Diana

Ever since Diana loosened up around the boys, they have been hanging out at her flat more frequently and Sadie always pleasantly welcomes them every time they are around. The boys used to hang out at Harry's, but Diana's PS3, fast connection wi-fi, plus the free drinks and snacks keep them coming back for more. They usually come by three to four times a week, but it is very rare to see all five of them visit at the same time, since they are currently busy recording their next album.

The regular guests are mostly Niall, Liam, and Louis. Niall is evidently there to cuddle and be all lovey-dovey with Sadie, while Liam spends most of his time there because his girlfriend, Sophia, is out of town. If it's not obvious enough, Louis certainly enjoys playing wacky video games with Diana, and he is actually the one that she gets along with the most out all of the boys. Louis has also introduced Eleanor to the Sadie and Diana, and he even brings her to the flat to hang out sometimes. They are simply trying to squeeze in as much time with each other as they can before different countries and continents separate them again.

Zayn doesn’t visit very often because he likes to go along his girlfriend, Perrie, to her interviews and recording sessions; they are basically also taking advantage of their little time together. However, he can be seen around the flat once or twice a week, and sometimes even takes Perrie if she isn’t preoccupied with her own band, Little Mix.

Diana and Harry may have started off on the wrong foot, but that doesn’t keep him from joining the rest of the boys around the flat. They are in fact his bandmates, and it just doesn’t make sense to let a few unpleasant exchanges with a girl keep him from seeing his best mates regularly. He comes to visit almost as often as the three boys mentioned earlier, though lately he has been spending a lot of time in the studio, writing songs.

During the few weeks that the boys, including Harry, are hanging around the flat, Diana seems to be taking it quite well. She doesn’t reject them as much as she used to, although she still rarely starts any conversation; she often only speaks when someone else initiates the topic and directs it at her. That is why even though Harry has mostly been around, they have never really talked; perhaps it’s also because he learns not to even bother trying to talk to her from their last encounter. Her aloof responses back then certainly told him that she had no intention of being mates. Their chats are now limited to “Hand me the remote” or “What do you want?” for when they are ordering pizza and Chinese food. Neither of them has mentioned anything about what happened in the kitchen the last time they actually talked, and they have never been in the same room together alone ever since.

It’s not like Harry has changed his mind about getting to know Diana, because his attraction to her is beyond question. Whether it’s mere physical or more, he is not able to tell. It’s just that there’s something about her that seems so persistant to drive him away, and he can’t quite put his finger on it. Maybe it’s the way she talks, how she always looks at the person whom she’s talking to in the eyes, except for him. Maybe it’s the way she uses her hair to cover her face up every time he’s around. Maybe it’s the way she laughs at Louis’ jokes and chuckles at Niall’s stupidity, but does nothing at his. Not even a slight raise on the corner of her lips.

--

It is a typical Thursday night, where the smell of popcorn is in the air and the songs of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are blasting throughout the room. Even though they are essentially spending most of their time with one of the biggest boy bands in the world, Sadie and Diana have almost never put their music on. To be honest, neither of them even actually has their full albums. Sadie only has their Little Things music video that was once can be downloaded for free on iTunes, and Diana only has one of their songs, Over Again. The boys don’t really mind about it, though, they’re not so fond of listening to their own music anyway. Even just coming across it on the radio sometimes makes them feel funny.

The room is quite full that night, with three boys and three girls. Louis, as always is manning the PS3 while munching on frosted corn flakes without milk. Eleanor and Sadie are sitting on the kitchen stools as they flip through the magazines and laugh at ridiculous One Direction gossips. On the other side of the living room, Liam is watching an episode of Friends on his own laptop, which he brings himself this time, using a pair of earphones. Diana is sitting on the balcony while she enjoys her cigarette and a cup of hot chocolate by herself, which she has been doing quite often when the boys are around. They don’t see it as an act of resistance anymore, but rather just as Diana being her solitary self.

Meanwhile, Harry lowers the music down as he picks up Diana’s guitar off the corner of the room. Niall and Zayn are not around because they need to stay longer in the studio to record their parts of the song. The boys are now feeling very welcomed at the girls’ flat that they don’t need Niall to be the reason why they visit anymore.

Harry settles down on the couch beside Louis, and adjusts the beanie that covers his infamous curly hair. He casually takes a full breath in, and takes a grip of the guitar. His bright green eyes are set on its wooden neck, as he tries to place his fingers on the right chord. A moment later, he starts to pluck the strings according to The Bird and The Bee’s rendition of How Deep Is Your Love. Harry sings softly,

I know your eyes in the morning sun
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna feel you in my arms again

“Hey, I didn’t know you play guitar!” shouts Sadie from the kitchen, with her head sticking out of the connecting arch.

Harry looks up and chuckles, “That’s just because Niall usually always got his hands on it before I do.” Then he directs his attention back at the guitar and continues singing,

And you may not think that I care for you
When you know down inside that I really do

Although he doesn’t mean to, his voice catches the attention of the girl on the balcony. This is the first time she hears him sing in person, or ever for that matter, and she can’t deny just how addictive his gentle, raspy voice really is. His voice is powerful, yet humble. She can tell that he is not trying to entertain or impress anyone; he is simply singing. She closes her eyes and quietly hums to Harry’s singing.

Diana’s moment of tranquility is suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” she says as she quickly jumps on her feet.

