-Sarah-

The last two days had gone by so quickly! Mostly, we stayed inside the apartment, since Maria didn’t feel like going outside. She was still pretty hurt after reading those tweets from Saturday, and honestly, who could blame her? After a lot of convincing, we finally got Maria to stay off Twitter for a while until the fangirls had calmed down. Apparently, there was a picture of Maria leaving Liam’s apartment on Saturday morning, so it didn’t take that long before they figured out who she was.

In order to keep her mind of it, Emily and I decided to throw a girls’ night yesterday. We invited El, of course! However, what surprised me was that Niall had decided to join our little get-together, insisting that he was just as much fun. And he was, until he started complaining about our facial-masks, choice of snacks and chick flicks. I don’t think he properly thought that one through… Anyway, we still managed to have fun. However, that was after we managed to compromise on a film that suited everyone’s taste. Niall and El didn’t stay too late, since the boys had an early interview on Chatty Man the next day, followed by an appearance on X-factor later that same day. Today, we were sat out in the sun, sunbathing by the poolside. Niall had kindly lent us his house for the day, seeing as he wouldn’t be home until late, insisting that staying another day inside Emily’s apartment would be too depressing.

“Would someone please pass me the sun-cream? I think I might be getting sunburned…” Emily said from the sunbed, eyeing her herself. She was in her new burgundy bikini that she bought the day we were out shopping, looking stunning. And she was right. She was getting sunburned. I laughed a little to myself, before handing the sun-cream over to her. I guess it is true what they say about those British genes. “Thanks,” she said before applying the lotion.

“I can’t believe we’ve only been here for nearly two weeks!” Maria said thoughtfully next to me.

“I know, me neither…” I answered her keeping my eyes shut, enjoying the warmth on my skin.

“Hey! If you guys don’t like it here…” Emily started to say looking over to us.

We both started laughing, “no, Em! We love it here! I didn’t mean it like that! I mean, it’s unbelievable it’s only been two weeks! It feels like so much longer… So much has happened!” Maria continued explaining herself.

Emily then started smiling, “oh! Yeah, you’re right.”

“Right about what?” Eleanor said coming out from the house, bringing over beverages. She was so thoughtful. She sat herself down in between Emily and I, after handing over one for each of us.

“Maria was just talking about how it’s insane how so much has happened over so little time...” I explained to Eleanor.

“Yeah, you’re right! Two weeks ago I didn’t know any of you girls, and now you’re like my closest friends!” Aw, how sweet of her to say that! That was exactly how I felt. It’s amazing how quickly we had gotten to know each other. “… And I don’t exactly think the boys mind you being here either,” she continued while laughing to herself.

“I don’t mind meeting the boys either…” Maria said with a smile on her face.

“Now why would you? You practically have a new boyfriend,” I said as we all laughed. Her and Liam were texting constantly and she would not shut up about him. He’d been very thoughtful after what had happened the other day, and even dedicated a tweet to her, telling his fans to kindly back off with the hate and let him be happy with whomever he wanted to be with. After that, Maria had lightened up on the matter and made us all worry a little less.

“I was referring to Niall letting us borrow his house! I could get used to this lifestyle…But, sure! That too!” Maria then said, waving her arm around, trying to hide a smile. This house was just amazing.

“I could not agree more,” Emily said from the other end snickering. Neither could I.

---

“Hey, Chatty Man is on Channel4 in a minute. Wanna watch it?” Eleanor said looking up from her phone.

“Yeah!” Maria said happily.

“Sure, why not?” I agreed before we got up from our sunbeds and headed back into the house. I’d actually never seen the boys on an interview before. This could be fun.

As we had taken our seats on the couch and El had tuned to Channel 4, it didn’t take long before five familiar faces showed up on the screen. They were sat on a big couch, surprisingly big enough for all of them. Louis sat on the left end side next to Niall, Zayn and Liam followed by Harry who sat closest to Alan Carr, the TV-host. They were all dressed up rather nicely and locked very handsome, all thanks to their stylists I thought to myself. Through the show, Alan kept on making funny jokes about the guys, making both the audience and us girls laugh. He sure liked to put people on the spot and didn’t hold back on trying to press out some juicy news and comments from the boys either. However, the boys were handling themselves very professionally, taking turns in answering questions about their tour, upcoming album and stuff like that. It wasn’t until the end, when Alan came down to ask them about their love lives, that it became really interesting.

