Crossroads of Life

Chapter 2

The automatic door swung open as I neared the entrance to Tesco’s. I was in a pair of floral printed shorts and a black tank top with my favorite topaz necklace. My high tops padded softly on the tile floor as I strolled along.

As I grabbed a cart, I pulled the list Paul had written down for me out of my pocket. This was apparently the list of things that deemed necessary to acquire as an intern

Paul had told me that I was going to be overseeing one of his latest groups that he was babysitting (or whatever) called One Way. Or was it That Direction..? No.. One Direction! I laughed to myself as I imagined meeting them tomorrow and calling them by the wrong name. Awkward.

I walked down the aisles and pulled my new phone out of my pocket. Blackberry’s were apparently just another necessity. Paul had provided me with a Blackberry torch with his number present as speed dial number one. “You’ll need it, kiddo,” he had said with a cheeky grin.

Anyway, Paul said he brought in an intern because he needed young people, someone to make sure all the little things were done correctly, someone with an opinion. I wasn’t sure if I was the go-to-girl for voicing opinions… but hey, I’ll take it.

“You’ll be doing everything from coffee runs and sharpening pencils to making reservations, and seeing that the boys get to events on time.” Should I buy a pencil sharpener..?

I stopped and picked up 3 spiral bound notebooks. I threw pen and pencils and a clipboard into my cart and maneuvered my way to another aisle.

I stopped in my tracks by a display of personalized water bottles, when I realized that I would be meeting the band members tomorrow, and I didn’t even know their names yet. Although, we’ll be spending four months together touring Europe, so I guessed there would be plenty of time for that.

I picked up a few more things, including two alarm clocks (just in case), a pencil sharpener, a copy of the Up All Night album (I felt it would be strange if I was working with them and didn’t own their music), a personal planner (even though I’m pretty sure that my Blackberry had one, that would take months to figure out), aspirin (Paul’s idea, although I’m not sure if it’s for his use or mine…) and eight packs of differently shaped sticky notes.

After I had gotten everything on Paul’s list, I pulled out the one I had written that morning and grabbed some things for my new flat. I checked out of the store and made my way back to the streets of London. I took a cab home and by the time I arrived back to my apartment it was four pm.

I was eager for tomorrow to arrive, so that I could finally meet “the boys” (as Paul called them) and start my first day as an intern. I squealed with delight just thinking about it. I was so lucky just to be in London, never mind as an intern for one of the biggest manager’s in England.

I set down my bags and organized my new things. By the time I was done placing my new rugs and setting up my new alarm clocks (which, by the way came with directions that oh-so conveniently came in Japanese) it was six o’clock.

I decided to play the CD I had bought but realized my only radio that played CD’s was at the bottom of a very large box, that I was way too tired to open. Instead I brought up YouTube on my HP laptop and typed in One Direction. The first video that came up was called What Makes You Beautiful. I clicked play, skipped the advertisement and waited.

I listened as a beat began to play and a boy with curly hair, bushy eyebrows and brown eyes popped on screen, then four more filed out of some hippy van as they rolled up to the beach. Classic. Next came another curly haired boy this time with green eyes and thinner eyebrows, and dimples the size of Oreos.

There was a slightly darker skinned one with spiked up hair and an excellent jaw line, and one with a striped shirt, blue eyes ,and red pants, who looked like he just stepped off of a sail boat. Then, came the blonde one. He had big blue eyes and a crooked smile. They were all extremely attractive. No wonder why they were in a boy band.

Some girls showed up to the beach and I was a tad jealous, not going to lie. Only then did I actually start to really hear the music. I guess I got distracted…oops. They entered the water and for some reason I noticed the blonde one was the only one who kept his shirt on. Awe maybe he’s shy. To my disappointment the video ended and I caught myself smiling. Too bad their famous, I sighed.

I clicked on another video, paying close attention as the five boys travelled around London in one of those famous red buses. This video was much less cliché than the last.

As I watched more and more video’s I found myself laughing at them. Their video diaries were so normal; I forgot they were loved by every girl in Europe. They seemed like a nice group of boys, very boy-next-door. I could see why they had become stars.

I looked at one of my new clocks realizing how late it had gotten. I had been watching their videos for three hours. It was now already nine o’clock but I ordered a pizza any way, and curled up to watch a movie on my black leather couch.

Before I fell asleep, I thought of the videos I had just watched and suddenly realized that I was doing the one thing that every fan (which is practically the entire continent) would kill to do; I was meeting One Direction tomorrow. That should be fun; I shrugged, and dozed off into a dream.