I almost forgot what the day was when I woke up that morning, hurriedly showered and jetted out the door to my final exam of my second year of college. I was so excited to take my exam and be done with school that I almost forgot today was the day my boyfriend was coming home from his world tour for a week to visit me. We didn't see each other as much as I would like, especially since we weren't even from the same country but with him being a famous singer it was even harder. It had been a crazy eight months since I met him. I still felt like I was living a dream.

Eight months ago, the band he's in was in my city for a show and my professor chose me out of my whole class to interview them. I was at the top of my photojournalist class with the highest grade in photos and writing. I was shocked when she chose me but definitely excited. It seemed like an awesome opportunity and I was eager to do it. She hadn't actually told me who the band was until after class when she gave me the tickets and passes to backstage. It was One Direction. One Direction. Oh, you know, only the biggest band in the world right now? I was in shock. How did she manage that? Her British fiancé owned a music magazine in London and was trying to start up a New York based version (in Rochester) of the same magazine and had been pretty successful in his two years here so far. His partner managed to get the interview with One Direction as a big pull for this magazine, so he pitched the idea to her of having one of her students do it for "practice" and since I was her highest student in the class she thought I "deserved" it. I suddenly felt very sick to my stomach and tried to deny the tickets.

"I can't - I can't interview them! I - they're One Direction!"

"Emery, they're just people. And they're your age. It will be fun! You have to remember they're no different than you."

"No different than me?! They are like the most famous people in the world right now. And they're - they're - "

"Cute?" She chuckled.

My cheeks flamed. Sure, they were cute. But I was me. This wouldn't turn out well.

Over the four months of having her, Ms. (Ellen) Roberts and I had become very close and she'd almost become sort of like a second mother to me, since my real mother dropped out of my life years ago. She took me by my shoulders and jostled me a bit.

"You are a great journalist and photographer. And no matter who these boys are, you're going to do a great job interviewing them! Now take these tickets, call whoever you're taking and get ready!" She handed me the tickets, rubbed my arm and sent me on my way.

Driving home I could hardly wrapped my head around what was happening. Thankfully my roommate was home when I got there so I could tell her the news in person.

"So are you busy tonight?"

She looked up from her book and at me with a quizzical look.

"Um...no, I don't think so. Why?"

"Well. We are going to the One Direction concert."

A smile broke across her face.

"What? How?!"

We both were aware of One Direction (because who didn't know who they were) and every time we cleaned the house and drove together blasted their music and both secretly had our favorites (hers was Zayn and honestly I just loved every single one of them and could not pick just one but I was partial to Niall and Harry) but had never planned on going to the show. We were poor college students & couldn't really afford it. It kind of sucked, but we didn't talk about it.

I sighed and told her the whole story. She screamed and chucked her book across the room.

"You get to meet them?!"

"We get to meet them."

" I GET TO MEET THEM TOO?!"

I pulled the backstage passes out of my purse and before I could even hand them to her she was tearing them from my hand.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed again.

"Shay, you NEED to calm down."

"Oh my God, you get to interview them! And take pictures of them! Em! This is your dream! You've been wanting to do a photo spread for a magazine! This is incredible! I can't believe this!" She covered her mouth with her hands as she squealed again.

She let no time pass and immediately made us go looking for our outfits. As soon as that was done and we were dressed she told me she was doing my hair and makeup and sat me down. After she was done I sat in the bathroom staring at myself. No. Even under all this. I was still undesirable. I was still...ugly. I was still me. Shay never knew that most of the time before we went out anywhere, I spent at least fifteen minutes crying in the bathroom and trying to will myself to leave it. I never felt beautiful. I never even felt attractive. After years of teasing in school and my parents never showing me the love a parent should, I spent most of my teenage years tearing myself down and eventually that turned into major anxiety issues and panic attacks. To my friends, I was "always happy" and a "bundle of sunshine" as Shay put it once. I wished I could be that. For them.

I grabbed a rag and wet it with hot water and dabbed my eyes, trying to keep them dry. Finally after many more minutes I was composed enough to leave the bathroom. Shay didn't notice a thing.

