Something to Believe In
part 5:
“Yea, it’s not in the city it’s out here, but I could take you guys!”Something to Believe In
part
6:
“Any requests?” Zayn
asked, as he plugged his iPod into the car jack. I shook my head,
and Niall shouted,
“David Guetta!” and Zayn’s head went down as he
searched for a good song to put on.
“How’s your driving record?” Niall asked,
“My driving record?” I asked, confused.
“Yea, like how many times have you gotten stopped by the
police?” he asked.
“None! I’m a good girl!”
“A good girl, and the Bradford bad boy.” Niall
laughed, as Zayn put on Turn me On, “That’s not going
to work.”
“Enough out of the leprechaun,” as Zayn reached his
hand back to hit Niall in the leg, and Niall kicked his seat, and
I felt the car shaking.
“I really don’t want to get in a car accident.”
Jordan said, as Zayn pulled his hand back up to the front, and
they both laughed.
“Yea, I don’t either.” I agreed.
“Well you’re the one driving!” Niall shouted
from the back.
“We’ll be fine.” Zayn said, and looked at
me. I saw him from the corner of my eye, but I would not
take my eyes off the road.
“Mind if I put the windows down?” I asked, as I
reached my hand to the door. Zayn looked at me with concern
in his eyes.
“Won’t people recognize us?”
“Not here!” I laughed as trees engulfed the
car’s surroundings.
“Do it!” Niall shouted, and Zayn smiled as he gave
in,
“Fine!” and I rolled all the windows down, and turned
up the music, as Zayn put on Good Feeling, and I immediately
heard Niall singing from the back. I kept checking to see
if Paul and the rest of the guys were still behind us, and they
were a safe following distance behind us. After I saw them,
I looked lower and saw Niall and Jordan both singing, and smiled
to myself. They were way too adorable, I thought, and Zayn
looked at me to see why I was smiling, and I nodded my head to
the back of the car, and he glanced back, and mimicked my
smile.
We finally got to Jordan’s neighborhood, and I pulled
right in front of her house. The black SUV slid right in
front of me, and we all got out of the car.
“Don’t worry Zayn, no one will recognize you here
either.” I joked, as he looked both ways of the empty
street of the neighborhood. He laughed as he helped pull
Niall out of the back of the car. We rejoined Louis, Liam, and
Harry, and walked down her driveway into her house.
“My parents are at Mini’s game, so just don’t
break anything.” She joked as she let us all in.
“Who’s Mini?” Liam asked,
“Her sister, who looks just like her.” I
answered,
“But tinier.” She defended, and we walked into her
kitchen. “I’ll be quick, I promise.” She said,
and she headed up the stairs. I followed her upstairs to help her
pick out an outfit.
“What should I wear?” she asked, and walked into her
room.
“It needs to be cute, but casual.” I said, mentally
deciding what would be acceptable and unacceptable.
“And I need to able to move around in it.” She
said.
“So that leaves out flip flops..” I said, tearing
through her closet, and I picked up her black Tom’s and
threw them at her.
“You’re wearing these.”
“Are jeggings good pants to wear?” she asked, going
through her drawer.
“Perfect!” I said, and found a white tank top with
black accents, and paired it with a baby blue cardigan, and
turned around to show her.
“Approved?” I asked, and she nodded her head.
“Looks good.” She agreed, and I put it on her
bed. “I’m going to braid my hair.”
“That’s cute!” I agreed, as I took mine out of
the ponytail, and brushed out the bump in my hair with my
fingers. It wasn’t too stubborn today, so I figured I
would clip half of it up when I got to my house.
“Alright, I’ll finish, just go make sure they
haven’t torn apart my house yet.” She laughed, as I
walked downstairs, and Louis was sitting next to Niall and Harry
at the bar stools, Liam was sitting on one of her counters, and
Zayn was leaning against her counter, and they were all on their
phones.
“Tweeting?” I asked, and they all silently nodded
their heads.
“Well while you’re on, go follow me!”
