Friends, Lovers, or Nothing

I tugged on my plaid vest while I clocked in for work. As I made my way through backstage of Disneyland I said hello to my fellow cast members while making my way to speak with my manager in guest relations.

“Hey Katy!” Emma greeted me in an extremely chipper tone. “Guess who’ll be coming into the parks tomorrow that you get to be the VIP guide for!”

“Please, don’t let it be Justin Bieber again. I can’t take anymore of him.” I groaned. I was one of the small few willing to work with him when he came to the park. Don’t get me wrong, he was rather nice. He just had a tendency to take things too far or get upset over things out of our control.

“No, no. Not this time!” She laughed. "It’s the boys of One Direction! How cool is that?!”

I stood in shock for a moment. “Really?” I managed to ask. Emma nodded her head furiously, obviously extremely excited. “How did I manage to get this? I usually miss out on working with the people I really like!”

“I put a good word in for you! But, as a trade off you’re stuck working lost and found today. Hope that’s okay!”

I looked at her like she was insane, of course that was okay. I gave her a quick hug and did everything in my power to keep my composure and not skip to the lost and found location. The entire shift I was almost in a daze. I had been wanting to meet the guys of One Direction since I became a fan and not only was I going to do that, I was going to spend the whole day showing them around my absolute favorite place. I helped guests the entire time try to locate missing items and leave reports in case anything showed up. It was the fastest L&F shift I had ever done and I actually really enjoyed it, which was odd for me. I always liked walking the parks and interacting with the guests more.

When it was time for me to clock out of work, I said my goodbyes to my fellow guest relations cast members and made my way home to my two bedroom apartment that I shared with my best friend Lilly. As I unlocked the door I could hear her talking to her boyfriend Daniel. Daniel and I weren’t exactly friendly with one another, so I quickly said hello to Lilly before hiding away in my room for a bit. After a while Lilly popped her head in to speak with me.

“Hey, Kat,” She began with a smile. “Dan and I are headed out for drinks. You wanna join?” I hesitated for a moment before asking where they’d be going. “Oh, I’m really not sure. probably up to Hollywood. Don’t worry, I can make sure we’re back to give you time to sleep. What time’s your shift tomorrow?”

“I have to go in around nine thirty in the morning. The guests I’m working with are scheduled to show up around ten.”

“Ooooh who are you working with tomorrow?” Lilly was always really interested in who I got to be a guide for. Sometimes she’d “accidentally” show up to the parks the same day as a celebrity I was showing around so it got to the point I had to start lying.

“Just some rich family from New York.” I shrugged. “Give me five and I’ll be ready to go with you guys for drinks. But, don’t get mad if I go off on my own for a bit. You know I’m not exactly friends with Dan right now.” She nodded understandingly before closing my door. I made my way to my closet full of clothes I rarely got to wear, oh the perks of uniforms.

I came out of my room a few minutes later ready for a night out with my friend in Hollywood. We left our house and drove up to Hollywood, not sure where we’d end up. Somehow, I wound up at The Avalon which had some new British performer lined up for the night whose name escapes me. “Uhm… I think I’m just gonna go to this show.” I said to Lilly as I got out of the car. “Looks like a cool crowd. Text me where you end up and I’ll meet you there later or you can just pick me up here if you’re ready to head out earlier.” I waved goodbye and walked to the ticket window to purchase a ticket. “Hi, there. Can I get one ticket for tonight’s show, please?” asked the gentleman working the window.

“Sorry, miss. Looks like it’s all sold out.” He said shaking his head as he worked on the computer.

I sighed and said thank you before turning to walk to the edge of the sidewalk to hail a cab. Right as I went to put my hand up, someone placed a hand on my shoulder which made me spin around so fast

I almost twisted my ankle. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to frighten you.” A tall man said with a British accent. “I couldn’t help but notice you were turned away when trying to get into tonights show. I have an extra guestlist spot if you’d like to join me. One of my mates bailed on me last minute.”

After only listening to him speak for a few seconds I recognized his voice. It was Liam Payne of One Direction. I giggled lightly and smiled at him. “That would be lovely. My name’s Katy.” I said extending my hand to him.

