.” One of the tallest and the buffest stepped forward. He was white and had black hair. His ears were pierced and he looked like a pimped out football player. “This is all of our qualified security. You will pick one of them to tag along and follow you around the studio. There are a lot of people in and out of here daily and we are under strict orders to keep you under eagle eyes watch.” He instructed us.
“So we just pick who we want?” Louis asked.
“Well, anyone who’s in this line.” Colby reminded me of a drill sergeant.
“Good because I want him.” Louis said pointing to someone with dreads. The guy stepped forward to Louis.
“I'm Dan.” He said.
“I’m Louis, nice to meet you.” Louis said while shaking his hand.
“I'll take him.” Zayn looked up from his phone and so did the security guard. This was going to be interesting.
“Taylor you're not supposed to be on your phone!” Colby yelled.
“Sorry.” Taylor said. Taylor was a guy, and a very tan one at that.
“If you wouldn’t mind Colby, I would like to watch Liam.” One of the security guards asked. Liam looked taken aback but then settled down when he noticed this one’s appearance. He was a smaller one and looked clean cut. That would be someone perfect for Liam.
“Ok, Jacob has Liam.” Colby informed.
“I'll take Niall!” Another guard said happy. I smiled because this was funny to me.
“Gordy has Niall. Peace you have Styles.” Colby ordered one of the last security guards.
“So everyone is free to roam about now?” Liam checked before we just broke apart.
“Yes.” Colby and the rest of the guards went back to work. Louis and Dan left back down the hall we had come and everyone else went straight to the studio portion. There were five comfy looking chairs facing a stage and then a bunch of lower places where fans could be watching. Each of the chairs had our names on the back and was a different color. Mine was green, go figure. I sat in it and Gordy stayed back a bit. Everyone examined their chairs and looked around the large room, spotting all the different cameras and where the angles would be.
“This is really going to happen.” Liam said awestruck.
“It’s pretty crazy.” Zayn mumbled not looking away from his phone. For as much time as he is on it he doesn’t appear on any social networking sites.
“We are really getting this big.” I smiled at our achievements. This isn’t our only achievement but it is a symbol for what we have achieved and foreshadows what we can accomplish in the future.
“Boys, like what you see?” Someone came out from the exit and entrance.
“Yes, this is great.” Liam smiled gracious.
“I'm Ned, stage manager.” He nodded at us. We smiled politely.
“This set up is great. We love the easy on and off set because quite a few fans are going to be here and we were nervous about that.” Ned sat in the bright yellow chair, Zayn's.
“Safety is our first thing because there is going to be a lot of people in one room with you. We are going to have security stretched over this building, anyone who isn’t supposed to be here will be noticed. When we get into rehearsals we will talk about breaks and where each of you is expected to be.” He put finger quotes around rehearsal.
“We are just so overwhelmed to be here. We have to record the show and do concerts around California at the same time. Everything is going to be a bit wild.” I informed him.
“Everyone here is on One Direction’s side; I mean we can't film a show without the judges.” He laughed and we did too. Everything was so simple, but yet so obscured.
“We are glad to be here.” Zayn said putting his phone in his pocket and joining us.
“We are honored to have you with us. May I ask where Styles is?” He cocked his head. Here we go.
Claire view:
“No, they just fell asleep on the couch. I don’t think anything happened. I forgot one of my bags. They look cute. Justin, I will wake her up but I'm not kicking him out. He seems like a nice boy. Like I said I don’t think anything happened. Justin stop being ridiculous, I'll fix it.” Jessica was talking softly enough to think she wasn’t being heard but loud enough to be heard.
“Harry.” I grunted and started to pull out of his grip. We were spooning and it looked like something could have happened because somewhere throughout the night Harry lost his shirt and pants. I was still in my skimpy shorts but it didn’t help our cause.
“Wait.” He said.
“Wait for what?” I tried to look at him but he was behind me and I couldn’t see him.