“What’s your name?” Liam asked,
“@lessismore6” I said, and after they finished
typing, Zayn looked up and said,
“You never told me why she calls you Less.”
“Oh, it’s just a combination of my first and last
name. My hoodies would read L.Esposito, so people would
read it as Lespo, and pronounce it like ‘Lesbo’ but
that wasn’t okay, so everyone just called me Less, and it
caught on.”
“What’s a hoodie?” Harry asked.
“A sweatshirt, with a hood on it.” I laughed.
“I didn’t think Americans had this much slang. Wait
until tomorrow, I’m really going to lose you.”
“Oh, right.” Zayn laughed,
“Souphilly.”
“You’ll be a pro by the time I’m done with
you.”
“We’ll be American by the time you’re done with
us.” Liam argued.
“We have a very strong culture, what can I say?” I
laughed, and then I heard Jordan say.
“You can drive us to your house, cause I’m
done,” as she walked in. Niall’s face lit up,
but then he caught himself, and recomposed his face.
“Are we ready to leave?” I asked, and everyone
nodded.
“That was fast.” Louis commented.
“Yea, I’m definitely going to take longer.” I
said, as we all walked out the front door.
“Doubt it,” I heard Zayn say to me under his breath,
and when I looked at him, he just looked away, and smiled.
“Shut up” I smiled, and he just laughed.
“I never said anything.”
Something to Believe In
part
8:
“So tell me more about yourself.
Have you lived here your whole life?” he asked,
“Yea, I’m actually incredibly boring.” I
laughed, and looked up at him, and my tummy tickled when our eyes
connected. There were no other words to describe it.
I swallowed, and continued,
“I’ve lived here since I was born, went to the same
school for 12 years. It’s really bad.
That’s why after I graduate, I plan on doing
everything.”
“Everything?” he asked, intrigued, “What do you
mean by everything?”
“Everything I can’t do in this small down. I
wrote it all down on my bucket list.” I smiled, and he
laughed.
“You have a bucket list. Name a few
things.”
“Let’s see, 36. Go sky diving and bungee
jumping. 13. Own all of the NCIS seasons on DVD. 15.
Be a contestant on the amazing Race. 20. Crowd
Surf.”
“That was fun,” he reminisced, and I laughed.
“Exactly, I don’t want to be old and gray before I
realize I should have done something with my life.”
“I understand.” He nodded his head,
“That’s why I auditioned for the X-Factor, sort
of. And well, look what it turned into.”
“Is there a specific order to this list?” he
asked.
“No, I’ll have to show it to you sometime.” I
said, and our food came out. Everyone looked at me after
the waiter left to show them what to do.
“Alright, you can eat it with your hands, or with your
chopsticks. I’m chopstick challenged, so I use my
hands, but you can try.” I started, “You can
put some soy sauce if you want to try it, and just try all of
them.” I laughed, and everyone started at the meal.
Zayn and I tried to use our chopsticks, and he laughed at my
several failed attempts to use them. He was pretty decent
with his, and picked up a piece of sushi, and dipped the end of
it into his soy sauce bowl.
“I got one!” he cheered, and as he looked up, he
elbowed me and nodded his head forward, towards Jordan and
Niall. They were sword fighting aimlessly with their
chopsticks, as their gazes were locked on each other, and they
were deep in conversation. I giggled, and Zayn smiled,
“Too cute.” He said, and took a bite of his first
piece of sushi. I paused, and gauged his reaction to it, as
he thought about it for a second.
“This is actually really good!” he said, and finished
the piece. I took a bite of mine, and everyone kept trying
the new ones, and everyone generally liked them! Every now
and then, there was an “Ewwww,” but it was generally
good. The waiter came over to Paul, and when everyone stood
up ready to leave, I said,
“Wait, I didn’t pay.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Zayn said, and I looked
up at him and pouted.
“You’re showing us around, it’s the least we
could do.” I stood straight up, and put my hands on my
hips. He just laughed, and put his hands on my shoulders,
and turned me around to walk me out.
