Love at the X Factor (on hold) :(

Chapter 16

I rushed backstage, dragging my two best friends with me where I screamed and cried, hugging them.

"How did you guys get here?!" I asked them, calming down a bit.

"You can thank them." Maggie pointed to the boys as they walked up. I had the biggest grin on my face.

"Really?"

"It was Niall's idea." Zayn told me, a small smile on his lips. I looked over at my boyfriend, who was wearing a very cheeky grin. I ran over to him, hugging him tight.

"Is that where you guys were this mornin'?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Harry chuckled. "I was the distraction after we picked them up from the airport." I punched his arm. "Ow!"

"Oops." I laughed, hugging Jenna and Maggie again. "How long are y'all here for?"

"Two weeks. We get to see next week's live show too!" Jenna said eagerly.

"We have so much to catch up on." I told them, and they nodded, agreeing.

"I know you guys are catching up, but we are going to have to ask you all to return to your seats." Simon said, appearing by our side.

"Did you know about this?" I raised an eyebrow at Simon. He just smiled at me as he helped the girls back down to their seats.

"Thank y'all so so much." I went around, hugging each boy and kissing their cheek. When I got to Niall, I wrapped my hands around his neck. He grabbed my waist and pulled me in for a big kiss. I felt butterflies in my stomach as a smile spread across my lips mid-kiss.

"We gotta get back to our seats, babe. You did great out there." He kissed my cheek before disappearing back down to his seats with the rest of the boys.

I went back to the dressing room where I sat with Joel and Lou, watching the rest of the performances from the TV.

Everyone was doing amazing. With every performance, I could feel my heart dropping. They were all so much better than me.

"No they aren't." Lou said, giving me a look.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Sure did." She smiled. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Your performance was absolutely brilliant."

"You're just sayin' that." I told her, pushing her compliment away.

"And I'm sure all of Twitter is just saying it, too?" She waved her phone in my face and I took it from her, scrolling through the X Factor Live Show trend. Everyone was talking about my performance. They were all mainly nice comments, making me smile and even tear up a bit. I blushed and handed Lou her phone. "Told you." She smirked, putting her cell away.

"Can we have all the performers to the stage please?" A voice echoed throughout the entire arena. I felt my heart beat increase and I began to freak out.

"Calm down, Bella." Lou said, fixing up my hair and make up, adjusting my hat. "Knock 'em dead." She pushed me out of the room.

"I'll be the dead one." I muttered as I hurried to the stage. They had us catagorized by age groups. I ran over to Demi, who patted my shoulder.

"Breathe." She smiled at me. I just nodded, unable to speak as the lights came back up and we were live again. I looked through the crowd, spotting my best friends. They had the biggest grins on their faces. The boys as well, who were also my best friends, had big smiles on their faces. I caught Niall's eye and he blew me a kiss and tossed up a thumbs up. I blushed as Mario Lopez began speaking into the microphone.

"The contestants that will not be going on to next week's live show are..." I felt my heart accelerate. He announced names of people I didn't know, aside from one girl names Addie that was in my age group. They were dismissed from the stage with teary eyes.

I was moving on to the next round.

I jumped up, screaming. I grabbed onto my friend Dannie, who I had become close to over the past few weeks. She hugged me as we began to cry.

"Congratulations to our remaining contestants! We'll be seeing you next week. Thanks for tuning in. See you guys next week back here on..." He paused and the remaining contestants and I screamed, "X FACTOR!"



The cameras stopped rolling and security were rushing people out of the arena. I ran to the dressing room, stripping out of my costume. I pulled on a pair of dark, ripped skinny jeans, my Converse, and a red hoodie belonging to Niall. The boys and my friends were brought backstage after they all, too, had changed into comfortable clothes that they had brought with them.

"I can't believe I'm moving on." My cheeks hurt I was smiling so big.

"We can." Liam smiled, gesturing around. Everyone hugged me and Niall kissed my cheek.

"How about a celebratory dinner?" Louis suggested. We replied with loud yelling and he laughed. "Let's go, then!"

We went outside of the Staples Center, with the help of several bodyguards. They ushered us into a black SUV. Paul hopped into the driver's seat.