"What are we doing?! Let's go! Who cares if we're an hour and a half early! I can't sit here anymore, Em."

We arrived in 30 minutes, found a parking spot and tried to make a game plan.

"So, are you hungry?" Shay asked. My stomach churned.

"I think I'll just throw up anything I eat."

"Weren't you the one telling me to calm down?"

"Shay, these aren't like the interviews I've done for the hometown newspaper. These are worldwide celebrities. I'm going to do something stupid, I know it..."

"Em, you are great at what you do and you are one of the most poised people I know. You will be amazing." She grinned.

"Let's go take a walk and get some fresh air. And hey...maybe we'll run into One Direction." She raised her eyebrows up and down and hit my arm.

We got out of the car and went walking toward the venue. Shay and I were frequent concert go-ers and usually liked the same musicians and were fairly good at "stalking". We found the large group of fans waiting outside. It was 4:30. The guys were probably in sound check. I heard someone say this loudly so everyone could hear and I could almost feel the collective's disappointment. But before they could get too disappointed, almost out of nowhere, Zayn appeared and went walking passed us.

"Looking good, Zayn!" Shay called.

Zayn turned and smiled and waved in our general direction and continued walking. Shay was blissful.

Security walked out and told us that the boys were in the venue for the night and no one would be coming back out until after the show.

"You mean they're gonna come out after?!" Another girl called out.

The security guard smiled and chuckled.

"I obviously can't guarantee anything. But you guys were really good. So all I'll say is don't give up hoping." He smiled and all the girls cheered.

"But really guys, I gotta lock up the gate so I'm gonna have to ask you guys to head up toward the venue."

Everyone obliged and the group of us headed toward the venue. We had sacked out on the sidewalk in the 80 degree weather and I tried to calm myself. Shay was chattering on about something and I felt horrible for not even listening. I tried to stop being selfish, forget about me and listen to her.

After sitting on the hot pavement for what seemed like forever but was really only 20 minutes, I received the text from Matt, Ms. Robert's fiancé that we were to show our passes to the security and they'd show us where to go. I passed my phone to Shay and she read it and was already walking toward the entrance before I even was aware of what was happening.

As we walked down the corridor, I stared at the back of the security guard and tried to calm myself down and rehearsed in my head what I was going to say.

Hi my name is Emery, yeah I know my name is weird, that's what everyone says. You guys are great and my best friend and I listen to your music while cleaning our house!

Before I could even tell myself how stupid that was, the door was opening and we were being ushered in the room. I heard them all talking and laughing and my heart began racing. Shay grabbed my hand and buried her face in my shoulder for a second then pulled her head back up and tried to calm down. I definitely felt like I was going to vomit now. We turned a corner and there they were. They were, needless to say, beautiful. All of them. Some of the most attractive guys I had ever seen in my life.

"Hello!" Harry said to me, smiling wide.

"So you're here to interview us?" Niall asked, leaning over to me. Shay was letting go of Zayn and going to hug Liam and I tried to focus on Niall's question.

"Yeah, I am. I, uh, hope I do a good job." I let out a nervous chuckle. Great. I was already showing them I wasn't confident.

"You'll do great! We'll follow you, love." Louis said.

"All right, should we do the photo shoot -"

"You don't want pictures?" Harry asked.

"Oh, um, yes, but - "

"No, no let's get those done first." He smiled and looked down at me. Harry's smile was truly making my knees knock together.

"Come on, cuddle in!" Louis called. Shay stood between Zayn and Liam and I stood between Niall and Harry.

One of the body guards snapped two shots of us on my camera.

"Niall...if you guys have time after this, could my friend and I get ....our own pictures?" Shay asked quietly as we broke apart.

He smiled and said if they had time they'd be happy too.

"What are you guys' names?" Liam asked.

"I'm Shay."

"I'm Emery."

Harry perked his head up and looked at me.

"Emery? That's your name?"

I know. It's a stupid name. It's what they all say. I thought.

I nodded and smiled a little.

"That's the coolest name I've ever heard." He said, making eye contact with me.

"Ha, really? Well, thanks." I could hear my voice shaking and knew everyone else could too.