“Time to lasertag?!” Louis asked, as he ran to the
car.
“No one knows we’re here.” Liam calmly said, as
he walked next to me. “So, how do you play
lasertag?”
“You get partner up, and last two standing win. We
can play a few rounds.” I said, as we parted ways to drive
there. It took us about ten minutes to get there, and we
all walked in the place, as Paul scoped it out. We were all
standing in the lobby waiting, when someone opened the door, and
everyone turned to the door, as I heard a high British voice
say,
“You expect to go to the States and play lasertag without
us?!”
Something to Believe In
part
9:
I saw a tall slender girl with wild
curly hair and dark skin talking, with a smaller girl with
chestnut brown hair standing next to her. Next thing I know
Liam is embracing her, and Louis picked up the smaller girl and
spun her around in a circle. It sank my stomach when I
realized that Danielle Peazer, Liam’s girlfriend, and
Eleanor Calder, Louis’s girlfriend just walked into the
room. It didn’t sink my stomach that I didn’t want
them to come, I could have cared less, just the fact that they
were there. They made me feel much more ordinary, like this
extraordinary occurrence was just that. Nothing more.
I looked over at Jordan, and her jaw was two centimeters short of
dropping to the ground, as all the guys gave Danielle and Eleanor
a hug.
“Long time no see!” Danielle said, as her red
leggings framed her perfectly long legs with a tanktop vest and a
flowing tanktop underneath was designed to her perfect
figure. Eleanor was wearing jeans with a striped baby pink
blouse that hung in all the right places. I’ve never
felt more inferior in my whole life, and Liam turned around at me
smiling, and said,
“Danielle, you have to meet our new American friends! This
is Lauren, she gave us the most delicious ice cream today.
Well, I had a milkshake,” he said, and I felt her and
Eleanor look me up and down, and then Liam gestured over to
Jordan and say, “This is her friend who works with her,
Jordan. They just took us out to get sushi, and it was
absolutely out of this world!” I saw their eyes look
her up and down, as well, and I felt her want to go hide in the
nearest corner, as I had. These girls were practically
perfect, how could I have thought that I was even half decent
enough to spend time with this band. They were larger than
life, and my life especially. I had to take deep breaths to
hold myself from crying. Jordan looked over at me, and then
back at everyone.
“We’re going to run to the bathroom really
fast.” She said, and we excused ourselves from the room,
and down one corridor, into the girls’ room.
“What. The. Hell.” I said, and leaned against the
wall, and sunk to the floor.
“I don’t know what just happened.” She said,
pacing back and forth. I let a few tears slide.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, thinking we could
hang out with people like them. I mean look at them.”
I said, and my voice cracked from the tears.
“We’re in so far over our heads.” She
agreed.
“Look at us!” I said, “Two girls who’ve
never known anything other than school and sports, and
there’s a freaking world famous band, a girl who’s
danced with more famous bands than I’ll ever know, and a
freaking model.” I said.
“I’ve never felt smaller.” She said, and I
agreed. There was a knock on the door, and a small high
voice asked,
“Are you okay?” I jumped up, and quickly wiped the
makeup that ran from my eyes, and Eleanor peeked her head in.
“Hey, are you two okay?” she asked, and Danielle
peeked her head in behind her.
“Yea, just needed to use the bathroom.” I said, and
fixed my hair.
“Sorry if we scared you.” Danielle said, walking into
the bathroom, “I just always love making fun of them.
We haven’t properly met, I’m Danielle.” She
said, and shook my hand. I smiled, such a British thing to
do.
“I’m Lauren.”
“I’m Jordan.” She said, shaking her hand, and
Eleanor said,
“I’m Eleanor. I’m really sorry we
didn’t mean to scare you off like that.”
“Did it really look that bad?” I asked, and they both
laughed.
