Saturday, May 26 2012
New York, NY

New York was always a whirlwind. There was always so much to do and so little time to do it in. The unfortunate thing was that there was never any time for the boys to actually do any sightseeing. It was always press, press and more press.

Again, they had spent the night travelling. However, unlike the day before the boys were all awoken early to go do a radio show, and then they were on their way to MTV.

Weekends? Non-existent when you’re in a boyband.

Niall yawned as he leaned his head against the car window. Just as he closed his eyes, the car stopped.

“Wake up, Niall!” Louis laughed as they stepped out of the car.

“I’m awake,” Niall muttered, running a hand through his blonde hair as he opened his eyes. He quickly followed behind the others.

If he hadn’t been before, he sure was now. Outside the MTV studios, there were girls upon girls, screaming, shouting, holding up signs. Some of them were even crying.

“Unbelievable,” Zayn breathed as he looked around. By now the group was used to the attention, but it still sometimes humbled them when fans showed up at appearances such as these. This wasn’t a performance or anything… they were just there.

“Come on guys,” Their security guard, Paul said, ushering the boys away from waving at the girls. “No time for autographs today, we’re on a tight schedule.”

“When aren’t we on a tight schedule?” Harry muttered under his breath, nudging Niall.

Niall just nodded in response.

After going though the dreadful torture of sitting in the makeup room for half an hour, the boys were carted off to the studio. They shook hands with the VJ, looked out the windows, waved at the fans outside and finally sat down in the array of bean bag chairs that had been set up for their interview.

That was when the camera switched on.

“With the hordes of teenage girls outside, you’d think it was the nineties all over again,” Prince, the MTV VJ said to the camera. “But no, it’s very much 2012 and boybands are back with a vengeance. They come from a lot further than Orlando this time, I’m here in the studio live with One Direction.”

The guys smiled and waved as the camera panned over to them, just as they always did.

“What’s happening guys?” Prince asked, sitting down in a bean bag chair across from the group. “You’ve just started your North American tour, that’s got to be exciting.”

“Yeah,” Liam said with a nod. “It is. We’re really fortunate and we can’t thank the fans enough for giving us this opportunity.”

“So what’s going on with the tour? You’ve already done two shows, any surprises so far?”

The guys exchanged a glance. Questions like this were always difficult. Of course, being on the road always came with a lot of stories. Stories that were appropriate to share with the rest of the world though? Those were a little tougher to come up with.

“Well,” Louis spoke, looking around at the others still. “We’re all sharing a bus right now, so that can be challenging. We’re all sort of on different schedules, so it’s quite an adjustment. We’re getting used to it though.”

“Right, right. Let’s talk about that a little. What’s life like on the tour bus? Who’s the loudest?”

Liam, Louis, Zayn and Harry all looked at Niall. Then, the four of them burst out laughing.

“He never shuts up,” Laim said. “But we’re all very chatty.”

“Who’s the messiest?”

Again, a four way look was thrown at poor Niall. This time, however, he defended himself. “Hey, I’m not the one who leaves his stinky socks out all the time,” he said, pointing at Liam.

“Who’s the one always bringing girls back to the bus?”

They all turned to look at Harry, who blushed and laughed a little. “I’d say that’s all of us, but, well, all right.”

Prince leaned in a little once he’d received the answer to his question. “You know, I find this very interesting, and I’ll tell you why,” he said.

The group was silent as Harry raised his eyebrow. “Why’s that, then?”

“Well, I’m sure you’re all aware by now, at least your fans are, that there have been rumours going around that you’re dating your opening act, Miss Brittany Cooper.”

There were a couple seconds of silence, followed by an eruption of laughter and Zayn patting Harry on the back in jest. “I mean,” Harry laughed, taking a moment to catch his breath. “News travels so quickly on the internet. I really just had a coffee with her the morning before a show.”

“So you’re going to dispel those rumours, here and now? You’re not dating Brittany?”

Harry, ever the flirt, wiggled his eyebrows. “Well, I mean, it was just a coffee. I wouldn’t say it was anything serious, no.”

“All right,” Prince laughed, taking the hint. “I’ll stop asking about your love lives, now on to the matter of your next single…”

***

“That was intense,” Louis commented once they were backstage at the venue. They all flocked to the catering buffet, starving from their long day of seemingly endless press.

“Tell me about it,” Harry said as he piled food onto his plate. “There’s been rumours going around that you’re dating Miss Brittany Cooper,” he said in a horribly fake American accent as the others laughed at his wit.

“Harry,” Leslie, their manager tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around to see her standing there with Jenn.

“Yeah?”

“Could you come chat with us for a minute,” she asked, glancing at the other boys. “In private,” she added quickly.

“Uh, sure,” Harry said, glumly setting down his plate as his stomach grumbled. It looked like he’d have to wait another few minutes to eat.

“So, we saw your interview on MTV, and we’ve been discussing your answer to the question about the rumour that your and Brittany are an item.”

“Oh, that,” Harry shrugged. “Yeah, sorry, I was just having a laugh. That guy was bugging me so I didn’t feel like giving him a straight answer, you know? But if you want me to post on twitter that I’m not dating her or anything…”

“Well, no,” Jenn said, glancing at Leslie. “This is actually quite interesting. It’s got your fans talking, and they’re talking about Brittany. It’s been good promotion for her, actually. And… well, you know Justin Bieber, right?”

Harry rolled his eyes. Who on the planet hadn’t heard of Justin Bieber? “I think I might’ve heard the name once or twice,” he quipped.

Leslie shook her head. “When he started dating Selena Gomez, their popularity shot up, that is, it’s only made them both more popular. With a high profile relationship like that, they’re always in the media. That’s something your group doesn’t have.”

Harry was unimpressed. “So, you want me to date Brittany for publicity?”

Again, Leslie shook her head. “No, no. I’m just saying that if you did want to, and if you two happened to go on a date, management wouldn’t be opposed to that. But if you don’t like her in that way, we’re not going to pressure you or anything.”

“No,” Harry held his hands up. “I do like her. Of course I like her. How could you not, really?”

“He does have a point,” Jenn laughed a little.

“Well, just think about it then,” Leslie said with a smile. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, you know.”

“Right, I know,” Harry replied as the two managers walked off. He sighed and rejoined the others at the table.

“What was that all about?” Liam asked with a slight frown.

Harry shrugged. “They were asking me about Brittany. If I liked her, and they said it’d be good publicity if I dated her I guess.”

“What, so she wants you to date Brittany for publicity?” Louis asked, looking at Harry intently.

Again, Harry just shrugged and began eating. “No, not if I don’t like her.”

“Do you?” Niall asked. He had been unable to stop himself from jumping in on the conversation. With such a question, at that.

“Well…yeah,” Harry grinned. “Of course I do. She’s so sweet, she’s a little cheeky and she’s really hot. I guess I might as well go for it, you know?”

Outwardly, Niall just shrugged. Inside, he was somewhat disappointed. Curse Harry and his way with the ladies – if only he’d been the one to wake up early and take Brittany out for coffee.

Not that it really mattered anyway, Harry was definitely the more charming one. Though Brittany was pretty, he was sure that being in a relationship on the road (with the opener, no less) would only be more trouble than it was worth. Surely it was better to let Harry deal with all of that.

Yes, Niall was certain that this turn of events was a blessing in disguise.