Who They Really Are

thirteen

"Can't believe you were leaving without saying hi," Noel whispered in Kat's ear as she walked by.

"And I can't believe you gave us fake backstage passes," she remarks back. He just smirks, and Kat finds herself struggling to figure out if she's irritated or intrigued.

Elissa watches them whisper back and forth, and when they stop she tells Noel he had a good show.

"Thanks! Follow me."

He leads them down the hall and into a big room under the stage where the other guys are sitting on a couch eating and playing some game on an Xbox.

"This is what you guys do after a show?" Elissa asks.

"Pretty much," Noel answers. He walks in front of the tv and the other guys groan. "Guys, this is Elissa and Kat. Elissa and Kat, this is Liam, Charlie, and Matt."

Charlie and Matt both jump up when they hear the girl's names.

"Hey," Charlie tries to say nonchalantly. Matt just does a little half wave.

"You guys are idiots. Don't even try with them," Noel says, sitting down on one of the empty couches in the room.

Kat and Elissa both just stand there as Matt and Charlie sit back down and grab their controllers, not really knowing what to do.

"You guys wanna hang with us? We were just gonna chill down here a while."

Elissa looks at Kat, and she shrugs. "Why not?"

Kat walks around the couches trying to figure out where to sit, and Noel lightly pats the seat next to him on the couch. Kat smiles and sits down on the other cushion, leaving a lot of room between them. Elissa sits in between Matt and Charlie on the other couch, asking what they were playing.

"How've you been?" Noel asks Kat quietly, turning to face her. He brings his leg up and sits cross-cross with his back against the arm of the chair.

Kat turns to face him too, leaning her side against the back of the couch.

"Honestly? Stressed. You?"

"Busy," Noel says. "What's got you stressed? The fashion show?"

Kat smiled lightly at him remembering and nods. "I had a call back, and they said I was perfect for the show but they didn't have enough spots for everyone. So I have to go to a Pink shoot on Monday for them to see how I work with the other models. And it's really got me worried."

"You'll get it. Don't worry."

"How are you so sure?" Kat asks skeptically. He barely even knew her after all.

Noel smiles. "Call it rockstar intuition."

Kat rolls her eyes. "A real rock star wouldn't call himself a rock star."

Noel laughs. "I guess that's true."

They sit in comfortable silence for a minute before Kat says, "You were amazing tonight. Really, really amazing."

Noel shrugs.

"No really. It was awesome."

"Okay, okay. Thank you," he says with a laugh. "I saw you in the crowd. I was really happy you came."

"Why wouldn't I?" Kat asks.

"I don't know. Maybe you just didn't see my tweet, or didn't like me or something."

"If I didn't like you I wouldn't have tweeted I wanted to come to your concert in the first place, stupid. And I had no idea you would see my tweet at all."

"Well duh, I follow you," Noel replies.

"What? I didn't know that. I would've followed you back if I'd have known."

"Yup I followed you right after I met you in August." Noel says, his eyes widening as he realized what he just said.

"So you were thinking about me?" Kat asks.

A hint of a blush starts on Noel's cheeks, and he tries to think of something to say.

"I just- I-."

Kat saves him from his embarrassment because she's secretly really flattered that he'd been thinking about her afterwards.

"Here, I'll go on and follow you back now," she says, going on Twitter on her phone. She looks up his name, and goes on his page, clicking the follow button.

"I love your bio by the way."

Noel shrugs, obviously still embarrassed.

"Hey Noel!" Charlie yells. "Get over here and help me bro, they're kicking my ass!"

Noel and Kat look over to see Liam, Charlie, Matt, and Elissa all playing the Xbox. They stand up and go over to the other couch, grabbing controllers.

"I have no idea how to play this," Kat says, clicking random buttons on the controller.

"Just wing it," Liam yells.

The 6 of them play the Xbox for a while, the boys all yelling insults at each other while Kat and Elissa laugh and just go with it. The night flies by, and Kat finds herself hoping it never ends, just like she did with the concert.

But just like the concert, the night comes to an end too.

"Kat I should probably go soon. I have to leave for a shoot tomorrow..." Elissa says at one point.

One of the boys clicks pause on the game, and the others groan.

"What time is it?" Kat asks.

"2:30," Elissa answers.

"Yeah you're right we should probably go..," Kat says, standing.

"Thanks for letting us hang out with you guys. I had a ton of fun," Elissa says. The guys stand up and give Elissa and Kat a hug and tell them thanks for coming.

"I'll walk you guys out," Noel says.

"Bye guys!" Kat says as she follows Noel and Elissa to the door. The boys wave at her and turn back to the game.

Noel leads them back down the hallway and out from underneath the stage, then up the stairs toward the main entrance.

"Thanks for everything Noel," Kat says as they make their way to the door.

"Yeah, thank you!" Elissa says, giving Noel a quick hug as her phone starts ringing. "Shoot, it's my manager. I'm probably about to be killed if he knows I'm not at home," she says, walking outside to answer.

"I had a lot of fun tonight. So did the guys," Noel says.

"Us too. It was a great way to not focus on the stress," Kat says.

"When's your shoot again?" Noel says, running a hand through his hair.

"Monday. One more day of worrying til then."

"Ah, okay. We're spending the day in New York tomorrow..." Noel says.

"Oh cool! It'll be nice to have a day for sightseeing, I bet."

"Yeah, yeah," Noel says quietly.

"Okay well I should probably go," Kat says, starting towards the door. She turns back and smiles at Noel, then starts to open the door.

"Wait," Noel says. "Could I take your mind off of worrying for the day tomorrow?"

Kat smiles. "What'd you have in mind?"

Noel smirks. "A surprise. Just text me your address and I'll pick you up."

"Well I have a problem with that..." Kat says.

Noel frowns. "You do?"

"Yep. I don't have your number."