“Yea, you looked like you just saw your dead
grandmother’s ghost.” Danielle said, and I laughed at
that. Jordan said,
“We’re sorry. It’s just been such an
overwhelming day.”
“It’s a lot to take in.” I agreed, and they
both nodded their head.
“Don’t let us intimidate you, trust me.
We’re the two biggest goofballs you’ll ever
meet.” Eleanor said, and I smiled.
“I was shocked you came here.” I smiled, “I
didn’t know you were coming, they didn’t mention
anything.”
“Yea, we were going to surprise them. They picked up
two more girls to our group El.” Danielle elbowed
Jordan.
“We’re just friends right now.” Jordan
said,
“Yea, but don’t worry not for long.” Eleanor
said, “Niall wouldn’t spend his time with just
anyone.”
“And you,” Danielle said, pointing at me, “Liam
told me Zayn can’t even look straight when he’s with
you.”
“What? He’s fine when he’s with me..” I
said, confused.
“Don’t worry about it.” She laughed, and
said,
“Bradford Bad Boy meets a good girl.”
“Why does everyone keep calling me a good girl?” I
asked, and Eleanor and Jordan laughed.
“Do you have a tattoo?” Danielle asked.
“No…” I said.
“You’re a good girl.” She smiled, and we all
walked out of the bathroom to rejoin the boys.
Something to Believe In
part
10:
We all walked out, and Niall asked,
“Is everything okay?”
“Brilliant!” Danielle said, she had a strong
personality, but not overpowering, which was a nice change.
“Yea, we’re good.” Jordan said, and Zayn looked
at me and opened his mouth to say something, when Louis cut him
off.
“Let’s do first round boys versus girls, we’ll
go easy on you.” He winked at Eleanor, and she playfully
shoved him.
“Alright, we’ll see how this goes.” Jordan
said, and we put on the chest pads that had the laser sensors in
them, and glasses they gave us that resembled the 3D goggles you
got when you were at the movies. We each got a laser gun,
and they released us into opposite ends of the arena, and we
decided to pair off, but it ended up being me with Eleanor and
Jordan with Danielle. It was hard not to make things
incredibly awkward, but Eleanor was nice, and we were having a
quiet discussion, when she hushed me, and we heard footsteps, and
Harry’s loud laughter. As they came across the
corner, I shot Harry, and his vest lit up, when Louis shot me,
and Eleanor shot Louis, and ran away.
A short while later, Danielle came up with Jordan, with Niall,
Zayn, and Liam’s chests glowing from getting shot with the
laser.
“Did the girls just win this round?” Danielle
asked.
“Yea, I was shot though.” I laughed, and Jordan shook
her head at me.
“It was a sacrifice kill, she got Harry, Louis got her, and
I got Louis.” Eleanor explained.
“Rookie mistake.” Zayn whispered under his breath as
he walked by me, and I came back and said,
“Look who’s talking.” And he smiled.
“Let’s make this interesting.” Liam said, and
we all turned to face him.
“Let’s partner up, and whoever
wins…”
“Will get an extra special American surprise from Jordan
and me.” I said,
“Well what if one of the two Americans wins?” Niall
asked.
“Then they’ll get an extra special surprise from
Danielle and myself.” Eleanor volunteered.
“BRING IT ON!” Louis shouted, as he wrapped his arm
around Eleanor and said, “Partner!”
“I call Danielle!” Liam said,
“Well I want the Irish one!” Niall said.
“Niall, you’re the only Irish one here.” Harry
said, and patted his back.
“No, Jordan! Her last name is Ireland! So I want that Irish
one!” and we all laughed.
“We’ll triple up and have Harry on our team!”
Louis said, and I looked up at Zayn.
“Well looks like you’re stuck with the weakest
link.” He smiled, and everyone separated to strategize.
“I wouldn’t call it stuck.”
“Really, what would you call it then?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled, and I
couldn’t help but smile back at him, and I shook my head
back into focus.
“Okay, how are we going to win this?”
“Let’s just hide until everyone gets each other out,
and then we’ll attack.”