When she opens the door, she finds a dark brown-eyed, sleek chap standing in front of her.

“Hi, babe,” he says as he plants a soft peck on her cheek.

“Hey,” she replies shortly, “You can go straight upstairs and I’ll be right behind you.”

Up the stairs he goes without regarding the boys around the room, nor do the boys acknowledge him in any way. They’ve met him briefly before though, since he has been dropping by the flat to meet Diana quite a few times when the boys are around. Not only that, they have definitely heard of him from Harry in the matter of the incident at the Garage many weeks ago.

Diana grabs her pack of cigarette that she left on the balcony and flees upstairs like she said she would. Meanwhile Harry, on the couch, takes his eyes off the guitar and watches her as she goes.

As usual, from then on, Diana spends the night upstairs in her room with the bloke. That is why, the rest of the people downstairs don’t expect her to come back any time soon.

--

At around one in the morning, Diana gets out of the bed and puts her panties and sweater back on. Trying to avoid making any noises, she tiptoes out the room and closes the door gently. She returns to her usual walking pace as she goes down the stairs and into the kitchen. She finds her roommate sitting beside the counter, with no sight of the boys or Eleanor. They must have gone home hours ago.

“You’re not asleep,” she says to Sadie, who is currently reading emails from her phone on the kitchen counter.

“I miss Niall.”

Diana opens the freezer and pulls out a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cake Batter ice cream. She grabs two spoons from the cabinet and drags one of the stools so she can sit across Sadie.

She hands one of the spoons to her and says, “Aww, I know babe. You know he has been busy for the past few weeks.”

“Yeah, it sucks. I feel like keeping him for myself, ignoring the millions other girls that are also longing to hear his gorgeous voice and see his adorable face,” Sadie replies with a sigh.

“You’re lucky that you didn’t meet him during their tour season. God knows how many pints of ice cream do we need to get you through the misery if that happened.”

Sadie manages to let out a small chuckle, “I know right. I’m just glad that he’s still in town. I think he’s going back to Ireland for a few days next week to visit his family.”

The girls then continue to devour their guilty pleasure in silence. After a few minutes, Sadie speaks up again, “So, I’ve been seeing a lot of Jace around lately.”

Diana titters, “Yeah.”

“What’s up with that? He’s still upstairs, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, sleeping.” As if she just caught the question, Diana looks at Sadie in confusion, “What do you mean ‘what’s up with that’? Nothing is up. He plays around here often and I like it, that’s all.” She then scoops another spoonful of ice cream.

“Bullshit. I’ve never seen you ‘play around’ with someone this many times since your highschool sweetheart.”

Diana stops licking her spoon at that comment and looks at her in the eye again, “What are you implying, Moore?”

“I’m just saying, you’ve spent a lot of time with him, even during the day.” Diana doesn’t take her eyes off her. “He might just be your—“

“Don’t you fucking dare to say it.”

“—boyfriend,” Sadie finishes her sentence, with a mischievous smirk.

“Christ, Sade, why did you have to do that?” Diana’s attention is back on the sweet delicacy in front of her.

Sadie guffaws incredibly loudly, knowing what she said can really mess with Diana’s head, “What?”

“I’ve been comfortable with Jace for the past few weeks and now you come in and fuck it up by saying that he’s my boyfriend. Labels just ruin everything, you know I believe that.”

“I’m just stating the obvious, Di. Do you know if he’s seeing anybody else?”

“How the fuck would I know that? All I know is when he’s with me, I don’t see him go around snogging other girls. Who knows what he does when he’s alone?”

“You know, you should try to be in an actual relationship sometimes. I know fucking around is fun and liberating, but nothing beats the feeling of knowing that you’ll always have someone around, even during your rainy days.”

“Whoa, paging Danny Tanner over here. Niall really has his impacts on you, hasn’t he?”

Sadie chuckles, “I guess so. But seriously, why not give it a shot?”

Diana is just making herself busy with the ice cream again, trying to ignore Sadie’s foolish remarks.

“Okay look, Jace is definitely not my favorite person in the world. Hell, I’d rather kiss a frog on the mouth in the hopes of it turning into a prince than spend a full day alone with him and bear with his talks about abs and hair products. But you obviously like him.”

Diana immediately glares at her.

“Fine, you’re comfortable with him, whatever,” Sadie says as she mimicks Diana’s tone earlier, “You and I both know that hardly ever happens. Not everyday a guy can convince you to see him at least once a week.”

Well, duh.

Sadie almost cracks up again when she sees the expression on Diana’s face. “Dude, chill. It’s not like you have to marry him. All I’m saying is, you might as well try not to fuck this up—whatever you have with Jace now—by sleeping with other dimwits. Maybe under his leather jacket and the ridiculous amount of striking cologne, he’s just another hopeless romantic.”

Some of the words that Sadie just said are actually getting into her mind, but Diana immediately tries to brush it off. To respond, she just scoffs. “Yeah, sure. You can’t possibly be wrong about this,” she says sarcastically.

“Of course I can’t! Please, it’s me.” she replies, perhaps even too proudly.

Diana laughs at Sadie's response, and quickly realizes that she really knows how to make her downright speechless. “Oh, fuck you, Sade,” says Diana as she digs into the treat again, still trying to convince herself that nothing Sadie said is true.

Notes

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