Time of Our Lives

*Kariann’s POV*

Boy, did that stink. No, legit, it stunk. I never actually kept count of how many pizza’s Niall ate, but enough to the point we all had to leave the room. We even made him go back inside to crack a window to air out the room. So here we were, sitting along the wall out in the hallway. I stared across the hallway at Dakota. She stared back at me.

Yeah, totally wasn’t expecting this to happen. Either way, as the guys were attacking Niall with his ‘stupidity’, we broke out in smiles with each other. It was our silent conversation with each other. It was stupid, but to put it bluntly, we were sharing our excitement with each other through a staring contest. Until one of us broke, that being Dakota, who just started laughing. I followed soon after, though I wasn’t laughing as hard as she was (she was rolling on the ground by now).

The boys were quiet by now, staring at us. We managed to stop somehow and stare back. “You know, I’m going to miss you girls when we leave.” Niall said, joining the two of us on the floor, “You’re really cool.”

Zayn slid down from the wall to sit down, “Yeah. Same here.”

Louis carefully sat down, making sure not to hurt his ankle. Harry and Liam were next. Somehow we had this make-shift circle on the floor. All of us sitting, well, except for Dakota who was laying on the floor with her lets stretched out on the wall. It didn’t take long for Niall to join her on the position. Dakota craned her neck, smiling at me. It really was a happy day. I was glad the thought of her mother was off her mind. She’s never gone in depth with her feelings about her mother with me, but her expressions and mood was apparent enough.

But still, I was slightly in the same position as her. Every five minutes I’d feel my pocket vibrate. Alex was so desperate to talk to me, but I kept ignoring him. I’ve done sent the text that I was busy, but he wasn’t the type to take the hint. I was taking Dakota’s advice though. I wasn’t going to let him ruin my – our – fun.

“I wonder if we can meet up after this…” Harry thought to himself.

“Wait!” Louis said, looking at Dakota first, “Can I see your phone?”

Dakota gave him a confused look but reached in to get it out and hand it to him. Louis went through it, typing something in. Harry peeked over his shoulder, curious. His eyes widened, “Good idea. Hey, Kariann, can I have yours?”

I got it out, not thinking of the text, and Harry took it. He flashed me a confused look, noticing the excess amount of unread text on my phone. I shrugged at him and he continued with whatever it was he was doing. From there, the phones were passed around to each other the guys. I sort of got the drift whenever I got my phone back. “Send us each a text so we can have your number.” Liam said.

“Make it funny!” Niall said excitedly.

I shook my head, smiling. Wow, there was no way possible we were actually exchanging numbers with the One Direction guys. I decided on what to send them.

To Zayn: Hey, Quiffy. Is your hair always that perfect?

To Liam: Daddy Direction! Glad to finally meet you! :D

To Niall: Niallers! Aren’t your legs numb yet?

To Louis: Sorry about your ankle! I hope it heals soon!

To Harry: We should really avoid Janitor Closets for now on…

Whether it was my text or Dakota’s text, it brought smiles to all of the guy’s faces. It didn’t take long to get a text back.

From Zayn: Actually, yes it is. It has its own personality.

From Liam: You too! I take it you’re the mother out of your group?

From Niall: Haha, no. This is strangely comfortable.

From Louis: It’s okay. Thanks for earlier. You and Dakota really are lifesavers!

From Harry: What? I enjoyed my time in there with you. You know, you’re cute when you get embarrassed.

I stared at Harry’s text for the longest time. I looked over at him, who just winked at me. I heard Dakota start laughing and hit Niall on the shoulder. “Ow!” Niall started then laughed, “What was that for?”

“You’re such an idiot!” Dakota yelled back, still laughing.

I looked down at my phone, still staring at Harry’s text. He was definitely flirting. But no way, with me? I find that hard to believe. Dakota’s phone started ringing then, “Hello?”

Her face turned pouty when she replied with a sigh, “Oka-y. We’ll be down soon.”

She hung up, craning her neck at me to pout, “Dad’s on his way.”

“Aw!” Niall whined, his turn to pout, “Don’t leave yet!”

He had his arm around Dakota, pulling her close for a hug. Dakota chuckled some, “We’ll see you again tonight.”

Niall pulled back, “What?”

“We’re going to your concert.” I explained, “I don’t know about you guy’s seeing us, but we’ll see you.”

“That’s no fair.” Zayn said, “Can you come backstage?”

“No.” Dakota said, “We don’t have passes for that.”

“Damn…” Louis sighed.

“Wait!” Liam said, pulling out his phone.