“Deal.” I said, and we ran to the back of the course,
and sat in a corner close together so we weren’t able to be
seen.
We sat there for about twenty minutes, giggling and whispering
and shhhing each other when we thought someone was coming, then
we heard Harry yell,
“Where’s Zayn and Lauren?” And we both
looked at each other. We stood up and snuck quietly to the
front, where everyone was standing in a circle, with
everyone’s vest lit up apart from Harry.
“How did Harry manage to not get hit?” I whispered to
Zayn, and he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. I snuck
around the corner, in position to hit Harry from behind, when
Danielle saw me, and completely interrupted the conversation and
shot me.
“Shoot.” I said, and walked into the
group. I tried to distract everyone so Zayn could have his
chance, when everyone ran to where I came from. I heard a
feminine scream, most likely from Louis, and Zayn came back with
his vest lit up.
“Sorry, I messed it up.” He smiled and shook his
head.
“It’s alright, I left my gun back where we were
hiding anyways.” And everyone laughed.
“How do you forget your gun?” Liam asked, and he
shrugged. We all walked out into the lobby where Paul was
waiting.
“What time is it?” Zayn asked me.
“It’s 11.” Paul answered.
“We have a signing tomorrow morning, but other than that,
we’re free for the rest of the day.” Zayn said, and
we circled up again.
“Okay, well there’s a Phillies game tomorrow night,
if you’re interested in going.”
“Is that baseball?” Niall asked.
“Yes,” Jordan laughed, and I said,
“My friend has tickets that she said we could use, if you
all want to go. It’s one of the best ways to see
Philly. There’s funny people, crazy stories, and really
good food.”
“I’m in.” Niall said, and we all laughed.
“Sounds fun.” Harry said, and Danielle nodded her
head.
“Now I’m interested, we wanna go, right
Liam?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll come too.” Eleanor said, as Louis stood
with his arms around her.
“Sounds like a lot of fun!” Zayn said to me, and I
pulled my phone out and asked,
“Alright, who should I call to schedule details
with.”
“Here, I’ll text myself from your phone.” Zayn
said, taking my phone from my hand, and typing quickly.
I’m pretty sure I saw Niall steal Jordan’s phone from
her hand, but I wasn’t entirely sure.
“We can meet at our hotel, and you can take us from there,
Miss ‘Souphilly.’” Zayn smiled at me, and
handed me my phone back.
“Hey, don’t make fun of the accent.”
“I actually love it.” He said, and I shook my
head.
“But it’s just so, American.” I laughed.
“No, you have your own spin on it. And hey, I’m
not used to American accents, so I like it.” He laughed,
and we all walked out. Zayn walked over to my car, and I
stood in front of the driver’s door, as he said,
“Thank you for everything today. It’s really
nice to meet someone so incredibly down to earth. I know
it’s hard with all we have to do.” He said, and
leaned his shoulder against the car, bringing himself eye level
to me.
“I’m glad you had fun. Tomorrow will be
hilarious. You’ll meet some of the craziest people
you’ve ever met. It’s going to be fun.” I
smiled, and he mirrored mine.
“Can’t wait.” He said, and I heard their car
start.
“Oops, don’t want them to leave without me!”
and he quickly picked me up into a hug, and kissed my cheek,
before he ran off to their car, and shouted a goodbye before he
shut his door, and I just leaned back against the car as I saw
Jordan running toward my car. What the hell just
happened?
Something to Believe In
part
11:
“Hey you can take me home,
right?” Jordan asked, and I just rolled my eyes.
“No I’m leaving you here. You have to hitch a
ride home.” And she laughed as we got in the car.
“Can you just slap me really quick, so I know I’m not
dreaming?” I asked, and she flicked my ear, and then
said.
“No, this is not a dream, because if it was someone would
run up and shoot you in the chest.”
“True.” I said, describing my reoccurring
nightmare. I wake up crying every single time.
“Did you get Niall’s number?” I asked, as I
reversed out of the spot and started driving home.