"Where do you guys wanna go?"

"Anyone else up for Mexican?" I asked. Everyone replied with yeses and we were off.

"I'm so glad y'all are here." I smiled back at Jenna and Maggie who were in the backseat. They grinned back. They were squished in between Zayn and Louis and the looks on their faces were priceless. They weren't quite over their celebrity shock.

I felt Niall's hand find mine in the dark of the car and a blush creep-ed onto my cheeks. He pulled me close to him and kissed the top of my head. "You did great tonight. I'm proud of you." He whispered in a voice that only I could hear. I looked up at him and kissed his mouth, cupping his face in my hands, forgetting we were in a car with seven other people.

"Get a room!" I heard Jenna yell. She hasn't been here two days and she's already getting onto me. I turned around to look at her, blushing. She aw'd, along with everyone else in the car when she shouted I was blushing.

"I hate all of you." I pouted, putting my arms over my chest. Niall was poking me, trying to make me laugh. I wasn't really upset and he knew that.

"Baaaaabe!" Niall said, kissing my cheek. "They were just teasin'." He gave me a puppy dog face and I faltered. I leaned over and kissed him.

"I know." I smiled, blushing again.

The car finally came to a stop in front of some Mexican restaurant called Rico's. We all piled out, followed by Paul. He led us inside and we got a table, thanks to a kind waiter. We all sat down at a large booth and he took our drink orders before disappearing behind a swinging door. We all began making small talk. Jenna and Maggie were becoming used to the fact that the boys were just regular people and they were being their-selves.

"So, y'all were sending the A messages?" I said with a laugh as the waiter brought us our drinks.

"With the help of Louis." Jenna snickered, snitching on Louis. He glared at her and she smiled, sipping at her sweet tea.

"You liar!" I said, throwing my straw wrapper at the boy. 

"I couldn't just give the surprise away, now could I?" He smirked, twisting the straw wrapper around his finger. 

"Can I take your orders?" The waiter cleared his throat with a small smile at our bickering. We nodded, glancing at the menu as we recited our orders to him. He gave me a small wink before leaving. I gave him a small smile, before looking over at Niall; his jaw was clenched.

"Niall, calm." Liam put a hand on his buddy's arm.

"It was just a wink, babe." I leaned across the table, placing a hand over his. He pulled his hand away from me. I felt my heart skip a beat, thinking he was mad at me by the look on his face. A tear slid down my cheek. He noticed this and his eyes softened.

"Bella, don't. I'm not mad at you, darling." He wrapped his big hand around mine, rubbing circles with his thumb on my palm. "I just don't want guys hitting on my girl." I blushed at that. 

We all made random conversation until two waiters, including the winker, brought our food. Niall stayed calm, aside from his tightened grip on my hand across the table. He made eye contact with the waiter and traveled his eyes down to our hands The waiter noticed our hand holding and his face went pale. He finished giving out our meals before scurrying back to the kitchen. We all burst into laughter when he vanished.

"He was like, terrified of you!" Harry chuckled, taking a bite of his fajitas. 

"That was great." I giggled, taking a sip of my Dr. Pepper, and then a bite of my chicken enchiladas.

We finished up our dinner, leaving a nice tip. When we left, the waiter stopped me and Niall.

"I just wanted to apologize for the wink. It was uncalled for." He was shaking slightly.

"It's alright, man." Niall smiled, and shook his hand. I waved and we followed everyone out to the car. Paul had it started up and we were on our way to the hotel.

"What hotel are y'all at?" I asked Jenna and Maggie with a yawn.

"Yours." They chorused.

"You were at our hotel and didn't say anything!?" I sat up, waking Niall up. "Sorry, babe." I put a hand on his chest and he smiled sleepily.

"It was a surprise, dang." Maggie laughed.

"We're going to be put into your room, tonight. They put us in a random room for the day so you wouldn't know." Jenna smiled.

"This is gonna be so much fun!" I shouted eagerly.

We got to the hotel shortly, where we helped bring up the girls' bags. I kissed Niall goodnight and hugged the other boys. They went up to their room while Jenna, Maggie, and I went into ours were we changed into pajamas and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.