It Only Happens Once

“And the last girl to move onto Judges’ Houses is…” Simon looked down at his judging sheets and then looked over to the rest of us. I was still standing on stage with the remaining girls. There was only one spot left, and with 26 of us waiting for our fate, anything could happen. My stomach was in knots not knowing if I made it or not. This was either the start of something great or the end of the road. Am I in or am I out? “And the last girl to join us is…”

“Wait! Who is it?” I shot up, gasping for air.

“Uh, it’s Liam? Remember me? I’m from One Direction. We hung out last night. I asked-” I put my hand up before Liam could even finish.

“Liam, it’s ok. I was just dreaming,” I thought about the dream that I had. It was so vivid, almost as if it was really happening. That’s when I realized that something was up. “Shit! Liam what time is it?” He stopped eating his cereal, which was in its two bowls as usual, and lifted his arm up to look at his watch.

“It’s about 11:30. Why?” I panicked.

“Shit! Adi, we need to leave!” I threw the blanket off of me and pushed myself off the couch, only to find myself face to face with the floor. I tried getting up but I still wasn’t able to because I was caught in something. My head turned towards my foot and that something was Niall’s arms, cuddling with it. With all my power I pulled my foot away from him, and he fell to the ground causing him to wake up.

“Huh? What’s up?” he stuttered, his eyes only half open. I quickly got up and continued racing around the house looking for Adi. I heard footsteps following behind me but I couldn’t have cared less about who was following me. All I wanted to do was find Adi.

After running all over the house, I found Adi in the loft asleep on one of the bean bag chairs with Harry next to her.

“Adi!” I shook her until her eyes fluttered open.

“What’s going on?”

“Adi, we need to leave. NOW!” I pulled her away from Harry, the curly haired boy still asleep.

“Where are we going?” she asked still a bit groggy.

“We need to get to the theater right now! The results, remember?!” At that moment, she opened her eyes to the widest they could be and sprinted down the stairs. I ran right after her, grabbing my makeup bag and slipping a pair of TOMS on. The footsteps continued to follow me. I turned around to find Niall, not aware of the drawings on his face. He looked at me with concern.

“Janelle, where are you going?” he asked grabbing my hand.

“I have to get to the theater right now. They announce the results at noon and I can’t be late. I’m sorry for cutting this short.” I looked at him apologetically and let go before hopping into Adi’s Escalade and closing the door. As Adi pulled out of the driveway, I rolled my window down and smiled at Niall. “Thanks for last night. We’ll do it again.” He smiled back at me and nodded.

“Course. Good luck today! I know you’ll make it through.”

“Thanks! You might wanna look in a mirror!” I yelled as Adi and I drove down the street, Niall’s figure slowly disappearing as we turned the corner. I rolled my window back up and plugged my phone into her AV jack.

“Pump up song?” Adi asked without having to take her eyes off of the road.

I nodded and pressed play. “Pump up song.” The rest of the way to the theater, Adi and I had our little dance party to shake my nerves out. We arrived at the theater just in time. Adi parked the car right outside and we both bolted through the doors. Everyone was sitting in the lobby as the judges took their seats inside the auditorium.

“Good luck sister.” Adi gave me a hug and walked over to where the rest of the parents and friends stood. I walked over to the group of girls and found an empty seat on one of the couches in the lounge, which happened to be next to CeCe. I sat down next to her, ignoring the daggers that she shot at me. All I was focused on at that moment was whether or not I had made it onto the next round. That was my goal. It didn’t matter whether or not I made the show. We all sat there quietly as we waited for the judges to call each category in.

“Can we have all the teens please come to the stage.” Everyone below the age of 18 made their way into the auditorium. Fear and uncertainty were both evident on all their little faces. I wished them all luck as they passed by me and walked through the doors. As soon as they were all in, the doors shut and I went back to worrying. The nerves started to build as the seconds passed. I started biting my nails, a habit that I had broken long ago, when my phone buzzed.

I forgot to say before, thanks for lunch. It was great and I hope we can do that again (:

I looked at my phone confused. I didn’t recognize the number and it didn’t seem like it was an American number either. Could it be him I asked myself when I received another from the mysterious sender. It was a picture message. This time, I knew for sure it was him.

