Chapter 4 ― A concert

The crowd was so loud, there were so many girls and a few boys, and all of them were wearing t-shirts of One Direction and holding signs. Some of them were hilarious, some of them disturbing. Whilst we waited for the concert to start, we entertained ourselves reading those signs. A group of girls caught my attention, they weren’t more than thirteen, but they surely were wearing more make up than me in one week. But that wasn’t the most disturbing part, one girl had a sign that said:

FATHER MY KIDS, ZAYN!

I mean, that little girl was eleven! She shouldn’t be thinking of kids! She should be thinking of dolls and how to have a tea party. I was doing that when I was that age. The other girl, she was thirteen for sure –I did the math–, had a sign that said:

FIVE MORE YEARS AND WE'RE LEGAL!!!

I was quite shocked and I didn’t know if I should’ve just laughed or gone there, hugged them and lectured them.

I felt so old.

With Belle we also held a bet on those girls. I said that the thirteen-year-old girl was going to cry first and Belle said that it was going to be the other. We were going to see it at the end.

Almost twenty minutes later, the lights dimmed, smoke started to come out and the screams were louder. On the screens, videos of the lads were been displayed and I started to get so excited, I was even jumping and clapping like one of those little girls. Suddenly I felt young again.

Music started to play and I recognised the song Na Na Na –hooray for me, I remembered the title of the song!– and I saw as the silhouettes of lads started to materialise in the middle of the dark. Suddenly all the lights burst and I almost went deaf. God, these girls had lungs!

Liam started to sing and all the girls sang along. All except me that only knew the chorus. Niall looked at me from the stage, his sweet smile and a little wave and I waved back smiling like an idiot. It had to be because I was in a sea of crazy fan girls, the pheromones were drowning me, but I felt like the luckiest girl in the world because Niall smiled at me.

At the chorus I joined the crowd and sang along with the lads, jumping and waving my hands in the air. Belle and Phebs were just like me, a bit more excited I would say, though. Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of their music, but I had to admit that they were very talented. They had so much energy on the stage, they jumped from one place to another, singing! I didn’t know how they managed to do that, when I played Guitar Hero I always ended up dead on my feet. These lads had so much stamina to do this over and over again for hours. I respected them so much more after their concert.

Song by song, I enjoyed the concert to the fullest. Every one of the boys waved and smiled at us in some moment and the three of us screamed so loud that I knew my throat was going to be badly sore the next day.

The lads said goodbye and the crowd literally cried. Well, many of them were already crying by that moment, tears of sheer happiness. As the place started to get empty I held my hand in front of Belle.

“You owe me twenty pounds, my friend. My girl cried first,” I reminded her and she pouted with puppy eyes. “No, don’t look at me like that. I want a new album.”

“I’ll pay you at home,” she promised and I nodded.

We had to stay there for a little more, a guard was supposed to pick us up to take us to the dressing room with the boys again. Not much later, this big guy appeared and asked us to follow him. We did, but I was ready to kick his arse if he tried anything that I wouldn’t like. But the guard did lead us to their dressing room were the lads were drinking and eating. As soon as they saw us, big smiles appeared on their faces and Louis ran towards us hugging the first of us: Phebs. My friend hugged him back and laughed with him. With Belle we walked towards the rest of the band and hugged them, too. I left Niall for the end and stayed at his side.

“It was amazing! You blew my mind, lads! Great show,” I said as I felt Niall’s arm rounding my waist. I looked at him for a second, but quickly I glanced at the other side.

“Thanks!” Liam said with that deep voice that made me want to hear him the whole day. “Can we say that we turned you?”

“Nope,” I replied and Harry hugged Lou devastated. “I’m still me, but now I like your music, too. Of course, I’m not gonna wear a t-shirt with your faces.”

“Even if we give it you as a present?” Lou ventured and I shook my head. “What about a t-shirt with our butts?” he tried again and I burst out laughing.

“That one I would wear it,” I teased and Lou and Harry high-fived each other.

“Next product on our website: a t-shirt with a picture of our butts!” Harry said excitedly and I saw his friends laughing. I was laughing too, it was impossible not to.

“Hey, we have a party after this. Wanna come?” Zayn asked looking directly at me. I focused on my friends and they were smiling brightly, so I guessed that was a round yes. I nodded and all of them cheered.

After the lads changed clothes, we all went together to this club were the party was already on fire. The place was packed with people dancing everywhere. Niall put his hand on the small of my back and talked in my ear: “Want something to drink?” I had plenty of alcohol the night before, but I was in a party and I wasn’t the designated driver, so I could drink again. I nodded. “Great. Just wait here and I’ll bring you something.”

