I have spent way too many moments in my life trying to convince myself that good things come to those who wait. Truth is, good things don’t come to those who wait. They come to those who work hard for what they want. I had to learn that lesson the hard way. It all started with my tiny obsession over a boy band named, One Direction. Investing all my time on the internet tweeting about five talented young singers isn’t exactly how I expected to spend the past three years of my life but, it kind of just... happened. Every year I would wait for that one day when they would come down to Miami to perform a concert for their tour. This past summer, I might have been a bit too excited. I wasn’t exactly sure how many days before their concert they would show up so I wasn’t exactly prepared when they came four days before their performance.

I still remember the rainy day of June 11th. I woke up calmly, just like any other morning, and I logged onto twitter to surprisingly see pictures of the boy-band members arriving at Miami International Airport at around 5am. I began panicking and quickly called my close friend, Shelly. We had been waiting for this day for months. Shelly’s sister, Danielle, was also a huge fan of One Direction and since she had her license she was going to drive us everywhere in hopes of meeting them too. Within an hour, I found out what hotel they were staying at and Shelly and Danielle were waiting outside my house to pick me up. I hopped into the car and braced myself for the day ahead of me.

The first lesson I learned that day was that the Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne had a very tight security system. In order to get into the hotel parking lot, a person must first pass a gate by telling the guards their last name so they can check if the person actually had a reservation in the hotel. Once we reached the gate, I whispered in Danielle’s ear, “Say our last name is Lopez.” Surely every hotel in the beautiful city of Miami would have at least one reservation under the name Lopez, and there was. Shocked, and completely satisfied, we drove into the parking lot. The next challenge? Actually getting into the hotel.

With the concert only two days away, the five singers deserved some down time... or at least that’s what we thought. As soon as we got into the hotel parking lot, I checked twitter again and found pictures of the band at a studio about 20 minutes away to film a music video for their new song. Just my luck. Without hesitation, we all rushed back into Danielle’s car and headed to the studio.

Once we got to the studio, we were told to wait outside behind a fence along with forty other anxious teenage girls. As the hours went on and on, studio representatives waiting outside kept telling us that One Direction would be out soon. Turns out, “soon” turned into waiting seven hours in the blazing heat of Miami. I was on verge of dehydration until security started passing out bags of water. Yes, that’s right, bags of water. While I was waiting at the studio all day, I also made sure to call the hotel and make a restaurant reservation just in case we had to get back in. Eventually, paparazzi showed up and by then my hope of the celebrities coming outside to meet us was diminished. At around 9pm, they finally came out and waved. There were numerous flashing lights from all the professional cameras owned by the media
?that had arrived. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young rock stars that looked extremely uncomfortable in the spotlight. I remember them being about ten feet away from me and thinking “Of course there’s a giant fence separating me from the five people I’ve been dying to meet for three years.” After about two minutes of awkward waving, the boy-band quickly left in two big black vans.

Thinking on the spot, yet again, I had the idea for Shelly, Danielle, and I to go back to the hotel to try and meet them. After a long excruciating drive, we got to the hotel and this time we got in smoothly because of the restaurant reservations I had made earlier that day. We entered the hotel and I noticed the lobby was swarming with teenage girls that had booked rooms there just to try and meet the talented teenage boys. I was surprised why everybody was just sitting on the elegant couches and waiting. I kept wondering why nobody was actually walking around the hotel trying to look for them. By this point, I was already extremely sweaty, exhausted, and running out of patience so I suggested that we go and check if they were at the top floor, assuming that they were probably staying in the penthouse suites. I climbed into the elevator with Shelly and Danielle and clicked the small circle that had the number fourteen on it. A screeching bell sounded as we arrived to the floor. Unsure if we should get out or not, none of us moved. We stood there in silence until we suddenly heard a manly voice say, “Come on out girls.”

I remember that I kept thinking about how this might finally be it, I might finally meet One Direction. Instead of the warm welcome I expected, One Direction’s body guard started yelling at us threats such as, “What are you doing here!?” “You aren’t allowed to be on this
?floor!” “The boys don’t like it when fans do this!” and “I’m going to call the cops!” Luckily, it wasn’t just Shelly, Danielle, and I. Three more girls were there because they came up using the stairs. While Paul, the security guard that any true fan would recognize on the spot, kept screaming at us in the corridor of the floor, my body was practically shaking with fear and my heart was racing. I was sure I was going to burst in tears at any moment. Then all of a sudden, a door opened.

Who popped out? Louis Tomlinson, one of the band members! He was smiling and I recall him saying, in his distinct British accent, “How’s it going? Is everybody alright? I heard screaming.” I tensed up and we all just waved and started politely asking him questions such as, “Hi Louis! How are you?” Until Paul ordered him to go back into his room because we were in a lot of trouble. Of course he obliged. Paul then threatened to call the cops until we convinced him that we would leave and never come back. Next thing I know, he was calling hotel security and two macho men showed up in the elevator and grabbed onto our arms.

While being escorted through the lobby, all the girls made a pathway for us to go through. I heard whispers and murmurs around me wondering if we were getting arrested or if we met any of the boys. I felt as if I were in a movie and I was the outsider that everybody gossiped about. At the time, I just felt ashamed for disrespecting the band’s privacy. On the brief walk to our vehicles, I didn’t even speak to the other girls that got caught with us, I felt too embarrassed. Eventually, we were all escorted to our cars and security had to watch us drive off the premises.

We sped out of the hotel parking lot in complete silence and shock due to what had just happened. I was still scared to death meanwhile Shelly suddenly burst out into laughter. “Shelly, what are you laughing at?” Danielle asked her sister, clearly annoyed. “I got a picture of Paul calling security on us!” She replied. Sure enough, Shelly had taken a picture of One Direction’s famous body guard looking extremely angry while holding a phone to his ear. Instantly, I tweeted the picture with a short description about what had happened that night. Within minutes, I had gotten over one hundred retweets. Turns out, it was all over twitter so even the other three girls that got caught with Shelly, Danielle, and I had found it and contacted me. To this day, I’m still close with those girls even though when I met them in person we didn’t even speak. That’s the power of internet.

After reading all the responses to my unusual experience online, I couldn’t help but feel happy about the decision I made to courageously sneak onto One Direction’s floor. My goal wasn’t exactly completed, but I still met one of the band members. I took a risk and I’m proud of it. Who cares if I broke the rules a bit? In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take. Besides, sometimes breaking the rules make the best stories.