Art of Breaking (Michael Clifford)

wait what

I'm going to be working with One Direction. The One Direction. The One Direction that like half the world's population of pre-teen and teenage girls are mega-obsessed with. 

What.

Once again forgetting that I was not in fact standing there processing this by myself, I allowed myself to think if what I could have possibly have done in a past life to warrant this.

Don't get me wrong, this could be an amazing opportunity. But wow, that's a lot of pressure. Not only do I have to worry even more about what I do and how well I do my internship, (I'm sure those boys could ruin a budding career in three seconds flat) but I also have to worry about any interaction I have with them outside of the studio.

I was hoping I'd be able to have somewhat of a good relationship with whomever I ended up working with. But they are way too popular. Everyone's going to have their eyes on them. We wouldn't be able to hang out outside of the studio without the paparazzi and "Directioners" swarming us. And I'm not sure I could handle that craziness. I'm a pretty simple girl.

Although, I am pretty weird. I doubt they would want to hang out with me anyway. Oh I guess there's that problem solved. 

Wow this is a lot of pressure. Why did I decide to come here again?

Right. Internship. Dream job. Experience. Foot in the door.

I can't do this.

"Umm, Nova?"

"Yes?" I replied.

I think it was the blonde one again. I may or may not have been paying attention, still trying to come to terms with the fact that I would be working alongside the most popular boy band in the world. I haven't quite connected their names with their faces yet. I mean, of course I knew who they were in the sense that they were One Direction, but I didn't know who they were.

"Would you like to go with us to lunch then, so we can get to know each other a little better before we have to work in the studio tomorrow?" The blonde one asked.

What is his name again? Do I ask? 

They just introduced themselves like two minutes ago, would that be rude? Is he going to hate me already? I haven't even had time to show him my annoying nerdy side, he can't hate me yet!

I look up again, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to say, when I see my mom mouthing something to me.

"What?" I mouth. I really didn't understand what she just said.

She sighs and proceeded to sign it to me.

I'm not fluent in sign language. And I probably never will be. But I did learn the alphabet in like kindergarten, and it kinda stuck with me.

"N"
"I"
"A"
"L"
"L"

"Niall?" I accidentally said out loud, confused. What is that?

My mother looks at me in disbelief, subtly facepalming at my verbal response.

"Yes?" He replies. Oh. That's his name. Right.

Thanks mom, for letting me walk into that one... She should have briefed me before we even got here. I understand that she wanted to surprise me, but now I'm just super overwhelmed.

"Oh. Um yes of course I'll go eat with you gentleman. I do not believe I had anything planned prior. It would be excellent to have some familiarity before we work in the studio."

I cringe. Did I really just say that? Like that? Wow, now they will definitely think I'm weird and we will never be friends. Ever. Crap.

The boys all look at me surprised, but don't comment on my word usage. They were probably used to people talking to them like that in all the fancy businesses and hotels they have been to. Although the fact that I am only a 17 year-old intern from the States might be a bit of a twist...

***************************************

Luckily the building had its own restaurant (Jeez what doesn't it have? It's like half the size of my whole suburb back home). This meant that I could postpone entering the tabloids for at least another day.

Unfortunately, this only meant that I wouldn't be able to come up with some lame excuse about not being able to find transportation to meet them at whatever restaurant they picked, or that I got lost and couldn't find the place they were talking about and therefore didn't have to actually talk to them in anything but a professional atmosphere... 

 I mean I know I said that I wanted to have a good relationship with the group I would be working with, but this was One Direction. We weren't even in the same galaxy. 

Despite not knowing their first names or faces at first glance, I definitely knew that I was not the type of person that got to interact with celebrities of that caliber on their first-kind-of-day of their internship. It just doesn't happen.

But alas, there was a restaurant in the building and I would have to get to know the royalty despite simply being a lowly commoner. And the fact that once again, this just doesn't happen in real life.

"So where are you from Nova?"

It was the friendly looking one, you know the kind of guy that wouldn't think twice about getting chocolate and extra tampons when your experiencing your devil days, despite being friendzoned. I think his name was Liam, but like I said before, I'm really not good with names -at least in the beginning.

"Um, I'm-We're- from L.A." I said awkwardly

Liam (I'm about 80% sure now that that is his name) didn't seem to mind my blunt reply, just nodded and let the other guys have a turn asking questions.

Harry was next and asked if my mother and I were the only ones living here.

"No, my brother Dominic is here too." Louis immediately asked how old my brother was and hesitantly inquired about the whereabouts of my father.

Unfortunately for him, despite my willingness to relate to the boys that Dominic was my twin and would probably be around the record building every once in awhile, what with both my mother and I working there, I was certainly not ready to discuss my father. 

It was still way too fresh in my mind and I had just met them today. It's not that I don't trust them, it's just, well, I don't really trust them enough to talk about something so personal. Yet, anyway. Besides we'll be working together, they'll probably find out sooner or later.

"Umm..." My eyes widened. Luckily the guys seemed to catch on to the fact that it was a touchy subject and left me alone a little bit.

As the lunch went on they continued to ask questions and finally helped me become comfortable enough to ask my own questions. 

We discussed my squirrel suit (which I actually DO have, and it is quite comfy if anyone was wondering) and my high school experiences in the U.S. of A. And they explained to me how they all came together and why Niall sounds different than the rest of them.

I actually kind of had fun and wasn't nearly as terrified to work with them. Which I suppose was kinda the whole purpose of meeting up for lunch... But ANYWAYS. 

I'm definitely still cautious about working with the world's most popular boyband, that won't go away with a single lunch, no matter how well-intended. However, I am already becoming slightly excited once again to go to work tomorrow, this time to actually work rather than simply socialize.