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

Every Minute's Like the Last Chapter Fourteen

Chanel

An hour before Nikki’s Party

Boys, come say what you wanna

Boys, you need to lick my dollar

Boys, gettin' hot under the collar

Holla holla woah

I can do it like a brother

Do it like a dude

Grab my crotch, wear my hat low like you [listen]

“Nikki, can you help me with my bangs? This one piece won’t stay down.” I sighed heavily and placed my hair straightener on the desk.

“Oh, someone wants to look perfect tonight. Trying to upstage the birthday girl?” she teased.

I smiled warmly at my friend. “Of course not. There’s no way I could look as nice as you.”

“Oh, hush. You want to look good for Zaaaaaayn!” she screeched, giggling.

“No way,” I said, feeling my face warm. Luckily, I had an olive complexion that didn’t blush. Truthfully, I found Zayn really attractive. His eyes had a way of smoldering with this weird intensity that made my insides turn a little mushy. But then again, the first and only time we’d ever met, I hadn’t eaten, and was in heels, so it was more likely the combination of those that made me woozy.

“I don’t believe you, but I’ll play along this time.” She responded. “But don’t short-change yourself. You do look really nice tonight.” I had gone with a rose-themed outfit. My long red gown was covered from the waist-down in tulle roses, and my bag was also rose-patterned. I’d been able to find a red mask with pinkish flowers on the side as well to tie everything in.

“You do look gorgeous, lovey,” called a voice from the bathroom. Nikki’s friend Cher was staying with us for a few weeks while doing some promo work in LA. She’d met up with Louis a week ago when he’d been in London, and agreed to come to the party while she was in town. I’d listened to Cher quite a bit while I was still in Florida. I liked how opinionated she was. She rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, but that didn’t really bother her, just motivated her. I respected that.

“Okay, its time for my big entrance!” always with a flair for the dramatic, Nikki planned to make a big entrance at the party. We’d rented one of the hotel rooms for the night to get ready, before going to the actual party in the hotel ball room. Cher and I would go down to the party normally, and Nikki would make an entrance through the grand staircase. She was extremely excited.

“Ok Nik, we’ll meet you down there.” Cher wrapped her arm through mine and we headed down to the lobby, which connected to the ballroom.

I was surprised at all the people who had shown. We’d only been in LA for a summer, but already Nikki had crazy amounts of friends. I noticed a few actors mixing in with our school friends.

Cher and I politely made small talk with guests until Nikki came down. She immediately made her way over to Louis, and the pair greeted some guests. Cher and I walked over to them, where they were standing talking to Harry and his girlfriend, Mikaela.

“Oh, here she is! Chanel, you remember Harry. And this is Mikaela. Mikaela, this is my friend Chanel, and Cher. She’s Harry and Louis’ friend from X-Factor.”

Mikaela smiled, and hugged Cher and I warmly. It was hard to tell through her mask, but she had gorgeous hair and a nice figure. She seemed like exactly Harry’s type.

Just then, Liam and Niall made their way over with their dates. More introductions were quickly made, but I was too busy waiting for Zayn to pop over. Nikki had told me that he’d only RSVP’d for himself, so I was secretly hoping to get a dance in.

I made eye contact with Louis. He looked at me a little panicked. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he just kept flicking his eyes from me to a spot just over my right shoulder. I turned and saw Zayn in the middle of the dance floor. I quickly patted down my hair and dress, and started pushing through the crowd to say hi.

Unfortunately, as I jostled through the crowd, I noticed Zayn wasn’t dancing alone. He was rubbing against some girl that was dressed, well, a little over the top. Somehow, she’d gotten an exact replica of that dress Halle Berry had worm to the Oscar’s, with the full red skirt and sheer top, with flowers strategically placed across the chest. Suddenly, my roses paled in comparison to her flowers, and my curly hair just looked messy next to her intricate bun. Even her mask was better, it was on a handle instead of a ribbon, and totally made of gold and crystals. She was using it to playfully flirt with ihm, while simultaneously letting him hang all over her. I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach, and felt a sudden urge to throw up.

Unfortunately, Zayn picked that moment to look up at me. I smiled as quickly as I could and tried to duck away, but he was already heading towards me, dragging his little girlfriend along after him.

“Chanel, how are you?” he asked, running his hands through his hair.

“Fine. Yourself?” I didn’t trust myself to say more than a few words to him.

“Great, great. This is Kenzie.” The girl smiled disdainfully at me, her large doe eyes looking me up and down.

“Pleasure,” she said to me. I looked down and my hands, which were nervously twisting around one another.

“Well. Uhm, we’re going to go say hi to Cher. Kenz wanted to meet her.” Zayn leaned in and gave me a hug. “I am worthy of you,” he whispered right in my ear, sending shivers down my spine and goosebumps across my body.

“W-what?” I whispered, unsure if I had understood him.

“Roses. That’s what they mean. I am worthy of you.” I could feel his breath tickling my ear, making every hair on my body stand on end.

He pulled back, and ran his tongue over his lower lip. I froze, unable to take a step, locked in place by his words. I watched him walk over to Cher. She was staring at me, making it obvious that she’d seen what happened. Her mouth was hanging open uncertainly, but quickly snapped out of it to talk to Zayn.

I watched as he slipped a hand around Kenzie’s waist casually. She leaned into him and talked animatedly to Cher. Fine, if that’s how he wanted to play it, then that’s how it would be played. I scanned the crowd and spotted Glenn, a guy from my computer design class. I walked over to him.

“Want to dance?” I asked him, lifting my mask so he could see who I was.

“Sure.” He extended his arm, and I grabbed him, dragging him to the center of the floor. Just then, Jessie J’s ‘Do It Like A Dude’ came on. I started dancing, locking my hands behind Glenn’s neck and moving my hips in time to the beat. I felt his hands slide down my sides, falling to my waist. Over his shoulder, I saw Zayn standing against the wall, staring at me, as Glenn leaned in and started kissing my neck. I kept dancing, not egging Glenn on, but also not stopping him. When the song ended, I pulled away.

“That’s it?” Glenn asked, an evil grin spreading on his face.

“um, yeah that’s it. I suddenly don’t feel well.” I turned and ran out of the room.  Once in the hallway, I leaned against the wall and sunk to my knees, taking deep breaths.

“Hey, are you all right?” I looked up and saw Cher. “Come on babe, let’s get you home.” I allowed myself to be lead out of the hotel and into a taxi cab.