Chapter 31 – Valerie’s P.O.V.

            “I’m going to the Teen Choice Awards!” I sung as Niall pulled into the mall parking lot, laughing at my idiotic behavior.

            “You have to get a dress first!” Niall sung back in the same tone, making me laugh as I smacked him playfully in the shoulder.

            Today was the day we had to walk around the mall… holding hands. I didn’t know if this was going to be awkward or not, but I got out the car anyway just as Niall did. He gave me a soft smile, spotting the paparazzi not too far away. He outstretched his hand for me to take, so I returned the genuine grin before locking our hands, our fingers lacing through each other’s. Holding hands with Niall wasn’t as warm as with Harry, but it still bedazzled me that I was holding hands with Niall freaking Horan.

            Breathe, Valerie.

            I must give myself credit, though. I’ve gotten rather good at containing my insane fangirl side. Of course, I slip up occasionally (how could you not?), but the boys are sweet enough that they just laugh at me and brush it off. All five of them are more genuine in person than in interviews, and I still find it hard to believe that people see them as rude and self-conceited. They’re without a doubt the nicest people I’ve ever met. They don’t put on an act, and I love that about them. They’re honest.

            Nonetheless, I found myself squeezing Niall’s hand tighter at the thought of actually going to the Teen Choice Awards. I was surprised to find out that the Teen Choice Awards were being held in Tampa this year, but it doesn’t exactly bother me. I’m still going with One Direction. I’m still going to see a whole bunch of people I adore. It’s yet another of my dreams coming true.

            “You okay?” Niall asked, breaking me from my inside fangirling.

            “Huh? Oh, yeah. Uh, I was just… thinking,” I told him, then realized I was still gripping his hand tightly. I loosened my grip some. “I’m sorry.”

            Niall chuckled, waving me off. “It’s fine. Let’s go get you that dress, yeah?”

            I smiled, nodding as we pushed our way into the entrance of the mall, multiple flashed practically blinding me. Even in the little mere two weeks I’ve spent with these boys, I’m still not accustomed to the constant question screaming and bright lights. I don’t see how they even put up with it. It pisses me off to a point where I want to snatch their cameras and shove them up their ass. Yeah… I’m not too polite when I’m mad…

            My phone rang as soon as we walked into the first store, so I let go of Niall’s hand to dig it out of my purse. “Hello?” I questioned, still walking beside him as my eyes skimmed over incessant racks of fancy dresses and skirts.

            “Valerie? Honey, where are you?” Mom’s voice pondered from the other side, making me remember that I forgot to call her last night.

            “Oh, crap. I’m sorry, Mom.”

            “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just… you know… One Direction and stuff,” I murmured into the speaker. I feel incredibly guilty for not telling my Mom anything about the contract, but knowing her like I do, she’d freak the crap out because it has to do with the law. She’d probably scream her fear out at me.

            “You can’t keep missing school, Valerie. I know I’m being very easy with this, especially since you hardly ever miss school, but you have a lot of work to catch up on.”

            “I know, I know.”

            “I know these boys are your idols, but you need to finish your makeup work so you can turn it in. It’s Wednesday, Valerie. The middle of the week,” she scolded.

            “I know this, mother,” I sighed, raking a hand through my hair exasperatedly. Niall rose an eyebrow at me, but I gave him a little smile and held up my finger to motion him that I’d be done in a minute.

            “When do they leave again?” Mom asked, making my heart clench at the thought of the boys leaving for their tour.

            “Sunday. February second,” I said quietly.

            “Oh,” Mom replied, a small silence forming between then. She then let out a loud sigh. “All right, Valerie. I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll excuse you from school the rest of the week, if you promise to do at least a little of your makeup work while you’re with the boys. I’m sure they have some free time in the hotel, so please try and finish some of it while they’re here. You have to finish at least half and then you can finish the rest Sunday night. Deal?”

            “Deal,” I said instantly.

            “Are you still going to be sleeping over at their hotel?”