He texted something into his phone. Dakota made the move to get up. It really was time to go and we didn’t want to leave her Dad waiting. After Liam was done, the rest of us got up on our feet. They each hugged us goodbye. “Be careful on your way back.” Harry whispered in my ear, “I’ll see you tonight.”

Yes, his hug lingered a second longer than the other guys. He really was straightforward and flirtatious. I smiled at him when he pulled back. Trying to be respectful, I replied, “Okay. Thanks for letting us hang.”

They were nice enough to lead us to the lobby and leading us out. They stayed at the top of the steps, waving bye at us as we climbed into the back of the truck. Cecil and Suzy were in the front seat, holding hands. Cecil turned to look at us, “So, how was the stay?”

Dakota and I grinned, “Fun!”

Dakota proceeded to tell him everything. The thing about Dakota and her dad, they were very close. She told him everything. Well, maybe not everything. There are some things you don’t just tell your parents, but you tell your friends, but still. She told him everything that happened. She even gave a brief description of her mom calling, though she didn’t say why she called. She talked about the song they sung for us all the way to Niall’s little toilet bomb. Cecil and Suzy got a kick out of that.

I think it was safe to say Cecil could trust the guys a little with us. Even if there may never be a day we could hang out like we did today. I felt my pocket vibrate. I was excited to get a text from one of the guys, but I was wrong. It was Alex. My excitement died as I read the text I missed from him.

Hey, when do you think we can hang out?

What’s up?

Are you okay?

Hello?

What are you doing?

I’m bored. Text me.

Hun? Are you there?

Why aren’t you answering my text?

I sighed, texting him back on my phone. I was busy. What’s up?

I listened to part of Dakota’s conversation with her dad as we drove down the road back to the hotel. My phone vibrated again. Nothing much. I’m really bored. Can I call you?

Not right now. I’ll call you later on tonight though.

We reach reached the hotel quickly and Cecil dropped the two of us off before going to park his truck. We ran in, going to the elevator. We were both quiet. It wasn’t until we opened our room door and stepped in that it totally dawned on us of the day’s events. Dakota started screaming, jumping around and threw herself onto her bed, face-planting a pillow. I laughed, forgetting about Alex for the shortest time since the memories of the guys came to mind.

It felt like a light-year. Not only that, but we get to see them in concert tonight. I jumped onto the bed with Dakota, getting onto my feet and jumping up and down. She was next to join me. We grasped hands, screaming in excitement while jumping. We both, somehow at the same time, flopped down on the bed in Indian Style, staring at each other. “Okay,” Dakota said, bringing out her phone, “I’m seriously scared to text them now.”

The mentioning of texting them brought the memory back to Harry’s text. I blushed. Dakota saw. “Hey! You’re blushing! Why?”

I showed her the text and she screamed, “Oh, my God! That’s so cute. To think one of the guy’s is interested in you already. I’m jealous.”

“I don’t know,” I said to my friend, “Liam seemed pretty worried about you whenever you left to answer your phone.”

She gave me a weird look, “Nah. It’s nothing special though. Harry flat out flirted with you. That’s showing interest.”

I shrugged, “It doesn’t matter anyways. I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah, Stewart.” Dakota said, as if remembering.

“He wouldn’t stop texting me, even after I said I was busy.” I sighed, “He wants me to call but I told him I’d call him later on tonight.”

Dakota turned around and laid down on her back. She sighed, “Reminds me that I need to call my mom back.”

I laid on my side, resting my head on my hand, “Why do you even bother? You always say how much you hate her, but you still stay in contact.”

Dakota shrugged, rolling over on her side, back facing me. “I told her I’d call her back.”

I sighed. Even if she felt cheated by her own mother, she still loved her. I felt my phone vibrate again. Dakota was calling her mom back, briefly talking to her. I looked at my phone. She was sort of like me. She may not see her mother often, just how I don’t see my boyfriend often either, but we still love them. Well, my boyfriend hasn’t done anything bad toward me, but he could get pretty annoying and stressful on my part. I would call him tonight and we would talk.

I was expecting Alex’s text, but it wasn’t.

From Harry: You didn’t text back :/ Sorry if I came off too strong. I’ll stop if you want.

For some reason, the text made me feel better. “Hey, Dakota…” I started, looking over.

She was long done with talking to her mother and now she was sound asleep. What the hell? My phone vibrated again.

From Harry: Can I call you?

Call? But why?

To Harry: Sure.

I was stupid. To think I was going to get lead on by Harry, but he did call. I answered, “Hello?”

“Hey.” His accent filled the phone, “What’s up?”

I looked at Dakota beside me. “Watching Dakota sleep.”

