Hard to Handle (A 1D Story)

Ch. 6 - Beach Day

Chapter 6 - Beach Day

Venice has long been one of my favorite places in LA – especially considering my love for the water. Pair that with the laidback vibe of the small shops, street artists, and skateboarders, and you have the closest thing to my personal heaven on Earth. During college, my friends and I would often skip class, grab our bikes onto the big blue bus line, and spend the day chilling in our bathing suits. If it was a really hot day, we’d rent surfboards or try to body surf with the actual surfers (none of us was that good).

Today was the first time I’d ever been at Venice without my friends. Instead, I was – at the moment – sitting by myself on a grassy knoll by the skate park, waiting for the guys to come back with our food. I’d put in an order at my favorite little Venice café, but wanted to eat closer to the beach. It was a bit of a walk from the restaurant, so the boys all politely insisted that they could pick mine up for me and meet me back here.

I fiddled with my phone and glanced at the text P&W had sent me a while ago. Since today was an off day, they recommended that I take the time to either research or talk to the boys about all aspects of their life – like allergies, for example, so I don’t accidentally kill them with a random meal or something (I think P&W assumed I knew how to cook – ha). I was just about to toss my phone into my bag and put on my aviators to lay down when I heard footsteps and hushed murmuring behind me.

I turned. “What?” I asked the guys as they all joined me, setting down the bags of food. They all looked a bit worried. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing big,” Harry murmured, keeping his head down. “But I think a girl recognized us at the restaurant and she might have followed us back here. Check by the painted cone, would you? To your left, in yellow.”

I knew they should’ve worn the Disney shirts! Geez. Trying to look subtle, I angled my neck slightly and indeed, saw a girl around 15 or 16 slowly making her way from palm tree to palm tree, getting closer to our group. She had dark blond hair and was clutching a small Penny board. Seemed harmless enough.

When she finally ducked behind the palm tree closest to us, I called out, “Hi! You over there.”

The guys cringed.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered to them. “I got this.” To her, I called louder, “It’s okay, don’t be nervous. What’s up? Are you looking for someone?”

Timidly, the teenager approached us, big blue eyes locked on Zayn. “Hi,” she said, smiling shyly. Her voice didn’t shake, which immediately endeared me to her. “I didn’t want to bother you, but I was just wondering if your name is Zayn Malik?” She turned to him, and he turned his white baseball capped head up to look at her.

“Yes,” he smiled politely. “It is.”

Everyone held their breath to brace for the girl’s response.

But she only beamed a huge toothy beam and exhaled. “Wow. I thought so. I’m Allison. It’s so nice to meet you; I’m a huge fan. Of all of you.”

The boys exchanged relieved glances and, as if realizing it was safe, all stood to greet her. It was still nice to see how polite the group was to all of their fans.

“No, I don’t want to draw attention,” Allison’s face paled when they all surrounded her. “It’s okay, sit back down.”

Louis laughed loudly. “Don’t worry, love. You’re the first one to recognize us yet. We’re very happy that you did; I was starting to worry we weren’t famous anymore.”

After taking a couple of pictures and chatting for a bit, Allison smiled and bid her goodbyes to the boys. Then, she surprised me by actually coming up to me too.