He left me alone and I stayed there looking around. Everyone looked so fancy and I was there with my combat boots and an old shirt. I felt like I didn’t fit there and for the first time, I minded. I normally didn’t care about what people could think of me, I was never going to change for someone else, but there, seeing all those women in fancy dresses made me feel small and insignificant and I wasn’t used to that feeling.

“Fancy a dance?” a deep voice with a strong accent asked me taking me back from my sad and depressive thoughts. I turned around and saw Zayn smiling at me. I knew Niall was going to be back soon, and I was waiting for him, but I didn’t want to be left alone in that environment that clearly wasn’t where I belonged. I nodded and he held his hand to me and I took it as he led me to the dance floor.

For the corner of my eye I saw Belle and Harry dancing and Phebs talking to Liam. Zayn and I started to dance, but he wasn’t’ very good at it, even though it was funny. We moved to the rhythm of the song, making new moves and laughing really hard. Whilst I was with him, I forgot how uncomfortable I felt when I was alone. Their world wasn’t somewhere where I could fit in. Yes, I liked these lads, but their lives were so different from mine and they seemed so incompatible.

In a moment, Zayn took my hand and made me turn. I was laughing but I still could see Niall looking at us with two drinks. I felt bad immediately though technically I came here with all the boys, not only him.

“Niall is waiting for me,” I told Zayn in his ear and he looked at where the blond was standing. He looked at me and nodded with a smile, but that didn’t reach his eyes. He even seemed upset.

I left Zayn on the dance floor and walked towards Niall who immediately smiled. Once I was in front of him, he handed me my drink and we cheered. We went to a booth and talked almost all night. He told me about his life before X-Factor and during the show. Belle and Phebs told me something about that too, but it was completely different when one of the protagonists of the story told you what actually happened. He told me so many stories, crazy stories that made me laugh till my belly hurt. But even when asking him questions and learning about him was so entertaining, he also made questions that I had to reply to honestly. I told him about me, what I liked, what I hated, how I met my friends, what were my interests and what I was doing during that summer. I was studying computer programming so I was quite good with technology and during that summer I was just enjoying my free time. We mostly talked about music and I got a list of bands to check out once I got home. I made another larger list for him.

We also danced, but most of the time we were just talking and getting to know each other better. During all that time I didn’t know where my friends were, or what they were doing, and I didn’t really care. I was having such a great time with Niall that I could hardly remember the rest of the world. We were really different, but we also had so many things in common.

“Here you are!” Belle said popping up from nowhere. “We were looking for you and here you are, kidnapped by a popstar.”

Niall actually blushed and I couldn’t help thinking of how cute he looked with his red cheeks.

“We have to go. It’s really late,” she reminded me and I lost my smile. Time flew by and I didn’t notice it, but I didn’t want to go yet. I was having such a great time and I wanted to stay a tad longer with Niall there, oblivious to the rest of the world.

“Oh,” was all I could say. I looked at Niall and he also seemed reluctant to let me go. I stood up to go with Belle but I felt his hand taking mine. It felt so small in comparison with his and I liked it.

“Wanna come tomorrow to my flat? We’re gonna do something with the lads and we’d love to have you all there,” he said looking into my eyes. I wanted to go, of course I wanted, but I realised that I wanted to go because that meant seeing him, which wasn’t a good thing, not when I was done with lads. I wasn’t stupid and I knew that I wanted to spend time with him more than just like a friend.

“I…” I mumbled. His eyes were fixed on me and my heart started to beat faster, confused. A part of me was saying that I had to refuse, that I had to end whatever was going on between us right now before it was too late, but there was this other voice telling me that it was okay, that nothing was going to happen if I didn’t want it to. Now, the problem was that I wasn’t that sure if I wanted nothing to happen between Niall and I. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

I saw disappointment in his eyes and that twisted my heart. I wanted to say yes, that I’d love to go just to erase that look from his face and bring his happiness back. But I had to think more deeply about what I was feeling and what I wanted. I had to remind myself of several things. I had to prepare myself if I intended to spend more time with him.

I thought that as he seemed so different from me, I would never consider him as something else than a friend, but I couldn’t ignore the fast beats of my heart every time he looked at me, or the way it gave me goose bumps every time we touched.

“Bye, Niall,” I said leaning down to kiss his cheek softly. “See ya soon.”

“See ya,” he whispered letting go of my hand as I walked away with Belle who looked at me suspiciously.

-:-:-:-

Note: Don't freak out over Alex's opinion. It's an hyperbole, which means, an exaggeration. Don't take it literally.

Bel, xx