Oh, and thanks for this too ;) Good luck today, love. xx - Niall

A big smile appeared on my face as I read the text message and immediately saved the number and picture to my phone. I had completely forgotten that I had given him my number when I ran into him on the stairs, but never got the chance to get his. I put the picture he had sent me as his ID and put my phone back into my pocket. The nerves that had been building up inside slowly went away as the thought of a certain blonde, Irish boy came to mind. I had become so completely oblivious to my surroundings since I had read Niall’s text that I didn’t realize my category had been called. Everyone was almost on stage when I felt someone nudge me hard from behind: it was Adi telling me to get on stage. She noticed I wasn’t moving and rushed to my seat to get my attention. I hurried on stage and stood towards the end of the line.

“Alright, so this is the young adult category.” L.A. said looking over the results. All the judges sat quietly for what seemed like a good 10 minutes before Britney took a breath and began.

“Congratulations to all of you for making it this far, but unfortunately only six of you can move on to the judges’ houses. The first to join us is,” Britney looked back at her paper, “CeCe Frey.” My whole body tensed as she walked off the stage as if she wasn’t even surprised, when she past me our eyes locked and she put on the most evil smile she could muster up. If we both made the show then it would be a very long couple of months. I was beginning to wonder about the possibilities of my future when Simon spoke up.

“The next contestant to join us will be Willie Jones.” I hadn’t met Willie yet, but I had heard good things about him. I clapped for him as he made his way off stage. For the next few people I didn’t really pay attention, I was just waiting for my name to be called. Without even looking up I knew CeCe was staring me down, begging me to look up at her so she could say that I wasn’t going to make it. I didn’t, I knew that I was good, good enough to make it to one of the judges’ houses. So I stood up straighter and looked right at the panel not backing down.

“The person who will be moving on is,” Demi paused, “Janelle Noble.” I froze. Was that my name? I think that was my name! I didn’t move from where I was standing until I saw CeCe with her mouth open and eyes full of fear. I smiled, thanked the judges and walked passed her with every ounce of confidence I had in me. Once I was out of her sight I ran to Adi who was silently screaming and jumping with an enormous amount of energy. We hugged each other and skipped into the lobby.

“You did it! Holy shit, you’re gonna win this thing! You are SO going to win!” Adi was yelling into my ear as she hugged me as tight as she could. For such a small girl she had a lot of strength. I walked over to the side and watched as the last two categories were called in. There were so many talented acts that it was hard watching some of them walk out of the theater, tears streaming down their faces because they weren’t chosen to go through to the judges’ houses. Adi and I took the time to comfort the ones we had gotten to know during our stay, all of them from the teen category, when a few of them had been called back into the auditorium.

“The judges would like to see you all again, please.” A man from the stage crew announced as those who were called walked back in. We watched them slowly trudge back in to hear what the judges had to say. After about five minutes, they all ran out screaming their heads off because they had been formed into groups. We hugged everyone and jumped around when my phone rang, the picture of a blonde boy with lipstick on his cheek appearing on my screen. I smiled and answered my phone.

“Congratulations, love! I told you that you would make it.” Niall said. My smile got even bigger.

“Thanks, Niall. Wait, how did you know that I made it?” I looked around, with Adi tagging along behind me. I turned and walked backwards so I could see the entire lobby. “I don’t see you. Ugh.” I had no idea where I was walking, and didn’t realize that there was someone behind me. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Excuse me. Uh-”

“Look, you found me.” Niall brought the phone down from his face and hugged me. At some point he had picked me up and was spinning me around in circles. My grip around his neck tightened as he spun just a little faster.

“Niall, put me down!” I giggled in his ear. He only chuckled and kept spinning, earning some coughs and smirks from his fellow band members. He slowly put me down and gave me one last squeeze before letting go. “You were here the whole time? How’d you even get here?”

“We used a cab. Just cause we’re a famous boy band, it doesn’t mean that we don’t know how to use public transportation.” He poked me in the side making me giggle even more. Adi passed behind me only to whisper in my ear.