“He texted himself from my phone, so now we both have each
other’s numbers.” She said, and freaked out.
“This is not real life.” I kept repeating the entire
ride home.
“So what’s up for tomorrow?” she asked,
and I thought for a moment.
“Okay so I was thinking of getting something to eat at the
Phillies game, and then after I can take them to get water
ice.”
“They need to get water ice, it’s the
best.”
“Trust me, I know.” I said, and laughed. “My
cousin works in one, so I can tell him to stay open for
us.” I said, and thought more. “After the game we can
walk around South Philly or even Center City if we want to
go.” I said, and she nodded her head.
“Sounds fun, laid back but still stuff to do.” She
said, and laid her head back in her seat.
“Niall Horan has my number.”
“Deep breaths. Don’t fangirl.” I said,
and she laughed.
“Oh please I did that in my room after you left.
It’s all out now.” She said, and then said.
“What are you wearing tomorrow?”
“Hmm, I’m going to wear my hair curly, and a Phillies
shirt, probably with jeggings and my rainbows.”
“Okay, I’ll do the jean capris tomorrow.” She
said, and we pulled into her neighborhood.
“I’ll come pick you up and then we can drive to
Philly or whatever we end up doing.” I said, and my phone
buzzed, and she checked it.
“It’s Zayynnn.” She sang, and I laughed and
ripped it out of her hands.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” I said, and she got
out of the car and ran into her house. I read my phone and
the text from Zayn said,
“thank you soo much again for tonight. The boys and I
really had a lot of fun. :) xx”
“I’m glad you had fun, Jordan and I both had a lot of
fun too! (:” I typed as I sped home. When I got home
I washed my face and brushed my teeth as I went on my iPad and
checked the twitter I had missed for the whole day. At
around 5ish (the math being done in my head from twitter’s
standard “4 hours ago”) Zayn tweeted,
“The city’s gonna save her :) xx.” HE LOVED MY
SONG!! I thought, and laughed, when I saw the text from Jordan on
my phone that screenshotted that tweet.
“Great choice in songs.” I texted back, and
then read the other text I got from Zayn, it said,
“Niall has to be texting Jordan. His face keeps
lighting up every time he checks his phone.”
“No way, that is way too precious!!” I typed back,
and just imagined him smiling and her practically screaming every
time her phone vibrated. My phone buzzed, and Zayn said,
“How should I prepare myself for tomorrow’s game?
:)”
“Well, if you wear a Phillies shirt, you’ll blend
right in. Need to borrow one?”
“I think I can handle it, anything I shouldn’t
do?”
“Don’t say anything bad about them, and everyone will
love you. (:”
“Everyone?”
“Mostly everyone, probably not the other team.(:”
“Good point, so should I bother to tell Niall not to wear
the Yankee’s cap? :)”
“If you want him to survive, he should leave that at the
hotel.”
“Ay ay captain :)” he said, and I laughed.
“Alright I’m about to pass out, I’ll text you
tomorrow?”
“I’ll be up early for the signing, so I’ll be
here whenever. Goodnight Lauren :) xx.”
“night Bradford bad boy.(:”
“hey, don’t hold it against me :) xx.”
“I’ll try not to. (:” I said, and I put my
phone on my night stand, and fell right asleep.
Something to Believe In
part
12:
I woke up groggy and
disoriented. I flipped my body over to glance at my alarm
clock, and it was 9:23. I didn’t want to fall back
asleep because I had to do something, but I didn’t remember
what. I picked up my phone to check twitter, but the green
light was flashing. I had a message, and it was from
Zayn. I smacked myself in the face when I realized that
last night actually happened, and wasn’t a dream. The
message was sent at 8:17.
“Morning to my favorite American girl :) the
not-so-glamorous life of a band, getting up early after fun
nights :/” I quickly typed back,
“Aw, poor baby..make sure to drink your coffee this
morning!” I grabbed the pill bottle off my night stand,
poured two out, took them, and stood up and stretched. I
looked at myself in the mirror, and literally laughed.
