She's Not Afraid

We had 5 shows in the first week. The energy and excitement levels were through the roof, and everyone was acting like idiots backstage every night!

Little Mix and One Direction had their open separate dressing room, but that didn’t mean anything. All the boys were running in and out of our room as well as the Little Mix girls invading their space too. I was right there to capture it all for Little Mix’s future tour update.

“Harry, have you ever heard of a shirt?” Perrie barked as the curly headed boy waltzed right into our dressing room. We had about a half hour before Little Mix went on and the girls were running around, getting their makeup done and changing outfits.

“What, you don’t like all this?” He dramatically waved to his bare upper body. I for one didn’t mind if he ever wore a shirt again honestly.

“Oh shut it Haz,” Zayn said as he walked in, smirking at Perrie as his sat on the empty couch.
“We’re going out tonight!” Louis said running in.

“Yes! I like that idea!” Jesy yelled.

Leigh agreed, “I’ve been waiting to go out, and what better city than Paris?”

“I’ve got the perfect outfit!” Jade chimed in.

“You in Jazmin?” Harry asked throwing his arm over my shoulder. Dear god was this the best place to be; pressed up against shirtless Harry Style.

I shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe.”

“Maybe? Are you joking?” Louis asked.

“Well I wanted to maybe go walking around tonight, see the city. I’ve never been to Paris before.”

“And what better way to see it when getting car parked at a night club!” Perrie laughed.

I rolled my eyes but laughed, “I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t be lame Jaz!” Louis shot as he walked back out of the dressing room.

“Well he’s extra sassy tonight, isn’t he?” I commented.

Harry kissed my cheek dramatically, “You’ll get used to it love.”

*****

Tonight’s show was amazing, as expected. With the promise of a night out, everyone was extra pumped to put on a good show.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come out with us?” Jesy asked. I was sharing a hotel room with her tonight. We all flipped coins to see who got a room alone every time we got to stay in a hotel. And since we’ve only stayed in 2 hotel so far, tonight included, Perrie and Jade were the only ones who’d had the pleasure of sleeping alone. Well unless you’re Perrie who’s be shaking up with her boyfriend tonight. Wankers.

“Yeah. I’ll come out next time. Tonight I kind of wanna go get lost in the city.”

She laughed, “Alright, just don’t actually get lost.”

“I won’t. I’ve got GPS on my phone,” I smirked.

“Alright, well I’ll try and be quiet if you’re asleep when I get in.”

I snorted sarcastically, “Well have fun, yeah.”

After she left, I took my time getting ready to go out. I pulled my unruly curly hair up into a bun, just so I wouldn’t have to deal with it and shrugged into the moss green army jacket I’ve had for far too many years. It was a little after midnight, so I was expecting there to be much open, or many people about, which I was excited for. I loved walking around at night while the streets were empty.

When I walked out of the room, Liam, whose room was across from ours, was walking into his, “You didn’t go to the club?”

“Nah, didn’t feel like it.”

“You going out?”

I shrugged, “Yeah. I’ve never been here so I kind of want to explore a bit.”

He glanced at his watch, “You know almost everything will be closed right?”

“Yeah, but that’s the beauty of it.”

He smiled at me, then glanced over his shoulder into his empty room, “Mind if I come with?”

“As long as we’re not mobbed by fans, I’m okay with it.”

“Let me just grab my jacket,” he said before disappearing into his room. I leaned against the wall and waited for him. A few seconds later he came back out in a hoodie and a beanie on his head. He held out his arm for me, “Shall we?”

I laughed as I linked my arm with his, “We shall.”

*****

It was the perfect night to go walking through the city. It wasn’t too chilly, and there was a nice glow among the city that you could see everything. I looked up and I could see it Eiffel Tower, “How far away from there do you think we are?”

“A few blocks, maybe like a 20 minute walk.”

“You up for it?” I asked looking over at him.

He smiled, “Sure.”

We walked in a comfortable silence. I took in all the buildings as we past, I didn’t want to miss anything. This was the only time I had to see the city, we were driving out to the next venue in the early morning. “This really is the city of love, isn’t it?” I asked as we passed yet another couple in an embrace.

“You’ve never been here before?”

I shook my head, “Nope. I’ve never been outside of London really.”

“Then you must be really excited about this tour.”

“I am,” I agreed. “I’m really thankful Jesy talked me up to her management to let me come.”