“Watch it, Janelle. The giggle monster’s taking over” She walked on to Harry and the other boys. I on the other hand tried with all my power to stop giggling. But I couldn’t help it, he was just so cute! I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and looked up at Niall.

“So, Janelle, I was thinking we-” but before he could finish, his phone rang. “Hello,” he answered, “We’re here, Uncle Si. Yes, but can it- ok. Be there soon.” His smile faded as he put his phone back in his pocket. He turned to me and held both of my hands in his. “I’m so sorry, love. We never get to finish our conversations.”

“It’s ok, Niall. It’s not your fault.” I tried to smile back at him though I could tell we were both upset at the abrupt ending of the time we had hanging out together.

“You know what? I’ll call you later, love. I promise.” And with that he kissed me on the cheek and ran over to the other guys. They all waved goodbye to Adi and me before heading into the theater to meet up with Simon. Adi walked over to me, she noticed my fake smile, nudged me and smirked.

“You like Irish boy don’t you?” She continued poking me and nudging me until I punched her in the arm. She winced and faked a pout. At this point, I had known her too long to care and brushed it off.

“Yes I do. What’s it to you, sister?” I playfully glared at her and crossed my arms across my chest.

“Oh, nothing. The guys and I were talking and we all know you two like each other.”

“Haha, very… wait. What? Niall likes me, too?” Did Adi really say that the adorable Irish boy from One Direction liked me? “You’re joking right? He can’t like me. I’m just… Janelle, and he’s… Niall from One Direction.” I sighed. Adi shook her head and grabbed my shoulders and shook me a little.

“Jay, seriously? You can’t see that Niall, the Irish boy from One Direction, likes you?” I shook my head no. “Wow, Jay, you are so oblivious when it comes to guys liking you. C’mon, we’re gonna go check you out of that hotel, then we’re going back to the house and I’m going to fix you up so the next time Niall see’s you, he’ll make it even more obvious that he likes you just so you can see how head over heels this kid is for you. Got it?”

“Okay… If you say so…” I stayed where I stood, until Adeline noticed that I wasn’t by her side and ran back and pulled me along behind her. Once we got to the beach house with all my stuff, Adi went straight to work on me. Pulling clothes off hangers, holding them up to me, and throwing them on the ground. I tried to pick the clothes myself, but she slapped my hand, threw the shirt across the room, and glared. I took that as my cue to no longer “help”. After at least two hours the fashionista deemed me presentable. I looked at myself in the mirror and was hardly surprised that I looked amazing. She had me down to the jean cardigan wrapped around my waist and the heeled boots. I walked out of her room to the loft and found all the guys in the living room dressed up and looking ready to go out. Confused, I turned around to see Adi applying lipstick and winking at me in the reflection. It was then that it dawned on me: we were going out tonight.

“Alright gentlemen, let’s go.” Adi announced to the guys who were oblivious to our presence. While Adi was fixing us up the guys got comfortable with the house; Niall in the fridge, Zayn falling asleep on the couch, Liam had found mine and Adi’s photo album, Harry was fixing his hair in the mirror, and Louis was throwing balled up napkins at Liam. When they heard her voice they all stopped what they were doing and stood up except for Harry and Niall who literally froze. She linked arms with me and we strode down the steps towards the guys in our wake. I tried not to notice the five pairs of eyes that watched us as we slowly descended down the stairs, especially the bright blue ones that caught my gaze from behind the refrigerator door. I glanced over at Harry to find a cheeky grin growing upon his face at the sight of Adi. Who could blame him? Adi was a master at dressing up, while I on the other hand preferred sweats. She wore her white, sequined peplum tube top, black fitted blazer, dark blue jeggings, and black heeled booties. She always wanted to look her best. As soon as we reached the bottom, Harry came and took Adi from me. She took his arm and walked right through the door. I stood there, not sure what to do when I felt a hand grab mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Niall’s POV)

“What is there to eat in this house?” I mumbled to myself as I searched Adeline’s kitchen. Right after our meeting with Simon, Harry had told me to get dressed. He never told me where we were going, only that there was going to be food. So, I ran straight to my room and got ready. It wasn’t until we pulled up to Adi’s beach house that I knew what they were up to: they were setting me up with Janelle. They all knew that I fancied her since the first day I witnessed her beautiful singing. All I could possibly talk about was how enchanting she was, like a Siren. From then on the rest of the guys started calling her my Siren. Then we met in the hotel ballroom. She and Adi were only dancing around, singing along to one of our songs, in her sweats, yet she looked absolutely perfect. The more I thought about her, the more nervous I got, and the more nervous I got, the hungrier I became. I opened the refrigerator and finally found something decent to munch on when Adi called from the stairs.

