Behind the Mic (Liam Payne fanfic)

Chapter Two

     Here's the thing. I don't love One Direction. I like their music, but I'm not too fond of the cookie-cutter image that they have. I'm often around famous people, putting their mics on and helping with their tech setups, so I don't get starstruck often. But Liam Payne is my exception. 
     After collecting my thoughts, I continued walking backstage. I opened the door to the booth, where the sound and light boards were controlled. Brandon, the lighting guy, was sitting on a stool and messing with some of the cues. 
     "Hey, Brandon," I said, leaning against the counter next to him. "Who's performing tonight?" 
     "One Direction," he said, nonchalantly. My breath hitched slightly when I realized I was right. I was going to see Liam Payne and his band perform, and I was going to mic them. Brandon looked over at me with a concerned look on his face and I let go of the breath I didn't realize I had been holding. "You okay, Rose?" I nodded and cleared my throat.
     "Yeah, I'm okay," I looked around the booth and gestured to the new mics. "Are we using those tonight? Have we tested them out yet?"
     "Actually, no l, we haven't," Brandon replied. He reached around me to turn on the sound system and as he pulled back, his hand grazed the small of my back. Goosebumps ran up my arms and I shook slightly to get rid of them. He looked at me weird, again, and cleared his throat. "Do you wanna put one on and go on stage and test it?"
     "Oh, I can't sing," I replied.
     "That's okay, you can just talk. We just want to make sure they work." I agreed, and pulled a pair of earbuds through my shirt and in my ears. I put the pack in my back pocket and, grabbing one of the new handheld microphones, made my way to the stage.
     "You ready?" I called to Brandon and I heard a yes called back to me. I reached around and turned the ear pack on, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. As I looked out onto the stage, I imagined thousands of teen girls screaming for me, wanting to do unspeakable things to me, loving me no matter what I did and yet not knowing anything about me. I felt bad for famous people.
     "Rose, sing something, damnit!" Brandon yelled impatiently at me. I opened my mouth and started singing the first song I could think of.
     "Straight off the plane to a new hotel," I cringed at the fact that even though I didn't like One Direction, that was the first song that came to mind. "Just touched down you can never--" I coughed, not being able to sing that low note. I decided to skip to a part I knew I could sing in my range. "Tell me that I'm wrong, but I do what I please. Way too many people in the Addison Lee. Now I'm at the age when I know what I need, whoa whoa!" I took a deep breath to start the chorus when a male voice behind me started before I could.
     "Midnight memories, woah woah," I spun around, knowing that voice, and took a step back as Harry Styles walked onstage, singing his own song. "Baby, you and me stumbling in the streets, singing, singing, singing, singing." He paused and looked at me expectantly. Did he expect me to sing with him? 
     "Midnight memories, woah woah. Anywhere we go never saying no just do it, do it, do it," I sang back at him shyly. 

     "You're good. Hi, I'm Harry," he walked up to me and stuck his hand out.

     "I'm aware," I shook his hand. "Sorry, I mean, I know who you are. Not in a creepy way. I know you're in One Direction. I work here." I let go of his hand and turned off the pack and pulled the earbuds out of my shirt. "I work with tech, I was just checking the mic."

     "And you were singing our song?" he smirked at me, raising an eyebrow.

     "It's a good song," I mumbled, looking down in embarrassment. He laughed, but nicely.

     "I'll let you get back to work. I technically shouldn't even be in here yet," Harry looked around and chuckled. "The general public shouldn't know we're here in L.A. yet. Promise not to tell?" I nodded. Liam already made me promise, so it wasn't much of a promise for Harry. "I've got to run, maybe I'll see you later?" He winked at me and turned and jogged away. I took a deep breath and made my way back to the booth. I put the mic pack back, muttering a hey to Brandon.
     "You're a good singer, Rose," he said before I left. "Why didn't I know you could sing?

     "I was in choir in high school, but I'm not serious about it," I explained. "But thanks." He smiled kindly at me and I left awkwardly. In less than half an hour, I had met two-fifths of the biggest boy band in the world, and both of them winked at me. I laughed a little to myself. Maybe this job had more pros than cons.