“From what I’ve seen of your photos you deserve to be here.”

I looked up at him surprised, “You’ve seen my work?”

“I may or may not have looked through you’re facebook pictures.”

“You stalking me Payne?” I smirked.

“You caught me,” he laughed. “There’s a café that’s open 24 hours down the next street, you wanna go?”

“Do they have real authentic croissants?”

“Well I mean, we are in the middle of Paris, France Jazmin. Come on,” he said and placed his hand on my lower back to guide me down the next corner. I tried not to focus on the fact that a fit lad like Liam was touching me. I tried not to focus on the fact that any of these fit One Direction lads touched me.

We came to the café not too much later and he held the door open for me. I mumbled a thank you and walked in. It was a very cozy little place. There were about 15 little tables, and a little stage in the far side of the room, with an acoustic guitar sitting on a stand. There were only a few people in there, and the barista behind the counter looked like she was trying not to be bored out of her mind. “I suggest you get the hot chocolate with that croissant. They make it with real chocolate.”

“Um,” I cleared my throat, “Do you know how to speak French? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

He shrugged, “I know enough to order for us.” When we walked up to the counter she girl perked up and she mumbled ‘Liam Payne’ softly, her French accent super thick. He smiled kindly at her, “Bonjour,” he greeted before he ordered for us in what sounded like terrible French. The girl on the other hand didn’t seem to care.

She rang us up and before I could get my wallet out of my purse, Liam passed her his credit card, “You didn’t have to pay for me.”

He shrugged, “You can get it next time,” he smiled.

The girl handed him his card and receipt, then pushed a plain piece of paper towards him, “Uh, autograph?” she mumbled looking anxious. He nodded and signed the paper before handing it back, “Merci. Uh, cinq minutes.”

Liam nodded and motioned to me that we should sit. “What did she say?”

“I think she said our order will be out in 5 minutes.” I just nodded and looked around the place at the random artwork on the walls, “So tell me about yourself. Who is Jazmin?”

I shrugged, “Not much to tell. I grew up with Jesy, she’s pretty much my sister. Went to Uni for photography, kicked ass and graduated early and here I am.”

“Wow, that was such a cliff note version of an 'about me',” he laughed.

“Well I don’t know! I hate the whole ‘tell me about you’re self’ thing. It’s awkward!”

“Okay, fair enough.”

I smiled, “So what’s your cliff note 'about me'?”

“Well… I’ve got 2 older sisters. I’ve wanted to be a singer my entire life, I played coffee houses and little venues every chance I got, tried out for X-Factor more times then I’d like to admit, then finally, I struck gold.”

“You’re cliff note version is so much better than mine,” I smirked.

“You get used to it when you do enough interviews.”

“I can only imagine.” The barista came over then setting down our hot chocolate and croissants. After we thanked her I took a sip of my hot beverage, “Oh my god.”

“I told you!”

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted! Is there cinnamon in it?”

He nodded, “Yeah, it gives it a nice kick. Try your croissant.”

I ripped a piece off and popped it into my mouth. Holy shit was is amazing. It was crispy and buttery and fluffy all at once. “Oh my god Liam, this place is like heaven on earth!”

He laughed between bites of his own buttery, flakey goodness, “I never lie about fantastic food.”

As we sat there talking nonsense and enjoying our late night snack, and older gentleman went up to the stage and started playing a slow song. He was singing in French so I had no idea what he was saying, but I knew it was about love. Everything in this city was about love. It really lived up to its nickname. I guess if I actually wanted love, I wouldn’t find it so weird. “It’s a bit corny don’t you think?”

“What is?”

“This city, it’s like everyone‘s love drunk.”

He chuckled, “Why is that corny?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I don’t get it.”

“Get what? Love?” I nodded, “You’ve never been in love? Ever?” He asked a bit shocked.

I shrugged, “Well I may be in love with Justin Timberlake.” He rolled his eyes at my comment. I smirked, “Okay, no. I’ve never been in love. I’ve never even had a boyfriend if you want me to be honest.”

He choked on his food, “You’ve never had a boyfriend?”

“Nope,” I shook my head, “I’ve never felt the need for one. They would have just gotten in the way of my goals.”

“So wait, are you a virgin then?”