"Emery, no need to be nervous. We're really boring lads. This interview will be a breeze." Harry reached out and rubbed my back slightly.

"And Harry's the most boring of all. So really, he'll make it super easy." Louis shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, ha-ha, Harry's stories, very funny Lou!" He said in a very sarcastic tone hitting Louis in the arm. Louis punched him back and they started playing around until their bodyguard called them out and told them to get serious, trying to keep his smile from forming.

"Okay, Emery. Interview or photo shoot first?" Niall asked.

"Well, do you guys have a preference?" I asked.

They looked at each other and agreed on the interview first. I was thankful they picked that because that was my order I usually went in as well. I tried to get into my professional mode, forget who they were, and just conduct my interview.

"So, I'm pretty sure everyone knows who you are so that takes out a lot of questions I don't have to ask you. So question number one that I of course have to ask you, first time in Rochester. And you've only been here for about 7 hours but what's the coolest thing you've seen so far?"

"Who wants to answer first?" Louis looked to each of them.

"Well, we haven't seen much outside the stadium, but we went past the Charlotte Pier on the bus and that looked pretty sick." Zayn said. I began quickly jotting and tuning in my ears to them.

The boys all looked around to each other for a second to see who would answer next.

"Rochester is a very small town....we don't have a lot of the same things big cities have to offer, it's okay if you guys say you haven't seen anything, it is a bit boring here." I "whispered", which caused the boys to laugh. I was glad I could dissolve that awkward moment. I was kind of hating myself for asking that question, but it was my standard first question.

"What's your favorite thing about Rochester, Emery?" Harry asked. I pulled my eyes up from my paper and looked at him. I could see Niall roll his eyes and Louis said something under his breath.

"I don't know if I have one favorite thing. I love everything about my hometown." I said.

"Good diplomatic answer!" Louis said and clapped. I chuckled.

"All right, back to you guys. Liam, I have a question for you."

"Okay, Miss Emery, what'cha got?"

They were all proving sweeter than I could have even expected and it was making me even more self conscious, I wanted to be cool and clever but knew it was a struggle just to get a complete sentence out.

"This is kind of a random question - "

"Love those." He said.

"Say you weren't One Direction, say you were all just normal guys in your twenties and were in college or working, whatever. Would you all still be singing?"

They all kind of spoke at the same time and the group consensus was yes. They loved singing too much to ever give it up and even if they weren't in One Direction they'd still be doing it.

"Okay, question for all of you. As much as we don't want to talk about it, when that time comes and you guys have retired, you think you'll still be friends?"

They all nodded sternly.

"These lads are my very best friends in the entire world. I mean, I have best friends outside of them, but I am going through this whole thing with these boys. Anytime I'm feeling down or whatever, I can talk to them and they understand what I'm going through. Like, if I had been paired up with four other boys it just wouldn't have worked. With these boys it does. I know that even after all this is over, we will still be best friends. They're my mates. We're brothers." Louis said, and put his hand on Harry's shoulder, squeezing it.

"Aw, Louueehhhh!" Zayn called and wrapped his arms around his neck from behind him and then all kind of dropped onto each other in a big group hug. It was great to see that they truly were the very best of friends.

I had a few more questions and then we were done.

The workers turned on the large lights as the boys made their way over to the photo backdrop and I took my jacket off and put my camera back around my neck.

"Okay guys. I just want you to act normal. Those pictures are the best."

Liam jumped on Zayn's back and Louis grabbed Niall and Harry and pulled them close to him, contorting his face. They all made faces and I snapped the shot. I took at least two hundred of them pushing each other, jumping on each other and just generally having a great time and they all turned out wonderful. We finished the pictures and I showed them some. It was strange to have them all standing around me, hovering over my shoulder looking at the camera screen. I felt...small.

"Those are awesome!" Zayn said, smiling.

"Those are really good." Niall also smiled at me.

My cheeks flamed as they complimented the photos.

"I can't wait to see those in a magazine. Finally some pictures of us goofing off." Harry told the other boys.

"That'll be good for a laugh." Liam smiled.

