22 american footballs and scrambled eggs

“Harry!” I squeal, batting at his chest with my fidgeting hands. Laughs bubble out of my cherry pink lips and Harry smiles broader.

“Who’s the coolest guy in Holmes Chapel?” He asks teasingly.

“You- you are Harry,” I manage to gasp between giggles.

Harry ignores my reply, continuing to tickle my sides relentlessly.

“Harry please,” I practically beg. I kick at him.

“Who’s the best friend in the entire world, Lena?” Harry asks smugly.

I open my grey eyes to stare directly into his young face. Those two emeralds of his shine down at me. The stars above his curly head go out of focus as I find my gaze land on one thing- his lips. The smile slowly drifts from his face and his hands drop from my sides.

We’re staring at each other.

“You are,” I reply softly.

Harry blushes.

I groan, rubbing my eyes as I wake up. Woah- weird flashback dream. My cheeks are hot with blush.

I look over at my bedside clock. It’s about eight in the morning. Wow, I actually got more than five hours of sleep for once!

This should make me jump for joy…but alas, it doesn’t.

I find myself crawling back under the protection of my blankets. After properly scolding myself, I finally drag my sorry body out of the covers and onto the floor. I lie there for a minute on my back, not at all ready to start the day. I should be pleased of course. This is my second to last day here at the House of Horrors. But I can’t ignore the guilty pit in my stomach and the longing in my chest that Niall and Liam give me: those two boys are getting in my head.

Suddenly I wish I was in Japan with the Miss. I’ve heard they have wonderful sushi- what am I talking about? I don’t even like sushi!

I’ve lost my marbles.

I look down at my bare feet. I wiggle my toes from left to right, willing to stall inevitable in any way I can.

But I have to get up and seize the day at some point or another, I suppose.

It takes a few trials, but I finally manage to get my fat butt off of the floor. I drag my feet to the bathroom and do all my morning business (not that kind of business, you sicko) before throwing on a pair of jean shorts and a basic shirt. I don’t feel the urge to do anything to my crazy hair but brush it, so I don’t.

I pause for a moment at the door.

Do I really want to step out into the real world? Beyond the safety of my bedroom?

You have to, Lena. They’ve left you no choice. You don’t have any food in here!

I sigh.

Bracing myself for the very worst, I slowly reach for the doorknob.

I give it a turn....

I push it open.

Alright, Lena! Almost there! Nothing’s gonna stop ya now!

I take a deep breath, muster up all my strength, and walk upstairs.

You’d think I was being sent to the gallows to be hanged! Oh wait a moment… how ironic! I am being sent to the Gallows… the Gallows’ household that is.

“Oh good morning Lena,” A deep masculine voice says. I instantly regret ever being born upon seeing the ex-mister standing above me at the top of the stairs. He looks even scarier now than ever- his hair all done up with spray and his shirt unbuttoned to flash his awkward chest hair.

“Good morning,” I mumble, trying to avoid his beady blue eyes. Oh dear lord I should have worn longer pants… I feel like I’m being goggled at like a Playboy girl.

“Coffee?” He offers me one of the two steaming cups he has with a gesture.

I give a weak smile, finish my trek to the top of the stairs, and take the morning Joe with both hands. Our fingers brush momentarily and I can’t help but notice how eerily cold the man is. It’s like he’s been chiseled out of ice.

“Sleep alright, did you?” the man asks casually as he brings his scolding coffee to his plump lips.

Oh I had a lovely night’s rest! After I saved your child from a herd of blood sucking monsters, that is. And besides having nightmarish flashbacks of breaking an innocent Irish boys heart: I slept just dandy!

(Sarcasm, dear. You should know that by now).

“I slept great,” I lie. What else am I supposed to say? As much as my inner grown up says it would be polite to ask him the same question in return, I don’t really feel like it.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Derek replies with what I guess is supposed to be a charming grin. He looks more like a serial killer than Prince Charming in my opinion.

I take this as my cue to escape. I start to walk away….

“Oh Lena,” Derek calls after me. I cringe, turning around ever so slowly. “There’s a lot to be done before tomorrow night… there’s a list on the counter for you. Would you leave the kids with that friend of yours and run a few errands?”

There are two possible answers to his question: “Yes”, or “Yes sir”.

“Yes,” I say. “Of course.”

Derek smiles, his blinding white teeth shine like Christmas lights on steroids. “Perfect. I’ll see you at supper,” he says before walking into the shadows of the library.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare at the house that’s laid out in front of me. Laughter can be heard ringing around with the sounds of early morning breakfast being grilled in the kitchen. Ben’s voice rises above the rest as he shouts profanities to someone, most likely learning the colorful language from one of the young men who have been housed here recently. Abigail flies down the grand staircase with her mobile phone held to her ear, arguing relentlessly with one of her friends about something or another. Bacon wafts through the air like a flowery plume. And to top off the chaos, an American football goes flying past my head towards the far wall. It crashes into a book display, leaving Shakespeare’s poor novels lying about in a pile on the marble floor.

