Live On

One

I was never the type of girl to be into One Direction so when my sister’s seventeenth birthday came around and she announced that she wanted to go to the One Direction concert coming to town I was less than thrilled. I had to keep reminding myself as I slipped into my One Direction tank top that this was the last night before her freedom was taken from her. My sister had been born with a development disorder that made her mentally only twelve years old and unable to care for herself and with my dad remarrying after my mom divorced him for cheating my new step-mom didn’t want my sister ruining her ‘perfect’ family. My dad stupidly agreed to send her to this institution that focused on helping those with these disorders and tomorrow morning would be when they came to get her. I needed to make tonight the most memorable night for her so that she never forgets we love her despite what that bitch said to her. I brushed my hair over my bruised eye to hide it from the rest of the world and slipped on my Aesthetic Perfection jacket that I custom painted with their logo and lyrics to their song The Dark Half. I could hear my sister being impatient downstairs and dad yelling at her for it which was my cue to hurry.

“Zee come on!” Zee was a nickname given to me by my sister when she couldn’t pronounce my name yet, but my real name was Leah. I flipped off the light to the upstairs bathroom and hurried down the steps to my sister. She was puny for her age, barely the size of a ten year old, so it was easy for me to scoop her up and head out the door. I headed out to the blue kia that my mother had given me for my eighteenth birthday and sat her inside the back on her booster seat. She hated that thing but none of us wanted to take chances with her when driving her around.

“Zee, why do I have to use this stupid thing?” I sighed and looked at her.

“You know why Sarah.” She huffed at me as I got in the driver side and put the key in the ignition. I backed away from the house. The concert hall was nearly an hour away from my house so I had stopped at a local gas station and got food from inside for my sister to snack on while we drove. I put my sister’s One Direction CD and let the music blare through the radio while I drove towards the hall. Upon arrival I helped my sister from the back and put her on my hip while I walked inside the concert hall. I looked down at my watch and realized we were almost thirty minutes early to the concert so we had a bit of down time. I fished out our backstage passes from the green Kings Island backpack I had on over my jacket and handed one to Sarah.

“Zee I’ve gotta potty!” I sighed and looked around for the restrooms. I spotted them across the hall and made my way over towards them with Sarah in my arms, I waited outside the restroom while Sarah used it. I felt someone tap on my shoulder and turned to come face-to-face with a drunk Harry Styles. He grabbed my hand and attempted to flirt with me but I pulled my hand away.

“Hello there love, I’m-” I held my hand up.

“Save it, I know who you are.” My voice was sour towards him. I hated Harry Styles more than anyone else in the world because of how he chose to play with people’s feelings.  

“Do you not like One Direction?” Harry was angry as he spoke with me. I knew I was pushing it but he was an idol and I doubted he would do anything to me with so many people staring.

“No, and I definitely don’t like you.”

“Then why the fuck are you here?” He hissed it at me as he stepped closer and slapped me hard across the face. I felt my temper rising as I held my cheek and reared my fist back, Harry didn’t have time to process what was happening as I punched him square in the nose. Harry yelled in pain as he gripped onto his nose and looked at me with anger.

“My little sister wanted to come see you for her birthday, but you’re such a dick I should just take her and leave.” Harry approached me again with his nose bleeding and I was prepared to hit him again when Zayn Malik came running up and got in between us.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry for his behavior. He’s been hitting the bottle one too many times.” I held my cheek as the stinging intensified. Zayn looked at me with concern as I turned away from him.

“Did Harry hit you?” I nodded.

“Oh god, what can we do to make it up to you?”

“A full refund and a private meet and greet for my sister, I’ve invested almost four hundred dollars into this day and I don’t want that little shitbag to ruin it for my sister.” As if on cue Sarah ran from the bathroom and looked awestruck as her idols were in front of me. She was oblivious to the tension in the are as I looked at Harry with an expression of anger.

“You’ve got a deal. I’ll have someone escort you behind the stage.” Zayn motioned for a security guard who walked over without hesitation and guided us back behind the stage.

“Zee, this is so exciting! We get to meet them!” I nodded and smiled down at her happily despite the pain in my face. I lifted her onto my hip as we were escorted to where the boys stayed between shows and allowed to wait there until they were done.