𝙿𝚄𝙱𝙻𝙸𝙲𝙸𝚃𝚈 [𝚉𝙳𝙷]

𝙲𝙷1. 𝙽𝚘 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚖, 𝙽𝚘 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚕

•November 27th, 2019 : The Aria's.

She forced a smile on her face, flashing the cameras the kindest face she could muster up. She didn't know why she had agreed to this, but Ashley had practically gotten on her knees and begged the younger girl to come and she couldn't find it in her to say no.

Her brother and the rest of the band were out of town, touring around the world and living their absolute best life, and at the moment, as she walked the red carpet of the Arias, she envied them for it.

"Verany over here!"

"Verany, where's your brother tonight? Who'd you come with?!"

"Vera, is it true that you and harry styles are in a relationship?!"

She scoffed at that last one. I mean, didn't people know she was 18? And besides, was it really their business?

She didn't know how her brother and Ashley dealt with this 24/7, but she sure as hell gave them major props. Speaking of, she felt the singer give her hand a tug, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Doing okay, Vee?"

Verany nodded, smiling kindly, "All good, Ash." she gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance, convincing her that she was doing just fine.

She'd met Ashley, better known by the world as Halsey, when she first moved to LA, which really hadn't been too long ago, but the two had hit it off and quickly formed a sister-type of relationship.

She had really good relationships with all of her brother's friends if she was being honest, although of course some were much deeper than others.

Ashton, Calum, and Luke had been introduced to her more than 10 years ago, and ever since then she'd considered them brothers. She loved them the way she loved Michael, and she knew they felt the same.

She felt Ashley nudge her as they reached the end of the red carpet and she turned to face the brunette, waiting for further instruction. Don't get her wrong, by no means was this her first award show, but it was the first award show where her date wasn't Michael and his bandmates.

"Do you want to come with me to do media?" Ashley offered, but upon seeing the look of disgust cross the teenager's face at the thought of more cameras being shoved towards her face, she quickly gave her another option. "Or you can meet me inside! You can go find our seats and i'll meet you there after I'm done?"

Verany weighed her options for a moment before deciding on the latter, "Go do what you do best, Ash. I'll meet you inside."

The singer smiled at her, gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and then hurried off to do the rest of her media. Verany stood there for a moment, giving herself a slight pep talk before forcing her legs to move towards the entrance.

She was too focused on the floor to notice the door of the building swinging open, only becoming aware when she felt it slam into her. She only lost her balance for a quick second before hands were grabbing onto her in hopes of steadying her.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" a boy who looked to be about her age exclaimed, looking at her apologetically, "I swear i didn't see you there."

She brushed him off with a waive of her hand, "Don't stress it. I wasn't paying attention."

"I'm Zach" he introduced himself awkwardly, holding his hand out for her to shake (which she did). He gestured to the four boys behind him, "these are my bandmates - jack, corbyn, jonah, and daniel" he pointed out each of them, matching names with faces.

She smiled politely, "I'm Verany, nice to meet you."

"We know who you are" Zach blurted out, his cheeks burning with embarrassment immediately after.

She watched as his bandmate, Jack if she remembered correctly, nudged him. "Sorry about him," he apologized on his behalf, "What he means to say is, we know who your brother is." his eyes widened, realizing how offensive that may sound, "We-well i mean we know who you are too, not just because of your brother."

Verany laughed loudly, finding the whole situation comedic. "No harm done - you're all good."

All of the boys looked relieved. Zach had already hit her with a door, they really didn't need to add offending her to the list as well.

"I'm pretty sure i saw your name at our table" Jonah spoke for the first time, "You're with Halsey right?"

She nodded, confirming that she was, and smiled confusedly when Zach held his arm out for her to interlock with her own.

"Come on, we'll walk you"

She smiled gratefully, interlocking her arm with his and using her free arm to motion towards the entrance, "Lead the way then"

"By the way," He spoke quietly as he opened the door for her, "You look really beautiful."

She blushed, "is this you're way of apologizing for hitting me with a door?"

"Is it working?"

"A little"

If only she knew the amount of trouble these five boys were about to cause her.