Chapter 2

Tweet me your thoughts on it Louis_Laughs J xx

I leaned against the wall by the fountain, barely able to function. Get yourself together, Anna. I thought, then managed to walk back to the studio without fainting.

"Okay Anna, y'ready?" John asked, smiling at me. "Oh yeah." I muttered, hopping onto the stool I was given. I fiddled with the mic coming out from the desk, angling it so it matched where I was sitting. "Perfect. Alright here's a list of listeners' questions, make sure you say your name after you ask them. You don't have to get to them all, just the ones you find interesting. Feel free to add your own, also. There's a pen right there." He pointed to a cup full of pens and pencils then sat in a rolling chair in a corner and fit on his headpiece. As I was grabbing a pen, I thanked god that I didn't have to wear that because my perfectly loose curls wouldn't last long with those huge over-ear pieces.

I quickly jotted down a few questions, and remembered to write in big letters at the top "NO ELEANOR." And underlined it a few times. Louis' breakup with El just about a month ago was tough not only for him and Eleanor, but for the fans too. I had cried, but secretly held onto the little pang of hope I got from knowing he was single. He seemed vaguely upbeat in the hall, so hopefully it wouldn't serve as too much of a problem.

All of a sudden it seemed as if the room exploded with boys. "Niall, what the hell, we just ate." "Liam, you've got something on your arm." "Louis, your shirt is tucked in at the back." "Zayn, you look really tired. Perk up a bit!" And all of a sudden, the five boys who changed my life were right in front of me. They quickly found stools to sit in, Liam on the left, then Zayn, then Louis, then Harry, then Niall. One Direction is looking at my face, my hair, my eyes, my-.

"Anna! We're on air in a minute so get acquainted real quick." John said from his little spot in the corner, writing on a piece of paper. "Hi guys, I'm Anna." I said, attempting to sound like I wasn't about to die right then and there. "Hi Anna." Niall said, leaning forwards to shake my hand. Before I knew it, I shook all the boys' hands. Holy shit, I just touched all of their hands. Their germs are ON MY HAND.

I tried to keep calm. Louis smiled at me more than the other boys, then wrinkled his nose all cutely at me before turning to Harry and whispering to him. I was experiencing the bromances. Before I could really comprehend it, John gave me a quick thumbs up before saying, "On air in 3, 2," then motioning one. "Hi, you're listening to The Dirt Alert with our special guest host Anna, and the boys of One Direction! Say hi, everyone." All the boys chimed in a greeting and I quietly murmered hello before realizing how stupid I looked.

"Okay, off to you, Anna!" John said, giving me a smile. "Okay hi everyone, how are you liking it here?" I asked, trying to put on a smile and avoid shaking myself off the stool. "It's erm, really nice here. Hasn't been too crazy, all the fans are really respectful… we always love that." Harry said. "Yeah, and dinner last night was incredible. We got to meet lots of fans and tried lots of new foods, too. I'd never tried the inside out sushi, it was really fun." Liam chimed in. "Yeah and Zayn had a tough time with the chopsticks. Hilarious to watch. But yeah, we had good craic afterwards with mini-golf." Niall laughed.

"Oh really?" I asked, impressed at how regular I sounded. "Who won?" "I'd say I would have, if Harry wouldn't have cheated." Louis said quickly, cutting off Harry then smiling at him. "I won fairly. Louis' just a sore loser and his ball went into the car park anyways." Harry smirked. I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay so let's get to some fan questions."

I skimmed the list, wishing I would've highlighted things beforehand. "The first one's from Alyssa in Cassalia. She wants to know how you're enjoying the apartment in LA." The boys had gotten an apartment in the middle of Los Angeles for their trips to record the third album and to meet with executives and stuff, because they visited so often. "We're enjoying it, definitely." Zayn looked at the other boys for agreement. "It's definitely different than England. It's much louder, but it's nice to have a second flat here instead of having to move into different hotels whenever we come." I smiled at Zayn, who gave me his famous snarl-smirk in response.

