Love in Music

I was seated so quickly I became slightly dazed at the sudden change of scenery. Louis took a seat to my left while Frankie took the seat to my right. My hand found hers under the table and I squeezed harshly. She instantly squeezed back, both of our nails uncaringly pushing into each other’s skin.

“Did you say mentors?” Kate asked from across from me. I glanced up at her before looking towards Simon. He was smiling happily. A sparkle in his eye as he nodded.

“Yes, the boys here are experienced at becoming a group with strangers. So I’ve hired them to mentor you. They will be mentoring your singing and stage presence. But also how you interact with each other and your future fans.” Simon enlightened.

“So basically we’re babysitting.” Louis winked towards Zayn that was across from him who smirked back. I rolled my eyes at the childish statement and couldn’t resist responding.

“Please, we’re not that much younger than you.” I glared at him. Louis turned to me surprise evident on his face that I had responded at all.

“Well how old are you then, love?”

“18, love.” I mocked his word choice. He narrowed his eyes at me slightly before a smirk slid across his face.

“Four years younger then. That makes you but a baby.” His response was.

“Hey.” Harry said reproachfully a couple of seats down between Lucinda and Niall.

“You don’t eat meat.” Gracie commented from across from me as our meals arrived. I shook my head at her.

“I’m a vegetarian.” I explained.

“So you don’t eat meat?” Niall asked. I shook my head at him. “But why?”
I laughed softly at his confused features.

“I don’t like eating animals.” I responded. “I don’t like that baby cows, pigs, lambs are slaughtered...” I trailed off as a hand covered my mouth. I turned to Louis, confused and annoyed.

“I would like to eat my food, not be turned off of it.” He said to me coolly before removing his hand. I grinned at him before turning towards my vegetarian lasagne.

“So how was your flight from home? You just got in today right?” Liam asked me conversationally from the other side of Frankie. I nodded at him.

“It was okay. I’m not a big fan of the taking off and landing so the turbulence while landing here was a bit crappy.” I responded to him. He laughed at my choice of words and nodded at me.

Everyone fell into comfortable chatter as I dug into my food. I watched the girls intently, wishing to know more about each of them since I hoped we would be spending possibly the rest of our lives knowing each other. It was odd to think that these five girls could very well be a prominent part of my life for many years to come but then again they might not.

I watched as Frankie and Lucinda spoke and laughed loudly. Neither of them were able to hide their excitement from their voices or from their eyes. They lacked the ability to hide their emotions and that made them so much more attractive. I knew they were the girls you wanted to hang around because I had known them for barely two hours and yet whenever they smiled and laughed I couldn’t help but join.

Gracie and Kate were a little bit more reserved but not by much. Gracie I could tell was a little bit more innocent. She blushed slightly at crude jokes that might slip from Frankie’s mouth. Kate however would reprimand Frankie only to throw in a few jokes of her own.

These girls were loud and amazing and I was more than willing to join in. Frankie smiled at me happily as I snorted loudly at one of her jokes which in turn made me laugh even harder at myself.

“Attractive.” Louis muttered from beside me. I turned to him, eyebrows raised.

“Sorry honey but I’m too young for you. And plus I don’t go for old men.” I smirked at him. He narrowed his eyes at me slightly before a grin slid across his face. I looked at him shocked as he turned to face Simon.

“I think these girls are going to do just fine. You’ve picked the good ones.” He said turning back to wink at me. I blushed softly before smiling back briefly and then re-admitted myself into the table’s conversation. It was too awkward to take a compliment from Louis Tomlinson without seeming like you were about to faint.

-

“There will be a car around tomorrow to pick you girls up at 7am. It will take you to the studio. Goodnight girls. Have a good sleep. Boys.” Simon nodded to us before walking away.

“We can walk you to your rooms if you would like?” Liam offered sincerely, eyes on Kate. I watched as she blushed darkly.

“Oh it’s alright, I’m sure it’s past Louis bed time. Old age creeping up on him and what not.” I smiled at Liam and clapped a hand on Louis shoulder.

“I like this one. She can talk back to Louis.” Harry announced happily wrapping an arm around my shoulders making me turn pink. Louis rolled his eyes.

“Too bad she’s not immune to your charms though Haz. Then she would be perfect.” Louis replied smugly. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of Harry’s arms.

“Well goodnight boys.” Frankie waved before taking my hand and pulling me towards the elevator with the other girls.

“Don’t worry Kate you can bonk Liam tomorrow.” Lucinda said loud enough for the boys to hear. I burst out laughing, holding my stomach while Kate tried to hit Lucinda who ran to the elevator. I was slightly jealous, I didn’t know how to walk in heels and here Lucinda was running around gracefully in them. I made sure to let Lucinda know the moment we caught up with her. She laughed and pulled me into a hug.

