Under The Willow Tree • Louis Tomlinson

xxvii.

xxvii. they don't know about us [pt.2]

— • —

Speeches were boring no matter who they came from. Michelle, Louis, Harry, Niall, Zayn, Liam and the head of production were sitting on stools on the stage. I had picked a seat at the back of the crowd and zoned out while they all took turns of thanking everyone from the team. While they were doing that I thought about what crazed fan or unlucky parent would be sitting where I am for tonight's show. My concentration was only broken when Louis said my name. "Liam, Zayn, Niall, Harry and I would like to thank Rose for surviving the tour with us for two months and acting like our mum." I rolled my eyes. In the end I gave up trying to clean up after them and embraced their mess.

"We love you thiiiiiiiiis much!" Niall said, stretching his arms as wide as they could go. Liam, Louis and Zayn did the same thing while Harry only opened hands a few inches. I clapped at them before zoning out as Michelle took over again.

 I was playing on my phone and at the end of the meeting when Michelle came up to me. "Temple Run is a really repetitive game. You should download Candy Crush. It's more challenging." I snapped my head up to see Michelle standing next to me.

"I'll remember that next time I'm downloading apps." I smiled at her. Neither of us really liked each other but neither she nor I held grudges. In the last month she had grown 'fond' of me which was a nice yet disturbing idea.

"You're ticket." She pushed a concert ticket into my hands. I looked down at it to find that it had tonight's concert written on it.

"I already have my working pass Michelle. I was planning on watching it side stage."

"Change of plan." She motioned for me to stand up. When I stood up she walked along the row of seats until she got to aisle, "We need you to be a fan."

"Why?" I didn't like where this was going.

"I wanted to spice things up for the last show. During Everything About You and four other lucky 'fans' will get to sit on stage and be sung to." She air quoted the word fans.

"Why me then?"

"Well five actual fans would be out of the question. They would either scream their heads off or faint. Most artists either use people from their crew, friends of friends or people who look good."

"Oh..." I trailed off, I didn't really want to participate. Michelle stopped when we got to the backstage entrance, standing next to it where four other girls. One of them was Megan who I met earlier.

"Rose, these are the fellow 'fans'" She the gestured to each of them, "Holly is from the auditoriums lighting team. She will be Harry's. Next is Megan from makeup. She will get to be sung to be Niall. Zayn's girl will be Tori my assistant. Abbey is a catering temp and she'll be Liam's." All four of them waved at me and I waved back.

"So I'm guessing I'm Louis'?" He was the only one left without a girl to sing to.

"Nice guess Rose." Michelle smirked. "Now the plan is that all of you leave by yourselves at 6:30pm and enter the venue like a fan would. Concert starts at 7:30pm. After the song you'll head backstage and then back out to your seat. You'll have to stay in your seats for the whole show." Michelle paused, "Questions?"

All of us shook our heads.

"Great! Have fun tonight girls." Michelle winked and walked through the doorway, leaving me with Megan and three complete strangers.

— • —

My seat was in the middle section, 5th row, and my seat was second from the aisle. On my right there were two friends that were crazed about Harry. They were talking to both me and each other nonstop. I wanted to tell them some funny stories about Harry but I kept my mouth shut, remembering that I had to act like a normal crazy directioner who had never met them. On my left there was a fourteen year old girl who had a strong obsession with Louis. She had come here with her friends but there had been a seat mix up and she had volunteered to sit in the 5th row instead of with her friends in row 20. She was nice to talk to but I felt bad for her since she had to fan girl alone.

It was close to intermission when they went to sing Everything About You. They had paused and Louis spoke first "For this next song we have decided to do something a little bit different. Since it's the last show we wanted to get the fans involved."

Screams rippled among the crowd. I was so confused on how they didn't go deaf after this many shows. "We want to share Everything About You with five lucky girls." Harry spoke into the microphone, "We just need to find those girls first." I rolled my eyes and the people surrounding me broke into a fit of screams. Seeing as I should act like I wanted to get chosen I screamed along with the girl on my left.

"Ok let's see... who wants to be my lucky lady?" Zayn asked the audience which started chanting 'Pick Me Zayn! I love you Zayn!' He walked over to stage left and peered into the fans who brought side view tickets. "How about.... You there! The one with the bright red hair." He pointed in the direction of Tori. I watched as a spot light focused on her, she was jumping around in hysterics like a normal fan would do. While Tori was making her way up to the stage it was Louis' turn to choose.

"Now who wants to be crazy with me?" He asked the crowd. Even more screams filled the audience. He paced around the stage, scanning the audience until his eyes found mine. He grinned, "What about you? Five rows back near the aisle?"

"Who is he pointing at?" The girl on my left asked, her voice was squeaky.

"I don't know!" I squealed.

"I know you know it's you." He laughed, "Will the one with the curly hair and green dress like to be crazy with me?"

The spotlight found me and I froze, I didn't know what to do. The two Harry girls next to me pushed me out into the aisle and once I worked out how to fan girl I raced down the aisle, jumped onstage and tackle hugged Louis.

"Well you have a strong grip." He chuckled into the microphone, prying me of him. "What's your name?"

"Rose" It felt strange to act like a total stranger to someone you knew so well.

"Rose, where do you come from?"

"Down the road." I replied sarcastically.

"Well it's nice to meet you Rose from down the road." He winked at me, "Your turn Haz."

— • —

When all five of us had been chosen we sat on five stools. The stools were quite uncomfortable but they had to do. One Direction started singing Everything About You. I felt amazed by the crowd, flashes dotted the inky black crowd and screams were abundant. Louis was singing besides me and like the others he was grabbing my hand or pointing at me or simply smiling. In Louis' small solo he placed his hand around my shoulders and sung out to the crowd. Megan was a really good actor and she kept reaching out and grabbing Niall like she was a lioness and he was her prey causing the rest of us to giggle like normal girls would do. When the song finished Louis was inches from me and he quickly kissed me on the cheek. The quick kiss didn't go unnoticed because the fans in the front few rows started shouting "KISS ME LOUIS!"

I chuckled and when it was our time to leave I stood up and hugged Louis. "You did well." He whispered.

"You're the one who sung. I just sat there and looked nice." I released him and waved goodbye, following Megan and the others side stage.

"That was fun!" She exclaimed, walking into the main backstage corridor.

"Overwhelming." Holly corrected

"I felt special." Abbey giggled.

"Zayn is really good at hugging." Tori winked

"It was alright." I shrugged. The truth was that I loved every second on that stage and that it was fun to act like a total stranger.

"Alright? I saw Louis peck you on the cheek." Abbey winked. Unlike Megan and Tori she didn't know about us.

"Try explaining that to an obsessed fourteen year old Louis fanatic that's sitting next to you." I chuckled. "Well we better get back inside and deal with the questioning from others." I waved goodbye to them and walked through a large metal door that took me back to the seats. I weaved my way back to my seat where I was confronted by the Louis girl.

"Can I touch you?" She asked, in total awe that I was just on stage with him.

"Sure." I sat down in my seat.

"What was it liked to get kissed by Louis?" She was trying hard not to squeal.

"Where should I begin..."