Just One Step

My name is Dani, I’m seventeen, I live in New York City, and this is the story of how I met One Direction. I’d been living with my grandparents since I was 8, when my parents got in a car accident and passed on. We never had much, but we had what we needed, that was until my Grandma got diagnosed with cancer last year. Now I’m working part-time at a music store, which had been my second home since I found it, to try and earn some extra money. It was a Friday night, and I was headed back from work. The music store was down the street from my grandparent’s house, and so I normally just walked to and from, caring my guitar on my back. When I got to the house I found that my Grandfather had gone to the hospital to see my Grandma, and had forgotten to leave the back door open for me. I loved him to death, but he was extremely forgetful. I reminded myself to get a key, and then set about trying to find somewhere to spend the night, seeing as normally my Grandfather would spend the night at the hospital. My first idea was to call my friend Taylor. I pulled out my cell phone, it was crappy but it worked and was the best we could afford, and dialed her number. It rang a few times and then she picked up.

“Hey Dani” her voice squealed. Tay and me were complete opposites but we balanced each other out. She was extremely optimistic about everything, outgoing and rather loud, while I was more quiet and reserved, and not really pessimistic but more realistic. I saw things the way they were, while Tay saw things the way she wanted them. This was probably because I had been part of the real world since my parents died and my Grandma got cancer, while Tay was the slightly spoiled daughter of the CEO of large medical supply company, MediCorp, and she was set for life while I was not.

“Could I crash at your place?” I asked hopefully.

“OMG, I’m like so sorry, did your Granddad lock you out again? But here’s the thing Dani, I’m out partying with Devin,” Devin was Tay’s boyfriend that her father did not in anyway approve of. “And I told Daddy that I’m spending the night at your house so he wouldn’t ask questions. I’m really sorry Dani.” Tay was probably the only girl who was seventeen and still called her father ‘Daddy,’ but hey it worked for her, she was the cute little innocent air of MediCorp.

“It’s fine,” I lied. “I’ll crash at Jenna’s,” another lie, I hadn’t spoken to Jenna since the incident with her and James, but I did know where I was going to spend the night. A couple blocks from the house, was the recording studio that Uncle Mark, an old friend of my father’s owned. This had happened a few times, where I was locked out and couldn’t stay at Taylor’s, he had let me spend the night at the studio. He liked seeing me he said, I reminded him of my dad, and he had even said he would give me a job once I was 18.

“Okay! I am so sorry though. Bye!” and then she hung up.

After 20 minutes, I had finally reached the studio, and I was praying that Mark hadn’t left yet. I pushed my face up to the glass of the door and knocked three times. I waited. Oh please god let him be here. I knocked three more times. I waited again, and then I saw him. Once he saw who it was, he ran over and opened the door to the building.

“Dani! How nice to see you. Get locked out again? I’m sorry. You can stay in studio five. I would hang out with you but I’ve got to prepare for tomorrow. I’ve got a big client. There are snacks in the break room!” he spoke fast, gave me a half smile that was clearly full of pity, and then rushed off to prepare. It was fine, I knew my way around well enough. I would have liked to hang out with him a bit, but I was perfectly hapy with just crashing, I was extremely tired. I made my way to the break room, grabbed a bag of chips and a coke, and then headed toward studio five.

I opened the door set my guitar down, and sat down on the glaring orange couch. Mark was amazing but someone needs to help him with his interior design choices. I ate my chips and drank the soda, and then lay down on the couch and fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up then next day at eight. I remembered Mark saying he had a client, but I figured that they wouldn’t be here yet. I pulled out my guitar and started singing my favorite Cady Groves song, Fantasy.

“The clouds are rolling in, I lost myself I guess,

I thought I saw a man with something in his chest,

I’ve never been so wrong, another fall will come,

I hated everything, from winter clear to spring,

Couldn’t look at myself, after what he did to me,

But I’ll keep holding on, another fall will come

Why don’t they tell it like it really is?

Nobody ever gets their movie kiss,

And when they go, they really go,

And they don’t come back in the pouring rain,

Just ‘cause you need them to save the day,”

I looked up as I played the chorus and saw something that made me stop: Four boys standing in the doorway with huge smiles on their faces.

“Ummm…Hey,” I said nervously.

“You,” the shortest one spoke, “Are perfect,” he had a very clear english accent.

“Umm, for what?” I was seriously confused as I looked over the four guys who had walked in on me playing guitar. The one who had spoken first had brown hair that was covered by a beanie and dark eyes. The one standing next to him had curly brown hair, was slightly taller and had brown eyes. The tallest one was standing next to them and had hair that reminded me of Justin Beiber. The last one was average height and had short dark hair.

