Time of Our Lives

*Kariann’s POV*

I was on the second floor, looking at each door to find the janitor’s closet. I let out a deep breath upon finding the door. I checked to see if the hallway was cleared for knocking lightly on the door. “Harry?”

Silence.

Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself, “It’s Kariann.”

There was a moment of silence before I reached down to turn the doorknob. I opened the door, seeing standing right behind it was Harry Styles, looking up to see into my eyes. I heard the elevator ding from the hallway, followed by the loud talk of girls. I saw Harry’s eyes widen before he grabbed my arm, pulling me in upon pulling the door shut also. I practically face-planted his chest, but he didn’t seem to mind. I could feel the tightening of his chest as he held his breath. I froze, scared to move. I could feel my body temperature rise as my heartbeat sped up.

Harry’s hand stayed on my arm, but I had enough sense in me to pull back some so we weren’t touching. It was so dark in the closet, and I was glad too, so he wouldn’t notice the mad blushing situation I was having at the moment. The group of people passed and Harry let out his breath. “Sorry,” I heard him say, letting go of my arm, “I freaked.”

Like that wasn’t obvious, I thought to myself. Poor guy, the only thing he was worried about was not getting mauled by a bunch of fans. I’m so stupid, getting worked up over a little touch on the arm. I wasn’t acting this way whenever I was helping Louis, but why Harry? Oh… maybe because I just happened to be locked in the closet with him. I reached down, touching the knob. Yep, I was right. The door was locked. “Damn it…” I muttered.

“We’re locked in, aren’t we?” Harry asked, reaching down to test the door himself.

“Yeah. I’ll call Dakota…” I said, getting out my phone.

I dialed her number and it was picked up on the second ring. “Hello?” I heard an accent fill the phone.

“Louis?” I asked, confused.

“Kariann?”

“Why do you have Dakota’s phone?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, it’s hers? I found it in the bush.”

“Give it to her.” I instructed, rolling my eyes.

She was on the line, “What’s up?”

“Well, you see…” I started, “To put it bluntly, I’m locked in the closet with Harry. Come down here and let us out.”

I should have heard this coming, but I couldn’t stop her. “O-h” Dakota cooed through the phone, “Isn’t that cute? Should I wait seven minutes?”

“Dakota Ann…” I started, voice full of agitation.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll come let you out before he does anything to you-“ Click.

I was seriously going to hurt her. “What was that about?” Harry asked, curious.

I shrugged, “It’s nothing. My friend was being stupid.”

I could practically hear the smile in his voice. “Oh really?”

Hurry up, please, I begged in my mind. It already dawned on me that I was locked in the closet with Harry, I didn’t want to start fantasizing about stupid stuff before Dakota got here. It probably took five minutes of silence before I heard a brief knock on the door, “Kariann?”

“Yeah,” I called out, “Open the door.”

I shouldn’t be surprised by what she said next, but I blushed anyways. “I don’t know. Isn’t it against the rules to stop before the seven minute mark?”

“Dakota Ann!” I screeched, “Open the door now!”

Laughter was heard as she opened it, hiding halfway behind it. Dakota waved at the boy who was right behind me, “Hello, Pretty Boy.”

“What?” Harry asked, taken aback by the nickname.

Dakota slapped her forehead, “Shoot, sorry. I forget your name is Harry.”

I gave Dakota that ‘WTF’ look. She shrugged. I knew where she was coming from though. We were one of those girls who didn’t make it obvious to the public – minus the little fake act we pulled earlier – that we were Directioners. It was our own little thing and not even some of our friends know about it. We went by code names too. Harry being Pretty Boy, and funny enough, Louis being Potato Boy, a nickname Dakota sort of stuck on me.

We were in the elevator, riding up when Harry asked, “How’s Lou? Is he okay?”

Dakota answered in my place, nodding, “He’s got a pretty bad sprain and some scratches on his leg, but he’s fine… Oh, did I ever mention how much of a whiner he is? Sheesh.”