"Alright gentlemen, let's go." At that moment, all five of us stopped what we were doing to see the two girls making their way towards us. With me being in the kitchen, I couldn’t see what they looked like. Harry, the usual cheeky grin spreading across his face, slowly made his way towards Adi, taking her arm and leading her out the door. Liam, Louis, and Zayn took a glance towards where Janelle must have been and smirked at me. That’s when I saw her. Her chocolate brown eyes met my blue ones making my heart stop. She was absolutely stunning. She wasn’t all too dressed up like Adi had been, but it was perfect. Her hair was perfectly straight, a headband worn in a hippie style kept her dark brown locks in place. She wore a maroon colored cropped top that revealed a little more of her tan skin than usual, but she covered it up with an open jean button-up. The black jeans she wore hugged her legs perfectly, and with her shoes, though they looked to be about 5 inches tall, she still managed to be shorter than me. As soon as I gathered up my courage, I slowly closed the refrigerator door and walked towards her and grabbed her hand.

“Hi,” I greeted her shyly. She smiled at me then looked back down at her feet.

“Hi,” she replied quietly. Liam, Louis and Zayn decided to leave us alone and followed Harry and Adi out to the car. Zayn gave me a thumbs-up, Louis made kissy faces at me, and Liam just smiled as they walked out the door. I chuckled and looked back at Janelle, who was twirling the ends of her hair in her fingers. I took this as an opportunity to reach over and hold her hands, making her stop fidgeting and look up at me.

“You look beautiful, Janelle.” She smiled even wider, her eyes meeting mine.

“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself, Mr. Horan. You clean up well.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was just absolutely stunning. I offered her my arm and she instantly linked hers with mine as we made our way to the car. She got so excited when she found out where we were going. Apparently she had no idea that this dinner was happening either. She was getting so animated, and I was so into watching her that I didn’t even realize that someone had asked me a question until Adi screamed my name.

“Niall! Earth to Niall Horan!” Adi yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Huh? Yeah, I like Italian food.” I was reaching for answers hoping that since we were heading to an Italian restaurant that maybe that was the subject.

“Nice try, Horan. If you weren’t straight up staring at Jay you might have known that we were talking about what you guys were planning on doing for your vacation.” Adi was staring at me in the rear view mirror. I was tongue-tied and I heard the guys all trying not laugh. I could feel myself starting to blush, but before I could even come up with something to say, the one person that caught me saved my ass.

“Well, never mind we’re here anyway.” She caught my eye again and winked. As we were getting out of the car I risked looking at Janelle again and saw that she was watching me too. Adi whispered in her ear and she blushed, but before Janelle could say anything Adi pushed her towards me. With that, she made her way over to me and grabbed my hand. For a second I just stared at our fingers intertwined with each other. I looked over towards Adi to mouth a silent thank you to her, but she was already at the front of the restaurant with Harry at her heels like a lost puppy and the guys close behind. I would have to thank her later. Janelle and I trailed after everyone, giving us time to just be with each other. I smiled down at her and she squeezed my hand a little tighter. The other boys followed directly behind Adi and Harry only to poke fun at the curly haired boy for being so clingy. As I looked over at the guys, I noticed Liam looking back at Janelle and me. We made eye contact and I flashed him the biggest smile I could possibly make. He smiled genuinely back at me. I thought I saw something else in his eyes, but before I could figure out what it was, it had disappeared. We all made our way towards the podium where we were greeted with a smile by the hostess.

