It Only Happens Once

“And it’s a yes for me. That’s four yesses, Miss Janelle, you are through.”

My feet stayed planted to the ground as Louis’ words kept ringing through my ears. I was going to boot camp: one step closer to fulfilling a lifelong dream. The tears that had been building up had started cascading down my cheeks as I sobbed into my hands. It was just too good to be true. My body refused to move as the shock had set in, but the feeling melted away as I felt another body slam into mine. I was pulled out of my trance to find Adi hugging me as tightly as possible as she screamed and cried along with me.

“Ahhh, you did it! You did it! You did it!” Adi was screaming her little chant in my ear. I joined in jumping up and down with her the way a crazed fan for One Direction might have done if they had seen them, but it wasn’t like I was one of those. I barely heard the crowd laughing as we ran off of the stage, cameras following us catching every embarrassing moment, which included the both of us tripping over wires that were lying on the floor. It didn’t matter to me though. All that mattered was that I was finally doing something for myself and, as far as I could tell, I was doing a good job.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here we go, we're off to go to boot camp. To the wonderful Miami we go." Adi sang while skipping to our gate. Being the major musical buff she was, she pretty much sang and danced wherever we went. It sounds weird, and it was, but you get used to it and start joining in eventually. I linked arms with her and sang along, skipping all the way to our plane. We found our seats quickly, put up our carry-ons, and sat down with a sigh.

"Finally, we get to sit down and relax," Adi half laughed half grumbled. She was right, we had been going non-stop since the auditions. Right after we heard the verdict Adi and I went straight home to pack for Miami, book plane tickets, and then drive to the airport. Adi couldn't stay with me because she wasn't a contestant, but it was okay because her family had a beach house there. Fortunately, her parents were more like family than my own, supporting me the whole way, and were more than happy to let her accompany me to my auditions, paying for her ticket. I pulled my iPhone out and started to scroll through my songs trying to figure out what I would sing at boot camp. It was a long flight from LAX to the MIA, and hopefully it was gonna be enough time.

"If everyone would just sit back and relax we are about to take off for Miami." The seatbelt light went on as the pilot spoke. I put my headphones in and the last thing I saw before I drifted off was Adi pulling out her sketch book and the plane leaving the ground. Alright, let's do this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Adi shook me out of my deep sleep as the plane began to descend onto the tarmac. As I wiped my eyes open I noticed a bunch of crumpled up pieces of paper laying all around me. Apparently, Adi had stayed up the whole flight sketching designs, like always. I opened the one that had been sitting in my lap.

“I like this one. Why’d you throw this out?” I asked. Adi turned to me and looked at me as if I was mad.

“You’re kidding right? Everything was wrong. The colors were clashing, the layers were off, and if you expect me to let you wear this on national television then you are absolutely crazy. If I am going to make a name for myself with this show it has to be perfect, and that wasn’t perfect. PERFECT.” If I had known any better I swore I saw her eye twitch. I think Adi’s broken.

“How many cups of coffee have you had,” was all I said.

“Not much, maybe 7?” my eyes went wide, she had officially hit the wall.

“Okay sweetie. Let’s get you home.” I said cautiously, grabbing our bags and taking her hand. I mouthed a silent sorry to the flight attendants and left. By the time we had gotten our luggage and met our driver to take us to the hotel, Adi had become her normal self. The ride to the hotel was pretty quiet as I kept scrolling through my songs and Adi got a few minutes of much-needed sleep. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, I couldn’t believe where we were. It was huge, probably one of the most expensive and extravagant hotels in Miami. I reached over to Adi to wake her up and dragged her out of the limo. We stood right outside of the hotel for a good minute, soaking up the beauty, the sun, and the mere fact that we were here because I had made it to the next level of the competition. Knowing we had to get right to business, we walked into the hotel, I checked myself in and got settled into my room. Adi sat herself down onto the bed as I paced around the room, trying to pick a song I could sing for boot camp when I received an email.

Dear X Factor Contestants,

Congratulations on making it to boot camp! We are emailing you all to inform you that boot camp will be starting a day later than scheduled. Please be checked in at your hotel by July 24th and arrive at the Miami Performing Arts Theater at 9 am on July 25th. See you all soon!

Sincerely,
The X Factor Staff

Relief set in as I put my phone down, sitting next to Adi. Today was the 23rd. I had one more day to figure out what song I wanted to sing at the first level of boot camp. Adi looked at me and questioned my sudden change of attitude.

“Did you find a song already?” She asked yawning.

“No, not yet.”

“Then what the hell are you doing?! Boot camp starts tomorrow!”

“Nope” I popped the p and smiled at her. “They just emailed me saying that it’s starting a day later. We can do whatever we want today!”

“Great! So what do you want to do?” I looked around the room, trying to think of things to do when there was only one thing I really wanted.

“Well, I kind of want to pick my song already. So I don’t have to worry about it later on” I picked my phone up again and started scrolling through my list of songs. “But I need a place where I can practice my singing too, without disturbing other guests or revealing what I’m going to sing in front of the other auditionees.” Adi sat there helping me think of a place to go. Suddenly her face lit up. She stood up and grabbed my hand.

“I know the perfect place!” And with that, she and I were on our way out of the room. Rather than taking the elevator, Adi ran down the stairs dragging me right behind her. I was out of breath by the time we arrived at her idea of a perfect place, and, to be honest, it was. She opened two large doors to what looked like a ballroom. It was huge, empty, and most importantly, unoccupied. I made my way over to a box like contraption in the corner of the ballroom and opened it to reveal speakers.