It’s going to be a long day; I can feel it in these ole bones.

I stifle a yawn. I force my long, tired legs to walk towards the bustling kitchen. Just as I suspected: it’s an utter mess. Louis and Zayn are busy at work with breakfast; pouring, frying, tasting, and stirring away. Liam is over at the kitchen table with Cade, painting some sort of masterpiece with Color Wonder markers. Ben and Harry have momentarily stopped their game of catch to go and find the ball that nearly put someone in the hospital.

“Morning lovely,” Louis sings out to me from above the sink. I think he’s trying to rinse maple syrup from his fingernail beds.

I wave a hand in his general direction as my response.

“LENA!” Cade screams my name. The child catapults himself from Liam Payne’s lap onto the floor where he slides on his socks. I bend down just in time to scoop his flimsy body in my arms.

I plant a kiss on his warm cheek.

“Do you fancy your eggs scrambled or fried?” Zayn asks of me.

How sweet of him!

“Scrambled would be great,” I say with a poke to Cade’s nose. He giggles.

From the dining room table Liam says to me, “Cade just got done telling us all how you saved the house from monsters late last night.”

I try and ignore the somersaults my heart is doing.

“Oh that?” I reply with a shrug. “Pssh. It was nothing.”

“NOTHING?” Cade repeats with a gasp. “It was AWESOME!” He steps away from me to demonstrate. “Lena was hitting them and punching them in the face, hitting and punching in the face,” Cade swings his fist midair and stumbles on nothing but the ground beneath his feet. Liam laughs and I watch on with a grin.

“And then, “BOOM!” Niall went and kicked them and they all ran away! They were so scared!” Cade has to pause his story telling in order to catch his breath. After a moment of collection he adds, “It was really scary… but they saved us.”

Harry comes running into the room with Ben hot on his tail. They’re both laughing hysterically, bent over with suffocating giggles.

I can’t help but stare.

I haven’t seen Harry like this in years… honestly; it’s been at least five years…

Harry dashes around to the other side of the dining table. His breath is ragged and running short as he sidesteps to avoid Ben’s aim of a football. The smile he’s wearing on his familiar face is about the size of the crescent moon. The dimples that have been hidden from me for half a decade now are finally revealed along with the shine of his sea green eyes.

He just looks so… happy.

And it’s painful. But I don’t know why.

I continue to stare dazedly at Harry as he romps around with Ben. Neither of them notices me. Before they can they’ve rushed out of the room in a high speed chase: laughing all the way.

“You can’t catch me!” Ben’s voice is drowned by the depth of the huge house.

I shake my head and try to pretend like that never happened.

All around me the world continues to spin. The rest of the people in the room seem untouched by Harry’s momentary cameo. I blink before feeling a prickly feeling coming from behind. I turn my head in time to see Louis watching me patiently, his peach fuzzed face giving me a sympathetic smile.

I don’t have enough time to think about it.

“Oh this must be for you,” I hear Liam’s manly voice say from beside me. I look to where he’s sitting at the table, his tattooed arm reaching towards me. In his soft palm is a sheet of paper with my name written sloppily on the top; my to do list for the day, I suppose.

I sigh.

I am careful not to make any bodily contact with Liam as I take the paper from him. Wouldn't want to faint on the spot, would we? After I’ve used extra care to not touch the golden man I flip the paper upright to read my unmanageable list of duties.

And here are just some of them:

Take suit to the dry cleaners

Pick up flower arrangements

Cancel limo service

Pick up new angel statue from art dealer

Buy movie for the children

Check with the caterers

Replace wine cooler

Double check with the caterers

Bring Cade’s jacket to the tailor

Vacuum

Buy a suitable dress…

Wait a second- buy a suitable dress? He can’t possibly be talking about a dress for ME? How dare he order me to do something so personal and uncalled for?!?

I blow hot air.

“Everything alright?”

I roll my eyes and fold the list into halves. “Oh just dandy,” I answer Zayn. “Just mentally preparing myself for a long day, I guess.”

“Need an errand buddy?” Louis asks. His narrow eyes glance from the banana he’s slicing up to my face.

I’m about to protest when I think, Why not? He might be some fun to drag along! So with a smile I say, “Sure. Be ready in an hour.”

“Can Cade come too?” Cade refers to himself in the third person and asks.

“Not today little guy,” I say with a ruffle of his thick blonde locks. “Aunt Hadley is gonna hang with you pee-wees this afternoon.”