            “Um, I don’t know. It’s kind of sporadic, but maybe…? I’ll call you later and let you know,” I said. Niall held out a dress and rose his eyebrows, but I scrunched my face and shook my head. Niall shrugged, hanging it back on the rack and continued to look.

            “Okay, but honey, please tell me you’re using protection.”

            My eyes widened, my lips parting in utter shock as I was at a loss of words. Niall noticed, his eyebrows etching together in confusion. I mustered the courage to turn around and grumble into the speaker, “Mom, we haven’t even done that before. I’m a virgin, remember?” I prayed to God Niall couldn’t hear me, but I got the odd and awkward feeling that he could.

            Mom sighed. “That’s good, but I’ve heard the boys can be quite seductive. Especially towards their biggest fan. Who knows what—?”

            “Mom!” I scolded in a whisper-yell, but she kept rambling. “I’m hanging up now.”

            “What? Valerie, no—“

            Beep.

            My cheeks had to be the color of a tomato when I pushed my phone back into my butt pocket. I sheepishly turned around to face Niall, only to see he was biting his lip to hold back a laugh. Thus, telling me he heard everything.

            “Don’t even talk about it,” I murmured, my hands slapping over my face, completely embarrassed.

            Niall chuckled, holding up his index finger. “Just one question.”

            Dropping my hands from my red cheeks, I pursed my lips tightly in fear of what he was going to ask. “What?”

            Niall smirked, raising a single eyebrow. “You’re a virgin?”

            “Niall!” I pleaded, pushing past him as my cheeks flamed immensely, my entire body hot from embarrassment.

            Niall laughed behind me. “I was just curious! I just thought… I don’t know… you weren’t one.”

            “Whale why would you think that? I’m an insane fangirl that literally scares off everything that lives,” I told him, placing my hands on my hips as I bit down hardly on my bottom lip.

            Niall’s cheeks hinted a faint pink. “Well, you’re pretty—really pretty, so I just thought you’ve… you know… done it before,” he said, blushing slightly.

            Other than the fact that Niall looks completely adorable blushing, I found myself mesmerized at the fact that Niall Horan thinks I’m pretty. I don’t even know what life is anymore, but I really like this one.

            Instead of replying, I smiled back as my cheeks felt permanently heated. Niall gave me another soft smile before we continued rummaging through dresses. My eyes caught on multiple cute ones, but all of them either looked like what sluts would wear, or I just didn’t think I would be able to pull it off. Niall made me try on countless ones, but I turned down nearly all of them—even when he said they looked good.

            We searched through four different stores before my eyes finally caught on something I actually liked. It was navy blue, a slit down the side up to the hip, looking as if some of it was peeling off over the top, lace underneath it (Dress on the side!). It was beautiful, honestly, but I didn’t think I would be able to pull off something so… flashy.

            “That’s cute,” Niall said, noticing how my gaze kept lingering on it.

            “Yeah, but… I don’t think I can pull something that… sexy off,” I told him, stumbling over the proper word.

            Niall chuckled. “Try it on, love. You never know.”

            “Why the hell not?” I mumbled, grabbing the dress as Niall laughed at me, following me to the back dressing rooms.

Niall’s P.O.V.

            I watched Valerie’s feet twirl under the dressing room door, one foot at a time as she tugged the dress on. If I’m being honest, I was a little impatient to see the dress on her. Valerie is downright gorgeous, and I wish she saw that in herself. It’s hard not to try and “make a move” on her, but I have to stick to the bro code. I’d never steal Harry’s girl, and he’s definitely head-over-heels for this one. Who could blame him?

            “This is a definite no,” Valerie drug out from the other side of the door.

            “Let me see,” I pleaded, leaning back into the lounge chair that happened to be in the lobby of the dressing rooms.

            “Absolutely not,” Valerie said, reminding me instantly of Harry. He tends to say that often as well. Who know they were so perfect for each other? Actually, the more time I spend with Valerie, the more I see similarities between the two. “Perfect for each other” would be an understatement.

            “Please? Don’t you want a second opinion?”

            “Not really,” Valerie murmured, but then the door clicked open.

