Chapter Text
Chapter One
The Panic Attack
Niall Horan, a member of the popular boy band called One Direction, cursed softly to himself as he tried to sneak around the mall, trying not to be spotted. He told his bodyguard that he had to run to the bathroom real quick, but when he came out of the bathroom his bodyguard and band mates were gone. He assumed that some of the American fangirls saw them, but he was still shocked. His band mates knew about his anxiety attacks and claustrophobia. So why did they leave him alone? They might have left him in the bathroom to lead the fangirls away from him, but how was he supposed to sneak back to them? He had no doubt in his mind that the fangirls already updated twitter with their location and that means the mall will be filled to the top with fangirls and paparazzi.
Niall took his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages, hoping that someone gave him a place to meet up. Unfortunately for him that did not happen. He lets out another small curse as he tugged his hat down more, watching as a horde of fangirls squeal as they ran past him, nearly knocking him down onto the ground. He loved his fans, but sometimes they were just too much. Especially when he's all alone. Most fans knew about his phobia, but that doesn't always keep them at bay. Niall was about to send a text to one of his band mates when he hears a girl squeal loudly, pointing directly at him.
"Oh my gosh, it's Niall!" she basically shouted, drawing the attention of the other fangirls in the area. Niall quickly dropped his phone back into his pocket and started to back away, holding his hands up in defense. Dear lord, he was not ready for this at all! He would have been fine if it was just a few fans, but he sees at least one hundred coming after him. Without any time to think Niall darted away, unable to fight the urge to flee from his body. The girls ran after him.
He really did try to outrun them and hide, but unfortunately for him, his Irish luck wasn't with him. They trapped him inside a store. His back was now pressed against a wall, and the fangirls were approaching him, surrounding another wall around him. At this point, Niall was having a hard time breathing in air. He could have asked for them to take a few steps back, but he doubted they would have listened in the first place. Niall clutches his hands into a fist and closes his eyes, trying to drown out the loud girls in front of him, counting to ten to himself.
It didn't help. When he opened his eyes again the girls were even closer than before with wide smiles and giggles escaping their lips. He wanted to scream and shout at them to back up. He wanted Liam pulling him into a hug while Louis comforted him by patting his head. He wanted Harry to distract them by his lazy, drawl voice, and he wanted Zayn to speak comforting words to him. He wanted his bodyguard to lead him away. He just wanted some room to breathe.
Niall swallowed nervously as he slowly lowered himself to the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest and hiding his face. He didn't want his fans to see the tears streaming down his face. He didn't want them to feel guilty. Oh god. He was starting to have problems breathing again. His lungs were starting to yell at him to take in air, but his body just wasn't listening to his brain. The fangirls were yelling his name loudly, begging for his attention. All he wanted to do was hide in a hole. He wanted one of his band mates to come to his rescue.
Niall wasn't too sure how long he blacked out (or even went into a full-blown panic attack), but when he started to slowly come out of it he saw a female sitting in front of him, speaking softly, a small closed lip smile forming on her lips when she saw his unfocused eyes meeting hers.
"There you are," the female whispered as she lightly released the hold on his wrist (he didn't even realize that she was touching him!), "I'm sorry. You weren't doing so good so I wanted to check your pulse," her brown eyes stayed locked onto his blue one's, "Sweetie, can you hear what I'm saying yet?" It took Niall a few minutes to process what she actually said, but in the end he jerkily nodded his head.
"Y-Yeah," he replied hoarsely, his irish accent heavier than usual.
"You're doing so well, sweetie," the female complimented him, "Do you think you can do me a favor?" After waiting for another minute or two Niall nodded, realizing that she was waiting for him to answer, "I need you to pull out your phone and send a text message for someone to pick you up. Your fans got a bit excited when they saw you, but they are truly sorry for what they've done," she murmured as she readjusted the hood on her head, keeping her face hidden.
"I can do that," Niall agreed as he shakily took out his cellphone, getting ready to send a text, "Um, what store am I in?" He thought she might get a bit annoyed with him, but instead the female merely smiled and answered his question. "Thank you." He quickly typed out the message on his phone and sent it to Harry, praying that they get him quickly.
"Good job, love," the female continued to comfort him, "You did such a good job."
Evelyn continued to speak softly to Niall, trying to keep his attention on her instead of the flashing lights from the fans behind her. She thought the fans were being rather rude, especially since Niall was in a bad position, but kept that thought to herself. She knew they were just excited to even spot the band member. Evelyn patted the male's head once more, watching as his eyes wander behind her again, a frown tugging at his lips.
"Shhh, love, please don't focus on them," Evelyn asked softly, "I need you to keep your focus on me until your band mates arrive, okay? I don't think you can handle another panic attack so soon." She knew she probably sounded selfish in his ears, but she could already see his chest rising and falling heavily again, a sign that means he's probably having difficulty breathing again.
"Yeah, okay," he replied while licking his dry, chapped lips. He refocused his eyes on the female in front of him, taking in her smaller form. She was hiding her appearance from him.
"It's not against you," she laughed softly, watching as he raised his eyebrow in confusion, "I just didn't want to be photographed helping you. I would like to keep my life out of the spot-light, you know?" He nodded his head. He could understand her reasoning. "It sounds like your help has arrived, love." Evelyn commented lightly as she watched the fans form a pathway, allowing Niall's band mates and their bodyguards through easily. Evelyn patted his head lightly before standing up, keeping her gaze locked down on the ground and her hood secured on her head.
