More Than Friends

It was the third award into the night and we knew that the first award One Direction where nominated for was to be presented next. They decided to cut to a break and this made tension rise. Nervous tension. The boys where all smiling with excitement as being nominated for an award they could win was enthralling, but you could see a flicker of doubt in each of their eyes. Liam looked sick with nerves.
'You alright darling?' I asked him, leaning into his shoulder again.
'Yeah, I'm fine. Just nervous. I always will be when it comes to things like this,' he replied, not taking his eyes off his drink.
'It's fine. You're nominated for three! You're bound to win one!' I cheered, but Harry turned around and looked at us.
'We're against Coldplay...Chris Martin...We might not-' but I cut him off.
'Think like that and you won't. Like in the words of Henry Ford, whether you say you can or you say you can't. You're right,' I quoted. Liam nodded and looked at me smiling.
'Thank you,' he replied. Kissing my head.

'Now the next award if for Best British Band 2012,' Lee said into the microphone. 'There are bands in this category with unbelievable talent, and unbelievable hair,' he said, blatantly mimicking Harry's hair flip and a near by camera turned to face him as he looked down grinning. 'The nominees are.'

Video clips of music videos came on. Lawson - When She Was Mine, Coldplay - Paradise, The Wanted - Lightning and finally One Direction and their biggest hit, What Makes You Beautiful. I gripped Liam's arms tightly as the clips ended. Lee had an envelope in his hand.
'And the winner is...' he looked down and opened the envelope. My heart skipped numerous beats for the boys. I knew how much they wanted it. He dragged out opening the envelope and pulling out the paper. He read the name before finally looking up after a minute, but what seemed like an hour.
'And the winner is...One Direction!' he called. Our whole table jumped up. Perrie, Eleanor and I squealed and the boys let out roars of joy. I swung my arms around Liam's neck and kissed him on the cheek before he went on up. I hugged Harry, Niall, Zayn and Louis as they walked up as well. The girls and I stood there clapping, tears in our eyes before we sat down, after they'd accepted the award in from Lee and made their way to make a small speech with a microphone. Louis was the first to talk.
'Thank you all so, so much!' he exclaimed. He was so proud, as where the others. 'We couldn't have done it without everyone who voted. It is absolutely amazing where we are now!' Niall took the microphone.
'Thanks to everyone who helped us with the album as well. All the song writers and the musicians. Everyone at the company, it really means a lot!'
'You are all amazing and it's just incredible what you guys do for us!' Zayn grinned.
'We - or I - didn't think we'd get this. I thought it would go to one of the others because of their talent and everything. But thank you!' Harry said, tears obviously stinging his eyes.
'This is getting repetitive now, but thank you so much. Not only to everyone who worked on the album and helped us along, but to our incredible families and our beautiful girls for supporting us the whole time.' Liam finished, before handing Lee back the microphone. I stood up to hug Liam again. He wrapped his arms tightly around me, laughing with pride and a good kind of disbelief.
'Well done! And that was just number one!' I whispered. He let me go and we sat back down to recover from the excitement. This was huge to them.

