Rockstar 101 (One Direction)

Chapter 2

"Twenty bucks please." Riley holds out his hand after hugging me for ten minutes straight after my audition.

"Why did they put me through? I'm a terrible singer." I mutter to myself. I still cannot grasp it all. It doesn't make any sense.

Riley grabs my shoulders and looks directly at me. "Look, I know your dad said you were a terr-"

"No! No! No! Do not bring his name up! That man does not deserved to be called my father." I shake my head not wanting to bring those memories back up. "Don't bring that up again."

Riley sighs. "You need to tell your mom about that."

"I'm not going to tell her about that. She has enough bad memories about him. I don't need to remind her of them." I say. My mom went through too much when my dad lived with us.

Riley stares behind me smiling. "He is cute!" He whispers.

"Who?" I start to turn around, but Riley stops me. "You are such a player." I shake my head at him.

"All I said was he was cute. I'm not going to go out with him." Riley defends himself.

"Are you forgetting about Daniel? Your boyfriend back home? I really like him and you're not going to screw this up." I slap his arm attempting to draw his attention away from the guy behind me.

Riley smiles to himself. "Well, if I can't go after him. You definitely can!"

Before I can react, Riley pushes me to the side. I trip over my feet, like the klutz I am, and fall into something hard. Two arms grab my waist to steady me before I land on my face. Someone has quick reflexes.

I look up to see who caught me to see a boy around my age with the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen.

Riley was not lying when he said he was cute. He has straight brown hair and the cutest smile ever. Oh gosh, Carter. Stop staring at him. You probably look like a freak.

"I'm sorry." I straighten up looking away from his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Weren't you just on stage?" He asks smiling down at me.

"Uh yeah." I mumble looking at my feet.

"You're very good. I don't know why you thought you were terrible." He says.

"I have my reasons." I reply quietly. He watched my performance?

The older lady from before runs up to us. "You're about to go on." She grabs his arm and begins pulling him away.

Rude much?

"I'll see you around, Carter!" He yells before turning around heading for the stage.

I wave at him as he leaves. Wait, how did he know my name? I don't even know his! Smart, Carter. You meet a cute guy and you don't even find out his name. I'm so stupid sometimes.

"You're not stupid." Riley laughs at me. Crap! Did I just say all that out loud? "He's about to go up. Let's watch his audition!" Riley grabs my wrist and pulls me in front of the tv backstage.

We watch as he walks across the stage looking a bit nervous holding the microphone in his hand. I notice that he is wearing a pair of jeans, whitish- blue collared shirt with a beige sweater, and a black tie.

"What's your name?" Louis asks from the judges table messing with his pen.

"My name is Louis Tomlinson."

Ahh. So, that's his name. Louis. Louis Tomlinson. I like it. I watch the tv waiting for him to sing.

"Off you go then." Louis, the judge, nods his head.

Louis begins singing Hey, There Deliah by the Plain White T's. Wow, he has a really good voice.

"He's really good." Riley nudges me in the side.

"Yeah, he is." I agree listening to the judges.

"Okay, Louis, yes or no?" Simon asks looking down at the paper on the table.

"Louis, I'm saying yes." He answers Simon smiling.

"I'm saying yes." Cheryl says next. The audience cheers. They obviously liked him.

"Thank you so much." Louis smiles at the judges grinning.

Everyone stops and waits for Simon's choice. "You've got three yes's." The whole room erupts in cheering.

"Thank you so much!" Louis says before heading off the stage.

I look away from the tv smiling.

"Looks like you will be hanging out more." Riley winks at me. "Come on. You're mom is waiting outside in the car." He throws his arm around my shoulder and leads me to the main entrance. "Don't look, but Louis is watching you." I start to turn my head, but Riley tightens his hold around my shoulders. "I said don't look!"

"You can't tell me something like that and expect me not to look!" I exclaim laughing.

Riley loosens his hold. "Okay. When I tell you too, I want you to look over your shoulder and give him your best flirty face."

I burst out laughing. "My best what?"

Riley let's out a deep sigh. "Then just smile at him shyly."

"Why?" I ask wanting to look back.

"Because I'm going to get you two together." Riley explains.

Oh no. This can't be good. Riley is always trying to get me a boyfriend. I guess having a gay best friend comes in handy. Riley can always tell when a guy likes me or how to get a guys attention.

"Now look over your shoulder." He orders.

I do as he says and see Louis watching me. He really is watching me! If he wasn't so cute, I would find that creepy. Louis smiles at me. I blush and smile back at him before turning around.

"That's your flirty face." Riley laughs. Hmm. Didn't know I had one of those.

"Where are we going?" I ask as we step out in the chilly air. The cold air blows across my face gently. I see my Mom's car parked across the street.

"To the hotel the producers told us to go to." Riley pulls me closer to his warm body. "Maybe you'll see Louis there."

"Doubt it." I cross my arms trying to keep my hands warm.

When we reach my Mom's car, I climb in the passenger's seat. I slam the door shut. Ahh. My mom put the heat on. I place my hands in front of the vents to warm them up.

"I can't believe my baby girl is going to be on the X Factor." My mom smiles at me when we are almost to the hotel. Riley snickers in the backseat.

"Me either." I mumble under my breath.

Why did my dad tell me I was a terrible singer? Maybe I had a bad voice back then. Maybe I grew into a better voice after he left.

••••

AUTHOR'S Note:

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