I barked out a laugh, “Look out world, Liam Payne isn’t so gentlemanly after all! But no, I didn’t say I was a virgin, I said I’ve never had a boyfriend. There’s a difference.”

He eyed me for a minute with a smile on his face, “So what is it then? You just don’t believe in relationships?”

“No I do, I just don’t think they’re for me. At least not right now. I’d rather just focus on my career and goals, and deal with all that crap later.”

“Wow, ‘that crap,’” he laughed.

I smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just how I feel. Depending on someone, spending all your time with them, and breakups just sounds like a hassle.”

“Offend me?”

I rolled my eyes, “I think every teenage girl knows you’re a big believer in love and relationships.”

He shrugged, “No I guess it’s isn’t a secret, if you’re referring to my last relationship. But Dani and I’s breakup wasn’t a hassle. We’re friends.”

I held my hands up in surrender, “I’m not judging, I was just trying to explain my point of view of things.”

He took a long sip of his hot chocolate, “Wow, how did we get on such a personal subject so quickly?”

“I’m telling you, there’s something in the air. People turn into lovesick fools in this city. If we’re don’t watch it,” I looked around at the patrons in the café with us, “They might bully us into falling in love.”

He laughed, “You are something else Jazmin.”

“Thanks, I take that as a compliment.”

He just smirked and finished off his pastry, “Shall we continue our journey to the Eiffel Tower then?”

I whipped my hands on my napkin, “Yes, let’s go!” He laughed at my enthusiasm as we got up to leave. Before I followed Liam to the door, I walked over to the stage and dropped some notes in the open guitar case.

“That was sweet of you,” Liam commented as we left.

I shrugged, “Hey, he was good!”

“He was. He was also singing about love you know,” he said cheekily.

I scoffed, “Just because I don’t get it doesn’t mean I’m judgmental about it, or at least I don’t try to be. I told you that.”

“I know, I’m just giving you a hard time.” He bumped he shoulder into mine as we laughed.

We were walking for some time when we came to this bridge. Well, the bridge really. “Oh my god the love bridge!” I said speeding up my pace.

“You know,” he called after me, “For someone who doesn’t ‘get’ love, you’re sure excited about everything in this city.”

“Yeah, well ‘YOLO,’” I shot back. I walked onto the bridge, taking in the thousands of different locks, “Do you think any of these people are still together?”

“I’d like to think so,” he said catching up to me. “It’s a lovely idea either way. Just throw away the key and you’re locked together, in at least one way, forever.”

“Or until they cut off all the locks.”

“Will you let me be my hopeless romantic self?” he shot.

I giggled, “Sorry, go right ahead.” We walked closer to one of the sides, looking at all the different names and locks.

“This one says they were married in 1938.”

I whistled, “Wow, that’s a long time,” I said looking over his shoulder. I pointed to the one next to it, “That one says ‘Mommy and Rebeka.’ That’s a cute idea.”

“’Emily and Jessica- bffz fo lyfe,” Liam read and we both laughed. “See? All kinds of love on here.”

“Okay, fine, it’s really awesome! There, I admitted it, happy?”

“Ecstatic!”

I smirked at him and turned back to the locks, “I think I’ll put this on my bucket list. After settling down that is.”

“We might make a romantic out of you yet Ms. Medina.”

“Don’t hold your breath Payne.” I pulled on his arm, “Come on, We’re almost to the tower.”

*****

Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person, after seeing it on the tellie and in books for years was so unreal. They never do it justice. At night it’s all lit up and just… overwhelming almost.

“I have to come back here some time during the day and see it in person!”

“It’s like, completely different in the day time. The whole city is,” Liam had said.

We spent a good 20 minutes walking around the tower. Well it was mostly Liam following me around as I became a complete tourist. But after a while, it started to get colder and we both decided that we should call it a night and head back to the hotel.

“Thanks for coming with me,” I said once we reached the hotel.

He smiled down at me, “Yeah, I had fun. I love walking around new cities. I never get to do it much anymore really.”

“Ah the price you pay for living your dream.”

“Wait till we get to America. Those fans are pretty intense.”

We reached our floor and walked down the hall towards our rooms, “That should be interesting. Guess I won’t be having you as my exploring buddy.”

“We’ll find a way,” he promised.

I smiled at him as we reached our doors, “Well I’ll see you tomorrow Payne. Sleep well.”

“Are we doing the last name thing now? Sweet dreams Medina.”