“We can watch the kids,” Liam says. I take a deep breath then look into his face. With a crooked smile he tells me, “The boys and I have today off. Let us take them.”

Did you hear that? That was the sound of my heart hitting the floor BTW.

“Umm,” I clear my throat. “Oh… Oh sure! Okay, yeah that’s good! Thanks,” I say with an awkward grin. I point to the hallway behind me and then to myself. “I guess I should just go finish getting ready.”

“Meet you out front in an hour?” Louis asks me.

I nod. “Sounds like a plan,” I answer. Then as casually as humanly possible, I escape the kitchen. I run into the living room panting like a baboon, but at least Liam didn’t see that- right?

I collapse onto the couch. Throwing my bare foot onto the leather I pull out my list. Squinting my eyes skeptically I read and reread my list of duties.

I sense movement in the room I’m occupying.

I gaze up above the corner of the thing I’m reading. My heart turns to stone as I get an eye full of Niall Horan sitting by the window, typing away at his laptop like I’m not even in the room.

I gulp.

What does a girl do?? Do I walk up to him? Do I pretend like he’s not there? Do I fade into the shadows doing a little Irish jig?

Oh good lord I’m going to hyperventilate!

I open my stupid mouth and I hear-

“Wanna hit the pub this afternoon, mate?”

…

Okay- I might be stupid, I might be ridiculous, I might even admit to being a bit rash: but I do NOT admit to saying that.

I realize with a start that Harry Styles said that.

Great! JUST GREAT!!

Harry, obviously ignoring me, strides into the room. He stands above Niall with a tilt to his head. I try to catch a listen to Niall’s quiet response but hear nothing but crickets chirping.

“Oh… got it,” Harry says. “Maybe another day then.”

OH BURN! YOU JUST GOT DISSED!

Harry gives Niall a hearty slap on the back before sauntering out of the room again. He doesn’t even acknowledge the evil stare I’m giving him. Oh I see how it is. We’re playing immature, huh? Well that deserves TWO evil stares.

He’s so childish, I swear.

I stare at the doorway he walks out of until his heavy stomps fade. I then turn around to decide what to do about a broken hearted Niall Horan- to find he’s disappeared.

I’m not exactly sure how to react.

I just sit there like a statue.

“What’s going on in here?” Louis asks with a chuckle.

I spin around to see Lou standing where Harry just walked out of. “What is with you Direction lads just popping in and out of places like that? What kind of sorcery is this??”

“Easy there kid,” Louis laughs at me heartily. “What are you talking about?”

I shake my head and rub my cheek. “Never mind,” I sigh.

Louis watches me for a moment more before shaking his own head. Then he tells me, “I’ll only be a minute more. Breakfast is ready if you’re hungry.”

I smile and pull myself up to his height. “Of course. When am I not?”

“That’s a rhetorical question,” Louis says.

“Smart boy,” I add with a slap to his shoulder.

The first few hours of my day fly by. Breakfast is a blur of sticky fingers and flying Eggo waffles and spilled skim milk. Louis and I make it to town by ten with a long list and only a few hours to get things done. I’m thankful that it’s a weekday and there are little to no teenage girls to be found at the dry cleaners and flower shop to fall at my friend’s feet. I don’t have time for nonsense, not today dear.

Louis and I swing by a café to get a bite more to eat. After that I tell him that my list has been completed… you know, leaving out the whole “new dress” part. I don’t need a new dress. That’s ridiculous.

Anyway, we end up heading home from town a few hours early.

“That was a successful day,” Louis says. He reclines in his passenger seat of the car and closes his eyes.

“Sure was,” I say with a grin. I itch my nose and stare out the window.

“Wait a minute,” I hear Lou say slowly.

“What’s that?” I ask. I turn up the AC.

Louis taps against the dashboard where he’s holding my list against. “Umm, you haven’t gotten yourself a dress today!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I huff. “I don’t need a new dress,” I argue.

“But it says to buy one.”

I roll my eyes. You’d think I was talking to Ben or Cade. “Yes, but I’m not going to be getting one. It’s that simple.”

“Why? The party is tomorrow night!”

“I know that,” I answer. I dig my fingernails into the steering wheel.

“Come on, turn this thing around.”

I look over at Louis with a scowl. “You are so not the boss of me,” I tell him. “There’s nothing you could say that would make me go and spend four more hours shopping for a ball gown.”

“Maybe not…” Louis says sneakily. I glimpse over at his grinning face. “But I don’t think you’d like to go to this party tomorrow in a dress Derek’s picked out for you…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

Louis laughs, “Because if it were Derek’s choice: you probably wouldn't be wearing a dress at all!”

“You’re such a sicko!” I holler. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

Louis raises a thick brow and says to me, “You know it’s true.”

I sigh, turning the car around.

Looks like we’ll be in town a bit longer than expected.