Another few awards that where given out to Adele, one for Coldplay and another for Emeli Sande in different categories, before another break. During it, camera men where coming around with Lee. He was going to interview some of the winners of the night so far. He went over to Adele who was just a few tables from us, then came to us.
'Boys! Do you mind if I just have a little chat with you after the break? I'm going to have a talk with Adele over there and then come over here. That okay?' he asked, checking. The boys nodded as Lee went to set up near Adele. We knew when the advert break was over as Lee spoke to the camera and then started a conversation with Adele. I couldn't hear what they where saying but knew when to let go of Liam's arm as he walked over.
'Now, if you happen to have a teenage girl sitting next to you right now, cover your ears before you go deaf. I'm joined with best British boyband, One Direction! Boys! How do you feel?'
'Amazing,' Louis gasped. All the boys nodded and agreed.
'And the girls, how are you feeling? Eleanor? You proud of Louis?' El jumped a little at being addressed and asked a question, but spoke anyway.
'Course I am. I'm proud of them all. They work so hard for what they do,' she smiled. He nodded and gave Perrie the microphone.
'Yeah, they are so deserving of it. It is all about the music. They might mess around but they are so serious about it. They love it that much,' she explained. Lee came over to me and crouched next to me. I was in the middle of sipping my wine, and didn't fancy being filmed doing so. I almost choked on it as he spoke.
'Rachel?'
'Yeah, they really do work hard for it and this is rewards for their hard work. It motivates them as well. We won't see them properly or talk to them properly for a week if they're recording an album or preparing for a tour, so getting rewards is just fantastic for them,' I smiled, looking at Liam as he beamed at me.
'Boys, I think you're going to be getting more rewards than these things tonight,' Lee said, speaking to Liam, Louis and Zayn and indicating the award. We all laughed and Liam said 'No,' chuckling as Lee raised an eyebrow. Liam blushed.
'Harry, Niall...carry on getting drunk,' he winked. They started chuckling. 'That's if you're not plastered already, the amount of bottles say that you've probably drank half the place out. Anyway, the next award is for Best Single. The nominees are.' He let the clips run, showing Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Lana Del Ray and Adele. They where nervous again.
'And the winner is, to no surprise, One Direction!'

The same reaction occurred and they made another acceptance speech, slightly shorter. As they walked past Ed and Adele's tables, the congratulated him and hugged them all. They made it back to the table. Liam sat next to me. He took my hand, held it and kissed it.
'You are doing fantastic! What's the next one you're up for?' I asked, as another category was announced.
'Best British Album...at the Brits, Adele won this. With the huge success of 21, I think she could do it again. She deserves it. This is a non-voting category...goes completely on sales...I think...' he was excited but you could see the amount he doubted it. It was the biggest award of the night, and meant so much to anyone who recieved it. Conor Maynard, Adele and Professor Green where all up for it. As far as I was concerned, I was a huge Pro Green and Conor Maynard fan, but I felt the only really daunting competition would be Adele. She was a huge artist and her album had stayed number one for over a year. She was just spilling success. It was nearing the end if the show, and that award was about to be presented.

'Now for what is probably the biggest award of the night. It is a non-voting category and goes on sales and singles success. It goes on popularity of the artist and of their personal success. It is mainly based on the past year, but can go further. The nominees are,' Lee announced, before showing on average about two or three music video clips for each artist's album. Liam flinched a little when What Makes You Beautiful, Gotta Be You and One Thing clips where played. I stroked his hand to make him feel better.
'All very deserving nominees. As I said it's based on success over the past year and success and popularity itself. The winner of Best British Album is...' he dragged out opening another envelope. 'The winner is....Aaaa,' he dragged out the A and we clapped and beamed in the direction of Adele, who was just sitting there shaking her head, as if she knew something we didn't. He'd only dragged out the A for about two seconds but it felt like longer. '....hugely successful boyband who have already scooped to awards tonight, it's One Direction!'

I squealed and threw my arms around the silent in-shock Liam. I buried my head in his shoulder and began to cry tears of pride and joy. He prised me off, following the others to the stage. I looked at the other girls and saw Eleanor's mascara had run slightly. After their tearful acceptance speech, I ran up to each of the to hug. Louis's was swift and excited, Zayn's was tight and joyful, Niall's was the best Horan hug I'd ever gotten. Harry picked me up and spun me round. Liam had watched Harry and I saw the jealousy. He spun me round, leant me right back and kissed me like in the movies. The crowd erupted with wolf-whistles and cheers. A camera was next to us within a second. I started laughing half way through as I placed my hand on his cheek. He released, spun me back round and onto my feet. He grinned at the camera and slipped an arm around my waist.
'Slick...' I grinned. 'Very slick...'
'You enjoyed it,' Liam nudged.
'Yeah, just waiting for round two,' I winked. I leaned across to Perrie who beckoned me to go with her.
'Guys, we're going to find a bathroom,' she announced, leading me over. I looked across my shoulder to see Harry and Liam talking, looking in my direction at some points.