“Liam.” He grinned, gently shaking my hand. He lead me to the door and gave them his name to which the security smiled and handed us two lanyards with credentials on them. I looked mine over and smiled at Liam who took my arm and brought me into the venue.

“Are you friends with these guys?” I asked as we made our way past dozens of people waiting for the show to start.

“Yeah, we go way back. Used to be neighbors.” He continued to lead me to a door off to the side of the stage which let out in the backstage area. He released my arm once we were out of the rowdy crowd. “Have you ever heard of them?”

“Nope. Just up here for drinks tonight and saw this was going on. Looked like it might be a cool show to check out.” I admitted. He smiled. “I’m sure I won’t be disappointed since you’re a fan.”

Once the band started to play we stood off to the side and watched. Their music was pretty great. Not super original to be honest, but it was something fun to dance to. They even did a cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” which is one of my favorites. After the show I got to meet all of the band members who then invited me out for drinks. I accepted the invitation since that is actually what tonight was supposed to be about anyways.

As we made our way to the cabs to head off to some bar I’d never been to, I pulled Liam aside to speak with him. “I’m sure you know I’m aware of who you are.” I gave a light laugh. “But, I wanted to let you know i’m actually your tour guide tomorrow at Disney. Just thought I’d let you know now before it’s some sort of surprise tomorrow.”

“Well, that means tomorrow will be a blast.” He smiled. “I think the other guys will like you.”

“I sure hope so.” I smiled as we made our way to the last remaining cab.

When we arrived at this weirdly cool bar, I texted Lilly to find out where they were and when they’d be heading back home. I guess if worst came to worst I could shell out whatever it’d cost to get home via cab, although it’d be a small fortune. Liam and I spent most of the night joking, drinking different beers, and just having fun like two friends who had known each other for ages. It was a bit odd for me to feel this comfortable around someone so new.

I finally got a text from Lilly “Wasn’t feeling well so Dan already brought me home. Can you get a cab or something? I’ll pay you back. Promise. Xx” I sighed as I locked my phone and threw it in my clutch.

“Problem?” Liam asked, sensing that I was starting to get pissed at the fact I had been stranded in Hollywood.

“My roommate and her boyfriend took off without me. Now I get to pay for a cab. Exactly how I wanted tonight to end.” I forced a laugh. “I should probably head out. It’s over an hour to get home and who knows how long it’ll take to find a cab willing to drive out there.”

Liam stopped me as I began to get up. “I’ll call a car and take you home. I’m not letting some sketchy cabby take you home. No way.” He stood up with me and we said our goodbyes. By the time we got to the front of the bar there was a car awaiting, just like Liam had said. But what we weren’t expecting were the mass amounts of paparazzi standing outside and snapping photos as we got into the car. “Ugh, my girlfriend is going to kill me. She hates when I’m seen out with other women.” Liam shook his head as we started to drive south.

“I hope she doesn’t get too mad.” I said looking out the window. In all the excitement of tonight i had completely forgotten about the girl Liam was seeing. Atleast I didn’t do anything dumb like kiss him.
We sat in almost complete silence aside from the low hum of the cars on the freeway. When we got close to my apartment I looked at Liam. “It was really nice meeting you tonight.” I smiled, as did he. “I’m really looking forward to meeting all of the other guys tomorrow as well.”

“I’m really happy that we met tonight too. It’ll make tomorrow even more fun now that we know each other a bit.”

We pulled up in front of my walkway and I unbuckled my seatbelt. I got out of the car and gave a small wave to Liam as I then made my way to my apartment. As I went inside I was almost attacked by Lilly. “Holy cow why are there photos of you and Liam Payne all over the internet?!”

“They’re already up?” I groaned looking at the phone Lilly had shoved in my face. “Did Liam Payne and gf Sophie split? Why was he seen with this mystery woman leaving an LA bar tonight?” I read the headline aloud. “This is such bullshit.” I shook my head. “He’s still dating Sophie. We just met at that show and hung out. Nothing more.” I gave Lilly her phone back and made my way to my room to get some much needed sleep before work the next morning. Still not sure how I felt about everything that had happened and the fact Liam didn’t mention his girlfriend till the end of the night. I decided not to over think it and just drift to sleep. No point in worrying about a boy that after tomorrow I’d probably never see again, right?