I saw Harry smile, despite the situation. “Thanks, you two. You two are pretty cool considering.”

Dakota and I flashed each other a smile. A compliment! Sweet. The door opened and we stepped out. Dakota lagged behind some, pulling her phone out to check it. “Shoot… Kariann?”

“Yeah?”

“When is Dad supposed to be back?”

I thought for a moment, “Didn’t he say the thing ended at two?”

“It’s two-forty.”

My eyes widened. He’d be back by then… so that meant. “Shit…”

But before we could even confirm by just calling, our suspicions of getting back and seeing Lou before was correct. His yelling was heard from the hallway, “Who the hell are you and what the f*ck are you doing in my daughter’s room!?”

Dakota and I ran into the room right then, where the door was already cracked open. We stopped right at the entrance, seeing the scene before. Cecil, Dakota’s father, had Louis on his feet, no, on the tip of his toes practically, holding him up by the collar with Cecil’s holding onto his clothes. Louis’s face was etched in pain, sweat pouring down his face from it. The both of us saw it, the fist being raised in the air that was going to hit Lou on the face.

“Stop-“ Dakota and I screamed, running over.

I grabbed Cecil’s arm that was about to punch Louis. Dakota forced her way between the two guys, making her dad let go Louis, who fell back onto the couch with a grunt and grasping his leg. “What is wrong with you!?” Dakota screamed, voice cracking some.

“Why the hell is there a man in your room?” Cecil asked, voice very loud and demanding, pointing at Louis.

“What’s going on?” Harry’s voice was heard and I saw him step into the room.

Cecil’s eyes widened in shock, “What in the hell is going on here!?”

I kept a firm hold on his arm. He was ready to pounce on somebody and I knew he could if he wanted to, but he would have to take me down first if he wanted to reach the other two boys, “Dad, calm down. We can explain.” Dakota said.

Cecil was still tense, but he was listening. “Well?” He egged on.

“Alright,” Dakota started, “First of all, that concert Kariann and I was going to go to tonight, these two guys are two of the five boys that make up that band. We found Louis-“ She pointed at him on the couch, “in the bushes outside. There were fans hanging around so the two of us ran them off. From there, he ended up having a sprain ankle from when he jumped off the balcony and we brought him up here to patch him up. From there, Kariann went to go find Harry-“ she pointed at Harry, “He was locked in a closet and somehow she got locked in too, so I had to go down and get them. We came up here and you pretty much beat us back. You know the rest.”

She took a breath, exhaling loudly. Cecil looked at me, seeing how I was still holding his arm. I let go, holding my arms in the air, “Hey, it’s true.”

“Why were you outside then? You two haven’t left this room since we got here yesterday.” He said, crossing his arms.

“Um…” She started.

“Your idiot daughter pretty much flung her phone out of the window,” I said, rolling her eyes.

Dakota gaped, “It was an accident!”

I stuck my tongue out and Cecil shook his head, “Seriously…”

He looked between the boys before resting his eyes on Louis, “You okay, bud? I’m sincerely sorry if I hurt you.”

Louis shook his head, “It’s okay. You had every right to act the way you did.”

Cecil nodded, “Do you want some Advil?”

Louis shook his head, “I’ll be okay.”

“Are you okay?” Harry asked, taking a seat beside his friend and resting an arm over Louis’s shoulder.

Louis nodded, giving his friend a small smile. Dakota and I looked at each other, wondering on what to do. We heard a phone go off and Harry reached into his pocket, answering it. “Hello? Yeah… we’re kind of stuck. Yeah, we’ll head back as soon as we can… Well, Louis kind of got himself hurt… He’s fine. Just a sprain…”

We all listened silently as he began explained what happened on the phone. Apparently the two boys went out to get some food, but ended up having to run away from a crowd of fans. They lost the food while running and ended up trying to hide at the hotel. He even mentioned Dakota and I and how we were a huge help to them. “What? You want to meet them?” Harry asked, looking at the two of us.