His voice ringed as he laughed. It really was different listening to someone with a British accent. “That was fast. Hey, I just called to let you know we got you the passes. We made arrangements so you have full access backstage. So you can watch us go on stage and everything.”

I was flabbergasted. “Really?”

“Seriously. Liam talked to management about it. They don’t mind as long as you don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to. Including us.”

He laughed at that, and I heard more laughter in the background. “Oh, and you’re on speakerphone just so you know.”

I couldn’t believe it. “You didn’t have to go through all that trouble. Dakota and I would’ve been just fine watching you guys.”

“That’s not nice!” Niall yelled from the background, “We want to see you again.”

I felt the bed move as Dakota flipped over, “What’s going on? I can hear Niall’s big mouth from over here.”

I put them on speaker and proceeded to explain to Dakota what was going on. “Seriously? Thank you, Liam! I love you so much right now!”

I could hear the boys on the other end. I could see them already, crowding around on the bed and staring at the phone and laughing at us. Kind of like Dakota and I. “Hey, I think Zayn’s passed out on the couch.” Louis’s voice said on the other end.

“I swear, he sleeps at the randomness times.” Liam commented.

I looked at Dakota who was breathing slowly and eyes were closed. “Reminds me of someone I know.”

“Did Dakota fall asleep again?” Harry asked.

“Seems like it.” I said.

“Shush. I’m still conscious.” Dakota said, shoving her face into a pillow.

“Should we FaceTime?” Louis asked.

“How about it?” Harry asked.

“Fine…” I sighed.

It didn’t’ take long to get hooked up. They wanted to see Dakota, so I showed them her with her face shoved into a pillow, trying to sleep. “Aw, she’s so cute!” Niall said, laughing.

“Shut up, Niall!” Dakota’s words muffled through the pillow.

The boys laughed. I smiled. “Seriously, though.” I said, looking into the camera, “We appreciate the passes.”

“Should we pick you up tonight too? We’ll be there before it starts and we can show you around.” Louis asked.

“I don’t know…” I said, “I’m not sure how Cecil will take that-“

Just my luck. I heard the door knock, “Hang on. Someone’s at the door.”

I jumped off the bed and opened the door. It was Cecil. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked him.

He noticed the phone in my hand, “Are you on the phone.”

I faced the camera in his direction. “A little.”

Four of the five guys were present and they each waved at Cecil. Cecil waved back and looked at me, “Where’s Dakota?”

All of us said this at the same time. “Asleep.”

That cracked Cecil up a little. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Anyways, when are we leaving for tonight?”

I swallowed and looked at my phone, “Actually…”

“Can we ask?” Harry asked me.

“Huh?”

“Just let us talk to him.” He assured me, “Turn your phone so we can see him.”

I did. I let Harry and the guys do their magic. Cecil listened for a moment before nodding. “Okay. That’s fine by me. Do I need to pick them up?”

“We’ll bring them back to the hotel for you.” Liam said, “The concert isn’t supposed to end until about ten. We’ll have them back before midnight.”

I smiled at Cecil behind the phone. “Don’t give me that,” Cecil said, looking at me, “Okay. Not a minute later. It’s hard enough I’m letting them hang out with four boys.”

“Actually, it’s five.” Louis said, “The fifth one is asleep on the couch.”

I was sure they showed Cecil because he was laughing. “God, reminds me of Dakota. Okay, well, feel free to stop by whenever. Just tell me before you leave.”

“Yes, sir!”

Cecil saluted me before leaving to go to his room. I shut the door. “See, that wasn’t so bad.” Harry said.

“Hey, I’m getting a call.” Liam said, pulling out his phone.

We were all silent as he answered. “Yes. Okay.” He hung up the phone, “Looks like it’s time for us to go prep. We’ll give you girls an hour before stopping by. Is that fine?”

“Should be if I can get Dakota to wake her ass up.” I said, walking back into the room.

“Same goes for Zayn.” Harry said, looking toward the couch. “Okay, so an hour? We’ll see you soon.”

I waved a bye, followed by the guys. Hanging up, I rushed to Dakota, shaking her awake. “What? What? What’s going on?”

“The guys will be here in an hour! We need to get ready!”

Dakota was confused but she rose up slowly. “Huh? Seriously?”

I nodded. It was time now. We rushed and got dress quickly. We didn’t know what to expect tonight except for fun. Our lives were awesome at the moment and we were ready within the time limit. We rushed over to Cecil’s room, knocking on the door. He answered, giving us once-overs. “Okay, you don’t seem overdress. I’ll let you girls go.”

From there, Dakota and I looked at our phones. The guys texted us. Ten reminders that they were here to pick us up. We smiled at each other. We were read and very well excited.