“Wow Lauren.” I said to myself, “You look like
a hot mess.” I laid in bed for a few minutes, texting Zayn
for the particulars about later, so he could go to the signing
and not have to worry about anything.
“What time do you want to meet?” he asked.
“Well, the game’s at 7:05, so I can take you guys to
get something to eat at 6 for some really good pizza and
cheesesteaks, and we can walk to the game.”
“Niall likes the sound of cheesesteaks :) aha”
“Alright, we can meet at the hotel?” I asked.
“Yea, and they can drop us off at the restaurant, you can
stay over the night if you want, so you don’t have to drive
all the way back to your house late!” he offered. I
would absolutely love to, but I’m not sure how my mom would
take to me staying in a hotel in Philadelphia with a band we just
met. I could lie my way out of it most likely.
“we’ll see (:” I said, and he typed back.
“hmm, that’s either completely promising or you
letting me down easy. I’ll see you at 6 at the hotel,
and we’ll ‘see’ from there. :)”
“sounds good! (:”
“sounds fabulous! Signing time, I’ll talk to you soon
:)” he sent, and I answered.
“have fun! (:” and I went for a jog. I figured
if I was going to eat all that food, a jog wouldn’t kill
me. I brought my phone with me, and ran out of the
neighborhood. After a good 15 minutes of jogging in the
neighborhood across the street from mine, I stopped, and caught
my breath. In order to tell this lie, I needed to have
everyone on the same page. I needed to call Jordan first to get
her on the same page. The phone rang 3 times before she
picked up.
“Hello?”
“Jordan, okay we’re going to the game, I’m
picking you up at 5:30.”
“Sounds good—“
“but they offered for us to stay with them in the city
overnight so we don’t have to drive back.”
“Shoooooot.” She said, dragging out the oo.
“I didn’t know what to say..” I began
“I don’t want to say no.” she said.
“My thoughts exactly,” which wasn’t so
shocking, “So I was thinking. If I got Megan on the
same page, we can say we’re going to sleep over her house
tonight after we drive home with her from the game. These
tickets are hers that she gave to me.” They were actually
incredible seats, they were in the Hall of Fame section, that was
private enough that the boys wouldn’t get mobbed.
“You’re too good.” She said, and I
continued.
“I’ll just hope she trusts me enough so I don’t
have to explain everything.”
“So I should pack for an overnight?”
“Yes,” I said,
“What are you gonna do about your medicine?” she
asked. I was silent.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to tell him
yet.”
“Too soon.” She agreed.
“We’ll figure something out.” I said, and I
promised to call her back later. I then called Megan.
“Hey Less!” she said when she answered.
“Hey Meg! Okay, so you know how you gave me those
tickets to the game today?” I asked.
“Yea, are you still going?”
“Yea, I am. Listen I’ll tell you everything
later, I promise, I just need you to tell your mom that I’m
coming over to sleep over after, in case my mom or Jordan’s
mom asks.”
“Less..” she said, trailing off. I paused.
“You promise you’ll tell me EVERYTHING later?”
she emphasized.
“Of course I promise.” I said, and added,
“Don’t worry I won’t get hurt or do anything
illegal. It’s just a night in the city.” I
said, and there was a silence.
“Okay, but if you don’t tell me, I’m personally
never talking to you ever again.”
“You’re the best, you know that?” I told her,
and she laughed, and we hung up. I texted Jordan, and told
her we were in the clear, as I ran home. I laid outside for
an hour trying to soak up some natural rays, and then I checked
the time, and it was 4. I needed to start getting ready for
our night in the city with the boys!
