Heat creeped up my neck and I could feel my ears and cheeks start to burn as the blood rushed to my face. Had I really been about to kiss Louis Tomlinson? My co-worker for all intents and purposes? I shook the thought out of my head. He was about to kiss me.
                          
Louis' bandmates, followed by the crew and the back up band, rounded a corner to make their way onto the stage. The band went to set up their instruments with the help of some crew members. I glanced up at Louis, who was still red in the face with his eyes wide, before walking straight over to my band. My least favorite person on tour just had to start barking orders at that moment. 
                          
"Cassidy and Co. come forward. One Direction and Co., go sit on the floor in front of the stage." Emily, the stage manager snapped, obviously in one of her moods. Nobody dared to dawdle in following her instructions. One Direction and their band sat down on the floor where the 5th or 6th row would be in a few days to watch and wait for their turn. "Cassidy, I want you backstage. You're going to learn how to launch from the shoots. You are coming in through Louis' entrance shoot and exiting through Niall's exit shoot. They are the same shoot so don't forget where it is. You're a bit shorter than them, so it may take a few times to get it perfect." 
                          
I nodded obediently and jogged backstage, or really under the stage, to my shoot. A tech instructed me on how to stand in it properly and how to land. 
                          
"Ready?" Emily's voice yelled from the stage above me.
                          
"Yes!" The tech called back without my input. 
                          
"Okay. First attempt in 3...2...1...Up!" On Emily's command, the springs shot me up at a staggering velocity and I flew nearly a foot above the stage before not-so-gracefully landing on my hands and knees in front of the shoot with a very feminine scream. 
                          
I briefly saw Louis move to get up from where he was sat as he and the other boys cringed at my fall, but he seemed to quickly change his mind. Harry and Niall shouted out "Whoa!" in unison as I had flown through the air.
                          
"I'm okay!" I called out, more for myself than anyone else. 
                          
"Alright, let's try that again." Emily sneered coldly. Jack helped me up from the floor of the stage and I made my way back to the bottom of the shoot. 
                          
The process of me flying through the air and landing ungracefully continued for nearly thirty minutes. I must have fallen twenty times in that half hour. Each landing hurt worse, and I could feel the bruises starting to form on various parts of my legs, arms, and hands from my various landing positions. After about the 23rd time, when I didn't get up right away and instead began to cry in frustration and pain, a familiar Yorkshire accent boomed through the arena. 
                          
"You're hurting her!" Louis stormed up to the stage and lifting himself onto it in a moment, charging up to Emily. He was only about an inch taller than her, but he had his chest puffed out and rage in his eyes. Jack, again for the twenty-something-th time, tried to help me up, but he was only able to help me sit up as I cried quietly. 
                          
"Mr. Tomlinson, I know what I'm doing." She barked back at him, crossing her arms. "This is exactly how you and your bandmates learned it."
                          
"She's a lot smaller than us!" Louis fumed and I wouldn't have been surprised if smoke started coming out of his ears with how red his face was. "Those shoots were built for grown men, not someone as small as her!" I felt even smaller than usual as Louis pointed out my stature. At 5'3, I was five inches shorter than Louis and Niall, the shortest members of One Direction, and all of my bandmates were at least six feet tall.
                          
"Oh, quit whining, she's fine!" Emily pointed at me accusingly, making me wince, which did not help her case.
                          
"She's fucking crying!" Louis seethed. Without warning, he turned to me and walked over to where Jack and I were sitting on the floor. He knelt down and scooped me up in his arms before standing back up with relative ease. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck, waring of being dropped, and clinging to him as I continued to cry.