We flashed each other a look. What, seriously? We watched as Harry became slightly awkward with the suggestion. “Um… I don’t know.” Harry replied, seeing Cecil standing with his arms still crossed.

Harry was silent and was listening to the other end of the phone. “Yeah, we’ll head back as soon as we can…”

Harry hung up his phone, scratching his chin, debating on something. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get back with a sprained ankle and with so many girls around the place.”

“What to do?” Louis wondered, checking out his bandaged leg.

After a moment of silence, Cecil spoke up. “Where are you boy’s staying?”

They both looked up, a little hesitant at first before answering. “The Marriott Hotel.” Harry answered for the two of them, “It’s about three blocks from here.”

Cecil nodded. “Why don’t I take you back?”

Harry and Louis sat there, shock apparent on their faces. Not five minutes ago was Cecil threatening to kick their asses, but now he was offering a ride back to their hotel room? Whoa… just whoa. “You wouldn’t mind?” Louis asked, “We don’t want to bother you more than we already have…”

Cecil shrugged, “I don’t care about that. You boys need to get back and also I got some stuff to do.”

Stuff to do? Dakota and I gave him a weird look. That was a load of crap unless he made up plans with his girlfriend, Suzy. We shrugged at each other and the boys took up the offer, “Seriously? Thank you!”

“And…” Cecil started, looking at his daughter and me, “If it’s okay with these boys, you can stay with them for a bit.”

Dakota’s eyes lit up while I just started to grin with excitement. “They’ve helped out and they’re funny. I don’t mind.” Louis said, looking at Harry for his answer.

Harry grinned at Louis’s comment, “Plus, they’re weird. I like them.”

They received one of the most confused/’the heck’ looks from Cecil, but he otherwise said. “Alright, let’s get a move on.”

From there, we left with Harry helping Louis walk. It was a slow progress, but we didn’t get caught as Cecil had us all in his truck and down the road. I was in the back seat behind Dakota. Harry was in the middle and I could feel his leg resting lightly against my own. God, I must have to be dreaming.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

It was Dakota: OMG, I can’t believe this is happening!! xD!!

I replied: IKR? I hope this day never ends! Xox

It didn’t take long before we pulled up to the hotel. We all sat for a moment as Cecil put the truck in park. “Alright, just a few ground rules before I let you go.” I saw him look in the review mirror, but then to his daughter, “You and Kariann are not to be outside of the hotel room while I’m gone. And you better be ready to come out when I get back.”

“How long will you be gone?” Dakota asked her father.

“Dunno, a few hours. I’m taking Suzy to the movies.” Cecil replied then looked at me, “I’ll call when I’m on my way.”

I gave him a thumbs up, letting him know I understand. He leaned back against his seat and Dakota and I started to open our doors as Cecil stopped us with his next rule, “You boys better not try any funny business with the girls or I’ll make sure what almost happened before really happen.”

“Yes, sir.” Both boys saluted and Louis continued, “Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on them too.”

I couldn’t help it. I snorted. Dakota started laughing. Cecil shook his head at us, but we didn’t care. Dakota stretched over the seat and kissed her father’s cheek, “Thanks, Daddy. Love you.”

“You better. Keep your phone on you.”

Dakota smiled before following my lead and jumping out of the truck. Harry crawled out and helped Louis carefully down. Cecil left then, leaving Dakota and I behind with these two celebrities. “Thanks for the ride!” Both Louis and Harry yelled down the road.

“Now.” Lou said as he and Harry began wobbling, “Let’s go see the others.

Oh, God, I thought, looking at Dakota. We lagged a little behind, one being that we didn’t know where we were going and two was so we could silently get our excitement out by jumping up and down together, and making sure the boys couldn’t see. I swear, it was the best thing in the world. There was no words that could express the excitement we held at the very moment.

We were going to meet the other boys. From there… what will happen? We’ve already met two of the guys together, but all five? It was like a dream.

I don’t want to wake up.