-one-

 It was eight am in the morning and I was done. The flight from Seattle to London had been insanely long and filled with bumpy turbulence and grumpy babies. I love babies, but let’s put it this way: babies who don’t shut up during ten hour flights are the only birth control I will ever need. Babies were like puppies, great unless they started pooping and whining.

A little bald man was standing at the gate with a sign that said “Al the GRATE!” and I rolled my eyes at the sight of it. They were never going to call me anything else, were they? Not that I minded, I really was great. Plus it was better than the time that Niall decided to call me the “cheese grater”. I didn’t talk to him for a good three weeks after he said that.

“Hi, I’m Al.” I told the man who looked at me with a bit of confusion. “Yes, I’m a female. Yes, I know who sent you. Yes, I know the directions to get to his place. Please just get me out of this place of torture.”

“Follow me, Ms Al.” He nodded slowly, leading the way to the baggage claim.

I was way too tired to even comment on the whole ‘ms’ thing and decided to let it go without a lecture. It only took fifteen minutes to grab my army bag off the luggage carousal and get to the car. Thank Gosh.

“You have got to be kidding me. Seriously. You better be joking.” I tried so hard to not yell at the poor guy who looked like he hated every aspect of his job at this point. But seriously. I was going to kill him when I saw the loser and his dumb-faced friends since I was sure it was their idea.

“I’m sorry, Ms Al, this is what I was told to bring, no exceptions.” He stuttered out.

“Yeah, well, it’s not your fault and you can be sure that he will be giving you the biggest freaking tip you’ve ever seen. And he’s also going to beg on his knees for my forgiveness or I will throw scissors at him.” I groaned, not bothering to wait for the guy’s help and throwing my bag into the limo.

The stupid, potato-headed boys knew about my hatred for limos. Makes you seem a lot more important than you are. Like, hey, here’s a really big, long car that takes up more space on the roadways and looks like a bar of soap. Plus the black ones always remind you of funerals.

As I sat in the back, I realized I could easily go bowling in this thing. I was well aware that it was a thirty minute drive to his house so I took pleasure in throwing wadded up napkins as far as I could and attempting to knock over the little plastic champagne glasses. By the time the man announced we were there, I had only managed to get one napkin inside a glass. And also create a mess because I’m really good at that.

“Thank you, let me go get him so he can give you lots of money.” I smiled. He still looked really uncomfortable and unsure. At least he’d have a bunch of stories to tell his kids.

This one time I took a crazy lady to a popstar’s house.

I jogged up the stairs, not bothering to knock on the door, and stood in the walkway. “HARRY, WHERE IS YOUR WALLET?”

“On the kitchen table, why?” The familiar voice echoed back through the marbled halls.

“No reason,” I yelled before beelining towards the kitchen. Ha, there’s the wallet. “Thanks!”

“Hey, welcome back Al!” Another voice added to the mix.

“Thanks!” I replied, heading right back outside. The guy was staring at me like I had a couple heads. I pulled three twenties out of the wallet. “Sorry, this is all the cash he has on him. Loser, right? Thanks. Oh, and don’t worry about the screaming you’ll probably hear as you leave – gotta teach them that limos are not a girl’s best friend. Have a good night!”

Yeah. He was definitely horrified right now.

This time I grabbed my bag that I had thrown on the driveway and hiked it onto my shoulder. I also took my time entering the really fancy British home. It hadn’t changed at all in the six months since I had been there last. Once again I made a beeline to the kitchen. “If you want to see me at all, I’m rummaging through your pantry!”

I tossed Harry’s wallet back onto the counter, but not before laughing at his driver’s license. Kid wasn’t ready for that picture, he also wasn’t always photogenic. Then it was straight to the first cupboard on the right of the refrigerator, where Harry always kept the dipping Nutella sticks. He obviously stocked up before I got there because there was a whole shelf dedicated to the little containers. I grabbed two because if they wanted me to stay awake for the next hour, I needed to keep myself preoccupied with food.

“Al! Hey Al!” Niall sang before actually entering the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks, eyes growing wide. It was amusing to see Harry and Zayn crash into him since they were walking closely behind. “Holy hair.”

“Wow, you know how to compliment a girl, donchu?” I deadpanned, popping a Nutella dipped cracker into my mouth while plopping onto one of the barstools.

“Wow.” Harry said while slowly nodding his head up and down.

“Looks way better than I thought it would from the way Trinity described it. Fits you well,” Zayn didn’t even do a double take as he pulled up a chair next to me.

“Thanks.”

“But it’s short. And blue. Like really blue.” Niall repeated himself, not letting the look of disbelief leave his facial features.

“It’s short.” Harry added.

“Wow, really? I had absolutely no idea! When did this happen? How? I don’t remember this!” I screeched without changing emotions.

“You still look great,” Niall finally said after a few minutes of silence.

“Jeez, you guys make it sound like I did something crazy. All I did was chop off my hair and turn it blue.” I said while rolling my eyes.

“See? I told you she spent too much time with Lou. Lou did it, right?” Harry asked, finally pulling up his own chair.

“I haven’t seen Louis in two months,” I scrunched my eyebrows at him. “Oh wait, you meant momma Lou, didn’t you? Yeah, when she was in Washington to visit two weeks ago, we hung out and she convinced me. Figured it’d be fun to change everything since I just graduated from high school and have to turn into a responsible human being who does the college thing.”

 “You’ll never be responsible,” Harry teased. “So what did you need my wallet for?”

“Tipped the driver $60 because I might have yelled at him when I saw the limo. You guys are totally biscuits that don’t deserve to be buttered. Making you useless biscuits because no one likes biscuits without butter and no one likes you.” I stuck my tongue out.

“Should’ve tipped him at least a $100 for having to deal with you,” Niall scoffed.

 "True," I agreed with a smile.

---
Instagram: myheartsmistake

So this takes place roughly a year after Take Me As I Am and the gameshow. Yes, she is single. Will she date someone in the future chapters? Possibly. :)
Also, just a reminder that this has no particular timeline. It may jump a year or two into the future or something.

-katie-