𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑰𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑫 | 𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛

•Chapter 18•

'And now, the winner of this long, long journey. The winner of the 2010's x Factor UK is....'

I look at the boys. Who knows what will happen as soon as the winner is announced.

Louis looks up and then towards me. He winks and smiles reassuring to me.

The lights dim again and the spotlights turn on. I grab Cheryl's hand and look to my feet. I have never been this nervous in my entire life. It's not that I have to win, if the guys win I'm thrilled for them. It has been such a long journey, I don't know if I'm ready to close this chapter yet.

'Samantha!' Dermot shouts happily and tons of confetti cannons go off. 

I won. The realisation that I won has difficultly kicking in this time. I won. I WON! What?!

My eyes become bigger and I put my hand before my mouth. Tears roll down my cheeks of happiness and Cheryl embraces me in a long hug.

Dermot walks to me. 'You won Samantha! How are you feeling?'

'I- I- I-.' I stammer and eventually smile as a reaction.

Dermot laughs and walks to the boys. 'Almost first, but just second. How are you guys feeling?'

'It's always a shame to become second, but honestly, Sam is so talented and she really deserves it. We're super proud of her.' Liam says with a genuine smile on his face. 

'And we still got second of the thousands of people that auditioned, so we're proud of ourselves.' Zayn says and smiles wide.

Simon grabs the microphone from Dermot. 'This is definitely not the last time you will hear from One Direction.' he says with a wink and looks at me. 'You deserved it Sam and the boys know that. You may be proud of yourself.'

More tears form in my eyes. I walk to the boys and pull them into a hug. 'I'm so grateful that I got to spend this amazing journey with you five lads.'

'Us too.' Harry winks to me and puts his arm around me.

After a really long hug, I walk to Simon and hug him too.

'Time to celebrate!' Cheryl calls out.

We all go backstage and the champagne is popped open. Don't worry, there's no alcohol in it. The only ones who are allowed to drink from the contestants are Louis and Matt, but not tonight.

We dance through the night, while drinking our kid champagne. 

'I'm so proud of you, Sam.' Niall says smiling and dancing, when we are dancing alone.

I blush a new shade of red. 'Thank you Niall. I'm very proud of you all.'

We dance and dance, and he keeps coming closer. He places his hands on my hips and looks me in the eye. I feel his warm breath on my lips and he comes closer with his head.

'There you are, we were looking for you guys.' I hear Louis saying right next to us.

Niall pulls back instantly and coughs uncomfortable.

I roll with my eyes and walk to the others. That's clear. He wants to kiss me, but only if no one else knows about it. Is he ashamed of me?

***

Around 4 o'clock, I walk to the table to get more of that wild champagne. When I turn around, Harry is only five centimeters away from me and looks into my eyes.

'Would you like to dance?' he asks friendly.

I nod softly. This is my chance to talk to him and find out why he has been acting weird lately.

We walk away from the others and start to dance.

Before I even get the chance to ask one question, we both stop dancing and his eyes are piercingly staring into mine. Again, he's only a couple of centimeters away from me and lays both of his hands on my cheeks, but keeps staring into my eyes.

And that's when everything changed.