Nothing Personal

"What rubbish was that?" Paul said, slamming down papers onto the table that the boys and girls were sitting at. He had called them into a meeting room to discuss their interviews which already had reviews.

"Great Scott! I haven't got a blimey clue!" Xenia said mocking his accent. He glared at her until she began to squirm in her seat.

"I was just joking.." she said quietly looking away awkwardly.

"Do you think this is a joke?" He said sternly, his eyes narrowing, "Right now, the entire media is laughing at you." She stared down at the table, refusing to look at him.

"Paul, it wasn't her fault, she didn't know," Harry spoke up to try to get him to stop being so harsh on her.

"You," he emphasized, his glare now on Harry, "have nothing to say either, Harry." Paul said, "None of you have anything to say. I told you all to get to know each other! Did you listen? No. You made asses of yourselves." He picked up the first paper on the pile he slammed down earlier and began reading. "Nothing about Xenia and Zayn seemed real. Zayn seemed awkward, as if he was too good for her. Xenia....was she drunk? The outrageous story she told was unbelievable. Tell me this was a joke." He looked up from the paper to look at them, "Zayn, for the love of God, try not to be so vain, accept her embraces. And Xenia, what the hell was that?" she shrugged still adverting her gaze, "Never do it again. I said be realistic, what about that entire story was believable?" She glanced up at him, then away. She didn't like how he was coming down so hard on them, "And please, try to control yourself."

He looked back at the paper and continued reading. "Niall and Anabel seem like the cutest pair, but refuse Nandos and Niall will leave you hanging. Niall seemed to like his girl, but when she began talking everything seemed to change. What's the matter Niall, never talked to your girlfriend before? Anabel, with her cute southern accent was the most vain person there, and that's saying something because Zayn was in he same building. She seemed to be taking the compliments to heart, eating up all the attention. Is Miss Carolina to good for the Irish hunk? Wonder why she was so shocked when he walked off the stage." He sighed, throwing the paper over his shoulder and stared at them.

"First off, not everyone likes the same things as you Niall." He began to protest, but Paul hushed him, "No. Your reaction was rude. It truly surprised me you would do that."

"Where you really not watching her?" Niall asked a little mad that he was being grilled.

Paul nodded, "I'll get to her right now. But I just need you to understand to never do that again. Now Anabel, when someone asks you what your favorite food is, do not answer salad when Niall is in the same room. Lie, please. And also try to acknowledge him, he's right next to you, trying to seem loving. Don't ignore him." She just shrugged seeming a little uncomfortable with everything.

He picked up the next piece of paper. "Talk about fire and ice. Liam and Miranda seemed like total opposites. Liam, everyone's charming sweetheart, was getting frustrated as the interview dragged on, trying his best to keep a conversation going when in fact it hadn't even started due to Miranda's lack of effort. It felt like she could really care less, firing one worded responses and making no contact with Liam at all. Who knows? Maybe their relationship is on the rocks?" He rubbed his eyes with one hand, sighing loudly again. "Liam...I thank you...really. You're the only one of the guys that maintained a decent facade." His somber look landed on Miranda, who was to busy examining her nails, "But you, Miranda, I really hope your not like this. Because if you are, you're a heartless bitch." Everyone in the room was completely shocked, even Xenia didn't find this a laughing matter.

Miranda stared at him, hurt, mouth hanging open. "At least try to be nicer. I haven't heard you sing live, so why you're even in the group is beyond me. Liam was really trying to make you guys look good. Maybe if you actually pretended to care." he lifted the paper again, "Louis and Terra...you know what? I'm not even going to read yours because its too weird for me. I think it was pretty obvious for everyone that you two were in no way attracted to each other. Maybe if you, Terra, weren't oggling that interviewer we could have passed it off as you were mad at Louis. But lets face it, both of you were checking out everyone else but each other. And Louis! I thought you liked girls! Why weren't you trying to make an effort of at least fooling everyone she sexually frustrates you?" Both Louis and Terra were horrified.

"I like boys!" Terra exclaimed.

"And I love girls!" Louis said, clutching his chest as if he had breasts.

Paul rolled his eyes, leaned back into his chair, and sighed loudly once more. He picked up another paper. "Last, but certainly not least, came Harry and Bailey. These two were actually the most normal couple there, but when it came down to it nothing could break Baileys prude barriers. It was seriously agonizing to see her reject his every attempt to embrace her. Whats wrong with a little touching? But they sure do know how to end with a bang! It seems little Harry got too excited and fed up with her polite rejections that he just went for it! Ever heard of too much PDA Harry?" Paul set the paper down slowly, squinting at the table and puckered his lips as he attempted to come up with something decent to say.

"Bailey...Thank you for being so... gracious. You contained yourself until you got back stage and I applaud you for that. It was more than all the other girls. But, I'll admit you were a little too prude. Theres nothing wrong with snogging. Its quite normal. No shame. As for you Harry." He glared at him, "I've never seen you behave in such a manner, on stage. Are you an animal? For God sake, learn some self control and learn to respect her boundaries. I understand that you're a hands on fellow and like to be in a physical relationship with your partner, but if she says no, its a no. Respect her boundaries! I don't ever want to see that mess again. It looked like you wanted to rape her." He scolded harshly. Harry looking like he was hurt. Paul had never talked to them like that.

The door opened then, Dylan waltzing into the room, late as usual.

"You really need to start getting here on time, Dylan." Paul said from his seat looking annoyed.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was." Dylan said taking an open seat away from the group, "What were we talking about?"

"I was just going over the interviews with them." Paul raised an eyebrow.

Dylan snorted, slapping the table a few times as he chuckled, "Oh, that. That was the funniest shit ever."

The look on Paul's face was frightening and the girls simply wanted to fade away.

"Dylan, oh my goodness. Shut up." Bailey breathed.

Dylan leaned toward her a bit, "Bailey, oh my goodness. Put out a little." he winked. Xenia couldn't help but snort, "Xenia, lay off some." he made a gesture with his hand as if he was drink a bottle.

Everyone was silent, staring at Dylan, all of them wondering if he was on something. Dylan looked at them awkwardly, his head leaning back and giving him a double chin.

He sighed loudly his shoulders slumping, "This meeting is taking forever." he whined.

Paul rolled his eyes, finally giving up and sitting up in his seat, "Well I guess I have wasted enough of your time." he said sarcastically, "You may all leave to the hotel and get some rest. I'll advise you if you need to do something."

The girls rushed out of there, dragging their manager with them and telling him all that he missed.