“I need to keep the blanket.” He informed me.
“Why?” I asked.
“You ask a lot of questions in the mornings and if you must know I’m cold.” He smiled.
“Oh.” I said trying to leave the blanket on him as I scooted out.
“Claire Elizabeth! You have explaining to do!” Jessica scared me and I ripped the blanket off of Harry as I jumped.
“Hey!” Harry stood up and goose bumps were forming all over his body.
“Claire!” Jessica yelled and covered her eyes; I remembered Harry was still in his boxers.
“Harry!” I said and threw him the blanket. He wrapped up his body and then Jessica removed her hand from her eyes.
“I thought you said no one was home?” Harry looked at me.
“Is there a reason I can't be here?” Jessica spat.
“Why are you back?” I was looking at Jessica.
“I forgot one of my bags. What did you two do?” Jessica set her hands on her growing hips.
“Nothing, we just fell asleep on the couch while watching movies.” I shrugged.
“I'm sorry. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be here.” Harry apologized.
“You're fine. I guess I overreacted.” Jessica bent down and came back up carrying a bag in her hands. “Just be safe. Have fun. I'll be back as soon as I can. Justin should be getting home before me, so keep the house clean, and I would watch who you fall asleep with on the couch.” Jessica winked and walked out as if nothing happened. After a moment of silence Harry spoke up.
“What was that?”
“Either pregnancy hormones or Justin’s call.” I glanced at him and we both smirked.
“Definitely Justin’s call,” We said simultaneously and laughed. “So breakfast?” I asked him.
“What time is it?” He laughed.
“Wow! We slept in late; it's almost two in the afternoon.” I said looking up to see Harry going pallid.
“I had somewhere I had to be!” He said and dropped the blanket. He went back out into the living room and threw on his clothes carelessly. I slowly walked to the cupboards and got out a pan for some eggs. He was yelling things, most of them cuss words. “What are you doing?” He asked me.
“Making breakfast, because I think we both know you are not leaving. You're late, might as well enjoy getting up and around. You can't be any later than you are now.” I smiled and cracked some in a bowl.
“I guess.” He either shrugged in annoyance or sighed in relief but his shoulders moved up then down.
“So I was thinking...” I started.
“I'm sorry. It was stupid for me to force you into a kiss. I really have thought about that all night and now realize you need time to get your fame in check.” Harry rambled on.
“Would you want to go on a date?” I asked him. I heard nothing so I turned to see him looking at me with an estranged face.
“What?” He asked me.
“I mean one real date to see if maybe later on we could try something?” I stuttered out.
“I can't. One of my close friends likes you and is trying to get to know you.” He looked down at his hands.
“Justin Bieber?” I asked.
“No, it’s someone else. He’s going to be pissed I stayed here and that’s why I just can't let anyone know we kissed.” He was a completely different guy now.
“I get it. I'm not about to go and tell people.” It hurt me to think there was a secret meaning on why he didn’t want people to know but I'm one for letting everything go too easily.
“I should just get going.” He stood up.
“Actually I wanted to know something about last night.” I said without thinking.
“What's that?”
“Erm… why do you… like me? I mean, you barely know me.” I asked my question hesitantly and then said my statement confident.
“Everything about you is interesting. I want to get to know you and keep you close to me. You are very nice and you play so beautiful, it's almost hard to not be enticed by you. You are one person I know I can't have but I want anyway.” He sounded rehearsed.
“How many girls have you used that one on?” I winked and handed him a plate. He took a quick bite. I waited for my answer.
“Wow, none that could cook.” He chuckled and I faked laughed. He avoided the question, very clearly.
“Well as for today, since you are late do you want to shower here?” I asked being polite.
“No, I could just walk home.” He said after he took another bite.
“Well, while you eat I'll shower and then I could give you some company, if you like.” I suggested.
