THE PRESENT: July 2013

“All right boys you’re on. Go go go!” Paul said as he rushed the guys on stage.

“Break a leg guys, you’ll do great as always!”

“Thanks Angela!!” the guys chorused as they ran out. While running onto the stage, Harry side glanced at me with a half smile. I half smiled back thinking, Why can't things just be normal instead of awkward?

As the concert progressed, I was watching One Direction from backstage performing another great show for their fans. I can’t believe how far they’ve come in so little time. I also still can’t believe that I’m on tour with my favorite band of all time! It seems like yesterday that I even met them…

ABOUT 1 YEAR AGO: June 2012

My friend and I finally had enough money pooled together to go to One Direction’s Up All Night tour concert. We saved up a lot more than we needed to because we were able to afford front row seats AND backstage passes! It was after the concert and we were on our way to the backstage area.

“Oh my gosh that was the BEST concert I’ve ever been to!” said my best friend Sammie.

“Tell me about it. One Direction + front row seats = best night of our lives!!”

“And as if it couldn’t get any better than this, we have backstage passes!” she squealed.

“I know, just remember not to fangirl or scream too loud. We don’t want to scare them.”

“Yeah, yeah I don’t need another lecture, mom” she teased.

“If you say so, here’s the door.”

We waited outside the door for Paul to let us in to see our idols. This was really a dream coming true in front of our eyes. In reality we only waited 5 minutes but it felt like 5 years. Finally the door opened, we took a deep breath and walked in.

“Hi girls!” Liam said greeting us.

“Hi it’s so great to meet you all. I’m Angela!” I said smiling like an idiot and reaching out to shake Liam’s hand.

“Really? A handshake? No no no. We hug!” Liam said proceeding to give me a big bear hug. He is such a sweetie!

“Aaawh ok. This is my friend Sammie.”

“Hello!” said all the boys as we both went around hugging everyone.

“Please sit down. Get comfortable.” said Zayn gesturing to a couch across from theirs.

We sat down and actually looked around the room for the first time taking in the view. It was a gorgeous room that had all kinds of food and plenty of water bottles along with couches and comfy chairs. Then there was what sat in front of us. The 5 best looking guys we’d ever laid eyes on.

“So…did you enjoy the concert?” Harry said smiling, flashing his adorable dimples.

“Totally it was amazing! You sound even better live than on the CD…” I said blushing a bit.

“Thanks, love. And you look even more beautiful up closer than you did from the first row..” Harry said looking down at the floor blushing as well.

We both were looking elsewhere blushing while the other guys and Sammie were sitting there awkwardly until Louis broke the silence.

“Anyway, what’s your favorite song on the album, girls?”

“I really like Everything About You!” Sammie said.

“Really? That’s my favorite too!” Niall said smiling a little.

We ended up having a long, pretty normal conversation. Throughout, Niall and Sammie couldn’t stop making eyes at each other and Harry flirted with me a lot. Louis kept on making side remarks (obviously joking of course) about how I’ll have to excuse Harry flirting so much and that he does that with everyone he meets. But Harry kept giving Louis death glares so I figured we shouldn’t stay too much longer.

“Well I think Sammie and I should probably get going. It was really nice meeting you guys.” I said giving all of them one last hug.

“It was really nice meeting you too. …really nice.” Niall added after hugging Sammie, giving her a wink slipping her a piece of paper.

“Hopefully we’ll see you guys another time!” said Sammie accepting the paper and fangirling on the inside.

“Yeah definitely!” all but Harry said.

“Um…Angela can I walk you out?” he asked.

“Sure, why not?” I said trying to hide my excitement.

“Look, I just wanted to tell you to not believe what Louis said tonight. About how I flirt with everyone I meet. It’s not true. I only flirt with a girl I’m genuinely interested in. So...with that in mind, I want to give you my number so we can keep in touch and maybe see each other when the tour is over…if that’s okay.”

“Okay…I would love that, Harry. Really. Thank you.” I said smiling up at him.

He wrote his number on my hand and I wrote mine on his and he said, “I’ll text you tonight, babe. Take care, I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, Haz” I said looking down a little.

“Hey, it’ll be all right. Don’t worry.” He kissed my cheeks then my forehead and said, “Goodbye, love.”

“Goodbye, Harry…” I said, my heart sinking.

I guess we were the last people that saw them so as we were leaving, so were they to go to the next venue. I heard Paul say in the distance, “Let's load up, boys. Go go go!” Sammie and Niall hugged one last time and he had to wipe a tear from her eyes kissing her forehead.

We got into our car and they loaded up onto their tour bus and it just so happened that we were going the same way so our vehicles were next to each other for a bit.

Sammie was driving so I was looking up at the tour bus window on my side seeing Harry come to the window. He got out his phone and pointed to it mouthing, “Check your phone.” I got my phone out and sure enough I had a text from Harry. It said, “I won’t ever forget you. x <3” I looked up and he blew me a kiss just as the bus was turning into the exit.

I held my phone to my chest and whispered, “I won’t ever forget you, Harry. Ever.” And the rest of the ride home was spent in silence.

Notes