Summer

Chapter 3

        The boys all rushed over to Lou, and crushed him into a big group hug.

“We were so worried!”

“We thought you ran away!”

“I love you!”

“We’re so sorry! We should have taken that song out of tonight’s show!”

        They were all talking at once, so I couldn’t tell who was saying what. When they let Louis go, they all finally seemed to notice me, standing there all awkward in my white lace tank top and dark denim shorts.

“Well Louis, are you going to introduce us to your new friend?” Liam asked politely.

“Boys, this is Hadley. I hit her on my way out the door.” Louis said, pulling me forward by my hand to properly meet them all.

        All the boys started hooting and hollering and slapping Lou on the back. It took me a second to realize they were doing that because they thought that when Louis said he “hit me on the way out the door”, they thought he meant something dirtier. But Louis quickly corrected himself saying, “BOYS. I’m not that type of lad and you should all know that. I meant that I hit her in the head with the door as I was exiting the building!”

They all chorused a beautiful sounding, “Oh”, which was long and dragged out.

Liam was the first to step up to me, saying, “Hi, I’m Liam. It’s nice to meet you!” grabbing me in a tight hug.

Next was Zayn, gentler in his hug, like a teddy bear, saying “Thanks for watching out for our Lou, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

        Oh my God he rhymed keep it together Hadley.

Niall stepped up, kissing both of my cheeks, saying, “It’s nice to meet you babes. Got any food in your pockets?”

        I laughed out loud at that, and they all stopped to stare. I’ve been told that my laugh is loud and obnoxious, but I’ve also been told it’s adorable. I don’t know which one it is, but I really hoped that in this situation, it was the latter of the two.

“That’s the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard in all of my twenty-two years!” Louis exclaimed which only made me laugh even more.

        At this point, everybody started laughing at me laughing. We were all laughing together. I was laughing with One Direction. I mean seriously, this doesn’t just happen. After we were all done laughing until we cried, for no reason at all, I walked over to Harry because he was the only one I hadn’t spoken to yet.

“Hey, Harry. I didn’t get to introduce myself earlier. I’m Hadley.” I smiled at him.

He pulled me into a tight, comfortable hug, and said “It’s wonderful to meet you gorgeous,” and kissed me on both cheeks, lingering before he pulled away.

        Ah, Harry the flirt, at it again.

“You know Hadley, I think you’re one of the most normal fans we’ve met since we’ve been on tour. I mean, you talk to us like we’re just people you’d meet at school. You’re pretty cool.” Zayn said.

I smiled, not knowing if being normal was a complement or not. I decided to go with it. “Well, you guys are normal. You just happen to live extraordinary lives.”

        The boys all agreed that I was pretty cool, and I put my number into all of thier phones in the slim to none chance that they would want to talk to me again after tonight. I sighed, knowing they would have to leave soon, and I would have to wake up from my dream.

As if reading my mind, Liam spoke up, saying, “It’s almost time to go to the hotel boys; we better find Paul.”

“God, I’m so tired of sleeping in hotel rooms, and eating hotel food. I want to sleep in a real bed, in a house, with home cooked food. Is that so much to ask?” Niall questioned in a grumpy whine.

“Well, this might be completely beyond the valley of crazy, but my house is big enough that you can all come and stay with me for tonight if you really want to sleep in a real bed. And it’s spaghetti night…” I trailed off thinking that I just sounded stupid.

        The boys all went off into a group to talk it over and call Paul, and they had been talking for almost twenty minutes when they walked back over to me and started the rounds of questions that I knew would come. I was suprised they were even considering it at all.

“How far away do you live from here?”

        “An hour.”

“How many seats are in the car you brought here?”

        “Eight.”

“How many rooms do you have in your house?

      “Three guest bedrooms, but there’s four beds that aren’t being used and a very comfortable couch recliner if anyone wants that.”

“Do you have a criminal record?”

        “No.”

“Do you use illegal drugs?”

        “No.”

“Okay then, I think you’re okay to stay with.” Louis said with a smile.

“Are you guys serious?” I asked, feeling like this was all just a joke and I was about to get laughed at.

“Yeah! We called Paul, and he said that it was actually a good idea if he thought we could trust you, because there’s already about three hundred girls outside our hotel, and they know our car, so if we go with you, we can avoid being mobbed. But Paul wants to follow you home of course, to make sure you don’t kidnap us.” Liam explained with a grin.

“Well okay then! Go get all your stuff, and meet me back here in ten minutes; I’ll get the car.”