Something to Believe In
part
13:
I took a shower, and put my Herbal
Essences mousse in my hair, and my other little trick, sprayed
some salt water in it. Apparently that brought out the
natural curl, but it usually worked with my hair. I blow
dried it for a little, then let it air dry as I picked out my
outfit. I grabbed my off-white Phillies shirt with number
27, Polanco on the back of it. I put on my favorite pair of
skinny jeans, and my dark brown Rainbows. Thank God my
toenails were presentable, with a baby blue that matched my
fingernails. I adjusted my part, and put stray pieces of
hair on their appropriate sides of the part, and put on my
makeup. I didn’t want to look too done up just for a
Phillies game, so I put on mascara, curled my lashes, and just
lined my eyes with my brown pencil. I put on some tan
shadow, to make it look as opaque as possible, with some light
sparkle in the corner of my eyes taking the white eye
shadow’s place. I put in my small fake diamond studs,
one with a chained cuff that went to my cartilage. The only
way I could dress up a Phillies jersey, I thought. I
grabbed my North face, that wasn’t a typical heavy one, it
was light and sporty, and light blue with darker blue
sides. I told my mom I was leaving and going to pick up
Jordan for the game, and that I was sleeping over Megan’s,
which she completely bought.
“Do you have your medicine?”
“Yep!”I said, and shook my bag, which rattled with
the bottle of Keppra XR in it. I drove my black little
civic over to Jordan’s house, and she threw her stuff in
the trunk and got in. She looked cute, she had jeans rolled
up into capris with American Eagle flip flops. She was
wearing a red Phillies shirt, with Utley on the back, and her
hair was down with a side braid cascading the side of her
head.
“Hey!” I said as she got in.
“Hey,” she said, and buckled as I turned around.
“Your mom okay with you sleeping over at
Megan’s?”
“Yep” she said, and looked at me. “Literally
genius of you.”
“Thanks,” I said, and laughed, “I hate lying,
but this was way too good to miss out on.” I said, then
asked.
“Can you put the GPS in on my phone; I don’t really
know where the hotel is. I put the address in, I just
don’t want to get lost.” She laughed, and after a few
moments, my phone was directing me to the city.
About 25 minutes later we were in South Philly, driving down the
streets to Center City, where their hotel was.
“How do you know your way around here?” Jordan
asked.
“I’m not sure, it’s kindof just second
nature.” I said, remembering the so many times I was down
here visiting my mom’s side of the family for Christmas,
Easter, Thanksgiving, you name it. You could clearly tell
the difference from South Philly and Center City, the small row
homes turned into large skyscrapers, and when you looked up, you
felt incredibly small.
“Here’s where I don’t know too much.” I
said, and after a few turns down some one way streets, we ended
up at the Hilton.
“Of course.” She said, and I pulled up to the
front. I was planning on getting out and telling the front
desk the situation, and asking where I should park my car, but
Paul was patiently waiting outside, and waved as soon as we
pulled up.
“Hey!” I said, and rolled my window down as he walked
over.
“Hey girls, we have a spot for you down in the garage, and
the boys and two girls are waiting for you upstairs.”
“Alright I’ll go park, Jord you can go up with
Paul.”
“I can park it for you.” Paul offered.
“Do you mind?” I asked, and he was already
nodding.
“Not a problem.”
“Can you drive on the right side of the road?” I
joked, and he smiled.
“I think I’ll be okay.” He said, and I pulled
the seat back so he could fit his legs in. We got our bags
out of the trunk, and I walked back to the window.
“Go to the 16th floor, and they all should be in room
number 1607.” He said, and I said,
“Once you’re parked, don’t forget to lock her
up, and she doesn’t beep if you push the button
twice.” I said, and he nodded his head, and slowly pulled
away. Jordan and I walked into the lobby, where there was a
group of girls with a bunch of CD’s and signs and such in a
group, and a clerk was talking to them, and it sounded like he
was telling them to leave.
“Can you believe that’s not us?” Jordan asked
me.
“No.” I said, and we both laughed. We got in
the first elevator available, and got on with a man in a business
suit, who look exhausted from a long day. I pressed the
16th floor button, and he pushed something like 20. We road
silently until it dinged that we were on the 16th floor, and we
got off.