I'll Look After You

A car came to pick me up for my fun filled day of interviews. I kept the outfit very casual, and by casual I mean Victoria's Secret sweatpants and a tank top. I skipped out on the makeup and stole Louis' Ray Ban's before he left. Me and Danielle (who I didn't even acknowledge was here this morning) got into the car and greeted Asher who was waiting in the back. Danielle's gonna run around with me today, we plan on doing girly stuff in-between work.

"Asher!" I smiled brightly and hugged him, possibly freaking him out in the process.

"What the hell are you so happy about?" He asked. "You haven't smiled in weeks."

"My boyfriends here!" I grinned. "Oh! You haven't met Danielle, she's my London bestie."

"That's all it takes to put you in a good mood? I'm gonna buy you one of those cardboard cutouts." Asher said. "And it's very nice to meet you, Danielle."

"Very nice to meet you, too." Danielle said with a smile.

"Cardboard cutout of my boyfriend? That's creepy, even for me. Anyway, Danielle and I are gonna do some girl things today. A little shopping, pedicures, lunch date with Louis and Liam."

"You do realize you're working today, right?"

"Yeah, Ash." I said. "We're gonna do this in-between interviews, Myself and One Direction both have to be at the arena at the same time, so we're gonna go to lunch from there."

"Ya know what, you can go streaking down Sunset Boulevard for all I care, as long as you're happy!"

Before I knew it, I was on my second interview of the day. Aside from the repeated questions, everything seemed to be going good. Nobody was pissing me off, absolutely no questions about my mess of a family. I was enjoying myself and so was Danielle, she was getting to know Asher pretty well and they were having a nice time.

I was finally free, that's when we split up from Asher to go have some fun before my soundcheck. Asher didn't want to leave me alone, so we had a bodyguard with us so the paparazzi kept their distance. I honestly don't mind them much, but given my current situation, I didn't want them anywhere near me!

"How long are you guys staying for?" I asked Danielle as we walked into one of the clothing stores. I probably wasn't going to buy anything but its always nice to window shop.

"I think Liam said we were only gonna be in town for a week." She answered. "I assume Louis will be staying longer?"

"Danielle, I swear, I will kill him if he leaves with the rest of you." I laughed, only I was kind of serious.

"Liam said they didn't have any work planned for the whole month, I'm sure Louis will be staying a while. He's really been missing you!"

"I just wanna go back to London." I slightly pouted. "I wanna go back to London with him and just escape until this whole thing blows over."

I could do it, too. I could leave tomorrow. The album is finished, all I have are a handful of photoshoots and a Christmas album to record. I have nothing major keeping me here, expect my family. Ugh. I let out a pathetic whine as I rested my head against Danielle.

"Cheer up, Arai!" She smiled. "Things are gonna work out!"

Well, I sure hope she's right. After some shopping, we arrived at the arena for my soundcheck.. Asher was already there when we got here, so were the boys. The five of them were up on the stage, screwing around with each other. My soundcheck was immediately after theirs, at the rate they're going, who knows when I'll get to practice!

"Babe!" Louis yelled once he saw me. He jumped down from the sage as I was taking a look at the seating chart. Louis wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek.

"Hey! Why do they have us seated so far away from each other!" I asked, pointing out that we were basically sitting across the arena from each other. They had me and my two guests sitting next to Ian Somerhalder. Trust me, I wasn't bothered by it at all, but I'd much rather sit with Louis.

"We're gonna have to change that, babe." Louis said. He had that grin on his face, like he was up to no good. He started grabbing the seating cards with our names on it. I was just going along with it, handing him a card when he requested it. He worked it out to where he was seated at the end of the boys and I was right next to him. Haley, Natalie, and Danielle were seated in the row directly behind us, while Jay was seated on the other side of me. "Much better."

"Think anybody will notice?" I asked as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Nah." Louis said, lightly rubbing my arm. "And if they do, we'll just deny it."

