One Direction One Shots

Stay With Me

It was torture; pure torture to be away from her. She was perfect; the way her hair fell a little below her shoulders, the way her green eyes sparkled when she laughed, even the way she got emotional over fictional characters. He loved her so much. And just being away from her for even five minutes sent him into a frenzy.

But lately, it had been getting too much for the boy to handle; the stress, the fans, the media, the managers. It was so overwhelming; he felt like the life was going to be squeezed out of him if he kept going like this. But management wouldn’t listen; they kept urging him on, putting even more and more weight on his already-heavy shoulders.

And one day, it was all too much. One Direction were about to perform at Madison Square Garden for the very first time in their lives. Sure, they were all nervous; but none of them knew how Louis felt. What if he messed up? What if he disappointed the fans? What if he got kicked out of the band? It was all just a jumbled mess of ‘what ifs’.

Right there, 45 minutes before they were supposed to perform in front of thousands of fans, right there, backstage is when Louis Tomlinson fell apart. He slid down to the ground, tears pouring out of his eyes as he grabbed his hair, pulling at it as prickles of pain scattered throughout his scalp.

“I can’t do it,” he whispers, throwing the microphone to the ground. “I just can’t do it anymore.”

“Lou?” Harry asks him with concern, crouching down next to him. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do it anymore, Harry,” he repeats, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m going to mess up and disappoint the fans and then I’m going to get kicked out of the band.”

“Lou, it’s fine,” Harry reassures his friend. “We’re all nervous; it’s okay to be nervous.”

“No,” Louis replies, releasing his hair and wringing his hands. “No, it’s not just that. I just- I don’t- I…”

“Maybe I should get Liam,” Harry mutters, starting to get worried for his friend. He had never seen Louis act like this; what had gotten into him? He scans the stage, his eyes landing on Liam as he talked to Niall and Josh. “Hey Liam!” Harry exclaims, waving him over.

“What’s up, Haz?” he asks, looking down at Louis questioningly. He had covered his face with his hands, sobbing into them as he rocked back and forth.

“Something’s wrong with Lou, but I don’t know what,” Harry explains as Liam crouches down next to him, putting his hand on Louis’ forehead.

“Well, he doesn’t feel warm or anything,” Liam mumbles, his eyebrows creasing together. “Tommo, what’s wrong?”

“Liam, I don’t know what to do anymore,” he says in between his sobs. He wanted her there with him; he wanted her to kiss the stress away, like she was always able to. But she wasn’t there.

“Boys, get ready, it’s almost time,” Lisa, one of their managers, said to them.

“Oh God,” Louis moaned, sobbing even harder. His hands started shaking and he started muttering gibberish, his eyes growing wider and wider as tears kept running down his face. Niall and Zayn came up to them, wanting to see what all of the commotion was about.

“Louis, just tell us what you need,” Liam says calmly as they all try to calm him down.

“Emily,” he gasps. “I need Emily.”

Harry whips out his phone, dialing Emily’s number as he paced around the stage, anxiously waiting for her to pick up the phone.

“Hello?” she asks, rocking back and forth on her heels as she waiting in the arena with Danielle, Liam’s girlfriend, and Maura, Niall’s mother.

“Em?” Harry asks urgently. “We need you backstage.”

“Why?” Emily asks, thinking this was some sort of joke.

“It’s Louis,” Harry replies gravely. And that’s all it took before she was sprinting towards the stage, running up the steps as she searched for her boyfriend.

“Emily!” a voice shouts from behind her. She whips her head around, only to find Liam jogging towards her.

“Liam!” she exclaims. “Where’s Lou?”

“He’s not doing so well, Em,” he explains as they quickly walk to where he was.

There on the floor sat Louis, his hands shaking, his cheeks wet from tears, as he mumbled nonsensical things. As they got closer, Emily realized that he was mumbling her name over and over. “Lou?” she called out hesitantly.

“Emily!” he exclaimed, his heart skipping a beat at the sight of her. He scrambled up off the floor and ran towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he buried his face in her neck. She felt tears drop from his eyes and on to her neck and she pulled back, holding his face in her hands.

“Boo Bear, why are you crying?” she asks softly, combing her fingers through his hair.

“Emily, I’m scared,” he whispers, his blue eyes shining with tears.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, love,” she whispers, kissing him softly. “You’re going to be fantastic.”

“How do you know?” he asks, his face still etched with worry.

She wiped away his tears with her thumbs, smiling at him gently. “Because you’re Louis Tomlinson.”

“Two minutes until show time!” someone yelled, their voice echoing and making them all jump.

“It’s going to be alright,” she reassures him, stroking his cheek with her thumb. “I’m going to be standing out there in the crowd, cheering you on, along with the rest of the fans. And when this is all over, I’m still going to be here.”

He pulled her into a hug, marveling at the thought of how he ever landed a girl like her; someone as perfect as her. “Stay with  me,” he whispers in her ear.

She cups his face in her hands, pulling him in for a long, gentle kiss. When they pull away, she leans her forehead against his, her bright green eyes piercing his blue ones. “Always,” she whispers.