“Miss Adeline, nice to see you again. Your table is right this way.” She grabbed a handful of silverware and menus and led us to a private booth in the back. We each slid down the seat one after the other. Adi made her way towards the middle, followed by Janelle, me, then Liam; Harry, Zayn, and Louis sitting on the other side of Adi. As soon as we were all seated, the waiter came to take our drink orders then left us to decide.

“There’s so much food to choose from!” I exclaimed skimming over the possible food choices. “What should I get?”

“I already know what I’m getting,” I heard Janelle say. I looked over at her and noticed that she hadn’t even opened her menu.

“How can you know what you want already? You never touched your menu.” The puzzled look on my face caused Janelle to giggle.

“I’ve been here so many times with Adi that I just get my usual,” she smiled sweetly and leaned back in her seat as she waited for the rest of us to make our choices. All I could do was shrug then continued to look through my menu. After about 15 minutes of everyone glaring and groaning at me to choose what I wanted, the waiter came to take our order. While we waited for our food, Adi decided to continue the conversation we had had in the car.

“So, like I was asking earlier, Niall, what are you guys planning on doing during your vacation?”

“Uh,” I started, “I think the lads and I are going to New York for about a month or so. Maybe check out fashion week.” The boys just nodded their heads in agreement. I looked over at Adi and Janelle, their eyes both wide. “What?”

“You guys are so lucky! I’ve always wanted to go to New York.” Janelle replied, a small frown forming on her usually cheerful face.

“Wait. Did you just say fashion week?” Adi asked. Harry nodded his head. “I have never been there for fashion week! It’s, like, a dream of mine!”

“Well, what were you girls planning on doing before the judges’ houses?” Liam asked the girls, who’s expressions turned from wishful to disappointed.

“All we can do is go back to LA and go back to working at our summer jobs, until I have to go back to the competition.” Janelle replied.

“I’ll probably keep working while she’s in the competition and only make it to watch the live shows if she makes it in, which she will.” Adi nudged Janelle on the shoulder making Janelle bump into me. My reflexes caused my hand to try and stop me from bumping into the next person, but rather than landing on the seat, my hand landed on Janelle’s leg. I quickly pulled my hand away before any of the others saw what had happened. Right at that moment, the waiter had come with our food. As everyone got what they ordered, I turned to Janelle to apologize.

“I’m sorry about that. It was a reflex.” I whispered. She smiled at me.

“It’s ok, Niall. Adi can be a little… violent sometimes.” I smiled back as we both waited for our food. The waiter came around and passed Janelle her plate as well as mine. She had opted for her usual, which happened to be Fettucini Alfredo, while I ordered something that they had called “A Tour of Italy”, which had 4 different types of pasta. I eagerly began chowing down on my food as did everyone else. Janelle simply stared at her plate and then over at everyone else’s, a frown once again forming upon her face.

“Awww! Everyone’s plate looks so delicious! Mine just looks like bleh.” Janelle exclaimed. Everyone just smirked at her.

“I always tell you to try something different, Jay, but you never listen to me.” Adi shrugged her shoulders and started eating her food. Janelle looked down disappointedly at her small plate of fettucini and began to twirl her fork in her pasta. After about five minutes she was able to finish it and just sat there watching everyone else eat. My plate had only been halfway emptied considering the amount of pasta that was served and I decided to share with her. I pushed my plate in between us.

“Here you go, Janelle. You can have some of my food.”

“No, Niall, it’s ok.” She smiled kindly and sat back against the seat.

“No, Janelle. I insist. I know you’re still hungry. That was too small of a plate.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, “Course! Let’s dig in!” She picked up her fork and went for the Lasagna. For a moment, I swear I could feel someone staring at me. I looked up from my food and found the rest of the guys staring at me wide eyed, smiles appearing on their faces, except for Adi, who glanced between each of us in confusion.

“What’s going on?” She mouthed at me. All I could do was shrug. That’s when my phone vibrated -- as did Liam’s, Louis’, Zayn’s and Adi’s. Suspicious, I took my phone out of my pocket to read the message, making sure Janelle didn’t notice anything. Luckily, she was too busy enjoying the food.

Looks like Niall’s found his Princess ;) - Harry

I playfully glared at Harry and went back to reading the group messages.

