The One and Only Direction

Sign of the Times

"Lottie! We were supposed to leave an hour ago! Come on!" Louis was getting tired of waiting for his sister to be ready. She was supposed to have packed last night, but she kept 'forgetting things'. How much could one girl forget to pack for one overnight trip? The answer was apparently far too much.

"I'm coming, sorry. Yeesh, no need to be so uptight. Ease up a little!" Her annoyed call came from about where her room was upstairs and her clomping steps neared the stairs. Hadn't this entire thing been Lottie's idea? She had literally begged Louis to take her in their mother's stead so she wouldn't go to her first ever concert with her mum. The least she could do was be ready to leave on time. 

His sister descended the stairs and Louis looked her over in horror. " What  do you think you're wearing? He marched toward Lott and grabbed a fistful of her now vibrantly rainbow hair.

"What do you call this? No. No, you're not wearing this. No, no, no. No, no. NO." He let go of her hair and pulled her upstairs by the wrist, Lottie pouting and complaining all the while. 

"Lou, it's just a tube top. It's not a big deal. Please, Lou? Please, please, please? Everyone wears them-"

"I don't care if the Queen of England wears them- you will not. Here, put this on." Louis tossed his sister a thick knitted sweater that must've been at least 2 sizes too large for her. She looked at it in utter disgust.

"I can't wear this! It's horrible! Look at it Louis!"

Louis looked at it and had to admit it was pretty horrible. "Fine, but put on something. I don't suppose the dye can come out?"

"Nope!" Lottie flounced happily to her closet, Louis following closely behind. She took a few seconds to search for a shirt before pulling one out with a hopeful expression. 

Louis took one glance at the thin shimmering fabric. "No."

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Half an hour and a stifling fashion dilemma later they were finally on their way to London, Lottie wearing a plain t-shirt and blue jeans. Her new permanent rainbow hair was more than enough color for one outfit. 

It was almost 3:00 now, so they would arrive in London just in time for a quick dinner of Mum's sandwiches before the concert. Those three hours of a drive, Louis was about to find out, were to be the longest of his life. 

He knew Lotts was really excited about today and had been begging Mum to let her go to a Harry Styles event of virtually any kind for over a year now. At first, a few years ago, he had believed this to be another teenage phase she was going through. 

However as time persisted and One Direction broke up, Lottie stuck by each of the boys. It had gotten to the point where Louis was almost impressed, proud even, by how she had stayed by these boys through everything over the past three years. 

He was a bit scared too. Where was the line between fangirl and stalker drawn?

The entire ride was spent listening to Lottie as she told him absolutely everything she believed was relevant for the occasion. By the end of the first two hours he knew more about Harry Styles than he had believed there was to be known. His birthday was tomorrow (February first), this was his 12th stop on tour, he was a part of the most successful and well known boy band ever, he had not yet found his soulmate, nor was he currently in a relationship, he wasn't exactly straight, and Louis knew his best(in Lottie's opinion) songs by heart. 

Louis knew far too much about this person he had never even met, and was a bit concerned for his sister who knew all of this offhand. He had to admit though, if she was going to obsess over a singer, he was glad it was Harry Styles. Even though he had learned far too much about the young star in the past two hours, he still found himself strangely disappointed when Lottie changed the topic to his old band as a whole.