I've been avoiding accepting the fact that One Direction is never coming back from their hiatus and that they never actually meant to come back from it. I refused to read anything about Harry Styles going solo, but once I saw Liam Payne's tweet about signing with another record label, I knew this was the end. I'm sure you're wondering "What is a 19-year-old college girl doing worrying about some boyband?" And the truth is, I don't entirely know myself, but I do know that I must give my five boys a proper goodbye.

I remember the day I heard "What Makes You Beautiful"for the first time. It was a few days after Christmas and I was in the car when I read something about this new boy band called One Direction. After listening to "WMYB" I immediately spent $14.95 of the $15.00 iTunes card I had received to pre-order Up All Night. I originally thought Niall was the frontman, because obviously, the only blond HAD to be the front man. Soon I was spending hours watching their X Factor performances and their video diaries. I read fan fiction, I found out every fact about these five boys, it was borderline insane. I was obsessed and it was way worse than my JoBros obsession. I can't tell you how many times I listened to the Up All Night album or how many times I cried listening to "Moments."I loved One Direction and certainly wanted to have their music for more than 6 years.

I think the appeal of One Direction was that they didn't win the "X Factor" and they weren't coordinated like most boy bands. These guys were thrown together and somehow made it work beautifully. Sadly, they'll be more remembered for songs like "What Makes You Beautiful" or "One Thing," but those don't even come close to the talent those five guys possessed. They were a mess, they couldn't dance to save their lives and after their first tour, I'm pretty sure they just threw on whatever they wanted. One Direction changed the definition of what it meant to be a boy band. They were just five dudes who sang and did some really dumb things.

I will never forget seeing 1D live, I cried twice, lost my voice for three days, and was forever changed. There's a video of me one Facebook bawling when I got my tickets for Christmas. I know pretty much every word to almost every song on every album. "Little Things" gave girls all over the world confidence and reminded us that our imperfection are OK. "Don't Forget Where You Belong" is the song I listen to when I'm feeling lost. "Girl Almighty" is forever the anthem of late nights and good times. For every number one hit, One Direction had so many underrated songs. Nothing was better than when 1D sang songs written by Ed Sheeran. They honest to God were talented, even live. It's a shame people disregarded them because they were a boy band.

I thought One Direction could survive Zayn going solo, I thought they could survive the Louis baby drama, I thought I could at least jam to a new album every year until I was 23. I thought wrong, for months after they announced their hiatus, I walked around delusional, because they just had to come back. I followed this band through loads of drama, between girlfriends, feuds with the irrelevant band The Wanted, and whatever else crazy stuff happened since December of 2011. Now it's time to say goodbye and I certainly didn't want to be the first one to say it (yes, "Spaces" is currently playing). So goodbye to the boys who made me laugh, cry, and who helped me connect with girls all over. Don't forget where you belong and maybe one day One Direction will return.

From the boys on the stairs to the boys who took over the world. We will never forget One Direction.