Haha that’s cute, but I don’t get it. Why? - Adi

The leprechaun finally shared food. He never EVER shares his food. Not even with us. - Louis

Shut up, Lou! - Niall

LOL I get it now! Awww, Niall, that’s adorable! - Adi

Thanks, Adi (: - Niall

I smiled inwardly at the approval I was getting from Adi and the lads when Janelle spoke up.

“Oh, everyone’s on their phones. I guess I’ll get mine then.” She giggled, pulled her phone out and started scrolling what I was guessing to be her Instagram. She looked back up from her phone, her gaze wandering around to each of us when her eyes stopped at Zayn. “I like your phone case, Zayn. Did you draw that?” Zayn took a break from his phone to take a look at his case.

“Thanks, Janelle. Yeah I drew it myself.” Zayn smiled widely, taking pride in his artwork. “I like your case too”. Zayn motioned over to Janelle’s phone which displayed the boys and I in our “One Thing” video. Janelle blushed when she noticed all five of us smiling at her.

“T-thanks. But i’ve dropped this case so many times that the picture is starting to come off. I’ve been saving up for a new one.”

“Well, what case do you want? I can get it for you.” I offered. Her eyes went wide as she shook her head.

“Oh, no, Niall. It’s ok. That’s asking too much of you.”

“Don’t worry, Janelle! It’s just a case. It probably will only cost me about $25 max.” I smiled at her reassuringly, but all she did was giggle and shake her head at me.

“Niall, it’s a $150 Michael Kors case.”

“$150?!” We exclaimed.

“Yes, $150. It’s a case that also acts as a wallet. I was never a big fan of lugging around big purses and so I decided to save up for that case instead. So, thank you for the offer, Niall, but we just met and that’s asking too much of you.” She reached over to hug me from the side, in which I returned the gesture. Other than the small talk over phones and cases, the rest of our dinner consisted of talking about our hometowns, schools, and hobbies. It amazed me, as I’m sure it did the rest of us, how much and how quickly we all got along with each other. It was as if we all had known each other from when we were younger, but in reality, it had only been a couple of days. After about a half an hour, we decided it was time to head out. The meal had been completely free since Adi’s parents were generous enough to put it onto their tab. We all walked over to Adi’s car and let the girls sit up front while the boys and I sat in the back. I had some important business to talk to them about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Janelle’s POV)

On the way back, the guys decided to have me sit up front. I smiled, a little disappointed that I couldn’t sit next to Niall again, but I took their offer and sat next to Adi. The ride home was pretty quiet, except for the occasional chuckles, shoves, and “Lou’s” that were heard from the back. I turned around a couple of times to find Louis holding Niall in a headlock or Louis and Harry poking Niall on the shoulders. They ceased to bother the blonde boy as soon as they saw me staring back at them and all I could do was roll my eyes and shake my head. Soon enough, we had made it back to Adi’s. She parked the car and, this time, the boys waited for the car to be completely stopped before filing out. We walked them to their car which was parked out on the curb. Niall made his way over to me and entwined his hand with mine.

“Tonight was fun. I really enjoyed getting to know you more.” He said, his Irish accent making me smile even more than I already had been.

“Me too. We should definitely do this again sometime. And next time, I’ll let you order for me.” I gently poked him in the stomach with my free hand, earning a small chuckle from him. Our short walk came to an end when we made it to their car. We all gave each other goodbye hugs before they piled into their car, Niall being the last one in. Before he climbed in, he leant down and kissed me on the cheek.

“I’ll call you, yeah?” he smiled at me.

“That’d be great” I smiled back before giving him one last hug. I stepped back so that he could close the door and watched as Preston drove them away. Adi and I walked back to the house, her nudging me every five seconds before we heard a car pull up onto the curb and footsteps running across the cement. I turned around, and, to my surprise, I found Niall making his way towards us.

“Janelle, wait up!” He yelled as he got closer.

“Yeah?” I asked him, curiosity evident in my voice.

“The lads and I wanted to know,” he said breathing hard from running, “if you girls wanted to go to New York with us tomorrow.”