The Etiquette of Flux (1D fanfic)

Chapter 2

I woke up fairly early, we had to be at the company’s building at 8. The alarm on my phone was piercing to my ears. I slammed it off, got up, and walked over the mirror. I glanced at my tired-looking self, finding no satisfaction in my appearance. My beat up brush was the potential solution to the hair problem, but I still needed to pick out some fabrics. After looking through my barely filled closet, I settled on a white scoop neck t-shirt, jeans, a scarf, and a leather jacket. I rubbed my eyes harshly, and all of yesterday’s mascara plummeted down my cheeks. I groaned in frustration. Now I had to re-do it. I sat at my vanity’s chair and pulled out the makeup remover. Once I had wiped it all off, I began to slather my face in foundation, eyeliner, and mascara. As I walked out of my room, I grabbed my bag, throwing my phone inside.

Upon entering the room, I was shown that everyone is already awake. My father sat at the island drinking coffee and reading some newspaper, and Victoria was at the stove flipping bacon. 

“Morning, Rachel!” She said cheerfully. I smirked at her lazily, returning the greeting, sitting down at the island next to my dad. “Would you like some breakfast?” 

The aroma of eggs and bacon filled my nostrils. I inhaled deeply, and my heart fluttered. I made those every morning with my mother when I was younger. I thought about it for a second, and made my decision.

“Yes, please.” Victoria filled a plate with the food and I felt warm and fuzzy upon the first bite.

“Did you sleep well?” My father asked. 

“I slept fine.” 

“Are you excited to start work today?” 

“Not really.” I spat back, annoyed. 

“That’s the spirit…” He muttered sarcastically under his breath. 

The plate made a loud sound as I set it in the sink. Soon, we had to leave for the building. 

The initial thought entering the tall building was how fancy and high class it was, and how much an outcast I felt like. This seems to be a trend in London. 

My father told me to enter a room, very large, that looked like a conference room. It had a massive table in the center, plenty of tables around the perimeter. On the table was plenty of pencils, staff paper, and regular lined paper. In the room, there was also a keyboard and acoustic guitar. I sat down at one of the seats, dropping my bag on the floor, taking out my phone. I was in there alone for about 10 minutes, until I got a knock at the door.

“Uh, come in?” I confirmed, wondering why they would knock. 

The door opened and about six people walked into the room. One very much older than the others, considering about five of them were teenagers. I glanced at them, they looked happy to be here, very different than how I looked. I figured they must be One Direction. 

“Hi, Rachel?” The oldest man there said. I smirked very fakely, indicating that they got my name right. “Yes, well, these boys are who you will be working with. Boys, would you like to introduce yourself?”

“I’m Liam.” The one right next to the man announced. He had brown hair, buzz cut, very mature looking. He was clean cut with Burberry shirt and jeans, and sneakers. 

“I’m Harry.” This one had a multitude of necklaces on, and bushy hair, and a few tattoos showing. The way he dressed made him look like he belonged in an H&M ad. 

“I’m Niall.” He had some distinguishing qualities about him. He was the only blonde, he was the shortest of them all, and his accent was different. This kid looked like one of the guys from my hometown, a tool with snapbacks and high top shoes.

“I’m Louis.” He was pretty short, too. He also had on glasses, a beanie, and sweatpants, definitely one of the more casual and lazy ones. 

“I’m Zayn.” There was something different about this one. He has jet black hair pulled up into a quiff. His leather jacket, tattoos, combat boots, and earrings let you know that he was definitely the edgy one. When he introduced himself, he flashed me a smile. I could see it in his eyes, he knew he was hot. That look of cockiness, satisfaction in himself. I rolled my eyes.

“Rachel.” I told them. 

“Alright, well I will leave you guys to work.” The oldest man announced, and left, closing the door behind him. Buzz-cut, H&M ad, and Tool took seats across from me, Mr. Cocky sat next to me and Lazy went next to him. 

“So, do you guys have any ideas for the songs yet?” I asked in the dead silence, pencil in hand.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” Lazy asked me, going off topic.

“Uh, no… can we talk about the so-“

“Where are you from?” Blondie added.

“Um, Chicago?” Everyone started to get comfortable, getting up and moving around. The Curly and Tool walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, while the edgy kid opened the window. “What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Having a smoke, want one?” My heart sped up at the thought of having a cigarette, the first in weeks. The beer too, it was triggering. 

“Uh….uh….no!” I declared reluctantly. “Can we please just get to work?” 

“Loosen up!” The one that sat next to Cocky suggested. “We have weeks to get this song done, we will be fine.” 

“We only have two weeks! That’s not that long!!”

“Damn, chill out.” Cocky, or Zayn, said. 

“Don’t tell me to ‘chill out’ ok? I need this money badly, and I’m not about to let five boyband members to mess it up.” Everyone was paying attention to us at this point.

“I bet you’ve never even had a cigarette or a sip of alcohol in your life.” 

“For your fucking information I have actually had a few beers.” I snapped.

“Hm, but what about that cigarette?” 

“Give it.” I spat. Zayn handed it over, and I brought it to my lips. Inhaling deeply, a calming sensation filled my body. This feeling is so familiar, I missed it deeply. Just to piss Zayn off and really show him what I can do, I blew rings with the smoke. Zayn watched in awe, and I handed him the cigarette back. I faintly heard Zayn whisper to Louis, ‘hot’ and that pissed me off a bit more than I already was. “Can we just start now?” They all nodded, and soon were back in their seats.