"Did you and your friend still want your pictures?" Niall asked, grinning adorably.

"Oh, well, only if you have time."

He nodded.

"We've time."

Shay got hers, and hugs after all of them, and then I got mine. They were so sweet and just funny, good natured guys. I only wish we could have stayed for, well, ever.

"Do you have Twitter?" Harry asked us.

"Yeah, we'll totally follow you! Follow your photography career as you take off." Liam smiled.

We told them our names and Harry took it down in his phone.

"It was so great to meet you, girls. We'll keep in touch." They all gave us hugs and we went on our way. I found myself growing sad as I walked out of the room and back down the hall. No, we wouldn't keep in touch. I would go to this show and probably never go to another again. I would never meet them again. They would forget about me and that would be it. This night would just be filed away under "best night of my life" and that would be the end of it. This was slightly ridiculous. I felt like I was going to cry. When I woke up that day, I didn't even think I was going to the One Direction concert, now I was there, had just met them, interviewed them and got to do a photo shoot with them and yet I was sad? How much more selfish could I get?

As we sat in our seats, Shay pulled her phone out and was looking at what I assumed was Twitter when she gasped.

"Oh my goodness! Niall tweeted you! No, they all did! Look!"

@Niall_Official: Great meeting @emmyJ tonight! ! Awesome girl & takes great photos! Watch out for them in Sounds of NYC! !

@Real_Liam_Payne: Met a girl named @emmyJ tonight & she took some pics of us that are great, excited to be featured in Sounds of NYC!

@zaynmalik: @emmyJ your pictures were sick! :D great to meet you! Xx

@Louis_Tomlinson: Watch out for @emmyJ's photos of us in PNW Sounds! Great to meet you, Emery!

@Harry_Styles: Hiii @emmyJ, great to meet you tonight, can't wait to see your pictures, talk soon. Xx

"Harry said talk sooooon." She said in a sing song voice, smiling at me.

"Oh, yeah. Because me and Harry Styles are totally going to talk soon."

Little did I know....that is exactly what was going to happen.

A week later, on Tuesday, my day off of school and thankfully work, my phone woke me up. I'd had a direct message on Twitter and 100 new followers. They were all One Direction fans. And kept tweeting how lucky I was and of course the odd death threat thrown in here and there. Sigh. But the direct message...was from Harry.

"Good morning Emery. Was wondering when those photos would be up? Hope you're well. Harry. Xx"

Well, that was quite the message to wake up to. How was I to reply to that? Did celebrities normally ask when magazines with their photos in them would be out?

"Morning Harry! Sorry they haven't been put out yet. Working on that. Should be in the next few days. Will send you all a link when they're out. I'm great, hope the tour's still going well."

This would be the start of something crazy, impossible and ...amazing.

We continued to talk through Twitter for an entire week. After the first few messages I almost stopped messaging back because I didn't think it was good. Of course I'd heard all the rumors about his "multiple girls" but never really believed them. But now, what was I supposed to do? He was a celebrity. I was me. It wasn't like he was trying to put the moves on me, we were just talking. It felt comfortable, it felt wonderful, but I was still wary.

One week later they were in  L.A. and they had just done sound check.

"So I'm sitting waiting for the show to start with Niall. What are you doing?"

"Studying for a test. Much rather be doing what you're doing. Well maybe not. Tell Niall hi!"

"Why not? You'd be a great addition to One Direction."

"No, no. Stage life isn't for me! haha"

"You know, I'll definitely recommend you once you're out of school. Your photos were great & you interviewed really well."

"That's really great of you to do, thank you! Well I should let you go get ready. Have a great show!"

He didn't reply and we didn't talk again for a long time. I never told Shay about the messages. Or anyone else. I kept it to myself. I figured that was the end of it and moved on. My pictures with them were framed on my desk in and amongst pictures of me and Shay and we still talked about it from time to time and of course still listened to them, but I never really thought about messaging him again. It was always a nice thing to see them following me, though. I got quite a few emails inquiring my business after the magazine went out and actually got hired to by a few bands in the area, they were all great experiences and paid well, but none would be as special as my time with One Direction.