Last Call For Lovers

Odette’s hands shook wildly as she methodically arranged her paints. Her breathing, though she tried to keep it steady, occasionally came out in nervous little gasps.

One Direction, she thought, pushing her hair off her face with the back of her hand. One bloody Direction! What the hell am I painting for them?

She paused, stood back to admire her prep-work, readjusted her canvas on its easel and finally, for the first time since she stepped through the ballet studio doors, looked up at her clients.

‘So.’ She bit her lip, staring, unable to form any more words. ‘Er, so. So, er, have you-?’ Odette shook her head briefly but vigorously, squeezed her eyes shut tightly and began again. Her voice was an octave higher than usual. ‘Have you any ideas as to the portrait?’

It was Liam that spoke. It made sense, the painting was obviously for Danielle Peazer, his girlfriend. Eleanor’s birthday wasn’t for a while. Odette was almost ashamed by the fact that she knew the birthdays of Liam and Louis’ girlfriends.

‘Like it said in the email – up to you, so long as it involves all of us, and is landscape. I chose landscape because I thought it would fit us all in better,’ he added, smiling.

The smile was clearly supposed to calm Odette down, but it did rather the opposite. She felt her heart rate increase rapidly, as would happen to any girl if an attractive boy smiled at them.

‘O-oh. Right, of course. You already stated - right. Er, one moment.’

She rummaged in her knapsack, finally producing a cheap digital camera. She glanced at it, ashamed at its pathetic appearance, before smiling nervously at the five boys.

‘Well, um, seeing how this is clearly a large commission, I’d like to take photos of you all, as reference, in case I need to work on it at home closer to the deadline. Is that okay?’

‘Course it is!’ Louis grinned at her. ‘We’re all comfortable posing for the camera now – especially Zayn. He’s a natural.’

The boy in question rolled his eyes, laughing.

‘Well, um, I’ll go Louis, Zayn, Harry, Liam and Niall. If that’s okay with you.’

The boys shrugged. ‘Sounds great,’ Harry replied. ‘Just call out when you need us.’

He made his way over to the opposite end of the dance hall, three of the others following.

Louis looked at Odette, the grin still intact. He winked.

‘Where do you want me?



‘Shit!’

Odette cursed several times at her camera. It flashed red, alerting her to a lack of battery, but it wasn’t that. The little number in the corner read 500/500. It was full.

She was furious at herself for not checking it earlier. After a quick browse through the photos, she realised that her mother had borrowed her camera at one point and used it to capture her sister’s first play.

She couldn’t delete them. If only she’d known earlier, she could have uploaded them at home and had plenty of room.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, eyebrows furrowed. ‘I- it’s full. God, I’m an idiot.’

The blonde Irish boy shrugged. ‘Nah, it’s okay. Things like that happen all the time. We can, er, arrange another time to do this reference shoot, if you’d like?’

Wolf whistles from the other side of the hall greeted that statement.

Odette blushed. ‘I’m really sorry, Niall. I can’t believe I got everyone except you.’

Again, he shrugged. ‘If you really need the reference photos, we can either arrange a time, or you can look up photos online. Or take one with your phone.’

Odette made a disagreeing sound, and shook her head. ‘No, they have to be photos I take. I can’t – I only work from photos I haven’t taken if I absolutely have to. My work is always better if I take the photo. And my phone camera has horrible quality.’ She sighed, rubbing her eyes. Her fingertips still had faint splotches of paint on them.

‘God. This is just awful. I planned to start blocking in the background today, you know? But if I started that without my reference photos completed, it would throw me off.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I may be an artist, but I do have some semblance of a routine.’

‘I’m free Friday.’

‘What?’ Odette stared at him.

‘Clearly that’s our only option. Another re-shoot. I’m free Friday. The others aren’t, though.’

Louis started to protest, but Harry slapped a hand across his mouth, shooting him a meaningful look that said Bloody hell Lou, Ni is trying to hit on Odette and score a kind-of date so shut the bloody fuck up, mate.

Odette blinked a number of times, unaware of what was happening at the other end of the hall.

‘Friday. Friday, right. Uh, Friday. I-yes, I’m free. I think. I’m pretty sure I’m free. Friday reshoot. Sounds good to me.’

‘Good.’ Niall held out his phone to her, and Odette blinked once more. The boy laughed. ‘I don’t know what time would best suit the both of us, so I’ll need your number so we can organize a time.’

Odette blushed, feeling stupid, and took the phone, punching in her number. A small thrill went through her as she handed it back. Niall Horan now had her number.

Potentially, this meant Niall Horan could call her. As calm as she was trying to be, she couldn’t help but inwardly fangirl. He was famous, after all.

‘Well, since I can’t do anything until Friday,’ Odette said, packing away her supplies, her voice still annoying squeaky, ‘I’d best make my way home, finish some other small commissions and whatnot.’

Her hands were shaking so violently she nearly upset her easel. Slinging her knapsack over her shoulder, Odette smiled briefly at the boys before running out the door, afraid her nerves weren’t going to deal with the stress for much longer. She was right. She barely made it to the train station before her legs gave out and she had to lean against a lamppost for support.

One Direction. Not only had she met them, but they were commissioning a portrait from her. Niall Horan had her number. She would be meeting up with him on Friday. Niall Horan had her number.

No one paid much attention to the girl boarding the train with a large grin on her face. They were too busy watching the crowd of screaming girls follow a car with blackened windows, which was driving past the train station. Odette wondered what those girls would say if they knew she’d just spent two hours in the company of the boys they were chasing, and that Niall Horan had her phone number.

Her grin widened, and she settled back to enjoy the trip back home.