"Here's another question from Hannah in Camden. Which of you boys swears the most?" I already knew Niall would be the answer. "Probably Niall, but we all swear from one time to another. But yeah Niall's got that Irish mouth." Louis said, leaning over Harry and pushing Niall jokingly in the arm. "Yehh, I guess I do swear. I'm working on it though." Niall said, smiling at Louis. Not Nouis. I love Nouis too much. I can't handle this ok.

"It's alright, Niall. I think we all swear too much sometimes. And here's the last fan question. It's by Dani from New Rosefield. She wants to know what your favorite food is at the moment." Harry began. "Mine's probably… anything Mexican. Erm, I like spicy foods." "I, for one, am a huge fan of corn pops. Nothing like corn in the morning." Louis joked, making everyone crack up. Zayn was next. "Chicken, with that mild Nando's sauce. It's really good." "I like chocolate cake. It's definitely not the best for me, but my mum makes this really good chocolate cake when I come home." Liam smiled. At that point I realized I must be in a dream and slapped myself a little to make sure I was awake. "I just eat whatever's edible." Niall said, laughing. Ever since he got his braces off, he showed his teeth more. Oh god it's so cute.

John then got my attention and gestured towards a TV at the top of the room with a message. It said there were 2 more minutes on air. "Alright and that's about all the time we have. Anything any of you want to say to the fans before we go?" Liam started, "We just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone. We genuinely do appreciate everything you do. We see the twitter trends and the posters. We can hear you outside our hotel. We love you all." I felt bad having to close it but John was motioning around like a lunatic. "Okay, thank you boys for coming on the show, we really do love it. Can't wait to see you at the show." Then John pressed a button and a loud short beep sounded.

"And, we're off air. Good job everyone." John said, beaming. "You guys can just chill in here for a little while, I don't think security is ready for you boys to go outside yet. Lemme go check on it." And with that, he was gone.

I'm alone. In a room. With One Direction. I actually cannot handle my emotions. "So are you guys hungry or thirsty or anything? I could see if I could go find you guys something." I said, realizing I didn't know where anything was, but it's too late anyway. "Nah, I'm good thanks. So have you lived here all your life?" Louis asked, genuinely seeming interested. "No, I lived down in Branview when I was younger, it's about 15 hours away. But otherwise no, my mum really enjoys it here."

"Ah, so how'd you get to be a host? We don't usually get to find these things out." Liam said. Oh my god, I thought. He really does care. "Yeah there was a radio call-in and we had to answer a question correctly and I just got really lucky." I sounded so boring, but whatever.

"Guys, you've got to go out the back door so Anna can lead you over. Anna, it's straight back the main entrance and you take a left then it's the last door." John said quickly, obviously stressed by the number of fans waiting outside. It's weird because there were next to none when I walked in. "Okay, come on, I'll show you out." I said, opening the door.

They followed out, joking things to themselves. "Hastings is really nice. It's much less loud than London." Zayn said as I walked them out back. "Thanks! Yeah, it's pretty chill here. I guess girls from other towns around here heard you guys and had to see you." I reached the back door and it hit me that my One Direction experience was over.

No no no stop thinking that. Stop. "Well it was nice meeting you, Anna!" Liam said. "Yeah of course! It was really cool meeting you." I said, then mentally cringed at how awkward I sounded. Paul opened the back door and I tried not to fangirl when I heard him say, "All right boys, coast is clear." And one by one, the boys walked out the back door into a parked black Range Rover.

Liam, then Harry, then Niall who smiled at me, then Zayn, then Louis. But before he went out the door, he stopped to look at me. "I'd really like to talk to you more, you're not one of the crazy fans, I really like that. Text me sometime?" And smiled a cute innocent smile as he handed me a crumpled piece of legal pad paper. "Yeah, I will. It was really nice meeting you, Louis." I said, attempting to smile cutely rather than look like a jack-o-lantern. His gaze lingered, then he turned, walking out the door.

I watched it shut and when I heard the clink of the lock in place, I slowly slid down the wall I was leaning on and started to cry. I'd never been so happy. After letting myself get a grip, I slowly un-crinkled the note Louis had handed me.

It had his name on the top, written in scrawly, messy handwriting. Underneath was a phone number, and underneath that was his signature smiley face.

I stared at it for a good two minutes, held it against my chest, and cried again. Louis Tomlinson just gave me his number. Louis. Fucking. Tomlinson.