“So, guys, you know what I’ve got to ask you next. I mean, the fans are dying to know…” Alan said, making all the boys smile uncomfortably. “Which of you are spoken for at the moment?” The guys quickly glanced around at each other before he continued. “Wait. Let me ask you like this. Louis, your still taken, am I right?” He said looking over at Louis who smiled confidently while nodding his head. “And how about the Irish fellah? Single or taken?” Niall fixed his blazer, acting all smart before answering, “Single as a pringle!” making the audience laugh with him. “And Zayn? You’re still engaged to the beautiful Perrie Edwards? Any news on the wedding?” “Uhm, yeah, I am!” Zayn said smiling while pinching his chin. “But no, I don’t have any news on the wedding I’m afraid.” Alan made a funny face, which then made the audience laugh along with the guys.

Then he turned to face Liam, “and how about you Liam? … Any mystery girl’s I should know about?” he said, making yet another funny face while he said the phrase ‘mystery girl’s’. It was easy to tell that he was referring to the latest headlines about some mystery girl emerging from his apartment a couple of days ago. I felt Maria tense beside me and quickly took hold of her hand, squeezing. Liam looked down embarrassed and laughed before he answered the question that everyone was keen to know the answer to. “Well, yeah, there is someone…” The audience started cheering and I could see a little smile on Maria’s face in the corner of my eye. “We haven’t seen each other for very long though, but yeah, we’ll see! Fingers crossed!” Aww, Liam looked so happy, just sitting there, smiling. I could tell by the look on her face that she was satisfied with his answer. Emily however, still kept her eyes locked on the screen, clearly wanting to hear about what’s next. “And then there’s Harry… Harry. Harry. Harry,” Alan said while looking at the ceiling, shaking his head, while Harry smiled his cheeky grin. “You don’t like girls, do ya?” Alan said ironically, making the whole audience and couch laugh at him. “I’m only playing with ya... Of course you do! It’s not like you haven’t always got some girl following you around,” he went on. Harry just kept grinning. “HARRY! HARRY! GIVE ME SOME OF YOUR GRAVY!” Alan shouted, mimicking one of the boy’s fans, waving his hands around, before everyone broke into laughter, including the four of us girls. Harry coughed, trying to hide his smile, “uhm…” Alan interrupted saying, “I’m sorry… But honestly though, have you got your eye on someone special, or?...” Harry fixed himself in his seat uncomfortably, looking down nervously. “Uhm, I’m not seeing anyone, no.” he said, avoiding the question noticeably. “O-kay, I guess we’ll leave it at that then,” Alan said looking down at his cards, trying to look hurt by the fact that he didn’t get the answer he was looking for, once again making people laugh. The show came to an end then, just after Alan thanked the guys for coming and shaking their hands.

Eleanor turned off the TV just as the commercials started to appear, before turning to face the rest of us. “Well, that was fun! I don’t think I’ve seen the guys so uncomfortable in an interview before!” she said laughing.

“Yeah! It was actually very fun to watch! I guess the TV-host knew exactly what he was doing, asking them all those embarrassing questions!” I said cheerfully.

“Yeah, Alan’s great at that! I can believe you haven’t watched it before! The guys have been there a couple of times and it always makes me laugh!” Eleanor said laughing while clapping her hands in enjoyment.

“I guess you and Liam are now official?” Emily said, directing her question at Maria who looked down embarrassed.

“Well, not official exactly. But, he definitely answered to the rumours about us. I hope this makes everything calm down a bit,” she Maria said, the last part more to herself.

“I’m sure it will. However, if you still want to carry on dating Liam, you have to be prepared for being mentioned in the media. For both good and bad,” Eleanor said, squeezing her arm friendly.

“Yeah, your right. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Maria said back.

“What ever happened to Harry though? I know he always get’s harassed when it comes to questions about relationships and such, but he was being very mysterious…”Eleanor then said, and then I remembered non of us had told her about Harry’s little visit to Emily’s. We all glanced at each other, not sure who should tell the story.