            My lips parted, my eyes slightly widening at the sight of her in the navy blue dress. I’ll admit, it’s a little flashy, but she looks drop-dead gorgeous in it. She was holding her hair up with one hand, situating the top of the dress with the other, but still looking flawless. Harry is one lucky bastard.

            “Whoa,” I breathed out to myself, raking a hand through my hair and tearing my gaze away.

            Calm, Niall. She’s Harry’s; not yours.

            “It’s awful, isn’t it?” Valerie sighed heavily, dropping her hands in defeat.

            “N-No, it’s… you look good,” I choked out, the room suddenly feeling ten times harder as I tugged at the collar of my polo.

            “Really?” Valerie asked, her eyes meeting mine with that little sparkle in them.

            I managed a smile, even though my insides were flustered. “Yeah. I think you should get it, Val.”

            Valerie smiled, merely shrugging before she nodded and entered the room once more to change into her regular attire.

            I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, slouching further into the seat as I closed my eyes. Harry should be happy he has a great and loyal friend like me. Even though he’d surely punch me in the face for staring at Valerie like that.

            But if I wasn’t such a great friend, I might’ve let my temptations get the best of me. Then he’d surely kill me.

-

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So... I decided to put my experiences of the Austin Mahone concert at the bottom so you guys could read the chapter & skip this if you want. 

WHALE. Where do I start? 

Omg, so the concert was yesterday, but I live in Tallahasse and it was in Orlando (which is four hours away), so my friend stayed the night with me Tuesday, and we left the house at like 10:30 yesterday morning. 

Driving there was easy, aside from me nearly getting sick and us having to pull over so I could throw up. (I agree, it's disgusting). But then, we get to the hotel and get our room or whatever, and the guy tells us we have to drive around the building to get to our room area or something. So, we go to get back in the car, and guess what...

THE CAR DOESN'T FREAKING START.

I was literally about to cry because it was 3:30 and the concert started at 7, but I wanted to get there early since it was floor tickets to get to the front and stuff. Whale, the flipping battery died, so we were freaking stranded at this freaking hotel.

The hotel guy and some random other person came and helped us push it to a parking spot, and then we sat in the hotel room for an entire hour while my mom called Triple A for them to come help us. I'm starting to freak out because we were supposed to get to the Hard Rock at 5:30, and here it is almost 5 when the guy freaking gets there.

It takes him like thirty minutes to switch out the battery and crap, and then my mom comes back into the room and wants to take a freaking shower. But, with me being the tempermental girl I am, I refused to let her get one. She was going to get freaking sweaty in the place anyway, so why bother?

Anyway, we ended up leaving the hotel at like 5:45 (way past when we were supposed to), but then the GPS led us in the wrong freaking direction and we didn't get to the Hard Rock until like 6:15. 

I was pissed.

It was cold, for one, and then you have all these hoochie females standing outside IN THE DAMN COLD with booty shorts and crap. I was so freaking mad because when we finally got in the room, we were near the back. I was on the verge of bringing a damn place into the place and running everyone over. Not to mention I'm short as crap, so I couldn't see a damn thing.

BUT. My friend got the brilliant idea to yell "I'M GONNA BE SICK" right before the lights dimmed, and literally everyone moved out of the way. I was laughing my ass off because all of the girls were so prissy and everything. It took them a split second to move, and me and my friend barged to the front. Needless to say we got a lot of dirty looks, but I didn't even care. 

I WAS IN THE FRONT BITCHES xD

So then the concert started and it was freaking beautiful. I didn't know his opening acts, but one of the members from Midnight Red took off his shirt and I about died. Jesus, he was beautiful. BUT THEN AUSTIN COMES OUT IN A DAMN TANK TOP. LIKE NO, HONEY. I NEARLY SCREAMED MY VOCAL CHORDS OUT, HE'S SO PERFECT.

In conclusion, the concert was beyond amazing, Austin Mahone is sexy, and I even got a rose that he tossed into the crowd. So, yes, besides all the drama before, my night was well worth it and now my throat is killing me.

If you read all this, bless your heart. I highly doubt anyone did, but it's such a story, I just had to put it on here xD

LOVE YOU ALL xx

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