“That would be great.” He smiled. I took that as my notice and left. I only really washed my body because my hair was usually a tangled mess. I should just get something like dreads because I hardly do anything with it. I combed it through quickly. I don’t use it often, only when I want to impress, but I put on some make up. I was able to find one of my cute outfits thrown in the back of my closet. It consisted of brown combat boots and tan leggings. My top was a loose white t-shirt that hung down below my butt. I threw my already scrunched hair into a pony tail. I grabbed my shoulder bag and threw it over my left side. I looked simple, casual, and cute. As I walked down stairs I saw Harry waiting for me with his clothes on from last night. We walked out to the front and I pushed a button we had on the pillar. The limo driver pulled up and Harry got in first. He told the driver the technical address and we were off. “I'm just going to shower and then we can get in my car and go somewhere.” He said.
“Fine by me, I'm just glad I have another friend.” I smiled out the window. I really was getting a lot of new friends here and soon my best friend was going to be here. I might really learn to like L.A.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked me with a nudge.
“My entire life…” I replied in a daze. Everything was turning out nicely and I just wanted it to stay that way.
“Well I hope it's becoming what you wanted it too.” He smiled at me then continued to look outside the window.
“It is, very much.” I smiled on the inside and out. I finally felt happy. Everything was going in my favor.
“Claire we’re here.” He nudged me to get out of the car. I got out but didn’t take a step forward until he led me inside. The house was a mess and he didn’t look like the one out of the five to take the effort to clean it up. “I know it's a mess. Our maid and butler have yet to come by.” He winked at me.
“Are you serious? You have a maid and butler?” I was in shock. Justin and Jessica don’t have anyone to come and clean the house. If you make the mess you are expected to clean it. The house stays nice enough for us to do what we like without having to worry about cleaning much.
“No, I was joking. If we had a maid or a butler they would just live here.” He started up the stairs and I stayed standing by the door.
“I'll just wait here.” I waved awkwardly.
“You can clear off the couch and sit.” I smirked and then was out of sight. After a few doors shutting and opening again I heard the water start running. I walked to the couch and saw clothes and magazines sprawled out. I moved everything one by one until there was only a pair of clean or dirty boxers on one end. I sat as far as I could on the other end and waited. I could have sworn someone else was upstairs because as the water was running I heard more doors open and closing. I thought of a rational explanation as to why I heard Harry in two places at once and then continued to wait. Soon enough a fresh looking Harry came down the stairs. I stood up to meet his presence and he smiled. “So I see Louis’ bottoms freaked you out?” He said picking them up and tossing them in a basket.
“Yeah, just a bit.” I huffed out.
“Well are you up for a drive?” He asked grabbing some keys.
“Sure.” I said. He grabbed my hand and I latched our fingers through each other’s. We walked outside and he locked the front door up. My driver had left already so it was a given we would be taking one of his cars.
“Do you want the Bugatti or Lamborghini?” He asked me.
“I don’t care, anything with four wheels and an engine.”
“Bugatti it is.” He smirked.
“So where are we going?” I said as we walked around the garage to the black Bugatti.
“I was thinking some site seeing, maybe pick up some fast food and hit a private place to eat.” He didn’t look at me as he backed the car out. I took notice of his neck and jaw. I shuddered as I felt hot. He was flawless and I am too young for him. I'm sixteen soon to be seventeen and he is eighteen, or even nineteen.
“How old are you?” I asked aloud.
“I'm eighteen, why?” He looked at me then the stretch of road.
“Oh, no reason, I was just wondering.” I huffed. So it's not terrible but I would prefer someone that’s not a legal adult.
“How old are you?” He said looking at me for a long time. I looked to see a red light, and avoided his gaze.
“I'm sixteen.” I mumbled. He was going to judge me for my age.
“Wow! And you can play like that?” He asked astonished.
“Yeah, I started playing when I was little, very little.”
“Well, maybe sometime if you’d like you could, teach…”
“I would love too!” I said cheery.