'What do you think they're talking about?' I asked Perrie. She looked behind to where I'd been looking.
'No idea, but Liam's definitely not mad anymore! That was shock-Cheesy!' she grinned.
'Thank you so much!' I smiled at her. We passed so many tables of celebrities it was unreal.
'Rachel! Perrie!' a voice called. We whirled around to see Ed Sheeran coming towards us. I smiled broadly. I loved Ed, and one of my friends at home was adamant she was to be his wife.
'Hi!' I called, probably sounding a bit too familiar with him seeing as I'd only met him once, and for about five minutes.
'Tell the boys congratulations and I'll be seeing them soon. Can't go to then right now, my manager wants to go, he's got a headache. Just tell them I said hi. Oh and... That was some kiss,' he winked. I blushed.
'Yeah...Liam's a bit...proud...' I mumbled, smiling to my feet.
'It was cute,' Perrie nudged me.
'Right. Talk to you later. Bye,' Ed waved and walked off. We made out way to the bathroom.

'I'm worried about Liam,' I said to Perrie while I was looking in the mirror.
'I think I know why, but go on, tell me,' Perrie said. I checked all the stalls to see that no one was listening.
'He seems to be getting really jealous of Harry. And that kiss I think was to prove I was his, because literally two seconds before, Harry had picked me up and spun me round!' I explained. Perrie nodded.
'I thought it was to do with that.'
'You noticed it too?'
'He's been protective over you near Harry for months, before you where even together! You're only just noticing.'
'Really?'
Perrie nodded.
'Talk to him,' she suggested.
'I have tried. He just seems to get more and more protective,' I answered.
'That's probably because Harry is winding him up more.'
'He is?'
'Its a joke to Harry, but to Liam, it's serious.'
'Poor Liam. I never meant to upset him.'
'Don't think you did much. But just ask him what they're talking about. Assure Liam you're his.'
'Right. Okay. Come on, we've been in here long enough. They'll think we're up to something,' I said, leading her out of the toilet.

We walked up to the table to see Harry and Liam still talking. I looked at Perrie helplessly and she gave me a little nudge. I walked to behind my seat.
'Mind if I squeeze in? You can carry on your conversation, just let me sit down. Oh! Food!' I blabbed. Me and Perrie where starving. I sat down and the boys didn't resume talking. Harry focused on his meal, occasionally talking to Niall, Louis and Eleanor.

'So what where you and Harry talking about?' I whispered to Liam.
'Nothing really.' he lied, not taking his eyes off his dinner.
'Liam, what where talking about?' I pressed.
'Random shit really.'
'I'm random shit then am I?'
'What? No! No! It - wasn't about you!' he stammered.
'I saw you both talking low and looking after me. Perrie and I both know you where talking about me,' I said airily, cutting into the food on my plate.
'Rachel-'
'Liam, I can tell when you're lying, so just tell me the truth,' I said, raising an eyebrow.
'Yes, we did briefly talk about you but nothing really,' he mumbled.
'Briefly?'
'Yeah.'
'Liam,' I said sternly.
'Alright, a bit more than brief,' he admitted.
'So what were you talking about?'
'Really darling, it's nothing.'
'You were upset because Harry's my friend and how close we are, weren't you?'
'I- What?'
'You heard me.'
'Not that exactly.'
'So what?'
'Just-...'
'You think we're flirting. You think he likes me.'
'Yes,' he whispered.
'Don't be stupid. I love you. I don't flirt with Harry, I mess around with him like I do the others. Stop being so overprotective.'
'Well, how am I supposed to know that it's not true?'
'You could trust me?'
'I do trust you!'
'Then trust one of your closest friends.'
'I- Okay. I could be a little more trusting.'
'Good...You're still not completely convinced are you?' I looked up at him from my dinner and saw him guiltily shake his head.
'How about I show you when we get home?' I whispered into his ear. He looked at me and started to grin. I winked.
'I think this is the start of something that's going to last a very long time,' he smiled.
'Yeah? Good, I would never leave you.'