The concert ended quickly, and the lot of us took cabs back to their hotel. Selena, Katie, and I squeezed into the back seat of the yellow taxi, with Niall and Zayn in one, and Louis, Liam, and Harry in another. After we settled in, we looked at the three of us and how ridiculous we looked. Katie’s waves that she had spent so much time on earlier had straightened out and her lipstick had faded. She frantically began re-applying her makeup the second the cab door closed. Selena’s long brown ponytail had fallen, and her brown hair sat on her shoulders. She nervously fingered it into a loose bun constantly taking it out and doing it again because it never was perfect. The two of us pulled off our leggings violently wanting to throw them out of the window while Katie was stuck with her tight skinny jeans.
I had the same curly brown hair as my sister, though I usually wore it in a side braid. This time I took after Danielle and barely did anything with it, just letting it fall. Strangely it boosted my confidence a ton. Not only dressing like her and wearing my hair like her, but the combination of it all gave me some of her confidence as well.
Dani and I looked a lot alike but I’ve always thought she was prettier. The way she could carry herself just made it seem like that. But that night I’d decided I’d gather up the confidence I didn’t have just like she can. And I liked it.
Our cab arrived at the hotel first, and Paul and Preston were there holding the screaming fans back. We walked forward, and Preston almost moved us aside until Paul greeted us warmly, “So you must be the Kasey I’ve been hearing so much about!” He said giving me a big hug. “I guess so!” I said laughing. It was almost surreal being on the other side of the commotion. Normally I’d be the one screaming and crying in front of the hotel, and just wanted to go up to the fans and tell them that I was one of them once.
When the boys pulled up in their taxis, I almost went deaf. The screams were so loud and we were all scared for Paul and Preston. They were obviously big, strong guys, but when a directioner wants something, I’m sure she’d take out one or both of them to get it.
Louis and Liam came out first, and Harry snuck out behind them, and then Zayn and Niall jumped out too. My face lit up when I saw Harry, for no apparent reason, but his did too. And after what I assumed was a stern talking to from Daddy Direction in the cab, he still seemed glad to see me. Being the cheeky tease that he is, he came giving me a hug and swung me around as we entered the hotel. The boys all hugged Selena, Katie, and I too just to make sure Preston knew not to tackle us down or anything, and as we went through the revolving doors (about 4 times more than necessary) we laughed hysterically as we heard girls screaming “WHO THE FUCK ARE THEY?!” and “NIALL TAKE ME WITH YOU!”.
Even though the hotel was free of squealing directioners, we still ran for the elevators. A group with tons of luggage had piled in before us, and being the stragglers, Harry and I were stuck waiting for the next one. As the doors closed, Harry and I laughed loudly. “Oh my god! Imagine how pissed Liam’s gonna be when he notices we’re not on the lift!” He said. While we waited for the next elevator, we saw a third with doors opening and closing to our right. A man dressed as a technician, I assume, had drifted off as we sprinted in before the doors shut again. We slammed into the back wall of the elevator and turned to see the man yelling “No! Stop!” at us. By this point Harry had already pushed the button to the 16th floor, and we had no choice to stay no matter what happened.
The two of us were breathing loudly, almost panting. We’d been running non-stop since we jumped out of our cabs and were just now realizing how tired we were. Just as I was about to say something, the elevator lights flickered and shut off for about five seconds. We sighed in relief when they came back on, but the elevator immediately made a screeching noise and quickly stopped.