“You would, really?” He asked not looking at me.
“Yeah, if there’s anything I love more than playing piano, its teaching people how to play.” I informed him.
“Cool.” He killed the conversation and I didn’t bother to try and pick it up. We drove past the coffee shop I hit that business manager outside of. We past the studio Justin rehearses at. We even passed the Burger King I hit Niall outside of.
“You're not going to like take me far away enough to kill me are you?” I asked with a joking tone.
“No.” He laughed hard. He took a minute to stop laughing his infectious giggle and then looked at me. “We are going to head out to the outskirts of L.A. in my opinion it's the prettiest part of L.A.” He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other was comfortable in his lap. I fiddled my fingers together itching to ask him more about him. He makes me nervous and giddy. I like this feeling because it's the first time I have had it. I never really focused on boys in school. When my friends were dating someone I always stayed single. Piano was my relationship at that point; I was only twelve so it seemed stupid to think I could date anyone anyways. Now it seems like I should. Justin kissed me, which was my first kiss, and then said it was because he missed Selena. Harry kissed me, second kiss, and said he shouldn’t have because of his friend. Thinking of his friend, he likes me and I don’t know him…weird.
“We are almost there. Want some Wendy’s?” He asked.
“Sure.” I said pulling out some money in my pocket.
“It's on me.” He said putting his hand on mine. My breathing hitched in my throat and my heart did a jump.
“Ok.” My voice wavered badly.
“What do you want?” He asked. I told him what I usually get and he ordered something for himself. He paid and then took off to the outskirts of L.A. I fed him some fries and we laughed when I missed miserably. The radio was playing songs softly and we hummed to them but never actually sang out loud.
“Are we going to make it there today?” I asked him.
“Yes, we just have to go up this hill.” He turned to a dirt road. I looked out the window to see it going up, up, and up. Finally he parked the car on even ground and got out. I mirrored him and looked to see a forest to our right, the dirt path we came up behind us. Beyond the hill were all cities and some bordering water.
“Wow.” I said awestruck.
“It's something, isn’t it?” He chuckled.
I decided not to respond considering it seemed like a rhetorical question. Harry sat on the hood of the car and opened up the bag.
“Get up here.” He said taking my hand and pulling me up. We were probably enough weight combined to dent his car but he didn’t seem to care at all. “I love coming here and thinking, when we are in L.A. of course.” He bit his sandwich.
“I bet.” I sipped my lemonade.
“It's a place I come often when we are here.” He was trying to tell me something. I could tell he was begging his mouth to voice it.
“Harry, just say what you want to say.” I said looking at him.
“Claire I can't.” He really wanted to. Anytime someone uses the excuse ‘I can't’ don’t believe them.
“Well it's important because you are trying.” I pushed him on.
“How do you know?” He smiled a small smile. It wasn’t a fake smile, but it had a fake texture to it.
“I know because you keep hinting at it. I don’t know if you are meaning to but you really want to say something.” I leaned backwards on the hood and had my knees up. The sky was a nice white with blue clouds. Yes, I know what I did there it really was inverted.
“It's not something I have permission to tell you.” He smirked. He was going to make me beg.
“I'm not begging you to tell me.” I wasn’t about to play that game.
“I wouldn’t even if you did.” He smirked and bit into his sandwich again.
“I hate you.” I smiled and hit his arm.
“We should get back.” He said.
“But it's not that late.” I whined.
“It's five o’clock.” Harry said sliding off the hood.
“I don’t want to leave.” I said standing up too.
“We can do this some other time, I need to get home and explain to the lads where I was. They are going to kill me.” He shrugged. I didn’t argue with that because he hasn’t been home with them since yesterday and I was the cause for that.
“Well, you can just text me sometime.” I said getting into the car. He shut the door and got into his side. He dropped me off at my house and then took off without much of a goodbye.

Notes