“We need a girl” the first one spoke again in a singsong voice.

“I don’t even know who you are,”

“I’m Louis!” he did a little jump after he spoke and gave me a smile that resembled a five year old that had too much sugar.

“Harry,” the curly haired one said with a nod.

“I’m Liam,” said the tall one.

“Name’s Zayn,” said the last one.

“And why do you need a girl?” I asked again.

Harry spoke this time, “Not just any girl, we need a girl who can sing,”

“We were recording a song,” said Liam, “and Mark decided it would be better as a duet, but we didn’t have anyone in mind, so he told us he would record our vocals and then find us a girl, he’s recording Niall’s now,”

“There’s another one of you?” I asked incredulously.

“Yup,” Louis said.

“And if you wouldn’t mind, we heard you singing, we would love it if you could sing on the track,” Zayn said.

“I’m sorry guys, I don’t sing in front of people I get nervous,” It was true, I loved music, but I would never be able to perform it ‘cause I had massive stage fright.

“Then what the hell are you doing in a recording studio?” Harry asked me.

“I spent the night here,” I said.

“Okay, I’m confused,” said Louis, which made Liam laugh, “Why would you spend the night in a recording studio?”

“It’s a long story. What studio number?” I asked them.

“We’re in two,” Zayn said with a smile.

“Does this mean you’ll sing with us?” Harry asked hopefully.

“You do have an amazing voice,” Liam added.

“Sorry boys, like I said, I don’t sing in front of people,” as I spoke I began to put my guitar away.

“Then why do you want to know what studio we’re in?” Liam asked.

“Just wanted to say goodbye to Uncle Marky,” I said and pushed past them through the door. Unfortunately they followed me. It wasn’t that I hated them, but they were offering me what I had always wanted, to be able to sing for a living, but my stupid stage fright wouldn’t let me do it.

“So he’s your uncle,” Harry asked.

“Not exactly,” I said and continued my way toward studio two. After that I ignored the rest of their questions, I didn’t like giving away much of my situation, I don’t need their pity, why should I give them reason to give it to me?

I finally made it to studio two. I pulled open the door and saw Mark sitting at the recording desk with his headphones on, and a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes standing in the recording booth. I assumed he was Niall.

“Hey Mark,” I said sitting down next to him. He raised a finger to his mouth to tell me to be quiet, brought it down and then mouthed: wait two minutes. I nodded.

“Alright Niall,” Mark spoke into the microphone, “Can you take that from the beginning?”

“Alright,” Niall spoke, his accent was different then the others, more Irish, and then he began to sing.

“Can’t you see me, I’m standing right here

Am I just nothing, do I disappear,

When ever he’s around,

I can tell from your sad eyes, he’s bringing you down

The way you talk about him to me on the phone every night,

The way you say he’s breaking you heart when you fight,

We’ve been close since we met, but why can’t we just take,

That one step,

It's just one step,”

His voice was amazing. It was just so beautiful. He was pretty cute too. I didn’t realize I was starring until Uncle Mark snapped his fingers in front of me and I heard one of the boys behind me giggle.

“Yes?” I said, maybe a little too loud.

“What’s up Dani?” he asked.

“So that’s what your name is!” Louis screeched.

“Just came to say goodbye, and thanks for letting me crash here last night,”

“I see you’ve met the boys,”

“Yeah, they walked in on me,” I said.

“Were you changing?” he said with serious concern in his voice before giving the boys the death glare.

“No, no, no,” I said trying to calm him down, sometimes he was too over protective. “Singing,” I clarified.

“Ahh,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “A rare sight my boys, my Dani here, she doesn’t sing in front of anyone, consider yourselves lucky,”

“She told us,” Louis said.

“Ohh?” Mark asked turning around to face them.

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed.

“We asked her to sing on the track,” Liam added.

“And then she told us she doesn’t sing in front of people, which is a down right shame,” Zayn finished the story.

“She would be perfect for this song,” Mark observed. Great, I thought. Once Uncle Mark had decided something it was hard to get him to choose something else.

“I feel rather left out,” Niall said, coming out of the recording booth and sitting down on the couch with the other boys, “I am the only one here who didn’t get to see this lovely girl sing,”

“Is there anyway I could get you to do the song Dani?” Mark practically whined.

“Only if I somehow get over my stage fright,” I answered.

“At least sing something for Niall,” he was pouting now. “He didn’t get to hear you voice,”

“No,” I said.

“Please,” he gave me his patented puppy-dog eyes. If I stayed here any longer I would be trying to sing, just ‘cause I felt bad. I have to leave now.

“No,” I said getting up, “I’ve got to get back and check on Grandpa,” and I left quickly, practically running out the door of Uncle Mark’s recording studio.