Superstar in Training

Ch. 7

Superstar in Training- Ch. 7

"I'll be here to pick you up at 8:30," James tells me as his lips hover over mine, "we can pick up something to eat on the way back."

"Alright." I speak before stepping out of the car and shutting the door. I begin walking up the studios stairs when a horn blares in the distance and I watch James speed away. He's such a child sometimes. And a boy.

I can't believe he would be jealous of these guys. Sure, I've been talking to the boys a lot lately, but not in any sort of romantic way. When you're going to be stuck with someone or some people for an extended period of time, it makes sense to get to know each other, correct?

"Ms. Knight, they are waiting for you." The receptionist tells me, obviously annoyed. I shake my head, give her my fakest smile, and follow her down a hallway I don't recognize.

After what feels like hours of uncomfortable silence, I hear someone yell, "Get off of me mate!" in an incredibly thick Irish accent and come to the conclusion we are close.

"Here," The rude old lady stops suddenly in the middle of the hallway, resulting in me slamming into her back. She mumbles some rude comment under her breath before stomping away in her grandma heels.

I open the heavy black door slowly, and the sight behind it amuses me. Louis is sitting on Niall's back, keeping him pinned to one of the black coaches. Harry and Zayn sit on the one opposite, looking at something on Harry's phone. Liam is sitting on the piano bench, reading over something on a clipboard.

As soon as they realize the door has been open, they all snap their heads upward. A smile grows on all of their faces, and I'm suddenly engulfed in a hug, the smell of boy all around me.

"Gabby!" Louis cheers as he ruffles a hand through my hair. I scrunch my face and back away from them. I wipe my palms down my plain white V-neck and black jeans.

"First things first, I do not like being touched." I tell the bunch of them. Niall chuckles and pokes my arm repeatedly.

"Touch, touch, touch, touch..." He says, smiling at me while I get flustered. I flick him off, and quickly sprint over to the coach he and Louis earlier occupied. I sprawl myself across it before either of them can claim a spot.

"Hey! That was my seat!" Niall chimes and Louis yells in agreement. I just stick my tongue out at them.

"Looks like there is only one thing to do..." Louis states, before walking over to me, and plopping his butt right on my stomach. I groan in pain, and attempt at pushing him off. Instead, he just rubs his butt around.

"Lad, get off the poor girl, you'll crush her!" Liam scolds him while gripping his shoulder and pulling him off of me. Niall and Harry are in a fit of giggles, and Zayn looks on indifferently, as if he's used to the chaos.

"We are just waiting for the vocal coaches to arrive." Zayn informs me while picking up a bottle of water from the coffee table.

"Said they'd be here 30 minutes late." Harry says, beginning to recover from his laughing fit. Somehow, Niall continues going, his laugh continuing to ring throughout the room.

"Which means boys, and girl, vocals are extended to 9:00." Liam tells us, resulting in a groans from Louis and me. Niall takes the seat next to me as he drinks from a water bottle. I pull out my phone to shoot James a text, and see he's already sent me one.

James: Miss you already babe

:( Hurry up!

I smile at my phone, and Niall must notice, because he leans over and reads the message out load to the whole group, resulting in me slapping his shoulder.

"Gabby has a boyfriend! Gabby has a boyfriend!" Louis sings songs as he sits on the arm of Harry and Zayn's couch. The blush immediately covers my face as I stare at them.

"It's that James bloke isn't it?" Harry questions and I nod in response. He sticks is nose in the air and states, "Call me if he gives you any trouble, I'll rough him up a bit."

"Styles, you're as scary as a baby bunny." Zayn comments, followed by nods of agreement and laughs from the other boys.

I ignore whatever corny comeback Harry came up with and decide to tell James about our extension.

Gabby: Bahhhhhh, we have to till 9:30 now bub :/

James: Ugh, idk how to stay entertained that long without you, he replies almost immediately.

"Awe look at her! She's blushing like mad!" Louis comments. I shake my head and tuck my phone away to avoid anymore embarrassing comments on my love life.

Niall gets up and crosses the room, grabbing a plain acoustic guitar from the corner. The action must be normal, because the boys take no notice of it as they carry on the conversation and Niall strums while sitting on the piano bench.

I rise and walk toward him on the bench. Somehow he can maintain a conversation with the boys about some soccer, or football, game from yesterday while also strumming. The closer I get, the more I recognize the song.

"You like Bastille?" I ask as I take a seat next to him. He turns to me and gives me a surprised grin.

"Yeah," he strums the cords from Flaws acoustic, "they've got some real tunes."

I smile at him as I watch his fingers move up and down the strings at a surprisingly fast rate. "Yeah, Things We Lost In the Fire is one of my favorite songs from their new album."

"I like Get Home, kind of reminds of when we're touring and stuff." Niall comments, I nod in understanding. I could see that.

"Hey, how long have you been playing guitar?" I ask suddenly, an idea dawning on me.

"8 or 9 years, why?" He asks as he finally stops playing, he quickly yells "Bullshit!" to the boys who are comparing a British soccer team to an Irish one.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd be down to teach me a bit? Like, I want to be able to play one or two of my own songs on stage, you know?"

Niall contemplates it for a minute, before nodding yes. "Yeah, that'd be cool." Niall gives me a shy smile and I smile back.

But before we could continue the conversation any more, the door bursts open and a disheveled woman bursts through the door with a large, disorganized purse on her shoulder. "So sorry I'm late boys... and Ms. Gabby, pleasure to meet you!" She says in a thick accent as her bag drops to the floor.

She sticks her hand out to me, and I attentively shake it. "Um... hi..." I pause, trying to signal her to tell me her name.

"Oh, I'm Helene, one of the boys vocal coaches, and now yours I suppose." Her voice is kind while she shakes my hand. She then turns on her heels and says to the boys, "Savan can't make it tonight, but he promises to be here tomorrow."

The lady I just met takes a deep breath, crosses from the piano over to the couch I was just sitting at, and plops herself down on it.

"Any questions before we start lads? And... lady." She lets out an awkward laugh, resulting in the rest of us laughing hysterically.

"Actually... I have one." I say and everyone turns to face me. "Uh... why am I rehearsing with the main act when I'm just the opening... I mean, that doesn't normally happen, right?"

Helene lets out a loud laugh and brushes the hair that falls in front of her face behind her ear. "Ah, yes. But these are some strange circumstances. Mr. Simon has given us direct orders to keep you, and these lads, together. At all times."

"But why? It wasn't like this with 5SOS." Louis comments, and Helene nods.

"True, but this is different. You guys are Gabby's 'babysitters' and this is all a learning experience for her, all of this is new, and she's going to need someone to show her the ropes." She looks back to me and squints her eyes at me playfully, "But I've heard lots of stories about you," she says, and then looks at each boy before finally saying, "and I don't think these boys have what it takes. Now, let's get to work."