I grinned at him before he was pulled away by his manager to finish the soundcheck. Of course, they were behind, which was making myself and everyone after me behind. Asher suggested I get my interview over and done with to pass the time.

- Aria! How excited are you for the show tonight?

"Very excited!" I said with a fake smile.

- You're gonna be performing tonight, what should we expect?

"Well, I'll be closing the show tonight, its gonna be pretty exciting. I want everyone to feel like they're at one huge party."

- Partying with Aria Alexander, once in a lifetime opportunity. What performances are you looking forward to?

"P!nk, she usually steals the show every year. Umm.. Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz. Oh, and Green Day! I can't wait to see them." I answered with a now genuine smile.

"Of course, she can't wait to see One Direction either." Louis said as he walked over and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. We've never been on camera together like this, it was weird. But it was also kind of nice. "Right, babe?"

"Who's One Direction?" I asked with a dumbfounded look on my face.

- I got the both of you here now, I like this. Is tonight date night for the two of you?

"It wasn't going to be." Louis said. "We just had to make a few modifications to the seating chart." Louis said.

"Oh my god, don't tell him!" I said as my eyes went wide.

"You won't say anything, right mate?"

"- You're secrets safe with me.

After my interview, it was time for soundcheck. I had to basically force Louis out of the room so I could practice without any distractions. Not to mention, he kind of made me nervous. Jay arrived right on time for soundcheck and we got to work quickly. We've already practiced this performance all week so it didn't take us long to get everything right.

"Got a date for tonight?" I asked Jay

"I do." He nodded his head, making my raise my eyebrows out of curiosity. "What?"

"Come on, who is she? Somebody famous?" I pressed him. "Tell me!!"

"Well…if you must know, it's one of your model friends. Karlie Kloss."

"What do the two of you possibly have in common?"

"She's hot, that's what."

I just shook my head at him and smacked him upside his head. "See you later, Jayden."



It was just hours before show time and I was almost ready to go. I had a bit of down time, seeing as Natalie and Haley were still getting ready. I figured I'd just check my e-mail or tweet something to pass the time, what I mistake I made. A new post on TMZ was all over my news feed and I couldn't help but click the link.

Jack Alexander skips Aria's VMA performance to hang out with illegitimate son!

Ouch, that one sure did hurt. Apparently they were spotted just minutes ago out to lunch in Santa Monica. I just got so angry reading the post and seeing the pictures. Dad refused to answer any personal questions regarding the family and our situation, Caleb had on a snapback and kept his head down the whole time. Assholes.

"Come on, babe." Louis said, taking away my laptop and closing it. "You shouldn't be looking at that."

"It's kind of hard not to." I frowned.

"Come on, let's just enjoy our night. Shouldn't you be dressed already?"

"I don't even wanna go, to be honest." I said. "How long are you staying?"

My phone interrupted the conversation, Asher was calling for the third time, probably to make sure we were all ready to go. I kept ignoring him and it only made him call again. "Why don't you finish getting ready? Let's just get through tonight and we can talk about that tomorrow."

"Fine."

I walked down the red carpet with my sisters, putting on my best fake smile. I played it off so well, you couldn't even tell anything was wrong with me. I declined to talk to any more reporters as I slowly walked down the carpet, I think I did my fair share of that for one day. At some point, Louis broke away from the guys to get a few pictures with me. It was a surprise when he pulled me away from my sisters, stood behind me and placed a kiss on my cheek. The smile that appeared on my face was actually genuine.

It turned out to be a good night after all, I lost in one category to One Direction, but I was happy for them anyway. Louis and I took turns standing up and kissing one another after each of us won an award. The girls and I danced and sung along when the boys were on stage. When the time came for me to close the show, I didn't even care about the article I read earlier. This wouldn't be the first performance my parents missed and I know it won't be the last either. So what if my dad would rather hang out with his new favorite kid instead of seeing me perform, I didn't need him here anyway.