“Ok,” Adi started, “Jay, stand in the middle of the ballroom and just sing along to whatever song pops up on your phone”. She proceeded to plug my phone into the speakers and pressed play. Songs started to boom throughout the ballroom as I sang along to them. For the next ten minutes, I sang about two bars of each song that played but skipped straight to the next one. None of the songs felt right to me. I had to step it up from my audition song and these songs just didn’t cut it. Finally, I had found the song I didn’t even know I was looking for. I stood in the middle of the ballroom and sang my heart out like how I would have done on the actual day of boot camp. When it had finished playing I felt myself smile. It was perfect, it felt right, and I knew that Adi felt the energy too. I ran over to her and slapped her hand in a high-five.

“That was awesome! You are definitely going to kill it at boot camp!” Adi screamed, high-fiving me again. Suddenly, a familiar tune started to play through the speakers. We both stopped laughing as we listened, our smiles grew even wider as we jumped around, dancing to one of our favorite songs. We were so caught up in the song, we never realized that people had been watching.

~~~~~~~~~~~

(Niall’s POV)

“Hey baby” It was as if they had all said it at the same time. Zayn, Louis, and Liam had all decided to take a quick break to check up on their girlfriends. I looked at Harry and we “gagged” together.

“Okay, before this turns into a phone sex fest let’s get out and walk around” Harry said with a smile creeping onto his face. I nodded in agreement, I hated being around the guys when their girlfriends were there. It made me feel more alone that I already did. We walked around in our “disguises”. Harry was wearing cargo shorts, a tank top, sunglasses, and a hat. We had to find one big enough to cover all his curls. I opted for the simple sunglasses, beanie, tank, and basketball shorts. As the two of us explored the hotel, we tried to soak in as many details as possible. Together we walked farther towards the lobby area. We heard a few girls talk about us and panicked, then ran into the closest room. As soon as we stepped into the room I heard a girl singing, her voice sounding oddly familiar. It has to be her, how can it be anyone else? Janelle, this is my chance, I’m going to meet her.

“It’s her,” someone said, but it wasn’t my voice it was Harry’s. What? I thought, this can’t be the girl that he had been dreaming about. I couldn’t interrogate him because right after her song ended, ours began. Kiss You blared over the speakers, and if I wasn’t mistaken, the next sound I heard was a couple of girls squealing.

“Dear God, they found us. Harry-” I never got to finish the sentence as Harry grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him putting his index finger in front of his lips. The international sign for silence. We crept past the crates that were blocking our view to see the two girls jumping around singing at the tops of their lungs. Harry and I looked at each other, the amusement in his face mirroring mine. We watched the two girls dance around as if no one was watching, and that was the best part. They had no idea that we were watching them. As the song was ending Harry stood up and began to clap before I could stop him, no hat or sunglasses to disguise his face.

“Well, Niall, I don’t know about you but I think that should go in the music video.” Harry said, inching closer to them. Janelle and her friend whipped around, a small scream escaping her lips and a struggled gasp coming from her friend. I caught on quickly.

“You know, I think you’re right. This would be perfect! Would you mind showing me that spin move you did there?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

(Janelle’s POV)

*clapping*

“Well, Niall, I don’t know about you but I think that should go in the music video.” I stopped immediately. I knew that voice. After hours of watching their videos I knew exactly who that raspy, deep voice came from. I turned around, and there he was. Harry Styles in the flesh clapping for Adi and I. Oh no.

“You know, I think you’re right. This would be perfect! Would you mind showing me that spin move you did there?” This time it was that Irish accent I would only dream about, but even my dreams couldn’t get it as perfect as his voice sounded. Niall Horan was leaning on one of the crates in the corner, arms crossed staring right back at me. This can’t be happening I thought. Adi gathered herself before I could.

“Wow. Uhmm hi. My name is Adi and this is my friend Janelle.” Adi stuck out her hand for both of them to shake. I finally built up the courage and followed Adi to where the boys were standing.

“I know, I saw your audition. You’re an amazing singer.” I blushed as Niall took my hand and kissed it.

“Wait, this is the girl you’ve been talking about?” Harry asked, fear simmering in his voice. “But, this was the girl I was telling you about, the girl backsta-wait a second,” Harry stopped mid sentence and pointed at me, “but you were backstage, right?” I stared at him and shook my head no, then pointed to Adi.

“Uhh, I was backstage.” Adi had risen her hand as if she was a child waiting to answer a question.

“B-but you were wearing sweats just like those ones.” Harry’s eyes landed on the sweats that I had originally worn the day of the auditions. I looked over at my best friend; while confusion was covering my features a look of recognition had lightened hers.

“Oh!” Adi laughed, “See, that was me backstage. Jay and I had to change clothes because she didn’t want to wear sweats on stage.” She smiled at the boy band members. A sense of clarity washed over the boys’ faces.

“Ohh, that makes much more sense!” Niall exclaimed, his and Harry’s bodies sagged in relief. Niall kept his eyes on me, “Honestly though, can you show me how to do that?” He attempted to mimic the move that I had done, but failed, which made me giggle.

“Sure” I said. Niall and I walked towards the center of the room, catching a glimpse of Harry and Adi talking to each other farther away from us. I turned the music back on and just as I took a breath to show him, his and Harry’s phones rang out. I tried to ignore the pang of disappointment. They’re leaving already? But, they just got here. Niall looked at his phone and then to me apologetically.

“Sorry, love, it’s Simon, we have to go. Looks like we’re going to have to continue this dance lesson some other time.” Niall explained, actually sounding sad over the fact that he was leaving. I looked to Adi and Harry to see what to do, but they looked just as disappointed and sad as Niall and I. I sighed.

“That’s ok, it was nice meeting you,” I smiled at him, receiving one back.

“Likewise Miss Janelle,” Niall replied. He and Harry were already walking away having to physically pull each other towards the doors. A look of longing came and went on Harry’s features before he turned around and left. Niall took one last glance at me, winked and followed after Harry. Well, this will be interesting.