The Forced Arrangement [Harry Styles]

2: Recording Booth

Chapter 2:

Ashley POV:

*5 months later

"Hello?" I asked through my cell phone, half asleep half awake.

"Ashley, don't tell me you just woke up!" Simon's angry voice said through the phone.

"Oops," I said sarcastically and dizzily walked out of my bedroom and into my kitchen.

"You have to record the song, remember?" he asked me.

"No, I didn't forget, I've been talking about it for the last month," I said, excitement filling my voice.

I heard Simon chuckling at the end of the line but I knew that even though he was laughing, he was pissed off that I had just woken up but he knew why. 

About 2 weeks ago, I lost my parents in a car crash. I wasn't that close to my father but when it came to my mother, I'd go crazy if I lost her which I did and I've been having nightmares ever since and I barely sleep at all.

"Just get ready and be here as soon as possible!" he said and ended the call.

I put down my cell phone and put some coco pops and milk in a bowl, I grabbed a spoon and the bowl and shoved the cereal in my mouth while I walked back into my room and entered my closet. I shoved another spoon full of my cereal and grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans and a plain purple hoodie.

Even though I was famous, I never changed my style but I did start wearing dresses and some heels and thankfully I didn't look like a giant with a pair of heels since I wasn't really that tall.

I put the bowl down, entered my bathroom, stripped off my clothes and entered the shower. I turned on the water and adjusted the jets and let them soak my body. I applied strawberry flavoured soap and rinsed. Then wrapped a warm, soft towel around my body. I put on my chosen outfit and put on a pair of black Uggs.

I applied some basic make up so that I won't look a monster for all the paparazzi's outside and put my brown hair in a pony tail, put my cell phone in my jean's pocket, grabbed my file with the song lyrics and other necessary papers, car and house keys, put the flat alarm on and locked the door behind me. 

The 30 second walk to my car ended up being about a 3 minute walk, to try and get away from all the paparazzi. I finally entered my car and locked all doors, started the ignition and drove off towards the recording studios. 

After half an hour, I arrived at the studios and was welcomed by another bunch of paparazzi but thankfully, there existed an underground parking area which meant that I didn't have to try and walk away from them without getting noticed.

I parked in an empty parking space next to a Black Range Rover on one side and a blue Chevy Sonic on the other. They both looked oddly familiar but I couldn't place my finger on the people they both belonged to. I grabbed my belongings and walked towards the lift, pressed the button to the level I was supposed to be at and waited as the lift rose upwards.

The doors slid open and I walked through the warm, cosy corridors. I greeted the receptionist and she told me the studio that I was in. 

I yawned and looked for the door with the number 8 on it. I finally found it but before I pushed open the door I heard a bunch of voices but then I heard Simon yelling and all the voices stopped, then I heard another, oh-so-familiar voice.

"Simon, at what time was she supposed to be here?" Colin asked.

My eyes widened in excitement and I pushed down the door's handle and walked inside.

"COLIN!" I screamed and his lips formed into a huge smile and he enveloped me into his famous bear hugs.

"RIDLEY!" he screamed back and I rolled my eyes. 

"Don't call me that, you know how much I hate that name," I said.

Ridley was my second name but I hated it from the time my mum told me who it was named after.

"Oh shush," he said and clamped a hand over my mouth, I licked his palm and he yanked his hand away, I giggled and he sent me daggers. "I see you haven't changed, not one bit!"

"Nope," I said popping the 'p'.

I noticed eyes on Colin and I. I turned my head and my eyes fell on 5 boys.

In other words, One Direction. They came 3rd in XFactor 2010.

"Ashley, I'd like you to meet One Direction, I mentored them in 2010," Simon explained and I nodded. "Boys, this is Ashley, I'm pretty sure you know who she is."

"Congratulations on winning, you have such an amazing voice!" Liam said and took out his hand for me to shook and, to be polite, I took out my hand and shook it with his. 

I liked them all but I particularly disliked the one with curly hair, Harry. I couldn't place my finger on the answer to the question 'why' but most probably because of the fact that he was such a flirt and that he went out with a lot of different girls and I also heard that he used to date Caroline Flack, she's 14 years older than him for God's sake! Yeah, I know that age is just a number but for an 18 year old to date a 32 year old, it just didn't seem quite right. He gave me the usual flirtatious look he gives to other girls to charm them and make them fall to his feet, begging for him but it didn't work for me and when I didn't smile or blush or look away he stopped giving me the look and looked away, confused. 

I smirked and turned my head to study the other boys. They were all gorgeous but I never was a dedicated fan of theirs, their music isn't really 'my type' but I like a couple of songs that they produced and ended up getting to #1 hits and winning loads of awards.

"Ash, they're here to just observe your music and listen to it and Colin is here to record a song of his and remember that duet, you both talked about?" Simon explained.

I nodded.

"Well, you two are going to do a duet today, well try to do one, we have to see if both of your voices connect with each other and if they match the song and each other's voices," Simon continued explaining and I looked at Colin with my eyes wide.

He was grinning and I wanted to jump up and down and squeal in happiness but I didn't want to look immature in front of them so I just grinned at Colin and smiled at Simon but didn't bother to look at the boys.

"Who's up first?" Simon asked.

"ME!" I squealed, beating Colin to it.

He was excited as much as I was about the fact of recording a song in an actual recording booth.

I entered the booth, put on the head phones and found a paper with my song's lyrics printed on them with black ink.

I breathed out heavily, looked at the huge window opposite me and saw Colin and Simon sitting down on the table with all the buttons and stuff on with another guy, probably the one that managed the buttons and the boys on the sofa at the back of the room, sipping on their StarBucks drinks.

This was going to be a long day but surprisingly enough, I was looking forward for it.