Every Minute's Like the Last; A One Direction Fan Fiction by Niallerbeast

Every Minute's Like the Last; Chapter 6

A/N: This starts part two of the novel where i change perspectives each chapter

Chanel; August 2011

California here we come

Right back where we started from

“But Chany, I’m going to miss you so much baby,”

“Mom, I’ll be fine. It’s just art school. I’m not leaving forever, I’ll be back on breaks.”

Flight 15H is now boarding. I repeat, Flight 15 H to California is now boarding.

I looked up at the speakers that were hanging in the corners of the room. “That’s me. I love you mom.”

“Be careful Chanel.” I leaned in for one more hug, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at her face. I knew that if I did, I would break down crying, and  I didn’t really want to do that in a crowded airport. Plus, if my make-up smudged, I would look like crap for my whole 5 hour flight, and I didn’t really want that to happen either.

I pulled away and made my way to the lady that was checking tickets. I turned around and waved one last time at my mom, before hiking my bag up higher on my shoulder and boarding the plane.

Once I’d gotten settled in my seat, I took a deep breath. I was ready to start my new life.

A couple years ago, my dad had passed away. It really took a toll on the whole family, and made me realize just how valuable life was, and how it could be taken away in an instant. My father had always wanted me to pursue my dreams of going to an art school for design, so that I could be an event planner. Even though it seemed fun, I’d always thought it was impractical, and had planned to go for teaching. Once he died, I realized that I should follow my dreams while I still could. Of course, his death only made my mother cling tighter to me. But even though I knew it hurt her to see me go, she understood that I was doing this for myself, and more importantly, for my father.

That’s what prompted my decision to go to a California art school. Even though I will always be a Florida girl at heart, there was just something so inviting about that California sunshine. Blame it on watching too many episodes of The Hills and Laguna Beach, but California was calling me. And when Cali calls, a girl doesn’t hang up.

After I got off the plane and grabbed my bags, I pulled out my phone. My new roommate was supposed to be meeting me at the airport. The school only has off-campus housing. I was living in a school-owned two-person flat. From the pictures, it looked really cute and I was excited to live with just a roommate in our very own place. She had been in Cali all summer, and moved in super-early. We had texted a little bit. I knew her name was Nikki and she was almost 17, while I was already 18. But I didn’t know how to find her, since we’d never actually met before.

I noticed that there seemed to be more airport security around than normal. This was only my second plane trip in my lifetime, so I wasn’t an airport expert, but it seemed odd. As I rounded a corner to the lobby-type area, I heard it. The shrieks of about a hundred teen and preteen girls. They were standing at the entrance to the airport, trying to get in the double doors. The security officers were scrambling to try and set up a barrier to hold them back, because they were blocking actual passengers from getting into the airport. Other officers were physically holding back the girls. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone I recognized. Just an elderly couple, a marine and his daughter, and a teenage couple. The rest of the people were stuck in the teenage traffic, or tucked away in the eating spots.

“Chanel?” I turned my head as I heard someone call my name. the female half of the teen couple took a few steps forward.

“Are you Nikki I asked?”

“Yes! Hi!” she rushed forward and gave me a hug. The guy, I assume her boyfriend, followed after her. The girls outside screamed louder.

“What the effer is going on?” I asked, squinting my eyes at the girls. The boy with Nikki coughed uncomfortably.

“You mean, you don’t know?” Nikki asked, looking to me, then to her boyfriend.

“No.”

“I’m Louis Tomlinson.” The boy said, stepping forward.

“Ok.” The name sounded familiar, but it didn’t really mean anything to me. Apparently, that was evident by the look on my face, because he spoke again.

“I’m in a band. One Direction. Have you heard of us?”

“oh, yeah. You were on like Britain’s Got Talent right?”

“Erm, X-Factor actually.”

“Sorry. I’ve heard What Makes You Beautiful on the radio. It’s a fab song. But I don’t know much about you guys, sorry.”

“Honestly,” he said, grabbing my suitcase for me as we started towards a side exit, “That’s refreshing. I was worried that you were going to be a crazy fangirl and make it hard for Nikki and me to hang out. We’ve been dating for a few months now and I’ve moved to California permanently during tour breaks to be with her.”

“Wow guys, that’s so cute.”  I said, trying to be excited for her. I hadn’t had a boyfriend since my father died. The boy I was with broke up with me after it happened, because he couldn’t handle my change in personality. He just didn’t understand that when an event as big as your father’s death happens, you can’t just snap back to your normal self a week later. And all the boys in my town knew me, and knew my father, who had been the chief of police and a huge part of the community. They got all weird around me, and no one had ever shown interest in me, the broken girl with no daddy.

But this is what Cali is for! Reinventing yourself. Any town where no one knows my name and no one knows my story is the perfect town for me right now.

****

It only took about a day and a half for Nikki and I to become best friends. She’s one of the most chill girls I’ve ever met, and Louis was cool too. The rest of the band was back home in London and Mullingar, respectively, but he assured me that he would introduce them to me once their tour stopped in Cali, and that once we all became friends, Nikki and I wouldn’t be able to get rid of them. Nikki started showing me some of their music, and I actually liked it a lot, even though it wasn’t typically what I listened to.  Nikki said that the love songs tugged at my romantic heart strings. Or something equally as cheesy.

The first day of classes started on a Thursday. That Wednesday, the band had flown in. they were starting their tour on the west coast on Monday, but had come early to hang out with Louis and Nikki for a few days before touring started. I met them for the first time Friday, when Nikki and I decided to go out to a new club that had opened the previous weekend.

“Come on Chanel, you look fine!” she spun me so I faced the mirror. My sparkly gold top stood out next to my black shorts and black pumps. I looked pretty cute. Grabbing my small gold side-purse, Nikki and I headed downstairs to where the boys had arrived.

“Okay boys. This is Chanel.” Nikki said, pulling me in front of her. “Chanel, that’s Niall, Harry, Liam, and Zayn.” As she said the boy’s names, each one stepped forward to shake my hand, except Liam, who pulled me into a hug. After pulling away from him, I turned to Zayn. He stared deeply into my eyes with his dark, almost black ones. I lost my breath for a second as his warm hand wrapped around mine, but shook the feeling off. I didn’t need to be developing feelings for anyone right now.

“Okay, everyone ready? We got the limo idling out front!” Liam said excitedly.

“Yeah, riding in style! With Styles. Heh.” Harry said, throwing his arms in the air.

‘This is going to be a crazy night.’  I thought to myself, before grabbing my keys off the counter and following the boys out the door.