Living Next Door to 1D

Chapter 6

*recap*

I  walk down my stairs, mentally preparing for the fact that I'm about to actually meet my heroes in life. Aaah! Internally I shriek, but I tell myself I'm not going to be that fan girl.

I buzz their outdoor door and it opens. Not sure why they didn't come open the door but oh well. Their house also has outside stairs like mine, it is very cool. I walk up the stairs and finally get to the door. They're right behind it. I knock and it opens.

They're standing right there. Oh my goodness One Direction is standing right in front of me. I wave awkwardly with my hand. "Um, hi..." I say.

"Come on in, Olivia," Liam says, pushing the others out of the way so I can enter.

As I walk in, I look around the house. It looks bigger from the inside, I suppose they're sharing rooms. I smile as I think of the fun they must be having, then I remember they're standing right behind me. I freeze and turn around slowly. "Sorry," I apologize. "I was just- you know-"

"It's fine luv, we understand," Louis says. "Why don't you come on over and sit on the couch here?" I follow him and sit down. Niall sits next to Louis, but then Harry pushes him away and sits in his place.

I giggle and Niall looks at me, hurt. I stop laughing but he smiles, so I know he's not really serious. Liam sits down on my other side and Zayn and Niall sit on armchairs across from us. We stare at each other awkwardly for a couple seconds until Zayn speaks up.

"So how long have you been a fan, Olivia?" The boys turn to me.

"I've been a fan since last December, it's a short time I know. I knew and listened to What Makes You Beautiful and Story Of My Life regularly, but I had no idea who you were until my cousin introduced me to Night Changes.

"I fell in love with the key change, you know the one?" They nod and I continue. "So after that, videos of you in your 1D days started popping up on my Pinterest feed, I started listening more and now I'm proud to call myself a Directioner. I'm still catching up on your solo music, but I'm getting there," I finish, looking at my hands. Will they think I'm stupid? Or that I'm not a true fan because it's been so little time since I became one?

"That is an amazing story! I love that your cousin introduced you and that she's the reason you know us," Harry says. "Is she also a Directioner?" I shake my head.

"No, she knows who you are and she knows some of your songs but she doesn't call herself a true fan I don't think," I say, laughing a bit.

They start asking me questions about my life and I tell them how we got Felicity, without mentioning her name, and of course our chickens. I want to ask how they reunited and for how long they've been reunited, but they'll tell me when they're ready to. After all, I know everything about them but they know nothing about me!

We continue chatting and laughing for a while longer until Louis, from my side, asks, "what were you crying about, luv? Earlier, when we found you I mean." I look back down at my hands and start playing with my rings.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude luv, you don't have to tell us of course," Louis says softly, putting his arm around me.

"No, no it's all right. You've been so vulnerable to us already, it's my turn now. By us I mean all the fans," I clarify. Still looking at my hands, I tell my tale.

"When I was in 8th grade, I started public school. I'd been homeschooled up until that point. I entered a very small school, the one I'm graduating from in a couple weeks. I'm naturally a very shy person, and I didn't make friends easily. Halfway through the year, I started to get closer to one of the girls in my class. She was my best friend. I'd rather not say her name, if you don't mind," I look up quickly and see them nod their heads, with sympathetic looks on their faces. I look back down and continue to play with my rings.

"This girl and I, we became super close. Inseparable, almost. 8th grade turned to 9th, and 9th grade turned to 10th. Last September, I came back to school and she acted like she'd never seen me before. I tried to talk with her, I texted her, but she wouldn't say a word in my direction.

"Oh, in class she was the loudest person, always speaking up, telling jokes. But to me, she never said a word. Everyone in class noticed. Even my teachers saw it. We all wondered what was wrong. I started to think that maybe there was something wrong with me, that I hadn't texted her enough during the summer.

"For Christmas that year, well last Christmas, we went to visit my family. My cousin introduced me to Night Changes. I became a fan. Once I listened to If I Could Fly, I knew. It was about me, even though you didn't know me." A tear started to roll down my cheek. Liam also put his arm around me. Louis' hadn't moved.

"When we went back to school after Christmas break, I found out she'd posted everything about me online. Everything. All of the things I'd told her in confidentiality, as a secret. My birthday, where I lived, my hobbies, my pets, the names of my extended family! Sometimes I still wonder if she kept a folder with her to write all of that down." I try to joke about it, but I sober up and continue.

"Everyone at school knew everything. They started making fun of me sometimes, mostly just giving me the cold shoulder and ignoring me. The teachers tried not to but I could see it in their attitudes.

"I reported her, so did my entire family, and eventually her account and all my information got taken down. But they were a couple of crazy and horrible months." My voice breaks and more tears fall. I hear one of the boys shift and someone hands me a tissue.

"Thank you," I whisper. I blow my nose and wipe my eyes.

"She tried to go back to being friends with me, after her accounts were all taken down, saying it was a simple prank, but I told her no. She tried messaging me everywhere she could, but I blocked her everywhere and now I only see her at school." I feel somebody moving beside me but I don't look up.

Suddenly I feel ten arms surrounding me, giving me a hug. I start tearing up again, because nobody has ever given me such a good hug. Of course, everyone in my family knew what was going on with this girl, but they never actually came and gave me such a hug as this one. They told me it would all be okay, that I'd be fine, but they didn't come on the nights I cried myself to sleep because nobody had talked to me that day.

I realize we've been hugging for a few minutes and I start to push them off. They only tighten their hold and I relax, smiling at their protectiveness over a fan they just met. We stay like that until I tell them that I'm all right. Slowly they let go and they smile at me.

"We're so sorry this happened to you, Olivia. We know our fans go through a tough time but we've never had one share with us exactly what's going on with them. Thank you for giving us an insight," Harry says from Louis' side.

I nod and look back down. Liam pushes my chin back up and smiles.

"Thank you for sharing that, luv," he says, and opens his arms for another hug. I hug him and then check my watch. We've still got an hour left. Niall hands me another tissue and I blow my nose and wipe my eyes again. Zayn passes me a water bottle, which I accept gratefully.

I sit back and look at them. I smile, thinking how lucky I am. So many people would give anything to be with them right now, as I am with them. I wonder what they'll tell me. I wonder how they reunited. Who their management is. If Larry is still "alive", so to speak, and if they're free to be who they are. How they'll manage, with their solo music. I hope they'll tell me.

*authors note* i'm not going to be mean and i'm going to leave it here, on a sweet note! I hope you enjoyed it luvs! Sorry if I made you cry <333 I promise the next chapter is much happier! Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Switzerland, so I'll try and write a couple chapters on the plane and post them sometime tomorrow. I might even write one while I wait to board, if I can. Now, goodnight everyone (from my perspective lol) and have a great day luvs!!!