Quickly I cut to the chase, “Harry told Em that he liked her!”

“What? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?” Eleanor said curiously at Emily, who was glaring at me with a hint of a smile on her face.

She rolled her eyes at me before turning to the on going questions coming from Eleanor. “He came over after Niall’s BBQ the other day, drunk, so he slept on my couch for the night. The next morning before he left, he tried to explain himself and then suddenly out of nowhere, he just told me that he liked me.” There was an awkward silence, before she continued, “I don’t really know what he meant about it, though. Please, just leave it alone you guys. It’s probably nothing!”

“Okay, I will. But it didn’t look like nothing, Em…” Eleanor said trailing off.

---

-Emily-

It was beginning to get late and both the girls and I were starting to get tired. We stayed in, watching a film after the interview earlier, while digging into the pizza we had ordered since no one could be bothered to make any food. Niall wasn’t home yet, but I figured he would be shortly since the boys would have finished the X-factor show some time ago. Eleanor had decided to wait for Louis here, saying that he probably would want to stay a bit longer.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright be yourself? We can wait a little longer if you want?” Sarah said to Eleanor after we’d gotten up from our seats and started heading out.

“Of course I’m sure! I’ve been here alone plenty of times before. Besides, you guys look exhausted. I’m sure I’ll manage. They’ll be here any second now anyway…” She said smiling.

And just at she said so we could hear the front door open. “Hellooo! Girls! Anyone home?” Niall shouted before entering the living room, followed by the rest of them.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Louis said eyeing the three of us, after kissing Eleanor on the head, wrapping his arm around her. I noticed how Liam had done the same thing to Maria, only adding a kiss on her nose as well. How cute!

“We were just about to go home actually,” Sarah said trying to look sad.

“Bullocks! You’re not leaving now! We just got here,” Niall said waving his hands around playfully. I could help myself from snickering at his hand gestures.

“Sorry, but we’re exhausted. Some other time!” Sarah pleaded to Niall who was now pouting his lip, only looking at Sarah.

“Ask them if they want to join us tomorrow,” Harry said out of nowhere with a low voice looking over at Niall, who was now lying flat out on the couch face down. I hadn’t noticed him standing in the doorway. Probably intentionally, since I hadn’t quite figured out what to say to him yet.

“Uhh, why don’t you ask them?” Niall said looking up from the pillow he had buried his head in, raising a question probably everyone wanted to know. Why didn’t he ask us himself? Harry looked down no hint of emotion.

“Uhm, yeah okay...” Harry started to say, now looking around to everyone, except me. “We’re invited to this party tomorrow night... by one of our close friends. I’m sure he would love for you guys to come. It’s just going to be at his house, although we usually take off at some point and head out to a club together,” he then said, not really asking a question, before he suddenly looked at me. We locked eyes and stared at each other. I could feel my heart rate increase, completely oblivious to the others carrying on the conversation. He was still standing in the doorway, but he was close enough for me to hear his very silent, “hi,” followed by his cheeky grin. I gave him a tiny smile before finally looking down at my feet, feeling my cheeks flush. What on earth was happening to me? You like him! You so like him! I swore at my inner thoughts. No, I don’t! Keep it together, Em! … But oh, God – look at his hair. That smile. Those eyes… It was all happening again.

“Em!? You coming, or?” Sarah half-shouted amused at me from the other side of the room. Everyone was looking at me.

“Uhm, yeah!” I said confused. We’re leaving? I hadn’t noticed that Maria and Sarah were already on their way out.

“What’s with you two?” Louis said, mockingly with a funny voice, looking towards me, then Harry. No one answered. Instead I grabbed my things in a quickly hurry before following the girls, not looking at anyone.

“We’ll see you guy’s tomorrow then!” Niall shouted at us anxiously.

“Sure thing! See yah!” Both Maria and Sarah shouted back heading out the front door.

“’Night!” I heard Eleanor, Liam and Louis shouting before the door slammed shut and was quickly met with four wondering eyes.

“What was that all about?!”

Notes

So there you go! Hope you like it! :)

I promise to write a more eventful chapter next time! I have some great ideas for the future of the story, so bear with me! ;)

Thanks again for the support! Please carry on with the com/vot/sub's!
xo