She wasn't stupid. She knew that the fangirls already snapped pictures and video taped the entire scene. She just hoped that she was able to remain unknown. She really didn't want to complicate her life more by gaining the attention of a famous band or their crazy fangirls. When Niall's band mates appeared in front of them Evelyn sent Niall one last smile before raising her hand as a goodbye to Niall.
Niall's band mates ignored the female in front of them easily and swarmed around Niall, babying the second youngest member easily. They were already apologizing to him for leaving him all alone. They promised to never leave him alone again.
"Excuse me, miss?" One of the bodyguards called, stopping Evelyn from escaping silently, "Can you please come here for a moment." Evelyn nodded her head as she stood in front of the taller male, blocking her view from the fangirls cameras.
"Yes? Have I done something wrong, sir?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.
"Uh, no. I just wanted to thank you," the bodyguard stated sheepishly, "Niall doesn't do well with crowds or being trapped. The boys were absolutely terrified when they saw videos of him shaking appear on the internet. Especially since we were unable to determine the location. The boys would probably be over here thanking you personally if they weren't too busy with babying Niall." Evelyn laughed lightly as she shook her head, amused.
"You're welcome," she replied as she shrugged her shoulders, "It was honestly no big deal. He was having a panic attack and no one else knew what to do. Anyone would have tried to help if they could," she paused, nibbling softly on her bottom lip, "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm going to have to go. The fangirls are distracted by the... the bromances happening behind me and I'd rather escape without being caught."
"We could help you out if you'd like," the bodyguard offered, knowing the boys wouldn't mind, "Are you sure? It'll probably be safer for you." Evelyn shook her head again, rejecting his offer.
"Yeah I'm sure. I need to get back to my friend anyways," Evelyn smiled sheepishly, "She's probably freaking out since I haven't gotten back to her yet. Thank you for the offer though. And I do apologize about the fangirls here. Sometimes they can't control themselves."
The bodyguard watched as the female slipped around the back and shook his head in disbelief. He tried to distract the female long enough for the boys to come up and thank her themselves, but she seemed to pick up on his intentions and escaped as soon as she had the opportunity. He just hoped that Niall was able to get her name so they could thank her properly.
"Excuse me, but what the hell did you say?" Allison questioned, her mouth dropping open in surprise. She was being dramatic, yes, but that's just how she is. The drama queen of the group.
"I said I may have helped a celebrity with a panic attack at the mall," Evelyn repeated slowly, smiling sheepishly at Allison's narrowed eyes, "That's why it took me so long to get back to you. After helping the celebrity I had to sneak around the store to get that smaller size dress for you. And that's the reason why the store had so many people after you left the dressing room."
"Okay," Allison said softly, trying to piece everything together, "So I sent you to get me a smaller size dress, and you ended up just casually showing up as a superhero and preventing someone from freaking out?" Evelyn shook her head and frowned, "Sorry, sorry. I mean you helped a celebrity pull out of a panic attack while being surrounded by screaming fangirls?"
"Yes... Yes that sounds about right," Evelyn nodded her head, running a hand through her untamable brown curls in frustration, "And then the rest of the guys showed up, so I ran as soon as I had a chance. That's why I didn't wait for you to purchase your dress after I brought you the smaller size. Ally, he had fangirls recording the entire thing!"
"That explains your creepy hood pulled down to your nose thing then," Allison teased lightly, not really seeing the entire problem with the situation. So Evelyn helped a celebrity with a panic attack. It was a nice thing to do, but honestly it wasn't beyond her friend. "So why exactly are you freaking out?"
"It's who I ended up helping, Ally. And as far as I can tell, their fans are quite persistent when finding things out about their boys. People are going to see the video and try to figure out who the mysterious girl is. Ally, I don't want people to know who I am!" It would make her life more complicated and that's something she really doesn't want to deal with.
"Maybe the boys, as you call them, will talk to their fans about putting up the video? Who did you save anyways? You're acting like they are really famous."
"The bodyguard informed me that there is already videos of the celebrity freaking out on the internet."
"I think you're just being a worry-wort, Eve. Would checking twitter calm you down?" Allison hummed as she pulled out her cellphone and opened up twitter, logging into her account, her mouth falling open in surprise.
"What is it?" Evelyn asked as she plopped down beside Allison, resting her hand on the older's shoulder, "Why are you so silent?" Evelyn was about to ask another question when Allison wordlessly passed her phone, smiling in defeat.
#Naillssuperhero
#Niallsgirl
#Niallssavior
All three were trending in the United States and videos of Evelyn comforting Niall was already flooding twitter and who knows what other social media.
"Oh my god," Evelyn muttered, scrolling down her friend's page, "Oh my god, Ally, I'm all over twitter!" Her friend doesn't even follow One Direction and she's getting all of this?
"Hey, let's watch some of the videos, okay? Maybe you were able to stay hidden," Allison suggested with a small smile, "I doubt anyone will be able to tell it's you. Although you might not want to wear that hoodie for awhile. It seems like they are focusing on it." Allison pointed at one of the tweets, wrapping an arm around her friend protectively.
"Ally, what if they figure out who I am?" Evelyn asked softly, biting down on her bottom lip in deep thought.
"They won't," Allison declared confidently, "All of this will pass in a few weeks. The band isn't from America, right? They will eventually have to go back to the UK or continue their tour in a different country at least."
"I hope so, Ally, I really do hope so," Evelyn murmured as she cuddled up to her friend, deciding that she'll trust her friend's judgement.