“I’ll teach you.” She promised me.

“So One Direction huh?” Kate said lowly as we patiently stood in the elevator.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Gracie muttered, her face slightly pale. Kate sympathetically wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

“It’s okay, just don’t think about them as celebrities.”I tried to comfort her.

“Or notice how cute they are.” Frankie added in, I shot her a look letting her know she wasn’t helping.

“It’s easy for you to say. You got along with Louis so easily.” Gracie said softly. I shrugged at her.

“I wouldn’t exactly call that getting on. But just don’t let them tease you okay.” I grinned at her and wrapped my arm around her waist pulling her into a side hug. She smiled at me weakly.

“I must admit though, they look so amazing.” Frankie groaned and unlocked our door.

“Too bad you have a boyfriend though.” Kate teased, patting her shoulder.

“You do?” I asked curiously, sitting on the couch next to Gracie who rested her head on my shoulder.

“Well, kind of, maybe, not really.” Frankie shrugged sitting on the couch in front of us. I raised my eyebrow in confusion.

“Frankie and her boyfriend are taking a break right now but they still talk constantly.” Lucinda explained. “I have a boyfriend though. What about you?”

“Nope, I am single.” I told her smiling softly before pushing my shoes off my feet. I stifled a yawn as adrenalin slowly left my system and was quickly replaced by jet lag.

“You should go to bed, we have to be up early in the morning.” Kate commented to me. I agreed instantly and left to use my shower and got changed in my pyjamas for bed.

“Hey,” I said to Frankie who was lounging across my bed when I exited the shower. She rolled over and smiled at me largely.

“I’m so happy that you are finally here. Even though we’ve all only just met each other, it’s felt like someone has been missing these last couple of days.” Frankie told me smiling the whole time. I blushed lightly and lied down next to us.

“I was so worried that maybe you all would bond or something and didn’t want me.” I explained to her. She laughed lightly and shook her head.

“Never, I’ve known you a couple of hours and I already know we are going to get a long just great. Trust me.” She winked making giggles fall from my mouth, which sounded strange from the position I was laying in on the comfortable bed.

“I better let you sleep.” Frankie announced as my eyelids fluttered softly.

“Goodnight.” I called out after her before she shut the door. Rubbing my eyes tiredly I reached for my phone and scrolled to my home number. I called, knowing that my parents would be awake by now.

“Hello, Blake residence.” Mary our housekeeper answered.

“Hey Mary, it’s Annabelle. Are my parents available?” I asked her softly.

“Of course sweetie, I’ll just patch them through.” She replied instantly with a gentle tone. I waited until my mother finally answered the phone.

“Annabelle.” She stated through the phone.

“Hi mum. Just calling to let you know that I’m here and everything’s going good so far.” I told her.

“Hold on a minute. I’ll put you on speakerphone so your father and sister can hear.” I waited a moment until I heard.

“Belly!” I laughed at my 12 year old sister Annalisa’s nickname for me.

“Hi Lissy!” I replied back a smile slipping across my features.

“So have you met the other girls yet?” My father’s voice sounded, I could hear papers and assumed they were getting ready to leave soon. I nodded but realised they couldn’t see me.

“Yeah I did. They seem really nice. They’re actually pretty great.” I replied honestly.

“What about that Simon Carn guy?” My mother asked. I rolled my eyes she knew his name was Simon Cowell. Both my parents were lawyer’s, they didn’t forget anything. They could rattle of names, places and sections of the law off by heart. She could even remember the name of the first person I had talked to in preschool and told her about. Her and Dad always remembering everything wasn’t a good thing I discovered when I grew up because they never let anything go.

“It’s Cowell mum. And yes I did meet him. He seems nice.” I commented with a roll of my eyes. She made a noise in response.

“Remember our deal though honey. If this doesn’t work you have to come straight back here and study law at University. I was talking to some professors the other day and they think that you would be a great asset with your grades from school.” My father said through the phone. I kept my sigh inaudible.

“Yes father.”

“Well we have to get to work Annabelle. We’ll talk later. Bye. We love you.” My mother said quickly. Annalisa screamed something in the background but was cut off by the dial tone. I frowned at my phone before placing it on charge and climbed into the middle of the bed. My family were never going to be supportive of the path I was taking.

I stared around and tried to rearrange the twenty pillows splayed across the bed. Finally deciding to just leave it as it was I climbed under the blankets and threw my head down.

I sighed blissfully at the softness of the pillows. I decided to ignore the conversation I just had and focus on the hours spent previously. The hours spent in a luxurious hotel, meeting amazing girls and having the best dinner in my life.

A smile split across my face as my eyes slowly shut. I think I was really going to like it here. The girls seemed amazing so far, the place was beautiful and I got to sing. Having One Direction around most of the time was just an added bonus.